Translator: Vine
Translated At: Nyx Scans
Chapter: 137
#137. What She Wants
2022.12.15.
"Un, nie...?"
Ayeon muttered blankly.
Yoo Hwan and Yijun, who had been facing off, also turned their heads towards that direction.
Clack—
The sound of heels drew closer.
Beyond the settling dust, black hair could be seen fluttering softly in the air.
Ayeon shouted with a little more conviction than before.
"Unnie!"
As if in response, the black shadow hidden in the thick smoke revealed itself.
Cha Eunha.
The Princess of Dark Flare.
Eunha, holding her parasol, turned her head to check her surroundings first, rather than sharing the joy of reunion.
It was to confirm whether she had really escaped.
Her black eyes, which had been scanning a wide area, now turned to her own palm.
[Due to the divine beast's request, a part of the contract's content is changed.]
[Individual re-identification complete. - Cha Eunha]
"..."
Eunha, who had been clenching and unclenching her hand, slowly blinked.
There was no change in her senses.
The cat had arbitrarily changed the contract content and returned her name to Eunha.
She hadn't confirmed whether it was temporary or permanent.
Because smashing the system barrier that surrounded the hidden field 'Stem of Circulation' was more important.
As a result, Eunha had succeeded in escaping.
Eunha, lifting her gaze from her palm, checked her surroundings once more.
The first thing that caught her eye was Ayeon, rushing towards her with tears streaming down her face, and Siwoo, who was staring blankly at this place.
Lifting her gaze a little further, she saw a goddess statue, so massive it was overwhelming.
The last thing Eunha's gaze landed on were Yoo Hwan, Yijun, and Roje, standing opposite each other under that goddess statue.
For a brief moment, Eunha seemed to have met Yijun's eyes.
"...You."
Yijun, who rarely showed any change in expression, now had a slightly... no, a quite surprised look on his face.
Eunha, who was about to move her lips to say something to him, was suddenly stopped by Ayeon, who had come right up to her.
"Unnie! What on earth happened? I thought you were really dead... No, I know that can't be true, but...!"
Ayeon, sniffling, tapped Eunha's shoulder as if complaining.
"I was so worried what would happen if something happened to you...!"
"Ayeon, there are people over there. About 40 of them. They're all unconscious. We need to move them to a safe place first."
Eunha cut off Ayeon's words and pointed in the direction she had come from.
Though she had broken the system barrier, she didn't know when it would be reset.
Ayeon, who had been half-hanging onto Eunha, glanced in the direction she had pointed and asked in a puzzled tone.
"People?"
"The unit members who were fighting the Sucker Parasites near the root. We can't just leave them like that. I don't know when the passage I opened will close."
Eunha turned her head towards Ayeon.
"Can I ask you to do it?"
Eunha's request was vague.
It was also cowardly.
It was clear she knew that if she made a request with that kind of look, it would be difficult for the other person to refuse.
'We haven't even finished sharing the emotion of our reunion yet.'
Ayeon pouted.
'Still...'
Then she faintly lifted the corners of her mouth and smiled.
Well, what if the request is vague, and what if it's cowardly.
It's my unnie.
A true partner should be able to understand even if she speaks in riddles.
"When we get back, how about Level 10 spicy chicken feet and a Disney marathon, call?"
At her question, the corners of Eunha's mouth also lifted faintly.
"Call."
Clang...
A faint metallic sound of chains clashing was heard around Ayeon.
Winding up around her body was a chain rope.
Literally, a rope made of chains.
It was usually used to bind monsters or move large spoils of war... but isn't the purpose what you make of it?
'I should get back quickly.'
I need to pick up the pace.
Ayeon pulled her baseball cap down firmly, just in case it flew off in the wind.
"Should I bring them here?"
"No. As far down as possible, so that the aftermath of this place doesn't reach. To the root area where we were at first."
...The aftermath of this place?
There were parts she didn't quite understand, but anyway, he wanted her to take them down, right?
Ayeon began to loosen her legs with a light stretch.
Eunha, watching such an Ayeon, added.
"I've made a passage leading down. You'll see it if you go a little further. ...Can you do it?"
Ugh.
Ayeon, jumping up and down on the spot, grinned, baring her teeth.
"Of course."
Whoosh—!
With those last words, Ayeon disappeared as if she were smoke.
All that remained was the faint metallic sound of clashing chains.
"...Sunbae."
After Ayeon disappeared, Siwoo approached.
His blue eyes quickly scanned her.
Only after confirming that there were no external injuries did Siwoo speak again.
"Is that true? That there are unit members over there."
"Yes."
At Eunha's answer, Siwoo turned his head to the right.
He saw the gaping hole in the inner wall.
It was where Eunha had appeared from.
Gooooo...
The large hole in the wall was faintly sucking in the air here.
The dark passage beyond it seemed to be connected to the 'Stem of Circulation' where Eunha had been trapped.
Seeing the pitch-black darkness, the length of the passage seemed considerable.
