#48 At the Crossroads of Choice
#48 At the Crossroads of Choice
"—Ngh!"
The labyrinth's monsters closed in. The raid force had already cleared this path, but now they were surging back relentlessly. The commander grimaced. The implication was all too clear.
"The frenzy... already? That's too soon..."
The commander sized up the situation and barked orders. With Parasitic Tentacles and other creatures swarming them, Lee Eun-ha became the busiest person in the formation.
"Add...!"
She had to keep shouting through an already raw throat, warning of every approaching threat. The labyrinth's mist had a sensory-scrambling effect. Her vocal cords were shot, but she didn't stop. She felt a Tunnel Worm stir beneath her feet. She barely rolled clear, then saw another burst from the ground and lunge at a fallen Gu Jin-ha.
"Distort...!"
She caught it in midair by a hair's breadth and clenched her jaw. The recoil was stronger than expected — even a palm-sized worm was hard to hold with mana alone. She locked both hands together, forced her fist shut, and the Tunnel Worm crumpled.
'......'
She reached instinctively for her pouch. Nothing left. The potions they'd brought had run dry long ago. Biting back the pounding headache, she screamed with everything she had.
"Add! 6 o'clock, two!"
The monsters came without end. The commander slammed a fist against the wall, and when a hidden Parasitic Tentacle burst out beside him, he batted it aside with cool precision and stomped it flat. A short breath escaped him. The labyrinth wasn't what really worried him. True, the vanguard captain and assault team captain were gone, along with many of their elites, but the force that remained could still clear this maze. They'd already fought through this route once. The real problem was...
'The Maze of Steel.'
—Its defining trait.
Steeletons and Steel Giants that reassemble and restore themselves even after you crush them to rubble. Which meant they had to push straight through it.
'...It's not going to be easy.'
The missing elites had cut their numbers and lowered their average strength, but worse than that was their stamina and supplies. Potions, scrolls, every consumable had run out long ago. Even the archers had exhausted their arrows and were fighting with spears and blades.
'Can we even break through?'
He'd run the simulation in his head a dozen times. Every outcome was grim. If they pushed into the Maze of Steel now, the raid force's annihilation was practically guaranteed.
'And the Zone 2 monsters...'
If the frenzy had started, they'd be rushing to force their way out of the dungeon through the dimensional rift. The raid force hadn't shifted their objective to Zone 2 on a whim. Only monsters up to Zone 2 could exit the dungeon during a frenzy. The thought of Zone 2's monster population — still uncleared — pouring in after them was nightmarish. No time, and no good options. Staring at that dead end, he heard a strained voice cut through.
"Add! Rear, thirteen..."
Thirteen. The commander squeezed his eyes shut at the number.
'Don't tell me Zone 2's monsters already...'
No. They'd still have to cross the river. They couldn't possibly be here this fast. The raid force tensed and raised their weapons, but the silhouettes emerging from the faint mist belonged to people. When they finally came fully into view, the commander let out a relieved sigh.
"...You're all alive. Thank goodness."
"The Oebong Road is leading them."
The late arrivals were Hayeon and the suicide squad, who'd been under Eun Ja-rim's command. Thirteen of them — fewer than they'd started with, but every single one was an A-class hunter. In the middle of this crushing situation, it felt like reinforcements had ridden to their rescue. The commander allowed himself a sliver of hope.
'With this...'
Maybe, just maybe, they could break through the Maze of Steel. With the newcomers integrated into their formation, they pressed on and soon reached the maze's entrance. The commander called a brief halt.
"Thirty minutes. Exactly thirty minutes. No more."
There was still time before the dungeon closed, but Zone 2's monsters would arrive sooner than that. They couldn't afford to linger. It was the kind of order that would normally draw complaints, but most of them were Neverland veterans. They understood the gravity of the situation well enough to hold their tongues. Better to rest and recalibrate than to waste breath — even a one percent increase in survival odds was worth it.
"Oebong Road..."
The commander nodded at Hayeon, the deputy leader of Dawn Team 1. They needed to compare notes and settle on a plan.
"So the final obstacle really is the Maze of Steel."
"It's been eating at me. Your joining us, late as it was, is the first path I've been able to see."
At the starting point of Zone 1, they stood before the maze's sealed door. Hayeon closed her eyes briefly. It was this very door — locked and isolated — that kept the frenzy from spilling the maze's monsters out backward. The commander shook his head. He still couldn't claim they had a hundred percent chance of escape, but... The promised thirty minutes passed. The commander clapped his hands to draw every eye.
"We move now."
The raid force rose, reformed their ranks, and laid hands on the door — and then, without warning, the door began to open on its own.
"Brace for combat!"
Weapons were leveled at the commander's word. When the door swung fully open, what they saw wasn't a horde of monsters. It was one man.
"Hey, Dawn Lord."
His cold gaze swept over the raid force, then paused briefly on Gu Jin-ha, lashed to a makeshift stretcher. He closed his eyes as if chewing something over, and murmured under his breath.
"...Well done."
There was no way Gu Jin-ha could have heard him, yet the commander thought he saw the fallen Three Swordsman's face ease, just a little. The raid force stared, half of them looking as though they couldn't believe their eyes.
