A Veteran Player is Needed in the Apocalypse

Chapter 66: The Promise (9)

“…He’s trying to catch the people down below.”

At that moment, the ring of *Luna Moon* I was wearing on my hand began to heat up.

It was as if it was urging me, asking what I was doing instead of saving the commander.

‘Wait.’

I didn’t intend to let the commander die either.

I just needed a moment to think.

While I was quietly trying to calm the ring, *Lucas* shouted in shock.

“Don’t tell me His Excellency is down there?!”

Fortunately, the arm of the *Ice Giant* wasn’t long enough. As soon as I confirmed that its hand was coming up empty while it swiped below the cliff, I spoke to the other two.

“Get down.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said get down.”

The *Shinam Officers* hurriedly got off their bikes as trained soldiers should, but their faces were still full of confusion.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll lure it away. Once the thing disappears, you guys pull up the people down below with this.”

As I handed them the bundle of ropes, *Bones* and *Lucas* stared at me with disbelief.

“Where on earth did you even get this?” *Bones* asked.

Ignoring his question, I started the bike, but *Lucas* hurriedly questioned me.

“Wait, lure it? What are you going to do? Don’t tell me—”

“I’m going.”

Before they could stop me, I revved the engine and rushed forward.

The direction I headed in was towards the *Ice Giant*, who was struggling to pull up the commander’s group, but I went a little further to a crevasse.

Once I was at a point where I could be visible to the monster but still far enough from the cliff where the commander was, I jumped off the bike again.

I saw the bike, unable to handle the momentum, tumble forward and fall off the cliff.

‘That looks like how I’ll end up in a few moments.’

I got up from the snow and looked toward the *Ice Giant*.

From the side, I could see that the commander and *Plato* were hugging the cliff wall, pressed as close as possible to avoid being caught by the monster’s hands.

The 2nd Team Leader was tied up, lying flat on the ground.

‘The commander looks terrible.’

Given his physical abilities, he could have easily avoided falling at the last moment. But he must have been unable to escape because he pushed me to safety instead.

Despite knowing he would fall, he saved me because he believed I was *Luna Moon’s* child.

“Hah…”

This was truly madness.

But there was no option of not saving the commander here.

Just as the commander had tried to save me in that critical moment, I had to risk my life to save him as well, as his “son.”

That was the promise with *Luna Moon*, and the qualification I needed to live as *Haydam Goodman* in this place.

The wind began to blow just the way I wanted.

From where I stood towards the *Ice Giant*.

“Perfect weather for a fall.”

I pulled out the dagger from my waist and raised my left arm, cutting a deep gash from top to bottom.

As my skin split open and blood started flowing, I saw the *Ice Giant* hesitate in the distance.

It didn’t take long for the creature to sniff the air and look in my direction.

In the corner of my eye, I saw *Lucas* and *Bones* shouting something as they ran towards me.

But there was only so much a human could do while running through deep snow.

The *Ice Giant* ignored the humans cursing at it and started running toward me instead.

It was clear that the *Ice Giant* would reach me before the new officers could.

‘Good.’

Instead of running away, I stood precariously on the edge of the crevasse and shoved a handful of stardust into my mouth.

As soon as it touched my lips, the stardust dissolved into blue particles that spread throughout my body, quickly healing the deep cut on my arm.

Once I confirmed the wound was healed, I detonated a smoke grenade at my feet and fired a series of white and signal flares at the creature’s face.

It wasn’t to cause damage, but to grab its attention.

Enraged, the *Ice Giant* picked up speed and charged at me.

After I used up all the flares, I started shooting at its feet.

The distance between us closed rapidly.

‘This won’t be enough.’

Since the bullets were made for *Demons*, they weren’t very effective against the glacier. The *Ice Giant*’s footing didn’t crumble as I had hoped.

But expecting the glacier to collapse and drop the creature was nearly a miracle in itself.

My real plan started now.

“No choice then.”

I tossed the gun I was holding toward the *Ice Giant*. It contemptuously swatted the flying weapon away with one hand.

As it reached out to grab me, I tightly gripped my knife and jumped through the cloud of smoke.

The *Ice Giant* turned its direction to follow me.

“Uwaaah!”

