[TS] Became a Peach Saint – Chapter 169

“Phew─”

Baekseol, who was nestled in, looked around.

Seems like they’re really gone.

Bong Sang-hoon, who I saw briefly, seemed like he was missing a screw, but he wasn’t the type to irresponsibly abandon newcomers like this.

“Footprints!”

Baekseol pointed somewhere with her front paw.

“Right.”

Unless you’re flying through the sky, you can’t completely erase your tracks in the pure white snow.

“Guys, come out.”

The three companions who were chattering inside the tent came out.

They all looked a bit drowsy, probably because it was too warm inside.

“What’s up?”

“The Silver Wings kids are gone.”

“Hmm.”

“Baekseol found footprints on the ground. Seems like they moved somewhere.”

The trio’s mood sank.

Even without saying anything, their eyes showed they sensed something was up.

“Once you enter the dungeon, you can’t contact the outside until you clear it.”

“Right.”

The gate closes after a certain time once a hunter enters. Once that happens, there’s no way to open it again.

The only ways to reopen it are if everyone inside dies or clears the dungeon.

“Let’s get ready to move.”

As Shin Yong finished speaking, everyone busily started packing up.

It wouldn’t take long since they could just shove the tent and generator into the Space storage.

From now on, they just need to take it out and rest whenever necessary.

─Chik, chik.

“Phew─”

Cigarette smoke mixed with the cold air and rose into the sky.

“Everyone all bundled up?”

The trio nodded as they gathered.

“Good. Baekseol, can you follow the footprints?”

“Yes!”

Baekseol, who was nestled in, jumped onto the snow and started looking around.

“Over there!”

“Let’s follow.”

The party members followed Baekseol, who was leading the way.

Even now, the snow kept falling without pause.

Who knows when the footprints might disappear.

***

Thwack!

───

[Mental Breakdown Lv.6]

[Despair] [Frustration] [Loneliness] [Anxiety]

[Fatigue] [Discouragement] [Grief]

[Futility] [Self-loathing] [Illusion] [Auditory Hallucination]

[Lethargy] [Alienation] [Emptiness]

[Depression] [Misery] [Despair] [Fear]

The more you purchase, the higher the skill level.

[Price: 1.92 billion won]

───

With a snap of the fingers, the trio rushed in.

Snapping had become an unspoken agreement among the party members.

─Groooar!

A blue-skinned muscle monster staggered, drooling.

Meanwhile, the trio enthusiastically swung their swords.

“Cross Slash!”

As Shin Yong’s voice rang out, the other two stepped back, creating space.

Shin Yong’s sword drew a beautiful arc, moving so fast it was almost invisible.

Splat!

A cross-shaped wound was carved into the orc’s chest, and blood spurted out.

─Gaaaah!!

“Noa, Chan-yong!”

While Shin Yong finished his strike and retreated, Kim Chan-yong and Noa, who were behind the orc, slashed at its neck.

Thud!

The orc, spurting blood from its neck, collapsed to the ground.

“Good job, everyone. Anyone hurt?”

The trio shook their heads.

An ice orc at this point is just a warm-up.

“Is that the Cross Slash you unlocked after reaching level 10?”

“Yep. It’ll become even more impressive as it grows.”

My level is stuck at 9, but Shin Yong was the first to hit level 10. Since I started at level 8, it means Shin Yong had already leveled up before coming here.

“Still, don’t push yourself too hard. Everyone knows this isn’t a place for rookies, right?”

“True.”

So far, only one orc at a time has been spotted.

Even that one requires the three companions to work together to take it down.

This place is way out of our league.

“Let’s start by storing the orc corpse.”

While storing the orc in the space, Baekseol ran around the snowy field.

The footprints that were visible to the naked eye were soon erased by the relentless snowfall.

Now, without Baekseol, we wouldn’t be able to find them.

“The guild sent us a burden, not a protector.”

“Hmm. Definitely below standard.”

Even though it’s not directed at me, it’s annoying.

“What can we do? If the gate closes like this, they’ll become dungeon missing persons.”

While talking with the three companions, Baekseol, who had been running around the snowy field like a puppy seeing snow for the first time, stood up on her hind legs like a meerkat.

