Water of Corruption

"Mana surge, critical! The absorption units are being overwhelmed!"

"What's the danger rating?"

"Can't calculate! It keeps climbing!"

The staff scrambled to operate their equipment. Blue containment barriers rose in overlapping layers along the protective walls.

At that exact moment, the black water erupted violently.

KWAAAAAH—!

A clawed hand, each finger as thick as a human torso, burst from the water. When its long nails raked the floor, deep gouges carved themselves into the special alloy.

Then a grotesque head emerged.

Rotting, greenish skin. Bloodshot eyes bulging from their sockets. Whiskers hanging limp like waterweed.

Vodyanoy crawled out of the black water, dripping, and heaved his massive body upright.

THUD.

The entire testing chamber shook once, top to bottom.

When Vodyanoy stood at full height, his head nearly touched the high ceiling. An enormous shadow swallowed Sihyun whole.

"That's……"

Someone swallowed dryly.

"A level 1 actually summoned that?"

"That's dungeon-boss class……"

The faces of the staff who had been watching Sihyun with pity just moments ago froze solid.

And for the first time, the composure drained from Ryu Sungho's face.

His gaze swept rapidly over Vodyanoy's colossal frame.

He had no memory of this being. There was no record to confirm its true name, no catalyst associated with it — and yet the girl had summoned exactly what she'd wished for.

How?

Vodyanoy's bloodshot eyes rolled wildly. The moment he spotted Sihyun standing at his feet, he broke into a hideous grin.

-Kkeureuk! Kkeureureuk!

The sound of laughter that cracked its own neck echoed through the testing chamber.

-It has been an age! A very great age! How many centuries has it been since this humble one was called forth?

Vodyanoy rubbed his clawed hands together.

-Kkeureuk, the terror of mortals! Ahh, how fragrant it is!

The color drained from the faces of the staff in the observation room.

Sihyun looked calmly up at Vodyanoy.

This was where the real test began.

The stronger and more foul-tempered a being was, the pickier it became about choosing its master. It would name a price, and if something displeased it, it would simply refuse the summons and return whence it came.

If a level-1 summoner tried to act the part of master, pride alone might drive the creature to demand an outrageous payment.

"Vodyanoy."

The bloodshot eyes turned toward her.

"Will you contract with me and follow my command?"

Vodyanoy slowly bowed his body forward. His enormous face lowered until it was right in front of Sihyun's nose.

Fists clenched, Sihyun waited for the demand to come.

Part of his body. His senses. His remaining years.

The instant the creature named its price, she would have to calculate whether it could be paid at all.

But then—

-Gladly!

"……"

-Oh yes, gladly indeed!

Vodyanoy clacked his claws together in sheer delight.

-Vodyanoy finds you to his liking! Whoever heard of a human so deeply connected? Very well, Master! This humble one accepts the contract!

Sihyun blinked.

Already?

What about the price? It hadn't even asked her name?

Vodyanoy's face showed not the slightest concern. If anything, he looked like a merchant who had just landed the deal of a lifetime, grinning from ear to ear.

A chain of blue light linked Sihyun and Vodyanoy together, and the glow sank into both of their bodies.

A low murmur of disbelief rippled through the observation room.

"……It worked."

"Without any price at all?"

"Her resonance reading just exceeded the measurement limit!"

The whispers mocking Sihyun fell silent. Ryu Sungho's fingertips dug into the armrest.

……What is this?

Someone who had awakened barely two days ago — a level 1 — had summoned a being even the Association didn't know, and contracted with it without a catalyst or a price. That was not something luck could accomplish.

In that moment, a memory buried for a very long time crawled up his spine.

A woman who came sprinting to him in excitement, babbling about an unexplored labyrinth no one else had found. A summoner who knew the names and paths of beings unknown to the world, and who was loved — bizarrely, effortlessly — by every monster she met.

No.

Ryu Sungho cut the thought off at once.

She's dead.

Sung Jeyeon was dead, and the knowledge she'd left behind, he had destroyed with his own hands. But had she hidden something away, somewhere he didn't know about?

I have to find out.

If it was coincidence, he could simply make use of it. If it wasn't, he would have to crush it before it grew any later.

Ryu Sungho rose from his seat.

"Open the protective gate."

The staff turned to him, alarmed.

"Mr. President, the danger assessment isn't finished yet."

"The contract has been established."

"But we haven't confirmed whether the summon will obey her control."

"Then I'll confirm it myself."

Shortly after, with a heavy groan of machinery, the protective gate swung open, and Ryu Sungho strode straight into the testing chamber.

He crossed the yellow safety line and advanced straight into Vodyanoy's reach, without a flicker of hesitation in his step. Another low murmur escaped the observation room.

Ryu Sungho looked up at Vodyanoy's massive body, then lowered his gaze to Sihyun.

"An impressive summon."

His usual composure had returned to his voice.

"But a summoner's true capability isn't decided by what they call forth."

He gestured to the far side of the chamber. The floor split open, and a special-alloy dummy for instantaneous combat assessment rose from below.

"How precisely you understand the being you've summoned, and how completely you can control it — that matters far more."

An evil spirit that strong might have slipped into this world by latching onto a weak master. If Sihyun failed to draw out its power, then she'd simply gotten lucky with a random draw. And if the summon refused her control, the Association would have its pretext to intervene.

"Will you show me everything you're capable of?"

Ryu Sungho smiled smoothly.

His intent was transparent: make her reveal every ounce of her ability, then judge whether this was a sprout that needed cutting before it could grow.

Sihyun smiled right back.

In that case—

I'd better live up to those expectations.

In exactly the opposite direction.

"Yes. I'll give it a try."

Sihyun looked up at Vodyanoy.

-Vodyanoy.

-Kkeureuk, at last! What shall this humble one destroy for you, Master? This building? This city? Or perhaps that sleek, slippery human over there……

-Water of Corruption.

-……

Vodyanoy's whiskers flinched.

-Water of Corruption, you say?

-Yes.

-This humble one emerges after centuries of confinement, and before all these spectators, you bid me merely… spit?

-Yep.

The bloodshot eyes rolled in wounded reproach.

-……If the Master so commands.

Vodyanoy reluctantly squared his massive body upright.

THUD.

A mere shift of his bulk made the testing chamber floor ring like a struck bell. His vast shadow swallowed Ryu Sungho, who stood close beside the target, all at once.

"Authority activation detected!"

The staff frantically activated the measuring instruments. Output surged along the containment barriers, and the people in the observation room found themselves holding their breath.

Vodyanoy planted one clawed hand against the floor. His long nails sank deep into the special alloy, and a sloshing sound churned beneath his bent-back throat.

Grrrrk.

Grrrrrrk.

Even the smile slipped from Ryu Sungho's face.

Vodyanoy's cheeks swelled until they seemed ready to burst.

And then, at last—

-KHAAAAK—!

The thunderous sound shook the testing chamber.

-PTOO!

A single mass of black water sailed through the air in a graceful parabola.

SPLAT.

It struck the wall — a hand-span wide of the target.

Black, viscous liquid slid slowly down the alloy wall.

No smoke.

No corrosion.

No explosion.

The staff member monitoring the instruments muttered in bewilderment.

"No…… attack response detected."

Someone ventured, cautiously:

"Is that just… spit?"

The tension that had been crushing the testing chamber deflated in an instant. A hollow smile slowly spread across Ryu Sungho's lips.

"That's the authority?"

But at that very moment—

Vodyanoy's nose twitched.

-Uh, uh……

The bloodshot eyes flew wide open.

In that sliver of a second, Sihyun sent one tiny sensation flowing down the connection line.

Direction.

Angle.

There.