Chapter 16

"Who... who are you, mister..? Where's my mommy...?"

Sitting on a small rock, the little girl looked around, searching for her mother. However, all she saw were the scattered people around and the towering trees that immediately caught her attention.

"Wow..! Amazing!"

After wrapping bandages around the child's leg where the knife used to be, Hye stood up.

"Is it still hurting?"

The child shook her head in negation.

"Not as much as before... Thank you..."

"Then," Hye stretched his arms. "shall we go find your mom now?"

The girl smiled as she leaped into his arms, and Hye walked with her toward the crashed plane.

"What place is this..., mister..?"

"Mister..?"

The child nodded.

"Well, you must study about them in school, right? The dungeons."

"A dungeon? So..." embracing Hye and, after burying her face into his chest, clutching his clothes with her small hands, tears streamed down her hidden face. "...are we... Are we going to die...? Mommy..."

Hye observed the child for a moment. The seriousness of the situation is evident, and he knows it. But his apathetic gaze remains unchanged, and his expression remains entirely inert.

"Don't worry..."

His gaze remains cold, but that doesn't matter. After all, his hand on the child's head is warm enough to comfort her at this moment.

"You've studied a lot, right? If so, then you know that hunters are the ones responsible for closing the dungeons. Look, there are some of them here too."

"Really...?" her teary eyes and runny nose. "But they don't seem very... strong..."

"What are you saying? Don't worry. They are strong enough."

Perhaps it's instinct or maybe thanks to that strange voice, but now, strangely, Hye can tell which of the people present in that place are hunters and which are not.

However, unfortunately, he can't tell how strong they really are, and remembering the chill he felt during the portal's emergence, that doesn't seem like a good thing.

'At least for now...' he thought.

Near the plane, everyone gathers, and in the center of them all stands Samantha.

"Lead us?" one of the flight attendants questioned. "Who are you to say you'll lead us during the completion of this dungeon?!"

"I am the general director and assistant to the president of the Orian Group. Any other questions?"

Looking at each other, people doubted Samantha's words, after all, the general director... If the requirement for mere flight attendants like them is to be at least a B-rank Awakened... how incredible should someone with such an important position be...?

But, looking at her and analyzing her, why can't they feel pressured? Someone so... grand... why does she seem like such a normal person...?

"According to regulations, all of you must be at least at B-rank. Is there anyone here who doesn't meet this requirement?"

Everyone's eyes wandered as parallel whispers arose, and silence was the answer.

"Alright then, those of you at A-rank step forward."

Pretending not to hear her words, everyone remained silent and stayed in their places.

"Alright, I'll say this just one more time."

A step forward was taken, and with an apparent darkening of the surroundings, everyone regretted the decision to remain silent.

"Those at A-rank step forward... now."

Their hearts raced, and their vision darkened. Faced with pressure that made moving practically impossible, the act of breathing continued to prove a long and painful battle... one they all lost.

No step could be taken, however, the pressure dissipated the moment the first of them fell to the ground.

With the pressure gone, all those at A-rank, without exception, took a step forward toward Samantha.

"Great, okay... Is everyone alright?"

Their bodies trembled, and their hearts squeezed. Faced with such a beautiful and serene voice, who would imagine feeling such instinctive and chilling fear?

"Yes, ma'am!" they all responded immediately.

Watching this scene, an old memory surfaced in Hye's mind.

'Those kids... are they okay nowadays...?' he thought.

"Mommy!" exclaimed the child, jumping into her mother's arms.

"Oh, my love, are you alright? You're okay, right?"

Her eyes welled up, and her hands on the face of the little girl, who nodded her head, trembled.

"Mommy, are you hurt? Let the uncle help you, he's very good at this."

"Uncle...?"

That cold and unshakeable expression even in such a desperate situation... why doesn't it change? The woman couldn't understand.

In front of those eyes, her pain seems insignificant, and her fear completely irrelevant. Could someone so impassive really exist? Is that even possible?

"No, my love, mommy is fine. Don't worry."

"Since you're both okay, I'll leave you alone for a moment."

"Oh, yes..., thank you.."

"Yes, thank you, uncle."

Without saying goodbye or waving, Hye simply turned around and walked away without looking back.

Walking in the opposite direction of where Samantha is, he went behind the left wing of the plane.

'These trees are tall... they must provide a good vantage point of the surroundings, right?'

A leap was made, and his hands gripped one of the branches of the huge tree. His body swayed, back and forth, and with a spin in the air and a push from his feet, he soon reached the top of the tree.

'So this wasn't a crater after all...'

The crashed plane doesn't even cover a quarter of the total area of what many thought was a crater, and looking ahead, Hye can see the real cause of such a hole in the ground.

"This is definitely bigger than I imagined, and... the bone used to make the spine of that restaurant doesn't seem so amazing now."

The trees around stretch for tens of meters, and yet, they don't even reach the ankles of the creature before his eyes.

[Warning!]

[You have entered the Tower of the Six; The Resting Place of the Prince]

[Complete the level 1 mission of the first floor to advance]