105.
Sehun’s eyes shifted toward the newly appeared Cerberus. He raised his arm again, despite already facing one of them.
Woof! Woof!
As an invisible force constricted its body, the Cerberus barked roughly. Its eyes filled with murderous intent upon discovering Sehun.
Siyun gulped nervously as he watched the creature lower its upper body and growl. There was no need to use his Mind Reading skill.
He only blinked once, but in that moment, those ferocious teeth nearly reached Sehun’s nape. Though Siyun hurriedly followed with his greatsword, he was a step too late.
But suddenly, the Cerberus let out a painful groan, scratching the ground with its claws.
Siyun’s gaze turned toward Jian. With a face turned deathly pale, Jian was attacking the Cerberus.
“Ugh.”
Jian staggered, clutching his chest. The moment he saw the Cerberus charging at Sehun, he immediately used an attack skill.
Ignoring his depleting life force, he attacked with maximum power, making his heart feel like it would burst.
“…Sehun.”
He immediately restored Sehun’s mana and health as well. Only after seeing the bleeding stop could he breathe a little easier.
“I’ll handle this one.”
Jian said, forcefully swallowing the blood welling up. His smiling lips trembled. Sehun’s expression remained cold as they faced each other.
Though his heart ached at this unfamiliar face, there was no time to dwell on it. If they delayed, Sehun would certainly push himself too hard trying to kill the Cerberus again.
Silently, Sehun looked at the Cerberus writhing in pain and at Jian, then concentrated his attack on another one that wasn’t dead yet.
Jian, having caught his breath momentarily, gritted his teeth as he saw the attack skill’s duration coming to an end.
Thinking he needed to kill it before Sehun turned his attention back, he used his life force until his vision went white.
The Cerberus’s eyes rolled back. It writhed like dried fish on a hot plate, then tumbled to the ground.
Its massive forelegs and tail thrashed in all directions. Jian blinked slowly. He could sense a black figure approaching, but couldn’t move a finger.
“Hunter Lee Jian!”
Siyun threw himself forward, embracing Jian as they rolled across the ground. The spot where Jian had just been standing was demolished as if excavated by a bulldozer.
“Are you okay?”
Siyun got up and checked Jian’s condition. Jian lifted dazed eyes to look at the still-living Cerberus.
“Must… kill it… *cough*…”
With each word, it felt like every nerve in his body was snapping. Finally, he vomited a large amount of blood.
The brief relief from the pressure was short-lived. His reason was gradually disappearing in the surging heat.
With almost only instinct remaining, Jian moved. He gathered his remaining life force to attack the Cerberus and cast a recovery skill on Sehun.
Keurheoong…!
The Cerberus, foaming at the mouth, collapsed to the ground with a death cry. Black smoke rose from its legs submerged in the lava floor.
Siyun clicked his tongue as he watched it die, unable even to close its eyes, its tongue hanging out.
Both Sehun and Jian were using their abilities without any thought for their own bodies. As he watched the Cerberus’s corpse gradually turning to ash, the body he was supporting collapsed lifelessly.
“*Cough, cough*…”
Turning his head in surprise, he saw Jian continuously vomiting blood—an alarming sight. He had seen people with similar symptoms before.
All of them coughed up blood like this after using mana to their limits. Seeing the bloodshot whites of his eyes and the thick veins protruding on his neck, it seemed Jian had also overused his mana.
Siyun hastily pulled out mana recovery potion, health recovery potion, and wound recovery potion from his inventory.
“Try drinking this.”
He coaxed the fading Jian to drink the potion, but his condition grew increasingly serious.
“Sehun, this…”
“He’s standing fine over there, so worry about Hunter Lee Jian’s body first.”
Seeing Jian still looking for Sehun even as he was losing consciousness, Siyun shook his head. Yongho and Hyunsu were rushing over.
Meanwhile, Sehun had killed another Cerberus.
Standing covered in wounds, he exhaled deeply after looking around and seeing no more Cerberus.
