TEOCH 48

My eyes had somewhat adjusted to the darkness, but my vision was of no use at all. Every time Damian used ‘Blink,’ the world distorted into blackness, and the speed at which I threw my body was far faster than the speed at which I could identify the obstacles in front of me.

The sight of the snails writhing and crawling on the riverbank, the wide river where countless demonic beasts were flailing and struggling, and the leaves brushing past my cheek—all had long since vanished from my field of view.

I moved my body relying on instinct, barely even checking what was ahead. In this life-or-death situation, the only thing I could trust was my gut.

“Damian! Don’t set the position based on your perspective! You have to move a little shorter than you think for me to be able to grab the vine!”

“Ah, I understand! But it’s my first time using this magic, so controlling the distance is really difficult!”

I gasped for breath and grabbed the vine. My position was so unstable that it was hard to catch the vine, but instead of complaining further, I kept my mouth shut.

Damian’s field of view, as he was on my back, was slightly behind mine, and therefore, Damian’s magic was bound to miss the spot I wanted every time. Still, it could not be helped. It was better for me, the experienced one, to adjust, than to ask Damian, who was using the magic for the first time, to adjust for me.

I grabbed the vine again and threw my body with all my might. The palms of my hands inside my gloves were already torn and stinging, but the left arm where the parasite dwelled would heal quickly anyway, so it was somewhat bearable.

Of course, my right arm, which was not inhabited by the parasite, was already screaming in immense fatigue and pain, but I could endure it for the time being. No, I had to endure it!

“Sir Rikiel! Are you keeping up?!”

“We’re fine! You’re the one who needs to be careful, you look too precarious!”

As I shouted with all my strength, Rikiel’s reply came back immediately. I opened the map to check the time. 3 hours and 24 minutes remaining. An hour and a half had already passed, but we were also making our way up the river at a reasonably good pace.

We had fled quite far from the collapsing ground. Except for the intermittent earthquakes, we could barely even feel any signs of the island falling apart.

Once we picked up speed, the surrounding scenery flew by faster than when we were running, and aside from a few flying-type demonic beasts that occasionally spotted and attacked us, there were almost no obstacles blocking our way. One single mistake could have sent us crashing to the ground to have our bodies melt away, but as long as we did not make a mistake, we were safe for now.

However, we could not keep moving at this speed forever. It was not just because of the fatigue accumulating in my body. Because.

“Uh, ugh…!”

Damian, on my back, was firmly covering his mouth with one hand. It was about time for him to empty the contents of his stomach. I, too, bit my lip hard to hold back the vomit rising in my throat. It was an aftereffect of ‘Blink.’

It sounded quite plausible when called teleportation, but this magic had the side effect of completely destroying a person’s sense of balance each time it was used. Naturally, using it consecutively was bound to strain the body.

I, at least, was used to the side effects since I had used this magic more than once or twice, and Damian could also endure it to some extent because he was not moving his body himself. However, even I did not think we could continue moving at this speed for the next four hours. But it could not be helped. There was no way we could take a rest in this desperate situation!

‘Huh, wait a minute?’

As I was about to stretch out my hand with all my might, I felt a momentary sense of foreboding. Wait, why are the vines shaking so violently? There’s no way I’ve reached my limit already, right? As I struggled to grab the vine that was swaying left and right, up and down, I barely realized. It was not that my body was in bad shape. Could this be…!

“Rohan, be careful! Those snails!”

At Tristan’s shout, I instinctively looked down and saw that a considerable number of snails had gathered at the base of the tree. Only then did I realize what was happening. Dammit, was it too naive of me to think we’d be safe because they couldn’t climb trees and couldn’t perform ranged attacks?!

Many snails were still silently crawling upstream, but more than half of them, having noticed my and Damian’s presence, had attached themselves to the base of the tree and were rubbing their backs against it.

Every time the creatures moved, their boils burst with a sickening sound, and as soon as the pus that flowed out touched the tree’s base, thick smoke billowed up. In other words, those things were trying to corrode and bring down the tree.

Although our speed of advancing along the vines was much faster than the speed at which the snails were gathering at the tree’s base for now, there was no guarantee it would stay that way. For now, it was just a matter of the vines shaking a bit, but if this continued, those things might bring down the tree itself. If that happened, we would have no choice but to fall!

It was then.

“Your Majesty the King, please hold on to me tight!”

A sharp, piercing sound cut through the air, and at the same time, the snails in the distance began to let out tearing screams. I raised my eyes, confirming the arrow stuck in the base of the tree and the acrid smoke spewing from it. It was a relief, but what kind of position was that man shooting his bow in? He was being held by Rikiel, so his movements should be restricted, shouldn’t they?!

