NOVEL WEB Chapter 16
-One minute before Yeonseo’s arrival.
“Ha… ugh…”
“Is this okay?”
As Yeonhwa staggered up suddenly, relaxed from the tension, Shia caught her.
“…My body’s fine, but I think I’ve relaxed too much.”
“Yeah, be careful.”
“Haha… I said I would help, and then I almost fall flat on my face right away.”
“That can happen. It’s not like it’s the end of the world…”
Suddenly, Shia stopped speaking.
“Unnie?”
Before Yeonhwa could question Shia, who had halted while hugging her, Shia noticed someone suddenly appear at a close distance.
Thud!
A face with blue and white hair, strangely resembling Yeonhwa, but the atmosphere felt utterly different.
Now, let’s summarize the situation.
Shia had used a miracle for cleansing, but her hands and arms were stained with the blood of the Black Minotaur as she tore at its carcass.
Yeonhwa was drained of strength, nestled against Shia.
Conversely, from the perspective of Yeonseo, who was Yeonhwa’s grandmother…
According to Director Lee, the only hunter who entered this dungeon was Yeonhwa alone.
Thanks to the Dungeon Overbreak, the dungeon’s rank had been elevated from A to S, turning it into a place where anything could emerge.
And a crazed woman with bizarre tentacles sprouting from her back was holding her granddaughter in a blood-soaked hand.
– There shouldn’t be anyone here except Yeonhwa.
– Look at those twisted, grotesque tentacles.
– Those grotesque tentacles are chewing on something.
– The woman’s hands are covered in blood.
At that moment, Yeonseo’s eyes went wide.
There was no time for rational thought.
“Get those filthy hands off her, now!”
Boom!
“…Uh, what? Grandma?!”
“……?”
While Shia briefly admired the skincare of Yeonhwa’s grandmother, a dreadful sound of something breaking echoed, and an intangible shockwave washed over Shia.
Then, in an instant, Yeonseo overlapped her spatial coordinates and teleported right in front of Shia.
“I told you to let go!”
[Mass Replication]
Space is like a paper that is affected by physical phenomena with repelling forces.
It’s only natural that when that paper is crumpled with great force and let go, an immense mass will spread out.
Yeonhwa’s lightweight kick, which was delivered as her restored state, was converted into an enormous mass, crashing into Shia.
The force, roughly 10kg, was amplified dozens or hundreds of times.
Bang!
“No, wait!! Grandma!! No…!”
“This place is dangerous, so get out, Yeonhwa!”
Yeonseo threw Shia away into the distance and didn’t stop, readjusting the coordinates to teleport in the direction Shia was sent flying.
Yeonhwa was horrified and tried to stop both of them, but once Yeonseo’s eyes were wide open, it was difficult to get her message across, and both figures had already vanished into the distance.
“Ugh, come on…!”
With no other choice, Yeonhwa rose and started running towards where Shia and Yeonseo were fighting.
If this kept up, something irreversible would happen before she could stop them.
○○○○○
While flying through the air, Shia heard Yeonhwa’s shout and finally realized that this person was Yeonhwa’s grandmother.
It was an easy misunderstanding considering her granddaughter was with someone who was so creepily adorned with tentacles.
‘By the way, Grandma seems stronger than I expected.’
No, it was less about simple brute strength and more about a destructive power that completely ignored the laws of physics.
While she couldn’t pinpoint the exact reasoning…
Hmm, it seemed this level could rival Menelapie’s full power martial arts techniques. Depending on circumstances, one could have the upper hand.
Thud!
Grrr, thud thud thud!
The tentacles, having apparently gotten annoyed from the sudden attack, gritted their teeth, wanting to chew on Yeonhwa’s grandmother.
“Oh no, that won’t do.”
Calming the tentacles down a bit and surveying her surroundings, Shia realized she had flown quite a distance.
Where Yeonhwa and she initially were, the dungeon was collapsing, and Shia thought she needed to get out quickly; here, on the other hand, the spatial collapse seemed to be progressing slowly.
Moreover, she sensed a subtle vibration in the air beside her. She raised her hand.
[Miracle – Burst]
Tiing-!
“Ugh!”
