The One Who Saved a World Before Will be Best at Saving Another

Chapter 37

Lee Hayoon staggered toward the recognition device in front of the building with a pale face and placed her hand on it.

― Authentication complete.

The door opened, and she vomited another mouthful of blood.

“How’s your body?”

A man wearing a hood and military uniform was waiting.

“Captain. I am… sorry.”

At her words, the man let out a small sigh. That faint sound of breath made Lee Hayoon’s body tremble slightly.

“Since you returned safely, that’s enough.”

At the captain’s words, Lee Hayoon clenched her fists tightly. In truth, it was not enough.

“You went through a lot. Blocking Lee Se-eun’s attack would have been difficult even with your seal. Focus on recovery.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, then bowed and turned away.

“It’s only a small failure. When walking toward a faraway goal, stumbling along the way is inevitable. Since when did the Korean people act like drenched rats after a single failure?”

Gojoseon, Goguryeo, Balhae… Lee Hayoon nodded at the captain’s words.

“Thank you. I will not fail next time.”

“Good answer. Don’t lose your pride.”

After she left, the man checked his watch, rose from his seat, and headed toward another room. On the bed sat Kim Ji-hyun, her face weary.

“How are you feeling?”

She pulled down the respirator covering her mouth and answered.

“I’m getting better little by little.”

Yoo Chan-seok’s Paradoxical Flame had burned away all her muscle strength, but muscle could be regained through training. That meant it could be rebuilt.

Even though her body had been completely burned out, with the captain’s help she had survived and continued to work on her recovery. Slowly, she was improving.

At the very least, she had recovered enough to speak and make facial expressions, which was fortunate.

“Though I still can’t walk properly.”

It was not an easy recovery. Her heart and lungs still relied on her own magic power to function, and she was gradually reducing that dependency.

“I believe you will overcome it.”

“That bastard, I’ll kill him with my own hands no matter what.”

She burned with rage toward Yoo Chan-seok, but she had already lost too much. By the time she returned to her former level, Yoo Chan-seok would likely have reached a realm far beyond her reach.

The captain did not say that out loud.

Revenge huh.

After leaving Kim Ji-hyun’s room, the man checked the bow slung over his shoulder. Even now, he could go to Siberia and kill Yoo Chan-seok with a single arrow. But he could not yet. He needed the magic pattern that belonged to Yoo Chan-seok.

“If I can find a way…”

A seal or restraint would be impossible. With Yoo Chan-seok’s abilities, such things could easily be broken.

The only option was to take it from him. The man went down to the basement.

“Dr. Seo Gyeonwoo.”

In truth, the title “Doctor” didn’t suit him much. His lab coat was covered in all sorts of sauces and food stains.

His plump body couldn’t be hidden by the coat, and he wasn’t even wearing a shirt underneath. Thick hair covered his heavy frame.

He was holding an uncut, whole pizza in both hands, chewing noisily. Finally noticing the man, he stood up.

“Burp.”

A belch rang out like a fanfare. Wiping his mouth and further dirtying his coat, Dr. Seo belatedly greeted him.

“What brings you here?”

At first glance, he wasn’t exactly endearing, but appearance was not what mattered. He might not look human, but his mind was a treasure chest filled with sparkling jewels.

“How’s the progress?”

“It’ll take time, but I think it’s possible.”

If Seo Gyeonwoo said he thought it was possible, it was worth hoping for. If something couldn’t be done, he would say so plainly.

“But I still need a sufficient budget and more time.”

After gulping down soda from a large bottle, he burped again and wiped his mouth before adding his opinion.

“Will the support come through?”

The man nodded at Seo Gyeonwoo’s words.

“That’s not a problem. But hurry.”

“I’ll try. It’s a shame though. If we’d figured out the workings of that shield generator, it could have been useful.”

“The journey across Siberia is long.”

Dwelling on past failures was pointless. There would be more opportunities, and only one success was needed. Their conversation ended there.

* * *

Once the situation was resolved, the train began running along the tracks again, and we gathered in the command room for a meeting.

The train had passed Khabarovsk. Now it would head past Irkutsk toward Novosibirsk. Along that route lay a major problem.

“This is arguably the biggest obstacle preventing the Siberian Railway from operating smoothly.”

Lee Se-eun’s expression was more serious than before. She pointed to a location on the map projected on the screen.

“Bratsk. A city near a first-class Erosion Zone nicknamed the ‘Refrigerator.’”

Ja Sujeong continued for her.

