Chapter 62: IF-017-1 Part 15

Giselle froze in place, startled stiff.

Something cold and solid gripped her shoulder from behind.

Right now, there was no dependable rapid response unit, no powerful IF-017.

Danger could strike at any moment.

The strange, warm whiteness that had surrounded her disappeared, and Giselle’s mind quickly turned sharp and clear as she assessed the situation.

If this was an unidentified phenomenon…

[Hehe, that prosthetic arm is cool… There was a character in an old-school hero movie who only used a gun with a mechanical arm like that.]

A ghost wouldn’t be so carefree.

And if it was a cool prosthetic arm, there was only one person it could belong to.

Giselle turned around, relieved.

Standing there with a tense expression was Long Weilan, commander of the Siegfried Unit and a former colleague.

The mood was serious.

Already weighed down with worry, Giselle tilted her head in concern.

“What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, Weilan subtly signaled downward with her eyes.

Giselle followed her gaze and saw Weilan’s intact hand moving in a precise rhythm.

Giselle recognized it instantly.

Hand signals—used in high-risk field operations.

‘Don’t make it obvious.’

‘Move naturally and quietly.’

It had been years since she’d last seen them, but the meanings were deeply etched into her memory.

Giselle’s expression hardened.

When she looked straight ahead again, there was only Weilan staring back with a nervous look.

Weilan was not someone who would play around in situations like this.

That much was certain.

Giselle slowly stood up.

And near her—only visible to Giselle—was a ghost in the form of the G-6022 girl, fluttering about in a panic, floating in the air.

[Hiiieek!]

It was distracting in such a critical moment, so Giselle waved her hand to shoo the ghost away.

That was when it happened.

Because the ghost overlapped with it, Giselle hadn’t seen the object behind it—a bony pole that her fingertips accidentally brushed against.

It was unmistakably the feel of a corpse.

“Uh…?”

Giselle’s hand trembled as she met Weilan’s eyes.

Weilan wore an expression of resignation.

“Sigh…”

As if it no longer mattered whether they had been discovered, Weilan deployed her mechanical arm and looked up.

Giselle followed her gaze.

What she saw was a mass of fire.

No—more precisely, it was a burning horse carcass.

The charred horse’s body had countless legs extending from it, each leaving a straight line of footprints in its wake.

***

IF-289: “The Devil’s Footprint.”

From tens of meters above, a burning goat skull stared down at Giselle.

The moment she met its hollow eye sockets—

“Ah…”

Giselle’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to her knees.

Her body froze in place, and her panicked mind spiraled into chaos, no longer responding to her will.

“What the hell? You dumb bitch, are you really just gonna sit there and die?! Get up!”

The yelling beside her sounded muffled, like a voice underwater.

It was a familiar symptom—hyperventilation.

“Haa… haah, haah…!”

Giselle’s mind went hazy.

When she managed to glance upward, she saw a hoof descending from dozens of meters above.

If she took a direct hit from that, her limbs would be crushed for sure.

There was no way Weilan could block it entirely.

‘Is this how I die? I’ll be seeing you soon…’ she thought, as she closed her eyes.

***

Suddenly.

From deep within Giselle’s heart, a flicker of heat flared to life.

Still small and fragile—but just strong enough to shake her weakened spirit awake.

It was a fire from the heavens.

A divine flame.

Fwoosh.

“Ah—hot…!”

Giselle’s eyes snapped open.

Her first action after regaining consciousness was to rise to her feet without hesitation.

She took a deep breath.

Her hands and feet were still trembling, and her breathing was still ragged.

But her chaotic thoughts had cleared into a pristine, snow-white calm.

Now she could focus solely on one thing: survival.

Bang!

A hoof slammed into the concrete floor, cracking it.

Just in time, Giselle rolled aside to dodge the strike.

Something about the moment brought back old memories.

She forced a smile.

“Run, dumbass! Don’t roll, RUN!!”

Weilan shouted as she sliced off a couple of the corpse’s legs that had targeted Giselle.

“…”

Gritting her teeth, Giselle took off running, trying to escape from IF-289.

Beyond the unknown swamp, into the dark forest.

A place where anything could appear at any moment.

But Kang Hana felt oddly reassured.

After all, the very person who brought her to this place—the cutest, most lovable creature in the world—was leading the way!

Tap tap tap.

Lug ran ahead with her usual lively steps.

As long as Hana followed that bouncy tail, there was no way she’d get lost.

That’s what she believed, without a shred of doubt.

“Raaawr…!”

Lug’s eyes sparkled, and then she suddenly sprinted off on her own.

“Huh?”

In the middle of a dark forest where anything could appear from anywhere—

Kang Hana was left behind.

“Lug, wait!”

Flustered, Hana chased after the fast-disappearing source of her confidence.

Then, a sound from behind—soft footsteps, toddling closer.

She paused.

“Oh no! I almost left you behind!”

Kang Hana scooped up Tongtong Snake, Penguin Lulu, and even the SD Lulu who had somehow naturally ended up with them, then took off running again.

Each of them was small on their own, but all three together were pretty heavy, and soon Kang Hana was out of breath.

Panting as she ran, a sudden thought popped into her head.

‘Wait, aren’t Penguin Lulu and Tongtong Snake faster than me anyway? Why am I carrying them and running?’

