39 chapter - Swamp Zone (2)
We quickly decided to relocate.
I turned my back to Yuna and spoke.
“Get on.”
“Huh? I’m okay. I can swim, and—”
“Lizardman blood is a powerful paralytic toxin. The only reason I’m fine is because of your ability.”
“What?”
She blinked, stunned.
“My ability does that?”
“Yeah.”
Cleanses all harmful effects.
That had to be one of the effects of her light.
“Anyway, look around you.”
Lizardman corpses floated nearby—Yuna’s kills.
Naturally, the water was now laced with their blood.
“What do you think would happen if you accidentally swallowed some of that?”
“……Excuse me, then.”
By the time I had Yuna on my back and gathered our gear, the patch of ground we’d been standing on was already half submerged.
In just that short moment, the water level had risen again.
This was far from normal.
‘At this rate, every bit of land’s going under.’
Even the sparse dry spots that remained were probably already flooded.
‘We’ll have to go higher.’
With no other choice, I climbed a sturdy-looking tree.
SHHHHHHHHH!
The rain showed no signs of stopping, and the water kept rising.
It wouldn’t be long before it reached even the treetops.
Yuna, staring blankly at the sky, spoke.
“It’s kind of amazing.”
“Amazing?”
“Yeah. Even though this looks like a different world, we’re still inside a Gate, right?”
“Right.”
“So up above that sky, there’s still the dimensional boundary of the Gate… then how is it raining?”
I stared at her blankly for a second before replying.
“What’s amazing about that?”
Yuna gave me a look like what are you talking about?
“Isn’t it weird? Even if this is a C-Rank Gate, it’s still a confined space. And it has actual weather patterns!”
“Hmm… I guess that is kinda amazing.”
“Liar!”
Was it that obvious?
Honestly, it didn’t amaze me in the slightest.
“In this kind of situation, what’s really amazing is that you can still find things amazing.”
“Hmph.”
Yuna puffed out her cheeks in mock annoyance.
“You’re supposed to pretend and agree with me at times like this.”
She was clearly trying to be cute—and it worked. I chuckled.
“Alright. I’ll play along next time.”
“I’ll be watching.”
We ended up chatting for a while.
There was nothing else we could really do.
“Cold?”
“A little.”
“More than a little, I’d say.”
Yuna was shivering hard.
The cold rain was slowly draining her body heat.
As someone with physical enhancement, I could endure a bit more—but Yuna couldn’t.
‘We can’t even light a fire.’
With nowhere to take shelter from the rain, there was only one way to stay warm.
I gently pulled Yuna into my arms.
She tensed in surprise.
“Ah, uh—?”
Doing my best to keep the mood light, I said,
“This should help, right?”
She stared at me for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“Pfft. You’re so embarrassed right now, aren’t you?”
“……”
“Haha! Look at you! Totally blushing!”
Still grinning, she nestled in closer and leaned her head against my chest.
Then she took my hand.
VMMMM.
“That’s warmer, right?”
“……Yeah.”
She squirmed a little, adjusting, then stilled.
Seemed like she’d found a comfortable position.
We were careful not to let too much skin touch.
We couldn’t afford to waste any more of her mana.
Her expression softened as she relaxed.
“It’s really warm. Thanks, oppa.”
So we stayed like that, exchanging body heat.
The cold rain felt slightly more bearable now.
“You tired?”
Yuna didn’t answer.
She’d already fallen asleep.
I cupped my hand over her face to keep the raindrops from falling on her.
SHHHHHHHH.
The rain still poured down, relentless.
It only started to thin out around sunrise.
The sky grew brighter, though sunlight didn’t pierce through the thick cloud cover.
“Yuna, wake up.”
“Mmm… Changshik oppa?”
Still half-asleep, she blinked as I gestured with my chin.
“We’ve got company.”
Lizardmen.
Thankfully, only about a dozen.
“Get ready to fight.”
We’d moved far from the spot of the last battle to avoid being tracked—but unless we kept moving, eventually they’d find us.
The sight of the Lizardmen woke Yuna up instantly. She scrambled to ready her crossbow.
“Should I shoot?”
“Only the ones climbing the tree. I’ll handle the rest.”
I dropped blood into my right eye.
FWOOOM.
Mana surged through my body, overflowing with energy.
