Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The storm-like battle died down. On the floor, fragments of broken mannequins and sticky filth lay scattered in disorder. The party members, who had been unable to use mana and had broken and beaten down the mannequins’ joints purely with physical strength, sank to the floor or sprawled out spread-eagle as if they had made a promise to do so the moment the tension released.

“Ah… my arm feels like it’s going to fall off….”

With her face drenched in sweat, Kang Ji-hyun groaned as the arm holding the red whip trembled. Since she had smashed solid mannequins by swinging the whip using only the strength of her arm muscles without mana’s help, it was only natural that her shoulder joint was screaming. Beside her, Lee Seong-ha also seemed to have thrown out his back while swinging the heavy iron pipe, because he clutched his waist, wheezed, and gasped roughly.

But Go Gyeol’s gaze as he looked down at that pitiful scene was colder than anything.

He said dryly,

“Everyone up. Next. Prepare for battle.”

Go Gyeol scanned the party members sprawled across the floor one by one. The sight of them crawling on the floor just because they had been made unable to use a little mana was spectacular. It was proof that these so-called Awakened had relied only on the efficiency of their Skills, leaving the most basic training of the body as an afterthought.

“Pathetic. To think they’re getting muscle cramps from this much physical labor.”

In Go Gyeol’s mind, instead of clear data, a new “hellish stamina training schedule” was already being written in real time.

In special Dungeons like Arcadia or on the higher floors of the Tower, mana seals were an everyday occurrence. If they collapsed like this each time, annihilation would only be a matter of time.

“Once we get out alive, I’ll start by fixing their basic stamina. A 20km mountain run every dawn and 500 gravity-accelerated squats each. Breakfast will be forcibly unified into a special meal plan for muscle recovery.”

Before Go Gyeol, whose eyes had turned into those of a ruthless trainer, could even part his lips, Lee Seong-ha beat him to it.

“Hey! Do you seriously have no conscience?”

Lee Seong-ha, who had been lying spread-eagle on the floor, jerked his head up and shouted.

“Look at the state of the kids! They didn’t use a single drop of mana and smashed all those mannequins with their bare bodies! Their muscles feel like they’re about to burst, so let us rest a little, at least a little! Five minutes, no, even three minutes!”

“No. There’s no time to rest.”

“What? You bloodless, tearless bastard…! Hey, if you’re going to be like this, you fight too!!”

Even at Lee Seong-ha’s curse-filled complaint, Go Gyeol’s expression did not move. He clicked his tongue briefly, displeased, and added,

“I’m not the one preventing you from resting. If you’re given time to rest in a state where you can’t use mana, your muscles will stiffen as they are. It will only reduce training efficiency. And most decisively.”

Go Gyeol lifted his finger indifferently and pointed toward the opposite side of the store, toward the escalator where thick darkness had settled.

“That thing has no reason to wait for your worthless muscle pain. If you don’t want to die, get up.”

The terrified party members’ gazes moved along the tip of Go Gyeol’s finger.

RATTLE, RATTLE. CRASH—!

From the dark second-floor hallway came the sound of heavy chains scraping across the floor. Soon, a massive shape broke through the darkness and revealed itself.

It was a mid-boss-class monster of this floor, dozens of shopping carts grotesquely tangled together into a huge bulwark.

Countless mannequin arms embedded between the lumps of carts scratched through the air as if rowing oars, charging toward them at terrifying speed.

“……Hiiik! Wh-what is that now!”

At Kang Hoon’s scream, Lee Seong-ha, who had been lying on the floor, spat out a curse and sprang up like a coil. Only then did Go Gyeol smile as if slightly satisfied and say,

“Get ready. The battle just now was nothing more than a warm-up. The next one will be more intense.”

The air emitted by the mid-boss monster was on a completely different level from the mannequins earlier.

If the mannequins had been stagnant unpleasantness, the mid-boss monster was a cauldron of noise where metallic sounds and killing intent mixed together.

RATTLE, RATTLE! CRAAASH—!

The thing charging through the darkness was a mountain of scrap metal. Dozens of shopping carts were tangled together to form a massive bulwark, and dozens of mannequin arms embedded in the gaps between the carts scratched the floor like oars, building up speed.

“Scatter!”

The moment Go Gyeol’s order fell, the party members threw themselves left and right. 0.1 seconds later, the Cart Golem passed straight through the place where they had been standing. The marble floor crumpled like a sheet of paper and scattered.

“Hah, hah… How are we supposed to stop something like that with our bodies!”

Kang Hoon shouted in fear. But Go Gyeol was cold.

“Who told you to stop it with your body? Use your brain, your brain! Kwon Do-geun!”

“Y-yes!”

“Do what I taught you earlier! Spread water across the entire floor in front of where that thing’s wheels touch. Make its friction zero!”

Kwon Do-geun stretched out his trembling hand. He recalled the “acting” from earlier. This was a movie. He was the protagonist of a dazzling action scene, creating an icy road to make the enemy slip.