After a while of twitching her ears, Baekseol seemed to have found something and came running to hug me.

“Ah, cold! Baekseol, you should shake off before coming.”

“Shake shake!”

Poof!

“Ugh!”

The snow piled on her white fur scattered everywhere.

“Pfft! You little rascal.”

“Excited!”

She turned me into a snowman and seemed to be having a blast.

“Baekseol, did you find something?”

“Yes!”

Baekseol, who was hugging me, stretched out her short front legs.

Following where Baekseol pointed, there was a faint, elongated mark.

“That’s not a footprint.”

“Looks like they were subdued.”

“So, this is the mark of being dragged away?”

Shin Yong examined the mark for a while and then nodded.

“There are no signs of battle around. It means they were taken down by an overwhelmingly strong opponent in one go.”

I thought they were B-class elites or something, but I have no idea what’s going on now.

“Whoo—!”

Noa, who was beside me, blew away the snow piled on the mark, making the trace more visible.

“When you step on snow, it should harden and form layers. This has none of that and is just deeply gouged in a straight line.”

If there were layers, the newly piled light snow would have flown away, and footprints would have been visible, but as Noa said, there’s nothing like that.

Instead, it looked like a child had dragged their feet while playing, with the soil turned over.

“Other than killing all the monsters in an extermination battle, there’s no special alternative. Let’s move.”

Shin Yong checked the sword at his waist and took the lead.

***

After walking for nearly an hour through the snowstorm on the snowy mountain, not a single orc was seen.

“Over there!”

Baekseol, who found a trace, came to hug me.

Maybe because it’s cold, Baekseol’s body temperature feels even more comforting.

“Good job.”

“Yes!”

At least, thanks to Baekseol, we can use the traces as a guide to keep moving.

The only problem is that the increasingly thick snow is making it take longer to find them.

“It’s getting denser. Visibility ahead isn’t good. Everyone, stay alert.”

The once sparse trees were now densely packed with conifers.

It feels like we’re entering a deep forest.

The trees are so tall that the surroundings are getting darker.

Crack!

Shin Yong, who was leading and cutting branches with his sword, suddenly gave a hand signal.

Carefully examining the other side, Shin Yong moved forward.

Following him, we soon came across a large piece of land.

It clearly looked artificially shaped.

“An orc village?”

“Seems like it.”

Crude huts are visible here and there.

“No orcs in sight.”

Even though there are no monsters, Kim Chan-yong and…

Noa drew her sword.

It’s a strange place with an eerie silence.

Looking around, no orcs are in sight.

—Click, click.

“Phew—”

“Han Ga-eul, a cigarette… Ugh!”

Shin Yong, who I thought would nag about smoking again, suddenly clutched his chest and collapsed forward.

“What’s wrong, what’s going on!”

Not just Shin Yong, but the other two were the same.

“Ugh! Ru, run, Ga-eul…”

The faces of the three companions were twisted in pain.

“No, why is this happening all of a sudden. Heal!”

The light that burst from my hand seeped into the three, but their pained expressions remained the same.

The heal, which boosts regeneration, isn’t working. That means it’s not an external injury.

—Squeak.

While I was examining the three companions who were gasping for breath, a noise that hurt my ears came.

Thud. Thud.

Along with the noise, a creature resembling a human approached.

“Human beauty is quite lovely. Thanks to that, I’ll have a good spoil.”

—Squeak. Squeak. Squeak!

As the creature wiggled its fingers, the long, dark nails clashed, creating noise.

The unpleasant noise, like scraping metal, was from that.

“Who are you?”

“Hehe. By the standards of insignificant humans, I must be a high-ranking demon.”

Except for the long nails and pitch-black irises, it looked just like a human.

“What’s that, you nerd?”

“Hmm, enduring demonic energy… I see. Since you used heal earlier, are you a priest? Indeed, today is lucky. If you can withstand my demonic energy, you must be a high priest, hehe.”

Ignoring my question, it muttered to itself.

“Lightning Ball.”

—Zap!

The ball of electricity shot forward and disappeared as if evaporated.

“A priest using magic, quite unusual. Still, I’ll commend you for using magic in front of a demon.”

“Magic doesn’t work on you guys?”

“Hehe. Demonic energy, a level higher than the magic humans use…”

—Smack!

