Chapter 17: Mine (2)
“Run! Get out of here!”
The man barely managed to shout while resisting the Mine’s attack.
He had succeeded in putting some distance between himself and the Mine, but Creep was now starting to spread across his arm.
“I’ll help. Let’s escape together.”
As Advisor—Choi Hee-yeon—moved to approach, the man spoke again.
“Advisor… no, Choi Hee-yeon. Listen to me.”
‘Advisor.’
It was the codename of Choi Hee-yeon, a 3rd-grade Hunter and secret agent of the Intelligence Department.
She had carried out numerous missions alongside ‘Executor,’ a 3rd-grade Hunter and her senior by half a year.
Intelligence Department agents were required to survive at all costs and preserve collected information.
But she couldn’t bring herself to abandon her comrade.
It had only been a few seconds, yet she had never hesitated this long before.
She had always made cold, swift decisions throughout her career as an agent.
Crackle-crackle—
Executor’s sword wave sliced through the Mine’s torso, but it quickly reattached.
Seeing that, Choi Hee-yeon made up her mind.
“We’re getting out of here together.”
She drew a specially made large-caliber pistol and aimed it at the Mine.
But she had no choice but to pull back before firing.
BOOM!
Another Mine appeared out of nowhere and slammed its fist into the spot where she had just been.
It was one of the Scavengers the first Mine had corrupted earlier.
Unlike the initial Mine, its entire body wasn’t covered in Creep. Instead, its eyes glowed red, its pale skin showed black veins, and its body had become more muscular with blackened mana.
Originally a 6th-grade Hunter, it had risen to danger rating 5th-grade upon becoming a Mine.
But what concerned her even more was something else.
‘A Mine capable of directly turning other Hunters into Mines. A type that has never been reported before.’
Normally, such rapid corruption didn’t happen, but this was a special case.
The 2nd-grade Mine had forcibly accelerated the process.
She had faced Mines in other contaminated zones before, but this was entirely new.
Since becoming a Mine, the original Hunter’s abilities had mutated, potentially allowing new ones—so it wasn’t impossible.
After dodging the 5th-grade Mine’s attack once, Choi Hee-yeon quickly lowered her body.
Slaaaash—
A long, thick thorn grazed over her head.
It was the arm of yet another Scavenger-turned-Mine.
Choi Hee-yeon dodged while simultaneously activating her unique ability: Lightning.
Crackle-crackle-crackle—
Blue electricity surged along the extended arm, spreading across the Mine’s entire body.
“Grrrrr…”
The Mine shuddered and groaned.
Only two Scavengers had turned into Mines after the third fled, but the situation had only worsened.
The noise from the fight had attracted monsters.
Black wolf-like creatures, slightly larger than normal wolves.
There were five of them.
With agile and stealthy movements, Choi Hee-yeon hadn’t noticed them until they entered her field of view.
Her skill ‘Measurement Eye’ confirmed their danger rating: 3rd-grade.
Five 3rd-grade monsters, two 5th-grade Mines, and one 2nd-grade Mine.
Even for a veteran agent, this was overwhelming.
The 2nd-grade Mine alone was already enough to put their lives in the hands of fate.
“Guh…”
By then, Executor’s entire right arm had been corrupted by Creep.
He barely restrained his arm from moving on its own, swinging his sword with his left hand.
He had trained to wield a blade with his left in emergencies, but it was still far inferior to his right.
Splaaat—
“……!”
His reinforced suit tore, and he was sent flying backward.
Black Creep began bubbling and spreading from the gash across his chest.
Taking advantage of the opening, two wolf monsters lunged.
Choi Hee-yeon, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood, pushed through the Mines and wolves to reach Executor.
Crackle— Stab!
Lightning struck the monsters, but a Mine’s attack pierced her side.
Bang—
A mana bullet charged with blue electricity pierced the Mine’s forehead.
Crunch!
A wolf clamped its jaws around her leg.
Choi Hee-yeon lost balance and fell to the ground.
“Uaaaaah!”
As the man roared in fury at his own helplessness and tried to stand,
Splaaat-splaaat-splaaat!
The two wolves lunging at Executor were instantly torn into dozens of bloody chunks and scattered everywhere.
Choi Hee-yeon blinked in disbelief at the surreal sight.
Even the wolf that had bitten her leg had been reduced to a gruesome pile of meat on the ground.
The two 5th-grade Mines remained unharmed, but for some reason, they couldn’t move at all.
Limping on her injured leg, she rose and looked around.
Beyond the black fog, two men came into view.
One was the Scavenger who had disappeared earlier.
The other was a Hunter dressed in a suit like a civil servant.
The lower half of his face was hidden by a mask, but those eyes felt somehow familiar.
‘No way.’
Choi Hee-yeon turned back to the motionless Mines.
They weren’t frozen.
“Grrrrr…”
They were struggling desperately to move but were firmly restrained by something.
She knew exactly what that sensation felt like.
The Hunter from the brief interview she had conducted with her Intelligence Department senior ‘Imposter’ last time.
Chae Jin-young.
“Graaaah!”
Even the 2nd-grade Mine roared in frustration, unable to move its body.
“Look at this guy. Acting all cocky by controlling Creep.”
Jin-young finely shredded the Creep trying to attack his leg.
But the fragmented Creep quickly gathered again and returned to its original form.
“That Mine doesn’t just control Creep—it also has super regeneration. The controlled Creep applies too, so be careful.”
