Chapter 62: The Cave of Trials (2)

The Cave of Trials (2)

"Ugh..." It took Seo Jun-ho great effort to open his eyes. He scratched his head and looked around. "Ah..."

His voice was hoarse from how long he'd slept. He started to remember last night.

I came to the rest room after finishing the Gravity Trial.

It had a refrigerator full of food and a bathroom with a shower booth, but he'd been so tired that he had simply gone to sleep.

"Well, at least I made it to the bed somehow." He vaguely remembered collapsing at the entrance, but seeing as how he woke up on a bed, it was probably a dream. As he looked around, his eyes landed on the Frost Queen, who had wrapped herself in tissue and was fast asleep. She let out even breaths as she slept, and for some reason, she reminded him of a hamster.

Shower first. He cleaned himself off in the bathroom. It was well-equipped with shampoo, conditioner, and even a toothbrush and toothpaste. When he came out, he found the Frost Queen sitting up with her head hunched. She still wasn't fully awake.

"Are you up?"

"You're supposed to ask... If I slept well..."

(TN: She uses a very formal/old-fashioned phrase, implying that she's above SJH in status.)

"Do you think I would?"

Seo Jun-ho smirked and took out cereal, a banana, and an apple from the refrigerator for breakfast.

"Hmmm. Is your body alright?" She seemed to be more awake now, stretching as she spoke.

"Somehow. I think I slept for twelve hours."

"You are at a healthy age, so I suppose it wasn't too much of a problem," she muttered, sounding like an old woman. She sat down in her seat on Seo Jun-ho's shoulder.

"Today will be harder than yesterday."

"As it should be. It would be quite boring if the difficulty decreased as the level increased."

Seo Jun-ho stepped out of the rest room and spoke.

"I wish to continue to the Phantom Trial."

[Level 3: The Phantom Trial will now begin.]

Woosh! The torches in the cave fizzled out along with the message. When they flickered on again, there were four figures standing in the middle of the cavern.

"Oh my. Are those not your comrades?"

"I knew it..." Seo Jun-ho bit his lower lip and looked around. His former comrades, the four heroes, surrounded him.

"Seo Jun-ho, why did you throw us away?"

"Did you want to live on by yourself?"

"You promised to come back... You said we'd meet again..."

"Traitor. Liar."

Their faces were contorted in a way he'd never seen before as insults poured out of their mouths.

"Contractor, pay them no mind. They are all..."

"I know, they're hallucinations. I know..."

Seo Jun-ho unsheathed his sword, his eyes as cold as ice.

"It feels a lot worse than I expected."

The hallucinations cursed him with the same voices, faces, and bodies as his friends.

"Those idiots. They sent me up knowing that they would die." The part that made Seo Jun-ho the most upset was the way that the hallucinations were denying his friends' resolve. "I won't let you insult them like this."

"Jun-ho. If you still think of us as your friends, you should just die."

"It's so cold here. The Frost Queen's power is still keeping us frozen."

Jun-ho. Jun-ho.

He'd wanted more than anything to hear those familiar voices again. But he ignored them all.

"Contractor, can you defeat them?"

"Yes. The Cave of Trials does not send you enemies you can't defeat." They were likely weakened to a state that he could fight them in.

There's no problem, then. Seo Jun-ho gathered his magic. He leapt off the ground and swung Black Dragon Fang. It left a jet-black afterimage as it felled the hallucinations.

"How could you?!"

"Gilbert!"

"I got it!"

At Skaya's command, Gilbert fell to the rear and took out an enormous sniper rifle. At the same time, Rahmadat Khali blocked him with his large body.

They've even got all the details down. Their tactics had been based off of his memories. Then that means...

Seo Jun-ho turned around. Tenmei Mio would take advantage of the confusion and assassinate him from behind. Her position was always the same.

Slash! A katana cut across Seo Jun-ho's forehead. If he'd been a little slower, his head would have gone flying.

