Chapter 12: What a Coincidence (4)
The Demons come swarming in.
Honestly, I'm not scared.
There's nothing I can't handle.
They're E-rank and D-rank at most.
It makes no sense that I, an E-rank, can't take down E-rank and D-rank Demons.
If that were the case, I'd be a disgrace to veterans everywhere.
I've already confirmed that this body moves exactly as I intend.
My condition is peak.
But.
I was pretending to barely dodge the attacks being swung at me.
If I was just going to take them all down myself—
I wouldn't have brought Ishmael along in the first place.
Because then I'd end up being the one holding the line for everything.
"Ishmael."
Before I could even say another word—
Ishmael's harpoon was already aimed at a Demon.
It carried exactly as much Mana as a D-rank could use.
Precisely that much and no more.
But.
It drove straight through the head of the E-rank Demon charging at us.
Then it shattered the knee of the D-rank Demon following behind.
That D-rank Demon was promptly crushed to death by the Demons coming up from the rear.
I cherry-picked only the E-rank ones and aimed for their weak points.
The Mirror Shard does display the power of an S-rank item.
The hide of an E-rank Demon, which would normally offer some resistance, was pierced without the slightest pushback.
Then came the tail swipe from the Red Lizard closing in on us.
I twisted my shoulder just slightly to dodge it, then severed the tail in one clean motion.
With its means of attack gone, Ishmael's harpoon finished off the Red Lizard.
She was certainly holding her own.
I'd been pushed back about five steps.
Still dangerous.
I couldn't keep getting pushed back.
The boss I truly needed to deal with wasn't these creatures.
The final boss of this incident was—
"Aaaargh!"
"Liam! Elcia! Cover me!"
"My Mana's almost out too!"
Just from the sounds alone, I could tell.
There was a monster lurking back there.
That was why they kept pushing toward us.
Not even glancing at the Demons being crushed underfoot.
Over and over.
Because the real predator was back there.
Because they knew that getting close to it meant death.
So I had to hold the line here.
If I could hold on just a little longer—
The monster in the back would tear every last one of these creatures apart.
"F-for now, get back!"
"Into the Demon cage!"
The sound of the troublemakers scrambling into the cage reached my ears.
Almost simultaneously came a thunderous crash.
—Boom! Boom! Boom!
The brutal crashing sounds rang out a few more times, then went silent.
And from the Demons in front of us came sounds far more chilling.
"Kieeeek!"
"Kuheong! Kung!"
"Saaa!"
But those sounds faded not long after either.
Now the only Demon still standing was that Owlbear.
"Ishmael."
"Yes."
You know what?
Ishmael is a sailor.
Anyone could tell just by looking.
The way she handles rope so skillfully and wields a harpoon—
There's no mistaking it.
So then, what is a sailor good at?
Simple.
They're skilled at lashing things down with rope so they don't get swept away by rough seas.
At handling rope so it doesn't snap even when something savage tears through.
That's their specialty.
"Tie down the Owlbear."
I'll draw its attention.
With those few words, I charged forward again.
You might say that was reckless—
But I had a plan. That's why I did it.
The Owlbear in front of me was no fool.
I was the weakest one here.
Plain to see.
I could sense it myself—so there was no way the Owlbear's senses couldn't pick it up either.
I had the least Mana.
In other words, I was the weakest.
So it was the least wary of me.
It swung its claws in one wide, careless arc.
No finesse whatsoever, no predator's instinct.
As though playing with a toy.
It must have known I couldn't dodge it.
Because any ordinary E-rank Hunter would have their body lock up just from the Bloodlust it was exuding, unable to move.
But the thing is—
It's a bit hard for me to be afraid of you.
I've even killed you before.
While being nothing but E-rank myself.
The claw genuinely grazed past me by the slimmest margin.
I didn't miss that opening.
Without hesitation, I drove the Mirror Shard into one of its eyes.
"Kieeeeeek!"
The Owlbear's mindless flailing began.
That must hurt.
There aren't many creatures that wouldn't feel pain from having their eye stabbed.
The creature chased after me relentlessly with its one remaining eye.
But I burrowed persistently into its blind spot.
The Owlbear was a Demon that combined the traits of an owl and a bear.
Its hearing wasn't particularly sharp.
Its sense of smell wasn't particularly keen either.
Instead, it hunted using overwhelming eyesight and night vision.
So its weak point was its eyes.
With one of those eyes gone, it became ever so slightly easier to deal with.
Still a difficult opponent, though.
One direct hit from those claws would be fatal for me.
Even a graze would leave a wound bad enough to make moving a struggle.
But for the Owlbear, it was different.
There was nothing I could do to pierce its hide.
At best, I could leave a light scratch.
And even that was only possible thanks to the Mirror Shard, an S-rank item.
Without it, even popping an eyeball wouldn't have been easy.
A paw larger than my face came at me.
Ah, damn it.
—Perception (D~) has been activated.
All stats related to vision temporarily increase.
I activated Perception to survive.
But even at a glance, I could tell—
There was no dodging this.
Still, I wasn't about to offer up my face.
So I raised my arm.
And bent my body slightly to the right.
To absorb as much of the impact as possible.
—Thwack!
In an instant, its paw slammed into my left arm.
A devastating impact crashed over my body—
And I was lifted off the ground for a moment before slamming right back down.
"Urgh!"
Everything went yellow.
I almost blacked out right then and there.
Houu! Houuu!
M-my left arm has no feeling.
Not because it was ripped off—
It seemed like the pain had surpassed what my arm's nerves could handle.
Or maybe the nerve itself had died.
I staggered back to my feet without taking my eyes off the Owlbear.
But then—
The creature was shaking itself, as if something was bothering it.
