Chapter 207

Inside a Gate, it was strict survival of the fittest.

A place where fists were far closer to hand than the law.

"Next."

Every time Kang Taemin swung his dagger with a blank face, shallow cuts opened on people's arms.

Before the drops of blood could bead, Sea-ah gathered them into the air with a transparent barrier.

"Owww! Take it easy! I'm scared of blood!"

"Quit whining and tear off some cloth to bind it. Better than getting your arms and legs torn off by monsters, isn't it."

At the sight of blood, the crowd wailed and keened, but the second Leo turned a glare on them, they clamped their mouths shut and set to ripping strips off their own clothes to staunch the bleeding.

The few hunters mixed into the crowd cut their own arms without a word, quietly adding their share.

Finally, Kang Taemin, Lee Sea-ah, Leo, and Seo Jihyeok wrung out their own blood as well, and inside Sea-ah's barrier, a staggering volume had gathered.

An enormous crimson sphere sloshed in the air.

"That's more than enough. Let's take it in."

At Seo Jihyeok's word, Sea-ah spread both hands.

The huge sphere of barrier stretched out and reshaped itself into a thick, glass-like hose.

Kang Taemin shouldered the front end of the crimson hose like a piece of luggage and approached the firmly shut door.

Every eye left in the banquet hall fixed on his broad back.

Would liquid make it through?

Under suffocating tension, Kang Taemin stepped over the threshold without hesitation.

Whoosh—

No resistance, no warning.

The massive volume of blood inside the barrier passed through the door just as safely.

"He got through!"

"It made it! We're saved, we're saved!"

Sighs of relief and cheers erupted from the banquet hall.

Sea-ah's group followed right after, back into the room.

The room was as they'd left it.

The bleak altar, the pure-white cloth stretched endlessly across the floor.

And Sihyeok, still lying quietly inside his barrier.

Kang Taemin, hauling the end of the hose, took up position directly over the altar.

"Releasing it now."

"Right!"

Sea-ah snapped her fingers and dropped the barrier at the tip of the hose.

Shhhhhrrrrrrshhh—!!!

Like the floodgates of a dam thrown open, the thick blood of two hundred people cascaded down onto the altar in a torrent.

At that instant, the altar reacted grotesquely.

Like a beast that had thirsted its entire life in the desert and finally struck an oasis, it began greedily drinking the blood down at astonishing speed.

At the same time, the pure-white cloth beneath the altar was staining a horrifying red.

Like thick blood spilled across an untouched snowfield and spreading violently, it was a vivid, grotesque sight.

"It's working! It's soaking in!"

Is this the clear?

Hope was just beginning to spread across every face when—

Thud—!

"…Nngh!"

With a sensation like their hearts plummeting through the floor, all four of them buckled forward at once.

A horrifying pressure clamped down deep in the gut, at the seat of the mana core.

"What in the world—!"

Sea-ah clutched her stomach and dropped to the floor.

It wasn't just in her head.

The mana was being pulled out of her body, in real time.

Not gushing out like a burst dam — more like thousands of leeches latching on and drawing the essence out of her, drop by drop. A relentless, sapping drain.

And the trouble wasn't just in this room.

"Oh no! Chairman! What — aaagh!"

"AAAAAARGH! S-somebody save us! I can't — I can't breathe—!"

"Someone help! Somebody's down over here!"

Horrific screams tore out of the banquet hall beyond the open door too.

The non-Awakened, without a scrap of mana to draw from, were dropping like dominoes, foaming at the mouth.

"Don't tell me—!"

Behind his glasses, Seo Jihyeok's pupils shook wildly.

"It's draining mana and life force out of the blood's original owners, remotely!"

At his words, a passage from Principles of Mana — something Sea-ah had read a long time back — flashed through her mind.

"The origin from which an Awakened's mana is produced is the core, but the medium that carries that mana to every part of the body is nothing other than blood. Herein lies the reason Awakened almost never donate or accept blood transfusions: deaths from shock, when residual mana in the two bloods collides, are far from uncommon."

Her head grasped it.

