Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 17

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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17. Flame Valley (2)
A sudden gust erupted.
The man wielding the Crimson Dragon Spear tore through the front, and as the wild boars were pushed back, a Subspace opened.
Whoooosh—
Sending him through first and opening the Subspace wasn’t merely for concealment.
It was for defense.
Boom—. The Subspace blocked the Guardian’s massive hand. The Guardian’s hand shattered upon impact with the Subspace.
It seemed to be entirely lava. The impact sent lava spraying in all directions.
Sizzzzle—
Some of it touched my body. My clothes burned in several places. I felt an intense heat. But for lava contact, it was manageable.
Like stepping into extremely hot bathwater?
If I hadn’t possessed Grade A Flame Resistance, I would have screamed in agony, but I could endure it.
“Keep running!”
I sent him ahead first.
I had an escape Secretary and could easily traverse 20 meters using the Subspace’s portal conversion.
—Screeeech!
I pushed off the ground and swung the Wind-Cutting Blade backward. I intended to deal with the wild boars charging from behind first.
I bought myself a moment with Wind Slash while my mind raced.
‘I was overwhelmed, but… I think I might actually be able to capture it.’
The Gate’s recommended level had shifted to 25~30.
The recommended level isn’t determined solely by the monsters that appear. The Gate’s internal environment is also factored in.
The increase wasn’t just from the Guardian. The Lava Zone and the wild boars attacking from both sides had to be considered.
Despite their massive size, the difficulty might not be as high as all that.
Excluding the surrounding environment and the wild boars, we might actually be capable of defeating the Guardian.
Whoooosh—!
The Guardian’s arm, already regenerated, came whipping toward me like a lash.
As expected, it wasn’t particularly fast.
Easily avoidable. I considered opening a Subspace but instead drove power into my knees and pushed off the ground.
A short leap.
I rotated my body mid-air, evading the Guardian’s arm. It was the evasive maneuver of cockfighting—launching upward with explosive height.
Whoooosh—
I opened a Subspace again mid-air. I connected the ground where I was falling with a point 20 meters ahead.
As I fell, my feet touched the ground. In an instant, I reached Chul-gi’s side, 20 meters forward.
“Are you alright?”
Chul-gi was concerned for me.
“Yes.”
The Guardian didn’t remain idle. It placed one hand on the path and slid toward us.
Rummmble—. A massive lava hand crashed down like a wave along the path behind us.
“Oh no—”
“Run!”
The lava guardian’s sliding speed was faster than our running pace, but that posed no problem.
The answer, as always, was the Subspace.
A Subspace opened behind us, blocking the creature’s arm. Lava sprayed in all directions as its fist vanished.
Of course, it was already regenerating.
“Wow, looking at it like this—isn’t it kind of overpowered?”
Park marveled at the sight while we ran.
“Isn’t it invincible?”
“Half, maybe?”
The lava guardian drew closer.
We’d already dealt with the boars; now we retreated while swinging the wind-cutting blade.
Typically, spirit-type monsters like this must have their hidden ‘core’ destroyed to be defeated.
I unleashed one strike at its head—where the core was most likely located—and another at the arm it was raising to attack.
—Screeeech!
The impact was definite. Wind paths formed around the strike point, severing the connection.
But I couldn’t pierce through the entire lava giant. Its regeneration speed was faster than expected too.
‘I think I could pierce through it with Bi-Yong Seom.’
I hesitated for a moment before asking Park.
“What if we try using Bi-Yong Seom? It seems like it might actually work.”
“On that thing? You’d fall into the lava after using it once.”
In other words, after using Bi-Yong Seom once, we’d fall onto the lava surface.
Flame resistance isn’t absolute. Prolonged exposure would eventually break through it.
Park’s flame resistance was lower than mine, too.
Dragon unity—since Yong-yong was still young, I’d gained flame resistance comparable to my own, but not quite as strong.
“But you can use it consecutively, right? First as an attack skill, then as a mobility skill—why not?”
Even in the original game, charge-type attacks doubled as mobility skills. Couldn’t we just use them back-to-back?
Of course, it all depended on Park’s judgment.
“Huh?”
Park’s eyes lit up at my suggestion.
“That might actually work?”
