The objective was to kill the boss Magical Beast of the Final Stage.
In other words, the Sasikju Queen.
A contribution requirement of fifty percent probably meant I had to bring her at least halfway to death through my own power.
I had expected as much, so I was confident.
As long as I moved together with Baek Sayoung, the protagonist who defeated the queen in the original story.
“So we’ve agreed that you’ll borro—…… I mean, borrow it, correct? Then let’s get moving. We need to hurry if we want to catch up with the teams ahead. Youngji?”
“Y-yes. I’ll guide you.”
Once again, Min Youngji took the lead as our guide, with Joo Arin supporting her from behind.
I approached Kang Cheolmin, who was trudging ahead, and whispered quietly.
“This sword. What effect does it have?”
“……It assists with Aura activation.”
“Oh, that’s pretty good. Can I give it back after the conquest is over?”
“You son of a…….”
“You don’t want to?”
“……Fine. Just be really careful with it.”
I could not afford to waste mana right now, so I planned to use Reading on it after completing the quest.
“See? It would have been better for both of us if you had acted like this from the beginning.”
I patted Kang Cheolmin’s twitching shoulder and returned to the very rear of the formation.
***
The Sasikju Queen’s chamber lay at the far end of the jungle.
Since we had to cross the entirety of the Final Stage to reach it, at least one battle along the way was inevitable.
We encountered a group of Sasikju a little over twenty minutes after setting out.
A suffocating silence descended as though every sound in the world had been muted at once.
Even the occasional breeze ceased.
Then black stones began falling from the sky.
WHOOOOSH.
Bodies covered in fine hairs, each with eight legs.
The eight eyes embedded in their fronts glowed red, and an eerie demonic presence poured from them.
There were roughly seven in total.
The smaller ones were about the size of adults, but one among them was exceptionally large, nearly the size of a midsize SUV.
It was probably a fully grown male.
“Move according to the plan. I’ll take the male.”
Joo Arin reacted quickly once she recognized the situation. She summoned Haerin and charged toward the male.
“Leave the ordinary ones to me.”
Kang Cheolmin followed, his fists glowing yellow as he rushed toward the Sasikju.
Then he began beating them like disobedient dogs.
“Die, you bastard! Die! Die!”
The Sasikju were the ones getting hit, so why did I feel like I was the one being attacked?
…….
In any case, Min Youngji retreated while Lee Minha cast and fired Magic Missiles, and the battle began in earnest.
It was about time for me to move as well, so I took out the potion I had prepared in advance and drank it.
GULP—
[The item’s effect has activated.]
[Resistance to poison has temporarily increased.]
It was a Poison Resistance Enhancer I had purchased from the Time Shop for five hours.
“Shall we begin?”
32-stroke One-Star Wind Release Art, Bull Wind.
[Manifestation Completion: 85%]
The moment I invoked the new Sorcery Art, a refreshing wind wrapped around my body.
My body felt considerably lighter, and when I clenched my fist, I could feel a firmness and strength that had not been there before.
Now I finally felt somewhat like an Awakened.
That was because Bull Wind, a physical enhancement Sorcery Art, increased my agility and strength.
The duration was roughly ten minutes.
When I kicked off the ground, my body rose lightly into the air.
WHOOSH.
I had practiced throughout the weekend, so I managed to grab hold of a tree branch with reasonable proficiency.
After leaping upward several more times, I reached a suitable height.
About as high as the fifth floor of an apartment building.
“Let’s see.”
[Trait ‘Acute Senses’ activated.]
As my eyesight sharpened, translucent strands that had been invisible before came into view.
They were webs made by the Sasikju.
“Hurry! They’re moving up and down!”
Unable to wait any longer, Joo Arin shouted, but I carefully searched for the right target.
Then, the moment I spotted one descending—
There.
I launched myself forward like a flying squirrel.
WHOOSH.
The instant I landed, I drew the dagger.
When I fed a moderate amount of mana into it, a faint light shimmered across its surface.
[The effect of the Armament ‘Chungyongwi Warrior’s Dagger’ has activated.]
[Aura is activated in proportion to the mana supplied.]
Was it around Normal (High) grade?
Armaments really were useful.
