HDAAD Chapter 147
by BlossomTL‘A turtle?’
The traditionally described appearance of the Black Tortoise was said to have a turtle’s body with a snake’s head and tail.
However, no matter how you looked at it, this was just a small turtle standing on two legs, holding a spear in its front legs.
“Was the Black Tortoise a turtle?”
“That’s right, but…”
Mei trailed off, seemingly having the same thought.
Meanwhile, as Yoon Seokjin opened his mouth to say something while looking up at the fully summoned Black Tortoise, a trident appeared in the turtle’s… no, the Black Tortoise’s thick hand.
“Is it going to fight with that?”
Michael’s eyes sparkled.
“A battle between a turtle and wolves, I’m totally excited.”
Everyone, not just Michael, focused their attention on the Black Tortoise, wondering how this directional god, summoned after such a long time, would perform in battle.
However,
“Why is it just standing there without moving?”
Contrary to Michael’s expectations, the Black Tortoise only swung its spear once and didn’t move.
“What’s going on?”
And it was at that moment that the Black Tortoise’s true power was displayed. The raging blizzard gradually began to subside.
“Don’t tell me.”
I nodded.
“It seems the Black Tortoise is making the blizzard stop.”
The blizzard, which seemed like it would never stop, ceased with just one gesture from the Black Tortoise.
‘Is this why it’s called a directional god?’
“I want to see it up close!”
“Me too.”
Mei and Michael ran to Yoon Seokjin’s side.
“Haegeum.”
“Yes, master.”
“Is that really the Black Tortoise?”
Haegeum, who had poked its head out slightly, said,
“Huh? Yes, it is, master. Directional gods are hard to summon, but this human managed to do it somehow, master.”
“Hard to summon?”
“Yes, master. There’s a limit to what humans can accept, master. Ah! That’s why it looks like a turtle, master.”
“You mean it’s not originally like that?”
“Yes, master. It seems to look like that because it was summoned within the limits of what humans can accept, master.”
Haegeum glanced at the Black Tortoise’s appearance a few times and then snickered.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Master, master. Could you possibly go in front of the Black Tortoise, master?”
“Huh? Okay.”
It was a request from Haegeum, who had never asked for anything while in the pocket. Of course, I was going to do it, but why did it suddenly want me to go in front of the Black Tortoise?
As I approached Yoon Seokjin’s side with a puzzled look, Haegeum raised a water column and escaped from the pocket on its own.
The eyes of the turtle face widened upon seeing Haegeum suddenly appear in front of it.
‘Oh. So the turtle face can express emotions too.’
“Pfft. What kind of look is that, master? It’s a waste of the name ‘directional god’, master.”
The toothless mouth of the turtle opened wide.
“I smell a fishy reptile around here.”
The Black Tortoise looked around and then, as if just noticing Haegeum, raised the corners of its mouth.
“You’re too small to even be seen.”
“A slow turtle dares to mock a seahorse? Master.”
“You little dragon brat! Where do I look like a turtle?!”
“Where did you sell your tail, master? Pfft. It’s short, so short.”
‘I didn’t know Haegeum could talk like that.’
Until now, the Haegeum I knew was a seahorse that always spoke nicely, as if it had received good home education.
Even when I was injured, although it transformed into a dragon, it didn’t curse like Salt. So it was quite surprising to see it now sneering at the Black Tortoise like this.
“Go-woon. Do those two know each other?”
“I didn’t know either, but it seems so.”
“Oh ho.”
After bickering about each other’s bodies for a while, now they were boasting about their abilities, saying “I’m better” and “No, I’m better.” No matter how you looked at it, they seemed to know each other.
Even Yoon Seokjin looked quite flustered, as if he hadn’t expected this situation.
“That seahorse, I saw it in the dungeon before. Is it a pet like Salt?”
“Yes. It’s Haegeum.”
“That’s interesting. If someone didn’t know, they might think Go-woon-ssi is a tamer, not an alchemist.”
‘That’s true.’
With Salt, the bird of purification, and Haegeum, the seahorse of wisdom. As they said, if someone who didn’t know about my abilities saw this, they might mistake me for a tamer rather than an alchemist.
“What is that?”
At that moment, Shin Sooha, who had subdued all the frost wolves in an instant thanks to the subsiding blizzard, approached us.
“Is it all over? What about the frost wolves?”
“They’re here.”
As Shin Sooha gestured, the frost wolves that he had bound with telekinesis earlier flew towards us.
