The End and the Beginning (02)

‘There’s actually someone competent at the Hunter Association.’

I let out a brief exclamation once I reached the Gate. I’d wanted to conserve as much strength as possible, but an unexpected variable left me no choice. After sprinting full speed at the end, I was a little out of breath.

Thank goodness I pulled my cap down low before coming. At this point in time, I wasn’t even registered as an Awakened yet, so if my face got known for nothing, it was obvious I’d get dragged off as an unregistered.

“Whew, let’s go.”

Fortunately, the area right in front of the Gate had already been cleared, so there was no one around. Unless they were out of their mind, no civilian would walk into that ominous hole of their own accord.

I calmly exhaled once and stepped over the restricted line.

The moment I entered the black, whirlpool-like hole floating in midair, the darkness clung to me as if to absorb me. I waited without panicking; my vision went black, and a new place appeared at once.

A dry wind, drifting sand.

A desert region far removed from any familiar landscape.

‘The smell of blood.’

As soon as the air changed, a thick reek of blood rode the hot wind. Looked like there were already casualties.

Once inside, I felt a heavy pressure. At this level, it was already at least an S-Rank Gate. As far as I knew, this was an unusual case where the Gate’s rating had gradually risen.

That was why the initial response failed.

Only C-Rank mobs had crawled out at first, and the Gate size was below average, so they’d let their guard down, or so they’d said. They waited for a party with a single A-Rank hunter to clear it and come out, and in the end missed the timing.

‘Min Ha-jun died trying to close a Gate that had climbed all the way up to S-Rank alone.’

I can’t count how many times I’ve thought about it.

‘If Min Ha-jun had survived, wouldn’t there have been some way?’

When we barely managed to bring down monsters with our exhausted teammates, and when we lost them right before our eyes.

‘If not a mere B-Rank like me but Min Ha-jun had lived…’

I consciously cut off the feelings that naturally rose up from back then.

‘It’s already gone. I can turn it around.’

Since I was given the chance again, I had to take it.

I kicked off the ground and leapt toward where the blood smell came from. The sand dug away underfoot and made movement hard, but fortunately I’d picked up the skill in my previous life of moving my body while using the bare minimum of mana. Since my overall stats were lower now than before the regression, that skill was extremely useful.

“Ugh!”

Just as the smell of blood thickened and noise began to reach me, a dozen or so people came into view.

Most of them were injured; few could stand properly. And in front of them stood a man, as if to shield them.

The man’s blue eyes gleamed sharply, but every time his white hair whipped about roughly, I could see red blood running down his forehead. By any objective measure, the situation was grim. He himself looked tired.

‘I hurried as much as I could, but.’

Even though I came in the moment I heard, it seemed I was a little late.

He was facing off against a gigantic black dragon. Judging by the looks of it, the people behind him were hunters who’d entered thinking the Gate was B-Rank. A situation where they could neither retreat nor dodge attacks. Surviving at all with that handicap was impressive.

Then the dragon suddenly dropped altitude and beat its wings hard. The movement whipped up a massive sandstorm in an instant, but Min Ha-jun immediately formed a barrier that extended to the people behind him and held out.

No wonder he carried the title of No. 1 in the rankings. Never mind his skill usage—his split-second judgment made me click my tongue.

He wasn’t the kind of person who should die in a place like this. Truly, his luck was just abysmal.

An SS-Rank Gate opened first far from here, most top-tier rankers were deployed there, and because this Gate had been expected to be B-Rank, the situation assessment was late and support was terribly delayed as well.

‘…And he’s not in normal condition right now either.’

As the sand settled, Min Ha-jun came into clear view. He stood ramrod straight with a long ice lance in hand and still looked steady, but if you looked closely, he was sweating.

Even though he was an Awakened who used freezing skills.

The sweat running down his sharp jawline stood out. The tension felt like it was reaching me from here.

I quietly moved while watching the standoff for a moment. The more urgent the battle, the more careful you have to be. But as I ducked and crept a little closer, my eyes met Min Ha-jun’s as he glanced aside. A flicker of agitation crossed his gaze.

He’d probably been checking the terrain for a way to break the situation and was startled to spot an unexpected new figure.

I raised a finger in a be-quiet gesture. Min Ha-jun, without drawing attention, gave a slight nod. Confirming that, I suppressed my presence even further and carefully moved to the monster’s rear. The dragon seemed too focused on its mental tug-of-war with Min Ha-jun to spare any attention for its back.

The closer I got to the monster’s rear, the more I got out of the wind’s influence, making it actually easier to move. I concentrated mana into my legs for an instant, leapt high, and summoned a dagger into one hand.

Kang!

