Chapter 379

"This place is... No, actually, what about the other kids?" I asked.

"In the middle of coming here, we decided to scatter. That bastard has his heart in several locations."

"What?"

Woo Ragi nodded, as if he understood why my eyes widened in surprise. Then, he opened his clenched hand before my eyes.

A blackened ruby sat on his palm.

"This is..."

"This is the heart that Eunji and I discovered earlier."

"Then what happened to Eunji?"

Woo Ragi's expression turned a little conflicted at my question, "She's not dead."

"What does that mean!"

"It was, for various reasons, difficult to stop the heart." With that said, Woo Ragi pointed with his jaw at the cage where Dawon-ie was trapped. "Look, that punk can't escape either."

"Then, is Eunji trapped somewhere?"

"That's not it.... In any case, she's with Jung Garam, so don't worry." Woo Ragi casually waved his hand in the direction behind me.

When I turned around, I noticed that Dawon was glaring our way, gripping onto the iron bars of the cage. Frustrated, Dawon-ie mouthed something slowly to Woo Ragi; Woo Ragi, who was listening sincerely, immediately frowned. "Damn it..."

"Hm?"

"Never mind. Hey-he's saying I should take you and get out of here."

"What? No! I want to stay with Dawon!"

"Seo Dawon's telling you to piss off."

Of course Dawon-ie probably didn't word it like that, but, seeing the Mage nod as Woo Ragi held my arm, it really did seem like he had requested for Woo Ragi to take me away.

I hurriedly tried to persuade the Swordsman, "There's not much time left in Dawon-ie's summon duration."

"It's better for him to be de-summoned-it takes quite a while to escape from there."

"...Is it a trap?"

"No. But, Seo Dawon... The fact that that bastard only noticed when he was sucked in there..." As he explained, Woo Ragi soon clammed up and pulled me into his embrace.

"W-What?"

"Quiet. I'll tell you after we leave this place." Woo Ragi lifted me up without asking for my permission. It didn't seem to take him that much effort, and I was dissatisfied with our current position-did he really need to hold me like this?

However, my dissatisfaction was immediately overshadowed when I saw the Holy Mother Statues that appeared in our area.

'What are those...'

As soon as Woo Ragi quickly hid behind a thick tree trunk, a cracked Holy Mother statue popped up. However, strangely, there was another head atop this statue's shoulders.

[Smiling and Crying Holy Mother Statue]

The name above the statue's head was different from the [Sleeping Face Holy Mother Statue]. One face was smiling until the corners of its lips distorted the expression...as if the face was forced to smile. The other-the face stuck on the back of the head-was weeping, its expression contorted into a grotesque frown.

Both faces were disgusting and unsightly. And, I don't know if it was just a trick of the light, but I thought the red letters in the Monster's name seemed thicker.

Moreover, it wasn't just the appearance that differed. The [Sleeping Face Holy Mother Statue] roamed around weaponless, but the left hand of the new statue-on the side of the smiling face-held a stone arrowhead while the right hand-on the side of the crying face-held an arrow shaft.

Woo Ragi frowned at that sight. "Haah... Looks damn nasty."

Then, he immediately summoned his [Echoblades] and flicked the shortest sword in the statue's direction.

The flying [Echoblade] penetrated through the smiling face's brow before reappearing in Woo Ragi's hand.

However, even with a quarter of its face missing, the statue quickly strung and pointed an arrow at us.

Swoosh-!

It sounded as if the arrows tore through the air as they flew in at a tremendous speed. Woo Ragi crossed his mid-sized [Echoblades] in an X-shape to block the arrows.

Clang-!

A high-pitched sound rang out-as if glass had collided with glass-as the Swordsman pushed the arrows back. However, the arrows changed direction, as if they were homing missiles, and flew back towards us. While I was astonished by their speed, Woo Ragi was already used to it and manipulated another [Echoblade] to make a floating barrier.

The arrow was stopped from reaching its final target-our backs; it hesitated before flying back into the Statue's hands.

[To give...Praise...With a.... Joyful...Heart...]

At that moment, the statue's lips parted; with a rustling voice, it began to chant something quite ominous. Realizing that the chant was a precursor to a skill, I grabbed Woo Ragi by the collar. "Be careful."

"Ha. Back at you." Snorting, Woo Ragi let go of the [Echoblades] in his hands and embraced me tightly before leaping high into the air.

As I had expected, the statue's skill had a devastating effect; the ground we were one just a while ago wobbled before vanishing. Rising into the air to avoid the skill, Woo Ragi landed on the blade of his largest [Echoblade] just before he started to descend. Then, looking down with glowing eyes, he shouted, "[Sword Meteor]."

Except for the largest blade that made Woo Ragi's foothold, the rest of the swords rained down like bamboo spears. The swords circled and rushed towards the Holy Mother statue, as if engaging in some traditional sword dance.

They truly did look like a meteor. The oncoming force was so intense that, even before the swords touched the statue, the statue's cracked surface began to split further; its shell continued to shatter and fall away.

However, the [Laughing and Crying Holy Mother Statue] merely opened its mouth as if it wasn't impacted-

[Those who... Repent...Must do so... With genuine... Tears...]

Boom-!

As soon as those words left its lips, the statue's body turned searing red; its skin turned smooth. It then received the oncoming [Echoblades] with its body.

"...It can withstand that attack?"

Though its form seemed to change as the stone that formed its body absorbed the impact, the statue, while dented in various places, did not break and held its ground.

Even as the other swords successively brushed past her, she raised both arms once again within the midst of the meteor shower. The tip of her arrow was aimed at Woo Ragi.

"You need to dodge...!" I cried out.

