Encountering A Strange Phenomenon

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes were two enormous mounds—so large that the dazzling sunlight couldn’t reach my closed eyes at all.

The sensation at the back of my head told me I was resting against firm thighs.

Only one person could provide that much shade and firmness.

“Hazel.”

“Companion!”

Her unusually loud shout made my head ring.

I grabbed my forehead and forced myself up, and dozens of worried gazes flew at me like arrows and pierced me.

“Captain! Are you okay?”

“Mr. Kim Han, are you all right?”

“Master… no, Kim Han.”

“I’m fine. If you could just lower your voices a bit, I’d be better—my head is ringing.”

“…….”

At that, everyone fell silent again in unison, like telling kindergarteners, “Let’s all be quiet!”

With things quieter, the wobbling in my skull eased a little. I steadied my head and finally asked about that thing.

“He’s over there……”

Where Lee Hyo-ju pointed, something that was half-dead—no, on the verge of death—was writhing on the ground, clinging to a stubborn flicker of life.

“That thing?”

“Yes…….”

Strangely, my mind was clear but my body had no strength, yet I forced myself up and approached Button.

As I got closer, I heard labored breaths—breaths that could stop at any moment and it wouldn’t be surprising.

Mae Young-ryeong and Apher stood by his side, invoking divinity and keeping him alive.

When I approached, he turned his head toward me, took ragged breaths, and opened his mouth.

“…huff, …huff, ju…st…….”

“Are you conscious? Do you have anything to say?”

‘Confirm.’

“Be…careful…….”

“Who?”

His first, out-of-nowhere word was a warning to be careful. Who was he warning us about? Manus? Were there more like that?

“Th…ey… ugh!! …are……!!”

Button struggled to speak, inhaled sharply, and suddenly died.

As Button stopped breathing, Mae Young-ryeong and Apher busied their hands. Their expressions turned grave.

Mae Young-ryeong’s gaze grew sharp, and for a moment a black aura rose from her body and then subsided.

“Kim Han……”

“Yeah.”

“That person, in the end, was killed by someone’s intervention.”

“Intervention? So… that thing that’s basically a corpse was murdered?”

“Yes. And it was an external force that came in while Apher and I were continuously managing him. It’s a powerful sealing force beyond our ability to counter.”

“A sealing force, a sealing force……”

Mae Young-ryeong continued with a furious expression.

“Of course, that’s why I implanted food-luck into that seal. I’m sorry for using it without permission.”

“No, you did the right thing.”

Even if she had turned into Dark Mae Young-ryeong, her nature as a physician hadn’t changed; she seemed properly enraged at whatever killed her patient—hence activating food-luck without permission.

“Anyway……”

This expedition had only just begun, and already unsettling factors had appeared.

At first some perverted stalker affiliated with Violentia caused trouble out of nowhere, and now a guy who considered himself Manus had shown up.

I briefly considered whether to continue the expedition, but we’d come too far to turn back. All I could do was sigh.

I shook off my unease with an involuntary sigh and put the collected monster scraps into my inventory.

“Let’s move for now. It looks like the surrounding monsters are cleared, but stay alert as we move.”

Fortunately, we hadn’t gone far from the entrance, so there was no worry about losing our way.

If we’d been ambushed in the middle, we might have died wandering and lost rather than from the madman wearing Button’s guise.

Under Hazel’s guidance, the members quickly cleared the area, reorganized the formation, and began to move.

Maybe my outward appearance looked bad—everyone kept glancing at me, and it made my face sting.

Thinking it was a bit much, I asked Hazel.

“Do I look that bad on the outside?”

“Your complexion… is even paler than that man who appeared earlier. You look like you could collapse at any moment.”

“Really……?”

Hazel’s words were full of reproach. But aside from some stiffness and muscle aches, my mind was very clear.

I tilted my head a couple of times and increased our pace. If we set up camp and rested soon, my color would return.

After about an hour’s travel we found a wide area without the fishy stench of monster blood and flesh.

I told the group we’d end today’s expedition here, ordered Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju to prepare the camp, and then checked my inventory.

I looked with satisfaction at the considerable amount of monster scraps stored inside.

Suddenly the surroundings blurred and began to sway from side to side.

“Companion?”

I heard Hazel’s worried tone, but I couldn’t look at her—my swaying vision pitched completely to the side.

“Companion!”

“Captain!!”

“Kim Han!”

Many voices sounded faintly, my vision darkened gradually, and then turned completely black.

Kim Han suddenly collapsed to the side.

The Kim Han who could rise after a few panted breaths even after Talis and Bioss’s monstrous attacks had now fallen.