I immediately turned my head to look towards Rikiel, and saw Tristan, held by Rikiel, firmly gripping both of Rehas’s legs and the quiver. Rehas was shooting his bow while hanging upside down, with several arrows held in his mouth.

He can do that? There can’t be many hunters who can perform such acrobatics, right? I was worried he might fall, but it was a relief that he seemed safe for the time being. Instead of Rehas, who couldn’t answer properly because he was holding arrows in his mouth, Tristan shouted.

“We can’t defeat all those snails, Rohan! The limit for the ‘tear gas’ arrows is six shots!”

“That’s enough! Once we get to the midstream area, those snails won’t be able to follow us!”

Though other demonic beasts will follow instead… I kept that thought to myself and threw myself toward the next vine. Rehas only aimed for the trees where an excessive number of snails had gathered, but that alone was quite helpful. The snails, startled by the sudden spread of acrid smoke, became more cautious than before.

We moved on, easily grabbing the vines that were shaking less than before. Three hours before the entire island was set to collapse, we finally reached the middle of the river.

“There won’t be any more snails now! Isn’t that a relief?”

“Wait, a relief?! There’s something worse, isn’t there!”

“At least they’re easier on the eyes! Sir Rikiel, fly at a slightly higher altitude! If we get caught by those things, our entire bodies will be paralyzed!”

Letting Rikiel’s protest go in one ear and out the other, I glared at the swarms of poison frogs and mushroom rats running furiously toward the upstream area. The sound of countless demonic beasts running with heavy thuds shook the riverbank as loudly as an earthquake.

If the snails from before were not much of a threat despite their intimidating appearance, these things were less burdensome to look at but were actually far more threatening. It was questionable whether we could dodge the poison frogs’ leaping attacks and the dangerous spores scattered from the mushrooms, but right now, we had no choice but to break through.

“Hah, heok…!”

I forced my stiff limbs to move and grabbed a vine. Following an instinctual hunch, I twisted my body with all my might, and the tongue of a poison frog that leaped up from below just barely grazed the tip of my shoe before moving away. I ground my teeth as I felt my shoe melting with a foul smell. Another poison frog leaped up as if taking its turn, but after being hit by Rehas’s arrow, it foamed at the mouth and fell.

The mushrooms clustered on the head and back of a large sewer rat scattered a large amount of spores. I tried to avoid the spores circling around, but there was no way, and with each spore that seeped into my skin, the sensation in my entire body grew dull.

The rat, its body completely controlled by the mushrooms, just ran towards the upstream area instead of attacking us, but the real power of that demonic beast lay in the paralyzing spores emitted from the mushrooms, its main body.

For now, because we were far from that thing, it only ended with our senses growing numb, but if we were properly attacked, our bodies would become completely stiff, unable to even move.

“Damian, do you still have any magic power left?!”

“Hngh… M-Mr. Rohan, now…”

“Just hold on a little longer! I know it’s hard! Just a few more minutes is fine, let’s hold on!”

Every time Damian opened his mouth, the sour smell of stomach acid filled the air. He had already thrown up the contents of his stomach twice, so it seemed there was nothing left to vomit.

I anxiously checked the remaining time. 2 hours and 40 minutes. It was more than enough time to reach the upstream area if we ran at full speed, but now both Damian and I were reaching our limits. And there was an even bigger problem. Dealing with those demonic beasts was one thing, but the biggest limit was…!

“Rohan, something is wrong with Rikiel! What should we do?!”

“What’s his condition?!”

“Something strange is swelling up on his back! His eyes are out of focus!”

“Dammit! Your Majesty, talk to Sir Rikiel! If he loses consciousness in that state, it’s really dangerous!”

“Rikiel! Are you alright, Rikiel?!”

Hearing Tristan’s urgent voice, a wave of gut-wrenching dismay washed over me. There was no way I wouldn’t know what those symptoms were. Body deformation due to overuse of the parasite; if I pushed him any further in this state, his entire body could be devoured by the parasite.

I had expected him to last for at least five hours, but did moving without even a proper rest put too much strain on his stamina?

“Hah, heok…! H-hyung-nim?!”

“Get a grip! Are you okay?”

“Sir Rikiel, can you hear me? Pull over to the right immediately! I think we need to land in the forest!”

“I’m, I’m fine…! Not yet…!”

“If you keep going in that state, your body will become a giant parasite nest! Listen to me!”

Shouting that at Rikiel, I leaped with all my might and jumped into the forest. I looked around, hoping there might be no tree roots in the upstream area, but the ground was still covered in a tangle of them. In the end, I had no choice but to wander around looking for a place to rest.

A short while later, I found a tree branch sturdy enough to sit on and called for Rikiel. We leaned our bodies precariously on the branch and panted for breath.