“If it’s difficult, then no. Safety comes first. Wind Slash won’t deal proper damage to something that size. If it doesn’t work, we’ll just head for the exit as planned.”
“It’ll work!”
Park spoke with conviction.
“But I can’t use it many times. I don’t have much mana.”
“I’ll search for its weak point.”
Another fist came crashing down mid-conversation. I opened a Subspace to block it. My mana reserves were plenty.
Boom—! The impact sent lava spraying everywhere. Park yelped and retreated.
“What’s with that strength… If it wasn’t for the Subspace, I’d have been sent flying?”
He was right.
Even with high stats relative to my level and flame resistance, taking a hit from that massive arm would’ve sent me on an express trip to the afterlife.
“That’s exactly why I suggested trying it!”
I wasn’t particularly fast at opening Subspaces yet, but fortunately, the Lava Giant wasn’t quick either.
While its movement speed sliding through lava was swift, its upper body moved sluggishly since it was composed entirely of molten rock.
“Let’s fall back and probe for its weakness!”
Besides, the Gate’s exit was visible ahead.
The location where Hwa Jeong-ok had been was also near the exit.
The orthodox strategy would be to return Hwa Jeong-ok or simply flee by running.
If I couldn’t find an answer after trying, I could just escape.
* * *
As I retreated while fighting, the Gate’s exit drew closer. I continued wielding the Wind-Cutting Blade relentlessly.
Its head, the chest and solar plexus of its upper body, its arms—but not its core, not yet.
Lava flowed within it as well, and my spatial sense didn’t extend to revealing the interior of its body, so there was nothing I could do about it.
“Could the core actually be below the lava?”
“That’s possible.”
As I spoke and swung the Wind-Cutting Blade, perhaps influenced by the old man’s words, the blade aimed below my navel, toward my abdomen.
When the wind slash cut across the abdomen area, I saw a sphere of lava—not flowing, but clustered together.
And immediately, the Lava Guardian raised one arm to block it.
“Huh?”
We both sensed the anomaly.
“Once more!”
Before the old man finished speaking, I unleashed another wind slash. It was the same result again.
I’d been targeting only the upper portions, but it seemed the creature’s weakness was indeed the lower section connected to the lava.
“Can you manage it?”
“Of course!”
“I’ll pierce through its arm!”
I unleashed successive wind slashes at the creature’s arm. The lava arm blocking its abdomen split and flowed away.
Then the old man kicked off the ground.
Kuguguung—!
The lower section of the Lava Guardian that had reached near us on the first Bi-Yong Strike was pierced through.
From the punctured abdomen, I watched the lava sphere shatter and scatter.
Beyond the scattering lava, I saw the old man rotating his body in mid-air.
Lance aimed upward.
On the second Bi-Yong Strike, he tore through the Lava Giant’s upper body and returned to where I stood.
Because the lance was aimed upward, he hovered about three meters high. It was high, but no problem. Wasn’t I an Awakened Hunter?
The old man slid across the ground and landed like a hero in a movie.
“Wow.”
I witnessed it with my own eyes, and it was an incredibly cool scene. If I recorded it and uploaded it, the view count would definitely skyrocket.
Of course, the old man couldn’t maintain that coolness.
“Gaaaah! It’s hot!”
He writhed in pain from the lava that splattered on his body. The Bi-Yong Strike did sweep away the lava with a gust of wind, but…
He’d pierced through the Lava Giant’s body twice, unleashing a literal lava shower upon himself.
Wracked by pain, I lost my grip on Yong-yong, and with Dragon Unity and Attribute Adaptation shattered, my groans transformed into screams.
“Gaaahhh!”
“Grab Yong-yong first and use your skill!”
“Arrrgh!”
The man barely managed to seize Yong-yong, his breathing ragged and labored.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m dying.”
“No matter how much it hurts, what happens if you drop Yong-yong?”
Embarrassed by his own screaming, the man scratched the back of his head.
-Grooooaaahhh!
Regardless, the Lava Giant with its core destroyed crumbled with a terrible roar.
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
With the messages came a surge of elation. Two levels up—substantial experience for defeating a single monster.
The Deformed Gate’s higher-level monster had been factored into the reward.
“You worked hard out there.”
I poured a recovery potion from my Subspace onto the man’s body as I spoke. He caught his breath.
“Without your Subspace support, this would’ve been impossible.”
