chapter 198

Chapter 198

The only one who had gone out of their mind over their partner’s safety wasn’t Lee Ruda.

“Clean up the sea, you say.”

“Yes. Even if we gather all ice-type hunters, dealing with the sea is still difficult... We’re in a situation where we can’t spare even a single hunter. I know you’re unsettled, but please lend us your hand.”

“Then.”

Yoo Seongun asked with a smile.

“Will you grant permission to enter the dungeon?”

His eyes did not smile.

“...Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Almost certainly.”

“Almost?”

“Hunter Yoo Seongun.”

The Association staff member sighed as if he understood.

“You know it, don’t you? In a situation like this, we can’t send just one hunter separately. I know you’re capable, Hunter Yoo Seongun, but it’ll be difficult to clear a dungeon where the boss is a humanoid monster with solo play, too.”

“If you just send me, I’ll pull out Hunter Seo Gio and come right back. Yes, I want to do that, but the Association won’t grant permission. So should we try to proceed overall?”

“There are already many dead and injured hunters, and many missing hunters as well. At a time like this, if we only accommodate Hunter Yoo Seongun, what do we tell the other hunters? Please calm down...”

“I understand.”

Yoo Seongun accepted it.

“Then I ask that you firmly guarantee that permission to enter will be granted as soon as the sea is cleaned up.”

“...I’ll raise the matter to the Association again. Since it was discussed as proceeding as soon as the minimum cleanup is done to the point where we can carry out a decoy operation, it should be possible.”

“I’d like the assurance to come before the cleanup is fully completed.”

“The sea’s movements are not normal. It seems the initiative is gradually passing to the monsters, so please be careful.”

“I know well that I’m manpower you’d hate to lose.”

He had no intention of dying already when they hadn’t even properly analyzed ‘Gio’s portrait’ yet.

“Let’s start right away.”

It was easy to say “cleanup,” but there was no way it would be as easy as cleaning a room.

Hunters froze gigantic waves that moved like living creatures, and inside that, they had to deal with all kinds of marine life and monsters showing frenzy phenomena.

‘This is a headache.’

And only after preparing a barrier against this entire sea could it be said that the “cleanup” was finished.

Yoo Seongun was dispatched to the site right away.

“Hunter Yoo Seongun—!!”

There were many hunters who recognized Yoo Seongun, who was famous as an ice-type. Hunters had great interest in hunters who handled the same element as themselves. With his characteristic unflappable smile, Yoo Seongun opened his mouth.

“Where should I start?”

“Freeze whatever’s in front of you.”

“Are you insane? How are you going to deal with the aftermath?”

“You’ve gotten rough with your words—heard you went nuts after Hunter Seo got kidnapped.”

“Main point?”

“We’ll have to spend money, that’s what.”

Rather than tiptoeing around while thinking about the capital that would bleed out later for cleanup, it was far cheaper in this situation to go big from the start, braced to write a report afterward.

“If we delay any further, it’ll go past the coast and into the inland. It’s like the seawater’s gone crazy and is trying to crawl inward like a snake. Not to mention the monsters from the hail...”

“So stopping it at the coastline is the priority?”

“That’s how it is. But it’s not like we can block water with our hands, and giving it to plants as feed doesn’t work either since it’s seawater, and even if we build a big wall, it climbs up like a monkey, so the only thing left is freezing it.”

“Are you not using fire-type hunters?”

“That side is already a mess. Against this volume of tsunami, they’re manpower that’s far too inefficient. Stop being sarcastic and let’s get into the sea.”

“This is something...”

Shaaak—!

Cold gathered at Yoo Seongun’s feet, and soon took form into blades.

“It’s gotten damn tangled.”

Tap!!

He lightly tapped the ground with the toe of the shoe that had turned into a skate.

In that moment, Yoo Seongun’s figure vanished. He shot straight up the gigantic barrier and hopped over it into the sea beyond. Along the path he moved, a smooth sheet of ice piled up thickly, and that became another barrier.

“...”

Whooo—!!

Right before he fell beneath the tall barrier, Yoo Seongun assessed the situation in midair.

‘One super-large, six large, thirty-two medium.’

The various small fry besides that weren’t Yoo Seongun’s responsibility.

“Haa...”

Whooook—...!!

