In the Name of God - vanish into fiction

I’m going to die because of Lee Sunho?

If I die, it will obviously be because of my own doing. Why would that be Lee Sunho’s fault?

I was already a dead man to begin with, and I intended to die once more without regret once I fulfilled my purpose.

That was the natural order.

Whatever Lee Sunho does in that process, I wouldn’t point to him as the culprit just because I, who had died once, died again.

Above all, there wasn’t much credibility in a person who had just introduced himself spouting such prophetic nonsense.

“You’re a guy who spouts scary bullshit for someone who doesn’t look the part, aren’t you?”

“You’ll think it’s bullshit for now. But…!”

Kwon Jeong-han, who seemed ready to explain further as if he had expected my reaction, suddenly shut his mouth. His eyes turned sharp in an instant as he hurriedly glared at the surroundings. Both of his hands were already firmly gripping the handles of the daggers strapped to his lower back.

Simultaneously, new scan information was pushed into my head.

—Master! They’re coming!

The monsters, which had been merely watching from a distance as if monitoring us, began to move all at once.

My eyes experienced a twitch as I received the scan data from Echo second by second.

‘I can understand the encirclement, but they’re moving simultaneously without a single inch of error?’

According to the briefing, the common monsters here communicated through long, slender cries. I heard that during previous raids, people prepared for battle upon hearing those sounds. But now, they were moving simultaneously without making a single sound, as if they had all become one.

It was like a well-trained army. Like elite soldiers moving in perfect order, nimbly recognizing a commander’s silent hand signals.

If there was a problem not just with the number of monsters but with the basic information from the briefing itself, I couldn’t just stay still.

I approached the Team Leader in a single bound and relayed the information.

“Team Leader, monsters are approaching simultaneously within a 50m radius. The exact count is uncertain, but it’s estimated to be around 80 to 90.”

“What? What kind of nonsense is that?”

The Team Leader showed a dull reaction, his eyes wide with surprise.

Even now, no cries from the monsters could be heard, and not even their presence or silhouettes were visible. In such a situation, it wasn’t unreasonable for him to look at me strangely when I claimed an absurd number like 80 or 90 was approaching.

“You must have seen something wrong. As the briefing said, those monster bastards send signals to each other with cries before an ambush. There are at most fifteen of them, and you say 80 or 90? Do you think this is some Disaster Zone dungeon?”

The Team Leader snorted and scanned me from head to toe. His gaze was clearly not favorable.

“I heard your eyes are good, but surely you didn’t mistake 5km for 50m? At that point, it wouldn’t be a misjudgment; your eyes would just be broken.”

Even while listening to the Team Leader’s sarcasm, my nerves were entirely focused on the surrounding presence and the scan information. The speed at which the monsters were closing the perimeter was faster than expected.

This was not the time to be so relaxed.

In the meantime, the monsters’ position reached a 25m radius.

Within my range.

Instead of giving the Team Leader a more detailed explanation, I pulled out my revolver and aimed into the distance. Though nothing was visible to my eyes even with Hawkeye activated, I aimed precisely at a spot where the scan information perfectly matched a position where tree branches were moving unnaturally.

Bang—!

The muzzle of the revolver spat fire, and a gunshot loud enough to make the teammates flinch rang out.

Following that, dark green blood splattered from the spot I had shot.

Kuaek!

Something invisible fell with a thud to the ground from a thick branch.

The thing, whose stealth was deactivated upon being hit by my attack, took the form of a human-sized black flying squirrel. Because my aim had strayed slightly due to the stealth, it had a hole pierced through its chest; it thrashed with a few more bizarre cries before suddenly springing back up.

“Wha—What is that?!”

“It’s a monster!”

Only then did the Team Leader, his face panicked as he grasped the situation, hurriedly pull out the sword at his waist.

“Everyone, maintain formation and draw your weapons! They have stealth abilities but they aren’t strong, so if you respond calmly… you’ll…”

The Team Leader’s words gradually slowed as he noticed the approaching presences one by one. His face quickly turned deathly pale.

“Team Leader?”

The branches on all sides shook, and the sound of leaves brushing and the noise of air being sliced stimulated the eardrums. The other teammates also seemed to have just realized the fact that we were surrounded by a much larger number of monsters than expected, looking extremely tense.

The frozen teammates hoped the Team Leader would give some kind of instruction, but he, experiencing such a thing for the first time, only moved his lips without being able to say a proper word.

“I’ll break through one side, so support me.”

Kwon Jeong-han, the only one among the teammates maintaining his composure, said as he drew his daggers.

“According to the map, there should be a cave nearby where we can hide. Let’s retreat there first.”

I nodded in agreement with Kwon Jeong-han’s words. It was a cave that wasn’t very large, but it wasn’t a bad place for ten people to hide for a moment.

Compared to the flustered teammates, Kwon Jeong-han, who was calmly trying to overcome the current situation, felt quite reliable.

I shouted to the teammates who were clutching their weapons in high tension.

“We will break the path from this side, so the rest of you maintain formation and follow behind us to retreat. You must never scatter.”

No sooner had I finished speaking than the teammates swarmed over to stand near me and Kwon Jeong-han. The Team Leader, who approached a step late, wore an unpleasant expression.

“Don’t give orders as you please! I am the Team Leader!”

“Then the Team Leader should have given instructions quickly.”

Who was the one stuttering so frustratingly even when the monsters were right upon us?

Even now, it wasn’t the time to be arguing, yet he kept saying ridiculous things like “don’t act arrogant” or “how does a 3rd-tier speak that way to a 2nd-tier.”