Chapter 188. The Unknown’s Land (2)
Sarah was a true professional. She could hide her true emotions behind a natural smile as easily as breathing. Nevertheless, at that moment, she couldn’t help but gulp nervously. “Surveillance?”
“Ah, that sounds a bit dramatic. Just keep an eye on him.”
The screen connected to the remote telescopic lens that the manager had handed her. To her surprise, shown from afar on the screen was a forest she was all too familiar with.
“So, you want me to watch whether the new hire, Lee Eun-Ho, does anything strange?” Sarah asked.
“That’s right. More precisely, I want you to check if anything odd will happen in the Wailing Forest.”
In that forest is the office of the Labor-Management Cooperation Team, which Lee Eun-Ho himself had created. The division chief probably issued this order, Sarah thought.
It wasn’t hard to guess. After all, she had been summoned and given this task as soon as the manager returned from the division chief’s office.
But why? The newly appointed HR division chief and Lee Eun-Ho have no connection at all. Has he already caused some kind of incident?
“Hm? Why? Is something bothering you?” the division chief asked.
“No! Of course not.”
The manager narrowed his eyes. “Hmm... You don’t happen to know him personally, do you?”
Sarah quickly masked her expression, smiled, and answered smoothly, “He was the representative of the new hires. It’d be strange not to know him.”
“Ah, right. That’s true.” The manager nodded lightly. As if something had just occurred to him, he asked, “What kind of guy is he?”
What kind of guy was Lee Eun-Ho? If I give them an honest answer, they’ll keep a closer watch, Sarah thought.
After a brief hesitation, Sarah gulped. “He was an ordinary new hire. Well-rounded, but he didn't really stand out.”
In truth, ordinary was the last word that fit him. If his abilities were plotted on a hexagonal chart, every stat would exceed the average and perfectly fill the shape.
“Really? I heard he was smart.”
“He was a bit smarter and stronger in combat than average, but nothing you’d need to worry about.”
He was intelligent enough to poke holes in the system itself, and he was an exceptional fighter. Rather than overwhelming power, he excelled at using even trivial abilities in exactly the right place, maximizing their effect.
“Well, he was still pretty normal to me. Kids these days are all smart, you know,” said the manager.
That was a complete lie, too. Eun-Ho was as far from “normal” as one could get.
“Hmm... Is that so?” she answered casually and ambiguously, which seemed to do its job.
“Fair enough. New hires are all about the same.” Having lost interest, the manager shrugged and went back to his work. Anyway, if you notice anything strange, organize it and report back.”
He disguised it as a report, but her very first assignment in the HR Department was surveillance. She was to monitor the employee who had brought her here in the first place.
He’s definitely planning something big.
She would do it since it was an order, but she'd put a stop to it before it could reach her higher-ups, even if it meant submitting a false report. “Yes, sir.”
Sarah thought about her conversation with Eun-Ho.
“Why did you go that far for me?”
“Think of it as a bribe.”
“A bribe?”
“So you’ll look kindly on me when you’re up high.”
“When I’m up high...”
That was why she would repay him. That was why she had chosen HR over training and education.
“Well then, I’ll be going now—huh?” Before Sarah could react, the manager moved and zoomed in on the screen. “W-wait! Something’s appearing!”
A gigantic bird filled the large display, with Eun-Ho perched on its back.
“Huh? He’s riding it?”
Clinging to a raging, bull-like bird as it rampaged through the empty sky, Lee Eun-Ho cut freely across the heavens.
“Wait, is that thing actually flying?” the manager asked.
It was only natural for him to be skeptical. After all, it shot forward like a slingshot and smashed headfirst into a thick tree.
Boom!
Crack! Rustle!
It disappeared straight into the underbrush, then burst back out with branches and leaves stuck all through its feathers and hair. It plummeted endlessly toward the ground, only to sharply twist and rocket upward again, as if it would stop at nothing to reach the sun. Rather than flying, torture would be a more fitting term, akin to a crazed horse dragging around its rider.
