“You’re saying it will end just by sprinkling that antidote there? Can you be sure?”
He looks like he’ll tear me to pieces right now if I say no. I wasn’t certain either. How can I guarantee 100% for something I haven’t tried?
But the system wouldn’t have called this a key item for nothing. It always drops half the explanation, but the system only speaks the ‘truth’.
I nodded. At my answer, Yoo Seon-je said:
“Then can’t we just go to that spire and sprinkle this right away to end it?”
“It’s not that simple. If you take things from here outside, they freeze immediately.”
If you don’t open and close the door properly, ice invades even this inside. As if it were a ‘contamination’. It means this place isn’t completely safe either.
“The antidote might be different, but we can’t do such a dangerous experiment with the only item we have.”
“Then how will you sprinkle it on the witch of the tower?”
The witch of the tower, I felt uncomfortable with that designation, but I didn’t bother pointing it out. I said looking at the people:
“It’s simple. We just need to lure, um, the witch to this room. The moment the room is destroyed, things inside will start to freeze, so we’ll need to sprinkle the antidote at the same time she arrives at the room.”
At my explanation, silence fell among the people. Yoo Seon-je made an expression as if asking if I was serious. He’s quite uncooperative.
But Team Leader Lee Hye-won’s expression was similar.
“Is that possible?”
Well, the room and the tower were damn far apart.
This room was on the left side of the castle. But the tower was at the far right end, the most remote place in this castle.
Because it’s such a huge castle, even though they’re in the same castle, the distance was quite far. Moreover, it’s a problem to drag the target to this room. Because this room was quite deep inside the castle.
But I roughly had the route.
“If you exit from here to the upstairs corridor, you’ll immediately reach the banquet hall. If you leave the banquet hall and turn left, you’ll come to the garden. If you climb the castle wall from the garden, you’ll come to a door that can enter the tower.”
At my words, people made expressions like they roughly understood.
“Then who will lure…”
Oh Hyo-jun, who had opened his mouth without realizing, closed it with a gasp, surprised at the gazes focused on him. Certainly, the most dangerous role in this operation is luring.
It had considerable difficulty as you had to attract the boss’s attention alone and bring her to the exact place.
But we have an overpowered lure.
“Let’s lure with Agent John’s sand.”
Until now, the child in the tower hasn’t reacted to sand coming to check on her, but wouldn’t she wake up if we say we’re attacking? Han Seo-hyeon nodded after hearing my explanation.
“If that antidote works, subduing should be easy.”
Even now she’s rampaging because she’s lost her reason. Subduing won’t be a problem. And…
“If the antidote works completely and she calms down, I’d like to have a short time.”
“Time?”
“Yes.”
She’s not a monster but a person. A person who has lived painfully all her life. She had to become a monster among people trying to use her, but she didn’t want to hurt anyone.
I learned while researching Mein. Mein abilities were close to instinct. It’s naturally reacting when threats approach. She suppressed all her instincts because she didn’t want to hurt people.
She pulled out her own teeth and just wished to be loved.
That tearful effort became useless because of one drug.
“If she becomes a threat, you can attack anytime. The most important thing is conquering this Gate after all. But if we can subdue her just by using this antidote, there’s no need to kill her right away.”
Well, maybe a short conversation might be possible. But I can’t say it like this.
“I’m also curious what happens when the ‘boss monster’s’ hostility disappears.”
At my continued words, Team Leader Lee Hye-won finally nodded as if she understood.
“Certainly. If hostility really disappears, certainly. It’s something we need to examine.”
Not my personal sympathy, but research for everyone. That was the keyword to persuade Team Leader Lee Hye-won.
Those in the support team also easily nodded at my persuasion. Han Seo-hyeon will follow my words anyway. Now there’s only one left.
“I’ll counterattack immediately if you seem like you’re going to attack.”
I nodded.
It was unexpected. That guy who always opposed my words agreed to this right away. Well, the majority is already following me.
“We’ll start the operation tomorrow. Everyone rest well today and let’s meet tomorrow.”
Saying that, I returned to the main base with everyone. After having a hearty dinner, I lay down.
—Why did you ask for time? No, you won’t be able to communicate in the first place.
‘I’ve already heard a voice remaining in thought remnants.’
—Thought remnants?
‘Ah, Ray wasn’t there then. When I touched that key item, I could see what happened here. And at the end, I heard that woman’s voice.’
—You heard her voice?
‘Yes. She was in pain. And she begged. For someone to stop her.’
That voice was so desperate that my chest still flutters.
—So what are you planning to say when you meet that child? You’ll have to kill her to get out of here anyway.
‘Even if it comes to that, I want to tell her. That all this isn’t her fault. That it’s because of bad people.’
It might not be fitting for a conquest team that came to kill her, but I wanted to comfort her.
It was okay even if I was cursed as a hypocrite.
I just felt I couldn’t send that child off like this.
‘Just… isn’t it too much for no one to mourn her death?’
* * *
The next morning, the operation had problems from the start.
“You can’t attack the witch with black sand?”
[Yes. There’s some kind of barrier, we can’t attack at all.]
Lee Hye-won, who saw the memo Han Seo-hyeon wrote, said:
“There are Gates that don’t progress until the trigger is activated. Maybe the trigger to wake the tower witch is ‘a living being approaching’?”
“If that’s the case, it means someone has to go to the tower.”
Huh, I thought things were going too smoothly.
