Chapter 154: The Core of Flame.

Seo Gisu threw himself into an area teeming with a large number of monsters.

With the greatswords in both hands, he sliced through a monster’s neck.

Without stopping, he cleaved another monster in half, killing it.

The surrounding monsters decreased rapidly in number, but he was completely surrounded.

He had no choice but to carve a path through them.

A monster scratched Gisu’s body with its claws.

His armor tore, and wounds appeared on his body.

Those wounds were not deep.

As if he felt no pain, Gisu stabbed and killed the monster.

Since monsters were all around, Gisu swung his greatsword without rest.

Before he knew it, his armor drank the blood flowing from his wounds and regained its original form.

The body beneath the armor had already healed as well.

The horde of monsters was shredded to pieces by Gisu’s hands in an instant.

For a moment, his armor was stained with the blood that splattered from them.

Soon, the armor absorbed that as well.

Wearing armor that greedily devoured life and prioritizing the death of enemies over his own body, who would think of him as a Holy Knight?

This was a side of him that could absolutely not be shown to the public.

To the outside world, he was a brave and honorable Holy Knight.

Especially to his mother, this was a side he could not show.

She would certainly worry about him.

There was no benefit in letting his friends know either.

‘Are you an idiot?’ they would say bluntly, mixing worry with their nagging.

Thinking of his friends, a brief smile appeared on his face, which had been filled with hatred toward the monsters.

But soon, a monster entered his field of vision, and all emotions were painted over with hatred.

Still, he did not forget what was important.

Though he carried a powerful flame in his chest that could burn monsters, he normally did not use it.

If he used that flame, he wouldn’t get hurt at all.

A horde of monsters like this would be burned to ashes in an instant.

Rather than the flame, he mainly used other skills to raise their skill levels.

There were two main reasons for this.

If he used the flame, he couldn’t obtain monster materials or even mana stones.

Considering the retrieval team chasing after him, it was best not to use it if possible.

And one more thing.

If that flame grew too strong, there was a risk it could burn even the things he must not forget.

Even without using the flame, he could raid dungeons like this well enough.

Advancing through dungeons every day without regard for his body, he was already one of the strongest hunters in the world, even without the flame.

After completing the raid on the migratory dungeon, Gisu entered the temporary base that had been set up and changed his armor.

He put on armor that anyone would recognize as belonging to a Holy Knight.

People gathered in the village square near the area where the dungeon had appeared.

They had all come to see him.

Since this was a common occurrence, barricades had already been set up.

A young and powerful Guardian of the world.

Seo Gisu also served as the face of the Peace Guild.

He enjoyed popularity that rivaled any celebrity.

Gisu walked between the barricades.

Removing his helmet, he showed the people his silver hair, which his friend called a capitalist hair color, and waved his hand.

On his face, he wore a smiling mask as sturdy as his helmet.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“Thank you for getting rid of the dungeon! I love you!”

“Over here! Please look over here!”

Responding lightly to everyone’s cheers, Seo Gisu walked along the path.

Along the way, he noticed a somewhat unique girl and briefly stopped his gaze.

It was a girl wearing an eyepatch made of Slime on her face.

The moment his eyes met hers, which were like a universe full of stars, he felt as though the things hidden beneath his mask were being unearthed.

“You mustn’t do that!”

“Take me instead!”

His attention was briefly diverted by someone trying to cross the barricade.

When Gisu looked back at where the girl had been.

She was already gone.

***

Slime Land is a truly great environment for filming.

It has various amusement rides, and new ones are added whenever there’s a chance.

If you dig deeper, things you didn’t know about are revealed one by one, endlessly producing content.

On top of that, Alchemy Slime, the owner of Slime Land, often stands at the center of buzz.

For those who thrive on people’s attention, Slime Land is a land where gold endlessly gushes forth.

Of course, there were broadcasters who practically lived in Slime Land.

Broadcasters from all over the world were always filming something there.

Korean TV stations also included variety shows exploring and experiencing Slime Land in their regular programming, boasting considerable ratings.

There were healing shows that warmed the heart, as well as shows that tormented the cast to draw laughter from viewers.

The male singer who previously appeared on a celebrity observation program, showcasing his love for Slime Land and a brightly shining Wig Slime.

He became a regular cast member on a variety show planned by a particularly ruthless PD.

The male singer had a meeting with the PD.

Today, wearing the Wig Slime that shimmered slightly and scattered specks of light, the PD spoke to him.

“Though it’s not part of Slime Land, have you heard the news about a new amusement ride?”

“You’re not talking about that, are you?”

“Yes. That’s the one.”

What they referred to as ‘that’ was skydiving, jumping off a branch extending from the middle of the Road to Space.

