Stuck in a puddle of blood… The moment I saw the corpse that looked far from alive.
Everything in front of me turned pitch black, and my mind darkened alongside it.
The past and present overlapped.
My disciple, who said they would be back from the outside.
Lee Ha-yul, who said he would return from the outside.
Surely, he would do well, I thought, vaguely trusting my disciple.
Even while feeling anxious, I turned my eyes away, thinking it wasn’t my place to interfere.
My disciple was caught up in the dungeon’s rampage.
Lee Ha-yul was caught up in the dungeon’s rampage.
He had disappeared, leaving only an arm behind.
Lee Ha-yul, whose arm had been torn off, was stuck in a puddle of blood.
“Ah.”
A sigh escaped my lips.
Blood dripped from my tightly clenched fist.
I wanted to smash my own head in.
With clenched fists, I wished to drive my focus into my head with my unique ability.
It’s common to have hallucinations from psychic attacks. One way to cope in those moments is to commit suicide in the illusionary world.
I wanted to believe it was a psychic attack causing the hallucination.
Though the vivid senses and intuition told me it wasn’t a hallucination, I wanted to gamble on the possibility that it might be just that.
– …!
What prevented me from doing so was that the corpse I thought was lifeless was weakly gasping for air.
Reality hit me hard.
Atra, who had been standing like a statue, rushed over and knelt down.
Thud— as my knee hit the ground, the blood puddle rippled.
I checked Lee Ha-yul’s condition.
…It was hard to believe he was alive. Even if he had regeneration abilities, he was definitely still breathing.
Though he looked frail enough to die at any moment, he was undoubtedly alive.
Alive.
That fact filled my mind.
With hasty yet careful hands, I cradled Lee Ha-yul. I took off my coat to wrap him and quickly stomped the ground.
The sky outside the shelter was regaining its original color.
The outer walls that encircled the city were gradually crumbling. Thanks to Lee Ha-yul capturing the Alpha entity that served as the dungeon’s core.
Atra headed towards the direction where a presence was gathering near the remains of the outer walls.
There, a team from the association was attempting to break through and enter the dungeon.
Of course, there was a hero with healing-type abilities among the rescuers.
The healing hero stayed behind while the rest of the combat personnel entered the city where the outer walls had collapsed.
Healing began.
As Atra stood anxiously behind, the healing hero’s face twisted in distress.
“It’s beyond my abilities now.”
“What?”
Beyond my abilities.
Atra’s face cracked at an answer she hadn’t anticipated.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. Can you say it again?”
“…Yes. It’s beyond my abilities.”
The high-ranking healing hero, Pasenov, chewed his lips. His face clearly showed urgency and self-loathing.
“The wounds are too severe. The unique ability that dug into the injuries is making healing extremely difficult.”
It’s beyond my abilities.
Watching the healing hero repeat those words, Atra’s mind began to spiral.
Beyond? Then what am I supposed to do? The only healing method Atra had was the recovery potion she always carried.
She’d used that long ago. It had little effect.
Even though it was of quality that could be used in a magical calamity, it still didn’t help.
The healing hero said it was beyond his capabilities. Then who could help?
She knew the answer. If one couldn’t do it, then two might—if a high-ranking hero couldn’t, then she needed to go to the top-tier hero.
Both options were impossible here.
Determined, Atra cradled Lee Ha-yul again.
A cool body temperature. There was no warmth to be felt. It made Atra feel her hopes dwindling little by little.
She stamped on the ground, wrapping her energy around the terrain. Afraid of potential repurcussions, she also wrapped energy around Lee Ha-yul.
She had to head to the association, to the place with the gate. From there, she needed to receive healing from high-level healing personnel, no matter where it was.
– Huh, ugh…
Even as she stomped the ground relentlessly, Atra’s heart sank whenever she heard the ragged breaths from her arms.
It was unstable. Lee Ha-yul was so close to passing out, he could die at any moment…
The smell of blood wafted around. The subtly sweet scent he usually had was gone, replaced solely by the stench of death that made her nauseated.
Everything tormented Atra. It felt like her heart was being ripped apart.
‘I shouldn’t have let you go.’
That she wouldn’t give affection. That she couldn’t be with him for life should not have been a valid excuse. It was a pathetic excuse.
Regret.
Regret that was always far too late.
.
.
.
[At local time 12:15, a chain dungeon rampage occurred in the region of Sheffnah, Scotland.]
The first weekend of April.
The urgent report struck the world that was busy enjoying a peaceful daily life.
[The World Superhuman Association stated that the rampage in Sheffnah was a mutated case without precursory signs, with five level-4 dungeons rampaging consecutively.]
Dungeon rampage.
Even if peace was being enjoyed, calamities would occasionally arrive and take countless lives.
[The number of confirmed deaths from the rampage is over 500, and injuries exceed 7,000. This number is still being calculated and is expected to rise further as investigations continue.]
The news spread quickly nationwide.
The rampage of the dungeon and the resulting casualties were always treated as significant news and served as a notably eye-catching sensational topic of interest in daily life.
Sensational news. That was all.
In the end, unless one was an involved party, it would end with mere feelings of sympathy.
Atra was in a position to be considered as an involved party.
Near the entrance of the healing room.
She sat blankly in a chair, listening to the urgent news transmitted by the hologram.
‘……’
It had been nearly a day since Lee Ha-yul had entered the concentrated healing facility.