Dammit, the hallucination is fucking fast. Not only that, she was using her family's sword technique, 'Tenmei-ryu', perfectly. Seo Jun-ho scowled and kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying into the cavern wall. Behind him, he heard a gunshot.

I'll die if I get hit. If he got hit by one of Gilbert's bullets, it was game over. They would be filled with magic that would make them spin and tear up his insides.

Crackle! Three ice shields formed around him at the speed of light. However, they weren't as good as the Frost Queen's. He layered them together.

And if that's the Gilbert I know... Three ice shields wouldn't be enough to block his shot. He fully expected the bullet, and it came a moment later, ripping through his shields. But it had lost most of its momentum by the time it reached him.

Slash! Seo Jun-ho swung Black Dragon Fang, cutting the bullet in half.

And right about now...

Seo Jun-ho leapt off the ground, sprinting across the cavern wall and toward the ceiling. Ivy shot out where he'd been standing.

"The bastard dodged it!"

"I got him!" Rahmadat leapt off the ground. His enormous body flew toward him in a straight line, and Seo Jun-ho frowned.

The hallucination and the real thing are the same... He was as unsophisticated as always and left his back open.

"Jun-ho, you've gotten a lot scrawnier!" Rahmadat bellowed and swung a punch at Seo Jun-ho's face.

Woosh! The air screamed as his fist came forward. If Seo Jun-ho was hit, he would be knocked out.

We can't have that. Seo Jun-ho made the darkness explode, blocking Rahmadat's sight.

"Ha! This is nothing!" His fist ripped through the air where Seo Jun-ho had been.

"I always told you, didn't I? You only ever look forward and leave your back open."

Seo Jun-ho had used Shadow Step to travel across the shadows made by the flickering torchlight and appeared behind Rahmadat. There was no way he'd let him get away. Black Dragon Fang stabbed through his back.

"Keuh!"

"Rahmadat!"

"Dammit, support him!"

Dozens of bullets and fireballs flew below him, and Seo Jun-ho swung Rahmadat's body around to use it as a shield. The gruesome sound of tearing flesh filled the air, but Rahmadat only laughed.

"Why are you using others as you please, you bastard?"

"If you don't like it, don't leave your back open."

"Since you're done using me, pay up!" Rahmadat's broken flesh mended at an unfathomable speed. He ignored the sword in his chest and reached behind him, planning to crush Seo Jun-ho's skull in his hand.

Slash! But Seo Jun-ho pulled out Black Dragon Fang and stepped out of his reach.

"Night Walking."

He became one with the darkness and melted down to the ground to check the battlefield.

"It's Night Walking."

"...Skaya, please track him."

"Don't worry, Mio. I'm already on my way."

Rahmadat had recovered from all his injuries at some point and tossed aside his blood-drenched shirt.

"He's watching and waiting for an opportunity like a rat. Get it together, everyone. Our opponent is Specter."

Seo Jun-ho was annoyed by the way they were talking 'realistically'. At that moment, the Frost Queen spoke. She'd been watching quietly the whole time.

"That muscle giant seems to have an ability that lets him heal his wounds as well as an overabundance of power."

"Yeah. That's why he's annoying to fight." In order to defeat him, Seo Jun-ho either had to land multiple hits to make him unable to regenerate, or make him use up all his magic. But that was impossible when the others would be watching so closely.

"That's why it'll be better to take care of the others first."

"An excellent choice. Then, who will you kill first?"

"Gilbert and Mio don't have good defense. If I attack them while I'm using Shadow Walking, I can start by taking one of them down."

The problem was Skaya. Most people thought that mages had low defense—and they were generally right. But when you got within a certain distance, no one was able to compare to their shields.

"Skaya protects her body with eight mana shields 24/7."

"What a nuisance. Then in what order will you take them down?"

"I'll kill Gilbert and freeze Rahmadat's body at the same time." Of course, with his strength, the ice would be broken instantly. But Seo Jun-ho thought that he could take down the other two during that short amount of time.

"It would be nice if I could use Night Walking again... But they won't give me the opportunity." They weren't the kind of people who would let him use the same trick twice. "Next time, Skaya will use her magic detection to find me. Even now, she's tracing me."