There wasn’t just one branch.

There were lower ones at the level of a bungee jump for various experiences.

“At the very least, you should go beyond the troposphere, right?”

“PD-nim! That’s way too high!”

There were also branches located beyond the troposphere.

It was a dive from an extreme environment where one couldn’t survive without wearing a special Slime.

“Didn’t you say you trust the Slime?”

“I do! Of course, I trust it! But even so, jumping from the stratosphere…!”

At that moment, the PD turned the whiteboard to show the theme of this project.

[Sky Concert.]

“You need to promote your new song, don’t you?”

Recently, the male singer had released a new song.

“Now, choose.”

The PD showed the drop times based on the height of the branches.

Considering the length of this new song, it needed to be over 4 minutes.

Accounting for extra time, 5 minutes were necessary.

The male singer closed his eyes tightly and chose a branch at a fairly high altitude.

Time passed. The male singer boarded an elevator in Slime Land heading to a high place in the sky.

The elevator departing from Slime Land first passed through the sea via Undersea Tunnel Slime.

“Isn’t the view outside amazing?”

The PD spoke to the male singer.

“It’s amazing.”

Unlike the Tunnel Slimes, the real underwater scenery was visible.

Since there was no reason to be overly nervous yet, the man lightly hummed a song related to the sea.

But that lasted only a moment.

The direction of movement changed from horizontal to vertical.

“Look. The ground is receding incredibly fast.”

As the ground moved farther away, so did the male singer’s mental stability.

Reaching a height beyond where clouds floated in an instant, he muttered to himself.

“I must be crazy. Jumping from the stratosphere.”

“We’ve arrived.”

“What? Already?”

“Hurry and get off.”

The male singer, trembling, headed to the clothing rental station.

Since diving was impossible without special gear, specialized clothing was necessary.

At the entrance of the rental station, a huge sign was written.

[Trust the Skydiving Slime. Then you can fly.]

The Skydiving Slimes were all modeled after birds.

But why on earth were Skydiving Slimes like penguin, chicken, and ostrich labeled with [Recommended]?

“Here, the penguin is the classic choice.”

“Penguins can’t fly!”

“If you believe, you can fly.”

The ruthless PD forced the male singer into the Skydiving Slime (Penguin).

“Take this.”

And handed him a Microphone Slime.

“Now, you just need to jump.”

“Uh… PD-nim. Where’s the parachute?”

“There isn’t one.”

“What?”

“There are courses with parachutes and courses without, and you chose the one without.”

“Skydiving without a parachute! How is that any different from bungee jumping without a cord!”

“You’ve done bungee jumping without a cord several times, haven’t you?”

For a moment, the male singer was at a loss for words.

After all, he had done bungee jumping without a cord at Slime Land.

“If you think of it as similar to bungee jumping without a cord, it shouldn’t be too difficult for you.”

“No…”

The male singer looked down.

The ground was incredibly far away.

“They say the height at which humans feel the most fear is 11 meters. Beyond that, whether it’s 20 meters or 20 kilometers, it doesn’t make much difference.”

“It does make a difference! And if you fall from 20 kilometers, you die!”

“You won’t die. Penguins can fly.”

“No, no, that doesn’t make any sense!”

“It’s fine. We have experienced instructors here, so safety is absolutely guaranteed.”

A Helper Slime stuck itself firmly to the male singer’s back.

“Or do you not trust Alchemy Slime-nim and the Slimes?”

Currently, Alchemy Slime’s popularity is absolute.

He couldn’t argue against that. If he did, the number of anti-fans would explode.

“Since you’re so worried, I guess there’s no choice.”

The PD went to the clothing rental station and rented a Chicken Skydiving Slime to wear.

“I’ll go first, so hurry and follow me.”

And with that, the PD jumped out in one swift motion.

The camera didn’t capture the PD after he jumped. After all, the PD isn’t the main star.

It only focused on the stunned male singer.

With the main PD taking the lead like that, he, as a participant, couldn’t hesitate.

“Ah, whatever!”

The male singer closed his eyes and jumped off the branch.

“Aaaah!”

Screaming lasted only a moment.

“Huh?”

This was 20 kilometers up in the sky. Considering that skydiving descent speed varies between 180 km/h and 300 km/h depending on posture, he would need to fall for at least another 4 minutes.

Also, the Skydiving Slime only let through a moderate amount of wind, so there was little sense of moving at high speed.

“It’s not as scary as I thought.”

The ground was so far away that the fear of falling was washed away by the wind.

Feeling as if he were liberated from the world, the male singer was momentarily lost in thought.

At that moment, something entered his field of vision.

It was a sign held out by the Helper Slime attached to his back.

