Chapter 36

Which means in the previous life, something altered his soul…

“What’s wrong?” Hae-gun asked, searching his face.

Eui-rim had stared into his face for so long without blinking that Hae-gun shifted with rare awkwardness. Shaking his head quickly, Eui-rim broke eye contact. Deciphering the bunker vision took precedence over analyzing eye colors.

“…Seo Hae-gun-ssi,” Eui-rim began.

Yet circumstances gave him no time to speak. A bizarre, crimson beam of light lanced across the distant sky.

“Fu-u-u-uck!” a distant, frantic voice wailed.

Ahn Moonhyuk’s panicked roar shattered the serene quiet. Sprinting across the meadow like a madman, the burly hunter waved his massive halberd overhead, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Run! Get the hell out of here right now!” Moonhyuk bellowed.

Despite the frantic shrieking, Hae-gun didn’t even twitch. Assisting Eui-rim to his feet, he remarked calmly, “Moonhyuk tends to make a massive fuss over nothing.”

That doesn’t look like an overreaction; he looks genuinely terrified.

Moonhyuk’s face was as pale as a corpse, as if he had run into a ghost. As one of the country’s premier high-rank combatants, for someone of his caliber to sprint in absolute terror meant something catastrophic was closing in.

“I said run! What are you two just standing there staring for?!” Moonhyuk wheezed as he skidded to a halt.

“Use your head, Moonhyuk-ah,” Hae-gun retorted dryly. “We’re backed against a monolithic wall. Where exactly are we supposed to run?”

Tap, tap. Hae-gun rapped his knuckles against the basalt barrier behind them, the hollow thud echoing like an exasperated tongue-click.

Following Hae-gun’s gesture, Eui-rim noticed the anomaly only now.

The basalt wall, which had been waist-high moments ago, had soared dozens of meters into the sky.

What is happening? Is the dungeon’s geography actively shifting?

Moonhyuk bent double, heaving violent, rasping breaths as if on the verge of dry retching. Watching his broad shoulders shake, Eui-rim asked cautiously,

“What did you see out there? Did a horde ambush you?”

“Haah… damn it… if it were just a horde, I wouldn’t be losing my mind,” Moonhyuk wheezed, leaning his bulk on his halberd shaft. “I’ve never seen anything like it! Five hundred meters past the ridge, there’s a colossal skull hovering in the sky! Every time its eye sockets flash crimson, meteors rain down from the clouds!”

“Meteors? But nothing has struck this sector,” Eui-rim pointed out.

“Because it’s annihilating the opposite valley right now!” Moonhyuk shouted. “Judging by the blast trajectory, this meadow is next in line! If that thing turns its gaze toward us, we’re dead!”

Moonhyuk’s description struck Eui-rim with an icy jolt of déjà vu.

An orbital bombardment that rained destruction wherever its gaze landed, methodically obliterating one sector before shifting to the next.

It was the exact attack pattern of the one-eyed Shadow he had witnessed to the point of exhaustion in his past life.

“What is it?” Hae-gun asked, noticing Eui-rim go rigid.

Eui-rim shook his head, pointing toward the distant flashes. “This completely diverges from Utopia’s raid logs. Could the skull Hunter Ahn spotted be the floor boss?”

“Unlikely,” Hae-gun answered smoothly. “Dungeon bosses are almost always bound to the core chamber.”

That was standard dungeon theory. Eui-rim had never heard of a true boss entity roaming open fields; they remained tethered to the core chamber until challenged.

“So what’s the play?!” Moonhyuk pressed frantically. “The difficulty has skyrocketed. Instead of testing coordination right now, can’t you just wipe the board, Guild Master? You can douse the fireballs with your water abilities, can’t you?”

Though he had been screaming for them to flee seconds earlier, Hae-gun’s absolute calm had grounded Moonhyuk. Relying on their Guild Master’s sheer overwhelming firepower, the large man’s panic subsided into eager reliance.

“Hand over the spatial pouch,” Hae-gun ordered.

Ignoring the rambling, Hae-gun unslung the leather pouch from Moonhyuk’s shoulder. Reaching inside the spatial opening, he pulled out seven throwing daggers and three heavy machetes.

The artifact Moonhyuk carried was a subspace pouch, one of only thirty circulating globally. The dungeon that yielded them had permanently collapsed seven years prior after being conquered by a Russian expedition.

Capable of storing up to ninety-nine distinct items regardless of dimensions or weight, the subspace bag was an invaluable logistical asset, virtually mandatory for top-tier raid expeditions.

“Describe the exact descent trajectory of those meteors,” Hae-gun instructed.

With effortless flicks of his wrist, Hae-gun tossed the ten blades one by one into the earth, pinning them upright in a precise semicircle. Only after the last hilt stood embedded in the soil did Moonhyuk find his voice.

“How are they falling? Like flaming hail!” Moonhyuk shouted. “If we don’t neutralize the barrage, we can’t get within striking distance. The second you step into its line of sight, that flying skull triggers a bombardment!”

“What is the charge interval between volleys?” Hae-gun asked.

“Uh… well… who the hell knows?!” Moonhyuk stammered.

“So you didn’t even gauge its minimum engagement radius?” Hae-gun challenged.

“Where was I supposed to find the time to measure that?!” Moonhyuk protested defensively. “I was sprinting for my life! If I had time to calculate artillery intervals, would I have been running on foot like a madman?”

Hae-gun gave him a look of profound, exasperated pity before sighing and turning toward Eui-rim.

“Eui-rim-ssi,” Hae-gun asked calmly. “Do you think you can freeze those falling meteors?”

