“P-please help me…”
The desperate voice echoed repeatedly through the empty air. It was a bizarre, unnatural sound with no rise or fall in tone—flat and eerie. Everyone could only tell it was coming from somewhere ahead, but no one could pinpoint its exact location.
At least, the users in the vanguard unit could hear it clearly.
Amid the heavy silence, the first to regain composure was Seon Yu-woon.
“Who’s there? Identify yourself.”
“Are you… are you the rescue team…?” the voice stammered, distorted and strange.
“We’re not a rescue team. I said, identify yourself.”
“The… the monsters… they attacked… I can’t move…”
“Monsters? Did you say monsters? What do you mean?”
“Please… help me… it hurts so much… sob sob…”
Even as they spoke, Seon Yu-woon felt a chill run down his spine. His keen archer’s senses were on high alert, ringing alarms nonstop. The voice was clearly sobbing, but strangely, it lacked any real sorrow or variation in pitch.
Maybe it wasn’t even human.
Just as Seon Yu-woon turned his crossbow from aiming at Go Oh-hwan to the front, a woman in a pale blue priest’s robe hurried forward.
“Wait! Why are you aiming your crossbow?”
“Go back,” Seon Yu-woon said without even turning his gaze. He simply nodded slightly and fixed his eyes ahead. Sensing something off about his behavior, the mercenary clan members at the front began drawing their weapons one by one. The woman’s face tightened with frustration.
“Hey! What are you doing? Someone’s dying out there! We should be rushing to help, not standing around…”
“If you’re not going to help, then shut up and get lost. You’re annoying.”
Before she could finish, a sharp voice cut her off. The woman turned her head in disbelief, only to flinch when she saw Yoo Jung standing there, two daggers drawn, eyes cold and piercing.
“No… that was definitely a human voice…”
“Idiot.”
“W-what did you say?”
“Magic detection is just for show? Don’t you realize there’s nothing detectable ahead?”
The woman frowned, confused by Yoo Jung’s words. Based on the voice, something should have registered on their sensors, but there was nothing.
Wasn’t that strange? Whether human or monster, everyone leaves some trace of presence. Yet, there was none.
A contradiction. There were only two possible explanations: either the source was out of detection range, or a new kind of monster had appeared that couldn’t be sensed by ordinary means.
“They’re coming again… those things…”
Once more, the eerie voice drifted through the air. The pitch remained flat, but this time the words came faster, as if trying to convey urgency.
“Run! Run away quickly! The monsters have found this place! Hurry!”
Now, it wasn’t a plea for help—it was a warning to flee.
Were they trying to trick them into walking into a trap?
A flicker of doubt crossed the faces of the vanguard users. Even Seon Yu-woon furrowed his brow.
“Cowards!”
Seemingly fueled by a sudden certainty from the voice, the woman spat out the word fiercely and charged forward. Someone grabbed her shoulder urgently, but she shook them off forcefully.
“Let go! If that were a monster, would it speak like that? That’s a human voice!”
She drew her staff and broke away from the vanguard unit.
“Where exactly? I’m coming!”
“Here… just ahead…”
As the woman glanced around, the voice responded immediately. She guessed the source was somewhere in the thick underbrush and nodded, quickening her pace.
If only she’d been a bit smarter, she might have stopped the moment she heard the voice. But she didn’t, and so she was forced to halt against her will.
Whoosh!
Thud!
A sinister sound cut through the air. The woman, running at full speed, suddenly came to a dead stop.
Her body swayed from inertia, and her eyes instinctively dropped to her ankles. A filthy whip-like thing was tightly wrapped around both legs.
No, it wasn’t a whip. The sticky, bumpy surface looked more like tentacles.
Moments later, her eyes widened in shock.
But it was already far too late.
“Huh?”
In an instant, the world tilted sharply to the right.
As her body leaned fully and touched the ground, she let out a belated scream, dragged swiftly into the thicket. Her comrades shouted desperately, but her legs—and soon her upper body—were being pulled in.
“Help me! S-somebody!”
Her arms flailed uselessly in the air. Just as it seemed she would be pulled in completely, her body suddenly stopped.
But it was almost too late. Outside the dense bushes, only her slender arms remained visible, still thrashing as if begging for rescue.
And then—
Crunch!
“Aaaahhh!”
A sudden, sharp biting sound rang out, followed by a piercing scream that echoed all around.
It didn’t stop there.
Crunch! Crunch!
“Gah! It hurts!”
The more the sounds continued, the more the woman’s arms twisted and pounded the ground frantically. Her desperation was so intense that even as a priest, the bushes beneath her hands were torn apart.
But it lasted only a moment.
Crash!
A loud shattering noise. At the same time, the woman’s arms stiffened, trembled, and then went limp. Finally, with a slurping sound, as if swallowing liquid, her arms slowly disappeared into the thicket.
The users all stared blankly at the left-side bushes. It had all happened in the blink of an eye. From the moment her ankles were grabbed until now, less than ten seconds had passed.
But it wasn’t over yet.
