I Don’t Want This Reincarnation
chapter-78

With that decided, Ha Tae-heon began to distract the monster so that Hong Si-ah could safely reach the stairs.

‘Complicated.’

I bit my lip as I looked at Ha Tae-heon, who couldn’t easily attack the monster even when he was right in its face, sword in hand. He was worried. Attacking the monster could mean those captured would be hurt by extension, like what happened before.

There was no way Hong Si-ah didn’t also notice Ha Tae-heon’s movements as I did. Hong Si-ah, who was dealing with the monster seriously, moved slowly to prevent the monster from noticing her movements.

Kuuaaak!

When Ha Tae-heon and Hong Si-ah alternated their advances, the monster roared with anger and slammed the floor with both arms. Hong Si-ah quickly escaped the monster’s gaze and flew down at that moment.

Moving to the stairs without hesitation, Hong Si-ah looked back at Ha Tae-heon and sent him a warning to be careful. I nodded my head and released the wind around her. Hong Si-ah landed on the ground agilely and went down the stairs before the monster noticed.

Half of the operation was successful—Hong Si-ah made it underground safely.

‘Now the question is how to endure…’

Unless Hong Si-ah handled the tentacles, we still couldn’t attack the monster. Until then, we had to keep fighting the monster.

I called out to Ha Tae-heon, who barely avoided the monster’s attack, “Ha Tae-heon-ssi, move with me!”

Since Hong Si-ah wasn’t there anymore, it was much better to control the wind in Ha Tae-heon’s arms. Ha Tae-heon seemed to ponder for a moment at my call then came towards me.

Since he was in the air, Ha Tae-heon was higher up than usual. I had to look up as I stretched out my arms to hug Ha Tae-heon. Ha Tae-heon, who made a move to naturally grab my waist, stopped with a strange expression.

“……”

“Ha Tae-heon-ssi?”

What was wrong with you? When I looked at Ha Tae-heon, who didn’t pull me up, he kept his mouth shut and met my gaze.

“What? If there’s any problem…”

“No.”

It was strange that he hesitated, but Ha Tae-heon firmly embraced my body. I wrapped my arms around Ha Tae-heon’s neck and took a comfortable position.

“I can’t attack anyway, so I’ll make it easier to dodge.”

The strength of the wind increased, making it easier to move around at higher speeds. Haaaak! As the monster roared, like before, lightning struck everywhere.

Black smoke rose from the trees that were struck by lightning. Below us were trees set ablaze by lightning strikes.

Kiiiik!

The monster cried, its face splitting apart like the petals of a flower. Then it put its hand in the centre.

Drip, drip.

A strange liquid dripped from the monster’s face, engulfing its hand. I frowned at the disgusting sight as the monster slowly pulled out its hand, revealing a new sword soaked in the black liquid.

The monster with its new sword, about the same size as the one that had been shattered, swung its arms wide. Huung, as we dodged the giant sword passing over our heads, I said to Ha Tae-heon, “I think it’d be best to shatter the sword like before.”

With the sword, the monster had much farther reach. Additionally, its attack patterns also changed from simply swinging its arms, making it harder to avoid.

Ha Tae-heon, nodding, blocked the sword strike aiming from the side. As the blades clashed against each other, there was a disgusting smell and creepy sound in the air.

“Ugh…”

It was the liquid on the monster’s sword. The monster’s blood had a debuffing effect, which had affected Hong Si-ah similarly.

Eyes clouded and feeling dizzy, my energy wavered.

“Han Yi-gyeol!”

Ha Tae-heon and I fell. I hastily brought my wind around us again, but it wasn’t as strong as before.

“S…sorry… I didn’t know it would be like this.”

“Keep yourself covered with the coat.”

My tongue stiffened, muffling my pronunciation. I apologised and did not take the coat sleeves off my face, as Ha Tae-heon said.

In the meantime, the monster continued to swing its sword. Each time, the black liquid splashed near us and the stinging pain continued, like a needle piercing through my skin.

“Ha… Tae-heon-ssi,” I struggled to say, pointing at the mirror. Someone moved in the mirror. It was Hong Si-ah.

“I think they really were underground.”

“That’s fortunate. Just hold on a little longer…”

I breathed a sigh of relief. If Hong Si-ah just cut off the tentacles that were stuck to the participants, we could immediately kill the monster…

Kkiiiiik—!

It was at that moment. The monster roared longer and more wildly than before, its chest puffing out. Riiip, its four-pronged face opened wide as its whole body turned black.

“What is this…!”

The blackness rapidly spread through the monster’s skin, reaching even its tentacles. The opaque tentacles filled with a black liquid, bulging like they were going to burst.

I looked in the mirror reflexively, feeling chills of fear. Hong Si-ah, unaware of this change, approached the tentacles. Without hesitation, her whip struck, and I screamed, “No!”

The bright red whip tore through the tentacles, black liquid gushing out. Hong Si-ah twisted her body away and fell to the floor. Ha Tae-heon frowned as he watched the mirror and dodged lightning strikes.

