Solo Clear Chapter 10

On Oh Hana's waist, there was an injury that looked like she was stabbed with a sharp weapon.
The injury was so deep that it penetrated into her organs.
Despite feeding her two healing potions, it didn't look like she was getting any better.

"… Stop. Forget about it."

Her HP recovered for an instant, but it started decreasing moments later.
Thanks to the healing potion, her injury healed enough to stop the bleeding.
But, there was another reason why her voice sounded uneasy.

"… It's poison."
"Poison?"
"It was probably on the edge of the knife."

In order to cure poison, I had to purchase an antidote from the store.
However, since there weren't any monsters that used poison during the first stage, there was no need to purchase one.
As soon as I thought of that, I knew that the culprit who stabbed her was a human as well.

"So another survivor did this to you. Did you see their face?"
"….."

She didn't answer.
After seeing her distressed expression, the first group that I thought of was the college group.

"Did Lee Seul Ki do this?"

Carefully observing her injury, it looked like a dagger would perfectly fit into the wound.
Also, Lee Seul Ki had picked a dagger when they were choosing a weapon.

"It doesn't… matter who it is. I'm going to die soon anyways… it doesn't matter."
"If you tell me, I'll at least be able to tell the others of what they did."
"… It's no use."

As someone that was trying his best to survive, I couldn't understand what she was going through as she was slowly dying.
If I was dying due to someone attacking me, I would've made a plan to get revenge.
Feeling victimized, I would've kept thinking about the culprit's name and face.

However, everyone was different and Oh Hana seemed to have already given up, seeing how she wasn't even moaning in pain, despite the fact that she was suffering and filled with anger.
It's possible that she was so close to death she was no longer able to feel any pain.

I looked at the map.
The entrance closest to her was the sixth entrance.
However, it would take me 20 minutes since I would be walking while carrying Oh Hana on my back.
She had 50 HP remaining.

Due to the poison, her HP was decreasing every 10-20 seconds.

"If we hurry, we just might make it. Stop thinking about dying and think about something else."
"… No. I'm done for. I know the current condition of my body…I know I'm out of line to ask, but can I ask you for a favor?"
"What is it?"
"Could you talk to me so that I won't feel lonely while dying?"

It wasn't a difficult favor.
We did end up in this training ground together and I would feel bad if I just left her here.

"… Should I kill the person that attacked you?"

I was surprised at myself for saying something like this.

It could be because she was willing to die without revealing who the culprit was.
Or maybe I was just too interested in her situation.

"You won't gain anything from it though."
"Since I'm a solo player, I might experience the same thing. I'm just getting rid of them just in case."
"… If that's the case, then I'll pa.s.s."

As if she had something to say, her face was filled with loneliness.

"… It's really too late. Unless a miracle happens, you'll probably…"
"Die… there's no need to point out the obvious."
After seeing her smile a bit, I was shocked and wondered if this was really the expression of someone that was dying.

"It's hard… overcoming things by yourself."
"I know."
"Don't you feel lonely?"
"I'm not sure. I was born this way. I haven't really thought about it that way.
"… I'll be cheering for you."

Feeling embarra.s.sed, I scratched my head.

"Did you acquire the Grimoire?"
"I purchased it, but haven't used it yet."

Was that what the culprit was targeting?
Killing someone to acquire a stage one skill book was crazy!

No matter what the reason was, they couldn't be forgiven.

"Even if I continued, I wouldn't have survived long anyways. I'm…pretty dumb."
"No. My thoughts about you changed: I was thinking 'so Oh Hana does know how to rebel and knows what to do when advice is given.' If you only you didn't experience this…I'm sure you would've done just fine."
"Ha ha."

Oh Hana put on a charming smile.

"…It's the first time I received a compliment after coming here. Compliment… I didn't think I would hear one."
"You did well. Really."

Like someone that lost all of their energy, she closed her eyes.

"Oh Hana…Oh Hana…rest in peace."

That was my last conversation with her.
Just like the dead bodies that were at the training ground, a blue light enveloped her body and disappeared.
After confirming it, I started walking towards the secret room.

Maybe it's because I regained my energy while talking to her.
I was able to walk with confidence.
The secret room was located in the eighth entrance and I arrived at the plaza where the eighth entrance was located.
One Cobalt manager and eight Cobalts were working nearby.
Maybe it was because they were on break, but luckily, there weren't that many.
The me that thought objectively probably would've thought that this was dangerous and played it safe.

But not now.

"Squeak!! Sir, isn't that a human?"
"Huh?"
"That guy…I think he's crazy."

