abcnovels
Chapter 285: Competitors (5)
Chapter 285: Competitors (5)
Chapter 285 Competitors (5)
A gloomy purple sky. Yoon-seok felt he was falling before he used mana to stop mid-air.
‘…Am I in the right place?’
It was completely different from the Space and Time Prison he heard from Lynn. When he checked the ground, all he could see was a dense jungle reminiscent of the Amazon. She said he would wake up in a dark iron cage, but what happened?
The System kindly provided the answer.
[For a total of 180 days, stat points will be randomly assigned to additional visitors.]
This was the special rule.
[All cooldowns, including skills, powers, and items, are increased five times.]
Knowing that knowledge is power, Yoon-seok carefully read the added rules.
[All dimensional movement abilities, including Tickets, are limited.]
He could come in as he pleased but not leave. In a nutshell, it meant that he would be imprisoned here for 180 days. Yoon-seok wondered what would happen to the duel in a few months, but…
[The time ratio with the outer dimension is distorted.]
[A day outside is five days here.]
This changed matters. He would only be tied up here for 36 days.
[The monsters wake up.]
What was this?
[You can get a certain amount of time when you kill a monster.]
Get a certain amount of time? Yoon-seok didn’t understand this either. However, if he were to infer it overall…
[Protect the Dimensional Stone for 180 days. A very special reward will be paid at the end of the period according to contribution level.]
The theme of this trip was defense.
[If the Retention Time reaches 0, you will die.]
[When you kill a mortal, you gain what that person has.]
[TIP: In the Time Shop, you can purchase things that you can’t normally buy in exchange for your Retention Time.]
Or maybe it was a battle royale.
* * *
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
With the sound of the watch moving, light burst out, and numbers were engraved on his wrist.
[47:58:12]
[47:58:11]
[47:58:10]
This must be the Retention Time. So, if he didn’t get more time, Yoon-seok would die in about 48 hours?
‘It’s too hard. Huh…?’
That was his first thought, but he could just kill a few monsters. If each gave about ten hours, it would be a piece of cake.
‘Commander’s Call.’
For now, Yoon-seok re-summoned Lynn, who had been discharged when crossing the dimension to ask about Cheon-ma’s location. However…
—The location cannot be specified.
“What do you mean? Are you saying that she didn’t come here?”
—It isn’t like that. I can feel her, but the dimension distortion is so severe that it’s like she’s all over the place.
“Then are you sure she’s here?”
—I am.
Well, then, wherever she was, they would meet soon. After all, the steps of giants make great footprints.
‘…Still, I’ll have to find her quickly before there is any big trouble.’
—I strongly agree.
Afterward, Yoon-seok asked if she knew anything about the special rules and received a slightly vague answer.
—Seventy percent of the information related to the Space and Time Prison has been deleted.
“Seventy percent?”
In other words, it meant there was a high possibility this prison had a close relationship with the Tower, as was initially assumed.
“Anyway, I have no choice but to find out by myself.”
—I’m sorry I couldn’t help you again this time…
Lynn apologized sullenly.
“Was I too harsh…?’
Yoon-seok felt guilty as he discharged Lynn. It would be easier to move without her, and it wasn’t like they had a destination anyway.
‘Let’s go as soon as possible. Something will surely come out.’
Yoon-seok continued to run in one direction. But had the monsters not awoken yet? He couldn’t find a single one, nor even another person.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
How far forward did he go? Eventually, Yoon-seok halted.
“…”
Until now, he was definitely running through a thick jungle, but in an instant, the temperature dropped, and a pure white snowfield appeared ahead. A straight line separated the two environments, making them look like a tile placed on the wrong field.
‘It’s an amazing place…’
Yoon-seok admired it briefly and moved on. After the Tower appeared in all dimensions, there wasn’t much that surprised him anymore. And to be honest, the artificial sun was more interesting.
‘…Am I going the wrong way?’
Beyond the snowy field, the desert, then to the sea. After that, he crossed the sea and reached a volcanic area where magma flowed freely, but he still hadn’t found anything living.
Where the hell was the prison facility Lynn was talking about? When he stopped in the air for a while with such worries-
Dddddrrrrrrrr-!
The ground shook below him.
“Under the ground…?”
Yoon-seok, who reflexively widened his senses, sensed that a huge wave of mana was welling up deep below the ground. It also felt quite familiar.
“…”
This was Cheon-ma’s mana. Yoon-seok quickly lowered his altitude and landed. Then, after filling his sword with mana, he swung downward.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-!
The earth opened with a roar. Yoon-seok looked down the hole and nodded. A bright light was leaking out about a kilometer down.
Tap.
Yoon-seok threw himself into the hole without hesitation.
‘It was here.’
A tower in the center connected to the ground, and gray domed buildings surrounded it.
‘So, where is she?’
Yoon-seok widened his senses as he searched the vast underground city. However, he couldn’t feel her energy at all. But there was someone else.
‘Is this Su-yeon…?’
He could feel Lee Su-yeon‘s unique mana among the hundreds of gray domes arranged around the tower. He couldn’t find Cheon-ma, but as soon as he felt Lee Su-yeon, Yoon-seok shot forward like a shooting arrow.
—It’s called the Space and Time Prison, and I’m locked in there right now.
Lee Su-yeon said it then, and when the regular torture time came, they would inevitably lose contact. Since her tone sounded calm, Yoon-seok was unsure if it was an urgent situation. However…
“Ahhhhhhh!”
