Chapter 166

In truth, he had lied to Tae-un. From the time the number of regressions exceeded two digits, the 3rd Great Rift had grown dramatically stronger with each round. So the hope Tae-un harbored had been impossible from the start.

Kwaaaaa―

A red pillar rose from the black mountain peak. A suffocating heat reached even here where the lava hadn't yet touched.

"Han Tae-un, they'll be swarming soon, prepare for battle..."

"..."

"Han Tae-un."

"How on earth, are we supposed to..."

His reaction and emotions were familiar. The sense of defeat that came before even starting, the feeling of helplessness that nothing could be changed. Even though he knew it would end up like this, seeing that expression was painful.

Soram pulled Tae-un and led him behind a building where the heat was less intense. The wrist in his hand hung limply.

...Shit, it's bad enough that it broke out years early, but do I have to make him make that expression at the end?

Bitterness spread to his chest, becoming pain. It tingled and throbbed enough to momentarily erase the fear of the Great Rift. Soram stood on his tiptoes, facing Tae-un who was leaning against the wall. Their eye levels were placed on the same line.

In the next life, we'll meet with this much height difference from the start.

"Tae-un-ah."

There won't be a chance to call him like this either.

Soram kissed Tae-un's lips, which were in a daze. As he didn't respond, Soram brushed over them several times with his lips. He pushed his tongue into the blankly opened mouth. Even if someone saw now, it didn't matter anymore, though there was no one around. He firmly held Tae-un's stiff hand and continued the kiss alone, which had always been more initiated by Tae-un.

It was the first time someone had liked him, so he had reached for romance novels he'd never been interested in before. Perhaps he had been envious. Because the terrible romance scenes were in front of a blue sea. Because all the seas he remembered were the color of fire.

"...What are you doing?"

"Have you come to your senses?"

"..."

The eyes looking back at Soram were an unusually plain black. Tae-un lowered his head.

"Is this, the end?"

"Yeah. Breaking through the 3rd Great Rift will be forever impossible from now on. It's become too strong."

"..."

"Looks like it's over."

At this rate, Seoul would be conquered within days. There seemed to be no way to survive.

The lava that had been rapidly covering the land had now approached just ahead. Soram and Tae-un flew up to avoid the lava. On one side, hunters were having urgent and desperate discussions about what to do. Even at that moment, the defense line was being pushed back further and further.

"Have you been living in places like this all this time? Feeling like this?"

Tae-un's voice lost its usual calmness and trembled.

"Well. I think I'm less scared now."

He had thought he would be the first to break down, recalling past nightmares, but surprisingly he was fine. Was it because Tae-un beside him was so scared? Because he didn't want to show a broken appearance to him, at least, to reduce the regrets he would take to the next life.

"Han Tae-un, I'll show you something cool before it ends."

Blue mist poured out from Soram, who smiled faintly. The blue mist enveloped his body, filled the surroundings with blue, and continued to add more. It was dozens of times the amount he used when sparring with Tae-un.

"You said you fell for me when you saw me fighting in the 2nd one, so I should at least do this much."

Following Soram's gesture, the blue mist faced the most intense battlefield. It looked as if a new blue sea had appeared to block the red sea.

"Oh right, I don't think I've ever said this, but I like you quite a bit too."

"..."

"Only you from this life."

Soram flew towards the coast, leading the blue wave. Part of the blue mist gathered into the shape of a sword in his right hand.

Chwaaak―!!!!!

Soram swung the mist weapon, and five mutants in front of him simultaneously lost their cores. The mist scattered around him changed shape freely to cover Soram. He plunged into the midst of the mutant horde. Then, black smoke from the defeated mutants rose in large quantities.

The figure that seemed about to be surrounded by red lava soon flew up between them, scattering blue mist. And he cut down the surrounding mutants.

The front line of lava mutants, which had never been pushed back before, was hollowed out along the path of Soram's straight advance. Director Park Jae-seon, who was fighting covered in blood, and all other hunters couldn't help but turn to look at Soram.

The only calm one was the person himself.

'My body is holding up better than I thought.'

As soon as he thought this, blood came up from inside his throat. Soram immediately canceled his previous thought. He was really driving in a wedge into the already densely packed field of death flags.

Blood stained the back of his hand as he wiped under his nose. But more lava surged from far out at sea than he had eliminated.

Soram plunged into the midst of the mutants again.

The strange thing was, not even a bit of trauma came. At this rate, wasn't he rather flying around vigorously?

"Kup, kkuluk."

Ah, cancel the 'flying around vigorously' too. His insides were starting to twist. Still, thinking that Han Tae-un was watching from behind, his body didn't stop moving.

Chwaaak―!!!

The mist plunged again between the lava mutants. Soram now let the power pooled inside him flow out without any restraint.

A smile suddenly appeared on his face, which was starting to be marked with reddish burns. It was a sentiment completely opposite to the situation, but it felt refreshing. It was the first time in his life he had charged forward with the foolish goal of looking cool to someone, without shrinking back, not caring even if the pain of overload came. He only now realized that this was quite a liberating thing.

