Chapter 41
Chapter
41. The Leader’s Conditions (5)
The giant dandelion monster with yellow flowers was merely an obstacle.
The real problem was the mutation.
The attacking mutation that had been stationary a short distance away finally began to move.
[Energyize]
[Iron Skin]
Kim Si-hu used a body enhancement buff he rarely activated around Yoo Ji-han.
Although the effectiveness was halved since it was used on someone else, Yoo Ji-han seemed a bit invigorated thanks to wielding the iron plate.
“Everyone, to the back!”
Yoo Ji-han raised the iron plate towards the mutation that had first shown movement.
Kim Si-hu and the other heroes hid behind him.
[Shield]
Kagagagakang—!!
The seed of the giant dandelion that flew from a distance struck the surface of the iron plate used as a shield.
‘Ugh!’
The seed from Hole 12 was even more powerful than the one we had blocked earlier.
Consequently, Yoo Ji-han’s arm that held the iron plate screamed in agony.
Moreover, a seed that he couldn’t block in time skimmed his armor.
Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of two mages pouring mana into the shield, the iron plate held firm.
“Next, over there!”
Ignoring the one who had shed all its seeds, he moved forward and turned the corner.
He then directed the iron plate towards the area where other mutations were located.
He moved along a path that wouldn’t get attacked from both sides simultaneously.
The warriors of the makeshift party assisted Yoo Ji-han while dealing with the attacking giant dandelions on the side.
Kagagagakang!
The seeds of the giant dandelions continued to rain down without pause!
They weren’t clustered together; they were spread out, leaving no time to rest even for a moment.
‘Not much further!’
At this distance, only about 70 meters remained to the lake.
The mages were straining their faces, squeezing out all their mana.
“Just a little longer!”
Once we reach the lake, we can turn our backs to the water and concentrate on just one direction.
If we move along that boundary, we could easily escape the MA.
And so, with 60, then 40 meters to go…
It was around the point where we had about 20 meters left to our destination.
Kkaang!
“Gyaah!”
“Sunhwa!”
The mage maintaining the shield alongside Kim Si-hu screamed.
A seed that bounced off the edge of the iron plate poked her on the top of her foot.
Everyone froze in place, and a flustered Kim Si-hu shouted.
“The shield will break in 6 seconds!”
With the mage who was maintaining the shield gone, the mana surrounding the golf cart’s roof became extremely unstable.
“Can’t we reuse it?!”
“It’s not that easy!”
Ordinary iron plates were not very suitable for absorbing mana, to begin with.
Moreover, since it was magic that two people were sustaining cooperatively, once the balance broke, it would take a considerable amount of time to restore it.
“L-look over there!”
“Are you insane!”
On top of that, nearby giant dandelions were also mutating into monsters.
Watching one with five flowers growing from a single root slowly mutate, Yoo Ji-han felt cold sweat trickle down his back.
‘I can’t hold on much longer.’
The thin iron plate of the shield was caving in every time it got hit by a seed.
Sure enough, a standard iron plate couldn’t hold out for long.
It was certain to break before the shield could return.
‘At this point, it’s time for Plan B.’
Yoo Ji-han shouted loudly.
“Everyone jump into the lake!”
“W-what?!”
“There will be a barrier even if we cross the lake!”
The giant dandelions couldn’t enter the water, making this a viable option.
There might be giant dandelions on the other side, but avoiding the immediate threat was more important.
Yoo Ji-han turned the direction of the iron plate towards the new mutation that had appeared.
Whack!
A seed that flew in during the process pierced through the iron plate and launched into the back of his hand.
A trickle of bright red blood flowed from where it narrowly missed his bone.
“Hyung!”
But he grasped the iron plate’s frame tightly enough for his palm to turn pale from the pain as he ran towards the incoming mutation.
“Here I go!”
Kagagakang!!
As Yoo Ji-han shouted while running, the seeds raining down seemed to focus solely on him as he created distance from the party members.
It was a matter of taking responsibility for deciding and issuing orders for the actions of the makeshift party.
“Ji-han!”
“Just go!”
If they hesitated any longer, more mutations would appear and everything would fall apart.
