“Ugh......”
The man who had been lying down sat up.
“What......? How did this happen?”
The man sprang to his feet and stared in shock as he looked over his entire body.
“Hehe. What do you think? Behold my incredible skill.”
“Its structure is a little different from ordinary magic.”
Kang Hyeon-woo swallowed his surprise.
It was completely different from the basic principle of magic, which controlled Mana and reconstructed its arrays to bring about the desired effect.
As though the Mana were moving of its own accord, it formed some kind of formula at unbelievable speed.
“Hehehe. It is Dragon Tongue, permitted only to our clan.”
Eorin proudly raised her chin.
“And yet such an impressive race cannot even separate phases.”
“Th-That is......! I had just never seen it before! I can do it whenever I want, you know?!”
Leaving the huffing Eorin behind, Kang Hyeon-woo approached the man.
“Special Operations Unit?”
“Y-Yes! Did you save me? Thank you. I do not know how you did it...... but as expected of one of the Final Seven.”
‘Final Seven?’
Every person affiliated with Shinhwa Company whom Kang Hyeon-woo had met until now had treated Park Seong-jun as a traitor and fugitive.
And in truth, he was.
Normally, in the world after the destruction, when people spoke of the heroes, they meant the other five, excluding Park Seong-jun and Kang Hyeon-woo himself.
“Name?”
“Just call me C...... No, please call me Charlie.”
Members of the Special Operations Unit had no names. Aside from Alpha, who served as their leader, every member was equal.
It was a special unit without even ranks. Kang Hyeon-woo himself had only encountered them once or twice.
“Continue what you were saying earlier. You told me to turn back?”
“Ah, yes! That is correct. You are heading toward Busan right now, are you not?”
“You’re tracking me in real time anyway. Seems pointless to ask.”
“And you’re pursuing Sir Beast?”
‘Sir Beast, huh.’
Traitor to humanity.
No one deliberately spoke Park Seong-jun’s codename aloud. Even when they did, they would awkwardly attach an honorific to it or leave the honorific off entirely.
Yet this Special Operations Unit member had addressed Park Seong-jun’s codename with respect as though it were perfectly natural.
“Has word already spread that far? I thought Shinhwa Company was a busy corporation, but apparently you don’t have much work to do.”
Kang Hyeon-woo spat out the sarcastic remark.
Headquarters had known Kang Hyeon-woo’s objective from the beginning.
Yet they had left him alone for decades.
This was the first time they had approached him so directly.
“Well...... the truth is, an Anomaly Break occurred in Busan.”
“It’s not as though Breaks are anything new.”
“We know that too. In fact, who would know it better than us?”
The Special Operations Unit had been established to clear Dungeons and deal with Breaks.
Of course, they also handled Shinhwa Company’s dirty work.
Charlie furrowed his brow and let his shoulders slump weakly.
“But...... this Break was different somehow. The Stream was cut off with the explosion, and a hemispherical energy field spread across all of Busan.”
“The Stream was cut off.”
“Yes...... The...... Intelligence Bureau detected an energy signature similar to the explosion that occurred on Humanity’s Last Day.”
Twitch.
Kang Hyeon-woo’s brow furrowed.
“And?”
“The Stream has been cut off, so communications are down and we cannot receive any information. From what I heard...... an Intelligent Life-form capable of speech appeared.”
It was exactly the same information written on the Intelligence Bureau note Kang Hyeon-woo had obtained.
“Why did you go out of your way to find me and tell me not to go?”
“I do not know the details myself. That was simply the last message I received.”
Charlie opened his Combat Support System and projected a hologram, but the connection had been severed and the display was distorted.
“Like some kind of EMP.”
“Yes. There has not been an explosion like this in the hundred years since Humanity’s Last Day.”
“What was the last message you received?”
Charlie turned the hologram around and showed it to Kang Hyeon-woo. Faint text could be seen through the distorted screen.
[Codename SIN en route to Fort Busan Marina. Current predicted location transmitted. Headquarters will handle. Prevent movement. Unpredictable incident anticipated.]
“An unpredictable incident......”
‘If it’s the same kind of explosion as the one a hundred years ago.’
Even Kang Hyeon-woo had been caught in the explosion and blown away before he had time to react.
He could understand, to some extent, why Shinhwa Company was concerned about an unpredictable incident.
“Do you know Beast is there?”
“Yes. I heard rumors that Sir Beast was there. But I never saw him. I was stationed on the outskirts......”
Charlie had been providing support on the outskirts when he was injured by the hemispherical energy field, after which he saw the message and came looking for Kang Hyeon-woo.
“You use an honorific for Beast.”