Impressed, I brought the dagger down.
SLICE.
Since it was a strand produced by an ordinary individual, it severed more easily than expected.
“That should be enough for appearances……”
Now it was time to find the kind of target I had actually come up here for.
After spotting a suitable one, I immediately launched myself toward it.
The lucky target was a Sasikju covered in blood, struggling to climb back up its thread.
“You came up here alone?”
KIKIKIKIKIKI—
“Then you should die.”
STAB—
No matter how I looked at it, what mattered in the end was the time I gained.
***
[Grade 9 Magical Beast, Sasikju, has been slain.]
[The special properties of the nest have been applied.]
[Time acquired has been reduced by half.]
[You have acquired 6 hours.]
.
.
There were not many Sasikju, so we dealt with them relatively easily.
The total amount of time I gained was twenty-four hours.
[Remaining Time: 9 days, 15 hours, 23 minutes]
It was unfortunate that I had not been able to finish off the male myself, but I was still satisfied with the result.
“If you’re finished cleaning up, we’ll move immediately. We need to catch up with the teams ahead.”
As time passed, Joo Arin urged the team forward more and more.
The end of the jungle was beginning to come into view, so it seemed she wanted to narrow the gap with the teams that had entered before us.
But in truth, there was no need to go that far.
The course of the conquest varied according to each team leader’s personality.
Someone as bold and aggressive as Seol Yungi would charge forward without regard for danger.
But Baek Sayoung, who prioritized safety……
“Huh? Isn’t that Baek Sayoung over there?”
Sure enough.
After walking for another ten minutes under Min Youngji’s guidance, Kang Cheolmin shouted.
Baek Sayoung was sitting beside the entrance to an enormous pit—the entrance to the queen’s lair—smiling brightly.
It matched the original story perfectly.
Except that the team he had been waiting for was ours rather than Cheon Seoyoon’s.
“You’re here. I was waiting so we could go in together.”
Baek Sayoung’s four teammates were with him.
As befitted extras who merely passed through the story, they all looked fairly ordinary, but no matter where you went, there was always at least one troublemaker mixed in.
One delinquent-looking guy sitting nearby raised a hand in greeting.
“Kang Cheolmin.”
“Hey, your big brother is here. You’re going to greet me while sitting down?”
Kang Cheolmin puffed himself up and effortlessly delivered a line nauseating enough to turn my stomach.
The old sayings truly were never wrong.
Birds of a feather flocked together.
Apparently Joo Arin found the sight just as unpleasant, because she covered one ear and asked Baek Sayoung,
“What about Seol Yungi?”
“It looks like he went in ahead of us.”
“He never hesitates. I think this every time, but that man is reckless.”
“Well, he is Seol Yungi. He’ll probably manage on his own. More importantly, do you want to move together? We’ll still be evaluated separately, but it should be safer.”
“Fine. There’s no reason to refuse.”
Joo Arin readily accepted.
No matter how she looked at it, there was little downside.
“Then let’s wait a little longer and enter with Cheon Seoyoon as well—”
“No. I don’t want to.”
“Huh?”
But she cut off what she did not want with ruthless precision.
An awkward silence briefly followed, and Joo Arin hurriedly added an explanation.
“……Wouldn’t waiting any longer hurt us instead? Besides, there are already too many people. There are ten of us as it is.”
Was it not because you wanted to beat Cheon Seoyoon?
For an excuse improvised on the spot, it was remarkably logical.
Knowing what she was really thinking, I could not help but smirk.
Their families, appearances, and even their positions were similar enough that they were destined to be compared with one another.
I was not on either one’s side, but this time, Joo Arin and I shared the same objective, so I decided to support her.
“How long are we going to stand around here? Aren’t we going? Think about the teammates who are waiting too.”
When I pressed him impatiently, Baek Sayoung eventually nodded.
“All right. I didn’t think it through. Let’s go.”
With that, the plot had completely changed.
Baek Sayoung would now move together with Joo Arin’s team instead of Cheon Seoyoon’s.
Thanks to that, the probability of my facing the queen directly had risen to nearly ninety percent.
Now all that remained was for Baek Sayoung to take my hand when the anomaly occurred.
“Then I’ll be counting on all of you.”
