In a span of seconds, the distance closed between them. Jisung swam directly at it with a grin on his face.
The creature seemed to process this incorrectly for exactly one moment, watching as Jisung closed the distance faster, looking more determined than he did before.
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0 (Muscle Memory): Activated]
Jisung was an arm’s length away when the creature whipped its tail toward him.
He dodged, the tail cutting through the water where his head had been a second ago... a message rang out louder than usual, but he ignored it.
In the same motion he grabbed the creature’s beak with both hands and drove his knee into its throat.
The creature screamed. The sound tore through the water as a vibration he felt deep in his chest.
But he refused to let up. He charged in close and threw punch after punch into its abdomen, his fists finding the same point again and again, water rippling violently around each strike with a force that shouldn’t have been possible from a fist alone.
He brought one final punch up into its jaw. The Harrier’s head snapped back and its whole body slid several meters across the water.
He didn’t let it recover for even a second. He followed, driving fist after fist into it until it flew back even further.
He watched for a second, then felt his lungs start to burn. He swam back up to use the opening to surface for air. His head broke through the ice ceiling and he gasped, lungs burning.
’Just one more.’
Suddenly, just a meter in front of him, the ice exploded. The creature came crashing through it, charging fast at Jisung.
He sucked in one more breath and dove back down.
The creature followed immediately, beak opening wide enough to swallow him whole, and Jisung grabbed the top of its beak and planted a kick directly into its eye.
It reacted instantly, thrashing hard, trying to shake him loose, but his grip held. He let go and grabbed its tail instead, spun himself with it as hard and as fast as he could, and released.
The creature went flying upward, breaking through the ice ceiling in an explosion of frozen shards, crashing back down, and swam away.
Jisung surfaced, breathing hard, and let out a sigh of relief that slowly turned into a tired laugh.
"Yeah... that’s right."
He wiped water from his face, still watching the creature disappear into the darkness beneath the ice.
"You better run."
The words came out weaker than he intended. Not because he was afraid, but because he was exhausted.
He floated there for a moment longer, letting the silence settle around him. The battlefield that had been trying to kill him for the last hour had finally gone quiet.
For the first time since entering the Trial, nothing was chasing him, nothing was exploding and nothing was trying to eat him.
He was... free.
"...I won." The realization sounded strange when he said it out loud.
He smiled. Then immediately regretted it.
"Ow."
Every muscle in his body protested as he dragged himself onto the ice. He rolled onto his back, staring at the sky above him. Cold wind brushed against his face, but he barely noticed anymore. His body felt like it belonged to someone else.
A notification quietly appeared.
Ding!
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0 (Muscle Memory): Deactivated]
[Participant Yu Jisung’s Body Has Reached Its Current Limit]
[Warning: Multiple Physical Damages Detected]
[Recovery State Initiated...]
Jisung stared at the messages.
"Recovery state?"
A small laugh escaped him.
"So even you know I look terrible right now."
No response came.
For some reason, he had started treating the System like a person. Not because it talked to him like one. Well, sometimes it did.
Above all, every time he was about to break, his System was right there.
A notification, a new ability, an information. Even a small push forward.
But he knew something now. The System wasn’t the reason he survived. It gave him the map and the tools.
But he was still the idiot running into the monster with the knife in his hand.
Jisung closed his eyes. The memory of the Harrier charging him flashed through his mind.
The first time.
The second time.
The hundredth time.
Every attack, every mistake and every moment he almost died.
Strangely... He smiled.
"You’re annoying." He whispered toward the System. "Really annoying, you know that?"
A few seconds passed.
Then he added. "...but thanks."
The wind answered him. Or maybe it didn’t. Either way, Jisung didn’t care.
He stayed there quietly for a while longer, letting his body recover.
Then something crossed his mind.
"...Wait."
His eyes opened slightly. "Where’s my bag?"
Jisung lifted his head carefully, but immediately winced as pain spread across his spine. He looked around, searching the endless field of ice.
There was nothing.
His bag was nowhere in sight.
For a moment, he just stared.
Then he slowly lowered his head back down with a tired laugh.
"Of course." He closed his eyes. "I lost it again."
He could already imagine Seojun’s reaction. "Hyung would’ve ripped my ears off if he was here."
A small smile formed on his face.
"What now?" He didn’t know. He decided to rest for a bit and just wait for the universe to do its thing.
A minute passed and a message rang out.
Ding!
Jisung opened one eye.
[AWAKENING TRIAL - SUB #2]
[PARTICIPANT 34 YU JISUNG
MISSION: Defeat a B-Class Split-Fang Harrier in one-on-one combat before the time limit ends.
TIME LIMIT: 1 Hour 10 Minutes
DIFFICULTY: A
PENALTY: Death
REWARD: 20,000 Coins]
[TIME REMAINING: 00:10:24]
His smile disappeared.
"...What?"
Crucck!
The ice ceiling cracked somewhere in the distance.
Before Jisung could push himself up, something massive slammed into him from behind. At the same time, a message rang in his ear. A crushing grip wrapped around his ribs and yanked him back underwater.
The pain arrived before the shock did, a crushing pressure that folded him half around the grip like it was trying to fold him in two. Water slammed into his skull as he went down, and he screamed, bubbles tearing out of him in a ragged burst, air he couldn’t afford to lose.
He twisted, clawing at the beast but it didn’t loosen. It spun him faster. The dark water blurring into a smear with no up and no down. When it finally released him, he had no idea which way the surface was.
He didn’t get the chance to find out.
A second Harrier caught him mid-spin, wrenching his arm back at an angle his shoulder was never meant to bend. He felt something give, a hot tearing pop deep in the joint, and the scream that came out of him this time cost him half his remaining air in one go as the grip finally released and he was floating free.
’This isn’t happening.’ The thought arrived half-drowned in pain. ’I just won. I just...’
He tried to get his eyes open and it hurt badly. He couldn’t even make sense of the shapes moving around him in circles, and that was when he understood exactly how bad this was.
Three of them. Three identical Harriers, circling him at once, closing in from every side.
He wanted to slap his forehead. There’d been a message sitting there this whole time, one he hadn’t checked, buried under the pain. He forced his eyes to focus on it and felt his heart drop.
[Velc Triform Split Lv. 10]
The one ability he’d never seen it use.
[TIME REMAINING: 00:07:36]
For the third time today, he felt hopeless. ’I guess the time has come.’
He shut his eyes and spread his arms wide open in surrender.
’Congrats to you, Harrier. You’ve got me this time.’
’’’
Author’s Note: If you’re enjoying the novel, don’t forget to add it to your library and show some support. It really helps!
’’’