The next evening.
Before going into the dungeon, I ate a quick al with Seo Ye-in and Hong Yeon-hwa.
Sitting across from each other, we shared mini sandwiches, snacks, and coffee, and I tossed out a question that popped into my head.
“How’d it go with your sister?”
“We talked it out. I think she’s... cald down a lot.”
“That’s a relief.”
It probably wasn’t completely settled—more like she’d entered the stage of half resignation.
It’s not like she can undo a [Bond], so what’s the point of staying angry, right?
And as her sister, there had to be at least a little bit of that mindset too—fine, if this is how it is, then I’ll support you.
“But...”
“But?”
Hong Yeon-hwa fidgeted, unable to continue for a while.
I didn’t rush her. When I waited, she stroked the sovereign pattern on the side of her neck and finally spoke.
“But... I don’t think she likes this....”
“Yeah. I can see why that would get to you.”
I didn’t even have to watch it happen to picture it.
The Hong sisters trying, forcing themselves to make conversation to close the distance that had opened up between them.
Then Hong Ye-hwa’s eyes drift to her little sister’s neck, and her face stiffens like stone.
And Hong Yeon-hwa’s voice drops to a whisper as she starts sweating bullets.
If I had to guess, sothing like that had happened more than a few tis already.
But unfortunately, the location of the mark was basically permanent.
There wasn’t really a chance to move it, and even if there was, I figured it’d be right to ask Dang Gyu-young first.
I still didn’t know where it was, but she’d said it was sowhere that ant she couldn’t even get married.
I offered advice in a calm tone.
“Try not to fixate on it. Just let it pass. If you do that long enough, your sister’ll get numb to it little by little.”
“Yeah... I’ll try....”
Hong Yeon-hwa slowly nodded.
Before long, we cleaned up and headed for the dungeon building.
And following Shin Byeong-cheol, who was waiting for us, we stepped onto the stairs down to the underground floors.
The disciplinary committee club’s guard was still pretty loose, and it looked like for the ti being they planned to keep concentrating their manpower around the temporary storage facility.
For Shin Byeong-cheol, that was basically a blessing.
“Thiiis is comfy as hell, ain’t it? If it was always like this, how great would that be.”
“Seriously, Shin Byeong-cheol. I was worried we’d get caught again like before.”
“Ahem! How far back are you talkin’? I’m improving day by day, y’know.”
As he said that, Shin Byeong-cheol sent chopsticks flying here and there.
At the tips, thin threads were attached, and it looked like he was manipulating them to scout the surrounding area.
He tangled his hands like he was playing cat’s cradle, then flicked them.
“Nothing, nothing. Safe.”
“You really have improved.”
“I’m telling you. I might not be good at fighting, but I’m confident in other stuff, that’s what I’m saying.”
“I’m just thinking maybe it’s ti you shore up the fighting part too.”
“Heh heh. What’s wrong with having one thing you’re bad at?”
We traded that kind of nonsense as we walked, and before we knew it, the dungeon we were here to clear ca into view.
[No.287] [Walking Turtle]
Shin Byeong-cheol stepped aside and bowed with exaggerated flourish.
“Then you all have yourselves a good ti.”
“See you later.”
I waved lightly and entered the dungeon, and cold ca crashing in from all directions.
Hong Yeon-hwa, who ca in right behind , flinched and cast a fire spell, while Seo Ye-in imdiately rummaged through her Inventory and pulled out outerwear to put on.
A thick jumper, a coat, and even a padded jacket—three layers.
She puffed out to the side so much that if you poked her, she looked like she’d roll away.
So I asked casually.
“Better?”
“...Cold.”
Honestly, even just the cold-resistance effect attached to the uniform would’ve been enough to tough it out, but the human sloth was unusually sensitive to cold.
Even the three layers didn’t help much. She shivered and looked at Hong Yeon-hwa.
“Fire....”
“Yeah, one sec.”
—FWOOSH,
Ruby glowed red, and a spark flared to life at the tip of her staff.
Feeling a bit of warmth, we slowly looked around.
Floor, walls, ceiling—everything was made of rough iron, and thick pipes and wires ran through the place here and there.
—KOOOM, KOOOM....
At regular intervals, a heavy tremor rose from under our feet, and every ti it did, the whole interior shook hard.
Keeping my balance, I pointed at one spot.
“You see that?”
A rough iron ladder ran up to the ceiling, and in the ceiling there was a hatch that could open and close.
With a high probability, that was the exit.
“Want to pop outside for a second?”
“......”
As if curiosity got to them, Seo Ye-in and Hong Yeon-hwa nodded at the sa ti.
I led the way up the ladder and twisted the hatch open with all my strength.
A blizzard hit us imdiately.
—WHIIIIII—
Seo Ye-in hunched her shoulders and started creeping back down.
“...Close it.”
“I’ll take a quick look.”
“Close it....”
“Wait there.”
On the other hand, Hong Yeon-hwa hesitated briefly, then climbed up the rest of the way.
She probably wanted to see what was out there.
—KOOOM, KOOOM....
The mont we erged from the hatch, another tremor hit.
I steadied myself and looked down.
A massive hexagonal platform was beneath us.
Each one was larger than an average room, and they spread out all the way to the edge of sight.
—WHIIIIII—
Everything else was blurry through the raging blizzard, but I could at least make out the silhouette of a huge head straight ahead.
Staring at it closely, Hong Yeon-hwa muttered like she was talking to herself.
“A turtle...?”
“Yeah. A turtle.”
A mobile fortress—Walking Turtle.
Just like the na said, it was built in the shape of a turtle.
And right now, it was crossing the polar region.
That was all we needed to confirm, so we went back the way we’d co.
