Chapter 12
Caught completely off guard, I lost my balance and was thrown into the air.
My gaze met the ceiling, and several spears came falling into view.
They were several times larger than the ones that had attacked us earlier.
It's over.
The moment that thought crossed my mind—
a brilliant light suddenly burst from Oppa's body.
The light was so bright that it felt like it would blind me, and I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut.
By the time I felt the hard floor slam against my back, followed by a throbbing pain, the light had disappeared.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Then I noticed something strange and immediately widened them in shock.
A shield?
A translucent object resembling a holographic shield was floating in front of us, blocking the falling spears.
Was I dreaming?
Hallucinating?
Imagining things?
Or...
Had I already died?
I blinked several times, but the scene in front of me didn't change.
When I first saw the monster, I'd realized that the world I knew had somehow changed.
But I never imagined something like this...
I stared stupidly at the shield floating in front of Oppa.
“Hyung, that thing...”
“...I don't know either.”
Even he looked completely shocked.
Bang! Bang!
Maybe the monster was angry that its attack had been blocked because the spears slammed into the shield again and again.
Each impact made the shield shake violently and produced a deafening noise.
Yet the shield itself didn't seem to take much damage.
It stood so firmly that all the lives lost because they couldn't block even one of those attacks suddenly felt painfully meaningless.
Even though I'd already heard his answer, I couldn't help asking again.
“What the hell is this...?”
“I said I don't know!”
Oppa snapped irritably.
That didn't make my curiosity disappear, but there was something far more important right now.
“Then how long can you keep it up?”
Oppa thought for a moment before muttering quietly.
“...Three minutes.”
“What?”
“Only three minutes?”
Three minutes?
Wasn't that barely enough time to make instant noodles?
Han Si-woo and I stared at him in horror, and Oppa responded irritably.
“That's the absolute maximum. Can't you see what condition I'm in?”
He had a point.
There was no way anyone could call Oppa's condition fine.
His face was pale.
His clothes were soaked and stained with blood.
One of his legs had been pierced, leaving him limping.
Honestly, it was amazing that he was still standing.
“...Then how are we supposed to finish that thing off in three minutes?”
Right.
Let's think positively.
At least it wasn't one or two minutes.
The most important thing right now was surviving the monster.
And in that sense, Oppa's shield was our only hope.
So—
“...Finish what?”
You can't say that.
Oppa stared at me as though I'd just said something ridiculous.
Feeling uneasy, I cautiously asked.
“...Don't tell me we can't kill it?”
“What part of what I said didn't you understand? I'm telling you I can barely last three minutes! Kill it? With what?!”
“Hyung.”
“Ah, what now?!”
“Do you think that thing will hold against... that?”
At Han Si-woo's words, Oppa and I both turned forward at the same time.
Our mouths fell open.
Until now, only several spears had been attacking us.
But now—
those spears were intertwining with one another.
They merged together, forming one enormous spear.
It radiated a terrifying pressure, as though it could fire at any moment.
Oppa screamed toward it.
“One second!”
The moment Oppa grabbed the shield's handle tightly—
the massive spear slammed straight into it.
BOOOOOOM!
The tremendous impact sent Oppa staggering backward.
Han Si-woo and I instinctively grabbed him as he started to fall.
But—
What the hell has he been eating?! Why is he so heavy?!
Unable to withstand Oppa's weight, the two of us collapsed with him.
Crash!
“Ugh...”
“Ghk...”
The source of the weight seemed to be the shield.
How the hell had Oppa been holding something this heavy?
The three of us had ended up pinned beneath it.
We barely managed to crawl out.
The shield was covered in deep cracks.
It didn't look like it could block another attack.
Thinking that we were screwed, I raised my head.
Huh?
The spear that I expected to attack us again had somehow returned to its original form.
The monster wasn't blindly attacking us anymore either.
Instead, it stood completely still and simply glared at us.
I didn't know why.
But if we wanted to escape, this was our chance.
“Oppa, hurry. Get up.”
I quickly reached out to help him.
Oppa began reaching for my hand—
then suddenly coughed.
“Cough!”
Blood sprayed from his mouth, staining his lips and chin.
A wave of fear rushed through me.
“A-Are you okay?”
“...Yeah.”
He sounded anything but okay.
Still, if we missed this chance, we might never get out.
I grabbed Oppa's hand to help him escape, but he pushed mine away and forced himself to stand on his own.
“Hey, Kim Ji-a. Han Si-woo.”
Oppa roughly wiped the blood around his mouth with the back of his hand.
Then he spoke.
“I can only block one more attack.”
“So while I'm blocking it, either kill that monster or run away.”
“...Didn't you just say we couldn't kill it?”
“Who knows? We've already come this far, so let's try something. Either that thing dies, or we die. Maybe try aiming for a weak point.”
A weak point?
How were we supposed to know where a monster like that had a weak point?
“But if you think you can't do it, leave me behind and run. I won't blame you.”
Oppa gave us a faint grin.
“That monster doesn't move when it attacks with its tongue. There also seems to be a gap between each attack.”
“Now that you mention it...”
“We've only got one chance.”
“And we might not even get that one.”
