“Is this the base?”
The fortress they arrived at after flying for about two hours looked quite dilapidated. Sa-yoon grabbed the nape of Geon-joo’s neck, who was fearlessly approaching the gate out of curiosity, and pulled him back.
“Hey, hey, stop right there. Step on a trap and you’ll die instantly.”
Perhaps because he hadn’t yet experienced the harshness of people in the field, his actions were incredibly bold. Sa-yoon had clearly explained during their flight that there might be people in the base, and those who had endured monster waves for a long time would be exhausted and on edge, making them dangerous. Frowning at this reckless behavior, Sa-yoon pulled Geon-joo back, who then obediently stood behind him.
“There are traps too?”
“Depending on the situation.”
“Could monsters die from these traps too?”
“You think they set traps to catch monsters, pretty boy?”
They’re for catching people.
Digging pits several meters deep wouldn’t stop the continuous monster waves, so crude traps made by humans weren’t very effective against monsters. Instead, traps like spikes that spring up when stepped on or iron cages that fall from above were quite effective against people.
There were some people in the field who set such traps.
“How can they do that?”
His voice was filled with disbelief. Sa-yoon glanced at Geon-joo, who was narrowing his eyes as if glaring at the gate.
Both with the Dragon-Tiger Guild and now. Though he tried not to show it, he had a surprisingly upright side. With a clear line between acceptable and unacceptable actions, it was evident how decently Han Geon-joo had lived his life, even without Kyungjin’s report.
Aside from managing his image, there was hardly anything to fault in his life.
Maybe awakening was his biggest flaw.
Thinking that while the system might be showering blessings and praise, it might not be such a joyous thing for Han Geon-joo, Sa-yoon took out a round object from his inventory.
“What’s that?”
“A weight ball.”
“What?”
“It’s a ball whose weight can be increased as desired. It’s useful for dealing with traps. For example, like this.”
Sa-yoon threw the ball he was holding towards the gate.
Roll roll.
As the weight ball rolled forward and touched the gate, the ground seemed to shake for a moment, then the floor around where the ball had fallen suddenly collapsed. Geon-joo’s expression hardened as he saw the floor open up like a sinkhole.
“What…”
“I set it to the weight of a person and threw it. If you had gone straight there, you would have fallen in without a chance, pretty boy.”
Sa-yoon spoke teasingly and grabbed Geon-joo to fly again. Having just witnessed the ground collapse, this time Geon-joo allowed himself to be carried without complaint and let out a sigh. Sa-yoon examined the collapsed ground closely.
“The wood is all rotten. There might not be anyone inside.”
It seemed to be structured so that when a person tried to enter, the ground would collapse and they would be impaled on wooden stakes set up below, but the exposed wooden stakes were too rotten to serve their purpose. Sa-yoon used his formless dagger skill to retrieve the fallen ball and headed for the top of the fortress.
He climbed the outer wall to reach the top of the fortress. After carefully checking for any other traps just in case, Sa-yoon landed on top of the fortress, pushed Geon-joo behind him, and opened the door connected to the roof. The door opened with a creaking sound. He took out the weight ball again and rolled it down the stairs, and the sound of traps activating could be heard along with a clattering noise.
Geon-joo lost color in his face at the vicious sounds coming from below. Sa-yoon patted Geon-joo’s arm as if to say this was nothing, then grabbed him and headed for the stairs. Just as they were about to go down, Geon-joo grabbed Sa-yoon to stop him.
“What if the trap activates again?”
“Once it’s been triggered, it’ll take quite a while to reset.”
“How do you know that?”
“From the trap at the gate and the state of the building. It’s clear at a glance that this base hasn’t been maintained by people for a long time. The installed traps must be old-fashioned too. Besides, what are you worried about when I’m here?”
If you were alone, it might be different.
There had never been a case of an S-rank dying from a trap. Sa-yoon tried to reassure the preemptively frightened Geon-joo as they went down, and Geon-joo, though maintaining a reluctant expression until the end, followed behind Sa-yoon with a resigned look.
In the end, no traps were activated. The fact that it took quite a while to reset after being triggered once confirmed that it was indeed built in an old-fashioned way. Sa-yoon went down the stairs and found another door. This must be the door leading into the fortress.
“There shouldn’t be any traps from here on, so come in and relax a bit.”
Sa-yoon could feel how tense Geon-joo was behind him, so he advised him before opening the door. As he opened it, for the first time since entering the field, a place that looked habitable greeted the strangers. Dust was everywhere, proving Sa-yoon’s prediction that it had been a long time since anyone had been here.
“…Looks like we’ll need to clean first if we’re going to stay here.”
“What, are you planning to live here forever?”
“No…?”
“If not, why make unnecessary trouble? I’ll take care of it, so just wear this, pretty boy.”
