[15:29:07]

Chae Nayun’s team remained dead silent. They had no choice but to wait for another team. She wanted to stay far away from the boss so they could relax, but she also had to stay close enough to spot another team.

“Kuaaaak!”

A sudden scream broke the silence. Sven was suddenly having a seizure. Chae Nayun and her members turned to him in shock before turning back towards the magma golem in terror. Just as they feared, the magma golem spotted them. The team members all turned pale.

“—Guooooo!”

With an earthshaking roar, the magma golem slammed its fists on the ground. Lava flowed from its body as Chae Nayun carried Sven and shouted, “Dodge!”

Immediately, lava erupted from where they stood. The magma golem’s terrifying ambush sent lava underground and erupted it into a pillar of fire. The cadets managed to spread out in time, but the magma golem was only getting started. Its mouth opened wide and a lava current poured out. Then it rode the current and charged at them.

“—Guooooo!”

The entire team ran away in fear. It targeted Chae Nayun, who was slowed by Sven. Instantly, it arrived in front of her and brandished its arms, slamming down and swinging sideways. Chae Nayun concentrated on dodging. Meanwhile, Sven murmured strange words on her back. Chae Nayun couldn’t understand because he spoke in German.

“Hey! Stop screwing around and wake up!”

Chae Nayun shouted as a pillar of fire shot up from where she stood. She quickly jumped back, but that wasn’t the only pillar. Lava erupted all around her and trapped her inside several pillars. The magma golem raised its arms in front of her.

At that moment, Chae Nayun could feel her death. This golem is going to kill me. This terrifying monster can’t possibly be a puppet… Petrified, she couldn’t think. She stared at the 2 fists crashing down on her.

Tang!

The magma golem’s head bent forward when the horrifying lava torrent almost devoured her. Then it suddenly stopped with its arms raised. It seemed angry, but froze from the previous attack.

Chae Nayun turned in the direction of the mysterious attack. There, she saw the guy with a handgun.

***

[15:30:30]

“What’s this?”

We stood in front of a giant wall made of volcanic rocks at least 10 meters tall. This wall blocked the path to the boss, but it wasn’t here a moment ago. Figuring out who put it here would have to wait.

“Hey, sharpshooter, didn’t you say the boss was up ahead? It’s a dead end.”

“It should be past this wall. Break it.”

“Acting like the leader, huh.”

Jayden took out his sword even though he complained and diagonally slashed with magic power.

Pang!

However, not even a scratch appeared on the wall. Only Jayden’s hand trembled.

“Aaak! Yeah, genius idea!”

It must’ve hurt as he ran around in pain. I stood still and thought. It must be made of magic power if Jayden’s sword qi couldn’t break through. Yoo Yeonha wouldn’t be able to break it either.

“Is this the right path? There was a fork in the road on our way here.” Yoo Yeonha asked in doubt as she touched the wall here and there.

“This is the right place.”

No matter what anyone said, I could see Chae Nayun and her team fighting the magma golem beyond the wall. I closely inspected it and raised my head. I could see a faint stream of light from the top.

“Up there.”

“What?”

The team members all looked up.

“There’s a gap.”

Was it for ventilation? Or was it carelessness by whoever created this wall? It was most certainly a mistake.

“How are we going to climb up there?” Jayden asked.

“You can’t?” I retorted, genuinely curious. Warrior cadets could jump 4 meters on average. With magic power, it shouldn’t be difficult to jump several times that height. It shouldn’t be impossible for them even though the wall was a bit high.

“What, you think you can do it? What are you going to hold on to when we can’t even make a dent?”

“…”

Jayden gave up, but I felt like I could do it. Just as he said, we couldn’t make any dents on the wall. However, the surface of volcanic rocks was rugged by nature. I should be able to climb it with my art.

I didn’t think parkour would come in handy so soon…

“I’m going ahead, so you can do whatever you want.”

“Stop joking. Let’s go back and try the other path.”

Yoo Yeonha turned back, but I lightly jumped up. I grabbed a jagged part of the surface and put my legs up. Then I reached up with my other hand. My hands and feet stuck to the wall like magnets.

