Pick Me Up!-Chapter 322: Mission Type, Transcendence (7)

Clang! Clang-clang!

Beneath the towering barrier that split the city in two, the clangor of weapons clashing rang out in a chaotic chorus.

“Hold this line! Stop them here!”

A knight, gritting his teeth, led the charge with sword raised high.

Behind him, Townia’s heroes surged forward, weapons drawn.

Screeeeech!

Contamination entities burst from the buildings, shrieking like beasts.

“......”

The man at the front was decapitated mid-sprint.

A geyser of blood erupted into the air, but none of the surrounding heroes flinched.

They fought on, clashing endlessly with foes so monstrous and warped, it was impossible to tell if they had once been human.

Screams, battle cries, and magical flames bloomed across every street corner.

“I didn’t expect this...”

Ridigion murmured under his breath.

He hadn’t thought they would commit to the battle this deeply—but they were fighting with everything they had.

“Sir Ri.”

Ridigion turned.

A woman in a violet cloud-patterned martial robe stepped out from the crowd.

Behind her stood warriors clad in the same uniform, lined up in formation.

Nan Wiryung.

A 5-Star hero from Muryeon, and Ridigion’s fellow disciple from long ago.

Her eyes met his as she cupped her fists in formal greeting.

“Before I return, I came to repay a debt I owe to Young Lord Han. It was thanks to him I survived and was able to gather the remaining Muryeon survivors.”

Wiryung and her warriors unsheathed their swords.

“May endless glory shine upon Taocheonhyang.”

Whoosh!

The dozen or so Muryeon warriors leapt into the air.

A dazzling sword dance blossomed in the midst of the contamination horde.

“My brother’s fight... wasn’t in vain.”

“This battle no longer belongs to just us.”

Siris offered a bitter smile.

If the operation failed, it would no longer be her burden alone to bear.

They would all have been betrayed.

Thanks to them, we’ve been able to conserve our strength.

In the center of the intersection, Yurnet was deep in spellcasting.

Had Townia’s heroes not held off the contamination entities, the mission would’ve become far more difficult.

At the intersection where Siris’s team had gathered, hundreds of heroes threw themselves into the fight, buying them time.

Vmmmmmm!

A brilliant glow erupted from the magic circle beneath Yurnet’s feet.

In the midst of that, Siris heard Yurnet’s voice in her ear.

<Once I finish the spell, run immediately. A gate will appear at the end of the path.>

“A passage to the Boundary.”

<Coordinate calibration is complete. If Aaron’s Karma attribute activates properly, it should lead to the Master’s location.>

Siris nodded.

Her comrades were already prepared.

“Yurnet, one request.”

<Speak.>

“When we’re gone, stay behind and protect them. Those who stood with us deserve to return home alive.”

<You’re not wrong. I will do as you ask.>

“Thank you.”

Yurnet’s eyes flashed.

Flutter-flutter-flutter! Her grimoire opened wide, its pages tearing themselves free and scattering into the air.

The pages gathered and wove themselves into a path.

A floating road, hundreds of meters long, crafted from tens of millions of magical sheets.

At the road’s end stood the barrier that separated this world from the Boundary.

“We’ll carve the path. Nihaku!”

“Yes ma’am! I’m going first!”

Crackle!

With a burst of lightning, Nihaku leapt and landed on the airborne road.

She immediately fired an arrow into the forehead of a contamination entity climbing up from below and dashed forward. Right behind her, Ridigion followed with his silver blade drawn.

Screeee!

[Unidentified Contamination Entity Lv.???] × 32

Nihaku launched lightning arrows ahead while Ridigion finished off the stragglers.

The moment the enemies stepped onto the path, they were obliterated.

“I’ll go too,” Aaron said, grabbing his spear and charging forward.

Left alone for a moment, Siris turned around.

In a narrow alley, Jena was locked in a desperate battle with a spider-like contamination entity, dual daggers clashing with clawed limbs.

Jena Shirai...

She’d claimed to be the Master’s number one subordinate.

“Huh?”

Thwack!

Jena’s eyes widened.

A dagger suddenly pierced the spider’s forehead—one she hadn’t thrown.

She turned toward its trajectory and saw a blonde female knight standing there.

“Thanks, sis!”

Jena waved at Siris.

“Jena. Is there anything you'd like to ask of me, before we part?”

“A request?”

“I’d like to repay you.”

“I was wondering what you were on about. Nah, nothing really. Just take care of Oppa, okay? I guess... if I had to ask, maybe have him visit my house someday?”

