* * *
I’d only ever received it—I’d never used it before.
It wasn’t familiar in my hands, and I didn’t know my own abilities well enough to say whether what I imagined was even possible.
But I had to try.
I drew the sword and swung.
I stabbed it in, halfway down the blade, then slashed along the line.
- KIEEEEEEK!
It worked.
I felt it slice cleanly.
The monster let out a shriek and twisted its body, vivid blue blood splashing even in the darkness.
‘Got it!’
As long as the strike landed, the weapon could kill.
Over half of the monster’s left head was now severed.
But there was no time to celebrate.
Boss-level monsters often had insane regeneration.
If I let up even a little, it could recover.
I had to finish this. I needed to find another red line and strike while I had the upper hand.
“Jehee, watch out!”
“Ah…!”
Only after hearing Cha Taeyang’s voice did I see the monster’s tail raised toward me.
It was still far enough that I wasn’t worried about the physical blow—but it sprayed corrosive poison.
If that stuff landed on me…
My mind went blank.
What should I do?
I didn’t know.
As my thoughts froze, black liquid came pouring toward me.
Right after that, I gave up on the hopeful thought that maybe it wouldn’t reach me because of the distance.
It was coming straight at me with terrifying force, precisely aimed.
‘There are types who use powerful poisons and have high resistance to them, but honestly, most are weaker than the poison they wield. If you can reflect that poison back with your ability, it might be surprisingly effective.’
‘Don’t push yourself too hard. In a fight like this, it’s not about overpowering it—just lasting as long as you can is the best strategy.’
The moment I swung my sword at the vertical blue line that had appeared before me, it wasn’t part of some calculated plan.
It was closer to pure instinct—just the desperate urge to do something to survive.
Remembering Cha Taeyang’s advice might’ve been more like a flash of my life before my eyes than anything else.
Slicing through— the blue line, as expected, cut far more easily than the red one.
I slashed a line longer than my own body, and as the space split open, a vast black void appeared in front of me.
It absorbed the toxic fluid pouring out from the monster’s tail completely.
And this time, the space that the blue line connected to—was above its head.
Screeeeee!
I hadn’t done it intentionally, but the effect was clear.
The monster writhed in agony from being drenched in its own poison—more than when I slashed its neck.
Just like Cha Taeyang said, although the monster could expel poison through its tail, its skin didn’t seem resistant to it.
Especially where it was already wounded—the monster recoiled, trying to keep the toxin from seeping in.
Of course, that wasn’t so easy.
The wound on the left side of its head, which had been bubbling as it tried to regenerate, suddenly stilled.
Scree! Screeeeech!
Seizing the moment, I slashed through another line I’d spotted across its torso.
Even though I missed the mark slightly, the poison seeped into the cut and left a sizable wound.
The monster convulsed in pain.
It was the first glimpse of hope.
“Maybe I can actually win this…!”
But that fleeting hope was shattered almost immediately.
My body flew through the air.
Fueled by fury, the monster charged at me faster and more sharply than it ever had before.
It swung its massive tail—and I couldn’t avoid it.
My blue line, once it was opened, couldn’t exert any physical force other than allowing passage.
The black space in front of me didn’t protect me.
The monster’s enormous, heavy tail struck me dead-on.
BOOM!
Darkness swallowed my vision for a moment.
When I came to, I was embedded in the wall, clear on the other side from where I had been.
“Kuh…! Hah….”
My breath sounded disjointed and ragged in my ears.
My whole body ached.
Yet even in that moment, I marveled—I was still alive.
It hurt like hell, and it felt like I was dying, but astonishingly, my body moved.
I hadn’t been completely wrecked.
I wasn’t dead from that blow.
I guess being S-class really meant something.
But… being able to move didn’t mean I could fight.
All I could manage was to lift my upper body.
My vision was blurred red from blood loss, and I’d dropped my sword.
The monster was approaching again, dragging its huge body toward me.
I couldn’t even lift my head to look at it properly.
“I hope… I die without too much pain…”
But that seemed unlikely.
Its entire body radiated bloodlust.
It was full of rage—pure hatred directed at me.
Would it melt me with poison?
Crush me under its bulk?
Beat me until nothing was left?
Any way, it’d be a terrible end.
I laughed bitterly.
The only way to die quickly would be to take my own life, but… I couldn’t.
If I died here, it would turn on Cha Taeyang or the others.