“It’s similar to Canada’s Winter Closet, one of the so-called Great Eight.”

Fortunately, its danger level didn’t match Winter Closet’s. Thanks to many attempts to reconnect the Siberian Railway, some information on Bratsk’s Erosion Zone was available.

“Our objective is not to eliminate the first-class Erosion Zone.”

The goal was to pass through its territory safely aboard the train.

“We’ll enter that zone roughly after passing Ulan-Ude.”

So not much time remained. What kind of monsters would we be facing?

“Slimes.”

“…Those are slimes?”

The image on the screen showed massive, house-sized transparent slimes undulating like waves.

Their body temperature was about that of liquid nitrogen. An encounter would not end with just frostbite.

“If we’re not careful, our primary equipment could be destroyed, so everyone should be cautious.”

Frozen metal was easily broken, and these slimes were unimaginably cold.

“But they have a clear weakness.”

Ja Sujeong shared information gathered by the Embargo Tower.

“A core.”

Inside their ultra-cold gelatinous bodies was a core that controlled the slime.

“The problem is that other slimes can absorb the leftover gel after a core is destroyed.”

She played a video showing Hunters fighting two slimes. When one was killed, the other absorbed its gel and grew larger.

“As expected of a first-class zone, troublesome.”

The more you killed, the stronger the surviving slimes became.

I had plenty of experience fighting amorphous monsters, though I didn’t know how much of my knowledge would apply here.

Watching the video again, I clicked my tongue.

“When hit, they harden in that spot.”

These weren’t like ordinary slimes. Normally, slimes were squishy and easy to pierce to target the core. Not these.

“They also resist magic, and they’ve been observed enveloping living beings in gel to digest them and heal.”

In other words, they had both magic and physical resistance, healed by killing, and the surviving ones got stronger even if you managed to kill one.

“We’ll need to focus on driving them away. These aren’t monsters we want to fight.”

Everyone nodded to my words. First-class Erosion Zone monsters had valuable drops, but these didn’t look easy enough to be worth the risk.

Danger aside, all their traits were downright nasty.

“In twenty minutes, we enter the zone. Be ready.”

Hopefully, losses could be minimized, but passing through a first-class Erosion Zone without casualties was unlikely.

After the meeting, we each moved to our assigned positions.

“Just looking at it makes my eyes sting.”

I climbed onto the freight cars, using magic to keep the cold at bay as I scanned the surroundings.

A boundless white world stretched out. The report said it was about negative 30 degrees celsius. The zone had been frozen like this year-round since its formation.

“They say Canada’s Winter Closet averages negative 70 celsius.”

That was Han Sang-ah, who had joined me atop the freight.

Negative 70 huh. A tuna freezer was only about negative 50, so this was even worse. This place was mild in comparison.

From here on, no humans lived. Not just because of the weather…

“Because of those things I see.”

Because of them.

Slimes that seemed over five-meters were approaching the train.

Before I could use the radio, the siren blared as someone had already reported them.

“They’re fast enough to keep up with a moving train?”

They were terrifyingly fast too. They used dozens of gel-made tentacles to anchor themselves in the ground and pull their bodies forward.

Pouring out freezing white vapor, the sight of them advancing was imposing.

“Get ready, prioritize those with ranged attacks!”

At the shout, waves of magical attacks poured toward the slimes. Fire, blaze, dark, light…

“Impressive.”

Han Sang-ah spoke, but I shook my head.

“That won’t do anything.”

Magic resistance wasn’t for show. When the dust cleared, the slimes advanced unharmed.

Without stripping that resistance, ranged damage wouldn’t be effective.

“…How annoying.”

Paradoxical Flame also relied on magic, so this wasn’t about whether it could burn them.

‘It’s like using wet firewood.’

That was what magic resistance was like. To burn their elasticity or life force, I’d have to first dry out that wet fuel.

I picked up the radio and spoke to everyone.

“I’ll strip their magic resistance.”

Even without it, they hardened on impact, so critical hits were unlikely. But effective blows could still be landed.

“Anyone with a long-range weapon like a bow, lend it to me.”

I mainly used a spear, but hitting them with it would mean I’d have to jump off the train.

― I’m nearby. I’ll assist you.

I quickly got a bow and arrows. Han Sang-ah, watching, asked the obvious.

“You know how to use a bow too?”

“It’s a college general ed requirement you know.”

“…First time I’ve heard of that.”

Ignoring her overly serious expression, I gripped the bow. It had been a while since I’d used one.