“I’ll ask the Master. And—”

“Whoa!”

Jena caught the object that came flying at her.

A small metal badge.

Etched in gold was the image of a mountain goat.

“If any of you ever wish to come to us... the path will always be open.”

“Well, I’ll hold onto it for now.”

“Don’t die.”

“Of course not. I’m going home.”

Siris turned her back.

Before her, the path stretched onward.

“Sis!”

Jena clenched her fist.

“Go get ’em!”

Siris smiled, then sprinted forward.

Shing!

The crimson blade of Levatein sprang from its scabbard.

As she ran, she slashed wide. Fire exploded out, incinerating three contamination entities at once.

<...Siris.>

“Speak.”

<Be careful. The time-space structure near the Boundary is heavily warped. If you make a mistake, you’ll be trapped.>

I know.

She had to reach the Master as quickly as possible.

It sounded ridiculous, given the challenge ahead.

Levatein carved a bright red arc.

Ten contamination entities ignited and burned away at once.

So many...

Thanks to Amkena’s piloting, the route had been opened. Townia’s heroes were holding the rear.

The 13th Floor comrades were clearing the path—but even so, the number of enemies was beyond counting.

She had to move with utmost efficiency.

Until she reached the Master, she couldn’t afford to burn her strength.

Screeeeech!

“Aaron!”

Ridigion’s voice rang out from ahead.

A signal.

Aaron spun his spear.

Whump! Three contamination entities were struck and hurled off the path.

[Shadow of a Fallen God Lv.???] × 4

Ssshhh...

Suddenly, shadows formed on the road.

They were remnants of the divine essence Loki had once absorbed—now fused with contamination, and far more dangerous.

The lead shadow let out a silent shriek.

The jet-black blade in its hand vibrated erratically.

The blade twisted.

Too fast to follow with the eye.

At that moment, a phantom image flickered from Aaron’s spear.

A spear-shadow shot forward between the curving blades.

Scree—!

The contamination entity shattered like a beehive and vanished.

“Siris will be here soon!”

“Yes!”

Aaron scanned ahead.

Screeee!

[Unidentified Contamination Entity Lv.???] × 11,327

The massive barrier loomed in front of them.

Like moths to a flame, tens of thousands of contamination entities were swarming toward the light.

Just once.

He only needed to land the spear once.

Aaron pulled his spear back.

[Engraving, ‘Shadow Stream’ activated!]

Vvvvvvvvvvv!

A noise like millions of bees roaring at once filled the air.

A burst of afterimages exploded from the tip of his spear.

Karma.

The principle was simple.

Overlay countless thrusts onto a single point.

Manifest thousands of strikes in a single instant.

If it had a category, it’d be space-manipulation type.

“You’d have to be insane to use something like this,” echoed his master’s voice in Aaron’s memory.

“Takes centuries to get it right. Who the hell would even bother?”

A single drop of water does nothing to a stone.

But billions—trillions—can carve through mountains.

The light vanished from Aaron’s eyes.

The spear’s afterimages multiplied exponentially, flooding every direction.

Dozens became hundreds. Hundreds became thousands.

This isn't a technique.

Aaron had never been able to grasp the true secrets of spear mastery.

No amount of studying, no amount of bleeding could bring him enlightenment.

This was just him—

Converting his time into space, and firing it forward.

Moreover, once the spearhead was thrust in, it could never be retrieved.

Centuries of effort would vanish into oblivion.

‘That’s why.’

Aaron ran forward with his spear in hand.

Contaminants appeared on the aerial road in front of the barrier—

“Get lost!”

—and were all shredded to pieces by a few swings of Ridigion’s blade.

Crackle! Eight forked bolts of lightning swept the area as Nihaku fired her thunder arrows.

Aaron sprinted up a 45-degree ramp. With every step he took, thousands of nearby shadows trembled in unison.

‘Year 1543.’

563,195 days.

The time Aaron had shed blood and sweat for.

“Giyaaaah!”

[Unidentified Contaminant Lv.???] × 14,510

[Mutant Giant Contaminant Lv.???] × 531

[Special Experiment Specimen Lv.???] × 426

[Contaminated Ancient Phantasmic Beast Lv.???] × 379

The contaminants descended.

Aaron’s vision was swallowed in darkness.

‘Even if I can’t see...’

I still know where to stab.

A grin crept across Aaron’s lips.

BOOM!

A blast erupted.

Smoke billowed from not far away.

As she ran, Ciris received a message from Yurnet.

