Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Reunion and Pursuit
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#62
Seo Woo-jin's expression brightened.
The people he had been desperately searching for were all gathered in one place, so it was only natural.
"Da-hye!"
Lee Ji-ah came running over upon spotting Kim Da-hye, who appeared right after.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere?"
She was tiny, but she fussed over her friend like some kind of guardian.
"Fortunately, everyone was gathered together."
Seo Woo-jin exchanged joyful greetings at the reunion.
"I'm glad you're safe."
Ludein let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Seo Woo-jin without a single scratch.
"Me? Well..."
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Huh? It's the Saintess."
At that moment, Kang Byung-gyu spotted Seong Yu-ra and his eyes widened.
"Ah, we ran into her by chance."
When Seo Woo-jin gave a half-hearted reply, her expression sharpened.
"Then what about the others?"
"Who knows... I saw one more, but they disappeared together when the space shifted."
"What does that mean?"
As he was talking with Kang Byung-gyu, Seong Yu-ra suddenly cut in.
"What do you mean?"
"You said you saw one more—what does that mean?"
"...I briefly ran into Im Tae-eun, but we parted right away."
Seong Yu-ra scowled at Seo Woo-jin's answer.
"Why are you only mentioning it now?"
Im Tae-eun was Seong Yu-ra's friend.
Seo Woo-jin knew that full well, so her anger surged at the fact that he hadn't told her.
"Is that important?"
"Of course it is!"
"If I'd told you right when we first met, would anything have changed?"
The atmosphere hadn't even been right for sharing that kind of info from the start.
Who was the one who scowled and snapped at him the moment they met?
Seo Woo-jin wasn't generous enough to treat her well despite that kind of reception.
Which meant he hadn't felt any need to share that information.
"...You still could have said something."
Seo Woo-jin inwardly clicked his tongue at Seong Yu-ra, who spoke through gritted teeth.
"Was Tae-eun okay?"
'So she was worried about her friend after all.'
Was she the type who was cold to outsiders but warm to her friends?
"She looked a bit worn out, but no visible injuries."
He was a little concerned about the missing pet dragon, but he didn't want to worry her by pointing it out.
Seo Woo-jin turned his gaze from Seong Yu-ra, who sighed in relief, and looked at his team members.
"Everyone looks okay."
They seemed a bit fatigued, but there were no obvious wounds.
"We've all been together since the third day."
Seo Woo-jin tilted his head at Kang Byung-gyu's words.
"Since the third day?"
"Yeah. If we hadn't, we would've been in big trouble. Especially me."
Kang Byung-gyu laughed it off with a haha, but Seo Woo-jin's expression grew even stranger.
"What day is it today?"
"Huh? Day five. I've been keeping track of the time, so it's definite."
Another time discrepancy.
Not just among those who entered first, but even among his own group who entered together, time seemed to flow differently.
"For me, it's only the second day."
Kang Byung-gyu didn't immediately grasp what Seo Woo-jin meant.
"What are you talking about?"
"The time we've spent inside the ruins is different for each of us. Seong Yu-ra over there has already been here over ten days."
Kang Byung-gyu and the others finally showed shocked expressions.
"So there were anomalies not just in space, but in time too!"
"Yeah. That's why we need to get out of here fast. We have no idea how much time has passed outside while we've been wandering."
A difference of just a few days was fine.
But what if months or years had gone by?
He didn't want to emerge to find that the Demon King had descended.
"Th-then we should find the other knights..."
"We have to give up on the knights."
Seo Woo-jin shook his head as he recalled the chunks of flesh.
"Did you see something we didn't know about?"
Ludein cautiously asked, sensing the heavy look on Seo Woo-jin's face.
"They all fell to monsters."
To be precise, they had become the monsters themselves.
But he couldn't tell them that.
He could imagine the shock Ludein would suffer if he learned his subordinates had ended up like that.
"I see."
Ludein tried to appear calm.
But his trembling pupils revealed just how agonizing his heart was.
"I'm sorry."
"It's not for you to apologize, Seo Woo-jin. It was their failing."
Ludein sighed.
"But how do we get out of here? Even Brother Byung-gyu said he couldn't find the way."
Lee Ji-ah, who had been standing solemnly beside Kim Da-hye, suddenly asked.
"Ah, I have something in mind for that."
As if to change the mood, Seo Woo-jin gave a slight smile.
"What is it?"
Kang Byung-gyu looked curious.
"This way."
Seo Woo-jin pointed to the thicket he had pushed through.
More precisely, the space beyond it.
"I found something over there."
* * *
"...Missing?"
"Yes. Two full teams of heroes and the knights guarding them haven't made contact since the third day."
