Ch. 6 - The Wandering Savior
His voice rings out in my ear like a drum, I don't respond to him and I can feel him grow closer until he reaches the back of the counter, his figure is overwhelming, I feel tiny and defenseless compared to him. My eyes dart around me, and as he grows closer I can feel my breath growing heavy. He finally stands infront of me and kneels down to my level.
"Hey, Hey, Don't be scared I'm not gonna hurt you." He places his sword down and raises his hand. I stare at the lowered sword. His sword looks like an A class sword, he must be a long time player. I contemplate for a while if I should grab the sword and just end him, leaving a silent air between us, he speaks up again.
"Did your scenario just start? My name is Lee Iseul. Im not gonna harm you kid, don't worry." He says, his voice is rugged but his words mean comfort. He looks like he's from the military or
maybe a veteran, he has a dog-tag around his neck and is wearing a military vest, and his face looks scar ridden and a frown permanently plastered as his expression no doubt from countless battles hes experienced in the frontline.
He seems to notice my wariness of him and just extends his hand out for me, I stared at his hand and took a deep breath. I didn't take his hand and stood up on my own, his hand retreated and grabbed his sword sheathing it on his back once more. "What's your name kid?" He asks.
"My name is ■■■" i respond quickly. The damn censorship again‽
[ Your name cannot be revealed. Try creating a username or do something I don't know. Shrug ]
SHRUG?! This little–
"My name is Eunji" he looks at me with a puzzled face and i ask what's wrong but he just shakes his head and and responds "too complicated. I'll call you little idiot (jag-eun babo)" I look at him bemused, "what's so difficult about my name?" He doesn't respond to me and intead walks away.
"Follow me you little idiot, I'll protect you." I look at his back as he walks away. Hes about to walk out the front door when he looks back at me still standing still, "Hurry up and bring your foods too. We'll need the supplies." I take a deep breath and grab the food, catching up to him as he walks away with two bags of food. He's walking towards the annex of the school, it's pretty much abandoned from the looks of it.
We settle inside one of the classrooms he sits back against the side of the door as I stay near the window on the opposite side of the room. We eat the food in silence, he occasionally passed me some more food and bottled water but other than that we didn't interact much.
While eating I hear the resounding faint echo of the Dokkaebi. He seems to be announcing the pressence of the constellations now. 'I wonder which ones have taken interest in me' The stars have been silent since the Bounty scenario. I keep on eating my food until a blue notification screen appears infront of me.
NO SPONSORS
[The Star Stream currently does not recognize you]
I look at the selection screen infront of me, It seems that my pressence in this world cannot be comprehended by the stream.
'Hey. What's up with this?? I need a sponsor to get through this'
The system doesn't chime back this time. It seems I have to do this on my own...
》》》《》《《《
It's been Two days since my meeting with Lee Iseul, he's actually a really nice and protective guy, we've been through a lot and I've grown a fondness for him in such short time. These past few days all I'vebeen thinking about is how will I manage to even get near Kim Dokja.
'it should be the third day for Kim Dokja, he's no doubtedly already made the deal with Bihyung and hes bound to escape the stomach of the ichtyosaur tommorow'.
We keep on walking through the underground tunnels towards the station, we entered the area for the second scenario yesterday and we've been camping out in the underground tunnels of the train, I suggested that we go to Guemho station to look for survivors so now we're nearing one of the stations. I get snapped out of my thoughts by Iseul when he stops dead in his tracks and pulls me to hide behind the "out of service" sign. I peek my head slightly to see what's wrong and see three magma bears digging through the stations fallen ruble.
I can suddenly feel the sorrounding heat radiating from the station. "What are they doing here?" I whisper to Iseul, "I don't know, they've probably taken shelter here from the fog outside" he whispers back to me. I once again peek out through and at that moment a bear looks my way. I quickly duck back behind the sign again and look at him apologetically, he just nods at me and grips the hilt of his sword ready to attack, I follow his action and grip the sword he'd given me after defeating a high level monster just a few days ago, we get ready to attack the bear and the moment it gets close enough, he punches the bear with his fists knocking it out without ever making a sound and makes quick work with beheading it.
I look at him in awe and he just puts his index finger up to his mouth to signal to keep quite. I nod in compliance my face still expressing amazement. 'Wahhh I still can't believe how awesome novel characters are!' I exclaim inside my head. He looks at me again and signals with his hand to go left and he'll go right attacking the two remaining who haven't noticed us yet. I nod to him and grip my sword running out from behind the sign and onto the bear, I quickly slice into its rump making it roar out and stand on its hind legs to attack with its claws, I quickly stab into its chest before it could attack. As its body drops to the ground with a loud thud I see a notification pop up.
