Kiiing
The Omega prepared to land. This fruit of cutting edge technology made an almost soundless landing. There were no changes to the surroundings apart from the slight shifting of the sparse weeds sprouting in the area.
Tsss, as long as you ignored the distinct sound of leaking steam.
“Huu…”
After getting off of the Omega, Dok Go-yun let out a soft sigh.
This was because it felt like the pressure he had been feeling within the enclosed space of the aircraft was reduced slightly. He never would have dreamt that he would be left alone with Yang In-hyun.
“There is no need to be on edge.”
It was a gentle voice, but it needlessly sent chills down Dok Go-yun’s spine.
“Since I have no intention of killing you.”
No. It wasn’t needless.
First of all, he knew that Yang In-hyun was someone that killed people while maintaining that same calm attitude. And second of all, even at that very moment when they were facing each other, he could not grasp his presence.
It was the same on board the aircraft.
Yang In-hyun was clearly in front of him, and there weren’t any signs of him trying to hide himself, but Dok Go-yun still felt that his presence was faint like a ghost.
It was as if the sensory organs in his body were refusing to sense him.
“Besides, even if you do that, you’ll still lose.”
“Huh…?”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re on edge or not. In any case, you will die with a single sword strike, so there’s no need for you to waste your energy like that.”
“…”
Those words instantly made Dok Go-yun’s pride as a martial artist rage.
The words, ‘Then try to swing’, rose up his throat.
However, he held it in. This was because Dok Go-yun had something that was more important than his pride. The desire to survive. He didn’t want to lose his life because his pride took a brief hit. He readily admitted it.
To the man in front of him, he was no different from a bug.
“…”
Yang In-hyun was looking at him with a calm gaze. The moment their eyes met, his scalp became numb once again.
Was this man deliberately provoking him all this while…?
“That, wouldn’t it be too conspicuous if you left it like that?”
He was talking about the Omega.
While it certainly was a poorly lit place, the pure white aircraft stood out so much that it was noticeable even from hundreds of metres away.
Dok Go-yun, who finally came to his senses, agreed.
“Ah, Of course. It’s possible for it to standby in stealth mode, so there should be an external control device somewhere here…”
While Dok Go-yun fiddled with the Omega, Yang In-hyun slowly looked around.
Even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, this was a land where the sunlight could barely be felt. With a dark and damp atmosphere and unpleasant wind.
“Something is coming.”
“…agreed.”
Dok Go-yun, who had just managed to successfully hide the fuselage, narrowed his eyes as he agreed. Then, with his narrowed eyes, he looked into the distance.
Thud, thud. The sound of the ground shaking steadily grew louder. As they looked, a monster with two legs and a deformed neck came into view. It didn’t seem to be a monster capable of reason.
He didn’t think it had seen the Omega land.
“Go save them.”
“Huh? Ah.”
It was only then that Dok Go-yun realised the monster was chasing people.
After all, since most of his attention was focused on Yang In-hyun, it took him a while to notice.
“Understood.”
Dok Go-yun nodded, then, with a single step, reached the monster. Something like a black air current followed him like a shadow.
“Gerk?”
The monster finally noticed the presence of Dok Go-yun and let out a strange sound. With an expressionless face, Dok Go-yun stretched out his fist. Boom, the monster’s face exploded like a firework and its long neck swayed like a highrise building on the brink of collapse.
Thud!
The body, which had now become a blood spewing corpse, collapsed.
“Ah, ahhh…”
Only then did the fleeing people sink to the ground. It seemed that as soon as they confirmed the monster’s death, their tension was lifted.
Their bodies had probably long since exceeded their limits and had been moving purely off of willpower and the desire to survive.
For Dok Go-yun, their desperate expressions were things he’d never seen before.
“Th-, thank you for saving us.”
“Thank you, thank you…”
“…”
With tears in their eyes, the people expressed their gratitude.
He felt strange. His facial expression was probably showing that as well. Now that he thought about it when was the last time he’d heard someone say thank you?
Dok Go-yun turned his head to look at Yang In-hyun. He was still looking over at him with his hands behind his back.
