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After meeting Locusta and fighting through four monster packs, we finally reached the place Shio had indicated. It had taken more than four days just to travel.
『Master, the surrounding divine power is unusually dense. Please be cautious.』
As we neared Shio’s mark, the divine power thickened—at one point it felt like entering an underground training hall.
But there was a difference. Only the concentration was dense. The excess of impure, unrefined divine power gave an unpleasant edge.
Trying to spread divine power to perceive the area wasn’t easy. The high concentration cut my range to less than half normal, which only increased my irritation.
Still, the sensations captured through the narrowed senses grew sharper, and I could tell this place was not ordinary.
“A barrier?”
A keen sense picked up the environment’s feel. Alienness hung in the grass, trees, soil, and air.
“Suho (means Guardian)?”
『Please wait a moment. I don’t know which bastard laid this vicious barrier here, but I will definitely break it. Confirmed! Got it, this bastard! The method to break is… Ah, damn it!!』system_ed
Would it be an exaggeration to say Suho’s voice rang in my head like a nervous, personality-disordered person?
Suho, who suddenly started shouting, vented anger at some unknown someone and ended in irritation—an ego with a typical psycho-like vibe.
What kind of ego was this? First the weird representatives, and now even the ego feels Arun-like.
“So what’s the method to break it?”
『Lower the divine power inside the barrier to be similar to the surroundings. So…』
“So, absorb it?”
『Correct.』
“What’s the range?”
“…Can you put that in plain terms?”
“……”
An increase of 5 within a stat already over 150 would push the total toward somewhere between 250 and 299.
Even using Mixed Origin Yang Divine Art, accumulation would take at least 100 hours. Title effects and skill efficiency could reduce that time, but time flows differently here than outside. If I’m wrong, the Monster Wave could end.
“Huh… This is the most annoying yet efficient barrier in this situation. Damn.”
If there’d been monsters or traps, I could’ve smashed through with force, but I hadn’t imagined a barrier like this.
While I weighed options, Suho’s voice boomed in my head.
“Ah…! Oh? Suho, you’re a genius?”
I realized the serious Suho had been putting on an act.
Suho’s personality-flawed ego laughed in my head, but since it suggested something useful, I let it slide.
I hurriedly took out the Mobile Workshop Set [Unique] and laid out equipment. I brought out crafting and alchemy tools, searched for the magic tool crafting skill, and began working.
After making five artificial divine power stones, I stood and carefully drew a magic circle in the barrier’s center, following Suho’s instructions.
After a long while I straightened and breathed deeply.
“Phew…”
I placed the divine power stones in a regular pentagon on the magic circle, sat at the pentagon’s center—the magic circle’s core—and began operating Mixed Origin Yang Divine Art.
At the same time―
『Activating divine power accumulation magic circle. Calculating time to fill top-tier divine power stones. 6 hours 34 minutes. Starting.』
Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka―
The airflow changes from the rapid movement of divine power sounded like a mountain stream rushing relentlessly.
Operating the skill in that flow felt like an intense struggle for dominance—a contest for control over the divine power between the magic circle and my art.
The dominance struggle lasted only briefly.
After a short battle, the magic circle and I, as if agreeing, began voraciously draining the surrounding divine power.
I guessed Suho must have cast some kind of harmonizing effect.
I immersed myself in divine power accumulation, something I hadn’t had time for, losing track of time.
Time passed, and when I opened my eyes to Suho’s voice, the barrier had vanished. Before me stood something I had never seen or heard of in this life or any past lives.
Lee Hyo-ju’s eyes shone as she watched a beast trapped and then explode, its body rupturing against the outside wall.
As her hand slowly rose, the concentration of those on the wall intensified.
“…Start!”
At Lee Hyo-ju’s short, decisive command, a storm of mana erupted along the wall. The mages unleashed spells in unison.
There wasn’t a single differing attribute among them—only fire and wind.
As if they were mages specialized in those two, a wall of fire flared instantly at the Monster Belt’s entrance outside the wall.
That wasn’t all. Starting with Naruan, the warrior representatives descended the wall and gripped their weapons in front of the long stretch of flame.
“Wait!”