I stood up and said:
“We have no choice. I’ll go.”
From the beginning, there was no one suitable to be the lure among the other dealers.
Yoo Seon-je is excluded as a typical glass cannon. Han Seo-hyeon is also excluded because his stamina is poor. Lee Hye-won is excluded because she needs to command the rest of the people.
We can’t push in the supporters either.
Only I’m left.
Han Seo-hyeon glared at me with eyes full of displeasure, but fortunately, he literally had no ‘right to speak’. I saw him writing something on a notepad, but before that, I quickly got up.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Han Seo-hyeon, who threw away what he was writing, blocked my way. Seeing him shaking his head, he seems quite serious.
“There’s no other way, Agent John.”
Han Seo-hyeon thumped the floor with his staff as if frustrated. How much is that worth? His temper is no joke, just like someone he resembles.
“It’s just luring, just luring. And if you’re worried, you can help me with sand.”
Whether Han Seo-hyeon really hates it or not, the answer was already decided.
Whew.
I headed towards the tower, seeing off the people. Nothing happened on the way to the tower.
Since I had already searched the castle and experienced the path in the key item’s illusion, I succeeded in climbing the tower at once without getting lost.
The tower was frozen solid like other places. The difference was…
—The mana concentration is exceptionally thick.
‘That’s right.’
Maybe because there’s a top-class monster nearby, the mana concentration is ridiculously high.
The top floor of the tower. I stood in front of the tightly closed ice door.
After taking a few breaths, I opened the door as it was. The door opened naturally as soon as my hand touched it. As if it had been waiting for me.
Unlike ice in other places, exceptionally transparent and sparkling ice caught my eye. The beautifully hanging white curtains and the woman closing her eyes beneath them too.
As I stepped inside, everything began to change.
Like a wave thrown into a calm water surface, the surrounding mana slowly began to change.
“Haah…”
The temperature dropped suddenly to the point where my body trembled. Frost began to form instantly on the ice that had only looked beautiful, and mana began to swirl around the woman on the bed.
In the blink of an eye, the woman was suddenly standing with her eyes open.
“Crazy.”
Like a ghost from a horror story, the woman opened her eyes in an instant. The woman who looked at me smiled just like that.
At the same time, ice spears began to fly at my body from all directions. I blocked the spears with a Shield and gathered magic power in my feet towards the window. The bars that would have originally been iron had become ice.
I threw my body and broke the window. My body tumbled down below the window. Just before hitting the ground, I called wind to slow my body’s speed.
“Ugh.”
Maybe because calling the wind was too late, impact came to my body. But I can’t hesitate while that witch is burning with anger looking down at me from up there.
Black sand appeared by my side. It was deflecting ice chunks flying at me.
“Thanks, Seo-hyeon.”
I gathered myself and immediately flew along the garden. Although all the plants that had been there had become ice, so it couldn’t be called a good path, I had to cross this way to take a shortcut.
“Ugh!”
A huge wall appeared in front of me.
I thought I had shaken her off, but not at all. Before I knew it, the ‘witch’ who had frozen this castle solid was floating in the sky. At the witch’s gesture, everything in the garden began to overturn.
Trees and flowers that had been planted in the ground collectively rose into the air.
If I hesitate here, my body will be skewered immediately.
Yikes! I kicked off the ground and floated my body into the air. As if reading my thoughts, a huge eagle made of sand appeared in front of my eyes. I got on top of the eagle.
The sand, clumped together more solidly than I thought, didn’t shake even carrying my body.
As soon as it carried me, the eagle began to advance at a tremendous speed.
“Ugh!”
Even while the eagle was flying, something kept coming from behind.
—The momentum is tremendous.
The awakened witch was terror itself.
The eagle’s flight was precarious. Because it had increased its size to carry me, it was impossible to move its body nimbly.
I turned my head back while sticking my body as close as possible to the eagle’s back.
Cold sweat ran down my back like crazy. Even though it was cold enough for breath to come out, my palms sweated from tension.
Kyaaaah!
I spread out my Shield looking at the witch screaming as if to tear my eardrums.
At that moment, I felt a huge flow of mana from behind.
I turned my head and was appalled.
All I could see in front of my eyes were countless spears shining pure white.
“Crazy.”
That ‘can’t be avoided’.
I drew mana from my bracelet. Firepower 30%. I wrapped Shield at maximum output and wrapped it again.
And following the witch’s gesture, the spears began to fall.
Dudududuk
With a fierce sound, ice spears began to stab down all over the world. The spears began to destroy everything. The beautiful garden soon became a ruin with nothing left.
The witch’s spears stabbed down on my Shield like judgment.
“Ugh.”
Although I had wrapped Shield, the destructive power was still transmitted. Flesh was pressed, bones shook. The eagle that didn’t receive my Shield took the spears directly. The sand was pierced, and pierced again.
Finally, the sand that couldn’t maintain its form scattered.
“Urgh!”
As the eagle disappeared, my body crashed into the ground. With the acceleration it had until now, my body fell scraping the ground.
I had only wrapped Shield in front. It was bare flesh that hit the ground. For a moment, pain that almost choked my breath struck my whole body. My head that hit the ground was dizzy. Piiing, tinnitus rang in my ears.
—Move!
At Ray’s words, I barely got up pushing the ground with my left arm. My whole body creaked, but I can’t stop.
As I raised my head, I saw the entrance to the banquet hall in front of me.
I’ve only come halfway.