“Oh no!”
The instant Han Jaeyeong realized the fog was rushing toward them, they immediately activated the armor wrapped around their body. A barrier designed to counter offensive magic sprang into place. At the same time, Han Jaeyeong quickly scattered fairy wing powder from a pouch at their waist in all directions, suspecting the possibility of a poisonous agent.
But—
Whooosh!
As if mocking Han Jaeyeong’s efforts, the black fog swept straight through the three of them, completely unaffected by the barrier.
Not magic…and not poison either?
And in fact, after the black fog brushed past them once, nothing seemed to have changed at all. The three of them looked at one another and blinked.
“What was that just now…?”
“Judging by how neither the armor nor the fairy powder reacted, it doesn’t seem like it was an attack…”
Given how far outside the norm this dungeon already was, they couldn’t be sure of anything. It was frustrating on every level.
Jeong Daon frowned. “For now, let’s get inside that inner keep—”
“No, before that. Yu Hanul, what was that thing you just said? What was that about ‘Her Highness the Princess’?”
“Huh?” Yu Hanul stared at Han Jaeyeong blankly, as if they were talking nonsense. “Her Highness…the Princess?”
He genuinely seemed to have no idea what he’d just said. Whatever this was, it wasn’t a normal reaction. Watching Yu Hanul blink innocently like a docile calf, Han Jaeyeong was left speechless.
“What is wrong with you? You just—”
“…Han Jaeyeong, wait,” Jeong Daon whispered quietly to them. “It looks like he was hit by some kind of mental attack and got confused. Let’s not provoke him unnecessarily.”
“But his mana flow is normal. And we can’t proceed with the raid unless Yu Hanul returns to normal.”
“What does his mental state have to do with it? He just needs to swing his sword.”
“How can you even say that?!”
Han Jaeyeong stared at Jeong Daon in shock. She’d been saying outrageous things nonstop for a while now. Any thought that there might be some kind of romantic connection between the two of them was clearly a misunderstanding.
“There’s something more important than Yu Hanul’s nonsense. Look over there.” Jeong Daon pointed toward the inner castle. “The mana flow stopped.”
“Now that you mention it…!”
Between Yu Hanul’s strange behavior and trying to determine whether they’d been attacked, it had taken them too long to notice. Just as Jeong Daon said, the flow that had been mercilessly sucking in ambient mana like a black hole vanished after the black fog passed through.
Han Jaeyeong, who had assumed the monster entrenched in the inner keep was drawing in surrounding mana, found this development unsettling.
“Did the monster stop absorbing mana? But if so, why?”
“I think this barrier is—ah!” Jeong Daon let out a short cry.
Thunk!
A small stone had come flying toward them. However, before it could hit Jeong Daon, it struck a shield Yu Hanul raised with lightning speed and bounced away. Yu Hanul turned to look at her. “Are you unharmed, Your Highness?”
“I’m more worried about your head than mine.”
Granted, it was nonsense, but that was a remarkably sharp remark to make to the knight who had just blocked a projectile for her.
Han Jaeyeong shook their head and turned their gaze away. The one who had just thrown the stone at Jeong Daon was…
“Get the hell out of here!”
A boy was clutching a fistful of stones, his face flushed bright red with anger. He looked to be in his mid to late teens.
Thunk!
“Our village doesn’t allow outsiders! Don’t come in!”
With open hostility, the boy kept hurling stones at them. Every single one was blocked by Yu Hanul’s shield, but Han Jaeyeong found the situation baffling rather than threatening.
“Hey, stop it. We’re just—”
“I said get out! This isn’t a place for outsiders like you!”
“There’s been a misunderstanding—”
"Damn it!"
After throwing every last stone he had, the boy spun around to run. But before he could take more than a step, Han Jaeyeong strode forward and grabbed him.
Thud!
They seized both of his arms and forced him to the ground, pinning him down. The boy let out a shrill scream, “Aaagh! That hurts! It hurts!”
“You’re really making me feel like the villain here… Look, let’s just talk for a second.”
“Talk about what?! I told you to get out! Our village is—”
“Then where exactly is this ‘village’ you keep talking about?”
Aside from the inner castle, all Han Jaeyeong could see was a desolate ruin, barren beyond belief. Yet the boy replied in an incredulous tone, “What are you talking about? This is our village.”
“What does that even—”
“Han Jaeyeong.” Jeong Daon, who had approached while they weren’t looking, tapped Han Jaeyeong lightly. “Look up.”
“…What?”
Having been focused on restraining the boy, Han Jaeyeong hadn’t taken in their surroundings. When they raised their head, they froze.
Jeong Daon spoke bitterly. “I think we’ve been had.”
Inside the walls, what had looked like nothing but ruins moments ago, everything had changed. The fountain was still dry and pitiful, but the desolation was gone. Small houses now lined the area. There weren’t many of them, but it was nothing like the abandoned ruin that had shown no sign of life at all.
Just as the boy had said, this was a village where people lived, utterly different from what Han Jaeyeong had been seeing moments earlier. They felt their blood run cold.
So there was another barrier hidden inside the illusion magic…
The black fog that had swept over the three of them earlier must have dragged them into yet another barrier, revealing a landscape that hadn’t existed in their sight before.
If that’s the case, were these barriers created to protect the village? But then what about the monster that was absorbing mana…?
“What’s going on?”
“Why is it so noisy?”
Perhaps drawn by the commotion, murmurs and movement arose throughout the village.
The boy struggling on the ground thrashed wildly. “Let go of me! If everyone gathers, you’re dead—ngh!”