As the manager stared on in utter disbelief and tried to process what he was seeing, his own voice slipped out over the channel. “Do kids these days all play like that?”
His enthusiasm was deflated completely.
***
[The Avian Slaughterer title has been activated.]
[The Razor-Beaked Birds feel fear before the Slaughterer’s might!]
He had earned the title by slaughtering a hundred Razor-Beaked Birds in an instant.
[Authority is imbued into the Slaughterer’s command.]
[The Razor-Beaked Birds abandon resistance before the overwhelming difference in power!]
Thanks to that, Eun-Ho had managed to stop the Razor-Beaked Bird flying in fast enough to pierce straight through his abdomen.
[Taming has been successful!]
[The Razor-Beaked Bird has submitted to the Slaughterer’s command!]
Eun-Ho had even succeeded at taming it. However, anything beyond basic commands, such as “come here,” “fly,” and “stop,” was completely lost on it.
[Deceleration has failed!]
[Drift has failed!]
[Return has failed!]
[The Razor-Beaked Bird does not understand the command!]
“Birdbrain.”
“Kaaaah.”
Intimidation-based control only went so far. It was a shame, but for now, this would have to do.
“Grab the crest and steer,” said Eun-Ho.
“The crest?” Ji-Eun asked.
“This. On top of its head.” Eun-Ho knew he would be able to achieve more with time. He could train it properly. “For now, just fly.”
[The Razor-Beaked Bird begins flapping its wings at your command!]
“Gaaaargh!”
“C-Commander!”
Riding Razor-Beaked Birds, ten Skeleton Knights took to the air. The skeletons knew nothing but swordsmanship, yet they had been paired with birds whose brains were even worse than theirs.
This isn’t bad.
It was surprisingly spectacular to see skeletons wreathed in violet energy mounted on pitch-black birds. The unobstructed sky and the massive wings' thunderous beating behind him were also amazing.
“Up!”
“Kaaaah!”
Chaotic noise and violent wind mixed into a roaring din.
“Eun-Ho! W-we’ll be right behind y... Okay?”
“Be carefu... Hyungn...”
His ears rang. The sky he saw and the sky he heard felt like two different worlds. The numb dissonance was strangely liberating, even if all he could see was half a sky and an ash-gray stone wall.
“Follow me!”
“Kieeeek—!”
The wall was made of smoothly cut stone with clear seams between them, its blocks subtly different in color.
Certain that it wasn't natural, he headed to the end of the wall. “Turn forward!”
“Kaaaah!”
“Now!” he barked, forcefully yanking the bird’s crest forward.
As if it finally understood, the bird tilted sharply like a roller coaster, its long beak piercing past the edge of the thick stone wall. The next moment, the crest and Eun-Ho’s hand passed through, followed by the bird's massive torso and tail. As everything crossed into the unknown, a message appeared.
[You have entered an undisclosed area.]
[The map has been updated.]
[Shaded areas are being revealed.]
A new gap also appeared on the map that he had left open: the hidden land that would restore the snow-covered Wailing Forest's missing edge into a perfect square.
Whoosh—!
Heat slammed into him, as though he had stepped into a bone-dry sauna. He felt as though his exposed skin was slowly being cooked.
[Welcome to the Wailing Desert!]
All living things in this barren desert had melted away and vanished.
What the hell is up with these extreme conditions?! Eun-Ho thought.
***
[Caution!]
[You have been exposed to excessive heat.]
[Move to a cool area immediately and rest!]
Despite his heat resistance, messages kept flooding in, forcing him to stop flying. “Stop! Halt!”
The Razor-Beaked Birds stopped flapping as soon as he gave the order. They had likely realized that they’d die at this rate.
“No, not that kind of stop!”
“Kaaaah!”
Telling them to stop apparently meant remaining completely still, causing them to nearly drop out of the sky. He decided to let it slide for now.