As she lifted her hand to use the miracle, Yeonhwa’s grandmother appeared there and threw a punch at Shia.
Yeonhwa’s grandmother’s fist collided with Shia’s miracle, sending them both flying apart.
Right, that sudden appearance shocked Shia; it seemed she was a teleportation-type ability user.
Though in truth, it seemed she had powers beyond simple teleportation, possibly manipulating or rearranging space…
“You’re a keen monster, aren’t you?”
“Is that so?”
“You possess reason and high intelligence… I need to squash you before you grow any larger.”
Yeonseo knew full well the calamity that an intelligent dungeon boss could cause.
Monsters with intelligence aren’t just invasions.
They can divide humanity from within, deceive them, and sometimes breed their own followers to create great chaos.
How many people had Yeonseo lost to intelligent monsters since the first Great Rift?
Yes, if a dungeon rated from A to S… it wouldn’t be unusual for a monster like that to emerge.
With a determination to eliminate the tentacle woman, Yeonseo readjusted her spatial coordinates and vanished.
Shia, who had intended to surprise Yeonseo with a sneak attack, felt regret washing over her.
“By the way, in terms of smashing…”
Crack!
“Ugh…!”
A sudden impact to her abdomen caused Shia to expel her breath.
The damage wasn’t severe, but it shocked her as something invisible hit her from head-on.
“Wasting time with hand-to-hand combat is unnecessary.”
And again, Shia was overwhelmed by an intangible force.
This time, it felt much stronger than before.
However, as strong as the physical force might be, if it was simply a wave-type attack, it could just be nullified.
‘Just need to resist…’
If it was a sneak attack from a monster rather than a human, she could just dodge and counterstrike with her lethal miracle. But she didn’t want to kill a human, especially not Yeonhwa’s grandmother.
How could she lay a hand on that lady?
Well… she did look like she was in her twenties, but still a grandmother.
Anyway, she thought maybe they could resolve the misunderstandings later, so Shia enveloped her entire body in divine power.
Divine power is fundamentally a higher force than mana.
It’s far easier to wield than mana in terms of offense and defense.
If mana can be seen as human strength, divine power can be likened to power used by the gods or granted directly from them.
With this, there wasn’t much she couldn’t block, and her skin’s toughness was harder than steel, so blocking shouldn’t cause any real damage.
Crack..!
“Uh?”
It’s okay. It’s okay.
Her toughness was so solid that even she thought…
Crack!
“…Huh?!”
Wow, it’s been a while since she felt this!
Did Shia actually feel pain?
How long had it been since she experienced pain in her dead body?
Shia reflected on how it had been years since she felt something like this.
If she were still human, she would have been panicking if just a finger got accidentally cut, but having become a Mangja Seongnyeo, it seemed her pain threshold had greatly increased due to her mental and physical training.
Ten years.
No, it had been since she killed the Demon King with Menelapie thirty years ago that she experienced any considerable physical pain.
Shia trusted her divine power. No matter how much space was shaken by the attack, under normal circumstances, her divine power would bounce the wave away in empty space.
She had never failed to block an attack with divine power up till now.
Even the Demon King’s final desperate attack couldn’t pierce through the barrier she created.
But what Yeonseo had unleashed was not simply a shockwave.
The moment it touched her, the wave instantly disassembled Shia’s right arm up to her elbow, and with the moment she felt pain, the arm was disintegrated into square fragments that vanished somewhere.
In agony, Shia realized time had slowed down for her.
The pain she hadn’t felt for so long accelerated her perception of time, and as she watched her arm slowly disintegrate within the delayed time frame, she understood that her divine power hadn’t failed to resist.
Instead, the wave had crept in between the gaps of her divine power and disassembled her arm.
‘Every moment feels different in how the wave attacks and disassembles it.’
Watching her arm break into square pieces, Shia calmly pondered.
This was an attack aimed at her utmost, coming from Yeonseo, who, by sheer strength, would rank as one of the top two strongest entities among the current human race.
Some of her fans or others would call it the “Coordinates Disassembly Wave,” but Yeonseo preferred a simpler name for that and just called it [Disassembly Infection].
Once it made contact, the fate would arguably be sealed.
