Chapter 15
It was good to break the cult leader’s focus and sever the connection with the totem. But what was he supposed to do when it happened suddenly like this, without any warning, like a rebound?!
“This damn trash of a staff!”
Saebyeok stuffed the Staff of Survival of the Fittest into her inventory and pulled out the Spear of Separation Anxiety that she had bought earlier that day.
“Ah, whatever! Kid! Just hold on!”
She leaped over the hole. As she erased the ring of fire she had drawn to protect the child, she shouted,
“Fifty…!”
The child, who had been counting up to fifty, opened his eyes just in time.
Once again, the child reacted instantly. He jumped up and threw himself toward the arms Saebyeok had spread out.
Even after seeing the large hole in the floor, he didn’t hesitate to leap toward Saebyeok.
Saebyeok soared through the air, scooped up the child, landed lightly on the altar, and immediately did a back tumble.
“<Lightning>!”
KWA-KRANG!
A fierce bolt of lightning struck the stone altar along the vertical spear. The altar split in half in an instant.
“AAAAH! How dare you! Dare to defy the great Lord Vortis…!”
“Kid, what’s your name?”
Ignoring the cult leader, who was wildly swinging his staff and yelling, Saebyeok asked calmly.
“Kang Sihoo!”
The child replied boldly.
Sliding into the hole in the floor, Saebyeok answered,
“I’m Han Saebyeok.”
“Lightning unni… Saebyeok unni…”
Hearing Sihoo mumble, Saebyeok chuckled to herself, reminded of her own skill description.
<Skill: Lightning (S→B)>
Lightning that splits the night sky in two and summons the dawn is naturally beautiful. From a tiny spark of static electricity to a thunderbolt that blankets the world, it all begins with a small spark.
“That’s right. Saebyeok, the one who shatters darkness with lightning.”
She stepped over the shattered totem and the fallen wooden debris from the ceiling.
The underground air, colder than the ‘ritual chamber’ above, chilled her skin quickly.
Reflexively, Saebyeok held Sihoo closer, gripping her spear tightly while scanning her surroundings.
“These crazy bastards…”
She cursed, forgetting for a moment that the child was in her arms.
Behind the iron bars were nearly twenty people, all tied up. They watched the chaos with either confusion or fear.
‘If there are this many men here, then the women and children captured with them…’
She didn’t even want to imagine it, but she knew it was the truth.
Blood boiling with rage, she clenched her teeth and furrowed her brows. Then, Sihoo, who had been quietly held, straightened his back and shouted,
“Hyung!”
Saebyeok’s eyes turned toward where Sihoo was looking.
Her gaze met that of a man.
“…Found you.”
She muttered quietly.
The man who had disappeared without a trace, frustrating her, and appeared where he shouldn’t, causing her panic…
The strange light spilling from the ritual chamber colored Kang Suho’s face.
Saebyeok exhaled a sigh of relief, tinged with a little complaint.
He had waited patiently and she could have handled everything if he had stayed put. Why did he have to run off and get into such trouble?
But at the same time, she found that thought amusing.
It was unfamiliar to think that this man would ever need someone’s help.
The man who once despised the world had mercilessly torn apart monsters and humans alike when he first awakened.
He resented the heavens for giving him such power so late and despised himself for becoming the very hunter he loathed.
He had been a man who seemed more like a catastrophe than destruction itself.
Yet now, wearing tattered clothes, trapped in a crude iron cage, and looking at her with confused eyes, it felt surreal…
‘This really makes me feel like I’ve gone back in time.’
It hit her that she truly had returned to the past.
This reality felt alive in a way even more than seeing her younger brother breathe, or seeing Park Woojun’s arm intact—it was seeing this unfamiliar Kang Suho in the present.
Then,
“Die! <Magic Arrow>! <Rapid Fire>!”
Attacks rained down from the ritual chamber.
Reflexively, Saebyeok rolled to the side, holding Sihoo tightly to keep him safe.
“<Arrow Boom>! <Ice Needle>!”
“<Binding Shot>! Tch, dodged that!”
Their attacks weren’t complicated. All were low-level, predictable patterns.
But Saebyeok knew it wouldn’t be easy. She was holding Sihoo in her arms.
“Haah.”
The little boy was holding his breath, afraid he might interfere.
Even as he shivered, he hadn’t let out a single scream—it made her heart ache.
She couldn’t afford to be casual.
“<Blow>.”
Saebyeok swung her spear from the floor to above, instantly creating a whirlwind that lifted the debris into the hole.