Blood and mana were linked.

But—

"This is insane…! The blood's already been separated from the body — how is it still tied to the source outside and pulling mana across a distance?!"

The mechanism was beyond understanding, but one thing was certain.

At this rate, they'd be pinned here and drained of every drop of mana and life force until they died.

And to make it worse—

KEEEEEEEEEK—!!!

A skin-crawling shriek burst out.

The instant the altar drank the blood down, monsters started spilling out from the far side like a tidal wave.

It was a trap from the start!

A vicious snare — bait them with blood, cripple them by siphoning off their mana, then unleash a monster wave.

Sea-ah shouted, urgent.

"Everyone, ready for combat!"

At her cry, Seo Jihyeok flipped his spellbook open, and Leo drew his mana pistol from his coat.

Kang Taemin planted his feet, pushed out a wave of fighting intent, and clenched a heavy fist.

"You bastards! Come and get it!"

The first to leap out was Leo.

His pistol spat mana rounds, and the heads of the monsters at the front burst apart without mercy.

Right behind him, Kang Taemin charged in like a battering ram, smashing sculptures apart wherever he could reach; Seo Jihyeok, eyes cool, poured spells into the mass.

The three of them tore into the monster wave with unstoppable momentum.

Sea-ah caught a brief look at their backs, then hurled herself out through the door without a second's delay.

The banquet hall beyond was a living hell.

The monsters spilling out of the room were bearing down on the crowd, and the non-Awakened were rolling on the floor with the life drained out of them.

The hunters still on their feet were swinging their weapons desperately to hold a line, but they too were on the edge.

Sea-ah bit down hard on her lip and wrung her mana out.

Whooosh—!

Mana surged from her hands and swelled in an instant into an overwhelming dome-shaped barrier that covered all two hundred-odd people.

At the sheer absurd scale of it, the hunters turned in shock.

"Save your strength as much as you can! I'm getting mana drained too — I don't know when the barrier will break! If it does, protect the non-Awakened!"

At Sea-ah's urgent shout, the hunters nodded, faces grave.

Having doused the fire outside, Sea-ah dashed straight back into the room.

The battle inside was every bit as brutal.

Bang! Bang—!!

Leo's mana rounds punched clean between the monsters' brows, while Kang Taemin, like a wild beast, tore into the enemy line and smashed the sculptures to fragments.

Seo Jihyeok had his spellbook open too, firing volley after volley of ice spears to slow the advance.

But as time wore on, their movements were visibly dulling.

"Damn it! I can't pull mana up anymore!"

"Ghhk…"

Because the mana was being wrenched out of them by force.

Kang Taemin's punches lost their weight, Seo Jihyeok's attack timing slipped a half-beat behind, and Leo's dodges were shaving perilously close.

What do I do! At this rate, we're all wiped out for sure!

They had to either cut the mana drain off or end the monster wave, one way or another.

But no clean answer was coming, and just as Sea-ah's eyes were starting to burn with tears—

"…Huh?"

Beyond her spinning vision, a hauntingly familiar gleam of blond hair shimmered.

At the same moment, beyond the Blue door.

In the middle of a savage fight for his life, Cha Yul caught a strange note.

The monsters have thinned out…?

Compared to the relentless wave at the start, the numbers had clearly dropped.

Because we've killed so many of them?

Catching his ragged breath, Cha Yul dropped low.

The instant he barely caught the crushing blow of a massive sculpted monster's blunt weapon—

He released that impact energy back the other way.

Kra-ka-krak—!

A pulse of force burst out, and the monsters lunging at him shredded to pieces.

Good. Endgame's finally in sig—

Ngh!

Just as he was about to let himself relax, Cha Yul's brow crumpled tight.

Out of nowhere, a lava-hot heat had started boiling up from somewhere deep inside him.

What… is this feeling?!

His vision spun and the strength drained out of his whole body.

Cold sweat poured down like rain and his legs trembled beneath him.

He wasn't the only one who caught the sudden change.

Shhink—!

