World-Saving is a Skill

Chapter 88

Chapter 88

The ghosts kept harassing us while we moved.

"Damned phantoms."

After a few hours, only the Hunters with enough mental fortitude to resist possession attempts remained.

Of course, everyone looked exhausted from fending off the ghosts’ psychic attacks.

Once possession stopped working, what the ghosts did was predictable.

"Poltergeist."

Unable to inhabit people, they inhabited objects to attack. The daggers hanging at a Hunter’s waist suddenly slid free and lunged at us. Stones and branches around us whipped through the air to strike.

If it were just objects flying, a hit alone would not injure a Hunter. But the things careening about were packed with mana steeped in grudge.

Getting hit hurts badly. The injuries were minor, but just as the body relied on the mind, the mind also relied on the body. Hurt one, and the other naturally weakened.

"Still, we’re lucky."

I caught a rock that whizzed in and muttered.

Just as our mana attacks did not deal proper damage to the ghosts, their poltergeist assaults did not inflict proper damage on us.

If an ordinary Hunter had used the mana those ghosts poured into poltergeist, a few people would have died.

"Chan-seok, can’t you deal with them using your flame?"

"Of course I can."

They had no bodies and only barely held a blurry shape through resentment. If I burned that grudge with the Paradoxical Flame, I could sweep them away in an instant.

"But then your gas-mask function disappears."

The problem was that the moment I turned the Paradoxical Flame on the ghosts, the same flame burning above the three of our heads would stop working as our gas mask.

"That’s fine."

Han Sang-ah said that and pulled out three blood-soaked masks. They belonged to some of the people who had fallen to the ghosts.

"…You want us to wear those?"

Jung Oh-hoon made a queasy face. Fresh, red blood still dripped from the masks. They had coughed blood while wearing them, so the part that touched the mouth was worse.

"Yeah, why? None of the Hunters in the Jaun Valley clearance have anything contagious."

Saying that, Han Sang-ah casually covered her mouth with one of the masks. A lump of bloody flesh plopped off beneath the mask.

No wonder ghosts tried to dive into her body and then bolted. Her nerves were steel in every way.

"Ugh. Can’t we rinse them with water?"

"Every water source around here is contaminated. The only usable stuff is drinking water."

And if we used that, we would have to endure on too little water for twelve hours.

"The human mind isn’t that tough. Are you confident you can endure possession attempts while parched?"

I tapped my spear with my hand.

"If you mess up, you don’t pay with money from your pocket, you pay with a spear through your chest."

Jung Oh-hoon squeezed his eyes shut and put on the gore-soaked crimson mask. He had no choice.

The moment we masked up, I reached out with a hand burning black and brought it to the head of a ghost lunging for me. The Paradoxical Flame clung to it, and the ghost scattered, shrieking as it burned.

Once I started using the Paradoxical Flame in earnest, the ghosts that drifted near us went up at once like skeins of thread thrown into a campfire, swallowed by the flame and vanishing without a trace.

"How are the other sectors?"

I asked through the in-ear, and the reply came.

— They report overall combat losses at about eight percent.

So the damage was not catastrophic. It had been roughly three hours since we started the survey.

— Most teams weren’t able to choose a decisive method like Hunter Yoo Chan-seok. Losses that occurred in that process account for over seventy percent of the total.

In other words, more people got hurt trying not to kill, only to get taken instead.

"How about now?"

— They’re choosing decisive methods. But we’re observing added cases where Hunters who saw their acquaintances die fall prey to ghosts afterward.

A friend got possessed and then killed by other Hunters. Watching that broke them, and while their minds were broken, the ghosts rushed in and succeeded.

It happened all the time.

"There’s no helping that."

We had countermeasures for the poison of Jaun Valley, but not for ghosts. That was a monster Hunters had to handle themselves.

— According to Seagull Team’s analysis, we advise continuing the survey for about twelve more hours, then withdrawing. At the current pace, you can cover around thirty-two percent of the Jaun Valley Erosion Zone.

Perfect. Earning the Veteran title and our disgustingly high fee. Thirty-two percent. With a buffer, three days, or if we were quick, we could find the Erosion Core today or tomorrow.

"Got it. We’ll follow that advice then."

Twelve more hours. We probably would not have time for food or water. The ghosts of Jaun Valley seemed to scent humans very well, hovering without pause, scratching our nerves with groans and screams.

"This feels a bit much to be a first-class zone."

After watching a ghost enter her body and get spat out, Han Sang-ah gave me her opinion.

"I agree."

First-class, at this level? No way. We were still patrolling the outer rim. There had to be more inside.