I entrusted the half-fainted Damian to Rehas and immediately checked on Rikiel’s condition. Seeing that he was still conscious, it seemed he had avoided the worst-case scenario of his body being taken over by the parasite.

Well, since it was his first seizure, I didn’t think the situation would be that serious, but still, you never knew. This game was vicious enough that it wouldn’t be strange for it to spout some nonsense like ‘The side effects of the parasite have become more severe due to the increased difficulty’!

“Sir Rikiel, are you okay?”

“I don’t know, suddenly I felt dizzy and… Ugh!”

“Is there anything wrong with your internal organs?”

“My organs are fine, but something is swelling up on my back, like a balloon…!”

Even though his wings were folded away, Rikiel’s back was strangely swollen. When I removed his armor and lifted his shirt, a fist-sized sac covered in translucent flesh and blood vessels was writhing and struggling. It was an ‘egg sac.’

Tristan, who witnessed the bizarre sight from the side, turned pale, but I was rather relieved. This was only an initial symptom, and it could be treated with a simple procedure. It would have been quite a headache if the egg sac had fully formed and the parasite’s eggs had spread to his internal organs.

As I grabbed the egg sac with both hands and infused it with purifying energy, the tightly swollen sac instantly lost its elasticity and shriveled. I immediately took out a dagger and cut off the wrinkled egg sac.

But I could not be at ease with just that, so I immediately rummaged through my bag and took out the remaining food. The procedure was roughly finished, but he needed nutrients to prevent the parasite in his back from running rampant again.

“Heok, heok… Am I okay now?”

“We can’t be sure yet. Eat this for now.”

“What do you mean? You want me to eat in this situation?”

“If you don’t consume enough calories, the parasite in your body will judge it as a dangerous situation and keep laying eggs! Even if you can’t stomach it, chew and swallow it somehow!”

Rikiel immediately nodded and shoved the food into his mouth. While Rikiel hurriedly filled his stomach, I found a canteen.

‘Wait, why is there so little water? I’m sure there was more than this when I checked a little while ago.’

Something was strange, but without a moment to wonder, I immediately handed the canteen to Rikiel. Just as I confirmed he was drinking properly and lifted my head, Rehas, who was looking after Damian, spoke up.

“This friend is fine. He’s just a little tired.”

“Please check if there’s anything wrong with his right arm. He didn’t use the parasite, so it should be fine, but.”

“His right arm is fine. There’s no problem… Wait! Damian! Don’t you dare throw up on my clothes!”

“Leave him be. He already threw up all the real food on me, so at most, only stomach acid will come out.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry, Mr. Rehas…”

“Since things have come to this, let’s rest here for a little while. We can’t rest for long, though.”

Rehas let out a dumbfounded chuckle, and Rikiel, having finished his meal, was leaning his head on Tristan’s shoulder, panting weakly. Those men needed to rest, even if just for a little.

I also closed my eyes to suppress a wave of dizziness, but since it was so dark all around, it made little difference whether my eyes were open or closed. In the end, I had no choice but to open my eyes again and gaze into the distance, my heart filled with the anxiety of not knowing when the island’s collapse would reach us.

About a minute had passed since we started resting. I roughly brushed off Damian’s vomit from my cloak and checked the time. 2 hours and 32 minutes left until the entire island collapsed. It seemed we could rest for another 2 minutes, but I didn’t think a break of that length would be enough for my companions to regain their strength. It would take a while for Rikiel to digest the food he ate, and Damian was so exhausted he could barely even hold himself up.

“Are you alright, Rohan?”

At the voice that suddenly came from beside me, I wearily lifted my head and looked at Tristan. After looking after Rikiel for a long while, he was now sending a worried gaze my way.

Should I just not answer. I’m so tired right now, I don’t have the confidence to act cold in front of him… That thought briefly crossed my mind, but in the end, I sighed and replied. The voice that came from my throat was still dry.

“It’s a little tough, but I’m still okay. I can hold out until we reach the upstream area.”

“What do you plan to do after we reach the upstream area?”

“First, we have to find a way to escape the island. If conditions allow, we might be able to find the Amplifier, but… even that is uncertain now.”

“Amplifier?”

“It’s a device that amplifies magic power. It’s absolutely necessary to defeat the guardian of this area. It’s the most useful item among the 12 magic tools scattered across the island. The whole reason we came to this island in the first place was to find that item, as I’ve told you many times…”

“…?”

Tristan tilted his head with a puzzled expression. I was wondering why he was acting that way when I had just stated an obvious fact, but then I realized that I had not given a proper explanation in this playthrough. I cleared my throat unnecessarily. I had repeated the same explanation hundreds, even thousands of times, to the point where I had become confused about whether I had explained it or not.

“…I didn’t say. Come to think of it, I didn’t explain it properly. I’m sorry. I was planning to explain it fully when I had the time.”