Joo Arin smiled for once, apparently satisfied with the outcome, while Min Youngji continued to serve as our guide.
And so, we entered the queen’s chamber.
***
Nest G-17 concealed a special secret.
The national government had classified its threat level as a relatively low E-rank, but that assessment was based solely on data from three years ago.
Fortuitous encounters did not discriminate.
Just as even a murderer could win the lottery by guessing the right numbers, a Magical Beast fortunate enough to settle in the right place could inadvertently absorb the surrounding energy and obtain a special power.
People called such beings ‘Irregulars.’
The queen was precisely such a case.
Although only two years had passed since her Awakening, leaving her far from reaching any profound stage of development, she possessed a bizarre ability.
Even the kingdom she had established underground differed fundamentally from ordinary nests.
It functioned as a single enormous defense system, possessing both the procedure and precision needed to eliminate intruders in stages.
What did that mean?
First, the moment an intruder stepped inside, the queen could quickly detect their presence.
She would immediately dispatch a scouting party to assess the enemy’s strength.
The first group of Sasikju we encountered was an example.
“What? They’re easy. Is this really all there is?”
Just as Kang Cheolmin said, they had been extremely easy to handle.
There had only been around ten ordinary individuals.
But with the information obtained by sacrificing her offspring, the queen began calculating.
How strong were the intruders?
Were there any particularly dangerous individuals she needed to be wary of?
Then she attacked again.
This time, by sending out an army too large to dismiss.
WHOOOOOOSH.
That was what was happening now.
As the creatures used the empty space above as a weapon for their ambush, Joo Arin and Kang Cheolmin shouted.
“This attack won’t be easy. Everyone, be careful.”
“Damn, why are there so many of them?”
The force dispatched by the queen consisted of three males and roughly twenty ordinary individuals.
It was a powerful army, enough to fill the lair, but our combined teams were no pushover either.
“I’ll take one.”
Baek Sayoung immediately charged toward the nearest male Sasikju.
As he drew the heavy sword at his waist, the surface of the blade transformed.
Dark gray mana wrapped around the sword and began rotating at high speed.
It was an appropriate choice.
He was using the Wind Attribute, which was relatively free from the conflicting relationship between Earth and Metal.
CRAAACK.
Meanwhile, Joo Arin took another of the remaining males.
She likewise exploited an Attribute advantage, using Ice to concentrate her attacks on the male’s eyes.
Although it was a Grade 7 Magical Beast, it was weaker than the leader we had encountered before, so she did not seem to be having much trouble either.
And the final one……
“Cover me properly.”
“O-okay.”
Kang Cheolmin, who had clearly been itching for another chance, pressured his delinquent friend into joining him and charged in.
Well, I was not expecting much.
As long as they bought enough time, Baek Sayoung could come over and finish it off.
The remaining ordinary individuals were left to the rest of us, so I contributed just enough to look useful.
The battle ended more quickly than expected.
We did suffer casualties.
Two members of Baek Sayoung’s team were poisoned and rendered unable to continue fighting.
The pair had no choice but to withdraw from the conquest.
It was a wise decision.
The queen’s defense system was still operating.
The first stage was the scouting party.
The second was the main force.
And if both of those failed, there was still a third attack.
Personal Expedition.
The queen herself would take the field to annihilate the intruders.
“Cheon Seoyoon’s team should have entered by now, right?”
Sensing that the time had come, I approached Baek Sayoung.
His expression clearly said, Why is this bastard suddenly acting friendly with me? But true to his kind nature, he did not treat me coldly.
“……Probably. It has been about an hour since we entered.”
“True. It’s already been that long. But why haven’t we seen any trace of Seol Yungi’s team? Don’t you think something is strange?”
“I was already thinking about that. They should have fought before us, but everything is far too clean.”
Baek Sayoung furrowed his brow in thought.
“Won’t we find out soon enough?”
“…Soon?”
Perhaps my words sounded ominous.
The instant Baek Sayoung repeated the question—
WHOOSH.
“Aah!”
“Argh! Fuck, what is this?!”
With two short screams, Lee Minha and Kang Cheolmin, who had been walking ahead, vanished.
More precisely, the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed.