Lee Jiyeon was skeptical about this search operation.
It wasn’t that she wanted the missing child to be dead.
She simply thought realistically that the chances of survival were low.
[Team 2, receiving clear, confird discovery.]
“Huh?”
[Survival also confird. Coordinates have been shared.]
Contrary to her expectations, the location was identified.
And very quickly, at that.
Lee Jiyeon blinked in surprise at the unexpected report coming through her smartwatch.
…
“An Association branch?”
Following the coordinates, she arrived at a modestly established Association branch.
The Association has branches all over the world, including in gray zones.
Of course, since the gray zones lack as much influence, these branches are neither large nor nurous, unlike in white zones.
Additionally, this branch was noticeable only because it was among outdated facilities.
“This way, young miss.”
A bit away from the Association building.
The leader of Team 2 waved her over.
Beside him was a child wrapped in a large robe, sipping soup.
It was the missing child. The appearance matched the description she had received earlier. Though a bit gaunt, he didn’t seem to have any injuries.
Feeling relieved, she approached.
“What’s the child’s condition?”
“Fortunately, there are no major injuries. There are signs of malnutrition, but it’s not severe.”
“Have you checked for curses or black magic?”
“Yes, the results show no significant curses were found.”
“That’s a relief.”
Finally, Lee Jiyeon exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling the tension she had been holding slowly release.
Watching the child gulp down the soup without a care for his surroundings reassured her even more.
Perhaps luck was on their side this ti.
“However, there was a defensive magic applied.”
“...Defensive magic?”
“Yes, we interpreted it briefly, but since it’s harmless, we preserved it.”
The tension that had begun to ease instantly tightened again as Lee Jiyeon tilted her head.
“A protection rather than a curse or black magic?”
She narrowed her eyes, observing the child.
She examined the robe he was wearing.
She had thought Team 2’s leader had given it to him, but now it seed like an entirely different robe.
Most importantly, she now noticed the runes etched onto the robe.
They were sophisticated. Even though Lee Jiyeon wasn’t skilled in magic, she could imdiately tell.
While she wasn’t adept at manifesting magic, she was very familiar with the thods for dismantling and destroying it.
In her view, this magic would be hard to break.
Even before activation, the runes were intricately layered, making it difficult to dismantle. Breaking through the manifested defensive magic would be even harder.
It was advanced magic. Moreover, it didn’t match the structure of Team 2 leader’s magic techniques that she knew.
“…Hmm?”
Lee Jiyeon, examining the runes, felt a strange familiarity.
Or rather, a sense of déjà vu.
“I feel like I’ve seen this sowhere.”
The basic formulas were piled up as if drawn precisely with a ruler and calculated with a calculator.
Lee Jiyeon’s eyes narrowed.
Since she wasn’t proficient in manifesting spells, she couldn’t assess it precisely.
Magic is such a ticulous field that most spells are structured accurately like this, which made it easy to confuse.
“What’s this?”
“Yes, let explain.”
After examining the runes for a mont, Lee Jiyeon asked for an explanation, and Team 2 leader nodded, beginning to explain.
The explanation didn’t take long.
True to his blunt deanor, Team 2 leader’s explanation was concise.
“Mu-Myeon, huh…”
Having listened, Lee Jiyeon’s expression grew complicated.
Mu-Myeon (Face-Less).
It wasn’t an unfamiliar na.
She had been hearing it often in recent reports.
Mu-Myeon was soone who had begun operating around the sa ti Lee Jiyeon started her activities in China.
He was reportedly destroying dozens of inhumane groups in a single night, and indiscriminately hunting down monsters left unchecked near civilian areas.
Eyewitness accounts were still pouring in, and his peculiar attire had earned him the moniker Mu-Myeon.
A pitch-black mask that covered even the eye and nose holes, along with a loose robe that left no skin exposed.
Additionally, an interference spell cast on him made it impossible to identify anything about him.
According to Team 2 leader, this child had already been rescued by Mu-Myeon before they could reach him, and he had been left in the care of the Association branch.
The child had been held captive by a cultist and was saved by Mu-Myeon, who left him in the care of the Association branch.
Lee Jiyeon glanced over at the Association branch building.
It was in a less favorable area, with little vitality and a gloomy atmosphere, yet the building was bustling with people.
They all had one thing in common; they looked generally unwell. So were emaciated to the point of appearing skeletal.
These were civilians rescued by Mu-Myeon.
“…If he’s with the Association, we should prepare a proper thank-you gesture when we return.”
Shaking her head, Lee Jiyeon approached the leaders of Teams 1 and 2.
“There’s no need to waste ti, so let’s head back right away. What do you think?”
“I agree.”