With that, I grabbed Yuna’s hand and activated her Skill too—then dove into the water.
SPLASH!
It was so deep now, my feet didn’t even touch the bottom.
-SKREEEEE!
Immediately, Lizardmen swarmed from all directions.
This was a very different situation from before.
Back then, the water only reached my waist.
Now I was completely submerged—and with the rain, visibility was awful.
VMMMM.
Thanks to Yuna’s light and my headlamp, I could just barely make out my surroundings.
‘Incoming!’
One Lizardman charged.
With such limited vision, it felt like he’d jumped out of total darkness.
The moment I spotted him, I slashed.
Water resistance made every movement heavier—but my blade still flew fast.
SHHNK!
The Lizardman’s head flew off, staining the water red.
‘I can do this.’
I’d grown a lot since the Orc incident. Even underwater, they didn’t feel that threatening.
And I was still getting stronger.
THWACK!
But Lizardmen didn’t come at you one at a time.
One rammed a dagger into my side.
WHAM!
I swung back on reflex, punching it in the face—but the water dulled the blow.
I followed up with a sword slash.
SHHK!
‘Tch.’
I hit it, but only managed to cut into its waist.
Lizardmen regenerated quickly. That kind of wound would heal in no time.
‘I need to aim for the head.’
My first kill had been lucky. With visibility like this, I was basically swinging blind.
After a few more clashes, I’d only managed to kill two more.
“Puhah!”
I broke to the surface for air.
This was the biggest challenge in underwater combat:
Breathing.
You had to surface eventually.
And when I did, the Lizardmen came charging.
WHAM!
One slammed into me, dragging me back underwater.
Luckily, I’d gotten a full breath.
I drove my sword into its throat.
SHHNK!
Its blood painted the water around me red.
‘That’s four.’
Only four so far.
‘At this rate, I’ll run out of stamina first.’
This fight was on a different level.
The deeper water made them way harder to deal with.
And fighting underwater burned through stamina faster than I’d expected.
‘What now?’
Then—
VMMMM.
‘Huh?’
My mana suddenly flared violently.
‘What… the hell?’
My eyes and chest burned like they were on fire.
‘Ghhhhh…’
The pain hit me like a storm.
‘AAGHHHHHH!!’
I started slashing wildly in every direction.
We quickly decided to relocate.
I turned my back to Yu Yuna and said,
“Get on.”
“Huh? I’m fine. I can swim, and...”
“Lizardman blood itself is a powerful paralytic toxin. The only reason I was okay was because of your ability.”
“Huh?”
Yu Yuna blinked in surprise.
“My ability had that kind of effect?”
“Yeah.”
Cleansing all harmful effects.
That must be the power this light holds.
“Anyway, look around.”
Floating nearby were the corpses of the lizardmen Yu Yuna had killed.
Naturally, the water ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) was stained red with their blood.
“What do you think’ll happen if you accidentally drink any of it?”
“...Excuse me, then.”
By the time I slung Yu Yuna onto my back and gathered our gear, the ground we’d been standing on was already halfway submerged.
The water level had risen in just that brief moment.
This was far from a normal situation.
‘At this rate, there won’t be any dry land left.’
Even the places that had been above water were likely submerged by now.
‘We’ll just have to go higher.’
With no other choice, I climbed up a sturdy-looking tree.
Swooooosh!
The rain didn’t show any sign of stopping, and the water kept rising rapidly.
At this rate, it looked like it would soon reach even the treetop.
Yu Yuna, staring absentmindedly at the sky, finally spoke.
“This is kind of fascinating.”
“Fascinating?”
“Yes. Even if this looks like another world, we’re still inside a Gate, right?”
“That’s true.”
“Which means there’s a boundary of Nil above that sky we’re looking at. So how is it raining?”
I stared blankly at her for a moment before asking,
“What’s so fascinating about that?”
Yu Yuna gave me a look like I was saying something ridiculous.
“Isn’t it fascinating?! Even if it’s a C-rank Gate, it’s still a limited space, but weather phenomena are happening inside it!”
“Hm... yeah, I guess that is kind of fascinating.”
“Liar!”
Maybe I was too obvious.
Honestly, I didn’t find it fascinating at all.
“You being fascinated by something like that in this situation is what’s more fascinating to me.”
“Cheh.”
