“Barrett.”
At Siwon’s call, Barrett’s form emerged behind him.
It was in the shape of an enormous snake with pure white scales.
“Find the child.”
The snake smiled and moved its mouth. It seemed to be saying something, but Siwon could hear nothing.
Then Barrett opened his mouth wide and moved along the long, straight station.
Shwa-ja-ja-jak!
Screams were sucked into his mouth. The massive body that had been pushing forward in a straight line turned halfway around.
Crunch!
Blood splattered across Siwon’s deathly pale face.
Barrett shook his head as he devoured every last beastman.
Geuru was not here.
He wiped his face with the hand holding the gun. After licking the metallic blood at the corner of his mouth, the form vanished at once.
*
The Swamp of Erosion.
As the contamination sleeping in the swamp awakened, it flowed along the canals.
Living creatures touched by the contamination began undergoing grotesque evolutions over and over, attacking every living thing.
Because of that, the snow leopards were continuing their battle to hold back the contaminated individuals.
Until the “Special Purification Acorn” could purify the source of the contamination.
Na Hyeong looked down from atop a sheer cliff at the unit led by Cheon Gyuri.
Cheon Gyuri and the members of Brom’s guild were moving down a remote, densely wooded path under Ham Honggi’s orders.
Their destination was a cluster of contaminated beings where contamination had pooled.
It was a place everyone avoided, but they had no way to disobey the general’s command.
Of course, they were probably confident they could deal with mere contaminated beings easily enough.
But they likely had not anticipated a situation where they would have to fight contaminated beings without rest until the swamp was completely purified.
Na Hyeong lifted an “Ordinary Purification Acorn.”
It looked like an ordinary acorn.
But in battles within contaminated zones, the “Ordinary Purification Acorn” played an important role.
That was because it could be used to halt the progression of contamination.
Then contaminated beings would not be generated for a while.
However, what Brom’s guild members had been issued right now were not “Ordinary Purification Acorns,” but plain acorns that could be commonly picked up in the forest.
‘The stronger they are, the easier it is for them to let their guard down.’
Na Hyeong sneered at Cheon Gyuri’s paltry cleverness and shifted his vision.
He began looking down through the eyes of an eagle flying in the sky.
Because of Cheon Gyuri’s surveillance, he had failed to bring in the flying squirrel.
When the many snow leopards sent to find the flying squirrel failed to return, Cheon Gyuri began opposing the dispatch of snow leopards again.
To avoid Cheon Gyuri’s suspicion, he had no choice but to focus on purifying the contaminated zone.
‘Where on earth did it go?’
During the brief moment when his surveillance had lapsed, the flying squirrel seemed to have left the farm. Judging by its direction of movement, the only place an outsider would go was here, the contaminated zone.
‘Is it trying to join up with Brom?’
An outsider could not leave the beastman zone that served as the stage of the RP dungeon, and the main base of this RP dungeon’s raid team was here.
Na Hyeong changed his field of vision this way and that, scanning the area.
He was observing through eyes he had planted in birds, but the child was nowhere to be seen.
‘Damn it, there’s almost no time left.’
It was difficult to search the entire vicinity with only a few birds.
‘……Should I have Ham Honggi send the snow leopard unit again?’
He was just turning away, kicking at stones for no reason.
‘……?!’
Na Hyeong stopped in his tracks at a chilling murderous intent.
The pressure was so immense that it was difficult to take even a single step.
Feeling a suffocating humiliation, as if someone had grabbed his head and was slamming it into the ground, he gritted his teeth.
‘What the hell is this?’
Cold sweat ran down his back.
‘Damn it!’
Na Hyeong strained with all his might and raised his head.
The owner of the murderous intent was staring at him crookedly, both hands shoved into his pockets.
“…….”
Na Hyeong tried not to let his tension show.
Serhi’s face was rigid, and he looked more sunken than ever.
‘Is it because he was injured?’
That brat was no ordinary monster either, so he had expected him to come back alive. But he had not thought he would show this much hostility just because Na Hyeong had not gone looking for him.
“Y-you were alive, kid. Where on earth were you? I tried to look for you too, but because of Cheon Gyuri, things just weren’t……”
But what came out of the boy’s mouth was something he had not expected at all.
“Why are you looking for the flying squirrel?”
“Huh?”
How did he know that?
Serhi grabbed the flustered Na Hyeong by the collar and drove him against a tree trunk.