“It’s alright. I can understand, since you are an awkward person.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have a lot on your mind, but you’re clumsy at explaining it with words, aren’t you? The you I’ve seen so far seems to be that kind of person.”

Tristan said that and smiled brightly. For some reason, it felt like there was a hidden barb in his words. That thought suddenly occurred to me, so I looked into Tristan’s face.

Noticing the loneliness in his eyes, I could understand what he was feeling when he said those words. It seemed this man was a little hurt by what had happened earlier this evening. Of course, given his personality, he did not express it directly.

“Ahem, I also feel sorry about washing Your Majesty so excessively earlier. I was a bit flustered.”

“Hmm, it seems you have a habit of becoming quiet when you’re flustered.”

“…”

“Seeing your expression now, I think my guess is correct. What do you think?”

“A-anyway, that’s not what’s important right now. Thinking about our future direction is the priority, so…”

To avoid the smile that held a strange kindness, I hurriedly brought up the map window. The remaining time was 2 hours and 29 minutes, and the numbers on the map had already turned red, perhaps to indicate that half the time had passed. I felt like there was a strange static on the entire map, but maybe it was just my imagination…

Tristan, unable to see the map window, seemed to think I was staring into space and continued to speak from the side.

“Alright, then let’s talk about what’s next. After we go upstream and find the Amplifier, do you have any particular plan?”

“Unfortunately, no. I’m just fleeing upstream because there’s no other option, but.”

As I said that, I grew anxious inside. Finding the Amplifier by going upstream would not provide a clear method of escape. I was even beginning to doubt whether the method I was currently using was the right one. Was this stage really designed with the goal of escaping from the island’s collapse for five hours?

‘Could I have missed something? Maybe I should have used a different method…’

That thought briefly crossed my mind, but the problem was that I could not for the life of me think of what that ‘different method’ could be. What other options are there besides fleeing upstream? Am I supposed to snatch one of the flying-type demonic beasts flying far away and move to another island? Is that even possible!

In the first place, what were they thinking, collapsing the entire island in just one night? You can’t get strong enough to defeat the guardian if you don’t explore the island and search for items or skill scrolls! Is the game itself trying to completely block item collection? Or is it telling us to find as many items as possible in one day and survive with that?!

But, while I was desperately wracking my brain, Tristan said something unexpected.

“Is there perhaps a way to stop this island from collapsing?”

“…Excuse me?”

“Of course, if there were such a method, you would have already implemented it… but that’s all we can do right now. I don’t know why the island is suddenly collapsing, but there must be a reason for a perfectly fine island to fall apart, right? If we can find that reason, maybe we can stop the collapse too?”

I stared blankly with my mouth open. Of course, it was a ridiculous thing to say. In the first place, if we had the time to leisurely explore, there would have been no reason for us to flee in such a hurry.

If we had at least two days, no, even just one day, Tristan’s words could have been considered quite logical, but with only two and a half hours left, exploring the entire island was literally next to impossible.

But I felt a strange persuasiveness in Tristan’s story. Of course, the possibility was next to none, but if it were true, it would make it quite clear what this ‘modified stage’ was aiming for.

Stop the collapse as quickly as possible before the island falls apart. If you stop the collapse early, you can get more items from the island, but if you stop it late, future progress becomes difficult. If you fail to stop the collapse, you could die just like that. Thinking of it that way, the complete lack of an escape route also makes a certain amount of sense…!

‘But how on earth am I supposed to stop the island’s collapse now?’

I kept staring at the map with an anxious gaze. 02:28:00, 02:27:59, 28:192:-135, 02:27:57… The numbers just kept decreasing, but no method came to mind. Shouldn’t there be at least some kind of hint?

And, why is there so much static on the map? The map was perfectly clear when we first started running, so is this damn game trying to stir up a person’s anxiety? And, I feel like the numbers and words have been changing strangely for a while now…

‘Huh, wait a minute.’

I snapped to my senses and looked at the map closely. Come to think of it, ever since the numbers on the map turned red, the static on the screen had been getting strangely worse. No, was the static there from before? My vision was so chaotic because of the Blinking that I honestly could not observe it properly.

But now that I had come to my senses and checked it properly, it kept bothering me. In a way, you could call it paranoia. Perhaps I was obsessing over a nonsensical effect due to excessive stress and anxiety. However…

‘Is this really just a visual effect? Could it possibly mean something?’

Thinking that, I stared intently at the map. The numbers on the map, which were supposed to be telling me the ‘remaining time,’ were distorting every few seconds and changing into bizarre forms.

The numbers, arranged in an unnatural, abnormal form that didn’t seem like time. That was definitely.

[28:192:-135]

[Can you stop it?]

Coordinates on the map.

I could not possibly think of it as anything else.