During that day, he had received treatment from dozens of professional healers, yet he still hadn’t regained consciousness.
It was that severe of an injury.
Particularly frustrating was that the unique ability which inflicted the damage was of such a formidable nature that even the professional healers found it hard to cleanse its remnants.
– Thud thud
The sound of footsteps left unconcealed reached her ears. Atra looked up.
A man in combat attire was crossing the hallway towards her. A familiar face.
Maxwell.
He was a superhuman from the association’s disaster management department responsible for dealing with the damage caused by the dungeon, and he had a slight acquaintance with Atra.
“It’s been a while, Clyde. It’s been two years.”
“…Yeah.”
In just a moment, his hair had become frayed, and his voice lacked even a hint of strength.
His complexion was grim, and his eyes lacked their usual light.
Seeing him, Maxwell let out a deep sigh internally. He had expected it, but he didn’t look well.
Maxwell knew of Atra’s situation. He was aware of the incident that had befallen her past disciple and how it related to Lee Ha-yul now.
He also had some understanding of how she must be feeling now.
After a brief hesitation, he still had to say what needed to be said.
“Atra Clyde, top-tier hero. As the guardian of student Lee Ha-yul, would you accompany us to view the observational records of the incident?”
Incident site, observational records.
Atra’s eyes shook.
.
.
.
The interior was generally dim. Atra chewed her lips as she stared at the hologram that floated in the center of the room.
The hologram displayed a scene just before the dungeon rampage… More precisely, it showed Lee Ha-yul.
It was a magical tool imbued with the power of the Tower of Observation that captured the scene of that moment.
While it couldn’t transmit during the time the space was isolated, it could be replayed now that the isolation was lifted.
In the video.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t Lee Ha-yul’s appearance. The figure captured was entirely different in physique and appearance.
“Student Lee Ha-yul was confirmed to be carrying a space perception magic tool at that time.”
At Maxwell’s explanation, Atra nodded.
BANG! A loud noise echoed in the video. Simultaneously, Lee Ha-yul staggered, grimacing as he held his head.
Atra suspected that the ‘space perception’ ability he conveyed was the culprit.
Did the dungeon’s rampage affect the space, and was Lee Ha-yul harmed through his ability to perceive that space?
The video continued.
As the dungeon rampaged, the sky turned ashen.
Amidst such a bewildering situation.
Lee Ha-yul was the first to take care of a child who had been nearby and began heading towards the shelter. In the process, he was killing monsters with magic, reducing their number.
The video continued.
After sending the child to the shelter, Lee Ha-yul did not enter himself.
A mere student, who had only awakened for less than two months, he dove straight into the heart of the rampaging dungeon without hesitation to kill monsters and save people.
The Red Leaf Hound’s claws scratched Lee Ha-yul. A fluttering cloth barely blocked the attack.
There were too many monsters. Too many people to save. Lee Ha-yul had no margin to spare.
Lee Ha-yul took down monsters from a distance and used magic, but there came moments when he had to engage physically.
Also, there were times when he had to put himself at risk to protect civilians.
He blocked them all. With artifacts, power, and at times with his bare hands when there wasn’t time to spare, blood would splatter.
‘……’
The injuries were superficial. He wouldn’t have sustained such wounds now.
The video sped up. For hours, Lee Ha-yul continued to kill monsters and save people without halting.
The acceleration stopped. In one corner of the video, a familiar monster appeared.
Next to Lee Ha-yul was a monster with its head smashed in, the Alpha entity maintaining the dungeon’s rampage.
BANG! The beast in the video stomped the ground. It was quite a rapid movement. For the Lee Ha-yul that Atra knew, it was a difficult speed to respond to.
A huge paw drawn back. A trembling paw, gathering force.
In the next moment, Atra braced herself, anticipating what would happen.
BANG! With a massive impact sound, Lee Ha-yul’s form was slammed against the road. Atra’s fingertips twitched.
Lee Ha-yul, tossed aside and scraping the asphalt, writhed.
The appearance she saw was not that of the space perception—a glimpse of his true self was revealed as that blow knocked the magic tool away.
‘……’
In Atra’s view, Lee Ha-yul’s face was clearly visible.
A face twisted in pain and shaking with fear.
She understood. It was entirely reasonable for Lee Ha-yul to react this way, having not experienced real combat.
His feet dragged back. He retreated. Of course. Naturally, he should have. Obviously, he should have run away.
Atra hoped he would just run away like that.
And then, his legs stopped.
It was a fleeting moment. In less than a few seconds, Lee Ha-yul’s face twisted in horror.
Fear and pain.
With a face wracked with all those emotions, Lee Ha-yul stamped his foot down.
Forward.
Toward where the monster was.
Wrapping around energy, he stood against the monster.
As Atra stared blankly at Lee Ha-yul in the video, memories of one day’s conversation flitted through her mind.
It was a question about how she would respond if caught up in a dangerous accident.
Back then, Lee Ha-yul had scratched his head, glancing at her before responding through the hologram.
– [I would probably run away. I’m a coward and don’t have the confidence to fight for my life.]
Having answered that, Lee Ha-yul had been watching her carefully, worried she might be disappointed in him.
‘Why…’
As he became a ragged form, gritting his teeth to confront the Alpha entity, Lee Ha-yul’s actions overlapped.
Why didn’t he run away?
The one who could answer that lingering question was still unconscious.
Regret.
It was far too late for that.
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