“Ah… ah…”
Moments later, something unbelievable happened. The woman, who should have been dead, rose slowly from the bushes and floated in midair.
Her appearance was too horrific to look at. Tentacles coiled tightly around her neck, and her lower body was mangled as if thrown into a blender. Blood dripped like a river.
“P-please… help me… please… help…”
Tears streamed down her face. Clutching the tentacles choking her neck, she twisted her face in agony, sending out a desperate call for help.
But something was off. Her expression was filled with heartbreaking desperation, yet her voice was that same eerie, unnatural sound from before.
Seon Yu-woon clenched his teeth. Every user shared the same thought.
An unknown monster. But no one knew exactly where it was.
And now, should they try to save this woman or not?
In the chaos of facing all this for the first time, confusion reigned.
Then—
Snap!
“Help me… cough cough!”
Suddenly, a sword glowing with white light shot through the air, piercing the woman’s neck precisely. Her body convulsed violently, her head drooping deeply.
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
At the same moment, a slightly irritated voice thundered through the vanguard unit. It was a familiar voice. Turning their heads, the users saw four or five others rushing out from the left bushes.
Seon Yu-woon’s face brightened as he recognized the lead runner.
“Clan Lord!”
It was Kim Soo-hyun. As soon as he escaped the directional barrier, he assessed the situation and without hesitation, launched his sword.
Returning immediately to the vanguard, Kim Soo-hyun reached out toward the sword still lodged in the woman’s neck. Miraculously, the sword moved on its own, slicing through her neck and landing in his hand. Blood gushed from the severed wound.
“Wait! Mercenary Lord! That woman is my sister!”
Someone shouted loudly, but Kim Soo-hyun paid no mind. Instead, his voice brimmed with magic as he continued issuing orders.
“The location is inside the left bushes. Distance from 2 to 25 meters. Warriors, protect the left flank with forward movement. Mages, use earth magic. Priests, raise shields. Archers, now—”
“Mercenary Lord!”
A man who had grabbed the woman’s shoulder earlier rushed forward, unable to hold back. But without looking, Kim Soo-hyun grabbed the man’s chin and forced him to look ahead. When the man saw what was there, his mouth fell open.
The woman, thought dead, had lifted her head and was looking down. Blood still poured from her, but her face was calm. In fact, despite the blood dripping from her lips, she smiled—a predatory smile, like a beast eyeing its prey.
“Fire!”
The first volley of arrows sliced through the air.
The woman’s smile deepened. Then, rising even higher into the sky, she effortlessly dodged every single arrow aimed at her—and even retreated a good distance away while doing so.
Kim Soo-hyun raised his sword as if to throw again, but slowly lowered it.
The tentacle that had wrapped around the woman withdrew even further, then slipped quietly into the bushes.
Moments later, the foliage began to rustle softly from side to side.
That rustling quickly gained speed, vanishing far away in the opposite direction from the southern expedition team.
In the end, the southern expedition failed to cross the mountain they had set out to conquer that day. Instead, they retraced their steps and decided to camp early. The sudden appearance of the monster they had first encountered had forced the leadership into an emergency meeting.
Still, Han So-young issued a special order to the expedition.
The order was simple: from today onward, the perimeter would be drastically tightened. Rumor had it that the suggestion came from Mercenary Road.
Of course, given the monster’s appearance, increasing vigilance was only natural. The problem was that the measures were a bit extreme. And since rest was crucial for recovery, the users were bound to be unhappy.
Late at night.
The forest was thick with dim darkness, but the campsite was brightly lit by roaring fires.
“Damn it. What the hell is going on?”
A man plopped down on a tree stump, grumbling. One of the two men and women standing guard nearby glanced over.
“Hey. When did you get here? Where’ve you been?”
“Just took care of something. Why?”
“Are you crazy? You were gone for over an hour! I almost reported you!”
“Y-yeah, yeah, sorry. It was a big one.”
The woman scolded him, and he responded with an annoyed, drawn-out sigh. She frowned slightly.
“What’s his problem now? Why are you always so grumpy?”
“Because, seriously, what are we even doing? We can’t even sleep.”
“Because you can’t sleep?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just that this whole thing feels pointless. Using a quarter of our forces for just one watch shift? Does that make any sense?”
The man kept venting his frustration. The woman, clearly done with the conversation, shrugged and linked her arm with another man standing nearby.
“Can’t be helped. This is the situation. We just have to trust and wait. The leadership will come up with some good plan, right? Honey?”
She looked for agreement, but the man said nothing.
“Honey? Honey! What’s wrong?”
She shook his arm repeatedly. Finally, the stiff man managed to whisper.
“…Soyeon.”
“What? Are you in a hurry too?”
“No, it’s not that… Magic detection.”
“Magic detection?”
He nodded slowly.
The woman tensed instantly. His class was archer—perfectly attuned to sensing danger. Fearing a monster ambush, she immediately activated her own magic detection.
But unexpectedly, she sensed nothing. Only two presences: hers and the man’s. No others.
“Why? There’s only you and me around…?”
And then—
Her eyes went wide as saucers.