Chapter 35 (2/2)
'Should I let her be?' (Seol)
Seol deliberated, before slowly shaking his head. It could have been nothing, but nonetheless, he remained worried. Back then, wasn't Kahng Seok also glowing in the yellowish hue? At a bare minimum, some preparation might be in order, he figured.
Seol helped each of the trio to complete their first missions, and then, unbeknownst to everyone, called Hyun Sahng-Min over for a chat.
[Breakthrough (Remaining number of attempts: 10/10)]
Break through the attacks of a Sprite, cross a bridge, and secure a bridgehead!
Difficulty: Very Hard
When successful: +60,000 SP
When unsuccessful: Death
*Cooperation possible (up to 6 people)
After Seol joined her team, Delphine and her teammates were able to cleanly sweep away every mission they encountered. Eventually, they decided to take on the most challenging mission available within 'Very Hard' difficulty. And, for the first time, they almost ended up losing one of their numbers.
A Sprite was a demonic fairy-like humanoid creature that was covered in a dress made out of gra.s.s. It was about half as tall as an adult human female, with several pairs of dragonfly-like wings coming out from its back.
Its outer appearance was quite stunningly beautiful, but as soon as the battle commenced, the team got to experience firsthand how plainly cruel and sinister this creature was.
One of the most irritating things about this monster was that it did not reveal its form and poured out long distance attacks non-stop from the other side of the bridge.
Three, four such attacks wouldn't have gotten on the team's nerves as much. However, projectiles resembling bolts and arrows rained down on the team constantly, and to make matters worse, the Sprite even knew how to cast a wind magic that was almost a carbon copy of the tornado spell Delphine used every now and then. h.e.l.l, this abominable thing even used javelins as projectiles by launching them off several ballistas.
And to confound the matters even further, several obstacles and blockades were placed on top of the bridge itself in a zigzag pattern, making it even more infuriating to traverse it.
They chose to go with the tactic where they relied on the protection provided by Priest's Barrier and inched forward, while getting rid of the obstacles on the bridge one at a time.
However, in the middle of doing exactly that, the Barrier shattered, bringing forth a dangerous situation for the team. Hao Win was ready for this eventuality, so he used his ma.s.sive s.h.i.+eld to guard the others, but he got swept away and fell down after the Sprite used that aforementioned powerful wind magic.
Seol and Tong Chai stepped forward to rescue Hao Win, while Leorda Salvatore speedily brought up the rear. The latter man's aim was to divert aggro the three men ahead of him had attracted, even if it was only by a little bit. He was also thinking of sniping the enemy across the bridge if he found an opening as well.
Leorda used his amazing agility to climb over obstacles, only for a long javelin to fly out of a ballista and lodge itself in his stomach. By this time, Seol had successfully pulled Hao Win out of immediate danger and was free; the youth quickly rushed over and dragged the grievously wounded Leorda into safety.
Leorda's injury was quite serious; the whites of his eyes were showing as his body shook hard from the shock. Delphine poured a vial of very expensive healing potion she bought just in case on his wounds. If it weren't for his two layers of armour absorbing some of the force, even the healing magic of the Priest wouldn't have been enough to save his life.
Things seemed to have reached a stalemate of sorts, but then, quite unexpectedly, Seol found a path to victory - he used the spell b.a.l.l.s he'd been saving for a rainy day. The first one he used was 'Poison Fog'; out of six remaining b.a.l.l.s, he threw three of them at the opposing camp, and sure enough, a big commotion rose up from there.
And that short opening was their first and only opportunity to act. The team quickly checked their gear and made a run for it, and somehow crossed the bridge just in the nick of time.
It was a battle where they got lucky since no one considered the possibility that the Sprite could be weak against poison-type attacks.
Leorda gritted his teeth as he ran over to the coughing and wheezing Sprite, keeled over next to a small ballista.
While grabbing the creature, he asked the others to delay the completion of the mission for a minute or two, so he could get his revenge. Then, he proceeded to tie the creature up tightly on the ballista.