Hazel was the first to rush over.

But she was thrown back as quickly as she had run forward.

A transparent barrier surrounded Kim Han. Four spirits had emerged of their own will and guarded him from all sides.

Not the four cardinal directions. Four wards.

Beneath Kim Han’s back was Noeaden, the earth’s top-tier spirit; the empty air exposed most vulnerably when he fell to the side was Silestin, the wind’s top-tier spirit; and at his sides were Saleana, the fire’s top-tier spirit, and Elastra, the water’s top-tier spirit.

But that wasn’t all.

Kim Han’s weapon, “Pyosik,” slipped from his waist, transformed into a thin sword, emitted a rough, ominous sharpness, and flew around him. Everything from his head to his fingers that protruded from his clothes was covered by something that shone silvery-white.

“What on earth……”

“Merus!”

While Hazel was flustered, Lee Hyo-ju looked for Merus.

When everyone’s gaze turned to Merus, she was already uttering a spell.

Moments later a gilded book was summoned before Merus, and her eyes shone brightly.

“Unknown……? No. Can’t tell? Huh? Sophia?”

The members’ looks at Merus, muttering unintelligibly to herself, were not kind. Proy glared at her as if he’d crush her face if Merus didn’t speak immediately.

“Hmm……. This is my first time seeing this too, but Sophia says Kim Han is fine?”

“That’s ‘fine’? ‘She says he’s fine’? Who the hell—!”

Hazel, unusually upset, pressed Merus. Though it was unlike her usual demeanor, no one was surprised.

Everyone was frustrated in the same way, so Merus was getting the blame.

“Sophia left that in his record: ‘Kim Han is fine. Wait.’”

“…How is that fine……”

Hazel sank down beside him and looked at where Kim Han lay with a powerless voice.

It wasn’t only Hazel who felt that way.

The group all looked at Kim Han with worried faces.

In truth, the interval between Kim Han passing out and waking was too short—only about ten minutes.

He had woken in barely enough time to be considered recovered, yet he continued to lead the group while spreading divine power as if nothing had happened.

His face had been extremely pale the whole way. He might not have noticed, but Hazel walking beside him had clearly seen the cold sweat beading on his forehead.

It was stranger that Kim Han himself felt nothing was wrong. I had watched him without blinking, and my worry had become reality.

“So when will he wake up?”

Merus shook her head at Hazel’s question.

A voice, very youthful and cute, broke through the group’s sighing mood.

“What are you doing? Then guard him until the captain wakes. If you space out and another one of those stinking bastards shows up and takes him like before, what will you do?”

Naruan’s sharp rebuke made everyone go, “Oh.”

Perhaps because it was the first time they’d seen Kim Han lose consciousness, Lee Hyo-ju and Hazel couldn’t pull themselves together easily.

Only Naruan reacted appropriately—probably because she alone had the unwavering belief that ‘Kim Han never loses or falls!’

“I see. Lee Hyo-ju, give orders. We’ll follow your commands.”

“First, split the party into six. Take turns eating, and until bedtime, rotate so someone spreads their senses for 30 minutes at a time while on watch. Make the senses focus on precision rather than breadth. Layer them densely and have them penetrate underground as well. The first person on watch will be……”

“I’ll do it.”

“I will too.”

“I’ll do it as well.”

Members volunteered eagerly to take the watch.

Considering fatigue, Lee Hyo-ju selected ten people and spread them around the campsite.

She ordered everyone else to rest fully, then called Hazel, Proy, Hugo, and Nana to gather beside Kim Han.

“Hugo, and Nana.”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“You two will now stand guard around Kim Han.”

They understood the reason the two defensive specialists were singled out: Kim Han’s safety was the top priority regardless of the situation, and they nodded gravely.

“Hazel, rest first with me. Proy, please take close protection of Kim Han.”

“Of course it’s my duty. Don’t worry.”

Except for those on watch, everyone rested as much as possible, as if it were their life’s mission. The group did their best to relieve fatigue.

Arun, with a serious face, took out a potion and drank it like water, while Merus calculated something beside him.

Naruan sprawled on the ground, shoving fistfuls of chocolate into his mouth and chewing.

Inex and Cheong sat comfortably with their weapons on their knees, closed their eyes, and focused.

Members of Rebound each tried to recover their condition and divine power in their own ways.

Their eyes never left Kim Han—while eating, lying down, or sitting.

Because it was Kim Han who had brought them all to this place.

Kim Han, bearing the worries of some seventy people, was now facing a bewildering situation.