“Damn it! I’m really going!”
The crouched warriors helped the injured mage and jumped into the lake.
Kim Si-hu, who hesitated for a moment, soon followed suit, unable to ignore the order.
Staying behind, no matter how worried he was for Yoo Ji-han, would be an act of disregarding him.
‘Looks like I’m the only one left.’
The iron plate, with holes appearing and slowly tearing apart!
Fwoosh!
While measuring the distance to the giant dandelion, Yoo Ji-han summoned a sylph.
Calculating the distance to the lake, he used wind barriers to overlap between the iron plate and his body.
[Wind Barrier]
[Wind Barrier]
…
…
Whooosh—!
The nearly tattered iron plate managed to block one or two seeds before falling to the ground.
In the meantime, Yoo Ji-han flew towards the lake on the golf course.
He had successfully adjusted the direction and intensity of the wind.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
He curled his body up in mid-air, protecting his vital spots and blocking as many incoming seeds as he could with his limbs.
And just before crashing into the lake, he raised his middle finger towards the faraway mutation that was losing its hair.
“Shiiiiit—!!”
Whether it understood the meaning of that gesture was anyone’s guess.
The giant dandelion emitted a strange noise.
Splash!
*
Yoo Ji-han held his breath as he dove down.
After reaching a proper depth, he immediately pulled out the seed embedded in his body.
‘Ugh!’
Water seeped into the area where the seed was removed.
Every wound felt like it was being poked with needles, causing intense stinging.
As long as it’s bearable, all he could hope for was that it wouldn’t get infected.
‘Pretty bright.’
The inside of the lake was surprisingly not dark.
Thanks to the sun overhead, it was quite lit up.
Though the water was deep enough that the bottom wasn’t clearly visible, he could see white dots below, indicating that golf balls had fallen into the lake and hadn’t been retrieved.
Given that no management had occurred since the giant dandelions appeared, this was only natural.
He maneuvered carefully to avoid his sword sinking to the bottom.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
From above, giant dandelion seeds fell into the water.
The mutation that reached the lake was shooting seeds downward.
But their seeds didn’t reach Yoo Ji-han, who had already submerged.
The spiny seeds and their white fluffy ends were hardy but floated on the lake instead of sinking.
‘There they are.’
While swimming forward, he spotted the heroes who had moved ahead.
They were almost at the other side of the lake.
‘Still holding on…’
Above, there were mutations that hadn’t spat out their seeds yet.
It was still not a situation to be fully at ease.
“Pah!”
Yoo Ji-han surfaced again.
Gasping for breath, he intentionally exposed his position to the giant dandelions to draw their attention.
He was buying time for the other heroes to escape.
Bang bang bang!
As seeds flew up, he quickly dove down to avoid them.
Then surfaced again, diving down repeatedly about five times.
It looked like he was playing a game of whack-a-mole.
As he continued to dodge, the mutations shooting seeds became bald.
“Hyung Ji-han! Over here!”
He recognized Kim Si-hu’s voice from behind.
Only then did Yoo Ji-han swim towards the other side.
As soon as he climbed out of the water, he spoke to Kim Si-hu.
“Cough! Is anyone hurt?”
“Other than the mage with a hurt foot, we’re fine.”
On the other side of the lake, the giant dandelions stood there watching them, dazed.
Seeing those still standing without moving sent a chill down Kim Si-hu’s spine.
“We need to move immediately.”
The five heroes stepped forward, heading into the brush beyond the lake.
However, two warriors had left their weapons in the water to help the injured mage.
Thus, with water dripping from his hair, Yoo Ji-han stepped back to the front.
His equipment and body felt heavy from soaking wet, but he didn’t let his guard down.
“We’re almost there!”
Finally, they were nearing the bluish barrier, the barrier.
“Let’s hurry!”
“Hold on a moment.”
“…?!”
Yoo Ji-han reached out to stop the warriors who were about to rush out at the barrier.
“Shiiii!”
“Gah!”
Just as expected, a giant dandelion suddenly leapt out from somewhere.
It was not a situation where one could afford to let their guard down until the very end.