The ones left behind weren’t civilians, but they were non-combatant ability users or lower-classed awakened ones.
I was used to pain from years of being in hospitals—but they weren’t.
I had to protect them.
“Get up, Jeong Jaehee.”
I forced my legs to stand.
They didn’t seem broken, but they hurt so badly tears sprang to my eyes.
Still, I had to move.
I had to run, even a little.
I needed to buy time.
Even if I died, I would take all of its wrath with me…
“Ah…”
Too late.
All I’d done was get to my feet, but the monster’s presence was already too close.
The moment I looked up, I was face-to-face with its massive fangs, thicker than my arm.
Even for an S-class… if that thing pierced me, I’d die.
This was it for me.
“Still… I fought well enough.”
I didn’t give up until the end.
I could meet my father in the afterlife and say I died fighting without shame.
I’d leave the rest to those still standing.
The monster was wounded—maybe Cha Taeyang could find a breakthrough somehow.
Just as I was about to accept my end with a smile—
A blinding light flashed before my eyes.
“Ah.”
A bolt of pure white lightning struck, right through the monster’s core.
The superheated air burst with a thunderclap, and the monster’s scream of pain mixed with the shock in my ears, still ringing from the impact.
But… this was a dungeon.
Inside a cave.
How could lightning strike here?
Something that massive?
“No way…”
Amid the confusion, one possibility came to mind.
A flash of white lightning that falls in a moment of crisis—a light said to descend like divine hope.
I’d heard the stories.
How badly I’d wanted to see it for myself.
My white-blinded vision slowly returned—
And there, stood a man.
“……”
A man in a gray coat, wearing a mask, was looking right at me.
My mouth was open, but no sound came out.
Was I seeing another mirage before death?
I’d never seen the “Gray Coat” use his powers at the hospital, so…
“Are you badly hurt?”
It wasn’t an illusion.
He moved—he spoke.
To me.
His voice wasn’t ordinary—it was distorted, mechanical, like it had been processed with static.
Just as his outfit hid his identity, even his voice had been altered.
But even so… I had never heard of anyone speaking with the “Gray Coat.”
Not in any of the eyewitness accounts.
Working with the Taeyang Guild to challenge the ‘Sanctuary of the White Flame’—could it be his behavior patterns were changing too?
Confused, but knowing he was waiting for my answer, I hurried to speak.
“N-No. I—I can still move.”
“I see.”
Even after hearing my reply, he studied me for a moment.
I had been saved by him once before, but I’d thought it was a dream.
I lost consciousness soon after, so this was the first time we’d properly faced each other.
His mask, even up close, showed no visible holes.
How did he breathe?
How could he see?
Was that mask an artifact too?
“Stay here. I’ll finish this quickly.”
A towering height that forced me to look up, broad shoulders, a solid build.
In the world of Hunters, appearance doesn’t always equal strength—but somehow, his back gave me an odd sense of peace.
A smile rose on my lips before I realized it.
As soon as I answered with a “Yes,” a flash of light struck down toward the monster.
Only after I heard the beast’s screech did I realize that what I saw wasn’t actual light—it was the massive blade of the “Gray Coat” cutting through the air.
Even my S-class eyes couldn’t keep up with his movement.
He was pushing the monster back in a one-sided onslaught, as if it were no match for him.
The only reason it hadn’t fallen yet was its sheer size and resilience.
But the outcome felt certain—it was already decided.
Only after I felt that overwhelming strength with my own skin did I finally let myself breathe.
A long sigh of relief escaped me—only for the strength to leave my legs in the next moment.
I knew I was about to collapse, but I couldn’t even manage a basic defensive posture.
I had no strength left.
I couldn’t even bring myself to try anymore.
I’d been smashed into a wall by that monster’s tail and somehow survived.
What difference would a few more injuries make?
That careless thought was all that remained.
“Jehee! Snap out of it!”
Thankfully, someone caught me before I hit the ground.
It was Cha Taeyang.
His face was flushed red—probably from sprinting over after seeing me get hit.
The redness in my vision made it hard to make out his expression.
He gently lowered me to the ground, even laying down his coat to cushion me.
He’s more considerate than I thought.
As I entertained that silly idea, his large hands suddenly pulled up my shirt—well past my stomach, enough to leave my chest fully exposed.
My face flushed hot in an instant.
* * *