The other Cobalts had left their pickaxe and I was satisfied with the pickaxe's handle.
From the first stage, I had taken their weapon and fought with it.
It had an adequate weight and I had a good feeling when I attacked with it.
It was the perfect weapon.

"Kill him!!"

The Cobalts started running towards me.
While holding the same pickaxe that I was holding.

They were probably more familiar than I was when it came to using this weapon.
They did spend all day digging up quartz with this pickaxe after all.

"Haaa!!"

With a shout, a Cobalt ran and attacked me, but I managed to dodge it.
In order to attack again, the Cobalt was trying to pull out the pickaxe that was stuck in the ground.
I used this opportunity and hooked its chin and pulled.

Gah!!

Green blood started surfacing.
After seeing this sight, the other Cobalts were filled with fear that none of them tried to attack.
I calmly kicked the Cobalt's head that was hooked on the pickaxe and threw it.

"Next."

I haven't fought once in my life.
Because of this, during the first day of exploration, I wondered if I would be able to hunt monsters.
I doubted myself and entered the stage.
But, during the first day, I managed to kill several Cobalts, which made me realize that I had a violent side.

"Kill him!! I told you to kill him."

The manager didn't attack, but commanded his subordinates to fight me.

The Cobalts couldn't move because they were filled with fear.
Seeing me approach them, they started swinging the pickaxe in order to survive.
I thought that it was just a desperate act, but they were clever enough to have a strategy.
While one of them were tying my feet, they were poking me from behind and from the side.

"Idiot!!"

I can defend myself with the s.h.i.+eld on one side, but I couldn't protect my back.
I already had several injuries between my waist and legs.
But, it was odd that I couldn't feel pain.

I did hear that when a person is overly excited, a hormone called adrenaline is released.
That was probably what was happening to me now.

Within moments, I was completely free from pain and able to use my body to its limit.

My senses were as sharp as ever.
The muscles on my body were releasing the energy that had been stored up in case of an emergency.

"Ahhhhhhhh!!"

The scream was close to a roar.
As if I had become a beast, I started screaming.

"Cr… crazy idiot!!"

The Cobalts were definitely winning and were close to dominating.
The human that was standing in front of them was nothing but a corpse to them.
It wouldn't be odd if I suddenly pa.s.sed out due to the blood that was rolling down my body.
But where exactly was all this energy coming from?

"Three left."

After killing the group of Cobalts one by one, there was only three monsters left.

"Just run… d.a.m.n it!! Throw your weapon and run."

Currently, besides a couple of Cobalts, all of them had left the mine since it was break time.
Because of that, no matter how hard they blew the whistle, back-up wasn't coming.
Including the manager of the Cobalts, they knew that with the other two, they wouldn't be able to take this human down.

"…I won."

I dropped the pickaxe I was holding in my hand.
My eyesight suddenly became blurry at the sudden pain and exhaustion.
It wouldn't be weird if I pa.s.sed out because my body had so many injuries and I was trying to walk.

Thud.

I fell.
My knees were weak.

Ah…

From the recent fight, a Cobalt must've struck one of my knees with its pickaxe.

It didn't make sense that I was able to hold up for this long.
No matter how hard I tried, my legs wouldn't move.

d.a.m.n.

I thought I wasn't really an emotional person.
Oh Hana was a stranger, but after seeing her die, I ended up being in the same situation.

It hurts.

My entire body was trembling.
I felt my energy slowly draining out of me.
I was filled with fear and uneasiness at the thought of dying.
How was she able to overcome this?

Let's crawl.

I came too far to go back.
I didn't bring a return item with me.
My arms were able to move, so I decided to crawl to the marked location that was on the map.
I would've arrived within a few steps if I could walk.
Since I was crawling, it felt so far away.

"You have discovered the secret room. Please state the pa.s.sword to enter."

I wasn't sure how I arrived.
I only thought about wanting to go to the marked location.
Gathering my remaining strength, I spoke.

"Open…sesame."

"Confirmed. Please enter the secret room."

As soon as a white light enveloped me, I became delusional and thought it was the light that you see when you die.
But, that wasn't it.

"Kang Jin Woo, congratulations on finding the secret room."
"All of your stats have been increased by 15 points."
"You have acquired the following skill. Intuition, Berserk, Pain Resistance."
"As a reward for finding the secret room, items have been provided."

Power: 26, Stamina: 28, Agility: 32, Mana: 22, Luck: 19

(PR: wow… OP ex machina)

staff :
Jen (TL)
Uptime (PR)