“Yes, I agree. I finally get to soak in so warm water.”
“Then let’s leave without delay.”
With unanimous agreent, the leaders decided to return.
…
Unfortunately, the Association branch where the child had been left didn’t have a Gate Terminal.
The branch was too small, and gray zones rarely had Gates established.
They planned to return to the nearest Gate Terminal—the sa one Lee Jiyeon had used to enter China.
It was the route they had traveled for over ten days.
It was a considerable distance.
However, since they would be moving directly without detours for searches, the ti should be significantly reduced.
“So, the rumor that he’s an Association agent seems true.”
As night fell, a chin rested on Lee Jiyeon’s shoulder as she steadily walked.
It was Lee Dahee, a female team mber from Team 1, led by Lee Jiyeon.
“It’s still not certain.”
“But we already have our answer, don’t we? Just seeing that they accepted the rescued civilians confirms it. The Association has been quietly avoiding gray zone relief operations due to their current shortage of resources.”
The Association had been reluctant to conduct relief operations in the gray zones.
In the past, they had been relatively active, but lately, with the situation in Africa’s demon realm becoming unstable, they had shifted their focus there.
Despite this, the civilians saved and handed over by Mu-Myeon were receiving proper care from the Association.
“If he’s hiding his identity so thoroughly, wouldn’t he be part of the Enforcent Division?”
“They’re busy with the demon realm these days. Why would they co here?”
“He probably ssed with soone high up in the Association. Soone might have ordered his enforcent, and he’s just taking the beating.”
A mber of Team 3, who had been quietly listening, responded dryly.
As the returning team mbers chatted about Mu-Myeon, tension seed to ease.
Since they had safely retrieved the missing person and were on their way back, it was understandable they’d relax a bit.
It was an unprofessional attitude, considering their mission wasn’t over.
Lee Jiyeon briefly considered reprimanding them, but seeing the spirits patrolling and guarding their surroundings, she decided to let it slide.
Lee Jiyeon also had spirits dispersed around as sentries.
These were low-level spirits extracted from monsters, scattered widely as ideal guards.
“Hm?”
It was then.
One of Lee Jiyeon’s spirits picked up sothing unusual.
When she synced her vision with the spirit, she saw a massive gorge, its depth unfathomable.
There was sothing peculiar about it.
“Mist?”
One side of the gorge was covered in mist.
The strange part was that the mist wasn’t rising from the bottom; it seed to appear out of nowhere in midair.
The mist had an almost mystical quality.
Even Lee Jiyeon, who grew up amidst various natural wonders on the Taesan estate, found the mist otherworldly.
“What could that be? A dungeon?”
In this world, whenever the environnt seed odd, it was usually due to a dungeon.
Following that logic, she thought this mist might also be a dungeon phenonon.
Out of curiosity, Lee Jiyeon attempted to send a spirit down below.
– Halt
She didn’t.
One of her closer spirits vanished instantly.
Lee Jiyeon’s face hardened as she turned her gaze.
Her teammates also noticed the shift and looked in the sa direction.
– Uuuu…
A chilling wail pierced through the barren tree trunks.
A presence was approaching.
It wasn’t rely physical.
A presence filled with resentnt and malice was drawing near, carried by the spirits.
As a Manifestor of Taesan, Lee Jiyeon could sense it more acutely.
Drawing upon her mana, she spoke.
“…Whoever’s playing around, co out now, and I’ll let it go with a single chop.”
“We separate personal and official matters.”
A teammate, scanning the area with a similarly stern expression, replied.
Hoping it was just a bluff, Lee Jiyeon sighed.
The ominous presence thickened.
It wasn’t only in one direction. The presence was surrounding them.
“Damn it.”
With Lee Jiyeon’s muttered curse, the spirits revealed themselves.
– Thud
A ghastly hand, pale with decay, gripped a tree trunk, twisting it with strength.
“Corpse puppets.”
Necromancy that stuffs extracted spirits into corpses to control them.
There were quite a few.
Sweeping her gaze around, Lee Jiyeon assessed their numbers.
There were a lot.
Although Lee Jiyeon could summon a fair number of spirits herself, the number of spirits surrounding them was significantly larger.
And they seed high quality, too. While so spirits animated low-level monsters and humans, there were quite a few advanced spirits.
Still, they weren’t beyond her capability to handle.
“Prioritize the child’s protection. Slowly break through the encirclent while scouting.”
Though the mana wavelength was too unstable for clear communication, she sent a distress signal just in case.
At her command, Lee Jiyeon lifted her foot and stomped down.
– Boom!
The ground they stood on shuddered.
Like ripples on a lake, tremors spread outward.
Then—
– Crash!
– Gyaaah!
