Chapter 303. Transcendent (1)
It was important to keep some cards hidden in order to survive in this world.
One couldn’t show everything at once.
***
“Phew. What are you going to do now?”
Misun stopped shouting and asked.
He was still the leader.
He chose the direction they went.
‘Hmm.’
Taesang thought for a moment about the mysterious man from before and then replied.
“It’s time to go back.”
Lauren then asked.
“The man from before? Will that be enough?”
Though they had shot an arrow to help him, it wouldn’t be close to enough.
She didn’t know how he had been abandoned in these plains by himself but a human being would not be able to survive long without enough Beynol powder.
‘Fucking hell.’
As Misun made a worried expression.
Taesang shook his head and replied.
“No. I’m not going to care about him anymore.”
“… You aren’t?”
Of course it was the smart thing to do to ignore a stranger in a dangerous situation like this.
But the Taesang they knew thought a bit differently from others.
And as he received strange looks from the others.
Taesang smiled bitterly.
“He probably wouldn’t need our help.”
Just as they shot the arrow flying.
He saw the man’s smile.
A face full of leisure.
He realized that what he had been thinking was not correct.
And the moment the man looked towards himself.
He was even more sure of it.
An expression full of curiosity.
Though he had always thought that his decisions were always correct, he regretted his action the moment he saw that mysterious man’s expression.
He had helped the man and piqued his interest.
‘Dangerous.’
From his experience, if a man looked at him with great curiosity then he should be very wary of that man.
Curiosity meant that the man didn’t know much about him.
A human should be wary of mysterious things.
But the man wasn’t on guard against himself at all.
Which meant that he was confident.
He wasn’t running away from the Dakramas, he was running away from that man.
Taesang looked around him and spoke out.
“We put out the fire for now so we’ll stand by for about an hour and then move out. Everyone cool down the overload on your mana pools and double check the Beynol powder.”
“… Fuck. He must be dangerous as hell then.”
An hour was not a short period of time in the plains swarming with Dakramas.
A whole hour to see if the man could survive or not, this proved how highly he thought of the man.
Misun complained but eventually nodded.
But at that moment.
Lauren’s expression froze.
“Ah…”
As she started to speak.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiip!
The sound of something ripping was heard from outside the cave.
And Taesang cursed the moment he heard this noise.
“Fuck!”
Then.
“Nice to meet you again. Thank you for the assistance just now.”
Hansoo walked into the cave after he destroyed the barrier outside the cave.
And the moment the group of four saw this.
“Ah… Fucking hell.”
The tremendous pressure that had started to bore down upon them the moment the barrier ripped apart.
The slight pain on their skin was telling them.
‘I can’t win.’
Their body instincts were shouting at them.
Misun grinded her teeth.
‘Fucking bastard. Why wasn’t he letting out this aura just before?’
Misun cursed inwardly as she realized that Hansoo was suppressing his own strength in order to catch them.
If they knew he was like this then they would’ve never approached him.
A powerful person was someone dangerous even if they were close with them.
Like how a zookeeper would still be wary of a lion even if they had raised it from birth.
But if a stranger was that powerful, they were dangerous beyond reason.
‘Where the hell did this guy pop out from…’
The four kept their guard up.
They couldn’t just die standing still.
Kiiiiing!
As lights of various colors exploded out from their bodies.
The man who had appeared before their eyes spoke.
“Don’t be so on guard against me. I’m not trying to hurt you.”
Hansoo shrugged his shoulders.
His words were true.
‘I like how they helped me despite the danger.’
Them taking the box was a problem but it wasn’t like there was an owner or like it would take a long time to catch up to them.
‘It’s nice that I don’t have to beat the hell out of people the moment I come out.’
It was nice since there was a mountain of people he would need to beat up, starting out like this was good.
He smiled at Taesang, who seemed to be the leader behind all this, and spoke.
“The box you took before? Give me that.”
“… You’re the owner?”
