Chapter 93. Iro (3)

Iro was a man who’d been born with nothing. He was abandoned on the streets, yet had clawed his way to the very top on skill alone. Because of his obsession with brains, cortices, and organs of every kind, controversy never left his name. Still, no one could deny he was a genius.

As long as he had data and a hypothesis, he could drag even the wildest fantasy into reality. He could bring back the dead, kill the living, or twist someone so they were neither alive nor dead.

Eun-Ho was the one person who had ever forced him to taste failure. Now, that man stood before him.

“That bastard... Status! Report his stamina!” Iro demanded. Not allowing himself a moment’s carelessness, he asked again, “As well as the victory forecast! Give it to me!”

Twaaang—!

A shield of shifting colors swelled larger and larger. Iro couldn’t tear his eyes away from Eun-Ho, standing alone at its center.

[Checking subject Lee Eun-Ho’s remaining Stamina.]

[It’s 32.6%.]

Barely thirty percent remained. For someone who had conjured a shield with that bizarre instrument, it was a miserable number. Yet to Iro, it was a promising sign.

[Calculating the outcome.]

[Loading...]

Iro swallowed dryly as the figures appeared.

[Victory – 51%]

[Defeat - 49%]

The system predicted his win—barely, but still in his favor. However, The chimera’s relentless assault continued, and Eun-Ho’s Stamina dropped lower and lower.

“

Graaaaagh!

!”

[25.1%]

[20.9%]

[14.2%]

...

[Outcome has been revised.]

[Victory – 99%]

[Defeat – 1%]

Then, his victory climbed to an overwhelming ninety-nine percent. Unless a miracle bloomed from that one percent, the win was already guaranteed. One percent was an insignificant margin of error. With victory rising steadily, anyone else would have relaxed.

However, Iro froze.

“One percent?” he muttered, his hands trembling. “No... This is impossible. We’re against Lee Eun-Ho...”

How can victory come so easily?

Doubt crept in. It was doubt born not from the data, but from instinct and experience.

“What is he plotting?” Iro muttered.

This was Eun-Ho. He couldn’t afford to lower his guard, especially not when his opponent wore that calm, confident smile. Was that really the face of someone fated to lose with ninety-nine percent certainty?

Suddenly, Eun-Ho sprinted across the ruins. That wasn’t the movement of a prey, but like a predator ruling the jungle. He vaulted from shattered towers, using the debris as stepping stones, and soared upward. His jet-black blade lashed out like a whip, cutting down everything in his path.

Swoosh—!

Countless reaching arms were sliced apart like paper.

“Petrify!” Eun-Ho shouted.

Bzzzt!

The staff brimming with electrical charge sparked wildly, before snapping apart in his bare hands.

Clang!

Saw-bladed wheels clamped to his legs spun violently, but he smashed every last one of them to pieces.

“

Ah

. There you are,” Eun-Ho said.

The moment their eyes met, Iro’s head spun, and a hollow numbness drained the strength from his limbs.

If anyone else had seen it, they would’ve laughed. Iro stood a hair’s breadth beneath the throne. The same man who was above all yet beneath none was now trembling before a mere subject.

At the same time, Eun-Ho was the ruler of the ruins. The most feared presence on this Sky Island. Iro could sense that Eun-Ho was no longer his puppet.

What he had lost wasn’t size or mass, nor weapons or raw power. He had lost the momentum, the presence that couldn’t be taken by force. He had surrendered that completely.

“Let’s finish this, all at once,” Eun-Ho muttered.

“W-what are you doing?! You can’t stop a single subject?!” Iro shouted at the chimera.

“

Guuuuaargh!

”

[5.3%]

[3.8%]

[1.1%]

Then, Eun-Ho's Stamina fell below one percent.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Iro’s heart hammered so violently, it felt as if the sound would burst his ears. Tension wrapped around him like a vise.

“Su—” he nearly drew a card he shouldn’t have, before catching himself. Startled, he barely pulled himself together, muttering, “W-what am I doing!”

It was almost over. Eun-Ho could lunge and tear at Iro all he wished, yet the data was clear. The summit was near and victory was within striking distance.

“How much is left?!” Iro demanded.