Just like that, I reached the top in the blink of an eye. I looked down and felt lightheaded for a moment. It was higher than I thought.

“Is that guy a cat?” Jayden murmured in disbelief. I enjoyed surprising my team, but didn’t have the leisure to admire the view.

“Guooooo—!”

A terrifying roar came from beyond the wall.

“W-What! What was that!?”

“You guys come up too. I’m going first!” I squeezed through the gap and climbed down with parkour.

After landing, I caught a glimpse of the magma golem chasing Chae Nayun and her team. I knew it wasn’t a puppet the moment I saw it. It melted the field every time it moved, so how could it be a puppet?

I ran towards them and opened my extradimensional storage with stigma. The tattoo on my upper arm glowed and magic power gathered in my hand. It instantly condensed into the Desert Eagle and several bullets.

I loaded a water attribute bullet I had prepared for an emergency. It was an expensive investment that cost 30 SP. With my high luck, it should be incredibly powerful.

“Whew.”

I paused to catch my breath after getting into range, but didn’t have time to rest. The magma golem surrounded Chae Nayun with fire pillars. I aimed at the back of its head and fired.

Tang!

The bullet squarely struck its head and the magma golem bent forward. The water attribute reacted with its lava body and petrified it thanks to the so-called paralysis state.

I looked past the magma golem and spotted Sven on Chae Nayun’s back. She seemed shocked, but Sven looked like he had already fallen to a djinn. I shouted at Chae Nayun.

“Hey! Snap out of it!”

“… Huh?”

Thankfully, Chae Nayun responded.

“First, put that guy on the ground.”

“What, where are the others? Why are you the only one…”

“Put him down!”

Chae Nayun put Sven down.

“Happy?”

“Yeah.”

I ran in since the situation looked grim, but now I broke out in cold sweat. The magma golem’s body trembled. It tried to eject the bullet from its body, so it could move again. I signaled Chae Nayun.

“Hurry up and…”

Save me.

“Battle position!”

Chae Nayun shouted before I could finish my sentence. A spear flew in and pierced the magma golem’s neck. Her teammates followed suit. I turned around and ran behind Chae Nayun’s team.

“Buy time for me!”

Chae Nayun shouted as she pulled on her bowstring. Soon, her magic power condensed onto her bow. She was making a special magic power arrow. It seemed she learned from her previous defeat to the djinn at the museum. As expected, Chae Nayun was diligent when it came to self-reflection and training.

“…”

My jaws dropped at the sight in front of me. Chae Nayun’s magic power created a fierce current as it rushed towards the bow and formed an arrow. In truth, it was too big to be called an arrow. It was a pillar. An attack on this level would be impossible without exceptional mental and magic power.

The magma golem freed itself before her arrow could finish forming.

“Guooooo—!”

Her teammates held out as long as they could, but the magma golem sent them flying with a single swing. It roared and charged towards Chae Nayun. I held up my gun, but a sword struck the magma golem before I could fire.

The sword strike… came from Sven. After blocking the magma golem with his sword, Sven turned around and muttered.

“Sorry, I recovered late.”

Chae Nayun let loose her bowstring without an answer. Sven jumped to the side. With a brilliant light, her giant arrow pierced through the magma golem’s heart.

“Haa… Haa…”

Chae Nayun collapsed as soon as she shot her arrow. It would take roughly 15 seconds for her to recover.

“—Guooo…”

The magma golem didn’t die even after such an enormous magic attack. Chae Nayun bit her lips.

“I’ll take care of the rest.”

Sven sliced off its head before the magma golem could recover. Then it turned into hard volcanic rock before crumbling into dust. Silence descended.

Sven sheathed his sword and gave me a slight nod.

“Thank you for helping us.”

“…”

I stared at him. He had undoubtedly formed a contract with a djinn, but he hadn’t lost control yet like in the original story. I felt thankful since I had no energy left to fight a djinn, but Sven was destined to go berserk. He would only tread further onto the path of destruction because the devil he contracted with was far too powerful for him.

“Sure took your sweet time, bastard.”

Chae Nayun muttered on the ground. She had a lot to say, but ran out of strength.