An opaque liquid dripped from the severed tentacles, from which all the black blood had spilled, onto the fainted Hong Si-ah. It wrapped around Hong Si-ah like a drop of water and turned into a round egg, and like the others, completely engulfed Hong Si-ah.

“The worst situation.”

Ha Tae-heon slashed at the monster’s sword and muttered, annoyed. I closed my eyes and coughed. My condition was getting worse.

No matter how much I covered my mouth and nose with his coat, I could not block all the debuffing effects. To make matters worse, since I used my ability for a long time, my energy gradually began to bottom out.

Feeling the vibration of the bracelet on my wrist, I thought, ‘What can be done now?’

Now that even Hong Si-ah was caught, only Ha Tae-heon and I were left to solve the situation.

I could go back the way I came and bring Cheon Sa-yeon, but in the meantime, I did not know what would happen to those trapped in the eggs.

‘Then the only choice…’

I calmly gathered my thoughts and bowed my head slightly. Cold sweat ran down my cheeks.

“…Ha Tae-heon-ssi.”

I loosened my arms around his neck and put them on his shoulder.

“We can’t go on like this.”

“……”

“I will be the bait. This time, Ha Tae-heon-ssi, please go to the underground.”

“Don’t say nonsense.”

I didn’t know if he knew what I was going to say, but Ha Tae-heon responded quickly.

“There’s no other way. You know this.”

“It’s S+-grade. You can’t face it alone.”

“No, I’ll hold out as much as I can.”

I placed my hand over my heart. Due to the debuff, the energy surrounding my heart was stiff and did not flow properly.

Feeling extremely tired, I continued, “If we keep going like this, things will only get worse. No one can save them, and in the end, it could even endanger us. You know you have to make rational decisions.”

“……”

The sword swung slowly over my head. Ha Tae-heon’s eyes were filled with impatience.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand Ha Tae-heon’s feelings. He had to put me and the attendees on a scale and choose who was more important.

I deliberately and resolutely got out of Ha Tae-heon’s arms. When I lifted my body away, my energy use doubled, giving me a headache.

“Go. If Ha Tae-heon-ssi really cares about me, save them quickly and come back.”

Ha Tae-heon, who was staring at me with his terrifyingly stiff face, turned his gaze and looked in the mirror. Hong Si-ah, Kim Na-yul, and Lee Joo-ha, trapped in eggs as they lost their minds. Finally, he nodded.

“…I’ll come back right away after saving them.”

Yes. This was how you became a protagonist.

I was genuinely relieved and smiled at him. “I’m amazing at running away. I’ll endure no matter what, so trust me and go.”

Ha Tae-heon, who had hesitated, quickly turned his back. From now on, I had to perfectly distract the monster so that he could safely reach the stairs behind it.

I flew high and floated in front of the monster. After Ha Tae-heon and I separated, the monster that been attacking randomly like it was confused saw me and cried sharply as if in warning.

Haaaak!

With a deep smile, I lifted my energy up once more. The fallen trees that littered the ground rose to where I was.

Ha Tae-heon couldn’t attack because he could directly damage the monster, but my situation was different. Even if I attacked for a hundred days with my A-rank ability, I wouldn’t be able to leave a single wound on the S+-grade monster. This was good. I was the best choice to distract it without injuring it.

“Alright~ look over here.”

I flung the trees at the monster. The monster, who was suddenly hit by trees, roared in annoyance. I attacked it with a wind blade as I avoided getting snatched out of the air by the monster’s hand. Even if it hit true, it didn’t leave a mark on it.

If I were to myself to something, wouldn’t I be a mosquito? Using as much space as possible, I calmly avoided the attack. Huung, the monster’s sword passed right next to my ear, cutting my hair slightly.

“Ugh!”

The stench emanating from the sword made me dizzy. I clenched my teeth, cleared my mind, and bent down to avoid the next attack. Meanwhile, Ha Tae-heon, who safely moved behind the monster, went underground.

As soon as I confirmed that Ha Tae-heon had gone down safely, I immediately cut off the wind that surrounded him. That alone made me a little out of breath.

Kieeeek!

Perhaps because it noticed that Ha Tae-heon had gone down, the monster inflated its chest like before. Huu, I let out a rough breath and raised the corners of my lips. It wouldn’t work this time. An S+-grade’s debuffing ability could not work on SS-rank Ha Tae-heon.

Just as I was thinking it was good that I had him go, the monster bent over and opened the flesh of its face as much as possible. An ominous feeling ran up my spine. Just as I was about to hurriedly pull back, the monster blew out thick smoke from its face.

“…cough, cough!”

The black smoke spread instantaneously. I was trapped in the smoke and couldn’t escape. I let out a cough that rose in my throat. It was like I was drunk. The debuffing smoke made my energy stiffer than ever before, so I couldn’t use my ability at will.

I turned my stiff head forcibly and saw the monster’s hand closing in on me.

“Ah, I’m…”

…so fucking screwed.

Bam! my vision spun as its hand struck true.