[You have received a 300 stat coins]
Iseul cautiously walks towards the station and the moment he steps on the platform a notification rings out.
[BOUNTY SCENARIO – WRATH OF THE VOLCANO]
Category: Bounty
Difficulty: S
Clear Condition: Kill the Magma Bear Gigantum
Time Limit: None
Failure: Death
Reward: 5,000 coins
Scenario Bonus: Your weapons are infused with 'Absolute Zero Infusion'
We exchanged looks before I nodded to him and he grunted, "level your stats quickly" I hurriedly spent 900 stat coins on leveling my stamina and strength and headed in behind Iseul following him. The deeper inside the station the hotter it became and our sorroundings became more wrecked, it seems to have burrowed downwards from the station, I could now see magma all around dripping from the walls and onto the floor melting through.
Walking through the tunnel made me realize just how much I've fought bears.. 'If I had a penny for every bear I've fought in here, I'd atleast have two pennies. It's not a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice already right?'
Anyway.
My body was heating up like crazy and I was sweating from every possible place. I avoided taking too much deep breathes and even the air was hot and every breath I take hurt my nostrils.
We head in deeper and deeper until finally we reach the lair of the bear. As it notices our pressence it roars loudly and stands up on its hind legs. It truly lives up to its Gigantum tittle, it has to atleast be as tall as 5 stories.
The scene is familiar once we start fighting it, our swords clashing on the hardened skin of the bear, dodging the attacks of the bear. I could almost laugh at the deja vu feeling of fighting that Baloo-Bear just a few days ago.
We've been fighting for a long time now, we don't how long exactly but it feels like an eternity already, with the immense heat around us which almost feels like being cooked alive and the never ending attacks of the bear.
Me and Iseul are now side by side. The gash from the claw of the bear bleeding crimson, Iseul rips a peice from my already torn and burned uniform to tie around my leg.
"There's gotta be a weak spot to this thing" he says panting, he's clearly exhausted from the fight and the feeling of burning heat enveloping us. "You're right..." i trail off as the bear spots us once more and rushes its claws towards us, luckily we dodge quickly enough.
[Activating system Lv. 10]
[Activating Surveying Lv. 2]
[The Incarnation ■■■ sweeps her eyes all over the bear as it roars in anger, trying to claw at the incarnation Lee Iseul.]
I activate the skill scanning over the bear as I dodge its attacks, luckily I don't have to do much since Iseul is leading all the attention of the bear to with his constant shower of attacks.
[As the bear raises both it's claws at incarnation Lee Iseul, she spots the chest of bear glowing brightly]
"Huh... just like Tefetti..." I say to myself as rush towards the bear. I slash at foot of the bear as it lowers down back on all fours. "AHJUSSI! ITS CHEST! AIM FOR ITS CHEST!" I yell towards him, he seems to have heard me and switches attack patterns.
On ground level the bear and I are standing face to face as it roars loudly, it's breath just as hot as the sorrounding area. I charge towards the bear and grip my sword tightly. I gather every single strength I have in my body as I jump up slash at its eye, scarring it and rendering it blind on its left side.
I jump towards it once more and land on his back as i bury my sword deep, i endure the agonizing pain on my leg and run slicing at its back. I close my eyes as I yell from the pain of forcing my leg to move and I can feel even more blood rushing down my leg. I don't even notice the chime of the notification screen infront of me until I open my eyes once again and see the trail of fire in my wake.
[The contract of your sponsorship with the constellation 'Child Who Challenged Heaven' is squirming]
[A line of the sponsor contract is playing out]
[You have unlocked the Stigma 'Wheels of Wind and Fire' Lv. 1]
I smile to myself gaining more hope to fight this thing. Iseul saw me and even without looking I could tell he had a smile on his face. I activated my skill again and left slashes on its back. The bear stood up on its hind legs once more shaking me off with a loud roar. I was flinged off the side and I suddenly felt heat envelope my elbow, the damage looked to be 2nd degree, I hiss at the pain as tears roll down my face.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuckkk it hurts so much" i sob out. Iseul quickly came to my side and checked on my burn, "Can you still keep going?" He asked me concern lacing his voice. I nod to him as I wipe away my tears. Biting my lips to direct my pain somewhere else.
[The burning sensation has been nullified ]