At Choi Hee-yeon’s warning, Jin-young turned to look at her.
“Huh? The person who tried to ambush me from behind at the inspection center. Nice to see you again.”
“……”
She almost faltered for a moment but quickly regained her composure.
She also subtly brushed a hand over her face.
Just in case her disguise had slipped—but there was no issue.
‘What kind of ability is this?’
The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
Every time she scanned Chae Jin-young with Measurement Eye, he registered as 9th-grade.
Did he perhaps have an ability that nullified skill effects?
But this wasn’t the time to dwell on that.
She hurriedly ran to her fallen senior, Executor.
***
Jin-young quickly figured out why Intelligence Department agents were here.
A blue stone slowly being corrupted by Creep.
It was a Manastone.
It was on the larger side, but the Intelligence Department had no reason to risk this much for one.
They could obtain them through regular dungeon raids anyway.
They were here to prevent the Manastone from being eroded by Creep in the first place.
What happens when a Manastone gets eroded by Creep?
‘The stalled Creep starts expanding the contaminated zone again.’
He knew this because it had happened before his regression.
In reality, unless someone deliberately placed a Manastone, this kind of thing wouldn’t occur.
‘Hmm.’
Still, the timing felt a bit early.
This was already quietly shared information overseas, but in Korea, such incidents usually happened later.
‘Does this have something to do with Jeon Su-yong?’
Since nothing was confirmed yet, he decided to shelve that thought for now.
First, he used psychokinesis to pull the eroding Manastone toward him and immediately stored it in his subspace.
Then he approached the restrained 2nd-grade Mine.
“Grrrr… Hu… man…”
The Mine, its entire body covered in Creep, glared with red eyes and growled.
“You were human too.”
“Kill… you…”
The Mine’s mind had been fully corrupted by Creep, leaving it with immense hostility toward humans.
Slaaaash—
As Jin-young parted the ground and advanced, surging Creep from the torn earth rushed toward him.
Jin-young intensified his psionic energy to push the Creep back.
Strangely, ordinary levels of energy barely affected the Creep.
It was far easier to simply split the ground beneath it—which was why he’d been doing so until now.
Splaaat—
Jin-young tore the Mine’s limbs apart with psychokinesis.
However, the Creep continued rushing toward Jin-young.
Unless he killed the Mine, it seemed it wouldn’t stop.
But to properly absorb the polluted mana, he needed to keep it alive.
More importantly…
“It really regenerates fast.”
Jin-young marveled at the limbs that had sprouted back in an instant.
Since the surroundings were entirely Creep, as long as the Mine stayed within the contaminated zone, its mana was practically limitless.
Meaning it could use super regeneration almost without limit.
Of course, “practically” limitless—Jin-young had more than enough power to beat it until it could no longer regenerate.
He just didn’t need to yet.
『Delicious thing.』
‘Yeah, delicious.’
As he drew closer to the Mine, Jin-young felt the heat in his chest intensify.
The tentacles had already reacted before he even arrived here.
If they hadn’t been able to track the polluted mana, it would have taken much longer to find this place.
Just as Jin-young approached the Mine even closer,
“Graaaaaah!”
The Mine let out an even louder roar than before.
Slaaaaaash—
At the same time, Creep from the entire area surged toward Jin-young in an instant.
The moment the pitch-black slime covered his body,
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—
The Creep began spiraling upward into the sky.
A Creep vortex rising like a dragon’s ascent, reaching toward the heavens.
As the Creep soared upward, Jin-young’s figure was revealed below.
Tzzzt-tzzzt…
Blue and red auras coiled around his body, glowing.
“So this is why the zone hasn’t been restored for so long. Not because of a boss monster—because of you.”
“How… are you…”
The Mine’s voice sounded bewildered, unable to comprehend how Jin-young remained unharmed.
“What’s there to understand?”
Jin-young whispered just before the tentacles emerged, now right in front of the Mine.
“Because you’re weak.”
Jin-young immediately activated the Sandstorm skill.
Whooooosh—
Thanks to borrowing the tentacles’ black mana, the sandstorm filled the entire surroundings.
There was no worry about the black mana being noticed. The area was shrouded in Creep fog, making it hard to distinguish.
The sandstorm enveloped both Jin-young and the Mine, isolating them from the outside.
It was far more efficient than raising the earth with psychokinesis or covering the area with stone fragments.
Within the sandstorm, Jin-young stood right in front of the Mine and said,
“Alright. Come out now.”
Slaaaash—
Black tentacles burst from Jin-young’s chest and instantly engulfed the Mine.
“Guh… No…”
The Mine’s strength began draining rapidly.
It had possessed quite a large amount of black mana, but the tentacles were absorbing it at an astonishing speed.
The length and thickness of the writhing tentacles visibly increased.
Thud.
Finally, having lost all its black mana, the Mine collapsed to the ground.
Creep still covered its body, but it no longer had any energy to move.
『That thing’s super regeneration ability is gone.』
‘Gone?’
When Jin-young severed the Mine’s head, it could no longer regenerate and died completely.
『The ability is ours now.』
The black tentacles wriggled as they spoke.
‘Ours?’
It had clearly said “ours.”
Not only had it absorbed the ability along with the black mana—it could use it too.
If true, this was a massive gain.
Jin-young deliberately snapped his own index finger with psychokinesis.
Crack—
Black mana emitted from the tentacles flowed to the tip of his finger,
And the broken finger returned to normal.