Though Han-eol had not opened his mouth even once, a handful of sand crunched between his back teeth. Sweat poured down his forehead like rain.
Han-eol pulled his canteen from his side and lightly moistened the inside of his mouth with water.
'I have to conserve water as much as possible. And once the canteen is half empty, I go back to the blue mist no matter what. Even if I have to eat a mouthful of curses from the 1st Assault Corps Leader, staying alive comes first.'
Checking the watch hand and the receiver periodically, Han-eol moved just a little further in the direction of the central mountain.
Then came one particular moment.
"Kegh!"
Han-eol spewed blood from his mouth.
An unknown object that had flown in before he even perceived it bored through his backpack and his back in turn, grazed right past the side of his heart, and lodged hard in the vest over his chest.
The destructive force and thrust of the unknown object were so strong that for an instant Han-eol's body was lifted into the air and hurled a good five meters forward.
If anything, it was thanks to the A-grade vest Han-eol wore that he avoided having his heart pierced directly. It was because the vest's defensive power had made the point of impact of the object that sniped Han-eol veer slightly off from his heart.
The vests originally distributed to new employees in the 1st Assault Corps had D-grade defensive power, and while this was superior in performance to the E-grade vests issued to interns, it was still of a quality that could not be compared with A-grade. If Han-eol had not luckily taken the A-grade vest along this morning, he would have come near to dying without being able to lift a hand properly.
At the same moment he came to rest five meters ahead, Han-eol pressed his body flat against the earth.
When Han-eol played dead and did not stir in the slightest, a response came from far off.
From a distance beyond even Han-eol's eyesight, from a good several kilometers away, an object like a disc came flying in like a bullet.
Riding atop the disc was a strange creature with an inverted-triangle skull, a frame as small as a dwarf's, and arms long enough to drag at its ankles.
This strange creature, or demon beast, stood upright atop the disc hovering two meters up and stared down at Han-eol.