As if unwilling to admit they had been subdued, they all bared their teeth and growled as if ready to pounce at any moment.
“Are you planning to have the frost wolves pull the sled?”
“Yes.”
“But won’t they try to attack us?”
Dog sled. Some tilted their heads at my plan.
But I shook my head and explained about the zombie sled I had seen on my phone in the past.
The content was about fixing zombies so they couldn’t come backwards, then hanging their meal at a distance they couldn’t reach, making the zombies pull the sled as they ran to eat it.
“Ugh.”
As if imagining it, Mei shuddered and grimaced, while Lee Chaewon raised her hand and countered me.
“Then we need something that the frost wolves would chase after, but we don’t have anything like that.”
“Why not?”
I jerked my chin towards the Black Tortoise fighting with Haegeum.
“There’s flying bait right there.”
***
“How dare you, mere humans!”
The Black Tortoise threw a fit when told it would be used as bait to make the frost wolves run.
It created a blizzard that it had dispelled earlier, saying we were making light of a directional god, and even put its trident to Yoon Seokjin’s neck, demanding to be unsummoned immediately.
But when Haegeum said it shouldn’t entrust a big task to a turtle and that it would do it instead, the Black Tortoise got angry at Haegeum for trying to take away its job.
“So, are you saying you’ll do it, master?”
“Ha! It’s my job!”
After getting a firm answer from the Black Tortoise, Haegeum came back to me and winked with its bean-like eyes.
And so, the frost wolf sled made with the cooperation of the Black Tortoise was successful. The frost wolves ran at full speed to try to catch the Black Tortoise flitting about in front of them.
“I didn’t expect it to be this comfortable.”
“I like that it’s warm.”
The inside of the sled was the same.
The hot water membrane created by Haegeum not only blocked the wind but also made the temperature inside the sled cozy.
“Beep.”
I laughed at Salt’s muttering that it felt like it would live now.
It had refused to enter the pocket no matter what, but I guess it was really cold.
“Do you think more monsters will appear?”
“This floor seems like an S+ rank dungeon, so I don’t think they won’t.”
As Lee Chaewon answered, Mei grumbled as if dissatisfied.
“If I had known we’d suffer this much, I wouldn’t have come to the tower.”
“But we’re going comfortably now.”
“That’s right! And Mei just has to stand there.”
At Michael’s words, Mei’s cheeks reddened.
From the 14th floor to the current 17th floor.
Mei hadn’t used heal even once.
Because the gathered party members were so strong, there were no injuries, and everyone’s condition was at its best due to purification.
“The less injuries, the better, right?”
I comforted the dejected Mei as I removed my hand from Baigang.
To use time efficiently even while moving on the sled, I was giving purification to one person at a time.
Two people remained.
Shin Sooha and Taeju.
I first extended my hand to the cooperative Shin Sooha.
“Shin Sooha-ssi.”
“Yes.”
Shin Sooha, who had switched places with Baigang, took my hand.
[Shin Sooha – Contamination Level 55%]
As I continued to do purifications, I could now guess how many monsters each person had killed just by their contamination level, and Shin Sooha always achieved the highest level.
His SSS rank might contribute to the contamination spreading faster, but watching the battle scenes, I could tell my guess wasn’t far off.
“By the way, Go-woon.”
“Yes?”
“How did you get Haegeum?”
The story about Salt had spread due to interviews, but I had never talked about Haegeum.
It wasn’t particularly something to hide, so I explained briefly, and Baigang’s eyes lit up.
“Then can Haegeum handle anything related to water?”
‘Ah. Baigang was a water hunter.’
I had heard that hunters of the same attribute have a sense of competition, but seeing the current reaction to Haegeum, I wondered if that was another hasty generalization.
“Yes. This is also done by Haegeum.”
“Wow. Really? Can Haegeum make hot water too?”
“What? Baigang, didn’t you know this was made by Haegeum?”
As Michael asked while touching the hot water membrane, Baigang answered with reddened cheeks, seemingly embarrassed.
“No. I thought it was an item.”
“I didn’t explain separately, so you could have misunderstood.”
“Could I possibly talk with Haegeum?”
“About what?”
“Ah. I’m curious about how it’s done.”
As I hesitated, unable to decide on my own even though I was the owner, Haegeum, who seemed to have been listening from the pocket, poked its head out.
“Even if you can handle water, it’s not possible with human abilities, master.”
At the firm words, Baigang looked dejected.