Yu Yuna puffed up her cheeks in protest.
“This is when you’re just supposed to pretend to be fascinated and sympathize with me.”
She was clearly trying to act cute—but it was genuinely cute, and I couldn’t help but chuckle as I replied.
“Alright. I’ll try to do that next time.”
“I’ll be watching you.”
We kept chatting like that for a while.
It wasn’t like there was anything else we could do.
“Cold?”
“A little.”
“Doesn’t seem like just a little.”
Yu Yuna’s body was trembling violently.
The cold rain was gradually draining her body heat.
Since I had a physical reinforcement-type trait, I could still hold out. But Yu Yuna couldn’t.
‘We can’t even light a fire.’
With nowhere to properly shelter from the rain, there was only one way to preserve body heat.
Carefully, I pulled Yu Yuna into my arms.
She flinched in surprise and said,
“Ah, u-uh?”
Trying not to let things get awkward, I answered as nonchalantly as I could.
“This way’s warmer, right?”
Yu Yuna stared at me for a moment, then burst into laughter.
“Pfft. Oppa, you’re super embarrassed right now, aren’t you?”
“......”
“Haha. You are! You totally are.”
Teasing me, she snuggled deeper into my arms and rested her head against me.
Then, she grabbed my hand.
Vwooom.
“This way it’s even warmer, right?”
“...Yeah, it is.”
She squirmed around for a bit, then went still.
She must’ve found a comfortable position.
We were careful not to let any bare skin touch.
We couldn’t afford to waste any more of Yu Yuna’s mana.
With her tension eased, Yu Yuna said softly,
“It’s really warm. Thank you, Oppa.”
Like that, we shared body heat for a while.
Maybe because of that, the cold rain became somewhat more bearable.
“Tired?”
Yu Yuna didn’t answer.
She’d fallen asleep.
I held my hand over her face to shield her from the falling raindrops.
Swooooosh.
The rain still hadn’t stopped.
It only began to thin slightly when dawn approached.
The surroundings had brightened quite a bit, but the sunlight was still blocked by clouds.
“Yuna, wake up.”
“Mmm... Changshik Oppa?”
Still half-asleep, Yu Yuna blinked up at me.
“They’re here.”
Lizardmen had shown up.
Fortunately, there were only about a dozen of them.
“Get ready for combat.”
We had come quite a distance from where we last fought to avoid pursuit, but since we couldn’t keep moving, it was only a matter of time before they found us.
As soon as Yu Yuna saw the lizardmen, she snapped fully awake and raised her crossbow.
“Should I attack?”
“Just focus on the ones that try to climb the tree. I’ll handle the rest.”
I applied blood drops to my right eye.
Shoooom.
Mana surged through my body and energy exploded within me.
Still holding Yu Yuna’s hand, I activated the skill and dove into the water.
Splash!
It had gotten so deep that my feet no longer touched the bottom.
—Ssshhhrreeeek!
Lizardmen swarmed in from all directions.
It wasn’t like last time.
Back then, the water had only reached my waist. Now, I was completely submerged.
Between the water and the rain, visibility was awful.
Vwooom!
Thanks to Yu Yuna’s skill light and my headlamp, I could just barely make out my surroundings.
‘Incoming!’
One lizardman charged straight at me.
With the limited field of vision, it felt like it suddenly leapt out of the darkness.
The moment I spotted it, I slashed with my sword.
Even with the water resistance dragging at my body, my swing was fast.
Sshhk!
The lizardman’s head flew off, dyeing the water red.
‘I can do this.’
Thanks to the orc incident, I was much stronger now, and even underwater, the lizardmen didn’t feel as threatening.
Besides, I was still growing stronger in real time.
Thunk!
But the lizardmen weren’t just attacking from one direction.
One came in from the side and plunged a dagger into my waist.
Thud!
I reflexively smashed it in the face, but underwater, the blow lacked force.
I immediately slashed at it.
Sshhk!
‘Tch.’
I landed the hit, but only grazed its side.
Given how resilient lizardmen were, a wound like that would heal quickly.
‘I need to aim for the head.’
Honestly, the first one was just dumb luck. In this limited visibility, swinging based on instinct made clean decapitations nearly impossible.
I fought a few more, but only managed to kill two more.
“Puhah!”
I surfaced briefly to catch my breath.
