episode_0232

“Hmm…”

“…”

“Shall we stop here? If we go on, he’ll dry up and die.”

“Ah, really?”

Aileen subtly pointed at Lee Hyunjin and spoke, and Haru nodded.

Even to her, Lee Hyunjin’s appearance was quite pitiful.

But if you were to ask if he looked *that* pitiful, well.

It wasn’t quite like that either.

“That’s why you should only be as greedy as you can handle, Lee Hyunjin. Was it ever even possible to face four people at once?”

Haru squatted next to the groveling Lee Hyunjin and chuckled, while Lee Hyunjin glared at her with veins popping.

“…You keep teasing me, Haru. I didn’t use my most powerful ability this time, you know?”

It was a statement made because he was slightly provoked, clearly conscious of his Essence Absorption ability.

“Oh dear, really? Is that so…”

From Haru’s perspective, who didn’t know much about that power, it just looked like bluster.

She gave him a look of pity, as if she was seeing someone truly pathetic, and Lee Hyunjin, thoroughly enraged, abruptly stood up.

“You really, one day—. *Gag*.”

“Quiet down, and put on your clothes. Disciple-nim.”

He was hit on the back of the head by Seol Hayeon and had the shirt he had taken off thrown over him.

Lee Hyunjin, with his vision obscured, suppressed a sigh for a moment…

‘If only I had properly used my Essence Absorption.’

Of course, it was his own choice to try to face them with only his physical strength, fueled by unnecessary pride.

However, it was a fact Lee Hyunjin, annoyed by Haru’s taunting, didn’t want to think about.

“…Haa.”

Anyway, it was true that they had played around quite a bit.

Lee Hyunjin willingly decided to put on his clothes.

He had certainly enjoyed himself to the fullest, but in truth, wasn’t this not a peaceful enough situation or time to be so relaxed?

“Are they still fighting up there? You know, dealing with those octopus monsters.”

“Well, I thought they would have swept away such low-level demonic beasts quickly…”

Seol Hayeon, who had hummed in thought before answering Lee Hyunjin’s question, frowned slightly.

Now that she thought about it, were they really the kind of force to be held up by those octopuses for so long?

‘…Yang Chan-ho, Cheon Sehee, Hong Myeongseon, Lee Cheonsang, and even Mother.’

How many Special S-ranks were there on that sea? Even if she, Lee Hyunjin, Ryu Seeun, and Violet had left—

“…There’s no reason for it to be this quiet for so long.”

“Huh? Master-nim, what did you say?”

“…”

Lee Hyunjin reacted to Seol Hayeon’s faint mumble, but she kept her mouth shut.

Something was strange. A sense of unease that she only noticed after enjoying herself to the fullest.

She turned to Haru with a fierce expression in an instant. Haru flinched at the quick turn of her head, almost making a ‘snap!’ sound.

“Why… why are you looking at me like that? Junior Disciple-sister, I, I didn’t do anything.”

Perhaps it was because she had just been tormented by Seol Hayeon for so long. She excused herself to Seol Hayeon in a submissive posture, accompanied by hiccups.

Even so, when Seol Hayeon’s mysterious gaze didn’t waver, she waved her arms as if feeling wronged.

“It’s true…! No, to begin with, there aren’t many regular cultists left here. The plan was almost in its final stages anyway…”

“…If you’re lying, I won’t let you off the hook. Senior Disciple-sister?”

“I, I’m telling you the truth. The villains have disbanded, and now there are only a few dozen people who originally lived here left.”

Seol Hayeon looked down at her with a very displeased gaze, but saw nothing unusual.

Moreover, there was no reason for her to lie at this point.

“Did something happen…?”

Violet, who had hastily put on her clothes while observing the mood, cautiously asked, and at that point, Lee Hyunjin also placed his hand on the cave wall.

After all, detection abilities using mana fluctuations were his specialty.

‘Strictly speaking, it’s Harin Sunbae-nim’s ability, though.’

That wasn’t the important part right now. The fluctuations spreading from his palm, eyes tightly closed, soon extended beyond the cave and onto the sea.

“…!”

*Fzzzt!*

Soon, Lee Hyunjin couldn’t help but contort his eyes, as if he had been electrocuted.

A slight pain was etched on his face as he hastily pulled his hand away from the wall.

“*Gasp*…”

“Disciple-nim?!”

Seol Hayeon approached Lee Hyunjin in surprise. Supported by her hand, Lee Hyunjin mumbled with a stiff face.

“It seems like something is on that sea.”

“…What?”

“I was disturbed. More than a detection ability, it was… a feeling like my mana itself was being braked. *Tsk*.”

Shaking his hand vigorously, Lee Hyunjin, who instantly regenerated his skin as if it had been burned by flames, narrowed his eyes.

