[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 63: Personality Test (3)
"Eunho! Are you sure you’ll be okay alone? It looks way too dangerous!"
"Ah, can’t you not go, hyung? I wish I could go in with you..."
"Don’t worry. If it looks dangerous, I’ll come back right away."
How to deal with a snake like an Imugi.
It won’t be easy, but it won’t be impossible either.
It must have a weakness, though I don’t know what it is yet.
Step, step.
I sharply observed the pale creature and took a step forward.
At that moment.
[The player cooperating with 'Lee Eunho' is...]
'What?'
The broadcast I thought had ended continued.
[The selected player is 'Cha Jinsol.']
"What? Huh?!"
"Cha, Cha Jinsol! It’s you!"
"Ah, damn it..."
Assigning us to partners neither of us wanted.
[First player selection is complete.]
[Please enter the arena!]
That’s how the third-ranking observer mission competitor, a blonde-haired individual, was pushed next to me in haste.
The sight of them limping, their legs covered in tattoos of black butterflies and dense writing, caught my eye.
"What do we do?! You’re still far from fully recovered...!"
"Damn, of all times..."
The lens revealed their health barely exceeding 70%.
The gunshot wound they’d sustained from being deflected by the guard’s shield hadn’t fully healed.
【The 'Prince of the Investigation Bureau' asks who the limping person is.】
【The ‘Raven of the Administration Bureau' clicks their tongue, saying the individual isn’t fit to be taken in as a new subordinate.】
It wasn’t just the observers who were baffled by this sudden team event.
Though their reasons were entirely different.
[The time limit is 10 minutes.]
[Defeat the White Snake and survive!]
['Cooperation' mission begins!]
Following the next announcement, the blonde-haired individual grumbled and approached me.
"Fuck, what are we supposed to cooperate on?"
I was wondering the same thing.
How were we supposed to cooperate?
Especially when one of us wasn’t even in good shape.
Step, step.
Even so, I followed the system's guidance.
And so did they.
Together, we approached the transparent funnel where a White Snake—both cloud-like and sky-like—rested its coiled body.
Standing before the pillar holding it aloft.
"Are we supposed to go in there?"
"Probably."
A square entrance replaced what would have been a door.
As we passed through and entered the pillar, we saw it.
Ssssshhh...
The slowly writhing White Snake loomed above, almost covering the sky.
My heart pounded as if it might come crashing down at any moment, but now wasn’t the time to fight.
First, I need to assess the situation.
I needed to find the snake’s weakness and any advantages I could use here.
Determined, I forced myself to look down.
Then, I noticed a table and two chairs that had been there all along, along with various patterns decorating the glass-like walls of the pillar.
Sparkle!
The sunlight pouring in from outside made the walls glimmer.
From a distance, I thought they were smooth, transparent glass walls.
But now...
‘Are these carvings?’
Various patterns were embossed from eye level to the floor.
The head of a snake sticking out its split tongue menacingly.
Endless, overlapping snakeine bodies.
And in between them, brick-like blocks protruding like markers.
‘It’s cold.’
Was it the chill of the countless, cold snake tongues surrounding me?
Or was it the massive snake coiled above that gave me goosebumps?
The eerie and surreal atmosphere overwhelmed me.
Only after noticing the sweat in my palm and wiping it on my pants did I manage to regain my composure.
—Fwoooosh!
The air changed.
"Uh... isn’t it kind of hot?"
The blonde was right.
The suddenly humid air wrapping around my skin was noticeable.
No one had taken any action, yet.
Caught between confusion and unease, I quickly looked up.
Splash!
Water pooled at our feet.
"Huh? Where did this water suddenly come from?"
"Wait a minute."
Then came a faint sense of unease.
"There were definitely carvings here earlier..."
"Huh? Seriously! They were here just now, right? Am I seeing things?"
No, I wasn’t.
The sudden heat in the cold room.
The missing carvings.
The water pooling at our feet.
This was...
"It melted."
"Melted? What did?"
"Ice carvings!"
The ice carvings embedded in the pillar had melted and disappeared.
And—
"Look. It’s coming down..."
"...?!"
The block adorned with intricate patterns was slowly descending, unable to bear its own weight.
A space below deep enough to fit two people.
Creak!
The heavy stone scraped against itself as it moved.
The sensation of a monstrous presence writhing above made my hair stand on end.
No way.
It couldn’t be.