No way, was this what Yang In-hyun intended…
‘No.’
That would be overthinking.
Dok Go-yun turned to look at the people once more. Upon closer inspection, they looked like beggars. They had no shoes, the clothes they were wearing were no more than rags, and they were so thin that their ribs were visible.
Above all, the gloomy aura that he could feel on their faces was so rotten that it amazed even Dok Go-yun, who had experienced many things because of his occupation(?).
They didn’t become like this while being chased by the monster.
They must have been looking that shabby from the start.
“What is this monster?”
Looking at the monster’s corpse which was still twitching intermittently, Dok Go-yun asked.
At that, the man at the very front of the group responded.
“D-, demon.”
“Demon?”
The man gulped and said.
“Th-, the Demon of the Mine…”
* * *
Lukas was witnessing a spectacle of mass panic.
“For, for something like this…”
“Bullseye is really dead.”
“No, no!”
It was at that moment when the people fully realised Bullseye’s death.
Subsequently, their eyes turned to Pale.
“I-, it was you wasn’t it? You killed Bullseye!”
“What the hell have you done?”
“You don’t know anything! Something like this…”
It seemed the one who could be considered their benefactor was not in the position to receive any gratitude.
Pale stepped back with a slightly surprised face.
“Uh, um. What are you talking about?”
“We’re asking why you killed Bullseye…!”
“This is the end. We’re all gonna die.”
“Th-, the Demon of the Mine will come. To kill us all. Huhhh.”
Surprisingly, kindness was rarely rewarded honestly. Also, Lukas was well aware that there were humans who spat on the kindness of others.
But Pale was different. She didn’t seem able to easily accept what was happening.
Narrowing his eyes, Lukas appeared as if he was covering Pale.
“What is the Demon of the Mine?”
Upon seeing Lukas’ sudden arrival, the people flinched.
“Wh-, who are you again?”
“I’m this one’s companion. If you have any complaints, you can tell them to me.”
At first glance, it might seem that he was acting that way to protect Pale, but, in truth, it was for the sake of these people. If they were to make a mistake and cause Pale to go out of control and eat them all, everything would become a mess.
Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation. Just as he realised that Pale, who was behind him, had grabbed his sleeve, the people spoke.
“We… we were content with this life.”
“We don’t want to go down any further. This place is the closest to the light.”
“Hnnng.”
Some of them even began to burst into tears.
Lukas frowned.
If it was like this, the conversation wouldn’t be able to progress. If he were to use a more coercive method, then he would be able to extract an endless amount of information from them, but it would create an incredibly inhumane scene.
While looking around for someone who was still in their right mind, he spotted the boy who had been saved by Pale.
Compared to the others, there was still some vitality in his eyes. He didn’t seem to be too aware of the rules of this place, which was proven by the fact that he had whined for more when food had been served.
In other words.
The boy hadn’t been in this place for long.
Ttak-
Lukas snapped his fingers. At the same time, the people who had been complaining loudly, simultaneously fell asleep and collapsed.
It wasn’t a grandiose spell. It simply induced them to sleep naturally by making their consciousness relax.
Their exhausted bodies made it surprisingly easy.
“Uh…?”
The boy, who was the only one left awake, looked around with a frightened expression.
Lukas walked over to him.
“Hey, boy.”
“Ye-, yes?”
“Your name?”
“I, Ivan…”
“…”
It was another name he missed.
“Right, Ivan. I’m Lukas. How is your leg?”
“I, I think it’s sprained.”
“Let me take a look.”
Lukas looked at Ivan’s ankle. It was swollen as if air had been pumped into it. This was only natural when he forced himself to remain standing when the bone was broken. Lukas couldn’t heal that.
He used ice to reduce the swelling, then he broke a nearby pickaxe and used the wood fragments to make a splint.
It shouldn’t be too much to stand with that.
Ivan hurriedly lowered his head as he witnessed the magical scene that suddenly unfolded.
“Th-. thank you.”
“If it’s fine with you, I’d like to talk.”
“Talk…?”