We kept circling without a single break, burning away the moth-like ghosts that hurled themselves at us with the Paradoxical Flame, then returned to Harbin twelve hours later.

"For now, this is the mapped area."

It was a little short of Seagull Team’s estimate. We had failed to enter Changchun and had only finished the outer search.

Adakawa, who had shed her magical-girl getup, wore a suit and studied the map as she answered me.

"About seventy kilometers northwest of Changchun, there’s a spot with several lakes."

"Did you see any anomalies?"

The Seagull operations lead, on the line with us, answered at once.

— All fifteen Hunters sent to that area are missing.

"But there must be a final report."

The reply came immediately.

— They said the water was a deep purple, bubbling and steaming.

So the mist blanketing Jaun Valley came from the boiling, discolored lakes.

"How many lakes are there near Changchun?"

— Quite a few. There are over seven large lakes or reservoirs alone.

And all of them were bubbling, spewing purple mist like humidifiers.

"What symptoms do the people with respiratory exposure show?"

"We’ve got some with purulent tumors all over the body, and others with severe lung damage," Adakawa said.

So the mist acted in many ways, all of them dangerous. And it had a common effect.

"Hallucinations. They’re tormented by horrific visions. Trying to self-harm is the mild end of it. Some turn violent toward other Hunters."

The reason was obvious. While people were trapped in hallucinations, the ghosts could finish them off. Effective and simple.

"They wouldn’t have taken their masks off on their own."

Adakawa answered my comment.

"A few of those fifteen had resistance to this kind of toxin."

And yet every one of them had gone dark, which means…

"Looks like the concentration of mist from the lakes or reservoirs is too high for masks or natural resistance to handle."

So high that ordinary filters or innate tolerance meant nothing.

— Then we’ll exclude any similar zones from the search routes.

What kind of search was that? If we only went where we could, and the Erosion Core sat in the places we skipped, were we just going to pack up and go home?

After a moment’s thought, I spoke.

"Then Han Sang-ah, Jung Oh-hoon, and I will form a three-person team and scout the areas other Hunters can’t."

The Paradoxical Flame could handle it. It did not filter the purple mist. Like heating the contents before canning to sterilize them, it erased it completely.

No matter how toxic the purple mist was, it did not matter.

"But even if you find it, the others won’t be able to get close afterward."

I replied to that reply.

"I can protect up to one hundred fifty with my ability."

Beyond that was pushing it. Adakawa Nanami looked thoughtful.

"Then the number of Hunters who can enter the Erosion Core is fixed at one hundred fifty."

"Yes. Please select them in advance."

The rest would focus on opening a path for the selected Hunters to enter the Core.

"Oh, and there’s unrest among the Hunters. You should know."

I nodded at Jung Oh-hoon’s words.

"Because there are no by-products."

Everyone came here to make money. But ghosts did not leave loot.

"It’s not completely nothing though. They leave ectoplasm. But that’s not enough to be a satisfying income."

Perched on a table, Jung Oh-hoon bit into an apple and continued.

"Know that not everyone’s here with a ‘destroy the Core’ goal like you two."

"You too?"

He tossed the apple and caught it, grinning.

"I’ve got a fat payday to split once this goes well, right? I’m not going to stab you in the back and run, so relax."

Smooth talker.

"Anyway, we’ll change our policy starting tomorrow."

— Understood. We’ll adjust routes and timetables to match.

That ended the post-survey briefing.

"And bring me all the Hunters who are in bad shape from inhaling the mist. We can’t help the ones whose lungs are wrecked or who are covered in boils, but I can remove the mist residue lingering in their bodies."

Hunters who had breathed the mist were suffering hallucinations and paranoia, so they likely had not been treated properly.

On top of that, most of them would be plagued by foul nightmares tonight. Even if the ghosts failed to interfere, the process left negative grudge-residue clinging to their souls.

I prepared several large basins and lit the Paradoxical Flame within them.

"…What are you doing?"

At Han Sang-ah’s question, I answered simply.

"Go tell them to come stand over these basins for a while."

It was a kind of shower. Normally you showered with water, but today everyone needed a shower of fire. A moment later, Han Sang-ah returned.

"The Hunters aren’t keen on the idea."

"These cowardly bastards. With guts that small, how do they work as Hunters at all?"

I looked at Jung Oh-hoon, who was sitting and yawning.

"Mr. Jung, follow me. We need a demo from a seasoned assistant."

He already had long experience spending time with my Paradoxical Flame in Harbin. He would step willingly into a basin full of it.