[You have consumed a Heat Resistance Potion!]
[Heat Resistance(Lv. 50) has been activated!]
[Remaining duration: 59 minutes 59 seconds...]
He and the two who had followed him via psychokinesis downed the potion in one gulp.
“You’re telling me you're planning to go into a desert without a Heat Resistance Potion? You wouldn’t even be able to move properly!”
Eun-Ho had used a similar potion during an Investigation Bureau trial. Had he not stocked up on all kinds of potions when the high-tier shop first opened, he wouldn't have survived.
“That wall's hollow!”
From the forest side, the stone wall had appeared smooth, save for the occasional bump. However, from where Eun-Ho was standing now, it looked different. The lower portion near what seemed like an entrance had a recessed indentation.
“Uh, yeah. Maybe that’s the entrance?”
“It looks like Tertis, Hyungnim!”
“We’ll have to investigate.”
From the air, they could also see another oddity in the desert.
“Eun-Ho! Over there!”
“Huh?”
Far off in the desert, so distant that people would look like dots, something was protruding here and there.
“That's...”
Jae-hyuk guessed, “Isn’t that a grave, Hyungnim?”
Eun-Ho shook his head. It was too small to be some royal burial mounds, let alone some hills.
“Is that where the compass is pointing?”
“Looks like it.”
There was a lot to check. Just as he was about to say that they should head over now that they’d found their destination, the Razor-Beaked Bird lost its balance.
“Kieeek!”
Then, its wings drooped weakly.
“It must be overheating! What do we do now?!”
“We need shade—”
Would a Heat Resistance Potion even work on monsters? If so, how would I give it to one?
Before Eun-Ho could finish the thought, the bird pitched downward.
[The Razor-Beaked Bird is suffering from heatstroke.]
“Damn it!”
[Attempting emergency landing!]
“Be careful!”
“Aaaaah!”
Its massive wings flailed helplessly as it gradually lost altitude.
[Consciousness lost.]
[The taming effect has ended.]
There was no time to react before it crashed.
“Eun-Ho!” Ji-Eun cried out.
“Please!”
The sudden fall threw everyone except Eun-Ho, whom Ji-Eun managed to keep afloat, into chaos.
“Numbers One through Ten! Secure your bones!”
The Skeleton Knights hurriedly gathered themselves. “Yes, sir!”
“Ptooey!”
A grain of sand flew straight into his throat. Then, a sorrowful wind rose, which was utterly out of place in a desert. It lifted and hurled the scorching sand, making it sound like a balloon slowly deflating. Muffled sobs drifted through the wind as if afraid someone would hear.
“It’s crying sounds like someone who just got dumped,” Ji-Eun commented.
Eun-Ho nodded. “Yeah. It does.”
If the forest’s wail had been an angry roar, this was a sobbing lament.
“I’ve got a bad feeling...”
“Another monster horde, Noonim?”
“Like the Death Worm? Ugh...”
The unease wrapping around them was sand-colored—a hazy, choking yellow similar to a dust storm.
“Weapons up.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Already drawn, Hyungnim!”
“All units! Prepare for combat!”
With the Skeleton Knights, their group's overall strength had increased. They could handle this.
“Numbers One to Five, move to the left. Numbers Six to Ten, move to the right. Leave the center open.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Skeletons spread into a fan formation, opening a path in the middle. Jae-Hyuk and Eun-Ho then took the center, while Ji-Eun stayed in the rear to support them. If something burst out of the sand, her psychokinesis would handle it.
“The longer the fight drags on in this heat, the worse it gets. Let’s end it quickly and pull back.”
“Understood!”
As his mind raced at full speed, a message finally appeared, revealing that an enemy had appeared.
[The Second Trial begins.]
“Here it comes.”
“Remember!” Eun-Ho shouted. “The moment it shows up, we focus fire—”
[Find a needle in the desert.]
“What?!”