Siwoo's eyes narrowed as he examined the passage.
According to Eunha, the number of unit members who had fallen unconscious beyond was about 40.
Then, were the remaining unit members, including Trickster and Hagyun, still fighting the Sucker Parasites near the root?
Or perhaps...
"I don't know the details either. But..."
In front of Siwoo, who was imagining the worst in his head, Eunha spoke calmly.
"Thanks to being trapped there, I found out that this place is a giant tree, and that this tree is trying to use not only monsters but also hunters as nutrients."
Clack—
Eunha, who had passed Siwoo and taken a step forward, spoke lowly.
"That's why we have to end this fight quickly."
Siwoo also knew well that they had to end the fight quickly.
Not just this South Coast Gate, but any gate was like that.
It was inevitable that if the battle dragged on, it would be the living human hunters who got tired, not the monsters that were mechanically generated by the system.
"How?"
Siwoo asked.
Unlike ordinary gates, which were cleared by defeating the boss monster that appeared at a certain location or at a certain timing after defeating the mobs, Unknown Gates had no standardized method of conquest.
If they had known that, this fight would have ended long ago.
It was a great battle that encompassed all of Korea's S-Class hunters, except for Gwihoon.
—However, if it were Sunbae.
"Is there a way?"
Siwoo asked once more.
Eunha's answer, as always, came back readily, without a trace of hesitation.
"It's not much of a method. I told you. This gate is a tree."
Eunha slowly lifted her gaze.
It seemed her eyes met those of the nameless giant goddess statue.
"We just have to burn it down."
Judging by the events so far, this tree was highly likely to be using 'life' as its driving force.
Whether it was for regeneration or resuscitation, she didn't know... but either way, there was only one answer.
To burn down even that source entirely.
Fortunately, Eunha had the power to do so.
Also, she had asked Ayeon to rescue the hunters.
There were a total of five people here: Yoo Hwan, Yijun, Siwoo, Roje, and Eunha.
—Meaning, there was no need to consider the circumstances.
Fwaat!
Black flames bloomed from Eunha's shoulders.
There was no time for anyone to stop her.
It spread forward, and in all directions, without restraint.
Kwa-gwang—!
The entire field began to shake with the black flames exploding in all directions.
Her fierce and violent black flames engulfed not only this field made of a wooden structure, but also the giant goddess statue there.
Crack, crack...
Cracks began to clearly form on the goddess statue, engulfed in the black flames.
A crack that started from its forehead split the goddess's face and reached her neck.
Finally.
Thud... Kwaaang!
The goddess's head fell to the floor with a roar.
Someone shouted in a voice that seemed to be tearing.
"Ah... no!"
Swoooooosh—!
It was a split second.
From around the cracked goddess statue, countless branches shot out like spider legs.
They pierced the field's walls, ceiling, and floor like awls.
Crack!
C-crack!
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
The field began to collapse.
"Sunbae!"
Just before the ceiling collapsed, Siwoo extended his arm towards Eunha, who had been shooting black flames.
"..."
Eunha slowly looked around.
Boulders, presumed to be fragments of the goddess statue, were scattered here and there, and pieces of wood, still stained with black flames, were smoldering here and there.
The entire field they had been standing on had collapsed.
It seemed the inner wall could no longer withstand the indiscriminate destruction of the field by the black flames, and the unknown branches that had shot out from around the goddess statue.
'It doesn't matter.'
She had intended to shatter it anyway.
The fact that the space had collapsed was actually a good thing.
Next to Eunha, who had an indifferent look in her eyes, another ball of black fire appeared with a whoosh!
At that moment.
"Sunbae, are you hurt?"
A voice from the side.
It was Siwoo.
She had thought everyone had scattered when the field they were in collapsed...
Eunha, who was about to shoot up black flames, stopped her movement and glanced at him.
Siwoo was looking at Eunha with a fresh look in his eyes.
To shatter the entire gate without any warning, should she be called reckless, or bold?
Fortunately, this gate was a wooden structure.
If it had been concrete, they would all have been crushed like boiled potatoes.
The Monkey King, Maestro, and Doctor Plant, who were in the same place, would probably not have their lives in danger.
They were also S-Classes, so they had enough reflexes to dodge.
"I'm fine. But—"
Eunha's pitch-black eyes turned to Siwoo's left shoulder.
She could see dark red blood slowly spreading over his hoodie.
It seemed he had hit his shoulder hard when the field collapsed just now.
Siwoo, lightly pressing his left shoulder with his right hand, said.
"This much is nothing."
In fact, it was an injury he had sustained while blocking a fragment of the goddess statue that was falling behind Eunha, but he didn't bother to say that.
He knew.
That Sunbae could have easily dodged it.
And yet, his body had moved on its own.
This was no different from bringing trouble upon himself.
He himself found it strange.
His arms and legs, which had moved on their own even though his head understood that there was no need to throw his body to block it.
The moment he confirmed Eunha's uninjured form, his heart, as if by a lie, calmed down.
