I was in a situation where I felt like bursting out laughing.
Now, just coming near this place was enough for the Paradox Flame to jump onto the monsters' bodies.
"Hieek… heeek…"
The sea of Paradox Flame spread everywhere now drained the enemies' stamina in an instant—like how, once a fire grows large enough, it consumes everything in a blink.
The ones whose stamina had almost completely burned away could barely move anymore; just taking a few steps left them gasping for breath, their chests heaving.
"It's fine. I'm planning to kill you in a bit anyway, so just rest."
If I killed them now, the fuel the Paradox Flame was burning—stamina—would disappear.
"Then the mana density in the air wouldn't increase anymore."
Standing still, I continuously absorbed the mana exhaled by the Paradox Flame, widening and reinforcing the blood vessels throughout my body without pause.
"Idiots. What is this, did you get sprayed with insecticide?"
Collapsed on the ground, they occasionally twitched their limbs, and even that soon became too exhausting, leaving them panting helplessly—exactly like flies hit with bug spray.
"Where's the boss, and what's it doing?"
I couldn't see the core of the Corrosion Zone. It should be far stronger than these things.
"You'll have to come out eventually."
I sat down calmly and focused even more on absorbing mana. After a couple of hours, the Paradox Flame—having nothing left to burn—gradually weakened, then finally went out.
"Roughly twenty percent of the mana Kim Min-jae accumulated."
Twenty percent of the mana stored inside Kim Min-jae. That was the limit of how much mana my body's blood vessels—strengthened over time—could continuously accept.
"It's great that I got stronger all at once, but…"
It would be hard to grow this explosively again. This time, I was just lucky.
— I… will kill… you.
Hearing the voice, I stood up.
"Oh my, would you look at that. It can talk now."
A giant with a bat-like head stared at me. Jewelry hung from its neck, fingers, and ears, and it wore solid-looking armor. In its hands was a fully formed metal greatsword.
"Did you wait until the fire went out?"
It seemed smarter than the others.
Looking around, I saw that it was the only monster left alive. So that thing was the core of this Corrosion Zone.
— Fire… gone… now.
As it spoke, it leveled its greatsword at me.
— This… is the end.
"Yeah."
Faintly, gentle winds blew toward me from all directions. It was a phenomenon caused by drawing in the mana in the surrounding air.
"Your end."
At the tip of the spear in my hand, a basketball-sized mass of Paradox Flame tangled together and blazed. Even after forming flame of that size, I still had enough mana left to reinforce both my body and the spear.
I strengthened my still-undertrained body with mana.
With a sharp whiiir cutting through the air, the spear danced from my fingertips—its movements far more precise and faster than anything I could have managed when I first arrived at Gyodong Island.
"Come at me. If I wanted to, I could play with you for over a month."
In truth, if I could just solve the problem of physical fatigue, I could play forever. Even when burned by the Paradox Flame, fatigue left behind a lot of ashes.
"Let's see. If my strength has recovered to this extent…"
Fourfold Shadow Strike should be possible. I poured more strength and mana into the hand gripping the spear and charged at the monster before me.
"Dual Shadow Spear."
The spear, swung while enveloped in Paradox Flame, left behind a faint blue trail as it attacked the monster.
As if proving that it truly was the core of the Corrosion Zone, the monster blocked my attack.
"Now it begins."
The moment I launched my second strike, the blue trail lingering in the air—following me—perfectly mimicked my first attack.
— Guh… ah?!
It managed to block my direct strike, but at the same time, the replicated attack from the blue trail pierced straight into its body.
"I nearly blew my brains out creating this technique in the first place."
Without the blue trail that followed my movements, this would merely be a simple technique repeating the same four strikes over and over.
Like this.
But what happens if the blue trail begins to imitate my attacks a beat late?
That completes a kind of dual‑spear round. Each of the four consecutive strikes pairs with a different blow, launching a coordinated assault.
This combined attack is built as a vicious forced choice—if you dodge or block one, dealing with the other becomes extremely difficult.
"Right now! I! Don't have enough mana! I can't even use Quadruple Shadow Spear, let alone Triple Shadow Spear!"
In its original form, this technique is a spear art meant to crush the opponent with a hellish four‑way dilemma.
Like this. But to make that possible, I'd have to maintain three trails at the same time. If I did that, the power of each blue trail I left behind would drop to a third.
At that level, even this monster could just tank the hits and keep fighting. An attack that isn't threatening is worse than useless.
— Kagh! Khehk!
Besides, given this monster's level, Dual Shadow Spear is more than enough.
In the end, the creature tightened its defense to withstand the storm of consecutive strikes and struggled desperately to minimize the damage.
And in fact, it worked—spears that merely grazed its body left behind nothing more than faint scratches.
— Khhe… uh…
The monster's eyes, focused on defending with everything it had, flashed with savage light.
It was probably hoping that I'd eventually burn through all my mana and be unable to maintain the blue trails anymore.
"This doesn't end until you die, you idiot."
I draw mana directly from the air. That means I'll never run dry, so this round‑song‑like assault won't stop unless I want it to.