At the same time, putting my full weight into it, I brought the dagger down on the relatively soft wing root. Because of the hard outer hide, a screech like striking metal rang out and my palms burned, but I managed to drive the dagger in, however shallowly.

‘With an ordinary dagger, I wouldn’t have even come close.’

I offered a small thank-you to the system for its kindness in putting a weapon in my hand. But there was no time to relax beyond that. The dragon, ambushed from behind, began to thrash violently. I clung on so I wouldn’t be thrown off, squeezing all the strength into my grip.

My bones thrummed and my muscles burned. But the payoff came immediately. The tough hide, unable to withstand my weight and the dagger’s keen edge, finally tore a little. Sensing the opening, I pushed harder, ramping up my mana output, and the once-opened wound grew wider and wider.

“Kieeek!”

A harsh cry rang out, and its body began to lose balance bit by bit. My presence behind it was an unbearable irritant; at this moment, a quick evasion was difficult. Not missing the timing, I let go, rolled on the ground, and shouted.

“Now!”

At my word, Min Ha-jun, without hesitation, formed a massive ice spike and skewered the dragon’s body. Blue blood splattered everywhere.

It all happened in an instant.

Even with a hole blown through it, the dragon flailed for a while, then sagged limp.

‘Is it over?’

I muttered inwardly and immediately regretted it. Ah, I shouldn’t be setting flags.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Confirming the monster had completely stopped breathing, Min Ha-jun ran straight to me.

I took the hand he offered and stood, wiping the blood off my face with my sleeve.

‘He’s in better shape than I expected. So, he didn’t die because of this monster?’

“Yes, as you can see, it’s not my blood.”

I showed the blue blood on my sleeve and straightened my rumpled clothes. Sand had gotten everywhere and it itched.

“I figured, but it looked like you landed pretty hard.”

I had, of course, banged my shoulder a bit in the hurried drop. But thanks to the sand, I wasn’t badly hurt.

“I’m fine. Looks like you’re the one more injured.”

It felt awkward saying that to a guy covered in blood. To anyone, he looked more like the patient than I did.

‘As for the wounds… they don’t look fatal.’

Ice clung to the cuts here and there. Efficient hemostasis.

But he was still sweating cold.

“I’m fine. For now, please head out of the Gate with those people.”

He pointed to the gathered group as he spoke. I sighed inwardly.

‘The one who most needs to evacuate here is you.’

But if he were the type to listen and evacuate first, he wouldn’t have died here in the first place.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

I grabbed his hand without warning. I had no time or leeway to explain; I couldn’t know what would happen next.

There were other hunters a little way off, too. Right now, the monster’s corpse was between us, and Min Ha-jun’s body was blocking me so I wasn’t easy to see, but… there was no harm in being careful.

‘I stuck to the monster’s rear during the fight, so they wouldn’t have seen me clearly.’

I had no intention of fully revealing myself from here on out either.

Which is why I slipped in here quietly in the first place.

“…?!”

He had every reason to be startled at the sudden hand-grab, but though his eyes went round like a rabbit’s, he didn’t shake me off. That was a relief.

「Purification」

I felt mana drain out with a rush. Unlike 「Physical Enhancement」, where I can regulate the amount of mana directly, 「Purification」 consumes a set amount depending on the target to be cleansed.

Like how a bigger stain needs more detergent, greater contamination requires that much more mana.

“Urgh.”

Apparently restoring an S-Rank hunter from toxining wasn’t ordinary work. It felt like the biggest exertion since I regressed.

On top of that, since my rank was low, the efficiency relative to mana was poor. Still, I couldn’t give up after coming this far.

I bit my lip and wrung out my mana. I tasted briny blood. I felt my power flowing through our joined hands.

The sensation of combing through someone else’s body never gets familiar no matter how many times I do it—but it’s probably even more so for the one on the receiving end.

The power flowing into Min Ha-jun moved inside him according to my will. Even though he must have felt me poking around his body, he only knit his brow a little and didn’t resist.

‘Good boy.’

That good sense is what saves you today.

I focused my mind. Immersing myself so deeply I couldn’t even feel the surrounding wind, I was soon able to find a knotted something inside his body.

I don’t know how to explain it, but that’s how I sensed the toxin inside the body—as if it were a lump of sticky gunk.

Once you find it, you just unwind it and purify it like untangling a snarled thread. Easier said than done—both the search and the cleansing require delicate mana control.

Min Ha-jun’s expression, feeling my ability directly, began to change. On top of his initial confusion, surprise had now joined it. He probably hadn’t even known he was toxined.

The reason Min Ha-jun, the No. 1, strongest hunter, died here.

There were various chain reactions, but the most fundamental, most plausible hypothesis was a deterioration in condition due to toxining.

‘When I heard that, I was dumbfounded.’

How does that make any sense.