The question lingered for a moment, but by then, Lulu’s back was already right in front of her.

“…Well, whatever.”

Deciding to think of it as giving a piggyback ride to some cute little guys, she set them down one by one.

***

In front of her.

Kang Hana couldn’t help but gasp in awe.

“Wow…”

A massive, semi-transparent barrier crackled every now and then with flickers of light.

Lulu stood still with one hand pressed against that barrier.

Kang Hana walked closer to both the barrier and Lulu.

‘Is this what they call spatial delamination or something like that…?’

Up close, she could see beyond the barrier.

Just barely.

The vague scenery behind the translucent veil gave her a strange feeling.

It was as if that place beyond the barrier was where she truly belonged—a deep, aching sense of nostalgia.

And there was Lulu, gently tapping at the barrier.

Up close, Lulu had one hand on the barrier, and in the other hand, wrapped in flames, he stood still with his eyes closed.

“Did you bring me here to show me this?”

Kang Hana spoke to him, but Lulu didn’t respond.

He just stayed there, unchanged.

The expressionless face she had seen constantly for the past six months.

But maybe it was because she’d gotten used to seeing his range of expressions recently—somehow, he looked even more serious than usual.

Kang Hana looked down at the flames wrapped around Ru’s hand with a worried expression.

‘That fire… it looks exactly like the one from last time.’

She vividly remembered the sight of his body engulfed in flames.

He didn’t seem to be in pain, but he had looked incredibly uncomfortable.

Kang Hana opened her arms.

“Lulu, are you okay?”

She figured it would comfort him—after all, Lulu liked physical affection.

That’s when it happened.

Lulu’s eyes flew open, and he raised the flaming hand… and thrust it directly into Kang Hana’s solar plexus.

“Gah?!”

Caught off guard by the sudden strike, Kang Hana stumbled backward and fell with a thud.

Thankfully, the flames didn’t hurt.

The warmth naturally sank into her chest, as if being absorbed directly into her heart.

It was so warm and heavy that it felt almost like fullness—like she’d just eaten a hearty meal.

She exhaled in excitement.

“Haa, haa…”

Lulu’s eyes remained fixed on her chest.

Following his gaze, Kang Hana placed her hand on her heart without thinking.

It felt like the warmth within her had grown by about thirty percent.

She murmured to herself, remembering the first time she touched Lulu’s flame.

“Ah… So it was that fire…”

While she was lost in the feeling, her hand still over her chest, Lulu silently turned back to the barrier and placed his hand on it again.

Then, press.

Bzzt.

The barrier flickered once.

But nothing happened.

Ru stared at it, clearly displeased.

Then suddenly—he grabbed at the air.

***

Grip.

The space itself seemed to yield beneath his fingers as the barrier warped under his grasp.

In that moment—

“Lulu…?”

Kang Hana’s eyes went wide.

Starting from his armor, all of Lulu’s scales pulsed once.

Then—

Crack!

A spine-chilling sound, like glass breaking, rang out.

It was a thousand times worse than nails on a chalkboard.

The sound alone struck fear deep into her bones.

“Lulu, what are you doing…?”

She clutched the back of her neck, now crawling with goosebumps, and looked up at Lulu.

His eyes—furious.

Slit pupils, like a reptile’s.

Only for a moment.

Then they returned to their usual, adorable round shape.

Kang Hana cautiously looked through the crack forming in the barrier, right where Lulu’s fingers gripped it.

A faint view beyond the broken space.

Just seeing it made her fingertips tremble.

But strangely, she also felt as if she were closer to that nostalgic place.

Despite the trembling, the feeling wasn’t unpleasant.

‘Does Lulu know what’s beyond this…? I hope he explains it someday.’

She wondered if she could open it by force—just a little careless curiosity.

But no.

She quickly realized this wasn’t something you could just “open.”

If you tried to tear it apart forcibly, nothing would survive.

Not the passage itself.

Not the so-called descendants.

Not Kang Hana.

Not anything in sight.

Everyone… except for him.

‘Ugh. What am I supposed to do with this?’

‘Does Lulu know what’s beyond here?’

As she hesitated, a thought—no, a will—was transmitted to her.

‘Yes, I know.’

‘It’s my lake.’

My sanctuary that the priestess should’ve been managing all this time.

‘The place where the wandering celestial flames, without a destination, kept trying to return while I was away.’

‘Now that it’s back where it belongs, it’s fine.’

‘But you know what…’

‘I hope he explains it someday.’

‘I’m explaining it right now.’

‘No—I’ve always been explaining it!’

‘You idiot, you dumb Kang Hana!’

‘How can a priestess not even understand a soul-message?’

‘You’re fluent at sending them, so what’s the problem with receiving?!’

‘Look. You can’t even hear the screams of the celestial flames trying to talk to you in real-time right now.’

‘Divine punishment.’

‘Divine punishment!!’

‘Divine punishment!!!’

‘Hehe, Lulu is cute.’

‘Ugh. I can’t with you.’

‘Since our pathetic priestess can’t manage it…’

‘I’ll carry the burdens of these celestial flames in her place.’

Beyond the dark forest, past the swamps—

The white-coated humans’ fortress came into view.

I looked quietly at the place.

“Gyaoo…”

Divine punishment has come.