SWNOVELXO Chapter 180
Chapter 180: Trauma
—It’s coming! It’s coming!
The Sylph, shrunk down to the size of a grain of sand, sensed the approach of a strange creature from a distance through the winds blowing around.
The Yoo Ji-han party immediately hid in a safe location as soon as the Sylph’s warning was issued.
“Gwaaaah!”
“Vroooom!”
“Grrraaaah!”
Several groups of monsters moved in a line.
With each step they took on the asphalt ground, little cracks began to appear.
Their direction aligned with that of the Expeditionary Force that had departed.
Everyone was trying to leave Goheung.
“Should we let them go?”
“Let them be.”
There was no point in wasting stamina in a place like this.
Yoo Ji-han chose not to obstruct the movement of the monsters.
A confrontation between the Rear Guard and the monsters would likely take place in the area above Goheung.
‘The Red Hole will block them at Yeosu.’
Vice Guild Master Jung Gi-jun of the Red Hole, who had parted ways at Yeosu.
If all went as planned, his team should have joined the Rear Guard by now.
The remnants left behind in Yeosu would be in good hands with them.
“Let’s go.”
Only after all the monsters had disappeared and silence enveloped the area did Yoo Ji-han move.
After continuing their trek, they finally arrived at a small town nestled between two mountains.
There were no towering buildings like in a big city, just 2-story structures at most.
The village was so rundown that the town hall seemed to be the most extravagant building.
‘Not a single car around.’
Yoo Ji-han quickly zipped past the roadside, surveying the surroundings.
This village showed no signs of life, with not a single parked vehicle in sight.
Everyone must have fled to another region.
“Moooor!”
“…!”
As soon as cow sounds echoed, the Yoo Ji-han party readied their weapons and stood alert.
But upon arriving where the sound originated, they found an ordinary bull.
The only animals left in the village were puppies and cows, unable to join their owners who had evacuated.
‘This feels a bit strange.’
As Yoo Ji-han guarded against the bull while smelling cow dung, he felt a bit pathetic.
His alertness heightened unnecessarily because of those who turned ordinary animals into monsters.
“Here, eat this.”
“Woof! Woof!”
It seemed the owners had left food behind when they evacuated, but some bowls were already empty.
Feeling pity, Min Yu-ri sought Yoo Ji-han’s understanding and supplied the animals with plenty of food and water nearby.
‘Thinking back, all the hideouts were near the sea.’
Most of the hideouts for people from another world were located by the sea.
It seemed they were attempting to use the strategy of fleeing to the ocean in emergencies.
Realizing this, before sneaking into the nearby hideout, Yoo Ji-han first checked if there was a boat at the small port.
‘Is that it?’
One fishing boat was docked, capable of carrying about ten people.
The Yoo Ji-han party checked the boat prior to entering the hideout.
“What’s this…?”
From the outside, it looked like an ordinary fishing boat.
However, inside, there were traces of dead fish and used syringes.
Kim Si-hu speculated that someone fished while injecting substances into the fish.
It appeared to be a fishing boat used for research purposes.
“There’s one ‘chocolate milk’ left here.”
Kim Si-hu found an unused syringe inside the boat.
According to earlier discoveries, the white ‘milk’ was a substance that granted humans the ability to control monsters.
The black ‘chocolate milk’ was a compound that caused monsters to mutate.
“Chirp! Chirp!”
Chilla, sensing instinctive threats from the syringe, bristled all over.
While Min Yu-ri soothed him, Yoo Ji-han stated, “You hold onto that, Yu-ri.”
“Me? Really?”
“You can pack it into a Magic Arrow and shoot it, right?”
“That much is doable.”
“If played right, we could turn it to our advantage.”
According to the information gathered from people from another world, monsters that adapted to the chocolate milk would transform into mutations.
However, monsters that failed to adapt would go into fits and die.
And…
‘In the case of injecting chocolate milk into an already mutated subject, there’s a high probability of side effects occurring.’
Given the high failure rate, the substance held potential as a weapon.
Even if the ones made in the kitchen had been discarded, it wouldn’t be bad to keep at least one.
“Chirp! Chirp!”
“Chilla looks like he’s saying, ‘Get rid of that immediately!’”
—Heehee! Chilla’s such a coward!
The Sylph teased Chilla, who shot a glare at her and threw a punch in the air.
“Chirp!”
—Eek!
That one threat was enough to terrify the Sylph, who then hid behind Yoo Ji-han.
*
After investigating the boat, the Yoo Ji-han party sneaked into the hideout concealed within Space Distortion.
Unlike before, this location did not require any special authentication to enter.
“No one’s here?”
“Really.”
However, despite having prepared thoroughly, no signs of life could be detected in the office-like hideout.
“Wait.”
Yoo Ji-han rifled through the memories of the people from another world.
According to those memories, this place housed items necessary for their enemies and served as a hideout and supply station in Goheung.
Since it was an important base, the internal rules mandated that at least eight people should be stationed there at all times.
‘All the items are gone.’
Shelves where magic scrolls should have been were completely empty, with nothing but trash scattered on the floor.
Yoo Ji-han brushed his finger over a footprint imprinted in the sand.
Moist sand stuck to his fingertips.
‘Those footprints are from within the past hour.’
Fresh traces of people who had left not long ago.