When I shut the hatch and looked around the interior again, there was a sphere of jumper, coat, and padded jacket sitting off in one corner.
Its true identity was Seo Ye-in, curled up round like a pill bug.
When I gave it a light push, it rolled.
“This thing rolls around.”
“No ball gas....”
Seo Ye-in released pill-bug mode and struggled up.
Then she reached both hands toward .
“Carry .”
“Out of nowhere?”
“Cold.”
“And what does being cold have to do with carrying you?”
“Function degradation.”
“You don’t even want to move?”
—NOD,
It annoyed , but I decided to just give in.
If we wasted ti bickering, that’d be more of a loss.
I hoisted the pill-bug sloth onto my back.
Next, Seo Ye-in waved one hand vaguely toward Hong Yeon-hwa.
“Fire....”
—FWOOSH,
A small pillar of fla rose over Hong Yeon-hwa’s palm and transford into a mini hydra.
Just that alone made it feel like the temperature in the area jumped up a notch.
I nodded once and pointed down the corridor branching off to one side.
“Let’s move.”
“Yeah.”
—KOOOM, KOOOM....
Every ti the Walking Turtle took a step, we kept our balance and continued forward through the corridor.
After a while, we reached a room similar to the one we’d entered in.
Levers, gauges, and panels were installed along one wall.
The problem was that most of it was covered in thick ice—and there were two people trapped inside it.
Even so, I asked like it was nothing.
“You can do it, right?”
“Yeah.”
Hong Yeon-hwa stepped forward like it was no big deal.
And when the hydra lifted its rippling hand, the thing spat out a fireball.
—BOOM!
In an instant, the ice lted away in a slushy rush.
The trapped people were freed and gasped.
“Kuh—!”
Judging by their clothes, they looked like crewn, and it seed like sothing had gotten them and frozen them solid.
Breathing hard, they finally noticed us and startled.
I smiled lightly.
“Don’t worry. We’re not your enemies.”
“...How are we supposed to believe that?”
“Didn’t we just get you out?”
“Maybe you froze us on purpose and lted us to use us.”
Paranoid old guys.
Of course, I already had plenty of things lined up to say to convince them.
But Seo Ye-in, like she’d felt the cold again, shivered weakly, released piggyback mode, and walked up to Crewman A.
Then she straight-up smashed him with a pot.
—CLANG!
Crewman A collapsed in a heap, while Crewman B’s face went paper white.
Seo Ye-in trembled and said,
“...Not enemy.”
“Y-Yes! You’re not!”
She must’ve been so cold that even the ti it took to persuade them felt like a waste.
So she used a faster, more effective thod of communication.
I put Seo Ye-in back on my back and spoke to Crewman B.
“He’s not in danger, so don’t worry. We’d appreciate it if you guide us.”
“Y-Yes... where should I take you...?”
“Auxiliary power room. The closest one.”
“That’s....”
Like the word “power room” implied, it was a critical organ of a mobile fortress.
Crewman B hesitated for a mont at the idea of guiding us there, but when Seo Ye-in casually lifted the pot again, he imdiately turned around and started leading the way.
Walking behind him, I kept asking questions.
“What exactly is happening in here?”
It wasn’t like I hadn’t cleared this dungeon once or twice, but I was asking to help my other party mbers understand.
We’d co in without even looking at a guide this ti.
Crewman B dug through his mory and answered haltingly.
“Well, I don’t really know the details...”
“Just tell us what you saw.”
“What I saw was... people in mage robes, and walking chunks of ice.”
“Anything else unusual?”
“Blue gemstones...? I think they were sapphires.”
I exchanged a glance with Hong Yeon-hwa and nodded.
The intruders were mages from the Ruby and Sapphire Magic Towers.
“And then?”
“They demanded the sa thing. They told us to guide them to the power room. We refused, and this happened.”
If they’d just frozen one person as an example like Seo Ye-in did, it would’ve been simpler.
But they had plenty of people to use as guides, so there was no reason to cling to just two crewn.
Matching steps with us, Hong Yeon-hwa asked,
“Why the power room...?”
“If you take that, you take everything.”
More effective than taking a hostage, and if they wanted, they could stop the mobile fortress outright.
I added one more line.
“Of course, taking everything won’t be easy.”
To move a super-giant turtle, you needed a truly insane amount of energy.
There wasn’t just one auxiliary power room. If they wanted to occupy all of them, even the Sapphire Magic Tower would have to invest a lot of manpower.
“We just keep moving around and stop them.”
“Ah...!”
Hong Yeon-hwa nodded like she finally got the gist.
And then I said,
“As much as possible, I’m leaving all the # Nоvеlight # fighting to you.”
“Yeah... I like that....”
She needed to take down as many ice-attribute enemies as she could if she wanted AquaFla’s rank to rise faster.
As we walked and traded questions and answers about the dungeon, we turned a corner—
—SHHHK SHHHK SHHHK SHHHK!
At the sharp ripping sound, I yanked Crewman B back with Wind Force, and sharp icicles speared into the spot where he’d been.
Right after, two mages in sky-blue robes appeared and began firing volleys of icicles.
—SHHHK SHHHK SHHHK SHHHK!
But the next mont, a wall of fla went up, and everything flying at us lted into steam.
Hong Yeon-hwa’s counterattack followed.
The Sapphire mages threw up an ice wall to defend themselves too, but the result was the opposite.
—FWOOSH!
The ice lted in an instant, and the flas transferred onto their bodies.
“Uagh!”
“W-What is this?!”
They bolted in a panic, and Hong Yeon-hwa, watching them, flicked her gaze my way.
It looked like she wanted sothing, so I offered praise casually.
“Nice. Let’s keep going like this.”
“Yeah...!”
It felt like an invisible tail was whipping around, tight with excitent.
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