It shouldn’t be.
Even as I told myself that, I quietly summoned my blade.
With that, the blonde-haired man yelled, “Summon!”
He pulled out a palm-sized needle, the kind a tattoo artist might use.
And then—
“...?!”
He stabbed it into the invisible wall, carving out lines.
Jab!
The needle pierced.
Screech!
He etched a large circle bigger than his head, followed by two straight lines resembling legs.
From there, he extended curved lines outward to the left and right.
【'Prince of the Investigation Bureau' nodded, acknowledging that the 13th District indeed had many artists, as rumored.】
【'The Raven of the Administration Bureau' suggested that if a man were to accomplish great feats, he'd need artists to glorify those achievements, proposing to keep them alive.】
【'Night Owl of the Audit Bureau' quipped, asking if he was painting a self-portrait.】
"No, this is...."
Creak! Creak!
Sweat trickled down the figure's forehead.
It resembled the ice that had melted earlier, dissolving under the heat emitted by its own body.
After some time had passed—
"Manifestation!"
With those words, spoken confidently by the man that had drained all its energy—
Boom!
"!!"
A sculpture emerged.
Swinging its arm, which extended down to its ankles.
"A gorilla...?"
It was alive.
No, it had been brought to life.
By the man’s drawing and skill.
【'Night Owl of the Audit Bureau' gasped, exclaiming that the self-portrait had come alive!】
"Make it lift this! Quickly!"
Following the blonde man's instructions, the gorilla raised its arms and placed the block onto its hands.
It was a plan to have the gorilla hold the block and escape in the meantime.
A clever strategy, except—
"...It doesn't look like it'll hold up."
—Swish, tap! Swish, tap!
From here to the exit, it was about 20 steps at the figure's stride.
At least 30 seconds.
But the gorilla created by the figure was already trembling in its arms.
Indeed, it was an impressive skill, but....
"I'm out of here!"
Not quite there yet.
"Fight or die, do whatever y—huh...?!"
The blonde man's sentence trailed off mid-word.
Creak! Crackle!
The glass gorilla started to crack from its arm and collapsed into shards.
"Fuck!!"
And he immediately turned back and ran, his steps uneven.
However—
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The exit had already shut.
Shhhhhh—
And the ceiling opened wide.
Three seconds.
That's how long it took for a pure white snake to notice the opened space, slither down the wall, and stop in front of the blonde man, raising its head.
"S-Summon! Aaaargh!!"
The blonde man quickly drew a spear as tall as himself and thrust it at the snake.
Then—
Fsst!
A thin line was drawn across the snake's white skin.
A faintly murky white line.
It meant the attack connected but didn’t draw blood.
'Its defense is too high.'
「99.9%」
'Its health barely decreased... Wait, huh?'
「100%」
It hadn't just barely decreased—
'It regenerated?'
"What the hell is this thing?! The wound just healed instantly!"
Sigh.
It made sense now how a mission with so many people could revolve around a single monster.
"They put something unkillable in here."
"Then what do we do?! We can't run, and...!"
If its regeneration made regular attacks useless, there were only two options:
'Stop its regeneration or overpower it so much that regeneration doesn’t matter.'
Think, think, think.
There had to be a good method...
As I looked around—
'Aha!'
There was.
A way that could only work on this creature.
More specifically—
'Winning without fighting.'
"Aaaaaaah! Save me!"
The blonde man tried to use his skill again, holding a needle, but tripped and fell on his rear as the snake lunged at his wrist, jaws wide open.
It was impossible.
How could one think of drawing a picture while an enemy flicked its tongue right in front of them?
"Jinsol! Aaaaah!"
The shriek from the girl pierced the ears, louder than the blonde man's screams.
The friend, who had been watching from outside, was now panicking more than anyone.
The woman clad in a leather skirt, her body covered in tattoos like the rest, had rushed up to the transparent wall.
"Eunho! Be careful!"
The worry-stricken Jieun also cried out from behind her.
So—
"Save me! Aaaaaah!"
Watching the flailing blonde man, he turned to the two women.
"Well, I’ll just go save him quickly."
"Jinsol! Jinsol... huh?"
"...Alright! Eunho!"
Leaving the frantic woman and Jieun, who was still looking at me with a mix of faith and anxiety—
Shhhhhh—!
I charged.
Straight toward the snake, which had opened its jaws wide as if inviting me to try.
"Sword Wind!"
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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