The People Of Baengnyeong Forest (25)

“I’m sorry for doubting you……!”

“She is already gone.”

Anna tossed the words in a flat voice at Ivan, who was still kneeling.

“……Damn it.”

Ivan ground his teeth and hurriedly got to his feet. A few people let out small laughs.

“Anyway, we made it back safely again.”

Milena said as she confirmed the dungeon entrance had disappeared.

“Thank you for watching over us again today, Lady Velri.”

As always, the people responded immediately to the Constellation’s message that had come down.

No one replied to the other Constellations’ messages that followed.

When everyone stayed silent again, a sneering message arrived.

Milena and the eighteen-member raid team knew it too. They were still thoroughly ignoring those traitors, but there were already quite a few people who had fallen for the traitors’ sweet talk.

At least, it was fortunate that the number of people with firm faith was small, so the traitors still hadn’t gained real influence.

But the problem was that even that small number had appeared at all. Because of them, the traitors had gained a solid, undeniable presence. It would only be a matter of time before they revived the legends tied to them—or created new ones.

‘……It all started after that appeared.’

Milena glared at the Constellations’ messages with an uncomfortable mood.

The Interstellar Network.

It was a system that had appeared as if in tandem after dungeons—alien to the original world—began to manifest.

‘Once that showed up, every god, spirit, and legend that existed here revealed themselves under the name “Constellations.”’

When she first confirmed Lady Velri’s other name through the Interstellar Network, Milena had thought it was simply a good thing.

That was before she saw the traitors’ names on the Network.

‘Because I never expected even the ones who tried to steal the divine seat and burn the holy ground would be given names.’

No one had admired the legends about the traitors who had nearly threatened the world’s continued existence for a long time.

Yet the Interstellar Network dragged those old legends back to the surface and attached new names to them. Once a legend received a name, it began accumulating people’s awareness and belief onto that name, growing its presence.

‘That was how they managed to entrench themselves so firmly.’

Mysteries that should have expired in worn-out stories had gained a definite life.

Now, even if Milena’s people dismissed them as nonexistent and ignored them thoroughly, it was already too late to break their power. At best, they could only delay the moment those things grew stronger and obtained true divinity.

“Stupid fools…….”

A few in the group ground their teeth.

“Come on, let’s head back now. Haven’t the things we need to sort increased again?”

Milena steadied herself and spoke to the others in a soothing tone.

“……Yeah. Especially today, we managed to bring back even more.”

“Sorting or whatever, I’m going to sleep the second I get back. I stayed up all night.”

People responded right away to Milena’s words.

“Alright—no one dropped or forgot anything, right?”

“Let’s go back.”

Ignoring the message that flew in again, they started walking.

“Still, a lot happened today, huh?”

Not long after they began heading back to the village, someone spoke up again.

“Yeah. I never imagined the dungeon would connect to another world.”

“And it was the very world those other-world Constellations were talking about not long ago.”

“And we even got to see Ivan kneel.”

Laughter burst out at that. Ivan, once again, ground his teeth with an annoyed face instead of answering.

“Didn’t Ye Hyeonseong seem more skilled than you expected?”

“Yeah. When I only heard it by word of mouth, I just thought one of the Constellations had a particularly nasty sense of humor.”

“That meant she had that much grit. Even if she only had the one ability.”

“So she must’ve needed even more grit. She didn’t have any combat-related skills, so she had to make up for it with something else, right?”

“Anyway, we got a lot of help this time. Honestly, I wondered if someone suddenly joining in on an empty slot would be any help at all.”

They couldn’t have been happy about an outsider suddenly joining right when they were starting their dungeon investigation. So even if they didn’t show it openly, they kept an eye on Ye Hyeonseong and Kwon Seojin as people of interest.

But the deeper they investigated, the more they realized there was no need for that. To be honest, it felt questionable whether they could have cleared safely if those two hadn’t been there at all.

“Especially when we investigated the basement.”

“That weird trap, and the way the ghosts kept trying to latch on…….”

“I didn’t say anything because I had to focus, but every time they tried to latch on, I got chills. Why were they so desperate to cling?”

A few people shuddered as if recalling the sensation.

“Grudge-filled ghosts were like that in the first place, weren’t they? They latch onto the living for no reason, trying to do something…….”

“Even factoring that in, it still felt off. Like they were trying even harder than usual.”

“You felt that too?”

“I did. It felt like they were unusually obsessed with possessing people.”

At that, everyone fell silent and sank into thought.

“Definitely…… they had a strong tendency to obsess over possession.”

“And the Constellations watching were like that too.”

“They must’ve wanted people to get possessed and fight each other.”

Someone said in a voice mixed with disgust. Everyone agreed.

“But, you know—didn’t you feel something strange back then?”

This time, Danilo asked.

“Something strange?”

“Yeah. Somehow, it felt like I’d seen a situation like that somewhere before…….”

“Wasn’t there something similar in a dungeon we went to clean up before? The one in one of the human kingdoms…….”

“But there weren’t that many ghosts there. And not many tried to latch on either.”

“Then where was it? A dungeon with ghosts…….”

“I don’t know. I don’t think there was anywhere else that similar.”