“Ah...... I do not know the reason, but Sir Beast was recently removed from headquarters’ bounty list, and his Mercenary status was restored.”
Restored after a hundred years.
Something was slowly beginning to happen.
“If you were on the outskirts, how were you injured badly enough to die?”
“Ah, well, when the Special Anomaly exploded, it seems to have destabilized the Stream. Other Anomalies appeared as a side effect, and their Grades increased as well.”
He meant that ordinary Anomalies containing insect-like monsters had been upgraded by the influence of the Stream.
Cities around Busan were currently showing signs of collapse, approaching conditions similar to Ground Zero because of the monsters pouring out of those Anomalies.
“Thanks for the information.”
Kang Hyeon-woo spoke as he prepared to leave.
“I think it would be better if you did not go.”
Charlie stepped in front of Kang Hyeon-woo with a grave expression.
“You think you can stop me?”
“No. But...... I really think you should not go.”
“Saving your life should be enough payment for the information. We’re leaving.”
Charlie stopped trying to block him and stepped aside.
Lena and Eorin had also finished preparing to leave.
“Um...... But, SIN.”
Kang Hyeon-woo looked back at Charlie.
“Do you have anything to eat? I’m...... very hungry.”
“Food...... We don’t have any.”
Kang Hyeon-woo could survive on Mana alone without needing to eat anything in particular. Eating was closer to a hobby born of habit.
Lena, being a half-android, and Eorin, being a Dragon, had no need to eat either, so Kang Hyeon-woo’s group had nothing.
“......You wander the wasteland without any food?”
“Ah! Mister! I have one of these!”
Lena pulled a chocolate bar out of her pocket and handed it to Charlie.
“No. It’s all right, kid.”
“No! Eat it! I’m fine!”
Charlie smacked his lips quietly before carefully accepting the chocolate bar.
“Thank you. I’ll definitely repay this favor someday.”
“Yeah! You better! Take care!”
Lena waved with a bright smile.
SNAP!
Kang Hyeon-woo’s group set off once again.
***
“By the way, is there a reason we are walking like this?”
Eorin suddenly asked after they had walked until morning.
“?”
“No, why not simply Teleport?”
“Mister doesn’t like teleportation.”
Lena eagerly explained why Kang Hyeon-woo disliked teleportation.
After listening to her explanation, Eorin tilted her head.
“Huh...... The humans here are remarkable. To think they use Mana through machines even without magic.”
“Is that really amazing?”
“Indeed. Now that I understand the principle, I can see why he dislikes it. But surely you know that magical Teleportation does not reconstruct matter?”
Shinhwa Company’s intercity transport devices operated by disassembling the target down to the atomic level and then reassembling it.
A Mage’s teleportation was closer to tearing through space and traveling through the breach.
Kang Hyeon-woo glanced at Eorin before speaking quietly.
“Inefficient.”
“Inefficient?”
“You have to constantly calculate spatial coordinates, the slightest instability in the Mana flow can put your life at risk, and it consumes a lot of Mana.”
“Hmm. I see. That is a reasonable argument.”
“More importantly, I have plenty of time.”
“A splendid way of thinking.”
For a Dragon who lived an exceedingly long life, it was an ideal way of thinking.
“That Dragon Tongue. Can Resurrection be used on anyone?”
Eorin stared silently at Kang Hyeon-woo for a moment before shaking her head.
“Of course not. If it could be used on anyone, would that not violate the laws of nature?”
“Conditions?”
“They must not have been dead for long. Their body must not be damaged. Their maximum Mana must be within a level that I can control. In other words, I cannot revive you.”
“I see.”
As a Beyond Grade Mercenary, Kang Hyeon-woo possessed an enormous amount of Mana.
Moreover, Mana:Life Force Exchange had pushed his Mana beyond even the range the system could measure.
Even if his Mana returned to normal after his death, there was no telling whether Resurrection would be possible.
“Why are you suddenly asking about Resurrection?”
“Just wondered.”
“I only revived the human last night because I grew curious. Know that I have no intention of resurrecting you.”
“Right. None of your business.”
He had already lived long enough and had no lingering attachment left.
There was no meaning in living a little longer in a world that had already been destroyed.
“Come to think of it, Lena cannot be revived either. This party for my amusement truly has a strange composition.”
“Hehe. Big Sis, I’m fine! Mister, the Mana flow up ahead is strange.”
At the end of the barren horizon.
A sandstorm was raging in the direction Lena pointed.
“Practice. Get ready.”
“Yes!”
***
The barren plain was filled with an endless swarm of ant-like monsters.
SKREEEEEEEE—!
“Fire Ball!”
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!
Lena floated in midair with a Shield spread over her body, hurling Fire Balls at the monsters.
