Chapter 129

Just before the light engulfed Cha Haein...

KREEEE...!

Kaisel hurriedly wrapped his wings around her to protect her.

The price was horrific.

WHOOOOSH!

'N-no...!'

Cha Haein screamed inwardly as she felt Kaisel's strength rapidly fading. His body of black shadow was being torn to shreds.

'Kaisel...!'

He was willing to be annihilated to protect her!

But just then, Thomas Andre suddenly frowned at the center of the dazzling light and looked off into the distance.

WHOOOOSH

His eyes, shrouded in sinister blue energy, spotted a streak flying straight toward him from far away.

It was a highly compressed wind of bitter cold.

The blizzard of Echo Forest was howling.

WHOOSH!

At last, an icy trident burst through the blizzard at the tip of that streak.

CRAAASH!

The Icewood Spear struck the ice dragon squarely.

[...!]

A tremendous impact slammed into the ice dragon, shattering the ice crystals around the point of impact and scattering them everywhere.

SWOOOOSH!

New spirits nearby instantly flew toward the ice dragon to fill the gap.

But then...

RUMMMM!

An overwhelming presence bore down on Echo Forest.

DING! DING! DING!

[The King of the Snow Folk, the Monarch of Frost, forcibly suppresses the ice spirits' power.]

[The King of the Snow Folk, the Monarch of Frost, demands the ice spirits' submission.]

[The King of the Snow Folk, the Monarch of Frost, is...]

...!

The maddened spirits screamed in utter terror at the Monarch's sudden presence. Even the blizzard raging through Echo Forest churned in confusion.

At its center, a hand caught hold.

"Found you."

Suho had just managed to catch his mother.

"Mom."

...!

KIEEEEEEK!

At the same time, Beru clung tightly to Cha Haein's head and wailed.

[Lady Cha Haein! Are you unharmed? Fear no more! Your humble servant Beru has come to rescue you!]

GROOOOAR!

The tattered Kaisel recognized Suho and Beru and cried out, while Cha Haein stared at Suho in bewilderment.

"S-son? Wait, how did you get he—!"

"Chacha! I brought him! I brought your son!"

Sirka, too, was shouting exuberantly at the sight of Cha Haein safe and sound.

But this was no time for a leisurely conversation.

RUMBLE!

"...!"

The ice dragon, shattered by a direct hit from the Icewood Spear, had already repaired itself and was rising behind them.

A moment later, Suho spotted Thomas Andre's face peeking through the thick chunks of ice, and his eyes widened.

"Thomas Andre?!"

"Has that human been possessed by a spirit? No, something's different."

The sinister blue energy emanating from Thomas Andre's body unsettled Sirka.

What on earth was that energy?

It resembled a spirit, but it was far too alien to call one...

Beru stepped forward.

[Young Monarch, prepare yourself.]

He moved in front of Suho, murderous intent pouring from his entire body.

[An apostle of Itarim has appeared.]

SHING!

At those words, Suho immediately pulled his greatbow from his inventory. Then he drew Quay out of his shadow in a long, slender shape and nocked him against the bowstring.

"Soar, Quay!"

He fired the shadow arrow straight toward Thomas Andre at the ice dragon's heart.

"Kill him!"

[As you command, Master!]

FWEEEEESH

Suho did not hesitate for an instant as he fired Quay at Thomas Andre.

Anyone could see that something was wrong with Thomas Andre. But there was no time to worry about his safety now.

Their opponent was no ordinary magic beast. It was an apostle of Itarim.

This enemy was far too dangerous to fight while weighing every circumstance. Above all, even a moment's hesitation could endanger not only Suho but his mother as well.

Then he could not hesitate.

Even if it meant sacrificing someone else.

But those concerns proved moot.

CRASH!

Before Quay could reach Thomas Andre, the man's body sank completely into the depths of the ice dragon.

Unfortunately, Quay's arrowhead failed to penetrate all the way through that thick defense.

[O Itarim!]

An eerie voice issued from Thomas Andre's mouth deep within.

At the same time, the ice dragon opened its enormous jaws wide, and tremendous energy began swirling inside.

Having already experienced the terror of that attack, Cha Haein shouted urgently to Suho.

"Watch out! Dragon Breath is coming!"

But Suho had no intention of retreating.

"Beru!"

[Yes!]

Suho glared straight at the ice dragon and shouted,

"The enemy's already seen the shadow dragon here! In that case, it shouldn't matter if they see us too, right?!"

He was referring to Kaisel, who was still wrapped around Cha Haein despite his tattered state.

Beru bared his teeth fiercely in reply.

[Indeed it should not!]

"Everyone, come out!"

At that moment, Suho's shadow spread wide around him.

SWOOOOOOSH!

Dozens of shadow soldiers rose from it at once.

"...!"

Witnessing the astonishing sight from behind, Cha Haein's eyes widened.

'My goodness.'

It was such a familiar sight.

That figure seen from behind, surrounded by countless shadow soldiers.

