A Bloodied Return
“Huh…?”
When I looked down, two magic circles had appeared. A last-ditch move the lich had barely managed to prepare while Cheon Mari was mercilessly beating it down. Tilting my head a little farther inward caused my posture to collapse. As I fell backward, the sight that greeted me was my own two legs, cleanly severed from my body. Magic from the circles had sliced through my knees. Cheon Mari let out a groan that bordered on despair and toppled over.
“Kgh, kghak…….”
As an Awakener, she avoided dying from shock. She had to keep fighting somehow. She tried to flip herself over with both hands, but what met her was a skull whose expression looked thoroughly enraged. The lich quickly cast a spell and kicked her. Perhaps the magic had been applied to the kick itself—despite it being only a single strike, Cheon Mari was sent flying far away and slammed into the wall. Not just slammed, but embedded so deeply that the wall itself caved in.
I urgently called out to Cheon Mari, but the only response was blood streaming from her entire body and silence. I thrust my dagger at the lich. Realizing only then that I had approached, the lich turned around a beat too late. That was my opening. I swung as if to strike one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. Its neck was half-severed. It should have been completely cut through, but I lacked the mana. Shit.
I tried to yank the dagger out in a hurry, but my depleted stamina wouldn’t allow it. Just as I thought retreating was the answer, the lich grabbed my wrist and twisted its already hideous face into something even more grotesque. It muttered something with clacking jaws, then placed a hand on my chest. The same sensation as when Lim Hana had done it.
“You goddamn……”
My prediction wasn’t wrong. An enormous impact struck my chest, and I was hurled far backward. After rolling across the floor several times, I finally stopped. Pathetically, I still hadn’t passed out or died. My mind was painfully clear. Because there was no pain thanks to the morphine, I couldn’t even tell what state my body was in. The only clue was the sound of air escaping from my mouth—proof that the injury was severe.
[Vitality: 1/5 (!)]
[Barrier: 0/5]
No—maybe I’d already been critically injured and had just taken another critical hit. The single remaining segment on my Hunter Watch blinking made me think that might actually be the case.
“Huk, huuuk……”
How many ribs were broken? How damaged were my lungs? Would cardiac arrest or shock set in? Blood kept pouring from my mouth—would I hold out? Amid countless questions and worries, I forced myself upright again. The lich was aiming sharp stones at me. It felt like the end was approaching and I had lost everything. Or perhaps there was simply no hope left, not even the kind Cheon Mari had shown by risking her life to regress.
“Ah……”
All this because I’d made one wrong friend. And what kind of state had Cheon Mari been reduced to because of me? Those who kept faith and righteousness were trampled into the dirt, while those who broke them rose high. Was this truly right? Forget right or wrong—did they even deserve it?
“Lim Hana, you’re going to be punished by heaven.”
This was too grave a sin to be excused just because she was only a middle schooler. The fact that someone her age had done something like this was already malicious. I’d thought about it until I was sick of it today, yet no matter how hard I tried to forget, it kept coming back. Eventually, the thought of going out and taking revenge took its turn in line.
“But how?”
Could I even defeat the lich in front of me right now? Could I beat it, pass through the gate, and survive? And even if I somehow escaped this place, problems would remain. Could I truly exact appropriate revenge on Lim Hana? In this world—a bizarre mixture of modern and future, reality and fantasy?
Even on the verge of death, doubts flooded in. The more I searched for answers, the clearer one truth became: I had to survive this place first before anything else could be discussed. Doing something—anything—was better than dying pointlessly here, pierced through.
I clenched my fists and glared straight ahead. Then I spotted a black longsword rolling on the floor. It was my last resort. My only means of resistance. Without hesitation, I charged. Countless stones flew toward me. I pushed my esper senses to their absolute limit. Enormous fatigue and nausea surged up. It felt like suicide, yet it wasn’t entirely without value—because I could see not only the stones’ trajectories but even the movement of individual dust motes. In this moment where everything else was meaningless, the ability to perceive attacks was a privilege akin to salvation. The fact that their movements even seemed to slow made it feel like absolute authority.
I dodged the stones one by one as they traced erratic paths. But I wasn’t focused solely on evasion. Even if my route shifted, my destination remained the sword on the floor. When I finally reached it—
Thud!
I kicked the sword upward with my foot, then caught it with my hand. I didn’t know how I’d done it. It had simply happened in that desperate, frantic moment. Gripping the sword with both hands, I pressed forward. A glance to the side showed roughly two minutes and thirty seconds remaining. Everything would end within thirty seconds—either I died, or the boss did. Obviously, it had to be the boss.
So I tried to scrape together whatever mana I had left.
“Damn it, please, please!”
Zero plus zero was still zero. But some recovery must have occurred during that short time, so maybe I could squeeze out 0.01. That would be enough. Even a little mana would let me break the barrier efficiently and land a solid hit. Cheon Mari had already worn down the lich’s barrier, and it had likely recovered somewhat. Any amount of mana was better than none.
“Just a little, anything!”
Stepping through warm blood, exhaling breaths that felt like fire, scraping together every sensation in my body, moving a frame that felt ready to collapse—I forcibly drew up mana in a twisted, unnatural way. It seemed futile, yet miraculously, a small amount recovered. That was enough. Though it fell short of forming aura, I poured the mana into the sword. Dodging attacks with everything I had, I closed the distance. The lich, looking startled, began casting magic in its palm.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
I could see everything—from the casting to the completion. I dodged the thrusting hand and severed it in return.
“Kaaaaak!”