Siwoo deliberately looked elsewhere and changed the subject.
"...But I was a little surprised. I knew you said you'd burn the tree, but I never thought you'd blow away the entire field."
"I didn't intend to blow it away entirely."
Eunha added in a calm tone.
"I just wanted to confirm something."
Confirm?
Siwoo turned his gaze and looked at her.
Eunha, lightly tapping the collapsed inner wall around them with the tip of her parasol, said.
"You saw it too. Just before the field collapsed, branches shot out from the goddess statue. Look at this. Don't you think it's a bit strange for something to be destroyed simply by physical force?"
At Eunha's question, Siwoo finally scanned his surroundings carefully.
He hadn't had the time to notice, but looking around now, the collapsed form was quite systematic.
It was so intricately entangled like a maze that to say the field was simply destroyed...
"Doesn't it seem like it's deliberately blocking our view and trying to separate us?"
"...Why."
Siwoo, who had somewhat grasped what Eunha was trying to say, muttered lowly.
At that, Eunha smiled without a sound.
"There was a need to do so."
There was a need to do so?
The question that had spread in Siwoo's blue eyes soon turned into certainty.
"Sunbae, if you've noticed something, please tell me."
"The Unknown Gate we're in now, this giant tree, uses 'life' as its driving force. The field called 'Stem of Circulation' I entered through the altar was a kind of digestive organ that was absorbing living creatures as nutrients."
As if recalling the scene she had seen in the 'Stem of Circulation', Eunha gazed into the distance and continued.
"There, not only monsters but also hunters were lying there. Perhaps the 'life' of the monsters alone was not enough to maintain this giant tree. But not all the hunters there would have been recognized as monsters like me."
At Eunha's words, Siwoo was lost in thought.
If this gate itself was a living giant tree, could it be that the tree, in need of nutrients, had dragged the hunters to the vicinity of the stem?
'...No.'
While fighting the Sucker Parasites near the root for quite a long time, Siwoo had never witnessed such a scene.
Also, no related reports had come in.
If such a phenomenon had been witnessed, it would have been a hot topic in each unit long ago.
Then, had the hunters also moved to the vicinity of the stem through the giant scale 'Altar of Eternal Rest'?
That was also unlikely.
In the first place, only the five S-Classes, including Eunha and Siwoo, had entered the temple.
Among them, only Eunha, whom the system had pointed out as a monster, could cross over to the scale.
'Then...'
It was highly likely that there was another entrance leading to the stem besides that scale somewhere.
The hunters had fallen to the stem like Eunha through that entrance.
Unless the entrances leading to the stem were hidden everywhere like traps... there were two answers.
The hunters had gone there themselves,
Or someone had driven them there.
'Don't tell me what Sunbae wanted to confirm was—'
Siwoo, his eyes changed, snapped his head up.
The moment their eyes met, Eunha nodded.
"..."
"..."
Suddenly, it felt as if the surrounding air had grown cold.
If what she's saying is true... then who?
Siwoo, frozen like a stone, recalled the faces of those who had entered this place with him one by one.
However, it was impossible to remember all of the hundreds of unit members.
"...Then is that person the boss of this gate?"
Could it be that a 'real' monster in human form was mixed among us?
"I can't be sure. Their identity, their purpose, everything is uncertain for now. But..."
Eunha, trailing off, was staring intently at something.
Siwoo's blue gaze slowly followed Eunha's.
And there,
"Ah..."
He discovered Roje, with her wine-colored hair disheveled, in tattered clothes.
She too seemed to have been separated from the Monkey King when the gate collapsed.
Unlike Siwoo and Eunha, Roje's state was disastrous.
Her white gown, which was usually wrinkle-free, was riddled with holes from flying sparks, and her face, covered in black ash, as well as her trembling hands, had clear burn marks.
'Don't tell me, by Sunbae's black flame...?'
Siwoo glanced at Eunha's profile.
That couldn't be.
Sunbae could control her black flames at will.
It was impossible for her, who handled black flames as freely as her own limbs, to make a mistake in controlling them so as not to attack people.
The first thing Siwoo, who handled water and ice, had learned was 'control'.
Meaning, unless Roje had thrown herself into the black flames, there was no way the black flames would have attacked her first.
'...No.'
Siwoo, who had been continuing the assumptions in his head, soon shook his head.
Unless she was mad, there was no way she would have jumped into the blazing black flames herself.
Even if she had, Roje was Korea's top healing hunter.
There would be no reason for her to wander this ruin until she was in such a state without healing herself.
However, that assumption was soon proven wrong.
Clack—
Eunha began to walk towards Roje.
"By any chance."
Ssshhh...
As Eunha opened her palm, a bright haze of light swirled small above it.
Soon, what appeared on Eunha's palm was,
"Are you looking for this?"
A fruit with a brilliant golden light.
Siwoo, who had no way of knowing what kind of item that fruit was, or where it came from, looked at it with puzzled eyes.
Then he discovered it.
"...!"
Roje's eyes, which had widened as if they would tear.