"No. I'm aiming for when it 'attacks.'"

"What?"

When the arrow was shot, Woo Ragi's thinnest [Echoblade] dug into the gap between the statue's two faces.

Rrriip-!

The statue split in half; pieces fell off as the stone cracked. The flying arrow began dissipating into stone powder before vanishing just before it reached us.

"Haah..." I exhaled a long breath that I had been holding in. Woo Ragi looked down at me with an exasperated expression before looking up again.

Anxiously, I followed his gaze, "Is there another?"

"There's so fucking many."

"What did you say...?"

Soon, just as Woo Ragi had said, the Holy Mother Statues began to appear, one by one.

Moreover the countless [Smiling and Crying Holy Mother Statues] in the opposing throng made me feel as if we were facing an army. The artificial, uncanny faces and their rhythmic pace were just so frightening.

I asked the Swordsman, "Damn, where on earth is Lee Seolhwa? If this continues..."

"We found Lee Seolhwa."

"What?"

"Lee Seolhwa isn't the problem. Rather, Lee Seolhwa was as good as dead in the first place." Woo Ragi opened his inventory and showed me what used to be 'Lee Seolhwa.'

I closed my eyes firmly as soon as I saw Lee Seol-hwa's drooping arm through the small opening. The smell of blood that wafted out when the inventory opened was also unbearable.

"Ah. You don't have the stomach to see this yet?" He asked.

"It's not that...! Damn. Then, was she already dead when you found her?"

"She was being drained-like she was this dungeon's battery. It's probably been a day since she lost consciousness."

"......"

"It looks like Moon Issak's work. Well... There's no way he'd be a good partner to a evil attribute User."

In other words, he used Lee Seolhwa to hide his presence and then used her as an ingredient for his dungeon when her value as a User expired.

Woo Ragi increased our altitude to put more distance between him and the statues. The [Echoblades] that were stuck in the ground rose one by one, taking their positions around him again.

After we kept our distance from the Holy Mother statues, I looked straight at Woo Ragi and asked, "Tell me clearly-did Moon Issak betray Lee Seolhwa?"

"Yeah. You probably encountered a bunch of werewolves, right?"

"Huh? Uh... No way, you met them too?"

"I did... They were... more or less fine."

"Hm?"

After such meaningless words, Woo Ragi licked his lips as if he were recalling something delicious. I was lost momentarily in his chilling gaze, but, fortunately, Woo Ragi didn't expand any further. He looked down at me and said, "After we did away with five or so of them, I found the passage that contained Lee Seolhwa. Kyung-sik-ie broke through the barrier. Though... that caused all the dummies to be blown away."

"A-Are you guys alright?"

"Dummies are like golems...It'll just cost money to make another one."

Thankfully, judging by Woo Ragi's casual words, he wasn't in pain. Relieved, I asked how Choi Kyung-sik was doing, "Then, Choi Kyung-sik is..."

"He's blocked the entrance from the outside with a golem. It'll be a problem if we're surrounded inside and outside."

I understood why the two separated for the time being-safety was important. However, there was still a lot of ambiguity regarding how the other guild members were separated from the others.

Woo Ragi must have read my unasked question from my gaze; he continued, not hiding his annoyance, "Lee Seolhwa is the idiot who designed this dungeon."

"Huh?"

"And then, knowing she lacked power, she looked for others to invest into this place. Along the way, she met Moon Issak." Then, he suddenly added, "Lee Seolhwa is in her thirties."

"Hm?" I frowned at Woo Ragi's words. Her body-which I had briefly seen earlier-was clearly wrinkled and blackened.

He nodded at my expression, "She was rapidly aging because she was tied to the core device running the dungeon-it was draining her of her magic power."

"......"

"Normally, she should have died as soon as she activated the device, but by becoming a 'werewolf,' she was able to suffer for a long time."

Only then did I understand how Moon Issak became involved in all this. "Then, Moon Issak...."

"Made her into a werewolf and then utilized her to haphazardly complete this dungeon. Then, he lured us here."

"Why did the other members of the [Sun] Guild cooperate?"

"Werewolves never die. Their base abilities are ten times higher as well. If Moon Issak truly became another species...and could share that strength with others... Don't you think many others, besides these bastards, would be willing to devote their bodies to him?"

"......" I felt a bit bitter-I recalled how, in the past, I tried everything to raise my level. Paying money and getting carried... It's not like I didn't understand the [Sun] guild's motives for cooperating with the investigator.

However, something was off.

It felt like we were missing the most important point.

"But..." I asked, "Even so, could they have accomplished all of this in a few weeks? If they've been waiting for this long..."

"Of course, there must be someone else involved as well. I'm trying to find that person now. Furthermore, the dungeon is supposed to stop the moment Lee Seolhwa dies, but it's still running."

Just then-

As soon as Woo Ragi finished speaking, something flew at us from behind at an incredibly fast speed.

Woo Ragi deftly avoided whoever it was, but he had no choice but to land on a precariously waving branch since the handle of his [Echoblade] was being dragged along.

"Woo Ragi! I really missed you."

The dual blades that attacked us were connected by a chain; flapping through the air, it was reminiscent of a black butterfly. Though I couldn't see her face clearly due to the backlight, I recognized her voice.

My heart beat like crazy.

As if my vocal chords were being squeezed and strangled, I choked out her name, "... Lim Jisoo."

"Oh my~ Are we acquaintances?" Lim Jisoo balanced a dagger on one finger as she grinned brightly.

Become a member!

TL: Enter Lim Jisoo~

This was a long-ish chapter >.<

And Ya'll have no idea how awkward I feel when I tl combat scenes. I just hope it's okay.