This technique wasn’t merely a strike, hit, or piercing attack.
Simply put, once someone came into contact with the wave, they would be disassembled into squares, whether living or inanimate.
The most terrifying part was that this wave could not be resisted or nullified; once disassembly began, even fragments became infectious and would disassemble the coordinates of another part.
This was a serious and sincere attack aimed at eliminating the evil monster that was attempting to harm Yeonhwa—an S-grade hunter who cared deeply for her granddaughter.
In fact, it was Shia who was experiencing an abnormal situation as she tacked the attack with ease.
[Miracle – Great Healing]
Shia used the miracle on her disassembling arm.
The arm that had been breaking into shapes instantly returned to its pristine state.
Crack..!
‘Not good…’
However, the disassembly was still infectious, and it started to chop Shia’s healed arm again.
Even using recovery, it couldn’t stop the spatial fragments from cutting further.
Yeonseo’s attack wouldn’t cease until her entire body was disassembled, regardless of whether she died.
The disassembly would climb from Shia’s arm up to her elbow and without intervention up to her head.
Realizing that regeneration, resistance, and nullification wouldn’t work, Shia opened her mouth.
‘There’s no helping it.’
Crunch!!
“….!”
And with her open mouth, Shia began to eat the disassembling fragments of her own arm.
Chomp! Crunch! Crackle!
The sight of her little mouth devouring her arm was enough to unnerve Yeonseo, who was watching from a distance in horror.
[Miracle – Great Healing]
Then Shia generated her chewed arm by miracle once again.
Although her arm’s covering cloth was entirely torn to shreds, she should be satisfied since the disassembly had stopped.
‘…Eating it? Is it possible that she’s consuming not just physically but conceptually something too?’
Yeonseo realized with a bitter smile that the monster-girl was stopping her [Disassembly Infection] by devouring her arm.
If Shia could consume conceptual and abstract things as suggested, it would imply that an array of magic or attacks could be absorbed in the same manner.
If she were to step outside the dungeon and begin her invasion of the human world in earnest…
That could not happen.
For her granddaughter, and for Yeonhwa’s sake, it was essential to stop this here.
“…Huh, monstrous girl.”
“Is that a compliment?”
Hearing Yeonseo’s voice from somewhere, Shia casually replied.
However, the composed tone in her voice seemed to provoke Yeonseo.
“Of course not.”
Wham!
“Ouch…”
Bang! Thud!
As physical blows struck her despite being unseen, Shia couldn’t hide her astonishment.
As she landed and dodged this way and that, she finally realized that something invisible was indeed attacking her.
‘I thought it was related to teleportation, but it seems much more complex and versatile…!’
It felt like a gigantic spear and hammer were tearing through the air, coming towards her.
Though she couldn’t see the spear or hammer, the mass and weight were undeniably real.
‘Isn’t this absurd to have intangible mass?!’
In reality, Yeonseo was manipulating the rebound and physical force generated from the space being folded over and straightening out once again to pound down upon Shia.
Shia didn’t know what kind of powers Yeonhwa’s grandmother possessed, so she couldn’t comprehend it in detail.
All she could do was respond to this irrational force by dodging.
Crunch! Wham!
Dodging something unseen was becoming increasingly challenging, especially dealing with the occasionally arriving [Disassembly Infection] waves that would gnaw away at her body parts each time they made contact, leading Shia to eat her own flesh and recover.
If only she could see it, it would have been easier, but every time she sensed something resembling a haze or mirage, a massive shockwave erupted from her body.
Every blow carried a considerable intent to kill.
Returning to this thought, Yeonhwa’s grandmother seemed much stronger than expected.
This lady ranked amongst the top five strongest individuals Shia had known from her previous world.
Thud! Bang! Swoosh!
Yet Shia was starting to grow tired of simply dodging.
She decided to absorb the attacks with her body to a point.
In less than a minute, Yeonhwa’s grandmother roughly struck her with the equivalent of about thirty smashes with a massive hammer; Shia’s mild, obedient side was undergoing a radical transformation.
Hey now, Grandma! Kids these days really get scary when they get angry!
And Shia hated fighting.