In the broad back of her son, whom she had not seen in years, Cha Haein saw her husband.

'When did my Suho grow so...!'

It was a truly wondrous feeling.

Who would have thought she would feel this way in such a desperate situation?

Something fluttered deep within her chest.

[Hear me, all of you!]

The little ant Beru stood proudly at the head of the soldiers.

The former Army Commander roared fiercely as he gave his orders.

[All troops, scatter! Launch an all-out attack!]

ROAAAAAR!

The shadow soldiers scattered in every direction, attacking the ice dragon from multiple angles at once.

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH!

The Shadow Elves' barrage of arrows curved at various angles and buried themselves in the ice dragon's body. From those points, web-like cracks spread across its icy bulk.

CRACK! CRACK-CRACK!

At the same time, the Shadow Minotaurs and Shadow Troll charged like tanks and rammed straight into it.

BOOM!

KABOOM!

Under that relentless bombardment, the ice dragon cracked again, threatening to collapse.

But it wasn't enough.

It was nowhere near enough.

Their opponent was an ice dragon—a monster superior in both attack and defense.

WHOOOOOSH!

At last, the Dragon Breath, charged with an immense amount of mana, erupted.

With a single sweep of its head, the dragon destroyed everything in the forest along the straight beam issuing from its mouth.

[...!]

Countless shadow soldiers attacking it melted away at once beneath that strike.

Some barely survived, but most of the Shadow Elves were reduced entirely to nothing.

But...

'That bought us time!'

GULP! GULP!

Suho was using that opening to give his exhausted mother healing potions and mana potions.

He also extracted new soldiers to immediately fill the places of those who had been annihilated.

There were plenty of targets for extraction nearby, after all.

Ironically, the shadow soldiers were not the only ones killed by the breath. It had also swept up the ice elves of Echo Forest who were possessed by spirits.

"Arise!"

[Shadow Extraction successful.]

...

New soldiers kept joining the ranks and attacking the ice dragon, only for another blast of Ice Breath to annihilate them.

Meanwhile, Cha Haein was visibly recovering.

Even the injuries that had accumulated over the years she had spent living in this unfamiliar land were all being healed.

But Suho was not satisfied with that.

He spared none of his recovery items on Cha Haein. Along with the Item: Mummy's Bandages, he used the Item: Spring Water of Echo Forest he had obtained just a little while earlier.

The Spring Water of Echo Forest was a precious antidote potion found only in the Monarch of Frost's sanctuary.

'It's bound to help somehow!'

At the same time, he tried to take stock of everything happening around him.

First, he had confirmed with his own eyes that his mother had awakened as an S-rank hunter, just as he had heard in the elves' village.

To think that the mother he had believed was an ordinary housewife had become someone so powerful, radiating such tremendous energy.

Even seeing her before his eyes, he could scarcely believe it.

He also confirmed that the Scavenger hunters who had entered with him were scattered around the area.

'Esil's here too!'

Suho put all this information together in his head and quickly devised a strategy.

'I can never beat that dragon alone. I need to fight alongside Mom.'

Just then, Cha Haein, recovered enough to move on her own, stepped out of Kaisel's embrace.

"Kaisel, leave the rest to me and get some rest."

GRRR...

Feeling Cha Haein's hand gently stroke his cheek, Kaisel slowly closed his eyes.

He could not have held on any longer anyway. He dissolved into black smoke and seeped into her necklace.

'Thank goodness Kaisel's safe.'

Cha Haein clasped the necklace tightly in both hands and let out a sigh of relief.

Then she raised her head again.

"Son."

"Yes, Mom."

"Your mom is really angry right now, you know?"

"..."

Ah, that was a little scary.

Suho flinched at her words and warily stole a look at his mother's face.

Her normally clear eyes were blazing more fiercely than ever.

"Can you buy me a little time? I'm going to pour all my mana into a single skill attack."

RUMMMMM!

An enormous amount of mana began gathering throughout Cha Haein's body.

The skill Sword of Light.

It was her finishing move, one that consumed so much mana she could only use it as a trump card.

"If that one strike isn't enough, buy me time again and give me more of that mana supplement you just had me drink."

That was it.

What Cha Haein was proposing was a kind of tag-team battle.

It was the best possible strategy she could devise as the former vice president of the Hunters Guild, Korea's strongest guild in the now-erased timeline.

"You can do that, right?"

Cha Haein looked at Suho with trust in her eyes.

The sight of her son, grown into a proper adult in the span of a few years, felt both unfamiliar and familiar. He looked so much like her husband in his younger days.

'But he still has a long way to go.'

She was assessing Suho objectively.

The strength she sensed from him now was far too feeble compared even to her own, let alone her husband's.

But it was enough.

'He should be able to buy me time.'

Yes, that was enough.

As it happened, Suho had the same plan.

"All right. But I'll decide which direction you attack."

"What?"

Suho's eyes flashed as he smiled with satisfaction.

Before him floated the information window for the antidote potion he had given his mother.

[Item: Spring Water of Echo Forest]