Only after Yoo Ji-han sliced the giant dandelion with his sword could they approach the barrier again.
Rzzzzt!
“Ow!”
“Ah, that stings!”
The moment they passed through the Rank 4 barrier.
As the barrier brushed against their wounds, all their faces contorted in pain.
It felt like fine salt was being poured onto their wounds inflicted by the sharp seeds.
‘That’s why the entrance is good.’
Yoo Ji-han grumbled inwardly as he stepped forward.
Soon they came out to a street where cars passed by and residential areas.
They had finally escaped the MA.
“Ha…”
“We made it.”
The girl mage with the injured foot and the two warriors collapsed to the ground.
Up until the moment they jumped into the lake, they had thought they might die, but somehow they had survived.
Yoo Ji-han looked back at the barrier they had just broken through and said,
“We can still walk, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“Let’s head back to the entrance. Help should have arrived, and we’ll be able to get treatment.”
To ensure their wounds were treated and the situation assessed, the party returned to the entrance of the golf course.
After walking for about ten minutes, they reached the front of the golf course’s main building, where many people had gathered.
There were not only heroes but also ordinary citizens and reporters who had heard about a big event happening.
“Here we have an injured person!”
“Over this way, please!”
Everyone received basic treatment.
Fortunately, no one had sustained fatal injuries among them.
Yoo Ji-han’s efforts in managing the situation had paid off in a way.
“Gaaah!”
“I can’t see! Help, teacher!”
“Someone, please get this seed out!”
On the other hand, in another party, serious injuries were rampant.
Some were worrying about going blind from having seeds hit their eyes, while others were bleeding profusely, with their lives in jeopardy.
In the chaotic golf course, Kim Si-hu said with a serious expression,
“It seems the 1st hole still hasn’t been cleared.”
At the 1st hole right in front of the entrance, heroes were still facing off against the giant dandelions.
From the outfits of the new heroes being sent in, they looked to be mainly from Rank 3 parties, not Rank 4.
Yet they still couldn’t break through easily, which indicated just how serious today’s events were.
Yoo Ji-han scanned the area and said,
“I don’t see Shin Woo-jeong.”
Shin Woo-jeong, who had left the party with his younger sister, was nowhere to be seen.
A warrior from Shin Woo-jeong’s party pulled out his mobile phone and said,
“I’ll give him a call.”
“Is Woo-jeong’s phone on silent mode?”
“…I wouldn’t know.”
With that ambiguous response, Yoo Ji-han shook his head.
“That won’t do. He might be hiding somewhere and what if we call him?”
“Ah…”
It was possible that Shin Woo-jeong was in a situation where he couldn’t afford to have his phone ring right now.
Any action that could potentially bring harm was to be avoided.
“Let’s stay here until Woo-jeong comes out.”
Yoo Ji-han intended to leave only after ascertaining the whereabouts of Shin Woo-jeong.
About an hour later.
A Rank 2 party arrived in haste, announcing they had managed to clear the 1st hole.
Following the clearing of the most congested area, they quickly proceeded to clear the remaining areas.
“He’s here.”
Before long, they had cleared a path all the way to the 10th hole in the Hero Department.
Finally, Shin Woo-jeong and Shin Mun-ah entered the building.
‘What in the world…’
Yoo Ji-han and Kim Si-hu squinted their eyes.
Both of them were covered in torn wounds, their bodies soaked in blood.
Their equipment was damaged beyond repair.
It was in such a pitiful state that it was hard to look at them with open eyes.
“Mun-ah!”
“Sis!”
The mage from Shin Woo-jeong’s party rushed forward and embraced Shin Mun-ah tightly.
They both burst into tears, holding each other.
The warriors next to Yoo Ji-han walked up to Shin Woo-jeong.
“Woo-jeong. I know you’re going through a tough time, but we need to talk.”
“Is this really the future you wanted to show us?”
“…”
The warriors with grim expressions coldly glared at Shin Woo-jeong, who hung his head.
Shin Woo-jeong remained silent, as if he had nothing to say.
‘What a tragedy.’
Yoo Ji-han thought as he watched them.
It was a tragedy caused by the leader’s incompetence.