"W-What is this!?"
"…."
[….]
Han Yeo-reum, unable to understand the current situation, looked at the other women in shock.
But he couldn't keep looking for long.
The three Shock Bees that hadn't triggered the paralysis wave charged at Han Yeo-reum.
"Sh-Shit!!"
Han Yeo-reum didn't seem to have the time to worry about my condition.
Fortunately, it seemed he hadn't noticed that I wasn't frozen.
Han Yeo-reum left the frozen women behind and ran deeper into the forest.
Luckily, the three Shock Bees followed him.
But the ones who were angry about this weren't the women—it was me.
'This is driving me crazy!!'
[Suho, be careful! The Shock Bees that landed on the ground are also frozen, but we don't know when they'll start moving again.]
'This won't do!'
I slung the frozen Min Ha-yeon over my shoulder and turned to run.
I wasn't in a position to save the other women right now.
But there was someone trying to stop me.
[Suho! Min Ha-yeon will come back to life after the regression anyway! Just leave her and escape!]
'No, I can't just abandon her like that!'
Even if she'd come back to life after the regression, I couldn't just leave her like that.
The Shock Bees would probably be more focused on us running away than the women over there.
But this wasn't a situation where I could relax.
This forest was clearly a limited battlefield.
That meant there had to be dead ends.
After running for about 30 seconds…
"Ah! A safe zone!"
In the distance, I saw a blue pillar of light.
It was about the same distance as I'd run to get here.
But at the same time, I heard the sound of helicopter propellers behind me.
Whoooosh…
"Damn it…."
If I were running alone, I would've already reached the safe zone by now, but with Min Ha-yeon slung over my shoulder, I couldn't guarantee I'd make it without getting caught.
The sound of the propellers in my ears made me feel like the chances of getting caught were increasing.
Whoooosh!
The remaining distance was about 50 meters.
But the Shock Bees weren't going to wait.
Sssshhk!
Suddenly, I heard a sharp sound cutting through the air behind me.
When I turned around in surprise…
A sharp object pierced my arm and lodged itself in Min Ha-yeon's thigh.
"Argh!"
I let out a curse from the sudden pain but didn't stop.
[I'll heal the wound immediately!]
Fortunately, my arm, which had been bleeding profusely, healed instantly, and the pain disappeared.
As soon as the pain was gone, I barely managed to make it into the safe zone.
The object that had pierced my arm was a stinger fired by a Shock Bee.
The stinger was about the thickness of a finger and 20 centimeters long.
Min Ha-yeon's thigh was bleeding profusely from the stinger, but she remained frozen in time.
"Haah… Haah… Let's treat Ha-yeon first…"
And just as I was about to pull the stinger out of Min Ha-yeon's thigh with all my strength…
"W-What… Aaaah!!"
As soon as the stinger was pulled out, Min Ha-yeon was released from the time freeze and collapsed to the ground with a scream.
I calmed Min Ha-yeon down and poured all the green potions I had onto her leg.
Unlike the other members, I hadn't prepared many potions for myself.
Since I was going to regress anyway, I'd only made about three just in case.
"Ha-yeon! Give me all the potions you have!"
"Ugh… H-Here…."
Min Ha-yeon handed over all the green potions she had.
After pouring all 15 of them, the bleeding finally stopped, and I could see flesh starting to regenerate.
But the green potions weren't enough to fully heal her.
They were only meant for treating scratches or bruises, so they had their limits.
Once her wounds were somewhat healed and she'd calmed down, Min Ha-yeon began to calmly look around.
Min Ha-yeon and I were inside the safe zone, and the ground was covered in blood and dirt, as if a bucket of blood had been spilled.
And outside the safe zone, two Shock Bees were watching us…
"Haah… Haah… Suho? What's going on? Where are we?"
"…I'll explain everything."
I summarized the situation for her.
The boss's name was Shock Bee, the skills they used, and how Han Yeo-reum and I weren't affected by those skills.
Han Yeo-reum had run off somewhere else, and I, panicking, had carried her here.
"…Sorry, I was in such a rush that I couldn't avoid the stinger."
"What are you talking about! If it weren't for you… I'd be dead already… Thank you…"
Min Ha-yeon limped over to me, hugged me, and started crying.
After hugging for a few minutes, Min Ha-yeon looked at my arm and shouted.
"Hey! What's wrong with your arm!?"
"Haah… It got pierced earlier. Don't worry about it. I'm fine."
"You got pierced, and you're saying you're fine!?"
There was no way to convince her that I'd healed with Enels, and there was no need to.
I lied and said I had a self-healing skill.
"Wow… Suho… Is there anything you can't do?"
└Guardian of the Gay Dick: What the hell were you doing outside? LOL.
Not only Min Ha-yeon, but even the chatterbox was surprised.
'Well… It's not a complete lie.'
[Even if your statement causes problems, they'll forget everything after the regression, so it should be fine.]
"But it's not a cure-all…"
"No one else has something like that…"
Min Ha-yeon smiled weakly and slumped to the ground.
She shivered as she looked at the Shock Bees outside the safe zone.
A monster on a completely different level from anything we'd faced before.
A difference in power that defied common sense.
And from Min Ha-yeon's perspective, since her arrows didn't work, she had no choice but to conclude that this was an unbeatable opponent.
The fear creeping in like that wasn't something you could endure just by staying calm and collected.
In fact, being calm and collected might make you realize that death is right in front of you.
I placed my hand on her trembling shoulder to calm her down.