[Checking Lee Eun-Ho’s remaining stamina]

[It’s 0.1%]

Eun-Ho, whether to taunt him or heed him, quietly said, “Acceleration.”

Ssssh—!

A blade wind cut nothing but air. In an instant, Eun-Ho had climbed high and stood near the chimera’s gargantuan heart, a height many times his own. Soon, the sole of his shoe swept past its crown.

[Warning!]

[Subject Lee Eun-Ho’s remaining Stamina has changed!]

The system announced the impossible.

[It’s 10.0%]

“What?! His Stamina recovered?” Iro gasped.

Eun-Ho’s blade had driven deep into the heart of the monstrous thing. The dark steel left no visible wound, yet an immense presence poured forth.

Iro flinched and his hands and feet tingled with the force of it. He thought he’d die and be finished in an instant. He instinctively knew that he wouldn’t be able to win.

Driven by a violent premonition, Iro dodged the charging figure. He slipped out from beneath the chimera’s armor and leaped down, fleeing away.

The man who should’ve died long ago hurled himself toward the heavens, as if to tear the world apart.

“Counterattack!” Eun-Ho shouted.

The cry shook the world.

Wooooong—!

The island answered with its whole being and the sky itself replied.

A tremendous explosion erupted from Eun-Ho. The force felt as if space itself had burst, and Iro was flung aside.

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

Baaaam—! Pzzzt! Thud!

Mighty structures shattered, cracked, and collapsed.

Bababaam—!

Iro started running, fleeing like a mad dog.

[Structures have been destroyed!]

[Inspect immediately!]

“Please, please, please, please, please...” Iro prayed, invoking the only hope that could save him. He cried, “Activate! Hurry!”

Iro drew out a divine weapon that had been retrofitted at the Center Director’s request. If anyone had seen him, they would have tried to stop him by force, even if it meant knocking him out.

It was a radical choice that denied his entire life up to that point. However, instead of waiting for a tomorrow that would never come, he decided to live for today.

[The Restored Brahmastra is activating.]

[Please select a target!]

“The target is him! Eun-Ho!” Iro shouted.

Swoosh—!

“Kill him!”

Once activated, the legendary arrow pursued its mark to the end and pierced through. Found worn from ages of survival, it had been restored by the Director’s command. It was a sacred relic no mortal should touch.

“I don’t know what trick you’ve used, but this ends now!” Iro barked.

Swish—!

Then, as expected, the arrowhead plunged into Eun-Ho’s abdomen like a skewer, emerging from his back.

[4.4%]

His mouth hung open as if the air itself had been cut away. Blood welled and poured. Scarlet chunks of flesh clung to the spearhead, then slipped off and fell in wet, plopping pieces.

“T-this is it! I’ll keep your data safe for me!” Iro howled, voice thick with triumph.

Eun-Ho shuddered, then flickered and wavered just like a guttering flame.

[1.6%]

[0.4%]

With a dull thud he slumped to the ground.

“It does hurt,” Eun-Ho said, voice oddly calm.

“W-what?” Iro replied, bewildered.

Despite the absurdity of the moment, Eun-Ho murmured another inscrutable line as if inspecting a curious object,“This looks good.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll put it to good use.”

“W-What do you mean by that?”

“Store.”

Taking advantage of the owner’s stunned hesitation, Eun-Ho plucked the sacred relic free and stored it as if it were his to take.

[0.0%]

Then, just like that, Eun-Ho collapsed.

***

Choi Jae-Hyuk exploded with fury. “Hyungnim’s down! Why! Why!”

Even though the monster’s heart was right in front of them, one arrow had slipped through, striking Eun-Ho. He collapsed because he had failed to avoid a single, thin shaft.

“That bastard!!” Jae-Hyuk roared, and took off.

He abandoned the shattered remains of the chimera and chased the fleeing figure with a single aim: making him pay for what he did.

“Get lost!” Iro barked, and hurled something behind him.

Kaboom!

Something struck Jae-Hyuk’s left shoulder and detonated.

“What did you do to Hyungnim!” he screamed.

The man threw something else.

Pfoom!

Something exploded against Jae-Hyuk’s ribs this time.

