Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Reunion in the Ruins
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#66
Ailin looked around in bewilderment, front and back.
She had passed through the gate with a 60-man search party, only to end up alone. It was enough to leave anyone stunned.
But she quickly regained her composure.
She hadn’t expected things to be easy from the start.
The mana engineer had downplayed it, but this was still something tied to the Demon King, after all.
Finding Seo Woojin took priority over worrying about invisible knights.
“Corridor.”
A ruin, perhaps?
That was Ailin’s first thought.
She had never seen one in person, but she had heard the stories.
Since they had come through a gate left by the Demon King, the odds were high it was a ruin.
Ailin tapped the walls and floor with her hand.
Made of bricks, it felt quite sturdy.
“Doesn’t seem like there are any other paths.”
If so, she had no choice but to follow the corridor.
Ailin began walking, staying alert to both front and rear.
Step- Step-
Only her footsteps echoed through the corridor.
How long had she walked like that?
“Hm?”
Ailin stopped in her tracks.
“This is…”
The surroundings had changed.
She had merely blinked once, and the brick corridor had instantly turned to marble.
Tensing at the sudden shift in environment, Ailin drew her sword.
Tick-
Then, a small noise came from behind her.
Sensing it, Ailin spun around and swung her sword.
It was a strike extended in the blink of an eye, but the power behind it was anything but light.
However,
Clang-!
A metallic ring echoed as her sword was effortlessly blocked.
“Calm down.”
The man who blocked it looked completely unfazed as he tried to soothe Ailin.
“…Baek Siwoo?”
The man who had appeared out of nowhere behind her was none other than Baek Siwoo.
He had parried Ailin’s sword with the new blade gifted by the Empire, his expression calm and collected.
“Can I lower my sword now?”
At Baek Siwoo’s words, Ailin nodded and relaxed her grip.
Her face brightened.
Finding Baek Siwoo meant there was a high chance Seo Woojin was here too.
Of course she would feel relieved.
“How did you get in here?”
Baek Siwoo sheathed his sword and asked in return.
“Can you tell me what the situation is?”
But Ailin countered with a question instead of answering.
Their circumstances mattered more than how she had arrived.
Baek Siwoo nodded.
“Discovering this ruin was pure chance.”
He explained in detail, from how they found the ruin to everything that had happened inside.
Even the spatial anomalies.
It was a story hard to believe on the spot, but she couldn’t dismiss it lightly.
To Ailin’s eyes, Baek Siwoo looked far too haggard for someone who had only been missing a few days.
He appeared as if at least a month had passed.
There was no way he could look that worn otherwise.
Having heard the rough outline, Ailin asked the most important question.
“Have you seen Seo Woojin by any chance?”
Baek Siwoo was important too.
He was their greatest force against the Demon King.
But to her, Seo Woojin—who was not a stranger but a comrade, a fellow soldier, a friend—mattered more.
“…Unfortunately, no.”
Baek Siwoo’s expression darkened.
Truth be told, Seo Woojin wasn’t the only one he hadn’t seen.
The knights who had followed him, and even his friends, were the same.
To be precise, he had parted ways with them again just 30 minutes after reuniting.
The space had shifted, scattering them.
“You’re the first person I’ve seen in 50 days.”
Ailin fell silent at Baek Siwoo’s words.
He had survived thanks to reaching superhuman levels past 50.
Leveling up wasn’t easy for him anymore, so he couldn’t rely on that for recovery either.
Ailin’s face showed a hint of pity.
Truth be told, she didn’t like Baek Siwoo much.
More precisely, she disliked his friend Sung Yura.
Because of her constant belittling of Seo Woojin.
That made her friend Baek Siwoo distasteful by association.
But hearing he had spent 50 days alone stirred a bit of sympathy.
“Time’s up.”
Suddenly, Baek Siwoo stepped close to Ailin.
She frowned at the move.
“The space is about to change soon.”
Baek Siwoo hadn’t spent the 50 days idly.
He had investigated the phenomena inside the ruin and achieved some results.
“We have to stick together or we’ll get separated.”
Before she could fully process his words, Baek Siwoo grabbed her shoulder.
At the same moment, the surroundings began to shift again.
‘A cave?’
The marble corridor from moments ago had turned into a cave-like passage.
Only then did Ailin understand what he had meant.
“Let’s move.”
He released her shoulder and took the lead.
“Do you know which way to go?”
“No.”
Baek Siwoo shook his head.
No matter how much they wandered, the place was like an endless abyss with no end in sight.
But they couldn’t just sit and wait for death, so they had no choice but to keep walking.
They walked for a while like that.
The space changed once midway, but they found no clues or traces.
Ailin was lost in thought, figuring it wouldn’t be easy to find Seo Woojin, when—
“Wait.”
Baek Siwoo, leading the way, halted.
As she looked up, wondering what was wrong, a monster appeared before her eyes.