Of course, if that were all I had, I'd just be a lunatic trying to beat someone to death with a spoon.
But I'm not a lunatic.
"You're on fire."
I have the Paradox Flame.
The black flames that have spread across the monster's body burn away its physical strength.
"Even a graze from my attacks becomes fatal over time."
If I'd met you in the world I already saved, I might've felt sorry for you—wondering why you'd try a war of attrition against me of all people.
With a heavy thud, the weapon fell to the ground. It no longer had the strength left to even hold it.
"It's over. You lasted longer than I expected."
Leaping into the air, I drove the spear toward its head. With a dull crack, the monster's skull shattered on the spear's tip.
When it died, the corpses scattered across the ground turned to dust, then drifted together in front of me, forming a small box.
"What's this?"
Inside the box was a pair of gloves. I examined them with a wary expression.
I could feel mana from them. Definitely not just something to keep your hands warm. Maybe I can analyze them.
After inspecting the gloves for a while, I let out a small exclamation of admiration.
"Wow."
They function like a kind of mana battery—simply storing ambient mana.
For most people, they'd be useful only to the extent of assisting their own mana usage.
But for me, they're far more than that. Considering the maximum amount of mana this glove‑shaped battery can store…
"About five minutes?"
Enough to fight evenly with Lee Se‑eun for about five minutes. After that, the mana stored in the gloves would be depleted, and I wouldn't be able to match her anymore.
Judging by it, it'll take a full day for the drained mana to recharge. A whole day is a bit disappointing, but…
Still, where else can you get something that lets you become vastly stronger than usual for five minutes a day? My mood lifted immediately.
"Five minutes is more than enough time."
For a skilled person, it's long enough to make a steamed egg dish. And for me, it's more than enough time to steam and eat most opponents alive!
"Ah… so this is starting now."
I feel a presence slowly wrapping around my body.
When I open my eyes again, just as Han Sang‑ah said, I'm back at the spot where the Corrosion Core once stood.
"Not that much time has passed."
It seems like about three hours.
"What the hell all of a sudden?"
My smartphone suddenly vibrated in my pocket. When I checked it, there were countless messages and one missed call.
I opened one of the messages.
[Hunter Yoo Chan‑seok, if you continue in that direction you will approach the Alpha Corrosion Zone. Return immediately.]
[Hunter Yoo Chan‑seok. Return at once.]
[Return! Do you want to die?!]
[Hey!]
It was a message from one of the officials in charge of this request. Was he on duty today? Looks like I rushed straight into the Corrosion Zone and lost contact.
"Looks like things went crazy."
There were tons of messages besides those. Evacuation instructions? Directions to a rendezvous point? What exactly happened outside while I was having fun burning things inside?
After a brief moment of thought, I sent a message to the damdangja.
***
The government official in charge of the Gyodong Island monster and Corrosion Zone cleanup request was clutching his hair, his face exhausted.
"That insane rookie bastard. Who's he trying to get fired?!"
To be fair, a warning had been issued. They had clearly told him not to approach Gyodong Island's Alpha Corrosion Zone. Strictly speaking, the government bore no responsibility for Hunter Yoo Chan‑seok's disappearance that was currently tormenting this official.
But just because the government wasn't responsible didn't mean the 담당자 was off the hook.
One of his duties was to monitor hunters through smartphone-based location tracking and stop them if they headed toward the Alpha Corrosion Zone.
And the rookie in question had stubbornly marched straight toward it—after which his phone's location signal vanished.
"This is driving me insane."
There was no connection anymore. Instead, his phone was now ringing nonstop as the price for reporting the situation.
— You bastard, how do you screw up a job this badly?!
What do you expect me to do? I can't exactly go in there and drag him out.
Thinking that internally, the official continued apologizing out loud.
"I'm sorry. I repeatedly sent warning messages and tried to contact him, but—"
Even while enduring over an hour of relentless scolding, the official kept staring at the monitor. Suddenly, his face went pale.
"W‑wait. I apologize, but there's something I need to report."
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the enraged superior still had enough composure to recognize priorities.
— What is it? Report.
"Signals from some of the hunters in Team 5 have been lost."
— What the hell does that mean?!
That composure vanished instantly, like a sugar cube dropped into boiling water.
As the official hurriedly continued his report, a message arrived on his smartphone.
He checked it—and his expression stiffened.
[This is Eun Seong‑hyeok of Team 5. We barely managed to escape. This is not something that should be coming out of an unranked Corrosion Zone.]
The message was riddled with typos, showing just how urgent the situation had been.
Hunter Eun Seong‑hyeok. Not a celebrity, but a hunter who had steadily built experience and earned a decent level of trust.
Then more hunters' signals from several teams went offline. Another message came through.
[We've succeeded in retreating for now. These things are moving in an organized manner.]
After confirming that much, the official immediately spoke into the receiver.
"I think you need to come here. This is an emergency. We'll likely need reinforcements. I'll activate the emergency contact network and request urgent cooperation from nearby hunters."
— I saw the messages too. I'm heading over now. I'll be there in about fifteen minutes.
This was no longer just about one missing hunter. The superior stopped yelling altogether and immediately hung up to move.