“Get lost!” the man spat.

This time the blast had ripped into Jae-Hyuk’s side. Torn flesh dangled and stung, but he kept closing the distance because he wasn’t going to let that devil get away.

Swoosh—! Swish!

At last, bloodied and nearly circling the Sky Island, Jae-Hyuk caught up with Iro.

“I’m going to kill you!” Jae-Hyuk screamed.

“How dare you grab me with your filthy hands!”

“How dare you touch Hyungnim!”

He seized Iro.

Whatever Iro had done and whatever the reason was, questions didn’t come. Fear of the inhuman didn’t slow him either. He felt no hesitation but only fury.

“

Aaaargh!

” Iro’s cry rang out across the whole Sky Island.

At the sound, Ji-Eun steadied her trembling legs and moved.

Bababaaam—! Thud!

Armored wreckage lay scattered in shards. Buried beneath the debris, the man she sought lay half-hidden. Ji-Eun walked toward him, picking through the carnage.

Thud! Boom—!

Pieces of blown-apart armor fell around her like rain. There was no avoiding them, yet she didn’t flinch.

“Eun-Ho... I have to find him...” she whispered.

Fragments of the explosion drifted above her head, floating like cosmic debris. Though they meant nothing to her now. Ji-Eun closed her eyes to concentrate, pursuing the place her instincts pointed toward.

Each step took her up the hill of wreckage—the slope of blood, shredded flesh, and ruined weapons that marked the battlefield.

[...]

[... desire... level... observation... ]

[Detection(Lv. 1) has been unlock...]

The system continued to announce something, but it was all meaningless to Ji-Eun. She couldn’t hear anything.

[Detection(Lv. 1) has been activated.]

[Updating location status for subject Lee Eun-Ho!]

Then, a beam of light poured down toward the place where Eun-Ho stood, accompanied by an inscrutable system message.

Poof!

Then, a flower bloomed within the radiance.

***

Eun-Ho had fallen. They had seen it with their own eyes right there, right in front of them. He had pulled the metal skewer out of his gut, leaving a great, gaping wound in his lower belly. Blood had gushed and his Stamina had plunged at zero percent.

They all knew that the next step was to study his corpse. His body would be cracked open to remove the soft brain, limbs cut and catalogued, blood collected into bottles. When a body was meant to lie still and obedient, a flower had bloomed. It was not just any flower, but one they all recognized.

Startled, Jae-Hyuk let go of Iro’s throat. “W-what’s that?!”

Iro, coughing and muttering to himself, stared at the sight. “Dactylanthus?”

Dactylanthus, the rare blossom called the netherworld flower. It unfurled around Eun-Ho like layered petals cut from pale pink paper. The bud enveloped his body, and from it poured intense shafts of light in every direction.

“Why is that here?” Iro muttered.

At that instant a memory flickered through his mind. It was a recollection from when he had served as the acting Administrator and sent a Golem down in a fury.

[Warning!]

[Unauthorized deployment of prototype has been detected.]

[Subject will now be forcibly retrieved according to regulation.]

He recalled the Golem’s core and the forced retrieval because they had failed to return the Abandoned Ridge’s Diamond.

Iro remembered. “Because that damn bastard absorbed it back then, we had to reimburse it with points...”

[Loss has been registered!]

[Auto-compensation through point deduction has been completed.]

Besides, since Eun-Ho brought back an absurd number of soldiers outside the standard limits, there weren’t enough points left to hand out as rewards

[You have insufficient point balance.]

[Would you like to replace the trial reward with an appropriate item?]

Right. They asked something like this. And the response was...

Iro thought.

“Ugh! Just do whatever you want!”

“Damn it...” Iro tore at his matted hair with his remaining hand. Then, he scratched at his arm, shouting, “W-wait a second! What was in my lab was just a seed! It wouldn’t bloom no matter what I did, so I was experimenting to figure out the right conditions... But why?”

He scratched and scratched again, even harming himself in frustration. However, nothing changed the fact.

[Warning!]

[A change has been detected in critical parameters for Subject Lee Eun-Ho!]

...

[Update has been completed!]

...

[New perk added - Resurrection]

[Recomputing the victory forecast!]