Contrary to these feelings, the surroundings kept getting hotter and hotter. The mutants, recognizing Soram as the most dangerous enemy, surrounded him. Amidst the blazing vermilion, Soram endlessly poured out blue mist.

Before he knew it, his clothes had become tattered. There were also numerous deep burns where the skin had turned pitch black, unnoticed.

Guruk, geuk, geureuruk―!

A mutant surged up behind Soram. He sensed the hot heat but lacked the time to block it.

Kaang!!!

At that moment, with the sound of metal clashing, the heat disappeared. Turning around a beat late, Soram's view caught the long-drawn trajectory of a sword.

With his neat face in a mess, Tae-un had come to him.

"Jin Soram."

Sparks scattered between the two.

When the gazes they had shared in their dormitory room met like this, the realization that the end was approaching came strongly.

***

Their eyes met, but there was no time for conversation. Mutants pounced from all directions again. Tae-un gritted his teeth, just as he had when rushing to where Soram was moments ago.

He wrapped white light clusters around his sword and swung it in a wide arc. This method, which Soram had helped train and occasionally adjusted, often ended up breaking the ceiling and walls of the training room, but it was highly effective in situations facing an overwhelming majority.

Tae-un fought, drawing out his maximum capacity, and Soram showed miraculous skills impossible for humans. But when they came to their senses, they had to retreat inland as the area of land they could stand on disappeared. It meant the number of hunters defending other coastlines was gradually decreasing.

Tuk.

At that moment, the back of another person breathing heavily touched his back. Brown hair fluttered near the nape of the neck.

"I told you to watch something cool from behind, why did you come?"

"This is, my awakening origin, how could I stay back?"

"..."

"I... awakened because I didn't want to see you fighting alone."

"...Han Tae-un, you're annoying."

It had already been proven that Soram's "you're annoying" meant he didn't know how to handle the ripples Tae-un's words and actions caused in his heart. Tae-un smiled a little, pressing his back close.

A spasm occurred in his right arm, making him switch the sword to his left hand, and suddenly an impulse came to his now empty right hand. Tae-un sent his right hand back and grasped Soram's hand. The trembling seemed to subside a little. Recalling the image of the boy he had seen on TV years ago, he squeezed the hand once more before letting go. It seemed like Soram might have twitched his fingers in the air, following the retreating hand.

In the brief gap, mutants swarmed towards the two in large numbers. Tae-un and Soram's attacks spread out in opposite directions.

The struggle of those trying to stop the Great Rift was utterly insignificant. The more he saw the dungeon that had grown stronger following the regressor who had repeated twenty times, the more hollow the hope he had harbored felt. Instead of the body heat that had been touching his back, the heat tearing into his skin increased all around.

"Ugh...!"

Kaang―

As he turned his body while cutting down a mutant, Soram's figure appeared through the black smoke and flames. His hand wiping and shaking off his mouth was full of blood. The body that had never lost composure when sparring with Tae-un was staggering. Tae-un's focus, capturing such a Soram, also repeatedly blurred and returned.

Soram looked like he was in too much pain. Even knowing it was impossible, Tae-un wanted to let him rest comfortably, if only for a moment.

Kururung―...!

While his attention was diverted to him, the sea roared. Soon, screams were heard from around them.

"What's, that now..."

A wave rose in front of the black mountain. The heightened wave instantly became a tsunami, casting a huge shadow over the heads of the hunters at the scene.

"Ru-run away!"

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Would a monster coming to destroy the world look like this if it spread its wings covered in blood and flesh? The wave approached the land, swallowing lava mutants and swelling even larger.

"Han Tae-un, fly without looking back!"

Soram and Tae-un, who were closer to the coast than other hunters, also hurriedly turned their bodies.

Shiiik―

Kugugugugu―...

With a gust of wind, the wave advanced towards the land. The lava wave didn't let Tae-un and Soram escape easily. The two raced fiercely, barely escaping and being trapped again at the edge of the wave's shadow.

Finally, at the moment when the wave obscured the towering black mountain and all the surrounding sky.

Chwachwachwachwa!!!!!

The massive body began to fall forward. Tae-un sensed it. He was just one step too late.

As he resigned himself, his judgment became even quicker. Tae-un momentarily slowed his escape speed. Just enough to stand exactly half a step behind Soram.

It wasn't a calculation. His body moved naturally, like a habit he had practiced for a very long time. And he didn't regret his choice at all. His self from the life where he had died saving Soram must have been like this too.

"Hey."

At that moment, Soram turned back with a frosty voice.

It was a face full of anger.

"I told you, not to do that one thing."

With a sinking feeling in his heart, Tae-un realized he had made a mistake. It was the worst action for Soram, who would carry all these memories.

"I'm sorry..."

Even in that interval, the wave began to collide with the ground. The heat wind carrying sparks made it hard to breathe. It was already too late to do anything. Tae-un shouted urgently with a distorted expression.

"It was my selfishness. Please don't remember this!"

"How can I forget, you fucking bastard!"

Soram, who screamed as if spitting blood, grabbed Tae-un's collar and threw him in the opposite direction of the wave.

"Even if it ends, fuck, you dying before me is absolutely not allowed!!"