19. Collision (6)

“Jihu-ya! You weren’t hurt while I was gone, were you…? Are you okay? Ah, you found Ray…!”

After holding onto Ray, who was wriggling behind me, for five minutes, I saw Juha and Ryushin running towards me from the opposite side of the hallway, panting.

Judging by the fact that neither of them had any signs of even a minor battle, it seemed they hadn’t run into Xian or any other demons, which was a relief.

“Yeah. I think I just fainted from the mental shock… He’s moving a little, so I don’t think there’s any major problem. Did anything happen to you guys on the way here?”

“I used shadows to conceal myself, only using enough magic power to not strain myself. Well, I only ran into a demon once, so I didn’t feel like I was in any real danger…”

“That’s good. You have enough magic power to get back, right?”

“Of course! I calculated all that.”

As expected, he’s reliable.

Honestly, it was amazing that he had already reached this level, even though he was using abilities that were 180 degrees different from the light-wielding abilities he had in the original story.

Ryushin, who had been dragged along without properly hearing the situation from Juha, still looked a little dazed, but, as expected of the protagonist, he quickly grasped the situation with his excellent senses.

If the situation in his area was similar to mine, he probably would have noticed how things were going even before coming here.

The ominous magic power in the air, and the facility that was so empty it felt like its existence itself had been cut away.

“It’s already happened… I’m one step too late.”

Ryushin sighed softly and stroked his sword hilt with a listless hand.

Was he trying to soothe a sword that had lost its target?

Juha seemed uncomfortable with that sight, so she clapped her hands to change the atmosphere and spoke in a deliberately bright tone.

“Then, now that we’re all here, shall we go back?”

“We have no choice. It’ll be dangerous if we stay any longer.”

“Yeah, okay… No, wait a minute. Not yet.”

I almost went back without thinking, caught up in the natural flow.

Alice is still here. Ryushin, who doesn’t know about Alice, can answer without a care, but Juha definitely knows the truth, so seeing her act like this…

I gently lifted Juha’s face, which was bowed slightly, and finally saw what kind of expression she was making.

“…Sorry. I’m making things difficult again.”

“Jihu-ya, it’s too dangerous. Xian-ssi, we can’t handle him.”

I vowed to make her happy just a few days ago…

Even trying to comfort her aching heart, my parched mouth couldn’t even part my lips.

Juha’s faintly trembling eyes clung to me as if pleading.

She’s definitely right. If we don’t escape now, we can’t even guarantee the safety of the remaining four of us.

But, even so, abandoning a comrade and running away… doesn’t sit right with me.

Alice is someone I can trust more than anyone else right now.

Without me even realizing it, my heart had already accepted Alice.

I know very well that it’s a selfish thought, but I have no intention of giving up on her.

“It looks like this is going to be a long conversation, so I’ll go on a quick patrol around the area. Jihu-ya, I don’t know what you’re thinking, suddenly acting like this when we’re all together… but I want you to keep one thing in mind.”

Ryushin’s gaze stared straight at me.

His eyes were like a calm lake, no longer filled with confusion or bewilderment, as if he had made up his mind about something.

“Make sure you don’t regret the decision you make.”

“…Yeah, I will.”

Leaving those words behind, Ryushin headed towards the end of the hallway for patrol.

From now on, I had to rely solely on my own judgment.

Should I risk a huge danger to find Alice, or should I just escape from the facility and request support?

My choice had already been made from the beginning.

Juha might be disappointed in me, but in the end, she will respect my decision.

If I can somehow comfort Juha’s feelings a little and promise to return immediately if we get into danger… maybe it’ll be okay.

As I was thinking that and about to start talking to Juha, a memory I had forgotten suddenly flashed through my mind.

Then, what was Pira-hyeon’s intention…?

Why did he specifically tell Seo Juha to infiltrate the facility?

‘Pira-hyeon… what kind of future did he see?’

Let’s think about it. The reason why Juha’s shadow is needed…

If Alice is in a situation where she can’t use her abilities.

If we end up having to return without finding Alice after all.

All predictions were pointing to only one future.

Even if I go to find Alice now, it was clear that I would end up returning with nothing but scars.

I’m scared.

I was even more afraid because the thought that I had to move forward even knowing that was still lingering in my head.