“Jian hyung!”
A familiar voice rang in his ears. Jian. Somehow familiar. Who? A monster?
Where he turned his gaze, there was a person soaked in blood. With closed eyes, he looked as if already dead.
Strangely, his heart ached at the sight. His head felt like it would split.
Sehun repeatedly struck his chest with his fist. He hit his head too. But the pain wouldn’t diminish. It was so strange.
He was supposed to just eliminate monsters. If he killed the monsters threatening humanity’s survival, he would have fulfilled his duty.
So why did he feel like he hadn’t finished his job?
What was this emotion he was feeling? Come to think of it, who was he? What was his name? And who were these people?
Who was that person lying there, whose mere sight made it hard to breathe?
Cracks gradually appeared on his expressionless face. Sehun furrowed his brow and clutched at his chest.
Tears flowed from his frowning eyes. Something was wrong. He constantly felt like he was missing something very important.
Looking around, he saw no more S-rank monsters. But why…
“What do we do? The potions aren’t working. Jian hyung, please open your eyes. Waaah… hyung…”
Jian hyung. Jian.
Someone was embracing that person who kept catching his eye and wailing. These people weren’t monsters. So there was no need to harm them.
It was uncomfortable. Why was that person collapsed like a corpse, being held by someone else?
“Han Sehun! Are you really crazy? What were you doing while Jian hyung got like this? Why are you just standing there? He looks like he’s about to die…”
…Han Sehun.
This name was familiar too. It felt like dozens of pebbles were rolling around in his head. It was agonizing.
Following his instinct, Sehun took staggering steps. He approached the one who kept drawing his attention. His vision occasionally blurred.
Hyunsu bit his lip as he watched Sehun, who shed tears with an expressionless face. Something had gone terribly wrong.
He noticed the medicine bottle Jian was still clutching despite being unconscious. Hyunsu grabbed it and thrust it in front of Yongho.
“Is this medicine really effective?”
Hyunsu had heard what Yongho was telling Jian. At Hyunsu’s question, Yongho made an uncomfortable expression.
“…Maybe.”
He too had only heard about it from Yoonjae. Seeing Sehun’s abnormal state confirmed that Yoonjae’s prediction was correct.
“Please take care of Jian hyung.”
Hyunsu stood up with the medicine bottle in hand. After confirming that Yongho and Siyun were attending to Jian, he roughly wiped his eyes with his forearm.
This was no time for just crying. Jian’s heartbeat was too slow. The sound of his breathing, which seemed about to stop at any moment, made Hyunsu feel like the ground was falling away beneath him.
To Hyunsu, Jian was as precious as Hyunwoo. When he was young, substituting for the busy Hyunwoo, Jian prepared delicious meals for him every day and gave him boundless affection.
If Hyunwoo played the father role, Jian embraced him like a mother. And now that person was dying.
He couldn’t resolve this alone. He had to restore Sehun to his original state by any means necessary.
“Come to your senses quickly. Otherwise, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
He opened the medicine bottle. White smoke flowed out like fog. He approached Sehun, who was standing like a statue, and held the bottle to his face.
The thick smoke seeped into Sehun’s nostrils. His brow, which had been staring at Jian without even blinking, gradually tensed.
“…Please come to your senses.”
If the medicine didn’t work, he was planning to pick up a stone and hit him on the head.
“…Hyung.”
But it worked. Life gradually returned to his vacant eyes, which then contorted in pain.
“…Jian hyung.”
“Are you coming to your senses?”
Hyunsu looked at Sehun with hopeful eyes. Sehun shook his head, trying to clear his mind.
Various memories surfaced in his mind, which had been filled only with the thought of eradicating monsters by any means necessary.
‘Do you want to come with me?’
The white hand extended toward him was smooth without a single scar. Those roundly curved eyes were beautiful. The warmth of that hand, which he had courageously taken, was so warm it brought tears to his eyes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