While watching Leorda slap around the cheeks of the monster, then do a several angry roundhouse kick to its belly, Seol was overcome with a strange sense of deja vu.
”G.o.dd*mn it. We almost got done in, didn't we?” (Hao Win)
Hao Win walked with a limp as he plopped down next to Seol.
”We got careless; our preparation wasn't enough.” (Odelette Delphine)
Odelette Delphine's expression was also dark.
”Right. We thought we were ready with what we had since there wasn't much info provided on the mission, but h.e.l.l, reality nearly proved to be anything but.” (Hao Win)
”I think it's better for me to learn a couple of defensive spells, just in case. I thought it'd be enough for me to invest in attack magic spells only since we have a Priest among us…” (Odelette Delphine)
Delphine's shoulders shrunk. She still couldn't forget the sight of her flames from the fire magic she worked so hard to cast scatter away so easily by the Sprite's wind magic.
”That might be a good idea. Casting Barriers in turn could make our lives a little bit more easier.” (Hao Win)
Hao Win agreed with her a.s.sessment.
”I should swap all my armours to metal ones, while we're at it. Since I've got enough points to burn, I might as well get a couple of larger and stronger s.h.i.+elds, too.” (Hao Win)
”You want to buy two s.h.i.+elds?” (Seol)
”Well, there's no helping it. I mean, the main objective of this mission is to cross this bridge as safely as possible, after all.” (Hao Win)
What Hao Win said made certain sense; the Sprite was quite strong when it came to long distance attacks, but the battle itself became more or less manageable once the team got close enough to the monster.
”Indeed. Crossing the bridge was nonsensically difficult, but in reality, we only have to make sure that Seol gets to the other side safe and sound, am I wrong?” (Tong Chai)
”But, that might not be the case, though. I think the reason why the close quarters fight ended up being easier than expected could be due to the poison.” (Odelette Delphine)
At Tong Chai's agreement, Odelette Delphine raised her counterpoint.
”Hmm…. Do you have anymore of those spell b.a.l.l.s left?” (Hao Win)
”I have three remaining, but none of them are Poison Fog.” (Seol)
Seol shook his head regretfully.
”That means, there's another thing I gotta worry about now. And, I can only learn a poison-type spell when I reach level 2, you know….” (Odelette Delphine)
Delphine spoke in a worried voice, before licking her lips.
”For now, let's end today's mission here. Let's sufficiently strengthen ourselves at the stores and try this again tomorrow. Since now we know what to expect, it won't be hard to figure out what to get for ourselves, no?” (Hao Win)
In the middle of the team discussing changes to their battle tactic, a loud scream exploded out behind them. The tied-up Sprite was shrieking out and desperately putting up a struggle. Seeing this, Tong Chai raised his hand to cheer Leorda on.
”More! Show that thing who's the boss!” (Tong Chai)
”Don't you worry! I'll definitely make her suffer!!” (Leorda)
Leorda shouted out while not even bothering to look back, before proceeding to rip the wings of the Sprite in quite a violent manner. Seol thought that he must be incensed about almost getting killed, even now.
”Okay, cool. Great. Well, let's end our self-reflection around here.” (Hao Win)
Hao Win cleared his throat with a fake cough and began grinning slightly while looking at Seol.
”Your friend, how is it going nowadays?” (Hao Win)
Seol was in the middle of wondering what he should buy next and was caught off guard. His eyes widened in confusion.
”Oh, my, my, my. Why are you playing possum all of a sudden? Leorda might take his sweet time over there, so, in the meantime, why not tell us what happened so far? How far have you gone?” (Hao Win)
”How far did I go where now?” (Seol)
”You're now pretending to not understand me? Look here, my man. As a person who aided you, I have every right to hear the progress made in your current state of romantic affairs.” (Hao Win)
”My romantic affairs…. By any chance, are you talking about Miss Yun Seo-Rah?” (Seol)
”That's right! That la.s.s!” (Hao Win)
Hao Win grinned in a lewd and suspicious manner as he puckered his lips.