Aileen couldn't respond to the imperial knight's words.
Seo Woo-jin and the others missing?
If she'd known, she should've insisted on staying by his side, even if it meant being a bit forceful.
It had been a mistake to guard the other heroes to avoid causing a stir.
"That's why we're forming a search party. Interested?"
Since one of the missing was Seo Woo-jin, who received support from Sion, they had informed her.
"Of course."
Naturally, Aileen accepted the offer.
If no search party formed, she planned to go looking alone.
"The search starts in 30 minutes. Gear up and head to the assembly point."
The imperial knight seemed quite hurried.
Of course, the disappearance of heroes was no small matter.
Yet the urgency suggested...
'It's because Baek Si-woo is missing.'
The SSS-grade superhuman hero backed by the Empire.
With their greatest force against the Demon King gone, the Empire had no choice but to hurry.
Thanks to that, the quickly assembled search party began operations in just 30 minutes.
"This is where some of the missing heroes were last seen."
One of the tracking specialists pointed ahead.
"Where the red signal flare went up."
"A battle with Dark Elves took place. And over there..."
"What the hell happened?"
The search leader asked with a grave expression.
He had no choice.
The forest before him looked like it had been bombed, completely uprooted.
No battle with Dark Elves could have caused such devastation.
"Burtel appeared."
"Burtel!"
Everyone's eyes widened at the knight's words.
Wasn't it one of the most dangerous beasts even in Demon Realm Heldein, countable on ten fingers?
Dozens of imperial knights had lost their lives to it.
"Any chance they fell to it?"
"No. Burtel was slain."
"...For real?"
"Captain Ludein and one hero struck it down together, beheading that damned monkey."
"Huh!"
It was said casually, but this was a tremendous feat.
"I've heard Ludein has risen to top-class lately, but impressive indeed."
The search leader marveled at the power of one of the Empire's rare top-class knights.
"And the hero who fought alongside him?"
"A D-rank hero named Seo Woo-jin."
"Ah, that..."
All eyes turned to Aileen at the subordinate's answer.
"He's been making a name for himself despite his rank, right?"
"Yes."
That was the end of the talk about Seo Woo-jin.
Of course, wiping out the Dark Elves and Burtel was a major accomplishment.
Under normal circumstances, the imperial court would have celebrated it loudly.
But right now, they had no time to fuss over a low-rank hero like Seo Woo-jin—they needed to find the more important ones.
"This way."
The knight pinpointed where the elite heroes had been.
"Fortunately, the direction the missing people headed from here aligns, so we should find traces while moving."
Positive news.
"Let's move."
The 60-member search party, including Aileen, began advancing.
To check for any possible traces, their pace was extremely slow.
How much time passed like that?
The lead knight halted.
"What is it?"
Had they found a clue? She approached and asked.
But his expectations were shattered.
"...The trail ends here."
As if they had flown into the sky, it vanished completely.
"Does that make sense?"
His face said he couldn't believe it.
"That's not all."
He turned, indicating another issue.
"Baek Si-woo seems to have vanished from here too."
The elite heroes' trail also ended here.
That meant something was ahead.
But...
"Isn't there nothing there?"
All that lay before them was dense forest.
There was no apparent cause for dozens of knights and eleven heroes to disappear.
"Search the area thoroughly."
They couldn't just retreat.
The search leader was determined to turn the ground upside down if needed to find them.
At his command, the knights began moving.
Aileen was no different.
With a more serious expression than anyone, she scanned the surroundings.
There were footprints and all sorts of traces.
And at one spot, everything vanished.
'Did they really fly into the sky?'
Nothing else explained it.
Aileen looked up.
Aside from the darkening sky, nothing was visible.
Then she looked down.
And began digging the ground with her hands.
A simple thought: if not up, then down.
The knights watching her started mocking.
"Sion's knights are as barbaric as they say."
"Can't think beyond the obvious?"
The insults were blatant.
But Aileen ignored them.
There were no real clues anyway, right?
She had to find traces by any means.
She kept digging despite the ridicule.
Time passed.
As the other knights' attention waned.
Aileen's hand stopped.
Tap tap.
Something hard touched her fingertips.
At first, she thought it was a rock, but the feel was different.
Lighter, flatter.
Even a hollow vibration, like it was empty inside.
Aileen's digging sped up.
Soon, the identity of the buried object revealed itself.
"...This is?"
Her guess was right.
Not some ordinary stone.
A box emanating ominous magic.
Atop it was unmistakably the seal of the Demon King.
"Kademain."
The seventh Demon King.
Kademain's seal.
"Why is this here?"