Eorin tilted her head as she looked at them.
“What in the world are those?”
“They came from your world. Why are you asking me?”
“Hmm? No. There are no monsters like those in my world.”
“You probably just don’t know about them.”
“Impossible! I belong to the Silver Clan, which holds all the wisdom of the world. There is nothing in this world I do not know.”
“You claim to possess all wisdom, yet didn’t you just ask me what those were?”
“Y-You......! Th-That was......!”
Eorin bit her lip with an embarrassed expression.
‘Monsters that don’t exist in that world......’
Kang Hyeon-woo had vaguely suspected something similar before.
Ordinary Anomalies and Special Anomalies were both Anomalies, but there was something subtly different about them.
Ordinary Anomalies containing insect-type monsters could only ever be cleared in cave-like environments.
Special Anomalies, on the other hand, contained blue grasslands and open plains, and various Skill Pages and other items could be obtained from them.
The monsters in Special Anomalies were primarily creatures that had appeared in the fantasy settings of the world before its destruction.
‘Then that means two different worlds invaded Earth at the same time.’
SPLAT—!
Eorin burst apart a monster that had approached her, then narrowed her eyes and spoke with a serious expression.
“They are stronger than they look. Those red bastards in particular are even stronger. They are at least Ogre-level.”
“They’re monsters strengthened by the Break.”
They were monsters that had poured outside when the Dungeon exploded.
Among them were some exceptionally strong bastards.
“Kyahaha! Ice Storm!”
Lena flew all over the place, showering the area with all kinds of flashy magic.
The monsters stepped on the shoulders of their own kind and leaped toward Lena, but they were blocked by her Shield and could not harm her at all.
“That child truly is fascinating.”
Silver light shone from Eorin’s eyes as she examined Lena, who was firing magic with silver light blazing from her eyes, and continued.
“Mana is continuously being generated from her heart. It is almost like...... a Dragon Heart...... Does your world possess technology like this as well?”
“Who knows.”
“Moreover, that child is not merely using the Mana generated within her. She instinctively uses the Mana scattered throughout nature when casting magic as well.”
Eorin coolly calculated the possibilities.
‘With fifteen or so children like her, even Ancient Dragons could not be certain of victory.’
Setting aside the monstrous bastard named Kang Hyeon-woo beside her, even that little girl was a difficult existence to comprehend.
‘Perhaps......’
While Eorin was lost in thought, Kang Hyeon-woo gestured toward the red monsters with his chin.
“Too much for you?”
“Hmph. Of course not. I was merely surprised that bastards resembling vermin were stronger than expected.”
Silver flashes poured from Eorin’s eyes.
FLASH!
A wave of energy erupted from Eorin’s body and covered the horizon in an instant.
[Passive Magic Skill Fear activated.]
[Passive Magic Skill Mental Defense activated.]
Holographic messages flooded Kang Hyeon-woo’s vision as well.
SKRIEEEEEE—?
The monsters paused for a moment before all turning toward Eorin at once.
“What......? What is happening? Why is my Roar......?!”
Their unexpected reaction left Eorin badly flustered.
“Those bastards...... are closer to a hive organism.”
“What is that?”
“They move by instinct rather than thinking for themselves.”
“If they possess the instincts of living creatures, they cannot escape my Roar!”
“Is that so?”
It was something Kang Hyeon-woo had honestly never considered before.
The instincts possessed by living creatures.
A Dragon’s Roar was a type of innate magic that awakened those instincts and forced the target to feel fear.
‘Hmm...... I have no idea.’
That was when it happened.
SKREEEEEEEE—?
KRRRRRK—!
The monsters suddenly shrieked at one another, then retreated toward Busan in perfect order like a receding tide.
“Has my Roar finally taken effect?!”
“I don’t think so. Surprisingly, you’ve got quite a flower garden in your head.”
“Flowers? Is that a compliment?”
“......Yeah.”
Lena, who had been casting magic from the sky as though carrying out an aerial bombardment, flew over to Kang Hyeon-woo.
“Mister! The monsters that were retreating went into a Dungeon!”
“A Dungeon.”
“Yes! An Anomaly. There’s a huge, red, weird-looking Anomaly up ahead!”
Lena led Kang Hyeon-woo and Eorin toward the horizon.
“Look, Mister.”
In the middle of the barren land stood a red portal roughly the size of a decent two-story building.
Considering that an ordinary portal was only around two meters tall, this one was nearly three times the size.
“Are we going in?”
“No.”
“Huh? Why?”
Lena’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.
“Our objective is Busan. We’re looking for Beast. There’s no practical benefit in clearing that place.”
“Huh?”
“There isn’t even anyone to sign a contract with. Why would I go in?”