“It really does seem like something serious has happened.”

“…”

At that single remark, the atmosphere among them naturally turned cold.

“…Just wait a moment.”

After a brief silence, Haru regulated her breathing and tried to activate her mana. Like Lee Hyunjin, she sent her mana up to the sea.

Of course, that was for cross-verification.

*Crackle!!*

“…”

And there was nothing more to see. Haru soon twisted her lips, feeling an unpleasant sensation as if a knife point were raking through her mind.

“It seems… it’s begun.”

“…It’s begun?”

Lee Hyunjin asked, turning to her as she murmured something meaningful, and Haru replied with a bitter smile, as if resigned.

“I told you. There wasn’t much time left, was there?”

“…What?”

“That damned annihilation, I mean.”

It was that moment when everyone’s expressions stiffened at her quietly uttered words.

*CRASHHHHHHH─!!!*

Too sudden to even react—. In a single instant, a swirling storm of flames swept through the entire underwater cave.

*****

“…Ah.”

Ryu Seeun, who had let out a ragged groan, regained consciousness a beat later.

Sweeping back the teal hair that covered her eyes, she let out a hollow laugh.

“Somehow… it seems like I keep fainting like this these days.”

Am I cursed?

She mumbled that with absurdity, but anyway, it wasn’t the time to be relaxed.

She soon sealed her lips and scanned her surroundings, filled with tension.

“…Crazy…”

But she couldn’t maintain her silence for long.

Because she couldn’t believe the sight before her eyes.

*Crack, rumble.*

Cracked earth, sparsely remaining moisture.

The sea had split. All the seawater had drained away.

Ryu Seeun hastily pushed herself up. Realizing that the place she had been lying was, unbelievably, the middle of the deep sea.

She was sure she had been wandering the underwater cave for a long time, looking for Lee Hyunjin…

‘…How did I end up in such a state, honestly.’

It wasn’t a laughing matter, but she forced a bitter smile.

Because she felt she wouldn’t be able to maintain her composure otherwise.

Could she have been left alone again?

And where had the others gone?

Just as Ryu Seeun, cloaked in dark mana, was coldly surveying her surroundings.

“Child.”

“…Mother?!”

Without warning, without any presence, a hand ‘tapped’ her shoulder.

Ryu Seeun’s serious expression from moments before vanished completely, and she screamed like a high school girl.

Yet, instinctively, she shot darkness behind her—

*Clang!*

The clear metallic sound that rang out immediately after was, at least, not something a demonic beast would make.

Ryu Seeun, a step too late, stared directly at the person who had swung a silver blade to strike away her darkness.

“…M-M-M-Mother?”

She wore a truly shocked expression. There stood a middle-aged woman, practically cloaked in shadows.

Hidden Sword, Yeon Seobaek. Lee Hyunjin’s mother had called out to her from that very spot.

“W-What did I just…”

Ryu Seeun then flinched and covered her mouth with her fingertips. She immediately fussed, looking everywhere to see if her darkness had harmed her.

“I’m not so fragile as to be hurt by that much of a warning attack, child.”

Yeon Seobaek merely replied calmly.

Anyway, she was also an S-rank Awakener, wasn’t she?

Furthermore, in terms of experience, she was more skilled than Ryu Seeun, who had only just reached the S-rank realm with Ryu Jinseong’s help and unconventional methods.

“…Cloak your respiratory system with mana. The air seems to be quite unusual.”

“Y-Yes?”

Yeon Seobaek immediately extended shadows, embracing Ryu Seeun as if to protect her as well.

Her dark eyes flickered as she gazed over the sea, beyond the sky.

‘What is she looking at…?’

And Ryu Seeun, as if mesmerized, followed her gaze.

“──Ah.”

And then she witnessed it.

*Crack, rumble.*

*Rumble, rumble.*

*RUMBLE, RUMBLE, RUMBLE…!!!*

The blue sky, splitting in half with a horrifying sound.

It wasn’t just the sea that had split.

“What everyone had worried about… ultimately, it came to this.”

*Thump…*

Yeon Seobaek sighed briefly. Her keen hearing soon faintly detected.

*Thump…*

The sound of ‘footsteps’.

*Thump.*

*Thump.*

*THUMMMMPPP!!!*

She detected them.

“My heavens.”

Ryu Seeun gasped in horror. She tilted her head almost to a right angle, her face filled with disbelief and helplessness.

Even so, she couldn’t see them. She couldn’t.

She could only perceive them intuitively.

*Thump.*

Trampling everything on the earth, taking one heavy step after another…

*Thump.*

Containing mana of a different ‘class’ from the S-rank demonic beast they had encountered in Cheorwon.

*Thump.*

The hordes of giants whose upper bodies were out of sight.