As he fell rapidly, he thought,

‘I want to clock out.’

Kwa-jijijik!!!!!

Yoo Seongun set foot on the “ground.”

From where he stepped, a huge, solid “glacier” formed—something you’d only see at the poles.

That dreadful cold spread across the sea surface and even below it, instantly freezing the waves that had been surging. Hunters who confirmed the roar shouted.

“Fuck, it’s support!!”

“Save me, the sea is fucking dogshit...!!”

“Whoa, an A-rank’s here, make a path! Make it fast!!”

“You idiots, make a path if you don’t want to freeze to death!!!”

Recognizing Yoo Seongun, the hunters cleared out to a distance, and Yoo Seongun hurried through the gap, freezing the sea as he went.

High-grade hunters who handle cold skillfully wear skates like the ones Yoo Seongun was using now.

If used well, it could increase speed, and the blade could be used as a weapon. There was even a joke that it was because pre-Catastrophe Korea had once made a name for itself in figure skating.

‘It’s true it’s usable, but.’

Cold wind brushed his cheek.

Putting strength in his legs, a light single axel. He smoothly leapt over the warped, wavering ice sheet, and kwa-jijik—!! spinning, he cut down a monster. He landed as-is. One spin. He avoided an obstacle, and moved again.

Running fast, he slammed—bang!!!—his spear into the ice sheet and leapt upward. With a vertical rotation he struck down a monster, then used the recoil to float up into the air. The bodily fluids of the monster, sliced by the skate blade, froze and fell in droplets.

Only slight variations—otherwise a repetition of the same work. Using skates to secure smoothness, using a spear to secure destructive power. Forward, leap, smash down, cut, land, and forward again.

‘The work itself isn’t difficult. It’s simple labor.’

Tap, tuk-tuk—!!

He stepped around while moving, avoiding multiple monsters. Clang!! When he struck down, a spear rose from the ice sheet and pierced a monster. Blood sprayed.

Yoo Seongun knew well what he had to do here. The monsters frozen along the ice roads he created went berserk, breaking the glaciers apart, but other hunters dealt with that.

“...”

But that didn’t mean this situation would end.

‘The sea is wide.’

And deep.

‘This isn’t something that ends just because I do something alone.’

No matter how much Yoo Seongun begged and drew on the garden’s power, it wasn’t possible to freeze every sea on this planet. Considering Earth’s survival, it also shouldn’t be done—things would reach an unrecoverable state.

‘But if it’s just a little...’

Once again, Yoo Seongun pulled out a long spear of ice, gripped it in his hand, and slammed—bang!!!—into the bottom, using the recoil to soar into the sky.

“...Huuuu—”

Floating in the air, he aimed the ice spear at the eye of a large monster.

And thrust it.

“...”

Pang—!!!

The monster’s body burst apart.

“...Ptooh, ptooh.”

Screee—.

Spinning once and coming to a stop on the ice, Yoo Seongun spat out ice fragments that had gotten into his mouth.

“Ugh, salty.”

A mix of monster fluids and seawater couldn’t help but be salty.

Shaking off the un-melted chunks of ice, Yoo Seongun flicked his skates and walked quickly back out over the sea surface. Wherever he went, huge glaciers formed and monsters froze.

But this was also something other A-rank hunters were continuing to do.

‘It’s repeating. A vicious cycle.’

Yoo Seongun was especially famous for producing enormous, solid ice—polar glaciers. But even with all competent ice hunters gathered here, the sea continued to break and surge in repetition.

‘Then there’s only one answer.’

He needed to annoy the “owner” of these waves until it came out on its own.

“That’s my specialty.”

Kwachik. Splash—!!!

Yoo Seongun broke the ice and went down into the sea.

‘What if all these many monsters here start carrying cold?’

The aftermath would become harder, but that wasn’t something Yoo Seongun needed to feel sorry about. In any case, work related to that would be a problem for Yoo Seongun of the future to solve through overtime and wage cuts.

‘And if this works...’

Yoo Seongun recalled the gardener who would have participated in this war: Jung Yeongwon.

‘It’ll make it pretty annoying.’

He grinned as he watched the marine monsters approaching him. In water like this, humans, who were land creatures, would be extremely disadvantaged—but for a tundra gardener whose very soul was frozen, it would be different.