"Sword Saint..."
The title awarded to the greatest swordsman among all living hunters. The murmuring grew into a swell of noise. On the other side of the door, not a single labyrinth monster remained alive. The commander looked at the crushed remnants of the Steeletons and swallowed dryly.
—Kang Tae-jun walked past the raid force as if they didn't interest him in the slightest.
"......!"
Even in the frenzy before a dungeon closure, Hayeon followed Kang Tae-jun without a flicker of doubt. The sound of their footsteps grew louder. When the raid force turned, stunned, every member of Dawn except the fallen Gu Jin-ha was falling in behind him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
When the heavy clouds are swept aside, what follows is dawn. The dim light of Dawn was beginning to brighten, little by little.
***
I didn't know the exact reason, but the condition to prevent the raid force's destruction had been fulfilled. Which almost certainly meant they'd made it out of the dungeon. Thanks to that, I'd hit Level 30 and met my evolution conditions. As I hauled myself out of the river and shook myself off, Perry teleported hurriedly beside me, looking ridiculously smug about having dodged a drenching this time. Even in a situation like this, it pulled a dry laugh out of me. I turned and gauged the distance across the river.
'At this range...'
[Evolution Route]
[Path of the Storm Wind (飛嵐) — Evolution available.]
[Path of Calamitous Fire (劫火) — Evolution available.]
[Path of the Void (空虛) — Evolution available.]
Just as the message had indicated earlier, the conditions were fulfilled. The Storm Wind path had always been open. Now Calamitous Fire and the Void were too. I'd thought about which path to take. Meeting the Queen would've made the choice clearer, but there hadn't been time.
'Since the condition's already met, the raid force shouldn't face annihilation. I could slip out, find the Queen, and then...'
The battle between Snowell and Kang Hoon — by now, Kang Tae-ho should have made it to Zone 1 as well. No matter who Kang Hoon was, Snowell wouldn't go down easily... but Kang Hoon had already turned and started running.
'...Yeah, he'll do it.'
That was my prediction. Kang Hoon could absolutely pull off what I'd pulled off. Just as I had, he'd begun luring Snowell away. But that didn't change the bigger picture. Once the frenzy started, Snowell would've exited the dungeon anyway. The situation was still bleak, but if Kang Hoon lured Snowell far enough to save Kang Tae-ho, that alone meant something. Once they got out of the dungeon, the other clans — who would've caught wind of the situation by now — would be waiting. The Gowon Clan was surely already in motion. Even if Kang Hoon emerged with Snowell on his heels, escaping wouldn't be easy.
I'd accounted for all of that. But if there was one thing the Wolf had missed...
—Some people would rather die together than burden anyone else. Some people, to protect the honor of a hero father to the very end, and to shoulder that responsibility as blood, would choose to die side by side.
***
"So, Swordmaster?"
Kang Tae-ho stood at the entrance, looking at Kim Joo-seop and Eun Ja-rim, who'd arrived late. At his baffled expression — why aren't you gone yet? — he just shook his head and turned away. With superhuman vision, he picked out Kang Hoon and the massive White Lion in the distance and let out a sigh heavy enough to crack the earth.
"God dammit..."
He'd made it to the entrance. That was good. But if he left now, everyone would die pointlessly. The thought of what kind of catastrophe would unfold if Kang Hoon and Snowell burst out of Neverland was too horrific to dwell on. Kang Tae-ho scratched the side of his head.
"Fuck... this is a son's duty, I guess."
Muttering under his breath, he transferred the two people slung over his shoulders to Eun Ja-rim and Kim Joo-seop.
"Go on ahead. Take these two with you."
The two of them caught Ju-gyo's body — and Baek Gun-tae, who was groaning and starting to stir — in a daze. Eun Ja-rim's brow furrowed.
"Swordmaster, you're not..."
"Don't worry about it. I've still got work to do."
"You intend to stay? Why in the world would you—"
They clearly couldn't understand. Kang Tae-ho grabbed both of them by the collars and lifted them as if they weighed nothing, not interested in explaining.
"...Ah, yeah. Something like that."
He tossed the two struggling figures through the dimensional rift, then turned his face up toward Zone 2's sky and steadied his breathing.
—Duty, responsibility, and the cold calculus of reality. He'd weighed them carefully. Better for both Kang Hoon and himself to stay here and die in a collapsing dungeon than to let them both walk out. Feeling Kang Hoon's presence drawing closer, Kang Tae-ho drew the Conqueror's Great Sword again from where he'd sheathed it.
"Now then. Time I gave this bastard a proper funeral."
With a low chuckle, Kang Tae-ho hefted the massive two-handed sword onto his shoulder and waited for Kang Hoon to come.
***
The frenzy before closure. Monsters stampeded endlessly toward the exit, and in the chaos I ground my teeth. Kang Tae-ho hadn't fled after all. I wasn't going to sneer at that choice and call him stupid — but this wasn't what the Wolf had wanted. Even if I fought beside him, stopping Kang Hoon and Snowell together was impossible. In that final extremity, in the roiling pivot of the situation, the Wolf wished for one thing: strength to break through.
[I choose the path of ——.]
At that choice, every shred of Karma I'd accumulated began to coil around the Wolf.