After 12 hours of fierce battle against the demonic beasts, the reconnaissance team returned to the underground village. Every day, members of the Resistance had to participate in such difficult fights. Although the use of magic power had to be restrained, the younger generation of Heroes, including Kim Suho and Chae Nayun, could stand against demonic beasts even without magic power.
The fight had prolonged for half a day simply because there were too many demonic beasts.
Although the fight was now over, that didn't mean they could rest. The second the team returned to the village hall, Jin Seyeon connected Ellio to Aileen over the radio. Over the next three hours, Ellio explained to Aileen the plan they had named the 'Tigris Assassination Mission'.
This was the summary of the mission.
Tigris was scheduled to visit Lupiton this Friday. Tigris was one of the most notable Sacred Bone humanoid monsters. He had an influence on the central political system and was also the head of several different factions of monsters. By assassinating Tigris who was in charge of the entire eastern region of Orden's Kingdom that included both Lupiton and Crean, they could create a tremendous amount of confusion for the monsters.
The Resistance planned to take advantage of the said confusion and either escape Africa or revolt against Orden.
But because Ellio's plan was still in its initial stage and had many holes, Yi Gongmyoung joined in on the conversation, and together they began planning the mission in detail. They finished at one o'clock in the morning and only then was the reconnaissance team finally able to rest.
Chwaaa—
"Phew…."
Now was the brief amount of free time before they all had to go to bed. Chae Nayun let out a deep sigh in the warm hot spring. When she was in the underground fortress, she had never even dreamed that this kind of bath would be possible. The warm water seemed to melt away all her worries and fatigue.
"Huhuhuhu… this is great."
Chae Nayun exclaimed like an old man.
If possible, she wanted to stay here forever. Unfortunately, the mission would resume tomorrow.
"Mmmm~"
Chae Nayun stretched once and got up.
Suddenly, she was filled with warm languidness.
"Ah~ Water here feels so much better for some reason~"
She walked staggeringly back to the changing room.
"Hmm?"
She put her clothes back on and was now ready to head back to her room. But just as she was about to leave the hot spring, she noticed a mirror hanging on the wall. Chae Nayun stood in front of the mirror.
Her hair, which used to be short during her Cube years, was now long and wet.
"…It's so bothersome."
Chae Nayun clicked her tongue.
Long hair was nothing more than a burden during fights. During the most recent fight, her hair had poked her eyes countless times.
"Tsk."
Determined, Chae Nayun gathered magic power around her hand and cut her hair.
The detached lump of her hair brushed the side of her arms as it fell to the ground. Chae Nayun cleaned the mess up and left the hot spring.
It was then.
"…Bell, where are you?"
She heard a small voice. After the gratifying bath that left all her senses heightened, even the smallest sound couldn't escape her ears.
With a small frown, Chae Nayun slowly walked to where the voice had come from. This was her specialty 'superior stealth' technique that both Yoo Sihyuk and Heynckes praised her for.
"…Where the hell did you disappear to?"
At a remote corner of the village, Jin Sahyuk was whispering to someone over a walkie-talkie.
Just seeing her put Chae Nayun in a bad mood.
'That crazy bitch.'
Chae Nayun turned around to leave. However, a thought suddenly crossed her mind and she stopped and hid at a spot where she could hear Jin Sahyuk.
"You blocked Mental Transmission again! …Where did you go?"
Jin Sahyuk was speaking into the walkie-talkie assigned to her. Her face was already red with anger, but the way she was trying to keep her voice down was somewhat funny.
—I'm in the middle of a humanoid monster village. If I use any strange techniques like Mental Transmission, I would get discovered right away. I had no choice but to block it.
Bell's voice flowed out from the other side of the radio. Chae Nayun recognized this voice as belonging to 'Rebé', the guide.
"Bell. Don't make me mad and explain."
'Bell? Who's Bell?'
"Why did you go into the village?"
—That's none of your concern.
"The fuck…."
Jin Sahyuk pounded her own chest with her fists. She seemed desperate to hold back her anger.
Chae Nayun listened in on their conversation in silence.
"Tell me what you saw through your ultimate skill. About that woman."
—…Mmm. Maybe later. But I can tell you one thing right now.
Bell had picked up a non-combative ultimate skill called [Sea of Memories] at the Tower of Wish. To Jin Sahyuk, who wasn't capable of learning ultimate skills, Bell's choice seemed rather strange. But that didn't matter. Right now, she just wanted to know what Bell found out.
—Kim Hajin might be deceiving you.
"About what?"
Kim Hajin.
The name popped up out of the blue.
Chae Nayun froze.
—Kim Hajin might not have been your servant. I'll tell you about the details later. I'm actually tailing Kim Hajin right now to confirm. I have to go now.
"…Ha."
The call ended there, and Jin Sahyuk leaned against the wall with her head in her hands. For a while she stayed still, slowly breathing in and out to relieve her anger.
Chae Nayun continued to watch Jin Sahyuk.
"…Just what is he?"
Jin Sahyuk muttered.
However, not long after, Kim Suho approached her.
Without a word, he handed her a key chain.
"What's this?"
"Dorm key. Your room is 205."
Jin Sahyuk didn't grab the key and only glared at Kim Suho viciously.