It seemed the movements of the elites had been adequately tracked.
Though they had unfortunately missed them.
“Hold on.”
At that moment, Yoo Ji-han’s head jerked around.
He had sensed an unusual magical wave from deep inside the office.
‘Were they still here?’
The Yoo Ji-han party rushed toward the place where they felt the magic, keeping their footsteps silent.
As they drew nearer, the other party members also sensed the strange magic and their expressions hardened.
And when Yoo Ji-han swung the solidly shut door wide open—
“What is that?”
“A magic circle?”
They reached a place inscribed with a circular magic circle on the floor.
The magical energy they had sensed earlier spilled forth from the object lying at its center.
“That’s a Magic Stone!”
“It’s enormous…”
Yoon Dong-gil clicked his tongue at the sight of a Magic Stone larger than a human head.
This was not some low-grade Magic Stone typically sold in marts.
It was a high-grade Magic Stone that couldn’t be artificially produced and could only be obtained at auctions.
It looked far superior in quality to the Magic Stones used for standard barriers.
—Ji-han! That’s dangerous!
“…!”
The Sylph, who had been fooling around just moments ago, warned solemnly.
For a spirit so familiar with magic to issue a warning like this was quite foreboding.
Sensing danger, Yoo Ji-han rushed forward with the intent to smash the Magic Stone.
It would be nice to take it as loot, but this wasn’t the time to think about such things.
Booom—!
At that moment, a massive surge of magical energy erupted from the center of the magic circle.
It was like a storm of magical energy the size of a gigantic tsunami!
Yoo Ji-han’s body was flung back from the shock just before he could reach the Magic Stone.
“Cough!”
Yoo Ji-han coughed as he slammed into the wall.
Right after, Kim Si-hu, gritting his teeth, aimed his staff at the Magic Stone.
No matter how high quality the Magic Stone was, it could still be shattered if a powerful impact were applied from the outside.
“…..Huh?”
But Kim Si-hu froze in a posture with his arm outstretched.
The scenery around him suddenly transformed completely.
The magic circle inscribed on the ground and the large Magic Stone emitting copious magical energy had vanished.
‘A chalkboard?’
A horizontally long green chalkboard appeared.
It looked just like the chalkboard from some classroom.
Moreover, it was almost identical to the one from the Green Moon Hero Academy that Kim Si-hu had attended.
‘What the heck?!’
He was even sitting at a desk, clad in a familiar school uniform.
Ding ding ding!
When the speakers in the classroom chimed to signal recess,
The students seated at their desks pushed their chairs back and stood up in unison.
Unable to process the chaotic emotions, Kim Si-hu remained motionless.
Tap.
Something flew over Kim Si-hu’s head before long.
A white object floated down, rolling along the curve of his cap, landing right in front of his eyes.
It was a crumpled piece of paper torn from a notebook.
Tap. Tap.
As garbage continued to fly through the air, Kim Si-hu turned his head back.
A group of boys and girls were smirking while looking at him.
“Hey! Why are you spaced out?”
“Yo, if you use expressions that are too difficult, the elves won’t understand.”
“Don’t call me an elf. I’m just a half, and I don’t even look right.”
“Hahaha!”
“……”
It seemed that this was indeed the Green Moon Hero Academy.
*
“It’s over.”
On a small cruise ship floating in the vast sea.
The people from another world realized that the trap they had hidden was activated.
They didn’t know how the pursuing heroes had discovered the hideout’s location,
But since they were aware that the heroes were coming to the hideout, it wasn’t difficult to set up traps.
“The Magic Stone feels so sad…”
“We can’t retrieve it now anyway.”
High-grade Magic Stones could be used to command large numbers of monsters.
They were also useful for setting up physical barriers to trap people from Earth in one place.
Evading the eyes of the government and heroes to acquire such items from the underworld wasn’t easy.
Many felt regret for using up one of them.
“This much has definitely paid off.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
However, Rius did not regret his decision.
He was just relieved that they could suppress the pursuing group with a single Magic Stone.
“More than anything, the issue was that Spirit Master named Yoo Ji-han.”
His sophisticated illusion magic was capable of deceiving high-level heroes.
Yoo Ji-han was the first person in this world to see through it all.
‘Jerry wasn’t overestimating him for nothing.’
Since he judged that ordinary magic wouldn’t deceive him, Rius daringly invested the Magic Stone.
“In a few minutes, his mind will be completely shattered.”
“Of course. It’s a spell made by our captain.”
“If we had been nearby, we would’ve been caught as well.”
While they talked about the power of unique magic, Jerry was sprawled on the ground whining.
“Bwaaaak!”
“……”
“Bwaaaak—!”
After a while of ignoring her, Rius sighed.
“Jerry.”
“Bwaaaak!”
“Jerry, please be quiet!”
“But! But we…!”
Tears welled in Jerry’s eyes as she cried.
It was understandable since anyone entering the coverage area of the exclusive magic they had set up would experience intense hallucinations and have their mind shattered, becoming idiots.
“I’ll give you Yoo Ji-han’s body later.”
“I don’t want a living corpse!”
“Like it or not, accept it.”
“Bwaaaak!!”
After the rematch against Yoo Ji-han,
It was the worst outcome for Jerry, who wished to dominate him and make him a slave.