Hiss—!! Thud—!!

After soaring through the air for a while, my body crashed to the ground.

I landed on a rock, shook off the impact, and immediately swatted away the hand gripping the back of my neck.

Scowling, I shouted.

“What the hell was that for?!”

I yanked my arm away from Cheonma and glared at her. I had just finished preparing for the fight—so why the hell had she dragged me away?

“You didn’t even join the fight, and now you’re making a scene. What’s your problem?”

I was asking her why she interfered, but her answer was—

“There was someone else.”

“What...?”

I furrowed my brows. Someone else?

“Where?”

“Nearby.”

“...You don’t mean that ox, do you?”

“No. Something else. A bird.”

“A bird?”

“Yes. A bird.”

Not the ox, but a bird? I ran through my thoughts.

Was there something else...?

No matter how much I thought about it, I hadn’t sensed anything. Other than the ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) leader, there had been no other presence.

And yet, she noticed something?

Cheonma claimed she had felt something else besides the leader. That was why she had dragged me away.

...Is she serious?

I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. If I hadn’t sensed anything, how could she have?

“......”

But when I saw Cheonma staring at me, I couldn’t think of anything to say.

Maybe because we had been together all this time...?

A thought crossed my mind—Cheonma never acted without a reason.

...Damn it.

This wasn’t good. The fact that I was beginning to trust her wasn’t good at all.

And yet—

She hasn’t done anything to harm me.

Thinking back to everything she had done so far, she had never put me at a disadvantage.

If anything, she had helped me more often than not.

That was why.

That was why, before I realized it, a subconscious sense of trust in Cheonma had begun to take root.

...Get a grip.

I shook my head, forcing the thoughts away.

Even if things seemed fine now, I had to be careful.

You never know. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

She might be earning my trust only to pull something later. I couldn’t lower my guard.

But—

...This time.

I had to acknowledge that Cheonma wouldn’t have acted without a reason.

And I had already heard her reason.

There was something else. Something so subtle that even I didn’t notice it.

What was it?

A bird, she said.

Not an ox—a bird. There had to be a reason she used that description.

A bird...

What could it be?

I was still trying to make sense of it when another thought suddenly came to mind.

Something unrelated to the current situation, but—

“Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re fast, aren’t you?”

“......”

At my words, Cheonma flinched.

I had noticed it earlier—when she grabbed me and shot through the air.

“You were about as fast as me, weren’t you?”

Back when we had tested our speeds before leaving Mount Hua, she had been significantly slower.

But now?

“You weren’t slow at all, were you?”

She had been at least twice as fast as before. The difference between us was barely noticeable.

Maybe she was slightly slower, but not enough to make a difference if we moved together.

“......”

Cheonma averted her gaze.

“...You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

“...No.”

“The hell you didn’t. Look me in the eye.”

“......”

She kept her head still but peeked at me with a side glance.

This brat...

“...Ah, I’m hungry. Need food.”

And with that, she turned and walked away.

“You think food’s gonna get you out of this? Talk properly.”

I had carried her on my back for seven damn days, and now she tells me she was fast all along?!

“Hey! Get back here!”

I chased after her as she quickly slipped away.

**********

After a while, we had exhausted our bickering.

The night had passed, and daylight had arrived.

I hadn’t left Mount Marryeong. Instead, I remained where I was, carefully observing my surroundings.

At the same time, I was replaying my battle with the leader.

And I came to a conclusion.

He’s a troublesome opponent.

He was another General, like Yusa, but different in key ways.

His movements were still wild, lacking structured techniques.

Yet—

His approach was different.

As I had expected, he relied on his immortality to throw himself into battle recklessly.

But—

He was quick to assess situations.

He didn’t just mindlessly throw his body into attacks.

He moved efficiently.

Despite his brutish appearance, he wasn’t an idiot.

That makes him even more of a headache.

If he had been nothing more than a brute, he would have been easy to handle.

But unfortunately, he wasn’t.

And his strength—

...It was overwhelming.

It was absurdly strong.

Even a single solid hit could have been fatal.