After chiding him, Sa-yoon took out an S-rank cold resistance coat from his inventory and put it on Geon-joo. Since his frost skill was SSS-rank, wearing that coat alone wouldn’t completely protect against the cold, but combined with other cold resistance artifacts, it should keep him just slightly chilly. Besides, he wasn’t planning to use his skill too intensively, so extreme cold resistance wasn’t necessary.
Crackle.
As Sa-yoon used his skill, the room began to freeze rapidly from the floor up. Having experienced this phenomenon once before, Geon-joo let out an exclamation of recognition, and Sa-yoon used even stronger power than when he had awakened Geon-joo in the guild, lightly freezing the entire room.
This way, although it might be a bit cold, they wouldn’t have to live in a dust bowl. It was a shame they couldn’t use the soft sofa, but not wanting to sleep buried in dust, Sa-yoon coated the entire room in ice and sat on the frozen sofa. Geon-joo, who had been momentarily dazed, sat on the opposite sofa. Just as he was about to ask what they should do next.
Beep—.
A siren-like warning sound spread throughout the entire field. Geon-joo furrowed his brow at the sound, while Sa-yoon, who had experienced this situation several times before, calmly lay down on the sofa. Shortly after, a blue window appeared simultaneously in front of Sa-yoon and Geon-joo.
<The first monster wave will begin soon. Secure the base and endure the wave.>
“Unlike someone, it’s excessively kind.”
Reminded of his own system by this friendly guidance, Sa-yoon smirked and sneered, while Geon-joo read the text on the window.
“Is the monster wave starting now?”
“Not now, but soon. That’s why we hurried to move. The wave will start soon.”
If this had been an occupied base, it would have been tricky, but since it seemed to be a base long abandoned by people, they were able to secure it smoothly. A base acquired for free. At any other time, this would have been impossible, but was it because he was with Han Geon-joo that they were so lucky?
Normally, they would have had to engage in a fierce battle with other humans. He had come prepared for that, but now he was smiling because things had resolved peacefully. Geon-joo, seeing this, pointedly asked what was so funny about an impending wave.
“What exactly is a wave?”
“It’s just monsters rushing in. Sometimes up to a thousand, but usually it stops at around three hundred. You need to defeat all those monsters, so conserve your energy well, pretty boy.”
Although he would probably handle most of the monsters himself, Sa-yoon didn’t intend to keep Geon-joo cooped up in the base like some precious treasure. He explained in advance that Geon-joo should come out to help during the wave and retreat into the fortress if it became dangerous. Geon-joo nodded at this. Sa-yoon was quite pleased that he didn’t insist on helping with everything out of wounded pride, nor did he ask to stay in the base out of fear.
Feeling the vibrations starting in the distance, Sa-yoon spoke. There were several things he needed to explain before the monster horde arrived.
As he kindly explained what kinds of monsters typically appear in the first wave, how to deal with dangerous situations, and what to do if Geon-joo couldn’t see him, Geon-joo made a curious face.
“What now?”
“I didn’t know you could explain things normally.”
“What?”
“I thought you’d throw me into it again, telling me to experience it firsthand.”
There was a sting to his words. Sa-yoon, feeling a chill—whether from the frozen room or Geon-joo’s words—tightened the clothes he was wearing and spoke.
“The level of danger is different now compared to then. You need to be careful because if you don’t stay alert this time, you could really die.”
Even if Sa-yoon used all his powers to protect him, there was nothing he could do if Geon-joo willingly stuck his head into a monster’s mouth. He considered just keeping Geon-joo inside the base the whole time, but knowing that would defeat the purpose of coming to the field, he shook his head. Instead, Sa-yoon handed Geon-joo a generous amount of potions.
“Keep these handy and don’t hesitate to use them immediately if you feel you’re in danger this time.”
“Isn’t this too much?”
“Better too much than not enough.”
Seeing Geon-joo with his arms full of potions made Sa-yoon feel a bit more at ease. Geon-joo looked at the potions in his arms with a subtle expression before putting them one by one into his inventory. The vibrations were getting closer. Wondering if Geon-joo could feel it by now, Sa-yoon observed his expression, but Geon-joo’s face looked no different than usual.
“By the way, how do you know the wave is coming?”
He asked as if he were an inquisitive model student. Sa-yoon waited a moment before answering that you could tell from the vibrations.
“Vibrations?”
Geon-joo, who had been asking curiously, suddenly stiffened.
Rumble rumble—.
As if summoned by their conversation, the fortress began to shake slightly as if an earthquake had struck.
It was a more certain harbinger of the wave than any words could be.
“Let’s go.”
Sa-yoon said softly as he opened the door they had come through and climbed the stairs.
<The first monster wave will begin soon. Secure the base and endure the wave.>
Unlike his own, the excessively kind system window in the field left another warning.