“<Water Ground>!”

The water that burst from Kwon Do-geun’s fingertips instantly covered the direction the golem was advancing in.

SCREEECH—!

The wheels of the Cart Golem, which had been charging at fierce speed, began spinning uselessly over the water. Unable to stop because of inertia, the massive lump of scrap metal lost its balance, staggered, and rammed into a nearby clothing store pillar.

CRASH—!

“Now! Kang Hoon, curse the connecting parts of that thing! With corrosion!”

“Got it! Please, just… <Corrosion>!”

The black smoke that burst from Kang Hoon’s hand seeped into the seams between the carts. The shining stainless steel was instantly covered in red rust and creaked.

“Lee Seong-ha, Kang Ji-hyun! Don’t use mana. Strike those rusted parts with pure physical force! The main axles at three o’clock and nine o’clock!”

“You make it sound real easy, you fraud bastard!”

Lee Seong-ha spat out a curse and adjusted his grip on the blunt weapon he had hastily picked up. With his mana sealed, he swung the huge mace-like weapon using only raw muscle strength.

CLANG—!

Along with a dull impact, the frame of the rusted cart bent. At the same time, from the other side, Kang Ji-hyun’s red whip flew in like a snake. Even without loading it with mana, her physical strength was beyond imagination. The whip wrapped around the cart’s wheel axle and tore it straight out.

CRUNCH, CRACK—!

The golem let out a grotesque metallic scream and twisted its body. The mannequin arms embedded between the lumps of carts all turned into whips at once and swept toward Lee Seong-ha and Kang Ji-hyun.

“Danger!”

Kwon Do-geun screamed. But Lee Seong-ha did not dodge. No, he could not dodge. His muscles were already screaming, and his vision was blurred with sweat.

“Lee Seong-ha, one and a half steps to the right! Kang Ji-hyun, lower your upper body!”

Go Gyeol’s voice struck at precisely the right timing, like that of a prophet reading the future. The two moved before thinking. Dozens of mannequin fingers brushed past the tips of their hair by a hair’s breadth.

“Hey, Go Gyeol! How long do we have to keep doing this?”

Kang Ji-hyun asked through clenched teeth.

“Until you see the glowing ‘Golden Cart’ in that thing’s center! That’s the core!”

The Cart Golem swelled its body as if enraged. The tangled chains shot out in every direction and cut off the party members’ escape routes. An environment where they could not use mana was hell. The odds and ends that they would normally have swept away with a single area-of-effect Skill had become a massive disaster now that their mana was sealed.

“Is this the limit?”

Go Gyeol examined Kang Hoon’s trembling legs and Kwon Do-geun’s pale complexion.

Lee Seong-ha and Kang Ji-hyun’s movements were also visibly growing dull.

But Go Gyeol’s eyes were still cold and sharp.

He knew. At a glance, this boss might look as if it had not taken a single scratch, but in truth, its insides were a mess.

“Lee Seong-ha, release your gravity field for 0.5 seconds. Just once.”

“Are you insane? If I use mana here, that bastard will absorb it all and….”

“Then break it before it can absorb it. Kang Ji-hyun, prepare an arrow. Compress your mana to the limit and fire only one shot. The moment Lee Seong-ha opens the path, pierce the core.”

At the certainty in Go Gyeol’s eyes, the two eventually nodded.

“Kwon Do-geun, Kang Hoon! Squeeze out every bit of strength you have left and bind that thing’s legs! If you fail, we all get ground up here!”

“Ah, seriously… I don’t care if I die! <Binding Curse>!”

“<Water Prison>!”

Black smoke and a massive stream of water struck the golem’s lower body at the same time. The golem trembled as it began sucking in all that energy to absorb Kang Ji-hyun’s mana.

In that fleeting instant, the golem’s ironclad defense temporarily loosened in order to absorb mana.

“Now! Lee Seong-ha!”

“Eegh… <Gravity Compression>!”

The gravity Lee Seong-ha released for only 0.5 seconds crushed the golem’s upper body.

With a CRUNCH, the lump of scrap metal bent downward, revealing the golden cart at its center.

“Kang Ji-hyun!”

Kang Ji-hyun had already drawn the bowstring. The arrow of light bursting from her fingertips drew a dazzling trajectory and split space. The golem sensed the mana and tried to spread a barrier, but Go Gyeol’s prediction was faster.

“Fifteen degrees lower right of the core! That’s the only crack!”

When Kang Ji-hyun moved her hand, the arrow flew according to the instruction and pierced precisely through the gap in the Golden Cart.

-CRAAAAAASH!!!

With a massive explosion, dozens of shopping carts shot out in every direction like a fountain. The mannequin arms scattered meaninglessly through the air, and the metallic killing intent that had filled the second-floor hallway died down in an instant.

Silence.

In the dust-thick hallway, the party members collapsed like an ebbing tide.