Julia, who had just cleaved through a monster's neck at blistering speed, kicked off in a huge leap and rushed to Cha Yul's side in one stroke.

"What's wrong."

"Kuh, hhuh…"

Cha Yul couldn't so much as answer, swaying on his feet.

His tongue had locked up, and his vision was already flickering into black.

Julia caught Cha Yul as he fell, swift and clean.

Then, without hesitation, she wrapped an arm around his waist and, with a bestial spring, leapt clear up onto the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Krrrrr — KEEEEK!!

Below, the monsters swarmed, teeth bared.

Julia tapped Cha Yul's cheek and called out.

"Pull yourself together. Don't shut your eyes on me up here."

But even her voice sounded remote, an echo from the bottom of the deep sea.

Even as his vision guttered out, Cha Yul desperately searched his coat.

His fingertips brushed something cool — a glass vial.

The healing potion the Director had pressed on him, with fierce instructions to drink it if he was ever in real danger.

But just as he was pulling the vial out, his fingers, already at their limit, went slack.

No—

The clear glass vial dropped, plummeting toward the floor—

Snap—!

Julia's toe caught it in the nick of time.

Then, with a flick of her ankle, she popped the potion neatly up into the air, and it landed square in her free hand — the one not still holding Cha Yul.

"This should do it."

Julia twisted the cap off without hesitation and poured the potion into Cha Yul's mouth.

The cool, crisp liquid slid tingling down his throat, the raging fever burning through him ebbed away, and his blocked breath finally opened up.

"Haah, haah…"

"Fever, out of nowhere? Did something get you with poison?"

Cha Yul knew, on gut instinct, exactly what the cause of this hideous pain was.

The potion the Director gave me…!

Sea-ah, too, had drunk that same potion, been sick with the same fever, and come out the other side into her second awakening.

Which meant this wasn't his body breaking down. These were growing pains — the pain of shattering his limit and cracking through into a new shell.

I can have a second awakening too?

With no way to know any of that, Julia — apparently reading it as simple exhaustion from an over-punishing fight — let out a short breath.

"Rest here for a bit."

She hefted the massive greatsword blazing pure-white in her hand, then drove it slam! — straight into the solid wall.

Grip and arm strength alone had driven half the blade into solid stone — monstrous, terrifying power.

"…!"

Julia lightly set the stunned Cha Yul on top of the greatsword's broad flat.

Then, before he could think to stop her, she leapt down bare-handed into the middle of the seething mass of monsters — no weapon at all.

Crack, crick.

The instant she landed, she wrenched her neck loose with a harsh crackle and scooped up a heavy iron rod that had been rolling around on the floor.

KEEEEEEEK—!!

The monsters, spotting their prey, surged in from all sides like a tidal wave.

But the moment Julia gave the iron rod in her hand one light, whistling swing—

BOOM—!!!

The air itself screamed.

Every time the rod cut through the space, a typhoon of a shockwave erupted, and dozens of monsters ahead of her burst into raw meat without leaving so much as a fragment behind.

No swordsmanship. No technique.

Just overwhelming violence, and nothing else.

BOOM—!

BOOOOOM—!!

…!

Perched safe on the greatsword and looking down at the astounding scene of combat, Cha Yul swallowed hard.

Up until then, she'd been holding herself to under ten percent of her real strength, just to keep pace with him.

The speed at which monsters evaporated under a single sweep of Julia's hand outstripped the speed at which the dungeon spawned them.

She was a walking calamity.

This was it, then — the absolute presence of one who had crossed the wall, a second-awakened Awakened.

Inside Cha Yul's chest, a boiling drive to reach that same height as fast as he possibly could rose like a pillar of flame.

He was drinking in the flow of the battle from above, taking every stroke of it into memory, when—

…!!

Cha Yul's eyes flew wide, wide enough to tear at the corners.

In the middle of the blood-drenched carnage, flesh and shards of ice flying in every direction.

Amid the grotesque horde of monsters, an out-of-place figure stood, without a scratch on him.

Blond hair blazing so bright it hurt the eyes, even in the dark.

Chae Junhyeok.