Its foot sank deep into the cloud of smoke.

Because I had deliberately obscured the ground with the smoke grenade, the *Ice Giant* didn’t realize the spot I jumped from was empty air and tried to follow, only to step into nothingness.

Of course, I had also leaped off the cliff in order to trick the creature.

The moment I jumped into the smoke, I slammed my knife into the glacier.

Kagagagak!

The knife didn’t sink into the ice as deeply as I had hoped, causing me to slide down the sheer cliff face.

The *Ice Giant* also tried to grab onto the glacier, but its furry hand couldn’t generate any friction, so it couldn’t slow down like I did.

It helplessly plummeted downward.

‘Even after a fall like that, it probably won’t die.’

As I watched the *Ice Giant* fall, I pulled out another knife and stabbed it into a crack in the glacier.

Kagak!

This time, it caught properly, and I dangled in the air, hanging from the ice.

I felt like I had fallen a long distance, but when I looked up, it wasn’t actually that far.

“Lord *Haydam*!”

“Crazy!”

I heard *Lucas* and *Bones* yelling down at me from above, but with both of them shouting at the same time, I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Phew…”

Now, all I had to do was hold on until they pulled me up.

Thinking that, I glanced up again.

The movement of the clouds was strange.

Despite the ongoing snowstorm, thunderclouds were now gathering in the sky above.

“Don’t tell me…”

A bad premonition made me furrow my brow.

As I mentioned earlier, the *Ice Giant* could control the weather.

The heavy snowfall was something the creature had stirred up to cover its huge body.

‘Then that means it’s summoning this storm too…’

With a deep rumbling sound, a golden flash erupted from between the clouds.

And in the next instant, a bolt of lightning struck the knife I was holding.

“Shit!”

Rather than get fried by the lightning, I chose to let go of the knife before it hit.

Kwagagak!

The place where the lightning struck exploded like popcorn, growing smaller and smaller in my vision as I fell.

Dodging the lightning was good, but now I was falling like a plane without wings.

I desperately tried to think of something from my inventory that could help in this situation.

But I had nothing that could save me from a fall like this.

Either a miracle had to happen…

Or I’d have to hope my body was strong enough to still be able to shove stardust into my mouth after hitting the ground.

However, what stopped my fall the next moment wasn’t a miracle.

It was the *Ice Giant*.

“What the…!”

A furry hand shot out from the side and grabbed me.

The sheer force in its grip felt like it would crush every bone in my body. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I glanced over and saw the *Ice Giant*, now clinging to a cave inside the crevasse, holding onto me.

Without hesitation, the creature brought me toward its mouth.

As I got closer, I could see the golden jewel embedded in its forehead.

‘Rather than getting eaten, it’s better to land at least one blow.’

With great effort, I freed one arm from the creature’s grip, pulled out a grenade from my inventory, removed the pin with my index finger, and tossed it into the open mouth of the beast lunging toward me.

I didn’t have enough strength to throw it as far as its forehead.

The grenade rolled smoothly down its throat and soon exploded. The monster let out a pained scream and hurled me into the cave.

“Ugh!”

I couldn’t suppress a groan as I tumbled inside the cave.

I only stopped when I crashed into the cave wall, where I fumbled for the stardust at my waist and shoved it into my mouth.

As my wounds healed, the pain that had made my entire body feel like it was shattering slowly subsided.

Breathing heavily, I crouched on the cave floor, leaning on my hands.

“Huff, huff…”

I had survived thanks to the creature throwing me into the cave rather than off the cliff.

But the situation wasn’t good.

While the stardust could heal my wounds, the greater the injury, the longer the recovery took.

The only silver lining was that my body was tough enough to withstand the impact and remain conscious.

However, I couldn’t just wait until I was fully healed.

The creature, roaring in anger, was charging toward me from the cave’s entrance.

‘Damn it.’

What were the odds I could shoot through its mouth and pierce the jewel in its forehead before it devoured me?

While considering this hopeless thought, I dashed deeper into the cave to escape the creature.

The cave was filled with thick stalactites and stalagmites formed from ice, and the *Ice Giant*, which wasn’t particularly fast to begin with, quickly got slowed down by the obstacles.

However, the sharp stalactites and stalagmites were dangerous for me too.