“Is it completely impossible?”
“Yes, master. It’s not possible even for SSS rank, master.”
Michael suddenly stretched his head towards my pocket and asked,
“Why?”
“I can’t reveal heavenly secrets, master.”
“Heavenly secrets? What’s that?”
Not only Michael but also Baigang tilted their heads, as if the translator couldn’t translate it.
Just as I was about to reluctantly explain about heavenly secrets for the two who didn’t understand, it happened.
“Humans. Something’s coming.”
At the sudden voice of the Black Tortoise, Shin Sooha forcibly stopped the running wolves.
“What do you mean something’s coming?”
“There.”
The Black Tortoise’s trident pointed to the right mountain range.
“Is it more frost wolves?”
“No. This is.”
It was when the Black Tortoise narrowed its round eyes.
The sled started to vibrate.
“Haegeum.”
The hot water membrane that had been enveloping the sled split to both sides with a hissing sound and poured onto the ground.
As the snow around the sled melted instantly, we could see shaking sand particles that had been hidden under the snow.
“It’s white and big.”
“Ah.”
At the words of the Black Tortoise, who had looked ahead first, Lee Chaewon let out a light sigh.
“Do you know what it is?”
“Yes. There’s only one big thing that would appear on a snow-covered mountain. A yeti.”
“A yeti?”
Just as I was tilting my head, Taeju jumped out of the sled.
“Hey! Where are you going!”
As I was about to get up from my seat to follow Taeju, Shin Sooha pulled my hand.
“You don’t need to go.”
“What?”
“The yeti’s weakness is electricity.”
So Taeju had jumped out because the yeti’s weakness was electricity.
“Is it okay for him to go alone?”
Lee Chaewon answered my question.
“Yes. Yetis have strong tribal instincts, so if you electrocute one, the others will cling to it and you can kill them all at once. With Seo Taeju’s ability, one lightning strike should be enough.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than a flash of light appeared before our eyes and lightning struck.
And not long after, a burning smell spread through the air.
“He should be coming back soon. Let’s get ready to go again.”
Everyone, even Mei who didn’t know anything, was calm, but I anxiously looked towards where Taeju had run off.
At the time he ran off, Taeju’s contamination level was higher than Shin Sooha’s.
Even though he was holding Salt, the purification speed was slow, and he let go too quickly, so the purification wasn’t completely done.
He wouldn’t collapse from just one or two yetis, but if there were a unit of them like these frost wolves, there was a chance he might collapse.
Remembering the incident when he collapsed on the day he got Salt, I was about to grip the hand I was holding tighter.
Taeju, whom we had been waiting for, was walking towards us.
[Seo Taeju – Contamination Level 67%]
‘There must have been many yetis.’
I confirmed that Shin Sooha’s contamination had reached 0% and let go of his hand.
Then, as soon as I sat down on the sled, I reached out to Taeju.
“What?”
Taeju frowned as if seeing something disgusting, unlike when he used to eagerly accept it.
“Hey. Hold it even if you don’t like it. Your contamination is severe.”
“I’m fine. Just give me Salt.”
“You think I’m doing this because I like it? I don’t want to hold your hand either, but I’m forcing myself to do it.”
“I said no.”
This bastard. Where did all that clinginess go when he used to pester me, and why is he suddenly throwing a fit like this?
Feeling a surge of irritation, I grabbed Taeju’s hand.
“If you don’t want to be a burden to the party members, shut up and stay still.”
I could see him forcibly straining his eyes, which were relaxing due to the purification.
Unlike his relaxed body, it seemed he wanted to show his unwillingness through his will alone.
I pretended not to see Taeju’s reaction and just looked down at our hands.
A suffocating silence continued.
Even the talkative Michael seemed to feel a strange tension and kept his mouth shut. In this situation, the Black Tortoise suddenly called out to us.
“By the way, humans.”
“Yes, oh Black Tortoise.”
Yoon Seokjin, who would hesitate before answering our questions, immediately responded to the Black Tortoise’s question.
It looked more like a shaman serving a god than feeling sorry for becoming moving bait for the frost wolves.
“Where are we going now?”
“We are going to catch the boss monster of this place.”
“Boss? Do you mean the one at the top there?”
The trident pointed to the peak of the snow-covered mountain.
“Yes.”
“But why do we have to climb all the way up there?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Can’t we just bring it down here?”
At his unexpected response, everyone looked at the Black Tortoise.