She wasn’t scared to the point of avoiding it, but this relentless barrage of attacks was extremely discontenting, and she felt overwhelmed by how what started as a minor misunderstanding spiraled into this desperate battle.
‘I bet I’m somewhere she can see.’
However, she would have to be within her line of sight to be attacked directly.
If she didn’t have eyes that could pierce and sense space as if contemplating all around like a heavenly eye, she would have to have a line of sight to attack.
In that case, Shia thought it’d be best to take her down.
Perhaps with a slightly coercive method.
‘Everything gets crushed!’
Gathering her divine power, Shia felt the malevolent entities consumed as she devoured the Black Minotaur transform rapidly into pure divine power, swirling throughout her body.
“…!”
Yeonseo, too, must have sensed the ominous energy emerging from Shia, as multiple vibrations became apparent.
It seemed she had intended to suppress Shia before she could try anything…
“Too late now.”
[Miracle – Divine Body Annihilation]
A massive explosion of white energy radiating from her core devoured all of the mass and waves around while spreading out in all directions.
To an outside observer, it might seem like a nuclear bomb had gone off.
Since Shia had hesitated to use this in a populated area, she had reduced its potential scope.
What once was a forest-like dungeon had transformed into a desolate wasteland around Shia.
A clean wasteland devoid of flowers, weeds, or any rocks.
Not far off, Yeonhwa’s grandmother glared at her with glowing eyes.
“Ha, ha…”
With the forest and trees wiped away, it seemed Yeonseo concluded hiding was now pointless.
While this was a miracle aimed at subduing with reduced lethality, Divine Body Annihilation was her primary attack and her most potent miracle.
How had she endured such an attack, she wondered?
She’d intended for this to knock her out at the very least, yet Yeonseo appeared to be utterly unbothered, leaving Shia more than a little flabbergasted.
“Hoh, you’re quite skilled…”
“You too.”
As they found themselves in a brief standoff, Yeonseo clenched her hand.
There was no need to show leniency.
‘That one’ was stronger than she expected.
“But that doesn’t mean…”
Crackling sound!!!
“I won’t allow you to touch my granddaughter!”
With a terrifying sound as if space were being ripped apart from Yeonseo’s palm, a colossal mass began to compress.
Shia felt cold sweat tricking down her back as she observed it.
‘That’s… not small at all.’
Since the Second Great Rift occurred, Yeonseo had never felt this much power drain from herself.
But that tentacle woman had a monstrous capability that was sufficient to nulify Yeonseo’s [Disassembly Infection].
If it wasn’t more powerful, she sensed she wouldn’t stand a chance at hitting her properly.
“Long ago, I sent off my cute granddaughter whom I wouldn’t even mind putting in my eye…”
During the Second Great Rift, Yeonseo received countless signals for help from various areas and rescued many people.
However, she lost her granddaughter amidst the chaos of the Great Rift.
Yeonseo had become a hunter to save people.
Even though she had become a hunter to protect the precious, the sensation of losing her most precious treasure in front of her was indescribable.
Yeonseo never wanted to feel that sensation again.
No matter how rebellious Yeonhwa was, or how she ignored her grandmother’s words, Yeonhwa was her life’s greatest treasure, worth more than her own life.
‘Yeonhwa. Don’t worry. I will protect you with my life…’
Even if she thought it was overprotective, or excessive, or if Yeonseo became the villain in doing so—she would eradicate every threatening factor related to Yeonhwa.
There would be no trace of any elements that posed a threat.
Even if deemed foolishly excessive, she would eliminate the possibilities and ponder on the outcome afterward.
Here, she would kill that wicked, twisted tentacle woman with all her power!
“Grandma!!!”
“?!”
In that moment, Yeonseo realized Yeonhwa was running towards her, as if she just thought she could break free.
“Stop it!!”
“….!!!”
“Don’t, I said!!”
Oh no…!
This was a blunder.
No, it wasn’t just an error, but a horrifying mistake!
Yeonhwa, did you not hear your grandmother say to get out!?
Why aren’t you leaving?!
Yeonseo set her jaw, attempting to rein in the compressed mass of space and gravity she had summoned.