"It's okay. There must be a way. They wouldn't create a place like this without a solution."
"Yeah…"
Min Ha-yeon placed her slender fingers on the back of my hand resting on her shoulder, exchanging warmth.
After calming her down, I looked around.
Then I noticed something unusual.
In the center of the roughly 10-pyeong safe zone, there was a holographic sign with numbers on it.
-2 : 51-
As I wondered what it meant, the number changed from 51 to 50.
I immediately realized.
The remaining time.
But I had no information about what that time meant.
I decided to ask the chatterbox just in case.
"Do you know what the time displayed there means?"
└Guardian of the Gay Dick: That's the remaining time for the boss battle. You have to survive until then.
I thought he wouldn't tell me, but fortunately, he explained.
He said this boss battle was a mission to survive for three hours from the moment you entered.
But…
"Then can't we just stay here the whole time?"
└Guardian of the Gay Dick: Nope. Each safe zone has different durations and capacity limits.
He explained that not all safe zones are the same.
Most safe zones are inactive.
And when a summoner enters, they activate and remain active for a set amount of time.
Some zones last for an hour, while others only last for five minutes.
And the capacity varies from three people to just one, so if more people enter than allowed, they're randomly ejected.
"But is it okay to explain all that?"
└Guardian of the Gay Dick: Before entering the boss battle, I can't, but after entering, I can explain the basic system.
"Ah, I see!"
└Guardian of the Gay Dick: …Honestly, I wanted to stop you. But I had no choice because of the restrictions.
The chatterbox said he hoped I'd survive and make things more interesting rather than something happening to me.
└Guardian of the Gay Dick: I've never seen anyone survive this… I've heard stories of people succeeding, but I've never seen it myself…
"Well… What can I do? Thanks for telling me, though."
He probably had no choice but to explain.
I thanked the chatterbox and explained all the information I'd gathered to Min Ha-yeon.
Fortunately, Min Ha-yeon had also collected quite a bit of information during that time.
"First, let's check how much time is left in this safe zone."
I touched the hologram in the center to check the remaining time.
When I touched it, the sign displaying the remaining time for the boss battle changed to '0 : 55 [2/2].'
"Good. This seems to be a one-hour space."
"And it's for two people… That's really lucky…"
Min Ha-yeon let out a sigh of relief, brushing her chest.
The time was the maximum, and the capacity was exactly two people.
But that didn't mean we could sit back and relax.
"First… Not everyone, but it seems like some people are safe."
"Huh? How do you know?"
"Six Shock Bees were summoned, and two are after us. I think it's likely the others are after other people too."
"Ah… You're probably right."
At the very least, since we hadn't regressed, it was clear that Han Yeo-reum was alive.
And if the other women had died, the Shock Bees would've already swarmed the safe zone where Min Ha-yeon and I were.
I had a rough understanding of the current situation.
Now the problem was the regression…
'Damn it… This is driving me crazy. That bastard Han Yeo-reum… He must've taken an anti-magic resistance potion, right?'
[…That seems to be the case.]
I concluded that what he'd poured into his mouth earlier in the colosseum was an anti-magic resistance potion.
Otherwise, there was no reason why he wouldn't have been frozen by the paralysis wave.
'Looking at it now, that must be why he kept pestering me for points…'
[Since he couldn't figure out why he died in the 5th round, he probably tested it with the anti-magic resistance potion.]
'And it just happened to work perfectly…'
Armonia cautiously began to persuade me.
[Suho, why don't you warp now?]
'…What are you talking about? I have to warp right before I die.'
[There's another way to predict the regression besides guessing.]
'Huh? How?'
[We can detect changes in Yggdrasil's energy patterns from outside the planet to confirm the regression.]
Armonia explained that Yggdrasil itself regresses because of this regression.
When Han Yeo-reum's blessing and regression activate, we can detect a sudden change in energy from outside the planet and predict the regression.
Armonia was suggesting that I warp back to the ship now and wait until Han Yeo-reum dies.
But I rejected it.
'No… What if he survives until the end?'
[….]
'Plus, it seems to me that the fewer people there are, the higher the chances of survival.'
[…? How do you know that?]
'In this boss battle, safe zones are essential to survive until the end. And I think…'
I closed my eyes and thought for a moment before answering.
'It's obvious that there won't be enough safe zones.'
[Are you sure?]
'…That's what I think.'
If there were too many safe zones, the purpose of this boss battle would be undermined.
The intention is to reduce numbers, after all…
As I was deep in thought, I heard a scream in the distance.
"━━___━━__!"
It was clearly not coming from nearby.
"…."
"…."
Min Ha-yeon and I bowed our heads at the sound and sank back into a heavy atmosphere.
If the safe zone we were in disappeared, we'd be the ones screaming and running for our lives.
The only silver lining was that, judging by the scream, it was a woman's voice.
That meant the women were still alive and running.
'Haah… Do I have to gamble…'
[…You're not thinking of going to find them, are you?]
'Yeah.'
[….]
Armonia didn't respond easily.
Even if he's a bastard, I need to stay nearby to avoid getting caught in the regression.
That way, I can at least try to warp before I die…
The problem is that going out now is risky, and there are things to worry about.
"…."
Min Ha-yeon…
I couldn't leave her behind, sitting next to me and looking up at me.
Wait…
'This won't do.'
[…?]
I took out a piece of paper from my inventory.
It was paper I could use to write a blessing.
'A blessing… Let's think about it now…'
It was time to find a solution, whether it was a blessing to overcome the regression or to break through this situation.
***
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