Chapter 37

“What’s that…?”

Even Haon, who had faced numerous monsters, was seeing this one for the first time. Its bizarre appearance was unfamiliar, and its sheer size was daunting.

“Cha Yugeon, do you know what that is?”

Cha Yugeon extended a pillar of fire, engulfing the creature with towering flames. However, the creature seemed unfazed by the fire.

Among fire-type monsters, some had resistance to flames. So, it wasn’t surprising if Cha Yugeon’s attacks didn’t work. However, this creature didn’t appear like a typical fire-type monster, which was perplexing.

“Grr!”

The monster swung its long trunk-like nose. Despite its massive size, it moved at incredible speed. The ground where it passed was deeply dented. It was the spot where the party, excluding Cha Yugeon, had been just moments ago. They all quickly dodged in different directions.

The flames clinging to its body spread in all directions. Haon swallowed nervously at the creature’s speed, quicker than anticipated. He hurriedly pulled out the bestiary and aimed the camera at its face.

The bestiary was one of the equipment provided by the center. They had faced many monsters, and a briefing had provided information about most of them, so they rarely needed to consult the bestiary, except in cases like this.

<Unkillable>

Beast-type monster

Characteristics: It has thick, flame resistance skin, making most physical attacks ineffective. It’s called ‘Unkillable’ because it cannot be killed.

“Darn it. Cha Yugeon, it has flame resistance. And its skin is thick, so most physical attacks won’t work.”

“That’s annoying.”

Cha Yugeon extinguished the flames surrounding the creature and held it in place with telekinesis. His eyes began to glow red. He remembered facing a cyclops with telekinesis before. It seemed he intended to use the same method again, but dealing with such a massive creature wouldn’t be easy.

“Fuck…”

Curses flowed from Cha Yugeon’s mouth in frustration. Though he was holding the creature back with telekinesis, he couldn’t think of any other attack method.

Crash!

Cha Yugeon lifted a nearby large rock with telekinesis and hurled it towards the creature. The rock, with added acceleration, struck the Unkillable’s head.

[Keeeeekk!]

The Unkillable let out a painful cry, but compared to the attack, its reaction was minimal. Not even a scratch appeared on its skin. As expected, physical attacks were ineffective.

At that moment, Baek Chan-kyung stepped forward. He created a massive stream of water and shot it towards the ground, creating a crater due to the pressure.

“Hold it a bit longer.”

“I was planning on doing that even if you didn’t tell me.”

Cha Yugeon coldly retorted to Baek Chan-kyung’s words. That was the end of their conversation. Baek Chan-kyung continued to expand the crater using the water stream. Not only that, but he also drew water from nearby waterfalls. Eventually, the crater became as large as a lake.

Then, Cha Yugeon, slammed it into the crater.

[Keeek! Kieeek!]

The Unkillable struggled to wriggle out of the water, but Cha Yugeon’s telekinetic force kept it from escaping. Cha Yugeon used his telekinetic power to push the Unkillable deeper into the water, while Baek Chankyung manipulated the water to cover the Unkillable.

Bubbles rose to the surface as the Unkillable suffered underwater. Cha Yugeon furrowed his brow as if exerting great effort to hold onto the massive creature. Sweat beads formed on his forehead as he continued to keep Unkillable submerged.

As some time passed, the surface of the water calmed down. Haon watched in silence, expecting the Unkillable to burst out of the water with its long trunk-like nose. However, despite the time passing, there was no sign of it surfacing.

“I think it’s dead…?”

Haon cautiously spoke up, and Cha Yugeon seemed to share the same thought. His eyes, which had been glowing red, returned to their original color. After a moment, the Unkillable floated lifelessly on the water.

“…Even though it was called Unkillable because it couldn’t be killed, we’ve killed it.”

Park Inhyung muttered in disbelief. Though Haon didn’t say anything, he was silently amazed. With two S-rank Espers, they were able to defeat such a monster without any casualties.

“Let’s go.”

“Wait.”

At Cha Yugeon’s words, Haon stopped him. Cha Yugeon paused, as if wondering why. Haon approached him.

“Do you… need guidance?”

The memory of Cha Yugeon struggling to control the Unkillable earlier came to Haon’s mind. Though he didn’t feel entirely comfortable, he felt that if they were to continue fighting together, Cha Yugeon’s esper abilities needed his guidance to find stability.

Cha Yugeon seemed somewhat surprised. It was as if he hadn’t expected Haon to say such a thing. Nevertheless, he cautiously approached Haon. As Haon reached out his hand to Cha Yugeon—

Rumblee…

Before they could react, a thunderous sound echoed, and the dam of the lake collapsed. A tremendous amount of water gushed out all at once. There was no time to evade.

A massive flood that even managed to kill the Unkillable surged forth.

Baek Chan-kyung hastily began to absorb the water. Cha Yugeon also evaporated the water with his flames. Thanks to their efforts, the surrounding area was soon clear of water.

“Uwekkkk, ugh…”

Park Inhyung retched as she expelled the water she had swallowed during the flood. After coughing painfully for a while, she wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up.

“And… what about the other two…?”

When he looked up, he could only see the frozen figures of Cha Yugeon and Baek Chan-kyung.

***

“I might die.”

Swept away by the water, Haon was carried all the way to the waterfall and plummeted down below the cliff. Water filled his throat and nostrils, but he clenched his teeth to keep from losing consciousness. This was inside the gate, and there could be any kind of monster within this waterfall.

Struggling with the excruciating pain of being battered against the cliff bottom, Haon managed to swim desperately to the shore. Though it hurt, he was fortunate that he could still move without significant impediment. It was probably thanks to the numbing medicine Cha Yugeon had given him in the helicopter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to move so freely.

As he caught his breath, he spotted something resembling a person in the distance. At first, he was wary, thinking it might be a humanoid monster, but upon closer inspection, he noticed the person was wearing a uniform.

“Hey!”

It was odd that there was no response to his call. The person in uniform was just floating on the water. Haon felt a sense of foreboding and hastily jumped into the water. His body shivered, but he ignored it for now.

Haon gritted his teeth and approached the person. He quickly wrapped his arm around his neck and swam to the shore using only one arm and both legs.

“Mr. Kim Jeongwon?”

“… “

“Mr. Kim Jeongwon!”

There was no response. Haon quickly checked his pulse. It was faint, as if on the verge of stopping. Haon hastily undid his uniform, pressed firmly on his chest, and performed CPR. After 30 chest compressions, he opened his mouth to secure a clear airway and attempted artificial respiration. Fortunately, Kim Jeongwon coughed up water and regained consciousness.

“Cough, cough, splutter!”

 “Are you okay?”

Kim Jeongwon turned over and coughed heavily while looking at the ground. Haon gently patted his back until he seemed to calm down a bit.

“… thank you.”

He seemed to be trying to assess the situation, looking around for a while before speaking in a hoarse voice. Haon didn’t expect Kim Jeongwon to be grateful. Haon still felt guilty about what had happened.

“It’s nothing. It’s natural.”

Kim Jeongwon seemed somewhat embarrassed, but that’s why Haon could tell his words were sincere. Haon felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest now that Kim Jeongwon seemed to be okay.