In the Name of God - Chapter 50.2
The earthquake intensified, and the ground split wide open with a sharp crack.
[Transmission of terrain scan data, complete!]
As expected, Echo was quick on the uptake.
After cramming the width and depth of the sinkhole dungeon, the structure of its walls, and the environment below into my head all at once, I immediately activated Hawkeye. With this ability, it would be easy to distinguish objects even inside that pitch-black dungeon.
The spreading fissures had already reached the edge of my feet. At this rate, the very spot we stood on would soon plummet to the bottom.
I turned to Lee Sunho with determined eyes.
“Don’t worry about me.”
Leaving him with those few words, I pushed Lee Sunho back forcefully with both hands. Normally, Lee Sunho wouldn’t have budged an inch, but our footing was uneven, and there was a rock right behind his heel that was perfect for tripping over.
Thanks to that, Lee Sunho stumbled and took a step back, and the fissure I had been waiting for carved its way beneath my feet.
The floor dropped away instantly.
“Gasp! Hey—!”
“Rookie!”
The two teammates screamed as they watched me fall into the sinkhole. Curiously, Lee Sunho’s voice didn’t reach me even after I had completely fallen.
Entering the pitch-black dungeon as if in a freefall, I shifted my body and balanced myself so my legs were pointed downward.
My eyes had already grasped the overall terrain of the dungeon entrance.
The walls of the black sinkhole were an alternating cross-section of smooth surfaces and jagged, protruding sections.
‘I just need to use those protruding ledges as footholds to slow down my momentum.’
It sounds simple, but in reality, it was a high-difficulty maneuver that required calculating angles in the middle of a fall.
However, because I had experienced similar things a few times before I became terminally ill, I kept my cool and kept my eyes wide open.
After scanning the unevenness of the wall with Hawkeye, I brought the tip of my foot toward the first protruding ledge I saw.
Twisting my body slightly just before impact—
Tap.
I kicked off the surface to reduce my falling speed.
And another ledge.
Tap.
And another.
Tap.
During the descent, I used the irregular protrusions as footholds over and over, gradually killing my falling speed.
[10 meters to the ground! The floor is extremely rugged, so be careful!]
Finally, the ground appeared.
The floor was a mountain of debris from ruined buildings, and sharp steel frames and concrete fragments were tangled at every landing point. If it weren’t for Hawkeye, I wouldn’t have even known they were there and would have been impaled, suffering a fatal wound.
I stepped off the final foothold and curled my body to land.
Thud—!
The impact traveled straight up from my legs to my pelvis.
My ankle twisted slightly due to the uneven floor, but I regained my balance quickly.
‘The bones aren’t broken. Thank God.’
After bracing myself with both hands on the ground and steadying my breath, I looked up.
A deep, black hole.
It was so high I couldn’t even see the end of it.
“It must be over 100 meters.”
[Precisely 114 meters to the surface!]
Echo’s voice was as lively as ever.
Perhaps it had grown used to these situations, as it even sounded a bit excited.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket.
When I turned on the light, the darkness brightened slightly.
There was, of course, no signal.
I hadn’t expected any, as I heard that’s how it is in most disaster areas. Taking out my phone was purely to use the camera light as a flashlight.
Just as the phone’s light scanned the gaps between the debris and broken steel frames, Echo sent a new scan.
[Master! I’ve scanned the dungeon’s range! It’s smaller than I thought. The path is a bit winding, but I think we can reach the boss room quickly!]
“Purifying the dungeon must mean taking out the boss, right?”
[Wouldn’t that be the case? Usually, when the boss dies, the dungeon stops its activity.]
The use of the word ‘purify’ bothered me slightly, but the most likely scenario was that defeating the boss was key.
The moment I was about to move toward the entrance while rehearsing the scan map in my head.
Boom—!
The sound of something heavy landing erupted from the spot where I had fallen.
“What was that?”
I shone the light with startled eyes and saw someone picking themselves up amidst a thick cloud of dust.
“Where do you think you’re going alone?”
That person stepped out through the dust toward me.
Looking perfectly fine even after falling from a height of 114 meters, he was—
“You’re making your partner feel left out.”
Lee Sunho, my self-proclaimed shadow.
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