Yet, the mass poised on the brink of detonation was beyond her control.
If it exploded, she would endanger her granddaughter!
Yeonseo clenched her teeth and strained to regain control over the massive, compressed danger.
But with the immense compression bleeding over space, it was ready to unleash a catastrophic explosion.
If Yeonseo’s unknown monster attacked her now, Yeonhwa would be hurt!
[Miracle – Orphan’s Sanctuary]
“….!”
And at that moment, Yeonseo felt the cold hand of the tentacle woman wrap around her own.
The warm white divine power enveloped her hand and wrapped around the immense mass of energy, causing Yeonseo’s eyes to open wide.
‘When did she close the distance? What is she even doing?’ she wondered, but before she could ponder further, Shia spoke softly to Yeonseo.
“Let it explode.”
Shia’s expression remained calm and collected as she spoke those words.
“……”
Where that trust originated from, Yeonseo didn’t know, but she placed her faith and released the accumulated mass.
Ugh, dr, dr, dr, tug…!
The compressed energy fluctuated in Yeonseo’s hand and dissipated without making a sound.
Though it released fierce friction and power, there were no signs of danger as the mass vanished without a trace.
“…..”
“Ha, ha……….”
Finally realizing the situation was under control, Yeonhwa released a deep breath.
They say the Yeon Family never forgets a grace…
It seemed there was now quite a bit for them to repay.
“Yeon…hwa…! Get back, I told you this old lady…!”
“No, what are you doing, Grandma!”
“What do you mean what am I doing, this old lady is trying to protect you…”
“The one who saved me in Dungeon Break was none other than Shia unnie!!”
“….Uh…?”
At those words, Yeonseo looked at Shia, who had been called the tentacle woman, in disbelief.
“The…the tentacle woman…? She saved you…?”
“Exactly! What’s this all about suddenly?!”
“Oh no, no, but her hands… they were stained with blood… weren’t they?!”
“The blood of the Black Minotaur? Did you think that was mine?! Didn’t you see the dead Black Minotaur lying next to us?!”
“…Oh… um…”
Yeonseo’s eyes began to shiver wildly.
Thinking back, there were oddities up until now.
To begin with, it didn’t seem the tentacle lady was actively trying to attack her.
And Shia looked genuinely furious, her eyes narrowed and cheeks puffed up.
‘Hmph, how could you do this to me?!’
Compared to what she’d perceived, Shia was genuinely distressed—crossed arms and all—turning her head away from Yeonseo.
And Yeonseo felt her body stiffening upon witnessing her reaction.
“….What have I done…”
“See, you should’ve figured it out beforehand and calmed down. Look at the state you put yourself in front of Shia unnie…!”
“…..T-that… uh…”
“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Shia unnie! You said the Yeon Family never forgets a grace! How do you plan to take responsibility for hitting your benefactor?!”
Yeonseo took a step back, carefully approaching the visibly sulking Shia.
“..Uh, um…”
Even as Yeonseo spoke, Shia wouldn’t look her way.
Shia was genuinely a little angry too.
Regardless of how long she had lived as a Seongnyeo and how exceptional her patience might be, she had a mind to formally reject apologies this time, considering the situation was explicitly Yeonseo’s fault.
“..Uh, what was that name again? Shia?”
“……”
Humph, even if I’ve lived as a Seongnyeo for dozens of years, I won’t easily forgive if I’m this upset, Grandma.
“If Yeonhwa is telling the truth… then… if it was a misunderstanding… I’m truly, truly sorry.”
“……Hmph.”
“If I’m truly the old lady who seems to have lost it in her old age, I’m sincerely sorry…”
Watching Yeonseo attempt to apologize, Shia remained poker-faced.
“And not just an apology… since I saved my granddaughter, it’s only right to extend my gratitude.”
Was that merely a desperate attempt to appease?
I’m a pricey Seongnyeo, Grandma.
“…..Um, does this kid happen to like meat?”
“I thought I could become close to you from our first meeting with Grandma.”
“……………”
Yeonhwa, observing her Shia making peace with Yeonseo suddenly smile brightly, couldn’t help but facepalm.
So it seems Shia unnie was…
Somewhat easier to handle than expected.