"Then that skill will be useless."

"Yeah, so I'll have to face them head-on." It would take Rahmadat around five seconds to break out of the ice and catch him. He would have to take out both Gilbert and Mio in order to win. Seo Jun-ho looked at the Frost Queen.

"The thing you showed me last time can distract Skaya and Rahmadat, right?"

"Yes, but it will consume a sizable amount of your mental power."

If his mental energy fell in the middle of battle, he would get dizzy and his movements would become sluggish. But Seo Jun-ho thought that it was worth the risk.

"It doesn't matter. Besides, it'll be more advantageous for me if this drags out."

Rahmadat had regeneration, stamina, and destructive power.

Skaya had a seemingly endless amount of magic and wisdom.

Meanwhile, Gilbert had his focus, and Mio had her composure.

For them, a dragged-out battle was suicide.

"How many seconds do you think you can buy?"

"......" The Frost Queen pouted and muttered her answer, clearly displeased. "Thirty seconds..."

"Are you sure? Even if they're weakened, they shouldn't be underestimated."

"Sometimes I feel as if you forget who I am." She muttered something about her desolate circumstance and slowly raised her hand. She looked up at Seo Jun-ho. "Do not worry about me and concentrate on your own role."

"Use as much as you want, so just hold out for thirty seconds."

"Gladly." The Frost Queen looked forward and held out her hand. "My soldiers! Arise from the cold earth and fell your enemies!"

"Keuk...!" As she cried out, he felt a stinging in his head. It was similar to a brain freeze after eating ice cream too quickly.

But... That's not bad.

Frost energy filled the cavern, and ice golems were created. They looked big enough to overpower Rahmadat.

"What are those?"

"Be careful! Specter is using a new ability!" The hallucinations' attention turned to the golems, and Seo Jun-ho took the opportunity to launch his attack.

I can't do this again. Even if they were hallucinations, he was killing the figures of his friends. He didn't want to go through this again.

"Guh...?" Seo Jun-ho used Night Walking to quietly appear behind Gilbert and stab his heart. The cold feeling seeped into his chest, and Gilbert realized that he was dying. He knew that he didn't have much time left and reached over his waist.

Tch... They got all the unnecessary details down.

Gilbert grabbed the revolver from his belt, blood dripping from his mouth. With the last of his strength, he pushed his body back.

"Gah!" Seo Jun-ho's back slammed into the cavern wall. Click! Gilbert loaded the bullet and pressed the muzzle to Seo Jun-ho's chin.

"You won't... be able to dodge this."

Gilbert had always been tenacious. If he was gonna go down, he would take his enemy with him. He pulled the trigger.

Click! Click!

No bullet came.

"......?" Shocked, Gilbert quickly checked his revolver. The barrel had frozen over, blocking the bullet from exiting.

Slash! Seo Jun-ho took the opportunity to twist his sword inside Gilbert's chest.

"Keuk!" Blood poured from his mouth, and his body started to crumble.

I can't stop. Seo Jun-ho didn't give the crumbling hallucination a second glance and held out his hand.

Crackle! Frost energy shot out toward Rahmadat, freezing his enormous body.

"Let me go, you bastard!!!" His bellow resonated and shook the cave, shattering the ice that covered his body.

"That crazy... He broke the ice with his roar?" Seo Jun-ho's face fell. He crouched his stance, preparing to face Rahmadat.

"Contractor! Don't mind him and do what you have to!" Four golems attacked Rahmadat and Skaya, slowing them down.

"Nice! Just a bit more!" Seo Jun-ho shouted. He quickly turned around, sensing something ominous.

Only

"......"

Mio stood behind him, gripping her katana. There should not have been any wind in the cave, but her ponytail swayed.

She's angry. She was quiet and composed most of the time, but her anger was terrifying. A wild storm of magic surrounded her. His hair stood on end as he faced her.

"The fucking Cave of Trials... Are you sure I can defeat them?"