“So you did it.”

<It’s your turn now.>

Ciris accelerated even more.

The wide road was littered with the corpses of contaminants.

Srrrrrk!

Ciris furrowed her brow.

[Warning!]

[Contaminated Jörmungandr Lv.322]

A serpent hundreds of meters long was closing the distance.

The same ancient lifeform they’d passed when piloting the Capitalism.

It had followed them all the way here.

“What a nuisance.”

Ridigion landed behind her.

Clang! The serpent’s fangs clashed with his tachi.

Then—

“SssaaAAAH!”

Letting the fangs slip past effortlessly, the tachi ripped clean through the serpent’s scales.

Bathed in the snake’s blue blood, Ridigion spun his blade.

“Don’t worry about me—go!”

“...Alright.”

“I believe in you.”

Ridigion held his tachi out.

Ciris gently bumped her sword against his, then turned toward the barrier.

“Ciri!”

Nihaku flipped through the air and drew her bowstring.

Crackle! Golden lightning shot straight forward, burning through the contaminants blocking the path.

“Take care of Master for me!”

Ciris dashed past Nihaku.

Aaron was standing nearby with his spear lowered.

Near the breach in the barrier—a three-meter-wide hole—mountains of monster corpses had piled up.

“This is as far as I go.”

“You’ve done well.”

“Please... save my brother.”

Clack.

Aaron slung his spear over his back.

‘Now it’s my turn.’

The heroes of Niflheim and Townia had risked their lives.

All to send her into the boundary.

Haa...

Ciris drew a deep breath.

‘Loki.’

Her rosy lips whispered her Master’s name.

Blue veins surfaced on the back of the hand gripping her sword.

Right ahead—Aaron’s breach. Beyond it, a lost Undead awaited her.

“Nicelle!”

Nicelle appeared beside her.

The fairy fluttered her twin wings and landed on Ciris’s shoulder.

Her emerald-colored eyes turned crimson.

FWOOSH!

Ciris’s golden hair blazed red as if set on fire.

Flames surged from beneath her feet, wrapping around her entire body and flaring violently.

Ciris adjusted her grip on Laevateinn, which now pulsed with crimson flame.

“Out of my way!”

She cleaved down the last contaminant before the barrier.

Then stepped into the breach.

Darkness consumed everything around her. Nothing could be seen.

It was like leaping off a sheer cliff. Ciris was falling endlessly.

[Danger!]

[Hero ‘Ciris (★★★★★★)’ has begun to be contaminated!]

At some point, a sticky darkness wrapped around her.

But only briefly. The flame rising from her back scorched the ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) darkness away.

The Flame of Pama (Demon-Breaking).

As long as Ciris burned herself, she could never be contaminated.

Her body sank as if plunged into the deep sea, yet the flames brightening her surroundings only grew more intense.

Her vision remained shrouded.

Static-laced noise screamed in her ears.

Ciris’s senses kept sending abnormal signals.

‘Spacetime is twisted.’

Zzt. Zzzkt.

The cradle of chaos, where past, future, and present were tangled together. Aaron’s power was still holding it together—for now. But it wouldn’t last. If she missed her moment, Ciris would be trapped here forever.

‘...’

In that chaos, Ciris saw a vision.

Fireworks blooming in the night sky. A vast city and its people lost in the heat of a festival.

On the outskirts of that city, a group of people walked.

「Victory.」

They murmured, wearing goat masks.

「To the Nameless God...」

Their prayers rang out in hushed voices.

「Victory.」

She couldn’t tell where this was—past or future.

She couldn’t even tell who they were. All wore bizarre masks.

「To the Nameless God...」

「Victory.」

Ciris’s gaze shifted to the corner.

A woman in a ragged robe knelt.

Silver hair shimmered in the moonlight. Golden eyes gleamed behind her mask.

Ciris locked eyes with the woman.

「To the Nameless God...」

The woman whispered fervently.

「Salvation.」

Salvation...

“Don’t worry.”

Ciris spoke to her.

She didn’t know if her voice would reach.

「Ah...」

It felt like the woman was looking her way.

Ciris quietly smiled.

And then—thud.

Her feet touched solid ground.

[Ciris.]

Nicelle whispered in her ear.

No words were needed. She didn’t have to turn around to feel it.

That overwhelming presence. Just standing there, it felt like her whole body was melting under the pressure.

“Master...”

Ciris whispered.

Not far away—

[妄■Dk死┼×爐 Lv.???]

The Undead opened his eyes.