As I ran wildly, I felt something trickling down my cheek. When I wiped it, I saw blood.

It seemed I had been cut by an icicle hanging from the ceiling without realizing it.

At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.

‘Wait, could this be…?’

Like a madman, I ran while staring at the ceiling.

The deeper into the cave I went, the higher the ceiling got, and the larger the icicles hanging above became.

It was all or nothing.

If I couldn’t kill the creature with the firepower I had…

“Hey! You dumb giant bastard!”

I stopped in a suitable spot, pulled out my gun from my inventory, and fired wildly at the ceiling, calling out to the creature.

The *Ice Giant*, which had lost track of me, started running toward the sound of gunfire. The entire cave shook as if it would collapse from the weight of its footsteps.

It was working out perfectly.

The more it thrashed around, the more the icicles above would crack.

I held my breath, waiting for the creature to charge at me.

I couldn’t run too far if I wanted to shoot the icicles down at the right moment.

If the icicles fell too early, it would be a problem, and if they fell after it had passed, it would also be a problem.

“Kraaargh!”

The *Ice Giant* stormed in, smashing through the stalactites as it came closer. I aimed at the giant, sharp icicles hanging from the ceiling and started firing.

It was getting closer, but I didn’t lower my gun.

As the creature let out a roar and raised its arm high, I heard it.

*Creak.*

A cracking sound echoed through the cave, and the massive icicle, which had been lodged in the ceiling for countless years, broke free and plunged toward the *Ice Giant’s* head.

The moment I saw the sharp tip of the icicle pierce through the top of its skull, its hand, like a whip, struck me hard.

“Gah…!”

The force of the blow sent me flying into the cave wall.

But the sound of my body crashing into the wall was drowned out by an even louder noise.

*Thud…*

As my body slammed into the thick cave wall, the icicle that had impaled the *Ice Giant’s* head buried itself deep into the cave floor.

“Huff, huff…”

The *Ice Giant* stopped moving, but I couldn’t move either.

‘I think something went wrong with my spine when I hit the cave wall…’

I couldn’t even wiggle a finger, and my body was engulfed in unbearable pain.

But even so, I had to raise my head to check on the creature.

Just because it had been impaled by an icicle didn’t mean a monster like this was dead.

‘Please…’

I hoped the icicle had shattered the jewel embedded in its forehead.

But when I barely managed to turn my head and look, the golden jewel in its forehead was still gleaming brightly.

The icicle that had skewered the *Ice Giant* had missed by just a hair.

I let out a bitter laugh.

‘Ha, fuck… I’m screwed.’

Of course, the *Ice Giant* wouldn’t be able to attack me right away while its body was healing, but the same went for me.

Even though all I needed to do was lift the combat ration to my mouth, I couldn’t move a single finger.

If only that last attack had killed it…

‘Even if the people from the Zone come to rescue me, this thing will heal before the rescue team arrives.’

I sighed and closed my eyes.

I was resigning myself to death.

‘What the hell am I doing, risking my life to save an NPC?’

But as a veteran player, I had my pride. I couldn’t just ignore the help I had received from an NPC.

Still, I wasn’t as scared or upset about dying as I thought I’d be.

It wasn’t because I thought that dying here might just log me out of this game-turned-reality.

I had always imagined that death would be cold and terrifying, but instead, it felt warm and peaceful.

Rather than cold, it felt like holding a warm stone in my hand…

‘…Huh?’

I was struck by a strange sense of incongruity and opened my eyes wide, looking down at my hand.

The *Luna Moon* ring was glowing brightly, wrapping me in a warm light.

“What… the hell?”

‘No way…’

There was only one possibility that came to mind.

The unknown ego embedded in the *Luna Moon* ring.

I had already suspected that there was something else residing in the ring.

But even as I was on the verge of death from the *Ice Giant*, it hadn’t shown any sign of helping me, so I had given up on it.

Now that I was truly facing death, it seemed to have changed its mind about helping me.

‘Finally showing yourself, huh?’

Let’s see.

‘Just who—or what—are you, hidden within this ring?’

As soon as I had that thought, the light pouring from the ring was absorbed back into the *moonstone* embedded in it.

And then, something pure white popped out.