“Ugh!?”

The self-proclaimed demon, who was observing me while stroking its chin, suddenly stopped.

“Hmm… A whirlpool of negative emotions so violent. Are you really a priest?”

“Oh, it really doesn’t work?”

“Hehe, how dare you…”

“Rotation.”

———

[Rotation Lv.5]

Forces the rotation target to be defined as a rigid body.

◈Manipulation of inertia tensor

◈Manipulation of torque

Skill level increases with purchase overlap

[Price: 960 million won]

———

[Remaining amount: 2,796,530,000 won]

Click!

“Kyaaah!”

A sound of something breaking was heard, and the creature’s eyeballs started spinning.

Being able to forcibly manipulate torque means being able to manipulate angular velocity and moment of inertia.

In other words, it’s the manipulation of the point of action and the vector quantity that can cause rotational acceleration.

“Like this. Rotation.”

Click!

—Whirl!

“Ahhhh!”

As the creature’s remaining eyeball started to rotate, it rolled its feet, not knowing what to do.

“Dizzy? Or is it because your optic nerves are all cut, so it doesn’t matter?”

The scene of both eyeballs spinning while tears of blood streamed down was grotesque itself.

“Baekseol, close your eyes tight.”

“Ball!”

Come to think of it, the ball that Baekseol always rolled around and played with isn’t here.

“That’s not for playing ball. I’ll get you one later.”

“Okay!”

If there’s a paradoxical force that can forcibly manipulate the moment of inertia from the start of rotational motion, then the object accelerates super-fast regardless of its mass.

Smack!

“Gueeeek!!”

“Isn’t that right, Mr. Newton?”

『Right. But you missed a constant in the equation. The rotating eyeball forms a fixed axis due to the eyelid. In this case, the moment of inertia for a rigid body becomes a constant…』

“Ugh… My head! Sensei, I’m a quantum mechanics person. It’s been a long time since I graduated from engineering school.”

*Poof!*

The demon suddenly yanked out both of his eyeballs with his nails.

“Kuuugh… I’ll rip your limbs off and preserve them forever! Suffer and regret for the rest of your life!”

“Mr. New, the world is indeed vast. That crazy guy just removed the rotating body.”

『The path is always closer than you think.』

“M-Mr. Maeng!”

As the old saying goes, “If you lose your teeth, you still have your gums.”

Mr. Maeng’s words are also correct.

The path is close by, as they say, “The lamp is not lit at dawn.”

Don’t look for it far away.

“Rotation.”

─*Crack!*

“Guaaaaaah!!!”

The guy’s crotch is bulging like crazy.

“G-Gaaah!! Gaaaaah!! Gaaah!!!”

“Demon brat, how does it feel to have your balls spinning like crazy?”

“Geeeeeh!!!”

“Basic fireball magic is indeed reliable. Performance is solid, as expected.”

The demon, who had been throwing a tantrum, suddenly reached his nails toward his own groin.

*Crunch!*

The madman even tore off his own balls.

With the balls completely removed, his mind is spinning. All four takoyaki balls are gone.

I have no idea what kind of creature a demon is to be able to do something like this.

“Kuuugh…! I’ll kill you… mage.”

“Mage? I’m not a mage, though.”

*Thud! Thud!*

The guy’s body wobbled, and his size started to rapidly increase.

The changing skin is disgustingly grotesque.

Black, thick skin rose up, covered in spikes, and a sharp horn pierced through his forehead.

Finally, with the grotesque wings sprouting from his back, he faced me with his hollow eye sockets.

“Kid, your face is utterly ruined. Done with the transformation?”

“Hehe. I’ll give you credit for successfully casting magic on this body, known as the Magic Eater.”

“Your nickname is Magic Eater?”

*Boom─!!*

As I gently placed the overweight axe I pulled from the storage space on the ground, the floor cracked.

“Say hello. This one’s nickname is Boing Boing.”

“A mage… with an axe?”

“I told you, I’m not a mage. And it’s not an axe, it’s a magic staff to heal your head.”

Looking around, the three companions were already unconscious.

“Crazy bitch.”

“Right, our kids were having fun, why put them to sleep? Now I have no reason to use magic.”

“Right?”