A gardener was a laborer who managed the garden’s seeds and fruit.

“...”

If another garden bloomed inside their bodies, wouldn’t any monster be troubled?

Yoo Seongun drove an ice blade into his own body and drew it across. The monsters opened their mouths wide at the sweet scent of blood.

‘Let’s see how far this can go.’

Red snowflowers bloomed in the sea.

* * *

“Hunter Yoo Seongun has gone missing!!”

Hunters along the coastline beyond the barrier, who had been wounded and pulled back, began to murmur.

“Huh? Hunter Yoo Seongun, where...?”

“A hunter who can make ice like that wouldn’t be unable to take care of himself in the sea, would he?”

“But we saw him slip into the sea—don’t we need to rescue him?!”

“If you’re calling it missing, it means it’s been some time since he fell in, right?”

“I know you’re busy, but I thought I should at least inform you...”

“No, how many missing hunters are there right now.”

Even so, there wasn’t really any manpower to spare to rescue even one hunter right now. If it was a hunter who had fallen into the sea, it was even more so. In a situation like this, there was no choice but for each to survive on their own and come back out.

To that, the healer Jung Yeongwon, who had been receiving treatment in the rear, asked.

“Did he fall into the sea, or did he go in?”

“Huh? Th-that, that is... I’m not... sure...”

“He probably went in.”

A gardener does not die easily unless eaten by the Origin.

“Watch the sea more. Rather than focusing on the safety of a single entity named Yoo Seongun, if you grasp the situation of the sea on a broader scale, it will be easier to figure out what’s happening.”

“What do you mean by that...”

“...”

Blinking, Jung Yeongwon said,

“...The sound is dying down.”

“With it this loud, what sound are you talking about?”

“Don’t look small—look big. The sound of the sea waves breaking is decreasing, isn’t it?”

“That’s...”

“Fine.”

Snorting, Jung Yeongwon turned away.

“You can leave that human alone. He’s doing fine on his own.”

“N-no, but...! If something happens to Hunter Yoo Seongun, it’ll disrupt the work!”

“I said he’s doing fine on his own, didn’t I?”

And soon, a few hunters also sensed the abnormality.

“...? No, wait...”

“It really is getting quieter...?”

It happened in an instant.

“...”

“...”

To the point where the inside of the barrier felt chilly, it became silent—truly in a flash.

“...What is this, exactly?”

“Looks like he froze most of it.”

With the faint sounds of monsters wailing in the background, Jung Yeongwon said,

“Everyone go work. Hunt monsters.”

“Ah, yes?”

“And go bring back Hunter Yoo Seongun too.”

“Hunter Yoo Seongun?”

“He’ll definitely be sprawled out somewhere.”

Sure enough, a front-line hunter came running, panting.

“He-healer! Healer-nim! Healer!! Healer!!”

“Put him down.”

They had carried in Hunter Yoo Seongun, covered in blood.

‘Looks like the garden grew.’

Jung Yeongwon understood what Yoo Seongun had done. She treated Yoo Seongun’s wounds as he lay on the cot in the tent, checking his consciousness. Then their eyes met.

Yoo Seongun grinned.

“Not bad, right?”

“Looks like you’ve grown a lot.”

“Lately, I’ve been cold, you know. My body’s been shivering...”

“It’s more power than last time.”

“I drank a lot of good tea.”

Of course the garden grew lushly.

“...”

“Everything’s frozen!!”

“I told you to go work, didn’t I?”

“Ah, yes, yes...!!”

The sounds of ice and glaciers smashing and colliding, created by the gathered hunters, no longer rang out. Instead, only the heavy sounds of flesh lumps wedged in between, wailing or flopping, could be heard.

‘Even accounting for it being much quieter beyond the barrier, that’s impressive.’

At this point, it was safe to say almost all of the sea within sight had frozen.

‘Even deep inside.’

Jung Yeongwon knew what Yoo Seongun had done.

“Was it effective?”

“Freezing is usually like that, you know.”

Once a seed is planted in one place, it only grows larger and larger.

“It hardens in an instant.”

Yoo Seongun used his own body as a “seed” and gave it as food to the many monsters in the sea. Marine monsters that took in his terrifyingly cold blood froze in an instant, freezing the sea from the inside outward.

Since it was none other than the Origin’s cold, there was no need to say more about its effectiveness.