“AAAH! Watch out! It’s raining stones!”
“Where the hell are the shields! Damn tankers!”
Taking advantage of the brief moment, Saebyeok turned toward the iron bars and shouted,
“Step back if you don’t want to get hurt!”
Those pressed against the cage, watching closely, stumbled back in surprise as she swung the spear toward them. Some fell over each other in the chaos.
She manipulated the long spear with the finesse of an acrobat.
“<Sprout>.”
Seeing Kang Suho also retreat under the crowd’s pressure, Saebyeok jabbed the sharp spear into the cage.
Kaang!
The trapped people thought the iron bars would break.
But they didn’t.
Roots sprouted from the spear, quickly intertwining to form thick weapons that extended into the prison.
“AAA! P-please save me!”
“This wasn’t why I survived…!”
People scrambled, pushing and using others as shields.
Only Kang Suho remained, calmly observing the chaos. Whether it was bravery or trust, she couldn’t tell.
The rising roots pierced the ceiling at the back of the prison, drilling through the stone ceiling. Moonlight poured in through the breach.
When an opening to exit the building appeared, everyone froze for a moment.
Saebyeok’s mutter broke the silence.
“<Glimmer>.”
Small spheres of light scattered from the outdoor-reaching roots.
It was a beautiful sight, like decorative lights or guiding fireflies.
The lights illuminated the path and shot upward.
It was the signal she had informed Kim Ihan about in advance.
“Follow the light! Once you get outside, the Glory Guild will protect you!”
A ‘safety net’ waiting outside.
“Once you’re under their protection, the Association will arrive too, so everyone…”
“WAAAH! Freedom!!”
“Move! I’ll go first!”
People jostled and shoved each other as they rushed outside.
Despite all they had suffered together, they were still stepping on each other to survive—a glimpse of humanity’s cruelest nature.
Saebyeok sighed and turned her gaze to Kang Suho.
Amid the fleeing crowd, he didn’t budge, only glaring at her with a frown.
Anticipating this, Saebyeok pulled out several items from her inventory and tossed them into the cage.
A dagger, a stealth cloak, and a cellphone slid to his feet.
“I’ll be back with your brother soon. Hide well until then.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than another attack came raining through the ceiling hole.
“Damn it, that cult leader ran away! We missed because of her!”
“Kill that woman too!”
The <Blow> she had sent up to buy time had apparently expired.
“<Sword Pierce>!”
“<Sound of Agony>!”
Saebyeok lightly dodged the attacks, stepping carefully with Sihoo in her arms.
“<Blow>.”
Manipulating the wind around her ankles, she leapt toward the ritual chamber.
Attacks came from all sides, but she dodged them with ease. No one here was capable of catching her.
‘There are too many cultists.’
The only challenge was the number of innocents who might get caught in the attacks.
Though many were crazy, most were simply brainwashed by the cult leader’s totem.
As she considered a proper plan, sharpening her spear, she thought,
“This slippery eel ends here! <Giant Fist>!”
Behind a guild member, a huge fist-shaped figure appeared.
It grew larger, filling the ritual chamber, then began destroying walls and ceilings.
Even allies were caught up in it, but she didn’t care.
“Die!”
The massive fist mirrored her own strike, aimed at Saebyeok.
“Unni…!”
“Damn, there’s no answer to such brute force attacks.”
Saebyeok twisted her body, holding Sihoo protectively.
Whoosh.
“Ah!”
Something flew up from the floor hole, brushing a tank member’s face.
He reflexively leaned back to dodge the black object, sending his fist upward toward the ceiling.
Bang, bang, KWA-KRANG!
The three-story wooden building’s ceiling was blown apart.
“AAAH!”
As debris rained down, the Scavenger guild members panicked.
“There’s one of his comrades in the basement!”
Some recovered enough to run toward the source of the attack, but found nothing.
“Not visible, damn! A stealthy assassin!”
“Damn, that’s not it! All the slaves in the basement are gone!”
With the slaves gone and the source of the attack unknown, they panicked.
But Saebyeok, who had protected Sihoo with <Sprout>, recognized what had injured the tank’s cheek.
It was the dagger she had tossed to Kang Suho’s feet earlier—there was no mistaking it.
“Tch.”
Saebyeok chuckled wryly.
“Even before awakening, he was another level.”
Still technically a civilian, he maintained calm in the chaos of hunters fighting, and threw a dagger precisely through the cage to hit the target.
If this isn’t talent, what is?