They tried to recall a few more dungeons where they’d encountered ghosts, but there was nowhere that had produced that eerie sense of déjà vu. People looked confused.

“If there’s nothing, isn’t it just in your head?”

Anna said.

“It had to be. You’d been to a similar old-castle dungeon before, so didn’t that just remind you of it?”

“If something like that had really happened, it would’ve stuck in my memory.”

“Hmm…… would it? Maybe. Maybe not…….”

Danilo muttered with a puzzled expression.

“Well…… anyway, we got a lot of help from Kwon Seojin against those ghosts.”

Someone else steered the conversation back.

“Right. Every time a possession attempt was about to happen, he stopped it.”

“He blocked it with really precise timing.”

“It was uncanny. Like he expected the Constellations to pull that kind of prank, so he used a blessing right on cue.”

“Seriously—if the ones who came in from the other world hadn’t been those two, who knew what would’ve happened.”

Someone furrowed their brow, as if the thought alone was horrific.

“Exactly. If the dungeon entrance opened on the other world’s side too, it meant anyone could’ve walked in even if it wasn’t those two.”

“It was lucky some random person didn’t come in. If a powerless commoner came in, what would’ve happened?”

“That side would be better, honestly. They’re weak, so we could move with a focus on protecting them as much as possible. …And if we got lucky, that person might’ve awakened a new power.”

“Ah, right. They said new power often awakened in crisis situations.”

A few people nodded.

Normally, even a major accident wouldn’t cause an ordinary person to suddenly awaken mana or aura.

There were very rare cases where a major accident caused someone’s sensitivity to awaken, but even then, awakening sensitivity didn’t mean they could immediately become a mage or an aura warrior.

But after the Interstellar Network appeared, that common sense was overturned.

Now, it was no longer surprising for an ordinary person who suffered an accident of being trapped in a dungeon to gain special power.

Someone who couldn’t feel mana became a high-tier mage overnight, and someone who had never properly held even a blade became a warrior who wielded aura freely.

“It wouldn’t be just our world, so even if it was a commoner who fell in from that side, it could’ve happened.”

An uneasy voice followed. A few people nodded in agreement.

“Either way, if it was that kind of case, we wouldn’t have been that troubled. The really troubling case is someone who has power—but it’s power nobody really needs—or a guy who gets a little power and starts acting however he wants.”

“Yeah. If a powerless guy does that, we can subdue him somehow. But imagine a powerful guy ignoring everyone, going wild, and interfering. When the ghosts were running rampant in the basement, what would’ve happened then…….”

Horrific images formed in everyone’s minds.

“……I can’t say anything other than we were really lucky.”

Everyone agreed with Anna.

“……Yeah.”

Despite his bad mood, Ivan couldn’t help agreeing with Anna too.

Ability, skill, and cooperativeness that didn’t break the team’s balance—everything was impressive enough that it couldn’t be denied.

“Do you think we’ll have a chance to meet them again?”

Someone asked.

“Who knows. Dungeons that connect to other worlds don’t seem like they open that often…….”

“And even if one opens, it might not connect to that side again.”

“Even if it does connect, there’s no guarantee they’ll come.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“That’s a shame.”

People agreed. But no matter how regrettable it was, they couldn’t create a chance to meet again.

“Well, if there’s a tie of fate, we’ll meet again. Right, Milena?”

Someone turned to Milena.

“That’s true.”

Milena nodded.

“Yawn……. Still, I’m really tired.”

Someone yawned loudly.

“Me too……. I’m going to rest after sorting this stuff out.”

“We should be arriving soon, right? Let’s hurry, sort it, and go rest.”

As the village entrance came into view, they quickened their pace. Soon the raid team’s figures disappeared into the village.

-Ugh……!

-Damn it, snap out of it, Danilo!

-Ms. Ye Hyeonseong, couldn’t you do something?

-Even for me, a way to break a possession skill at that level was……. Aaaagh!

-D-die! Heehee……!

-Y-you crazy bastard, seriously!

-What the hell was that idiot? He strutted around doing whatever he wanted, and now look at him…….

-N-no! That person—he got possessed voluntarily!

-Ms. Yana? What did you mean…….

-That’s right! You think I called that bastard insane for no rea—, ah, damn it!

-Heeheehee……!

-Now I get it. He wanted to murder, using “being possessed” as an excuse.

-Damn it—if Ivan were alive, one punk like that would’ve…….

-They knew that too, so they killed Ivan first.

-Anna too.

-Anna wasn’t dead yet!

-First, we need to deal with that Earth bastard! Only then can we save the people with critical wounds, by finding someone who could…….

-Ha…… seriously, I knew it from the moment that bastard walked in and locked eyes with me.

-Then why didn’t you say anything? Don’t tell me because he was also from Earth……

-Even if I’d said it at the start, do you think you’d have listened to me?

-Is now really the time for us to fight each other?

-Yeah—kill that crazy Earth bastard and calm down the possessed people, and then……

-That too, but the time limit was razor-thin right now.

-Damn it, when did time fly like this?

-At this rate, even if we requested reinforcements, it’d be impossible to stop it from closing in time. What did we do?

-We did what we could.

-Ha, seriously—if luck wanted to screw us, it really went this far…….

…