It resembled a black wild boar.
Even Ailin, whom Seo Woojin called the monster encyclopedia, was seeing this one for the first time.
“What’s that?”
“Not particularly strong, but best to stay cautious.”
It was nothing to Baek Siwoo at level 51, but not to Ailin.
She was still just a mid-tier knight, after all.
The boar monster charged forward.
Its massive bulk filled the straight corridor, barreling toward them with crushing momentum.
“I’ll handle it, you cover the rear…”
KABOOM-!
Baek Siwoo, slowly drawing his sword mid-sentence, shut his mouth.
Something he had never experienced was happening.
The corridor wall had crumbled, and someone burst through.
The tremendous impact turned the boar into a bloody pulp, scattering it without form.
“Argh, fuck! This thing’s filthy strong!”
“Mister! Watch out above!”
Clang-!
Ailin’s eyes widened at those who had broken through the wall.
It was Seo Woojin.
* * *
Seo Woojin, blocking Rosie Ruby’s attack head-on, was sent flying backward through the space.
It was the fifth corridor he had seen.
‘Something else got caught this time?’
He wasn’t sure what, but the blue blood staining the floor suggested an unlucky monster had been swept up.
No time to worry about that now, though.
“Jia!”
At Seo Woojin’s shout, Lee Jia leaped forward and punched toward Rosie Ruby’s side.
“Hah!”
Thud-!
The ki-infused punch tilted its body slightly.
Thanks to that, Seo Woojin dodged the front leg.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-!
The K-2’s muzzle flashed, and Rudain’s sword sliced into Rosie Ruby’s body.
But it didn’t seem particularly fazed.
“Huh?”
Seo Woojin, rolling to his feet, blinked.
A familiar face was there.
“Baek Siwoo?”
And Ailin behind him.
Seeing them, Seo Woojin’s face lit up with joy—then he stomped the ground.
“Duck!”
Crunch-!
The spot he had just stood cracked as if scissored.
Rosie Ruby’s sickle-like front leg had swung down.
“Woojin!”
Ailin called his name.
The one she had desperately searched for had appeared. How could she not be glad?
Of course, Seo Woojin had no headspace to respond.
“Greetings later! Deal with this thing first!”
At his urgent tone, the two quickly assessed the situation and assumed attack stances.
Screech-?
Rosie Ruby, mid-attack, tilted its head and paused.
Checking out the newcomers.
Its gaze fixed especially on Baek Siwoo.
‘It recognizes the strong one?’
Seo Woojin realized Rosie Ruby’s reaction was because of Baek Siwoo.
An SSS-rank hero over level 50.
Still green in spots, but with that much power…
“Baek Siwoo!”
“Siwoo!”
Rudain, spotting Baek Siwoo late, shouted a greeting.
Relief washed over his face at the same time.
‘If even this guy looks that relieved, we’ve got a shot.’
As an imperial knight, Rudain knew Baek Siwoo far better than Seo Woojin did.
His relief meant Baek Siwoo was strong enough to take on Rosie Ruby.
Seo Woojin stood beside Baek Siwoo and raised his sword.
“You get the gist of the situation, right?”
Baek Siwoo nodded at Seo Woojin’s words.
He didn’t know exactly, but killing the mantis-like thing in front of them seemed to be it.
“Good. I’ll open, watch for an opening and blow its head off.”
Rosie Ruby was focused on Baek Siwoo now, but once the fight started, its aggro would shift to Seo Woojin.
He had tormented it the most so far.
It wouldn’t ignore the one who left so many scars on its body.
“Got it.”
At Baek Siwoo’s reply, Seo Woojin kicked off the ground.
“Stop fucking dodging already!”
No mana infused.
Stamina long depleted.
Yet Seo Woojin moved.
Faster and stronger than ever.
His full-body force sword sliced horizontally at Rosie Ruby’s head.
Screeech-!
It moved again.
As if mocking him, swinging its front leg at the sword.
Expecting Seo Woojin to fly back like before.
But…
‘Not this time, you bastard!’
Shouting inwardly, he altered the sword’s trajectory.
From below to above.
Pouring every ounce of strength, he flicked the front leg upward.
Overload hit instantly—wrists and shoulders screaming like they’d snap.
But Seo Woojin didn’t stop.
For Baek Siwoo’s follow-up, he had to endure and create that gap now.
Grrrrrind-!
Teeth clenched till blood seeped, he raised the sword.
Squeezing out power from his nursing days?
Rosie Ruby’s front leg couldn’t withstand the sword force and bounced upward.
Seo Woojin didn’t miss the opening.
“Now!”
At the short shout, Baek Siwoo stepped forward as if waiting.
His face sank with unnatural calm for facing such a foe.
Aiming his sword at Rosie Ruby, he spoke.
“Flash Thunder.”
Lightning struck.
Rumble-!