"I see you're used to speaking casually to me now."
Kim Suho didn't answer. He looked at Jin Sahyuk bitterly and, with a sigh, dropped the key into Jin Sahyuk's hand.
"…I'm leaving."
Kim Suho turned around, and Jin Sahyuk also walked in the opposite direction with the key in her hand.
Chae Nayun was left alone to ponder.
'Jin Sahyuk definitely knows Kim Hajin. She called him her servant.'
"What the hell does that mean…?"
'Maybe it's not 'servant' but 'serpent'? Or maybe 'fervent'?'
So many questions were left unanswered but she was sure of one thing: Jin Sahyuk was related to Kim Hajin.
"Well then…."
'I don't want anything to do with her, but I guess I'll have to become closer to her.'
Chae Nayun clenched her fists and checked her room number.
Room 207.
'It's three people per room, and Jin Sahyuk is in room 205….'
"I'll have to change my room."
Chae Nayun hurried to the village hall.
Lupiton, the mid-rank village of humanoid monsters.
"Mm. I can see it now."
With my Thousand-Mile Eyes, I looked into the village lord's mansion from a hotel many miles away.
The mansion was similar in structure to Buckingham Palace. It was equipped with magic traps, and a number of humanoid monsters, all above rank-3, were fiercely guarding the mansion.
"What kind of monster is the lord~? What does he look like~?"
Jain asked with a smirk. She and Khalifa arrived here only three hours ago. Khalifa left right away to take Tenzuhar back to Crean.
I wasn't particularly worried about Tenzuhar. He valued his life and was smart enough not to do anything rash when Droon, Jin Yohan, and the other members of the Chameleon Troupe were around.
"I wonder."
I searched for the most private and the safest place in the mansion. A big, fancy room in the heart of the mansion, that was where the humanoid monster thought to be Pleron was.
"He just looks like a human with wings. He has pale skin and wings made of ice."
"Is the lord a boy or a girl?"
"He… ah, it's a she. Looks like the lord is a woman."
"Is she pretty~?"
"…Why does that matter?"
I frowned at Jain's weird question. Jain smirked.
"You know I had to be a lizard for the past day. I'd much rather transform into a pretty humanoid monster~"
"…Well, about that,"
I looked at Pleron again.
"You won't have to worry this time."
Pleron, who inherited the genes of a snow-bird, was without a doubt beautiful. She looked completely human except for her pointy ears, and her refined facial structure matched her pale skin very well.
"That's a relief~"
Jain smiled mischievously and turned her gaze to Boss.
Boss was staring into space, muttering something. She was probably exchanging messages with someone through the Tower of Wish's 'System'. Ever since the Tower opened up to the public, Players could use the System anywhere, even outside the Tower.
I called Boss.
"Boss?"
"…Kuhum. I was talking to Wicked."
Boss glanced at me and let out a dry cough.
"We strike when it's dark. Our plan is simple. We go in, we capture Pleron, then Jain will disguise as Pleron."
Quietly and gracefully, just like always.
We nodded at Boss.
—We strike when it's dark.
Meanwhile, Bell hid in the air and watched them.
—Our plan is simple. We go in, we capture Pleron, then Jain will disguise as Pleron.
Bell looked at Yi Byul. She had matured into a beautiful woman. He recalled how she was only a cute, pitiful girl when she was young.
"…Haa."
Bell let out a heavy sigh. Byul had changed only because of the man standing next to her. She had found a friend she could rely on.
"But Byul," Bell muttered, "He's…."
Kim Hajin. His memories were disconnected from this world. Perhaps, Kim Hajin was similar to himself.
"He can't be with you."
He was destined to leave her someday. The pain Byul would feel from her parting with Kim Hajin might even be greater than the pain she felt when she lost 'that man' whom she considered her parent.
"Haa…."
Bell, too, recalled the time he killed his best friend with his own hands. Even now the pain was unbearable.
But Bell, who had lived through 'past generations' over and over again for hundreds of years, knew that eternal death was a thousand times better than eternal life.
Bell couldn't die. This was the same in reality, in different dimensions, and in the Tower of Wish.
His body would simply scatter and turn into magic power, soon reconstructing itself into a new body. For this reason, Bell was never afraid in the face of death.
"Mm…."
Bell stared at Kim Hajin. In truth, he had always considered Kim Hajin 'worthless'. As he confirmed in the Tower of Wish, Kim Hajin did not possess the ability to kill Bell, and more importantly, he had been ruining 'Yi Byul' whom Bell considered to be his masterpiece.
However.
The glimpse of Kim Hajin's memories that Bell saw through [Sea of Memories] showed a world completely different from the one they were in right now.
"Hm. I guess I have no choice."
Bell finally made a decision.
"I'll have to take him with me."
Bell felt the need to explore Kim Hajin's memories in detail. He had managed to look into Kim Hajin's memories for one minute, which was far less time than the time he actually needed. He would need at least a week to figure everything out about Kim Hajin.
And to spend a week together, he had no choice but to 'kidnap' Kim Hajin.
Whish—
At that moment, a gust of wind blew past him.
Bell entrusted himself to the wind; soon his body turned into dust that scattered in the air.