It hadn't even been paying attention to me.
The reason was simple enough—rope was wrapped around its body.
From both sides, no less.
On one wall, a harpoon lashed to a rope had been driven in.
And at a height the Owlbear's arms couldn't quite reach.
The other end was being held by Ishmael.
Ishmael, that was a little late, don't you think.
Ishmael was pulling the line taut, keeping the Owlbear bound.
The Owlbear began thrashing wildly, doing everything it could to shake off the rope.
But unfortunately—
The rope-handling skills of a whaling ship's sailor were beyond imagination.
Because whaling ships don't furl their sails even in a storm.
On a whaling ship that chases whales day and night—
The waves would be stronger and more brutal than any Owlbear.
Having lived through conditions like those, Ishmael—
Kept the Owlbear bound without letting it go.
Then, the moment the Owlbear yanked hard—
She cut the rope without a moment's hesitation.
At the same time, the Owlbear was slammed into the wall.
I stepped back safely and said:
"Thanks. Can you do it one more time?"
Ishmael glanced briefly down at her own hands.
The friction from the rope had torn them open.
But she picked the rope back up without any change in her expression.
"As many times as you need."
Right!
When you say that, I really have nothing to say.
I don't think I can do it even one more time.
M-my arm hurts so bad!!
Kyaaaaaaack!
After screaming a very manly scream deep inside—
I stood before the Owlbear once more.
First, while the buff was still active—
I needed to drain as much of its strength as I could.
The Owlbear happened to shake its head and rise.
I didn't give it the courtesy of waiting—
And kicked it square in the side.
Shouldn't have done that.
"Kiak!"
What kind of hide is made of steel!
At the same time, its front paw came for me—
But I dodged.
Earlier I'd let myself get hit because it was swinging too wildly.
But I know you well enough by now. I'm not taking that again.
The creature, however, wasn't keeping its full attention on me.
Understandable.
Getting bound by Ishmael again would put it at a disadvantage.
So I kept irritating it.
Not that there was any particular method to it.
I literally just scratched it.
I was only leaving the tiniest of marks—
But I went at it relentlessly with the Mirror Shard.
A mosquito is more annoying than anything else because of this exact reason, you know.
Hm?
Itchy? Stinging? Irritating, isn't it?
"Kieek!"
The creature swung a paw at me.
The enhanced kinetic vision let me see every last movement of that attack.
A wide swing left, a smaller one right—
Then it tried to bite with its beak.
I twisted sharply to the right to dodge.
The right-paw swing I just took head-on.
It hurt like absolute hell—
But one moment was all I needed.
Because in just one moment, the sailor Ishmael—
Could bind it with that single opening.
Just like right now.
Feeling the Owlbear's attention shift away from her, Ishmael flung her harpoon once more.
At the same time, the rope—influenced by her Mana—moved in a strange, uncanny direction.
The rope coiled around the Owlbear's torso like a living serpent and landed right back in Ishmael's hands.
The moment that happened, the creature spun its body in a full rotation.
But Ishmael, bloodied hands and all, didn't let go of the rope.
I also wrapped the rope connected to the first harpoon around its neck—
So it couldn't rampage any further.
Now the creature was throwing the full weight of its body into a tantrum.
The rope scraped across my hands, burning hot.
Then a stinging pain crept up through my hands.
But. There was no choice but to hold on.
As long as the expensive research equipment and—most importantly—the data server was in the room behind us, I couldn't let it advance a single step.
I had to protect it no matter what.
I didn't need to hold out long.
Because the temperature in the area had been growing colder for a while now.
"Hold on tight."
A voice all too familiar—
A voice I had been hoping to hear again—reached my ears.
And then a sword wreathed in white frost was swung.
Moving with such unerring straightness—
That blade split the Owlbear's hide open with ease.
A chill rising steadily.
The Owlbear's movements halted completely.
Of course—when head and body are separated, no living creature can survive.
"Hah— hah—"
Exhausting.
But a laugh keeps threatening to escape me.
I glanced back over my shoulder.
The front had taken some damage—
But back here—
It was so pristine, you'd never even know the Demons had gotten loose.
Not a single trace of destruction.
We succeeded.
We'd succeeded in protecting it one hundred percent.
Originally, some data was lost and things like that—
But not anymore.
For the first time, I'd actually changed something.
In most stories or games where someone gets transmigrated, they fear the butterfly effect—
But not me.
If anything, I'm desperate for it.
Things need to change.
You might ask—what if some event I can't control suddenly breaks out?
I'll figure that out when it happens.
Because if nothing changes at all, I'm going to die anyway.
Honestly, I'm not expecting anything grand from changing just this one thing.
Still, hoping is all I can do.
"Han Tae-won."
Yoon Se-a's call snapped me out of my thoughts before I even realized it.
She was already standing right in front of me, and her expression—
Was as cold as ice.
I quietly averted my gaze.
Ha ha.
"You. Why are you here?"
I knew that question was coming.
"Oh, um, well, you see, it was honestly a complete coincidence……."
"Ah, allow me to explain, Ms. Yoon Se-a."
Ishmael suddenly cut me off and spoke up.
Yoon Se-a's gaze slowly turned toward her.
I-Ishmael! You came to save me!
As expected, I tru—
"This and that. I had told her quite! clearly! to go fetch the professor from outside. And yet she insisted on following me in and ended up holding down the Owlbear together with me."
I wasn't trusting you at all, Ishmael!
The guardian angel I thought had come to save me turned out to be a demon.
The look in Yoon Se-a's eyes as she turned to me grew even colder.
"H-hold on. Ms. Yoon Se-a? P-please just listen to me for a sec—"
Kiaaaaaaaack!
And with a very manly scream, I met my end.