”So, like, at a bare minimum, you've already done slurpppp~, right?” (Hao Win)
”S, slurp…?! You mean, a k, kiss?” (Seol)
”Aigoo, would you listen to this thick-headed guy?” (Hao Win)
Hao Win spat out a groan, and then….
”That is smooch~, and I'm talking about slurppp~. Slurppp~!!” (Hao Win)
….Then, he pointed at Odelette Delphine's b.o.o.bs and spoke, before going 'Ohh!'
”Ahh, could it be that you're not into them 'rolling hills'? Then, maybe, you're more into the succulent 'delta', instead? So, is it more like, chomp, chomp, glug, glug?” (Hao Win)
When Hao Win began swirling his tongue around in a clearly lewd manner, Seol hurriedly covered the older man's mouth and sneaked a glance over at Odelette Delphine. There was every reason to think that she'd find this whole conversation displeasing.
”What are you guys talking about? What is it? Please let me in on it!” (Odelette Delphine)
However, the serious girl of a few moments ago was nowhere to be seen now, after she reverted back to being a sparkly-eyed teenager.
”M, Miss Delphine….” (Seol)
”I might not look it, but I'm pretty quick on the uptake, you know. So please hurry up with the story!” (Odelette Delphine)
Delphine dragged her b.u.t.t closer to sit near Seol and Hao Win.
Seol smacked his lips. Actually, he was worried about a couple of things and wouldn't mind discussing them with others.
”The thing is…. Miss Yun Seo-Rah became a bit strange ever since that afternoon….” (Seol)
”How so?” (Hao Win)
”This one time, I woke up in the morning to find her sleeping in my arms.” (Seol)
”Keuh!”
Hao Win let out an exclamation of admiration.
”And so? What happened next?” (Odelette Delphine)
Odelette Delphine snorted in excitement.
”I thought it was just her strange sleeping habit, so I took her back to her bed.” (Seol)
”What the h.e.l.l? What's the matter with you? A man should know when to push someone down!” (Hao Win)
”He's right, you know? I also don't like a vanilla guy.” (Odelette Delphine)
”N, no. That's not it…. Cough. In any case, I slept on the couch the following evening. Then, I woke up to find her sleeping soundly on top of me….” (Seol)
”Yup, it's happening. It's definitely happening.” (Hao Win)
”Don't tell me you put her back in her bed again. If you did so, I'm gonna go around telling everyone that you're gay.” (Odelette Delphine)
'What's the matter with these two?!' (Seol)
What with them adding unnecessary 'cheers' every time he tried to say something, Seol was rapidly losing his motivation to talk. He even thought he was a fool, trying to discuss his worries with these people.
”It's like a romance novel!” (Tong Chai)
Tong Chai exploded in a fit of loud laughter.
”I guess it does sound like that.” (Seol)
Seol grinned slightly, thinking to himself that at least he found someone who was more or less normal.
”And so? What happened next?” (Tong Chai)
”Pardon?” (Seol)
”Why are you trying to mumble your way out of this one? You started telling us the story, so naturally, you should get to the end.” (Tong Chai)
'Even this guy….' (Seol)
Seol stared at Tong Chai with a pair of totally dumbfounded eyes, prompting the latter man to issue a long sigh.
”Really now. You truly know how to build up antic.i.p.ation, don't you? Fine, I understand. I'll pay.” (Tong Chai)
”You should be honoured, because I've never spent my own dime on something like this.” (Tong Chai)
Before Seol could ask Tong Chai what he was talking about, the youth was interrupted by an alert announcing that 100 Survival Points had been accredited to his tally.
”I'm sure that's enough, no? Well, then. Please, I'm anxious to find out what happened next, so tell us. It is a lot more interesting than I thought at first.” (Tong Chai)
”…..Mister Tong Chai. I gotta ask, why did you give me your points?” (Seol)
When he was asked, Tong Chai removed his turban and nonchalantly replied.
Seol forgot what he wanted to say.
<. 35.=”” to=”” paradise=”” (1)=””> Fin.