“I thought starting from the inside would be easier than only attacking the outside.”

“It certainly seems so. Seeing how my ears have become comfortable.”

“There are still plenty of places we couldn’t freeze, and there was a limit to how far the garden’s cold could spread into the deep sea...”

“I understand.”

“Still, since other hunters had frozen it beforehand, the speed was definitely fast.”

If Yoo Seongun had tried to lower the sea’s temperature from the start to make those vast glaciers, it would have taken a very long time, and his ability alone would not have been enough—but the fact that skilled hunters had already stepped in and lowered the sea’s temperature considerably was a great help.

He had only created a plausible starting point in a sea that was right on the verge of becoming ice.

“It had some effect, right?”

“It did, but the burden must have been severe.”

A gardener manages them inside the garden; if you siphon them out to the outside, you will be punished.

“So... were you worried about Hunter Seo Gio that much?”

“In a situation like this, how could I not worry?”

Yoo Seongun knew the mermaids’ greed.

“If it goes wrong, the roots will be moved.”

The mermaids’ obsession was beyond what Yoo Seongun had imagined.

They did not carry divinity, but having built up enormous achievements and drawn the gaze of many evil gods until now, they were more than capable of doing something to a weakened Gio, who was far weaker outside the portrait.

“So I had to push myself a bit. How long will it take to recover from this?”

“These damn dealers must have brains as small as chickens. In this state, you’re really asking that? Healers aren’t treatment vending machines. It doesn’t just pop out with a click.”

“Do you think I don’t know that? I’m asking roughly how long. I’m just purely asking the time.”

“With the garden’s aftermath, treatment in a short time is impossible. Even if I put in more effort, I can’t completely deal with the aftereffects. But...”

Jung Yeongwon was a pretty decent healer.

“If Hunter Seo Gio-nim is in danger, I’ll accept even divine punishment too.”

And a pretty decent gardener.

“I’ll borrow the greenhouse’s power.”

“This is something to be grateful for.”

“If you know that, then bring Hunter-nim back safely.”

The Eye of the Origin has gloriously taken root on Earth. For a gardener who serves a garden of his own, it was a situation where it couldn’t help but tempt greed—and Jung Yeongwon was, in particular, a human who served the Origin as if it were her own divinity.

“If he is safe, the greenhouse will be pleased too.”

A soft balsam hue colored the tips of Jung Yeongwon’s fingers.

The power of life, drawn from the greenhouse.

* * *

“...”

“...Hello...”

“Ha ha.”

Gio said with a smile.

“Won’t you take a look?”

“At what? At this child so clearly stained with the sun’s power?”

Aria smiled too, narrowing her eyes in a curve.

“I’m so jealous I want to tear him into five pieces, you know?”

“Still, he’s my first follower...”

“Saying it like that makes it awkward to kill him again.”

Aria hummed as she stroked her chin.

“Besides, this fight isn’t our teacher’s fight.”

“So that’s why you pulled him out to this remote place?”

“Of course I’m going to satisfy my personal desires, but since it’s come to this, it can’t be helped.”

She wore a polite smile worthy of a gentleman of high society.

“We can use him as a cute hostage, right?”

“I ask that you do not injure him.”

“Don’t worry. If teacher satisfies our whims well, then Student Cha Isol won’t lose even a single downy feather.”

“You’re speaking like a villain again...”

“Well, I really am one of the biggest villains even among dimensions.”

At their conversation, Cha Isol was horrified.

“Because of me, Hyung Gio will get hurt??”

“Don’t worry, little gentleman. He absolutely won’t be injured.”

“B-but just now...!”

“If you know, you’ll get hurt.”

“J-just barging into your home was wrong...! I’ll stay quiet! Please don’t hurt Hyung Gio!”

“How adorable, but no.”

Aria looked at Giovanni.

“It’s about time to start the work. The sea is starting to freeze to the point where my cute children can’t handle it anymore. Before the one responsible for this incident leaves the temple... we should do what we have to do.”

She stroked her teacher’s cheek.

“Are you ready to return to the sea?”

“Oh, how pitiful...”

Gio leaned his face into that hand.

“So you need my mercy.”

“Of course, teacher.”

Mermaids always wanted the sun’s mercy.

(To be continued in the next episode)