This was the biggest problem with underwater combat.
Breathing.
You couldn’t do it underwater.
Naturally, that meant you had to surface for air like this.
The lizardmen came charging again.
Thud!
One slammed into me and dragged me back down into the water.
Thankfully, I’d taken a deep breath just in time.
I shoved my greatsword into the creature’s throat.
Thhk!
As I pulled it out, its blood painted the water around my face red.
‘That’s four.’
I’d only managed to take out four so far.
‘At this rate, I’ll run out of stamina first.’
This was on a completely different level from the last fight.
The higher water level made things far more difficult.
On top of that, fighting underwater drained stamina faster than expected.
‘What now?’
That’s when it happened.
Vwooooom!
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, the mana in my body surged wildly.
‘What the hell?’
My eyes and chest burned like they were on fire.
‘Kgh...!’
I was thrown off by the sudden pain.
‘Aaargh!!’
I swung my sword around wildly.
It accomplished nothing—but if I hadn’t, I’d have been attacked.
‘Damn it. Is this the end?’
The moment the pain subsided.
‘Huh?’
Suddenly, it felt comfortable being underwater.
Something felt strange—when I opened my eyes, I could see everything around me underwater with stunning clarity.
‘What the...?’
It was like I was wearing goggles. Everything was crystal clear.
Not only that—I didn’t feel like I was struggling to hold my breath.
‘What is going on?’
While I was still dazed, the lizardmen who had been cautiously poking at me suddenly rushed in all at once.
They must’ve thought I’d been paralyzed.
‘Not a chance!’
Sshhk!
I lopped off a lizardman’s head in one clean stroke.
Sshhk! Sshhk!
Then followed up, beheading three more in succession.
Somehow, I felt way more agile than before.
‘No time to think—just wipe out the nearby ones first.’
Now that I was used to the underwater environment, the lizardmen were no match for me.
After cutting down over a dozen in moments, the rest turned tail and fled.
“Puhah.”
Only then did I rise to the surface and gasp for air.
‘...What the hell just happened?’
I’d been underwater for nearly ten minutes after that first breath.
But it hadn’t felt all that hard to hold my breath.
‘And what’s with my eyes?’
There was a transparent film over my eyes.
A second, clear eyelid had formed beneath my normal one.
‘I’ll think about it later.’
For now, I climbed back up to where Yu Yuna was waiting.
But as soon as she saw me, she gasped.
“O-Oppa! What happened to your eyes?!”
“My eyes?”
“Yes! They look weird!”
Apparently, it wasn’t just the transparent eyelids—my actual eyes had changed too.
“They’re yellow, like a snake’s...”
“Urgh.”
“Oppa? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
Yu Yuna immediately grabbed my hand and activated her skill.
Even as her light enveloped my whole body, the pain didn’t stop right away.
When it finally faded, the extra eyelid had vanished.
I asked her,
“How do they look now? Still weird?”
“Huh?”
Yu Yuna looked into my eyes and said,
“Oh? They’re back to normal.”
So it was temporary.
“Yuna.”
“Yes, Oppa.”
“You said my eyes looked like a reptile’s. Like a lizardman’s, right?”
“Huh? Come to think of it... yeah.”
It was clear now.
“Hold on.”
I jumped into the water to test something.
Immediately, I felt discomfort. My breath caught. It had reverted.
‘So that’s what let me hold my breath so long earlier.’
My eyes and body had temporarily transformed like a lizardman’s.
It must’ve been a result of Choi Changshik’s trait.
‘If I only transformed while the skill was active, and reverted when it ended... it must be skill-based.’
I activated the skill again.
This time, there was no pain, no transformation.
‘Then what triggered it exactly?’
Back during the battle, while the skill was active, blood had gotten into my eye.
Right after that, the change occurred.
‘If that’s the case...’
Just as I tried to recall the situation—
“Oppa!”
Yu Yuna shouted urgently.
Looking around, I saw something dark rushing toward us at high speed.
‘That thing—!’
I swam with everything I had.
Because of that, I barely dodged the incoming strike.
SPLASH!
What leapt out of the water was a monster far larger than any normal lizardman.
It had elongated claws stretched out in front as it charged—if I’d been any slower, I’d have been skewered like a kabob.
‘The lizardman boss...!’
The leader had arrived.