Chapter 12- First Day Over (Part 1)
After Chin-Hwa left, everyone remained silent for a long time. Nobody had anything to say nor did anyone want to say anything in the first place.
Hyun-Jae was completely rooted in her place, her eyes looking straight at Wan Yong. In her pupils was a weird glint that no one could understand.
As for Talon, he simply put Wan Yong's hand down gently, stood up, and walked slightly farther away from everyone before he rested his back against one of the craters, his eyes wandering around him. The monsters that were there were still not moving.
They didn't seem to realize that the predator was dead. Pushing back his hair, he grabbed his spear and approached one of the Dimension Walkers with a cold expression. Under that chilling gaze was endless anger.
Then, with a single motion, he sliced the monster's head without mercy. He looked at the corpse before he moved on to the second one and stabbed it in the head, pushing the core out.
Just like that, he went to every single Dimension Walker and killed it. He stabbed, sliced, and punched every one of them till no one remained. He didn't even look at the notifications at all.
Each time he killed one of them, he felt angrier and angrier. The flames in his heart were threatening to burst out.
[You have….]
[You have…]
[You have…]
[You have…]
[Ding!]
[You have leveled up. +2 free points.]
He killed so many of them, that he leveled up and something even better happened.
[Ding!]
[Your spearmanship skill has leveled up.]
[Your passive spearmanship improved.]
Talon felt a subtle change in his mind as some new information appeared out of nowhere. He suddenly was able to know how to grab the spear a little better and how to use it a little more effectively. But, he really didn't care. He wasn't in the mood to celebrate these level-ups.
'If I moved a little faster… Maybe I could've changed the outcome.' He thought to himself as he stood there, in the middle of a sea of dead Dimension Walkers. His teeth were clenched and his fists tightly gripped the spear.
"Talon?" Acrypha approached him slowly.
"... What was that thing?" He asked without looking back.
"That thing was a monster that exists in another dimension, somewhere."
"Exists in another dimension? Then what is it doing here?" Talon asked again with even more confusion.
"It didn't come here. That insect was actually a Dimension Walker not that long ago but when it reached level 5, it was able to evolve and take the form of a creature from another dimension. Dimension Walkers can keep evolving the more creatures they kill and once they reach a certain threshold, they would become something completely different. Though I never expected that something like this would've appeared this fast. It has barely been an hour."
'I've never heard of something like this happening before. The Dimension Walkers are evolving abnormally fast.' Acrypha frowned slightly as she thought about it.
If she knew that this would've happened, she would've warned Talon. But her senses were sealed and her powers were heavily restricted. By the time she noticed the abnormality, it was already far too late.
"I should've warned you either way. It was a mistake on my side and for that, I apologize." Acrypha said with a complicated expression. No matter how she looked at it, it was her mistake on her side.
When he heard those words, Talon was surprised. Looking back, he noticed the genuine regret in Acrypha's eyes and he was shocked even harder.
Acrypha didn't strike him as someone who would apologize to a mere human. She still didn't tell him who she was, but he was certain that she wasn't anyone normal even by abnormal standards.
Her demeanor, her strong presence, and the air of royalty around her made him realize that she was perhaps someone far above anyone he would ever meet in his life. Yet, even then, she still apologized to him when he was just a weakling from an unknown place that she barely met an hour before.
"It wasn't your mistake. You told me that you are being restricted from actually helping me. I assume this was the same case." He replied as he turned around.
"I will explain more later, but yes, I can't really do much to help you except for providing information when necessary. That's the case for now at least."
"I see…" Nodding his head, Talon went back to the topic. "So, from what you said, that means that I should expect monsters of all kinds to start appearing?"
"Yes, there is no actual way to predict what kind of creature a Dimension Walker will manifest as after reaching level 5. It can be anything, and by anything, I mean anything that exists in any dimension at any time or any place. However, they can only manifest as creatures with the strength of a level 6 at first. They can never be any stronger than that."
Rubbing his chin, Talon digested the information carefully. Everything changed now with this being the case. He wasn't going to merely fight unknown entities. A limitless number of creatures was too big of a number to even imagine.
'A human-sized mosquito. If that exists, I wonder what else could exist.' Just that mere thought sent a chill down Talon's spine.
"And how many times can a creature evolve?"
"The first evolution happens at level 5, then at level 25, then at level 50, and then 100, and then 200, and so on."
"Are there no limits to how much they can evolve?"
"No… At least no limit is discovered yet." Acrypha replied while shaking her head.
"... A limitless evolution?"
Talon's mind was completely blown by that piece of information. He couldn't even comprehend how strong a Level 200 existence could be and yet that's not even the limit.
"I assume I don't have a limit either?" He asked. Logically speaking, if they can do that, so could he, no?
Acrypha smiled calmly. "I will wait for you to reach the top." She replied.
"Hah, aren't you overselling me a little too much?"
However, Acrypha slowly descended to his level before she replied close to him. "You see, I'm an avid gambler who coincidentally never loses. I have no intention for you to be my first loss." She replied quietly.
Talon was taken aback for a second before he rolled his eyes. "So convincing."
Looking away from the playful woman, Talon noticed that Hyun-Jae was approaching him.
"Can we talk for a moment?" She asked with a dark expression.
"... Sure." He said.
So, Hyun-Jae turned around and started walking a little bit farther from Soomin so that they could talk without her listening.
Hyun-Jae stood there for a while not saying a word. Her mouth kept opening and closing as if she wanted to say something but didn't know how to say it.
"So?"
"Can you lead the group?" She asked.
"Huh?"
"I don't think I can bear this responsibility. I'm far too weak and incapable. If they follow me, they will die. Just like how Wan Yong is…" She couldn't even finish her sentence.
Talon looked at her silently.
"I can't bear seeing another one of my friends die. It's too much." She added.
Seeing the great Hyun-Jae this helpless, Talon felt his heart sink in. It hadn't been two hours, no, even less than that, and yet, everyone was already broken. They were never ready for this.
Especially Hyun-Jae, who carried the weight of keeping everyone alive. She was clearly blaming herself for Wan Yong's death.
"No."
But, Talon shook his head as he replied.
"Huh?" Hyun-Jae didn't expect that answer. "Why?"
"Because I don't want to and neither do your friends." He replied. "They took you as a leader without hesitating. They even attacked me when I tried to take the lead because they completely believed in you. Even Wan Yong didn't blame you at all, you know why? Because they know you're the best leader they could ever have."
"..."
"Are you really going to run away and leave these people when they put their lives in your hands without a single shred of hesitation? That's cowardly and selfish."
Hyun-Jae's expression kept changing as she listened to Talon. He didn't hesitate a single bit to tell her everything straight to her face and it was a surprise to her.
Being accustomed to nice flattering words and endless admiration from everyone around her, hearing someone criticize her directly made her realize how dumb she was. She was indeed selfish and cowardly for trying to run away from responsibility because of her fear.
Her friends needed her more than ever and yet she wanted to give up on them.
"I… I don't know why… It got to me… I'm…" She tried to find the words but couldn't.
"I don't know who you are as a person and I frankly don't really care. But they do, more than anyone else."
"... You're right." Grabbing her forehead, Hyun-Jae took a deep breath to calm herself.
"Good. Now, we need to secure the place completely and find a way to give Wan Yong a proper burial."
"Yeah… Let me get them all gathered so we can talk."
"Good."
Turning around, Talon started walking away.
"Don't you think you were too harsh on her?" Acrypha asked casually.
"That's better than letting her do something stupid. She received the message."