“S-stop! Stop iiiiiiit!”
As soon as he landed in front of the dome, he could hear groans leaking from behind the wall, and he knew it. She was just pretending to be calm to not worry him.
“…”
Yoon-seok clenched his fist. Lee Su-yeon was just beyond this wall. Although none of those groans belonged to her, she must be going through a tough time.
Baaaang-!
Yoon-seok smashed the wall and leaped through. He turned into stone a moment later.
“…”
Hammers, saws, crowbars, knives, chairs with restraints. A gloomy room full of bloody tools. As expected, Lee Su-yeon was there. But…
“…Oppa?”
It wasn’t the kind of image that he had drawn in his mind, and she was either confused or holding back her groans despite the harsh torture. Although there was some blood on her clothes, she bore no visible wounds.
“…Aaargh!”
She also wasn’t tied to a chair.
“Eaaaargh! Stop it, you crazy bastard…!”
Seeing the three-eyed alien tied to a chair and screaming, Yoon-seok turned his head again.
“Huh, huh…”
Lee Su-yeon also grew still.
Psssshhhhhhhh-!
The red hot iron in her hand stopped.
-What? Yes! I’m fine. It’s just regular torture time.
No wonder she was calm. He never expected she was the one doing the torture.
* * *
“…”
“…”
The room was filled with awkward air, except for the screams of the alien who kept struggling in his chair.
“Eaaaargh!”
“D-did you come early?”
Did she think that his screams would go unnoticed if she talked to him? Yoon-seok didn’t know what was going on, but Lee Su-yeon started talking. However, Yoon-seok didn’t know how to answer. So, he decided to ask.
“…What were you doing here?”
“That’s… there’s a reason for everything. Really!”
What kind of circumstances created this situation? He was very curious, but…
“Ouch, ooouch…”
The alien’s groans kept interrupting. Yoon-seok approached the alien and breathed a wave of energy to heal him. When he asked them to be quiet, the alien nodded passionately and said that Yoon-seok must not worry about him, just speak comfortably.
“…”
Yoon-seok couldn’t understand it at all. Why was Lee Su-yeon torturing such a good alien?
“A-about that… the imprisoned space pirates have to be tortured for two days every week…”
Like a person with a shameful hobby, Lee Su-yeon blushed and waved vaguely.
“I couldn’t help it. I disguised myself as part of the Imperial Army to come in here…”
“The Imperial Army? So what did you mean by being locked up then?”
“That was a figurative expression of psychological discomfort… well, yes. It’s something like that.”
Was she aware that she had done something wrong? Her voice was now trembling, but Yoon-seok was horrified.
“Oh, Oppa! You’re not thinking anything weird, are you? This guy is utter garbage!”
“Garbage?”
“Yes! Murder, rape, arson, theft, looting, robbery, exploitation… he has committed so many sins!”
Theft, looting, robbery, exploitation. These four might all be the same, but… she didn’t lie as she was looking straight into his eyes. That was why Yoon-seok felt a little betrayed.
Was this caring alien such garbage?
“…Did he deceive me?”
“Of course! How clever these guys are! Perhaps he expected you to heal him if he pretended to be pitiful.”
Somehow her words made him want to help her, but…
It wasn’t that important.
“…So why are you here?”
Yoon-seok took off his attention from the alien and moved on to the main topic.
“Brother, do you know Mechanic among the duel rankings?”
Mechanic… he never met him in person, but he often saw his nickname on the ranking board.
“The 12th place challenger?”
“Yes. That person lives here, and I came all this way to meet him. He’s famous. He’ll upgrade your equipment for free if you visit him in person.”
“For free…?”
Yoon-seok still didn’t understand. Would he raise his competitors with his own hands?
“…Isn’t that a rumor?”
“I thought so too, but the person I met during the last expedition showed me the equipment. His nickname was engraved on it.”
Yoon-seok slowly nodded. Now he understood why Lee Su-yeon came all the way here.
“Then? What about the healers or those specialists you talked about back then?”
“It’s a little complicated, but I’m going to break it down in chronological order to make it easier to understand.”
It was a simple story despite what she said. Lee Su-yeon infiltrated the Space and Time Prison to meet the Mechanic. But for some reason, he bought some time and asked her to wait for ten days.
“It’s weird because he said he’d be back in ten days, and he just asked me to stay here.”
“…That’s a little weird.”
Lee Su-yeon said she would because she was in a position to ask for a favor, and while returning to the dorm to continue under her disguise, she met a person who was presumed to be a healing specialist.
“I think he’s here to upgrade his equipment, too.”
Lee Su-yeon tried to talk to the healing specialist. But another duel ranker reached him first.
“I checked on them because it was suspicious, but I couldn’t hear it properly because a soundproofing screen was spread out.”
“Is that all?”
“Nope. There is one more thing. It’s a guess, but… looking at his lips, he seemed to be proposing something.”
“Proposing?”
“Yes. I don’t know what it is, but when the healer heard the proposal, he seemed to be very concerned.”
Lee Su-yeon finished her explanation with a nervous look. However, Yoon-seok felt he already knew what had happened. If this prediction was correct…
—You are not the first to make such a proposal to me.
The person who proposed to Fa Zheng, the Heavenly Buddha, was here.
“…”
Although the competitor arrived first, he wasn’t too worried. Sure enough, Yoon-seok wasn’t alone on this journey.
‘It would be better to join her as soon as possible.’
He would need to work together with the Master of Persuasion, Cheon-ma.