It would be volunteer work without even a star rating or review.
“Can I ask why you want star ratings and reviews so badly?”
“No.”
‘Caroline.’
Star ratings and reviews.
It was an old habit, and a promise.
“But couldn’t there be something inside?”
“There’ll be nothing. I don’t need the Cores from insect-type monsters right now.”
Unlike a Special Dungeon, there was nothing particularly worthwhile to obtain inside.
He also had no intention of saving the world by dealing with Dungeon Breaks.
“I want to go in.”
“Do what you want.”
Kang Hyeon-woo walked past the portal.
“What are you doing?! Let’s go inside!”
“I refuse.”
“Urgh......! Your companion says she wants to go!”
“Why are we companions? Aren’t you just following me around?”
“L-Lena will want to go too!”
Lena silently shifted her eyes back and forth between Kang Hyeon-woo and Eorin.
“Lena is only accompanying me because she’s looking for someone.”
“Urgh......!”
Eorin bit her lip and was just about to shout when—
“Mister. Something inside there is strange.”
“Details.”
“Um...... It feels like Mr. Bear is in there.”
Kang Hyeon-woo silently stared at Lena.
“I-It’s true!”
Lena jumped in surprise.
Kang Hyeon-woo let out a long sigh and nodded.
“I’ll trust you this once.”
“Hehe. Thank you!”
“Y-You......! If we were going anyway, could you not have agreed happily from the beginning?!”
“None of my business.”
Leaving the trembling Eorin behind, Kang Hyeon-woo entered the portal first.
***
A familiar smell.
It was the kind of smell one could encounter deep inside an underground cave.
As expected, Kang Hyeon-woo’s group had entered a large cavern, and they looked around.
“Light!”
Lena created several spheres of light.
It was not particularly different from the ordinary Anomalies Kang Hyeon-woo had cleared countless times before.
“Oh. This place...... is unusual.”
“In what way?”
Eorin tilted her head.
“There is almost no Mana. Why? How is something like this possible?”
“None of our business. We’re moving.”
Kang Hyeon-woo, who had cleared Dungeons until he was sick of them, was about to head deeper into the cavern with familiar steps when—
“Mister. I feel Mr. Bear behind us.”
“?”
“Behind the portal.”
At Lena’s words, Kang Hyeon-woo turned around and looked beyond the portal through which they had entered.
“What’s behind it?”
“A wall. Ordinary Dungeons are similar to ant nests without entrances or exits.”
“An ant nest......? What’s that?”
Instead of answering, Kang Hyeon-woo headed behind the portal.
In every ordinary Dungeon, going behind the portal was pointless.
There would simply be a wall waiting there.
But......
‘She senses Park Seong-jun......’
If there truly was something—or someone—there as Lena claimed, they would soon find it.
‘Identify.’
[S-Grade Magic Skill (Identify) Used]
[Dungeon Grade : ??]
[Dungeon Progress : ??]
[Clear Count : ??]
[Objective : Destroy Dungeon Core]
[Wide-Area Curse Skill applied. Combat Support System unavailable.]
Every piece of information was displayed as question marks.
Kang Hyeon-woo slowly headed toward the rear of the Dungeon.
.
.
.
In the direction Lena had indicated—in other words, behind the Dungeon, where there should originally have been a wall—there was instead a long passage, contrary to Kang Hyeon-woo’s expectations.
Kang Hyeon-woo’s group traveled through it for quite some time.
Lena looked ahead and shouted.
“Wow. There’s light over there.”
Pause.
Dim light was seeping in from the distant end of the passage.
‘......Light?’
It was impossible.
Every ordinary Dungeon was a one-way cavern leading deep underground.
They were long and narrow like straws. No matter what method one used, there was no way out, and there was no outside light, making Light magic or other illumination equipment essential.
Yet light was coming in from outside.
‘Is it connected to the outside?’
In all his years, Kang Hyeon-woo had never once heard of an ordinary Dungeon being connected to the outside world.
Kang Hyeon-woo took out three New-Model Cores, chewed them up, and swallowed them.
[Mana restored by 300.]
[Direct Core consumption has low recovery efficiency.]
[Use a refined Core or a Recovery Station......]
Kang Hyeon-woo’s group cautiously emerged from the cave.
“Ah......”
“What is this......?”
Lena and Eorin stared blankly.
They had emerged outside the cave.
The first thing that entered their view upon stepping outside was a completely ruined, desolate land.
“Mister...... what’s that?”
Lena pointed toward the sky.
Kang Hyeon-woo answered in a dry voice.
“The shattered moon.”
In the dim night sky, the moon hung in a bizarre shape, broken into dozens of pieces.