“Mmm… I’m not the owner but it was given to me.”
Hansoo nodded at Misun who dared to speak to him in a situation like this.
This girl reminded him of somebody.
‘Saying whatever she has on her mind, reminds me of Enbi Arin.’
A normal person would be scared out of their wits but this girl was staring right back at him.
Anyways, he just needed to get the box from these guys.
Since his plans only included the transcendents and not these normal beings.
And if he could hear how the world had changed, it would be perfect.
‘It would go smoothly, at least I hope.’
At that moment.
“Mmm…”
“Uh…”
Hansoo frowned.
‘… During that short moment?’
Hansoo didn’t realize these guys were this capable.
But his worries came true.
“That… We sent it away already. To the main base…”
“Ha…”
Hansoo sighed deeply.
***
After the Abyss opened.
The world became filled up with mysteries.
Though the man called Kang Hansoo had told them a few things, the things that came out from the elevators far surpassed their knowledge.
Of course the information Hansoo gave them was precious beyond reason.
He had left behind instructions on how to tame the <Fliers> as well as the method to deal with the most dangerous and strangest creatures.
‘He should’ve been called a savior from just this…’
Taesang mumbled inwardly.
Anyways.
Though they had been able to put out the most urgent flames, the elevators kept spewing out strange and mysterious creatures.
And they spread out over the entire world.
Due to the increasing amount of casualties when attacking these races without any knowledge, an unspoken rule started to appear among the adventurers.
— If you find the traces or pieces of something unknown, the scouts will make a decision. If they cannot solve it by themselves then there are two solutions.
First, if they cannot bring the trace or pieces back then memorize the coordinates and report it.
Second, if they can bring it then immediately send it over using the <Fliers>, an abyssal race that resembled a blue bird, to the headquarters.
They couldn’t make sure that they wouldn’t get killed on the way there anyway.
The egg belonged to the former while the mysterious box belonged to the latter.
‘… Seeing as they have a proper societal system, it seems the survivors are doing well.’
Though it wasn’t bad up to this point, it became annoying that he had to do more work.
“So you’re saying the box is at the main base.”
“…”
Taesang carefully nodded.
Though the man didn’t get annoyed or called out their mistakes, the silence was even more terrifying.
But Hansoo only pondered for a bit and then got up.
“Take me there.”
“Huh?”
Hansoo shrugged his shoulders.
“Why are you so shocked? I need to get it back right?”
There was no guarantee that these guys would bring it back so he would need to go personally.
And it wasn’t that bad either.
Since it would be safer in the main base than with these guys.
The would make sure the object was delivered and it would be safely stored inside the main base.
‘I’m a bit curious about how people are living as well.’
Two birds with one stone.
But Lauren clenched her teeth.
This man was too mysterious.
And she was not in the situation to ask.
Even if she did, a proper answer might not be given.
But taking this man to the main base?
‘… If this is the plan of the Dark King then we’re all dead.’
It was better to just finish it all here than taking him there.
She was fed up of her friends being hunted down by the Dark King.
‘Fucking… Monster.’
But as Lauren was about to speak.
Clench.
Taesang grasped her hand tightly..
“…?”
A powerful grip, as if he was stopping her.
And Lauren was shocked at this.
‘… Taesang.’
Lauren fell into silence.
While looking at the terrified expression of Taesang, a clicking noise was created from Taesang’s hands discreetly.
A morse code created by muscles during emergencies.
And she knew what he was telling her.
‘You want to listen to him…?’
As Lauren looked at Taesang.
Taesang’s eyes were fixated on something else instead of her.
At the tip of the mysterious man’s hands.
Whooooosh.
Something dark red.
The aura the man was letting out was powerful but not quite dangerous in any way.
But this was different.
It sent chills down their entire back and made their souls scream in fear.
“I actually made this for the bad boys, not people like you.”
Then.
Taesang’s expression froze up as he saw the dark red light slowly brighten up.