chapter_0535

535 – Bodhisattva

535 – Bodhisattva

“Spirit! Oh, Spirit!”

The old woman ran towards the ant doll and knelt down.

When the ant doll showed no reaction, she crawled towards me while still on her knees.

“Bodhisattva! Did I say something wrong? I beg you, please save my foolish son…”

“Yes, yes…?”

A person much older than me clung to my legs, pleading.

I glanced around at the others, unsure of how to respond to this unexpected situation.

“Our Yeongbeom went in there to save those kind-hearted people and hasn’t come out, oh dear…!”

The sight of the old woman begging was shocking.

My heart raced.

“W-well, if he’s alive, we can rescue him…”

“Really?”

“Yes… as long as he’s alive…”

“Oh, thank you…! Thank you…!”

The old woman bowed deeply to me.

It seemed she believed her son, who had gone missing in the abandoned house, was still alive.

“Alright. Then we’ll go check on him, so please rest.”

“Yes…”

The old woman rubbed her palms together and bowed her head.

Understanding a mother’s heart wishing for her son’s survival, I decided to head straight into the abandoned house.

“Hey, shall we go in?”

“Yeah…!”

“Let’s go.”

Even the usually lively Levinas and the playful Bomi were serious this time.

The children seemed to feel a significant sense of responsibility.

Creeeak-!

We opened the rusty iron gate and stepped into the abandoned house.

The amount of mana felt inside the building was unusual.

It was a level of mana that was hard for Song Harin to handle alone.

“What level is this for you guys?”

Song Harin, perhaps feeling nervous, swallowed hard and asked.

Considering the amount of mana and the weakened physical abilities, I held up three fingers to Song Harin.

“Probably level three…?”

“Level three? What does that mean?”

“Uh…”

How could I explain what level three was?

As I pondered, Yoon Dain seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation and raised her hand.

“Um, I’m just an ordinary person, so I might be a burden…”

“Don’t!”

The moment Yoon Dain stepped back, Gaeul, with wide eyes, held out her Wooden Caliber.

Gaeul’s Wooden Caliber was glowing white.

“Whoa! This is! This is!”

“Run!”

With Bomi’s shout, we dashed toward the abandoned house.

Even Yoon Dain, who had been hesitant, ended up following us in a daze.

“There’s something over there.”

“Stairs!”

Under the sofa that had been pushed aside, we saw a staircase leading down.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Gaeul headed down the stairs.

Though it was dark underground, the glowing Wooden Caliber illuminated the area.

Creeeak-

From deep within the basement, we heard a sound like a throat being cut.

Naturally, our gazes turned toward where the voice came from.

“Hey, kids, for now…”

“Run!”

“Medicine!”

In contrast to the tense Song Harin, our kids were fired up with enthusiasm.

Gaeul, holding the Wooden Caliber, led the way down the long corridor, and we followed closely behind her.

Worried about our reckless charge, Song Harin asked Choi Jin-hyuk, who was following beside her.

“Is this really okay?”

“Probably?”

Since it was just a level three dungeon.

I figured it was safe to leave it to Gaeul’s Wooden Caliber.

Choi Jin-hyuk’s judgment turned out to be correct.

“Graah!”

A massive humanoid monster appeared behind a broken door.

As soon as it showed up, a white fireball shot out from the Wooden Caliber.

Boom-!

In a single strike, the monster’s body ignited and turned to ashes.

The loud noise seemed to attract the attention of nearby monsters, who appeared in the corridor where we were.

“Hmm…”

Typically, monsters would be cautious when they heard a loud noise.

But here, the monsters just charged in without hesitation.

This dungeon could be considered the lowest level among level three dungeons.

The difference between monsters that used their heads and those that didn’t was significant.

Boom-! Boom-! Boom-!

All the monsters that came into the corridor were obliterated by Gaeul’s Wooden Caliber.

As we continued to charge forward without a plan, a new type of monster appeared before us.

“W-what is that…!”

A gigantic monster that filled the wide corridor.

Seeing this, Yoon Dain let out a small scream.

“It’s okay. Leave it to me.”

Bomi released Black Mana toward the monster.

The body of the giant monster exposed to Bomi’s mana began to shrink gradually.

“Gruk…?”

The monster had shrunk to about our knee height.

Gaeul swung her Wooden Caliber at the now smaller monster.

“Thwack!”

Thud-!