[New Song]

“Ah!”

The male singer gripped the Microphone Slime tightly.

Then, the instrumental track of his new song started playing.

“High up in the sky~ I dreamed a dream of being with you.”

In the lonely autumn, full of sad farewell songs.

He had experimentally created a refreshing and hopeful song.

It was a song perfectly suited to be sung in the sky.

Though the PD’s actions seemed downright devilish, his planning skills were undeniable.

“If I’m with you, I can fly~!”

His voice came out cleanly at the climax.

The man instinctively knew this would be a memorable scene.

True to the Slime’s reputation for sound quality, the recorded audio felt quite good.

“I’ll wait for you.”

After finishing the song cleanly, the male singer finally realized how close he had gotten to the ground.

Before he knew it, the ground was very close.

“Parachute! Parachute! There’s no parachute!”

The male singer recalled the sign he had seen earlier.

[Trust the Skydiving Slime. Then you can fly.]

‘I trust you. I trust Alchemy Slime-nim. Ramen. Ramen.’

But his speed didn’t decrease.

‘What do I do, what do I do…’

The male singer flapped his arms.

As he flapped, his speed noticeably decreased.

But because he had been so focused on singing, the ground had gotten quite close.

Thinking he would be too late at this rate, the male singer closed his eyes and flapped his wings frantically.

“Aaaah!”

Squeezing out every ounce of strength, he flapped until the sensation of falling completely disappeared.

“Huh? I flew?”

The male singer opened his eyes and saw the PD right in front of him.

The PD wasn’t flapping his arms.

“PD-nim, how are you flying?”

“I’m not flying. I’m standing.”

Looking down slightly, he was only 10 centimeters from the ground.

The male singer stopped flapping.

Thud. He landed on the ground.

“Hey, PD-nim! That was dangerous! I thought I was going to be late!”

“Even without flapping, the speed naturally decreases.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. It was written up there, wasn’t it? Just trust the <Skydiving Slime>.”

The male singer recalled the embarrassing display he just showed.

He rolled his eyes for a moment.

“By any chance…. editing….”

“No way.”

And the PD edited and broadcasted all the scenes to make them come alive perfectly.

The clip of him singing impressively and then flapping his arms like a lunatic went viral.

Along with that, skydiving while singing also became a trend.

***

The <Satellite Slime> side needs more time.

<Satellite Slime> isn’t some new product dumpling; there’s no way it’ll sell quickly.

The price only rises when there are many interested parties, so it shouldn’t sell too fast either.

Hans needs time to travel around the world.

So, for now, the focus was on completing the Road.

The part that could be called space is still unfinished.

That’s why access hasn’t been permitted yet.

But if the Road, which was painstakingly built, keeps being blocked from use, complaints will continue to pile up.

Just like with Slime Land, they decided to open only the prepared parts for now.

Skydiving.

It was structured so that it could be easily enjoyed without having to board a plane and ascend.

In fact, there’s no need to do this from an extremely high place.

For example, if you jump from the very top, it takes over an hour to descend to the ground.

Even sightseeing out the window on a plane gets boring after a few minutes.

Falling for an hour would make anyone tired midway.

It’s better to open only up to a medium height.

So, you could say skydiving is complete.

Something similar could be done at Slime Land, but perhaps because the place is different.

Even though it’s not free but paid, it’s still incredibly popular.

It might be obvious if you think about it.

Even the same food tastes different depending on where you eat it.

The same experience feels different depending on where you do it.

No matter how much you try to deceive yourself, the perception that Slime Land is a safe, enclosed space lingers in the back of your mind.

It can’t help but be different from the real world.

And well.

Skydiving while singing also caught on as a trend.

Of course, various safety measures were put in place.

With the [Link+] skill and [Pressure+] skill, it was made impossible to drift away from the Road.

Even if you fall vertically at maximum speed, it was set up so you could land safely.

Even outside Slime Land, safety must be absolutely ensured.

This bought a little time, but there’s no intention to drag it out for long.

If possible, the plan is to complete the Road by Independence Day.

Going up to space on the day the heavens open.

Isn’t that cool?

“Huh? Ah…. you’re here.”

The child who holds the world in their eyes.

Veronica has returned.

I should go greet her.

“Welcome back.”

“I’m back.”

“Good. You’ve worked hard. It must have been tough going to a place with so many people.”

Even with the <Slime Eyepatch>, those eyes see too much.

“Thank you for working hard for me.”

“It was fine.”

“That’s a relief then. Were there any difficulties or problems?”

“No.”

“Then, will you tell me what you saw?”

Veronica told me about the things she saw from the rider.

I see.

So that’s where the Core of Flame is.