Chapter 30
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Strange Phenomenon (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘What... where the hell is this place?’
Up until the moment she stepped into the abandoned building, Isis hadn’t sensed anything off.
But the instant she entered, things started getting weird.
It began when the door closed behind her and Do-yoon without them noticing.
Startled by the sudden slam, she’d told him to open it again.
Looking back now, she shouldn’t have done that.
Even though she was the senior hero and should’ve taken the lead, some nagging anxiety and fear deep inside made her blurt it out to him instead.
Luckily, nothing happened, but what she saw next was shocking.
‘No way back... This is the only path...’
The road was completely cut off.
The asphalt path they’d come through—barely a few meters long—ended in an endless, unidentified void.
Faced with a scene that defied comprehension, Isis couldn’t even think of turning back. She chose to press forward instead.
She didn’t dare consider heading outside again.
It was as if she’d surrendered to the terror of plummeting into an endless abyss. Rather than retreat, she advanced.
Maybe she was just following in the footsteps of the other heroes who’d entered here and never emerged.
“……”
Do-yoon’s condition had been off for a while now, too.
It happened at the exit, when they talked about the dresser, and even with the traces.
It felt like he was seeing something entirely different from her.
He’d start to say something, then freeze—like a film reel snapping or his whole body hitting pause.
He wasn’t doing it right now, but after seeing him stop mid-sentence a few times, she couldn’t help feeling worried... and a little scared of him.
But that was a clue, too.
‘Is the view Do-yoon and I see... different?’
Their perspectives weren’t aligning.
So which one was real?
At least to her, what she saw felt like the truth.
This place was too vivid to be fake.
Every object in the hallway felt solidly real.
All her senses confirmed it.
This is reality. Don’t doubt it.
That subtle certainty only made her more uneasy.
‘What should I do...?’
She was pondering how to handle this when her eyes landed on the hallway wall.
‘The wall...’
That was it.
Why hadn’t she thought of that?
Blasting through the wall had to change something.
“Icicle Lance!”
Freezing the air into a spear, Isis hurled it at the wall.
Boom!
The wall crumbled easily from the impact.
Confirming the breach, she rushed over to peer beyond.
“...No way...”
Another hallway stretched out behind it.
“What the hell is this?”
This time, Do-yoon looked shocked too, staring through the hole.
“...You see this too? What does it look like to you?”
“……”
He froze again.
Could she not count on info from him?
‘No... Earlier, when it matched what I experienced, it was fine...’
But those were cases where their experiences aligned.
In other words, when he tried to talk about something different from what she saw or heard—like just now—the conversation just didn’t connect, for some reason.
So...
“Hey, try describing what you’re seeing with some random analogy? Anything I can understand!”
“Even if you say that out of nowhere... It feels like a rickety bridge blocked on all sides, super filthy? Same as before, I guess.”
“...Got it!”
This time, she heard him clearly.
Direct talk about differences didn’t work.
But indirect hints she could interpret? No blocking that.
At least she knew now: Their views of this place differed. Now she just had to use that to find a way out.
‘Breaking the wall was a good instinct, at least...’
No one would want to step into that endless drop.
“...Yeah, this is definitely weird. I thought I was immune, but space is separate, huh?”
“Huh? What’re you—”
“Hold on.”
Do-yoon clenched his fist and swung.
The moment he did,
Kaboom!!
The hallway exploded.
As the infinite abyss beyond came into view, her mind reeled, filled with twisted thoughts: Please make me your prey please make me your prey please make me your prey please make me your prey...
As prey...
Prey...
Pre...
...
“Oh, right...”
I’d punched out the first floor in frustration and realized my mistake.
‘Aren’t there heroes trapped inside...?’
Blindly smashing around without knowing where they were could be disastrous.
Worse, that last hit might bring the whole building down.
Glancing around in worry, I noticed something off.
‘Doesn’t this look bigger than the building I saw outside...?’
Now that it was all visible, it was clear.
The abandoned structure I’d scoped before entering wasn’t this vast.
Which meant something inside was warping space and hitting us with mental attacks.
“Hmm...”
Space manipulation plus mind control.
Mind stuff aside, space tricks had limits, clearly.
‘Only one idea comes to mind, then...’
My Stat Cheat blocked the mental assault, but twisted space? No counter there.
Blasting everything risked the trapped heroes.
Best bet: Move faster than the space could warp. Dash through this expanse.
Space manipulation wasn’t easy and had limits. If I outpaced it, I might break free.
“Isis, sorry, gotta borrow—”
I turned to scoop her up and run, but she stared blankly.
‘What’s wrong with her?’
She looked out of it.
Before I could dwell, she whipped toward me and raised her hand.
And then,
Crack!
My body froze solid in an instant.
Trapped in ice, the chill hit me, and I could only gape in disbelief.
‘Did she just attack me?’
Not just hit—straight-up encased me.
Most people would’ve died on the spot.
‘Eh, this much...’
A little force and I’d shatter free.
Crack, crunch! Shatter!
Flexed lightly, and it exploded off.
Just a cool breeze, really—no frostbite.
“Hoo...”
I shook out my limbs, eyeing her warily.
She looked panicked, even under mind control. Thought that was the end of it, apparently.
I didn’t know why, but she’d attacked first—no leaving that unanswered.
‘Definitely a mental attack.’
Couldn’t let her be. Knockout time.
“Don’t hate me?”
She struck first.
I clenched my fist, recalling Grandpa’s lessons.
Didn’t train with him long, but first and most: How to use strength.
Control and restraint.
‘Gotta minimize damage...’
She twitched her fingers, and fog rolled in, visibility tanking.
Cold warped the air, rifts spewing frostbite chill.
Not just frozen air—a vacuum sucking heat.
Breath-stealing zone, but I was fine.
‘Heat manipulation, huh?’
A-Ranks were no joke.
That instant,
Whoosh!
An ice blade grazed past reflexively.
Not plain ice—compressed crystals stealing heat.
Packed her power; my cheek frosted from the skim.
Brushed it off with a sigh.
Not dangerous, but no need to tank hits.
Blizzard obscured vision, dodging tricky...
And my outer layer iced over.
Air’s moisture, obviously.
Annoying, if minor.
Then the floor warped, ice spears erupting vertically.
Thud! Crunch!
Stamped the ground, shattering them, then dodged or punched fragments.
Then,
Kaboom!
Massive blast beside me.
Instant death for normals, but I shrugged it off.
‘How’d she even explode that...? Heat powers do blasts?’
Rumble, crack... Snap...
Floor to ceiling froze solid.
She’d claimed the whole space.
‘Such a hassle...’
A-Rank worthy.
Indoors limited her; videos showed blizzards swallowing hundreds of meters.
‘Time to end it.’
No hesitation.
Fist clenched, swung hard omnidirectionally.
Whoosh!
Blizzard halted from the shockwave.
Freezing aura shattered; she flinched.
Tap.
Stamped forward, circled behind, chopped her neck lightly.
“Ah...”
Thud.
Good hit—powers released, she collapsed forward.
“Phew, good...”
I muttered, dusting ice off my hands.
Hit harder than planned, but her heat defenses tanked it—no serious injury.
‘Practiced that most...’
Breaching A-Rank shields and physique for a knockout? Too risky for others yet.
Gazing at fallen Isis, I broke a sweat.
‘Neck... not broken, right?’
Could only hope...