With a light attack, the monster stumbled and fell sideways.

But it was still alive, so Saebyeok kicked it away with her foot.

“……”

“You guys are really strong, huh?”

Yoon Dain and Song Harin seemed surprised that we were this strong.

In our original world, we were much stronger than this.

It was a moment to smile at them with a grin.

“Is anyone there…?”

“Ugh…”

A cracked voice and someone sobbing could be heard from beyond the wall.

I knocked on the wall like a knock and turned to Saebyeok.

“Saebyeok, break this down.”

“Okay.”

Boom-!

When Saebyeok lightly punched, the cement wall crumbled down.

Behind the cement wall were people trapped in a cage.

“……!”

We exchanged glances for a moment, taking in the situation.

Then, someone trapped in the cage spoke up first.

“Rescue team…!”

“Rescue team…?”

There were six people trapped in the cage.

Among them, one middle-aged man looked to be in poor condition.

“Are you the rescue team…?”

“Uh… yes…”

One side of his face and upper body were abnormally swollen.

It resembled the condition of the monster we had just captured.

“I’ve already lost hope. Please, at least save the others…”

“Um…”

He still had a lot of human features left.

Maybe a potion would help him recover.

Just as I was about to take a potion out of my pocket, Gaeul raised her Wooden Caliber high into the air.

Shimmer-!

With a bright light, the mutated middle-aged man’s body began to revert to its original state.

The divine energy in the Wooden Caliber seemed to drive away the evil energy.

“Wow, Gaeul, how did you do that?”

At my question, Gaeul puffed out her chest.

And then she shook her head firmly.

“Monna!”

**

Though this dungeon was quite dangerous in this world, it was an easy dungeon that any ordinary adventurer could clear in our world.

Thanks to that, we were able to rescue the people without any major issues.

“I came to find people, but when I came to my senses, I was trapped?”

“Yes, aside from occasionally hearing strange monster-like sounds, I haven’t seen anyone.”

While talking with the middle-aged man, Yeongbeom, Song Harin turned to me.

Her eyes seemed to ask if it was okay to tell the truth.

“I think that’s a lab. A corporation is capturing people to experiment on.”

“Could it be the work of a ghost?”

“Hey! Ghosts don’t exist in this world…!”

The woman who had been trapped in the cage lowered her head as she spoke.

Having experienced something so horrific, it would be hard to deny the existence of ghosts.

‘What should I do?’

How on earth should I explain this?

With no way out, I looked up at Choi Jin-hyuk.

He then looked around at the people and said,

“Actually, we don’t know what happened either.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. We just follow orders from above.”

“Ah… it seems there are even young ones among you. What kind of organization are you?”

“……”

When Yeongbeom asked, Choi Jin-hyuk silently gazed at him.

Then, as if Yeongbeom misunderstood something, he nodded to himself.

“Ah… I see. Understood.”

Perhaps thinking we were some secret organization, there were no further questions.

Leading the situation through silence.

I should try that later.

While I was thinking about this, the old woman came running from a distance.

“Yeongbeom! Oh, Yeongbeom…!”

“Uh, mother…!”

Throwing aside her cane, she ran toward her son.

Despite her knees being uncomfortable, she was running quite fast.

‘I’m glad we met.’

A mother’s love is truly great.

As I watched the touching reunion, I stuck close to the children.

I had precious family members just like Yeongbeom.

“Thank you, Bodhisattva…!”

The old woman, having reunited with Yeongbeom, approached us and knelt down.

One by one, she took our hands and bowed her head repeatedly.

“W-well…”

It felt both fulfilling and burdensome.

Not knowing what to do, I hesitated, and Yeongbeom also bowed his head sincerely to us.

“Thank you once again for saving us.”

“Thank you.”

I awkwardly bowed my head in response to the gratitude of those we had helped.

Then, when I turned to the side, I noticed the children looking proud.

Levinas was twitching the corners of his mouth, but he couldn’t smile due to the atmosphere.

‘Everyone is happy.’

Feeling joy from helping others.

It was the mark of a commendable adventurer.

Thanks to that, I was able to shake off my awkwardness and receive the people’s gratitude.

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thank you so much for reading today, PIA1747014585384!

Thank you for the comments and recommendations! They always give me strength…!

I made a slight modification to this chapter…!

I changed the old woman’s speech to a dialect…!

I wonder if there are any awkward parts in the dialect…?!

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