The act of sticking your head into the jaws of a wide-open crocodile, an act close to suicide, sometimes makes the human body move on its own due to uncontrollable emotions.

“…I’ve decided.”

“I can tell just by looking at your eyes. Okay… let’s go find her.”

“Sorry. For always making you go through bad things. I should have moved while thinking more about you, if I had known this would happen, we should have moved together…”

“It’s okay. It’s already happened. Let’s quickly find the person named Xian, get Alice back, and go back.”

Sorry.

I’m really sorry.

Juha’s face, smiling with sad eyes as if resigned, was too hard to look at.

“Let’s go back right away if it’s dangerous, then I won’t be greedy anymore. Alice too… the first meeting wasn’t good, of course, but anyway, we’ve become a contractual relationship, and I can’t say we’re not close even as a joke. Just this once… please understand.”

“Okay, so… bring the one who went on patrol first and…”

“I’ll be back soon.”

Without being able to say anything more to Juha’s tearful voice, I entrusted Ray to her and hurried to find Ryushin.

He turned to the left corner earlier… he should be wandering around this area.

Ah, there he is.

“Ryushina!”

A familiar face and a sword hanging from his waist are faintly visible across the hallway.

He was concentrating on the patrol, so at first, he just glanced around when I called his name, but after I shouted a few more times, he finally noticed that I was calling him and turned to look at me.

“Did the conversation go well? What did you decide to do?”

“There’s someone we need to save here, so we decided to look for him first… Ryushina! Behind you! Behind you!”

“Huh…?”

Kwaaaang-!

A tremendous shock came over me.

The first thing I saw was a flash of dark green light.

This was followed by a sonic boom that was enough to make my ears ring.

Finally, a cloud of dust rose along the entire hallway.

It was an ambush.

“Ryushina! Go Ryushin! Are you okay?”

It feels like my eardrums have burst from the shockwave.

While holding my head with one hand due to the ringing in my ears that felt like they were piercing my head, I groped along one wall with the other hand and started moving towards where Ryushin had been just a moment ago.

“Can’t you hear me? Hey, Go Ryushin!”

It felt like dozens of seconds had passed, but the cloud of dust still showed no signs of clearing, and even my vision was mostly blocked.

It was already too late to go back to Juha, and I thought the best thing to do was to find Ryushin as quickly as possible and reduce Xian’s power appropriately.

Since Xian wouldn’t be able to see in this dust either, I could gain an advantage if I, who was close by, approached Ryushin first.

But there was no answer.

Could it be that he was hit by the attack head-on and fainted?

My hand groping around in anxiety unconsciously quickened.

And finally, something was caught in my grasp.

“Aha… there you were.”

The moment I hurriedly grabbed Ryushin’s collar, a green light flashed right in front of me.

Ryushin is… unconscious for now. The best option is to escape to where Juha is.

Can I really do it…?

I don’t know. I have to try, whether it turns out good or bad.

I draw up the magic power in my body and concentrate it on my legs as much as possible.

Using the repulsive force created by the wave as propulsion, I leap forward as if jumping high.

In the original story, Xian’s ability requires a slight waiting time before activation, so if I can use that gap well, I might be able to avoid being caught by a hair’s breadth.

Leaving the burning green eyes behind, I hurriedly started to retrace my steps.

If I can just get to where Juha is, if Ryushin regains consciousness…

There’s a good chance of winning.

“Where’s Ray?”

“I’ll tell you if you promise to send him back safely.”

In response to my answer, the green eyes drew a faint crescent moon.

It was a clear expression of ridicule.

“Hmm… looks like I didn’t need to ask. Good, I’ll rough you up a bit until you talk.”

The sandstorm is slowly clearing.

My ankle is throbbing just from moving due to the shock just now, and Ryushin, who has lost consciousness, is next to me.

Can I escape…?

I don’t know. I’ll have to try, whether I live or die.

I draw up the magic power in my body and concentrate it on my legs as much as possible.

Using the repulsive force created by the wave as propulsion, I leap forward as if jumping high.

In the original story, Xian’s ability requires a slight waiting time before activation, so if I can use that gap well, I might be able to avoid being caught by a hair’s breadth.

Leaving the burning green eyes behind, I hurriedly started to retrace my steps.

If I can just get to where Juha is, if Ryushin regains consciousness…

There’s a good chance of winning.