“Ghk!”
“I asked why you were looking for the flying squirrel.”
“Why would I look for it? That’s, khk! Because of the acorn!”
“The acorn?”
Serhi lifted an acorn from his pocket.
“This?”
“Is that… that acorn?”
“What were you going to do with this?”
“T-that’s……”
“See? You weren’t even interested.”
Na Hyeong was at a loss for words. Serhi twisted up his lips.
[Activating the skill “Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes.”]
-The designated organic matter returns to earth and sand.
“……Huh?”
Na Hyeong raised his right hand with a bewildered expression.
His entire right arm was turning into grains of dry sand.
“Ah……!”
Shrrr, the grains of sand spilled down to the ground. He shook his deathly blue face from side to side.
“No, no! Serhi! Save me!”
But Serhi only stared silently at Na Hyeong as he begged in a desperate voice.
“…….”
Na Hyeong dropped to his knees, clutching the sand as he screamed through his teeth.
“Stop, stop! Serhiiiiii!”
Serhi calmly stepped on Na Hyeong’s left hand as it frantically gathered the sand.
[Activating the skill “Made from Earth and Ash.”]
-Synthesizes earth and ash into an organism.
“Do you feel like telling me the truth now?”
When Serhi restored his arm, Na Hyeong pulled his returned right hand against his chest.
“Hah, hah…… Hah……”
His mind was spinning faster than ever. He had to get out of this situation somehow.
“Talk. Now.”
“W-wait. Wait a second, Serhi. This isn’t the time for us to be doing this. Teacher is waiting in the swamp.”
Serhi paused and asked back.
“Irina is?”
“Yeah……! Irina is here!”
*
‘The contamination here hangs like fog.’
Kim Junhwan, the guild master of Freefall, looked around and rubbed his arms as goosebumps rose over them.
The contamination was so thick that near the swamp where the “Blood Tumor” was located, even most A-ranks would have difficulty entering.
At the center of the swamp stood the source of the erosion, a long vertical oval shape. The guild members called it the “Blood Tumor.”
Their objective was to eliminate that Blood Tumor with the “Special Purification Acorn” and clear the RP dungeon.
As usual, the RP dungeon was not highly difficult, and so far, things had been going smoothly.
‘Well, I suppose that’s thanks to Cheon Gyuri controlling Ham Honggi.’
Because that guy had taken the role of the general, Cheon Gyuri seemed to be having quite a hard time, but she was the one who had brought Ham Honggi along, so it was her problem to handle.
At that moment, he sensed someone near the Blood Tumor.
‘Who is it?’
Kim Junhwan turned his head to the side.
That face was……
“Oh, Guild Master Cheon. Didn’t you go with Brom’s Team One earlier? When did you come back here?”
Cheon Gyuri, who had been tearing off the Blood Tumor’s outer layer and storing it in her inventory, turned around and smiled.
“I’ve been here the whole time. I think you must have seen wrong.”
Was that so? Kim Junhwan awkwardly turned away, then stared at Cheon Gyuri and scratched his head.
“I guess so. There are so many people coming and going that I keep getting mixed up.”
Cheon Gyuri asked back in an oddly calm tone.
“Did you come alone?”
“Ah, I was just looking over the situation, and before I knew it, I ended up all the way here. Honestly, I wish this would end soon…… The contamination really is thick here. We should make sure no one comes here recklessly. If people come for no reason and only increase the number of injured, won’t the people left behind be the ones suffering?”
He brought up one thing after another to hide his awkwardness.
But instead of answering, Cheon Gyuri only smiled and pressed her index finger firmly against her lower lip.
“Guild Master, aren’t you curious what would happen if an outsider were eroded by contamination?”
“Pardon?”
“There’s no particular reason. I just became curious. Aren’t you?”
With her hand still touching her lips, Cheon Gyuri tilted her head and smiled.
For a moment, the sense that something was off washed over him, and his mouth parted soundlessly.
‘Guild Master?’
He had worked with Cheon Gyuri for years, but she had never once called him “Guild Master.” She called him “Guild Master Kim”……
‘Then what is that?’
What on earth was that thing wearing Cheon Gyuri’s appearance?
His spine tightened, and his pupils contracted sharply.
That was not Cheon Gyuri.
The instincts of a seasoned hunter whispered that he had to kill that thing right now.