“What’s all this ruckus— Wait, Jax!” A middle-aged woman burst out of a house, broom in hand, her eyes widening in shock. “O-outsiders! Everyone, come out! Jax has been caught!”
“Outsiders?!”
“What happened to Jax?”
Crash, bang!
Startled by her shout, villagers rushed out of their homes one after another. They were carrying whatever could serve as a weapon—farm tools, clubs—and their faces were filled with the same suspicion as the boy’s.
The boy Han Jaeyeong was holding, Jax, struggled smugly. “See? Hurry up and let me go! People like you don’t stand a chance!”
To be honest, Han Jaeyeong was flustered. It wasn’t that Jax’s threats frightened them. What unsettled Han Jaeyeong was—
“There’s no way we’d let you go in a situation like this. Who are you people?”
“Ack!”
“H-Hunter Jeong Daon!”
Jeong Daon shoved Han Jaeyeong aside and took hold of Jax herself. She slammed him back to the ground, seized him by the head, and forced him to look up, while stepping squarely on his back. To anyone watching, it looked exactly like the interrogation of a prisoner.
“Good heavens! Jax!”
“Let Jax go!”
The villagers who witnessed the scene were visibly shaken, so was Han Jaeyeong. Of course, there was no intention of releasing a captive in a situation like this, but wasn’t this a bit
too
villainous?
Han Jaeyeong turned to Yu Hanul. “What’s with her all of a sudden? Stop her!”
“…Her Highness must have her reasons.”
“Ugh, my fairy wings are going to fall off from stress.”
One of them was acting like a full-on villain, and the other was spouting nonsense as if he’d been hit by a spell. It was enough to make anyone lose their mind.
“D-damn it. What do we do?”
“Rush them all at once! They don’t look that strong!”
Just as the standoff between the villagers and Jeong Daon was about to escalate, a stern voice rang out.
“Enough, all of you!”
An elderly man with a long white beard and a stooped back pushed his way through the crowd. At once, everyone began appealing to him.
“Village Chief!”
“Chief, the outsiders grabbed Jax—”
“I said enough! Put your weapons down. What do you think you can accomplish with those?”
“But—”
“Hey!”
“…Yes, sir.”
Though dissatisfied, the villagers lowered their weapons at the village chief’s command. He clearly held authority among them.
“Hm. It seems we have been discourteous,” the chief said, looking back and forth between Jeong Daon and Jax. “We will not attack any further, so please be at ease. And the child you’ve captured…is still young. He must have panicked upon seeing outsiders. I will apologize for his rudeness. Please release Jax. I guarantee your safety.”
Jeong Daon’s eyebrow twitched. “Why should I? He doesn’t look that young.”
Which, honestly, was true. Even if he was a boy, he looked about the same age as Jeong Daon.
“And even if he were younger, that doesn’t excuse throwing stones at people. An apology doesn’t mean I have to accept it.”
That was also perfectly reasonable.
“I’m not that nice a person.”
That
part especially rang true.
Han Jaeyeong found themself nodding in agreement without realizing it. Meanwhile, the village chief’s expression darkened. He seemed to realize Jeong Daon would not be an easy opponent.
“What would you gain from killing Jax?” the chief pressed. “If Jax dies, we would have no reason, or ability, to tell you anything.”
“As if that were a problem.”
Crackle!
“Aaah!”
A woman who had been creeping forward with a farm tool recoiled in shock. A fierce flame flared to life in midair, intense enough to incinerate a body whole.
Jeong Daon’s face flickered ominously in the firelight. Her normally expressionless, almost inhuman features looked even more so under the dancing shadows of flame. “And how far do you think I’m willing to go?”
“…A mage, then,” the elderly chief murmured, stroking his beard. “I concede that you are indeed a rare kind of outsider. However…whatever it is you want, there is nothing of value here. And even if you were to take something, we lack the power to stop you. In other words, there’s no need for us to stand opposed like this. So please, return this powerless old man’s kin unharmed.”
Jeong Daon stared at him in silence. Then—
“Eek!”
The moment Jeong Daon released him, Jax scrambled to his feet and vanished into the crowd of villagers. The chief bowed deeply.
“My thanks. Let us discuss the rest among ourselves. Now, everyone, return to your homes!”
“Chief!”
“Now!”
At his command, the villagers hesitated, then gradually dispersed, heading back to their houses one by one. In the chief’s position, Han Jaeyeong would have done the same. After all, anyone could see that the villagers were ordinary people. No matter their numbers, they had no chance against a mage who could conjure flames from thin air or against the swordsman standing firm like a mountain behind a raised shield. Even as the villagers withdrew, Yu Hanul did not lower the shield he’d placed in front of Jeong Daon.
As Jeong Daon watched the villagers reluctantly return to their homes, she whispered quietly to Han Jaeyeong, “I detected mana through the contact.”
“…What? Oh, so that was your intention. But why didn’t you have me do it instead—”
“There was a chance it could be purified just by letting you leak mana.”
“Ah, that makes sense!” Han Jaeyeong let out a small gasp.
…True, Jeong Daon wasn’t exactly kind by nature. But Han Jaeyeong knew she wasn’t someone who ignored or tormented the weak either. That was why her acting like a villain toward ordinary villagers had been so baffling. Now, with that explanation, it all made sense.
Jeong Daon frowned. “What do you mean, ‘that makes sense’? What exactly do you think of me…?”
“So, what was the result?”
“If things are as we expected… then they’re exactly as we feared.”
“Don’t tell me…”
Jeong Daon nodded. “Everyone you see here is part of the main body that’s been absorbing the mana in this area.”
The moment she said it, the system message delivered its verdict.
The system has detected the presence of a monster.
Monster: Lifeless Idol (Rank A)