Spikes of rock erupted from the ground beneath the spirits, tearing through them instantly.
Even the high-ranked monsters among the undead couldn’t resist the spikes empowered by earth control and mana.
The ground quivered, raising mounds of dirt that wrapped around her legs and solidified like thick armor.
The earth didn’t stop moving.
Ripples continued, spikes burst up, and the ground surged like waves, crushing the enemies.
The cracked earth spewed more spirits.
Taesan.
The unique ability to control the living earth and wandering spirits.
The spirits, deeply influenced by the hostility of the earth, were utterly destroyed.
The surrounding spirits, forming the encirclent, were quickly dispersed.
The spirits summoned by Lee Jiyeon and her team filled the gaps, pushing back the enemies.
Reaching out, Lee Jiyeon made the earth shudder again, forging a massive double-headed axe.
Gripping the newly created axe tightly, she raised it overhead.
Crrack! The grinding sound of the handle against her palm rang out, veins bulging on the back of her hand under her armor.
Then, she brought the axe down in front of her.
The axe blade cleaved through the air, striking a corpse puppet’s head with a crash.
Boom! The corpse puppet’s head exploded.
Without stopping, the axe cleaved from the puppet’s torso down to its groin, splitting it vertically before embedding into the ground.
Wham! A tremor reverberated through her legs.
The ground cracked, and shockwaves rippled along the axe’s path.
Several corpse puppets burst apart, while twice as many had their limbs shattered and sprawled on the ground.
“Hm…”
Lee Jiyeon narrowed her eyes, sensing sothing strange.
They had initiated the attack on her.
They must have known who she was and attacked with that in mind, yet they were crumbling under her assault without much resistance.
Were they testing her? Sending scouts to gauge her strength? Were they holding back for fear of exposing their true location?
The forces they committed here were significant, yet they weren’t well-coordinated.
It seed like they were simply throwing their forces away.
– Rumble!
At that mont—
A chilling vibration penetrated her armor and skin, causing her movents to freeze.
A sense of impending danger. A warning shouted by her instincts.
With a grim expression, Lee Jiyeon turned her gaze toward the source of the tremor.
– Rumble…
The ground split open.
From the crack, a massive creature rose, lifting heaps of earth as it erged.
The moonlight that had illuminated them was briefly obscured by the colossal figure.
“Oh… damn.”
She heard a crude curse from behind, but Lee Jiyeon had no ti to rebuke it.
A giant serpent.
It wasn’t in perfect form.
Its scales, tinted green and black, were fractured and missing in places.
The weapon attached to the tip of its tail, resembling a greatsword, was cracked and chipped.
And—
The serpent had two necks branching from its torso.
But only one head remained at the end. Even that was incomplete, with patches of missing flesh revealing pale bone.
There was no comfort in that sight.
– Hisss…
The serpent’s mouth opened, its tongue moving.
Saliva dripped from its partially decayed, hole-ridden tongue.
Droplets of saliva trickled down from its mouth.
– Ssssizzle…!
The ground began to lt. The venomous saliva dripped onto the earth, emitting a sinister sound.
Seeing the unimaginable toxicity of that saliva, the expressions of the team turned deathly pale.
They instinctively realized it.
If touched, they would die.
Would it be instant death?
Would they writhe in agony, slowly succumbing?
Would they dissolve, or would they turn to stone, eyes wide open in death?
They didn’t know the specifics.
But they knew one thing with certainty: death was the inevitable outco.
“Ah, damn it.”
Lee Jiyeon cursed inwardly.
“I shouldn’t have co.”
What on earth was happening during this supposed break?
– Shaaah!
With belated regret, the serpent’s gaping maw lunged toward them.
The sound of the waterfall had beco quite familiar.
“So peaceful.”
Kicking his legs created a strong ripple in the water.
The previously gentle and steady ripples were engulfed by intense, irregular waves.
So ti had passed since he began repeatedly subrging and resurfacing in the lake.
He couldn’t shake the impression that it was quite peaceful.
Unlike last ti, this trip seed to be going smoothly.
He decided he would soak a bit longer, recharge adequately, and then head out.
With a satisfied smile at his core and circuits, which were gradually expanding, he pushed his wet hair back.
“…?”
At that mont, he felt a sense of unease.
He hadn’t paid much attention, but once he beca aware, the feeling of discomfort intensified.
He opened his mouth slightly, then casually pulled out a strand of hair.
His hair.
It was firmly attached.
“Huh.”
But the color was different.
It wasn’t black—it was white.
“Huh…”
A question mark practically appeared above his head.
[Player Adjustnt System: asurent] ...
▶ntal State “??”: ? ... [ntal State “??” is changing]
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