That means—

Against a reckless brute like him, my only option was to keep dodging while landing effective hits.

The good thing is that Myeong worked on him.

If I used that, I could handle him without much trouble.

But I wish I had tested it further.

I hadn’t had the chance to examine him thoroughly.

Tam should be able to restrain him.

I had seen his immortality firsthand. Yusa had also regenerated severed limbs and wounds instantly, but—

His recovery speed and quality were on a completely different level.

The way his obliterated abdomen regenerated in the blink of an eye was still burned into my mind.

Can Tam even hold something like that down?

I hadn’t tested it yet, so I couldn’t be sure. But I had to believe it would work.

And then there was the final thing.

That transformation at the end.

When his entire body turned red.

It was as if he had transferred all the heat into himself.

His blackened skin and fur had turned crimson.

And when that happened, his presence completely vanished.

What was that?

I had escaped before I could figure it out, so I didn’t know.

But the real issue was—

His perception.

Even after I had completely erased my presence, reducing my aura to nothing, he had still locked onto me.

That was what bothered me most.

That wasn’t just intuition.

This feeling was different.

It didn’t make sense to say he had simply sensed me with good intuition. There were too many strange details that didn’t add up.

There’s something else.

There had to be a secret behind his senses.

Whether it actually helped him in battle was another matter, but—

Even judging by his reaction...

He hadn’t found me because he felt the energy I had emitted. At first, I thought that was the case.

But after hearing what the leader had said, I realized that wasn’t it.

He had already known.

From the moment I had set foot on Mount Marryeong, the leader had been aware of my presence.

How the hell is that possible?

Was his sensory perception that vast and precise? That couldn’t be all.

Even Yusa had great intuition, but this is entirely different.

This wasn’t just about having good instincts.

It was something beyond perception.

Could he still know where I am, even if I run?

If the worst-case scenario was true—if he could track my presence just by the fact that I was within Mount Marryeong—

Then escaping is meaningless.

My objective lay within Mount Marryeong, but if he could tell exactly what I was doing, no matter where I went...

Things are going to get complicated.

This meant I had to prioritize killing him.

“Tsk...”

I clicked my tongue. I had gathered plenty of information, but the situation had become far more troublesome.

This entire land is strange.

A massive, towering mountain—and yet, not a single sign of life? That was impossible.

Even dead trees still harbor insects.

Even in barren ruins, wild beasts still find a place to live.

No matter the environment, life does not simply disappear.

And yet—

Why here?

Why was Mount Marryeong devoid of all presence?

That eerie, unsettling anomaly kept pressing at the back of my neck.

Dig deeper.

Something told me there was more to uncover.

There was something here.

Something I needed to understand.

That instinct poked at me.

Poke. Poke.

The sensation was so distinct, so physical—

Poke. Poke.

—Wait.

This wasn’t just a feeling.

Someone was actually poking me.

“...What the hell are you doing?”

I turned around and shot a glare at Cheonma.

She was the one poking me.

“I already have enough to think about. Why are you messing with me?”

“Look.”

“What.”

Unbothered by my irritation, Cheonma pointed at something in the distance.

It was still the same barren, rocky mountain.

The background looked no different from before—

Just endless rock.

“...What?” I frowned at her. “There’s nothing there.”

“There’s someone there.”

“...What?”

“There’s someone there.”

“What do you mean there’s— Wait. What?”

Someone was there?

I widened my eyes at Cheonma’s words.

Immediately, I focused my energy into my heart.

I activated my sensory field—but unlike last time, I didn’t expand it too much.

I had to be careful.

If the leader reacted again, it would be a problem.

Cautiously, carefully—I extended my perception toward the direction Cheonma had pointed.

Bit by bit, I expanded the range, creeping my aura forward.

Then, at the very edge of my awareness—

“...Huh?”

Something was there.

I sucked in a breath.

“What the hell is this?”

Just last night, I hadn’t felt a single thing.

But now—

I could sense them.

Living beings.

And not just one or two.

“There’s... a lot of them.”

A massive number of presences—far more than I had expected.