“And without Wind Slash, we wouldn’t have managed it either.”
Wind Slash was certainly an excellent skill, but its compatibility with the Lava Guardian was poor.
It was better suited for smaller enemies than large ones.
Of course, the man alone couldn’t have defeated it.
If I hadn’t been able to block the Lava Guardian’s attacks with my Subspace, I never would’ve found the core in the first place.
We could only accomplish this because we were together.
I’d known our party—a Space User and a Dragon Knight—was a good combination, but it proved even better than I’d anticipated.
“Phew, that was brutal. Reminds me of the old days.”
“Really?”
“Actually, the old days were even worse. I nearly died fighting an Awakened Orc without any skills. Is this one similar?”
The man laughed. Danger was nothing new. Gates were always like this.
Spaces perpetually hovering on the brink of death, where the unexpected constantly unfolds.
We were people who voluntarily entered such places.
“Still, you leveled up twice.”
“What? I only went up one level.”
“My level was a bit lower, so I gained two. Either way, we both leveled up, right? Let’s grab a drink.”
“Yeah. Let’s go celebrate.”
And we gained additional experience from the Gate subjugation reward, each of us leveling up one more time.
Though the Deformed Gate had thrown us into a difficult situation, it was another three-level jump.
‘It’s a shame the reward was a useless rare metal, but three levels up is more than enough.’
I was level 14; the man was level 16.
I couldn’t help but smile. Hwa Jeong-ok would definitely be thrilled if I gave it to Min-seok.
Moreover, hadn’t I successfully verified the hypothesis I’d conceived when my Subspace level increased?
A spatial awareness capable of sensing everything within a 20-meter radius.
If there was a ‘hidden’ within the Gate, there was a considerable possibility of discovering it regardless of its location.
* * *
[Speculation on the Future Path of ‘Spatial Mage and Dragon Knight Party’ (Personal Theory)]
-Spatial Mage solo conquest of Labyrinth Dead End (Levels 5-10).
-Spatial Mage and Dragon Knight. Two-person party conquest of Flame Valley (Levels 11-15).
-Consecutive breakthroughs of Gates that even full parties typically avoid with just a handful of members.
Everyone knows these two are the most talked-about Hunters right now, right?
The Spatial Mage was a hot topic from the moment they appeared, and Chul-gi, who’s become a true ‘Dragon Knight’, is the same.
They’re clearing difficult Gates, and their next target is speculated to be a ‘Level-Restricted Survival Gate’ (this is just my theory, no hard feelings if you disagree).
Anyone among the well-performing Hunters at Levels 16-20 has probably received a recruitment call.
With two months left until the Gate Break, even the Hunter Association is in a frenzy…
-But would the Association really send people like that into a Level-Restricted Survival Gate?
┗Wouldn’t those two be worth trying?
┗It’s not about whether they’re worth trying. Just looking at their jobs and skills, they’re talents who need to be groomed as the next generation of elite Hunters.
┗The Spatial Mage was famous even at the workshop, and Chul-gi fought well even before gaining skills, so they’re people we should expect great things from. We can’t afford an accident.
┗So it’s okay if other Hunters die?
┗When did I ever say it was okay for them to die?
The Hunter Net was abuzz with the exploits of myself and Chul-gi. We’d consecutively breached Gates that other Hunters typically avoided, all with just a small team.
Reading posts speculating about our future moves, I scratched the back of my head. There was no need for them to argue like that.
Whether the comments devolved into arguments or not, I was planning to enter a ‘Level-Restricted Survival Gate’. The reason was simple.
A Gate where difficulty compounds upon difficulty naturally had to offer better rewards. There were multiple precedents for this.
‘Even low-level Gates could yield good rare items.’
Even if it wasn’t items, obtaining a Skill Level-Up Secretary or spirit potions themselves would be an enormous gain for me.
For someone with a Subspace, it was a place with no real problems.
‘Though I wouldn’t volunteer to enter on my own.’
What I wanted was to enter in response to a request from the Hunter Association.
Whenever the Hunter Association issued a Gate subjugation request, they always provided ‘additional compensation’.
‘I’ve already given them information about the Subspace, and just looking at how they’ve treated me so far…’
I could simply wait. Before I made contact first, they’d likely propose additional rewards and issue me a subjugation request.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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