Though Naruan’s voice was uncharacteristically firm, her youthful tone remained. Still, none of the warriors took her command lightly.
The red scythe True Flame she drew blazed, and killing intent sharpened the representatives’ momentum.
Soon, as the mana from the mages dissipated, the flames gradually waned.
The fire sank to ankle height, revealing the area where the beasts had charged, been trapped, and burned moments before.
Charred, rhinoceros-shaped beasts—Monoceros. If they differed from rhinos, it was in size: excessively large, some as big as elephants.
There had been 1,200 of them; now only around 300 remained standing—the ones farther back.
Even those 300 alone radiated intimidation that dwarfed most monster packs.
More than half were scorched or indirectly damaged by magic, but a beast is no pushover.
They seemed to recover and were slowly preparing to move.
“Hehe, so many. Get ready!”
“Yes!”
Naruan’s small, cute voice carried like a knightly order preparing to charge.
“Wait, wait… Mages!!”
Her shout rode on Force and reverberated across the wall.
As the Monoceros’ charge amplified the tremors under the warriors who had descended, another mana storm erupted from the wall and engulfed the beasts.
There were no spectacular flames or tempests.
No ice flowers fell, the ground didn’t rise, no poisonous spore fields formed, and corpses did not reanimate.
Only an incomprehensible roar sounded, and the Monoceros walking collided with the ground. For some reason, the fallen Monoceros couldn’t easily get back up.
As their kin became obstacles, the Monoceros behind, unable to stop, piled onto them and created secondary casualties.
Beasts usually have high anti-magic resistance, so what magic had the mages used?
“Blinding and deafening magic, impressive? Hehe. Sweep them away!”
Like a child keeping her promise, Naruan gave the command and moved to the front.
Her target wasn’t the Monoceros sprawled on the ground.
She leaped over them and charged at the massive, obese Monoceros standing untouched at the very back—twice the size of the others.
“First… I’ll take this!!”
Her weapon True Flame burned Force as its name implied; a mass of Force with the Flame attribute, not Fire, shot toward the Monoceros.
Boom― Whoosh―
As expected, the large Monoceros couldn’t evade Naruan’s attack.
Flames spread ravenously from the struck area as if intent on devouring the beast.
Yet her attack was tiny compared to the Monoceros.
The leader shook off the flames, glared at the small creature approaching, and lifted its foot.
Thud―
Naruan dodged the clumsy strike with ease.
But there was a reason Monoceros were called beasts.
Rumble―
Around where it planted its foot, the ground rose and fell in waves.
If not for Black Butterfly Dance, Naruan might have lost her balance and been crushed.
Light and nimble—that best described Naruan’s movements.
Climbing onto the Monoceros’ torso, she, undisturbed by the beast’s violent thrashing, repeatedly embedded Jinyum infused with Flame Force.
“…I’m getting tired. Bad pig!”
Naruan’s giant scythe and Flame-attributed Force were too small for the leader Monoceros.
Clenching her lips with determination, she leapt and landed on the ground.
“Soul Slash!”
Naruan’s clear voice rang out.
There were no spectacular effects like before. The red True Flame simply sliced through the air with gusto.
『‘Soul Slash’ judgment in progress. Success!』
A message only Naruan could see floated in the air.
Then the Monoceros charging at her collapsed and stopped right in front of Naruan.
“Hehe. I won!”
Watching Naruan hopping with joy atop the wall, Lee Hyo-ju took out the comm crystal and issued the next order.
“The leader is dealt with, so quickly clean up the remaining roughly 70. Put all corpses into magic sacks and bring them back. Don’t miss a single one. This is food to supply Exorsus citizens.”
There wasn’t an audible reply, but warrior representatives gathered in groups of four to focus attacks and quickly cleaned up the exhausted Monoceros, while about twenty representatives began stuffing the corpses.
“Phew… Is it over for today too…?”
Though beasts, with that many roasted by magic, there would be no food worries until the Monster Wave ended.
As the 49th day of the Monster Wave concluded, Lee Hyo-ju felt Kim Han’s absence more keenly.
Shio said there had been no contact from Kim Han for three days. Lee Hyo-ju shook off dark imaginings and a cold resolve settled over her face.
‘I will protect him. No matter what!’
Until he returns.
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