“You want me to intervene?” Eui-rim asked, surprised.

“Why? Getting cold feet?” Hae-gun teased with a smirk.

The teasing smirk was mildly infuriating. Eui-rim replied defensively, “As Hunter Ahn pointed out, it might be safer for you to handle this solo, Seo Hae-gun-ssi. Given how abnormal this dungeon is, I don’t want to become dead weight.”

“Wide-area destruction skills like that are tedious even for me to bypass,” Hae-gun replied smoothly. “Having stasis support makes the approach infinitely cleaner. And besides…”

“…” Eui-rim waited.

“We might as well test our real-time synergy without rehearsals,” Hae-gun said, his eyes glittering.

“…Understood. I’ll do my best,” Eui-rim agreed.

Confidence eluded him, but the attempt was necessary. If his temporal stasis could intercept aerial bombardment, mastering that timing would be invaluable when the true Shadows descended three years from now.

Fastening the Black Sapphire bracelet securely onto his wrist, Eui-rim felt his forearm sag under the dense, metallic weight. Supporting his wrist with his other hand, he stepped up alongside Hae-gun.

“What’s the plan of attack?” Eui-rim asked.

“I destroy the floating skull the second you freeze the bombardment,” Hae-gun said.

Simple to a fault. Anyone listening would think he was discussing an errand at the corner store rather than confronting a catastrophic aerial bombardment.

“And if my stasis fails to hold them?” Eui-rim asked.

“Then duck behind Moonhyuk’s shield and wait until your mana refills,” Hae-gun instructed. “Even with the bracelet, direct concussive force will shatter your ribs, so stay low.”

A wry laugh escaped Eui-rim at Hae-gun’s sheer pragmatism. Even in failure, the Guild Master simply expected him to chug a potion and try again.

Then again, that might truly be the most effective way to test my limits.

Since neither of them fully understood the mechanics of [Rewinding Hand], seizing an opportunity to test it against physical artillery was invaluable. Testing stasis against ballistic projectiles rather than biological monsters was a rare training opportunity.

“Moonhyuk-ah,” Hae-gun called out.

“Yes, sir! Set and ready on your mark!” Moonhyuk barked, bracing his halberd.

Ghostly azure flames erupted from Ahn Moonhyuk’s frame, coalescing in a swirl of heat to sculpt the muscular form of a massive steed.

It was one of his signature skills: 〈Summon Divine Steed〉.

Its mane fluttered like living flame, an eerie glow radiating from pupil-less white eyes. Neigh—! Letting out a sharp whinny, the ethereal beast trotted over to Eui-rim, nudging his shoulder with its muzzle and snorting a gust of warm air.

It’s warmer and softer than I expected. By touch alone, it feels just like flesh and blood.

“Hop on. Depending on how this goes, we might need to haul ass,” Moonhyuk warned, swinging a leg over his own mount.

While Eui-rim was wondering how to mount without reins or a saddle, a second divine steed materialized beside the first. Moonhyuk could reportedly summon up to five at a time; for traversing vast, sprawling dungeons, few mobility skills could rival it.

Eui-rim clumsily clambered onto the second mount’s back. With no stirrups or saddle, he had half-expected to slip off immediately, but the ride proved remarkably stable, the beast’s spiritual essence naturally anchoring his balance.

“What about you, Seo Hae-gun-ssi?” Eui-rim asked, looking over.

“I’ll be fine on foot,” Hae-gun answered, eyes fixed on the sky. “It’s drifting our way, so get ready.”

Looking up, Eui-rim caught sight of a pale sphere hovering where the pillar of light had stood. Just as Moonhyuk had described, a colossal skull floated aloft, raining fiery boulders across the plains below.

Seeing the monstrosity firsthand, Eui-rim understood Moonhyuk’s panic. The skull closed the distance with unnerving speed; had Hae-gun not stood so unshakeably calm, Eui-rim might have turned tail as well.

“Isn’t it within range yet?” Moonhyuk shouted over the wind.

“It’s borderline,” Hae-gun replied, squinting upward. “It needs to come closer for a clean strike.”

“Can’t you just wipe out the whole sector? Do you really have to pinpoint it?” Moonhyuk pressed.

Hae-gun shook his head firmly. “There’s no terrain to buffer the blast radius. If I loose an area-of-effect skill out here, the shockwave will kill the two of you.”

That meant advancing directly beneath the monster. Hae-gun needed a clear window to line up his strike, which meant that if even a single meteor broke through, the counterattack would fail.

“Shit, it’s locking on!” Moonhyuk cursed.

KABOOM!

The instant Moonhyuk shouted, a wave of scorching heat slammed into them. Blazing boulders crashed down mere yards away, incinerating the tall grass and throwing up plumes of black smoke and the stench of burning earth.

The moment the skull’s hollow sockets swivelled toward them, Eui-rim closed his eyes, opening his mana circuits to trigger 〈Rewinding Hand〉.

Yet at that exact second, something completely unexpected occurred.

The golden light of time-suspension should have burst forth, but instead, an unfamiliar system prompt materialized before his eyes.

Eui-rim snapped his eyes open, locking gazes with Seo Hae-gun, who looked back in sharp surprise. Having apparently received a corresponding notification, Hae-gun silently mouthed the word: Resonance.

“Guild Master! Kang Eui-rim! What are you doing?!” Moonhyuk roared in sheer panic.

Moonhyuk’s roar snapped Eui-rim back to reality. Locking his focus onto the descending bombardment, the prompt dissolved, and a sphere of radiant golden light erupted outward like ignited gunpowder.