“About where this place is. Why people are mining minerals here. And what those monsters are.”
“Ahh…”
Still with a dazed expression on his face, Ivan nodded and spoke.
“Th-, that. I’m not sure about the details either. Originally, I was living in Omsk(Омск), but when I woke up like usual, I found myself in this mine. The clothes I was wearing were taken away… Th-, the adults around me said that if I didn’t work, I would either die or be sent underground.”
“Underground?”
“Yes. The lower you go, the more terrible the work is, and Uncle Boba, who had miraculously come up from a lower floor, said that he would rather die than go down again.’
“…”
Below this place.
Lukas knew that the mine was much larger than it looked. But perhaps the underground area was much larger than he expected.
‘Then what should I do?’
Should he kill the one called ‘the Demon of the Mine’, or…
“Aren’t you hungry?”
Pale suddenly spoke to Ivan.
“H-, huh?”
“You’re hungry. To the point of falling unconscious.”
“Ah, yes.”
“It’s fine now. There is a lot to eat.”
With a smile, Pale put her hand on the corpse of Bullseye, the monster beside her. Then, with a sharp cracking sound, one of Bullseye’s legs was torn off.
“Hi-, hiik…”
Ivan shuddered as he was splattered with blood. Pale probably didn’t see it as she naturally held out the monster meat that was dripping blood.
“Here.”
“Wh-, what…?”
“Eat it.”
“…”
Seemingly taking Ivan’s speechlessness in a different way, Pale took a big bite of Bullseye’s leg Munch, swallow, smile.
“See. There’s nothing wrong with it. You can eat it. It’s still warm, so it’s even more delicious.”
“…”
It was an act without the slightest hint of malice. Lukas could see that. But she seemed to have not thought about how it would look to a boy with normal thoughts.
“M-, monster…”
“Huh?”
Ivan’s face became one of utter terror.
“Monster…!”
Then, he turned and ran away without looking back. He hobbled as he ran because of his injured leg, and he even tripped over a stone and fell to the ground. Nevertheless, his fear far surpassed the pain, so he shot to his feet like a roly poly toy.
“…”
Pale froze where she stood. She didn’t try to speak in a bubbly voice like usual, and instead just stayed still. Her expression wasn’t visible. But, unlike usual, her shoulders were slightly droopy.
Lukas didn’t look at Pale’s face. He didn’t even say anything.
Instead, he carried out a fairly impulsive act.
He snatched a chunk of meat out of Pale’s hand.
“Huh?”
He looked down at the red meat for a moment.
He felt a bit of resistance.
Lukas had eaten a lot of meat that was so rotten it wouldn’t be strange for them to have been infested with maggots. But he wasn’t sure if that experience would be helpful.
He opened his mouth wide.
Crunch.
He bit and chewed. The fishy scent of blood overpowered his nostrils and made him feel a bit dizzy. It was strange since this was his first time eating a freshly killed corpse.
Indeed, as Pale said, the flesh was still warm. He felt blood dripping down his chin, but he didn’t care and continued to eat it all.
Then, wiping his lips, he said.
“It’s a bit tough.”
Pale looked at Lukas with a blank gaze for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Legs are usually like that!”
Then she started the chew on the meat once more. It was a sight that no one should have to see. The sight of a young man and woman chewing on monster meat.
“Uncle.”
“What is it?”
“Would you like to eat the skull too?”
“No.”
“Ay. It’s a delicacy.”
“It’s fine.”
“Kikiki.”
Pale giggled with a pleasant expression.
After seeing the numerous faces of Pale until now, Lukas felt that he couldn’t tell which one was really her.
However, this time.
“—Lukas.”
He got goosebumps.
Lukas looked at Pale with a startled expression.
“…uh.”
He inadvertently let out a timid sound that wasn’t like him. With a face as if she had no cares, Pale had the widest smile he’d ever seen.
“Thanks.”
It wasn’t strange for Ivan to run away. After all, if you didn’t feel fear as a woman with a bloody face smiled at you, then you would be a strange person.
Therefore.
Lukas was probably the strangest of them all
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