The first words the lich had spoken, despite apparently lacking vocal cords. Fortunately, contrary to my fears, its barrier hadn’t properly recovered. Seeing my chance, I swung the sword again. It was clumsy and pathetic, but as long as I could cut, that was all that mattered. I dodged the magic raining from above without rest, carving a path that would lead me out of this place. The boss, now without a barrier, had no salvation. Its limbs were severed until only its head and torso remained.
“Dieeee!!!”
This was the end. For the very last time, I pushed my mana to its limit. My entire body felt crushed under the strain. It would be worth enduring. It had to be. I sliced through the lich’s spine. Its body tilted, and the remaining upper half began to topple sideways.
“One more time!!!”
Before it could touch the ground, I struck its neck as well, eliminating any chance of revival. The head rolled across the floor like a ball. I had expected the undead to have some follow-up, but the light in its eyes grew dim and gradually faded. The same happened to the magic circles in the sky—they either vanished outright or dropped their contents before disappearing. As the mana evaporated, everything came to an end.
Once the final magic circle disappeared, strength drained from my entire body. It felt like I would collapse at any moment, pass out from exhaustion, or lose consciousness under the pretext of recovery.
“Not yet……!”
Just before my body gave out, I managed to stay upright by using the sword as a cane. Two minutes. Only 120 seconds. What I had to do now wasn’t rest. I had to get everything into the gate at the center somehow. Exhaling breaths that felt ready to burst into flames, I forced one step after another. My muscles and tendons felt like they’d given out, but I dragged strength from sheer tension. First, I threw the bag Cheon Mari had set down into the gate. Second, I tossed in her severed ankles. Third, I dragged Cheon Mari’s own bloodied body toward it.
“Fuck…… how is a first-year middle school girl this heavy……!”
Her height easily exceeded 175 cm, and with both legs severed below the knees, moving her was incredibly difficult. After a struggle, I finally managed to shove her through, then looked around to check if I’d forgotten anything. That’s when I spotted the lich’s skull head rolling in the corner. Since I’d gone to the trouble of defeating it, I figured I might as well take at least the head, even if the body was too much trouble. I picked up the skull and glanced at the scroll attached to the pillar. Twelve seconds left. I hurried into the gate.
The place I arrived was an ordinary labyrinth. It looked no different from any other ruin. Now that the boss was gone, this ambiguous location would soon vanish, making it hardly worth remembering.
“I should have about ten minutes……”
Of course, that wasn’t an immediate concern, so I could relax for now. Enduring the musty smell unique to old places, I checked Cheon Mari’s condition. She was still breathing, but leaving her like this could lead to complications. I took an elixir from the bag and poured it over the severed surfaces, then wrapped bandages around her legs. I tried to treat the wounds from the sharp stones as well, but strangely, they had already begun to close somewhat. Perhaps regressors had special privileges or constitutions. Feeling envious, I used the remaining elixir to roughly treat my own injuries.
It felt like I could finally catch my breath, but resting was still out of the question.
“Cough, cough!”
If I stayed here, I might die from erosion. I had to start moving. I stuffed her severed legs into the bag and tied the lich’s skull to my belt. Just in case, I bound Cheon Mari’s body to mine with rope. Then, holding her under the arms, I dragged her along and stepped through the exit gate.
Beyond waves that didn’t wet us, a clear sky appeared. Looking down revealed a view of the world from a mountaintop. The air, once thick with dust, had become fresh, and the stress seemed to melt away. Snow reached up to my knees. Finally, we were outside.
Wearing a dry smile, I slowly looked around. It was as if the storm had cleansed the world. Not far away stood a village and a station. The feeling of having survived crashed over me. That damned Lim Hana hadn’t killed me. That damned extreme environment hadn’t killed me. That damned boss hadn’t killed me. All of it had been thanks to one person’s help. A female student, a hidden boss, a regressor, a total lunatic, and my frie—
“……”
Anyway, thanks to Cheon Mari’s help, I had survived. I decided to let go of a few more of my prejudices about her.
“Hoo…… Let’s see, the village is over there, so if I head that way, I should arrive in about an hour.”
Maybe it was because I was doped up on painkillers, but my body felt unusually light. It might have been overly optimistic thinking, but it was better than being negative, so I hummed happily. Grinning, I stepped boldly onto the gentle snowfield.
Whoosh—
“Eek.”
I slid down the mountainside from the peak, curling up like a pill bug.
* * *
The missing persons search party had withdrawn after the snowstorm the previous evening. The next morning, even though the outsiders had vanished, the village’s scenery changed rapidly. The elves adapted to the routines that had begun shifting around fifty years ago according to government policy. The humans who had migrated here around fifty years ago moved in accordance with their newly established routines. Among them were households where both routines had blended together. Everything seemed ordinary, with nothing particularly out of place.
But not everyone was like that.
Someone was walking down the pristine white road in a horrifically battered state. Their appearance drew everyone’s attention—more than that, it concentrated it. The villagers were shocked by the person’s condition and hesitated over what to do. Meanwhile, the person walked calmly through it all. Ignoring the countless stares, their destination was the train station connecting the village to the outside world. And there, a station attendant was already on duty since early morning.
The person approached, trembling. The oblivious attendant heard the footsteps and turned their head slightly. Then they froze. That state lasted until the person had drawn right up to them.
“To…… Seolgyeong…… kghk.”
“H-Hiiiii!!!”
Two blood-soaked students. A mere rural station attendant had witnessed an unforgettable sight.
“Stationmaster!!! Stationmaster!!! No—does anyone here know first aid!!!”
Kang Sian, Cheon Mari. Rescued after sixty-two hours.