I Became a Raid Boss-Chapter 216: Open stream (3)

'...No.'

I shook my head as I observed the suddenly appearing unidentified intruder.

Of course, I couldn't just ignore the intruder in front of me, so I only did so internally.

"Who...?"

Da-eun, who had noticed the unexpected change, tried to move closer but—

"Kana, is it someone you know?"

"Don't come."

"H-huh?"

She couldn't hide the fluster in her voice at my stop.

I confirmed that Da-eun had stepped back hesitantly and once again scanned the intruder.

A man with no distinct features.

His face was in stark contrast to the angelic face I had seen when I went to visit Edel.

However, the reason I ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) felt uncomfortable wasn't merely his appearance.

"...."

An angel who silently stared at me.

Or rather, something that resembled an angel.

But if I paid a little more attention, I could tell that the man's eyes weren’t looking at me.

His eyes were completely empty, lacking even the faintest light that should naturally be there for any living being.

Looking into those eyes, a deep sense of discomfort rose from the depths of my being.

"Since when did this world become one where corpses walk around?"

With a brief murmur, I swung my arm.

Naturally, the sword I was holding also moved.

Screech—

The sound of flesh being sliced echoed, and the man's head flew into the sky.

"...Huh?"

Da-eun, who had been standing at a distance and watching, let out a bewildered sound.

"Did, did he die...? For real...?"

Her voice was full of fear.

I narrowed my eyes at the unexpected reaction.

Why was she acting like this all of a sudden?

It's not like this was the first time she'd seen someone die...

"...Huh?"

When my thoughts reached that point, I realized the blind spot I hadn’t noticed before.

Celia was reality for me, but it wasn’t for Da-eun.

Now that I understood that Celia was not just a game, but reality, it wouldn’t be so easy for Da-eun to suddenly perceive everything as she had before.

Especially since Earthlings connected to Celia had Edel’s protection.

To summarize, just because I had seen people die countless times in that world didn’t mean I was used to it here too.

'And especially not with heads flying off like that.'

Realizing my mistake, I sighed.

Maybe I should have handled it less dramatically.

But regretting it now was pointless, and I moved to clean up the mess I had made.

Yuki, standing next to Da-eun, also seemed quite flustered, though she looked relatively calm compared to Da-eun.

No matter how much of a combat maniac I was, the essence was that I was a modern person who had lived peacefully.

It was a relief that there was only one person to calm down.

"Ugh, ugh..."

"Da-eun."

"Uuugh..."

"Da-eun."

"...Huh?"

Noticing that my voice wasn’t reaching her, I called her name firmly, and her eyes slowly regained focus.

I didn’t stop there and gently held her hand.

Flinch!

Da-eun flinched but didn’t try to pull her hand away.

Even though it wasn’t a strong grip, and she could have easily pulled her hand out with a little force.

"Calm down."

"But... the person from just now..."

"I didn’t see anyone who looked like a person."

"...What are you talking about?"

Without any further argument, I turned Da-eun's gaze toward me.

She hesitated to turn her head, clearly afraid to look at the aftermath, but when I gently squeezed her hand, her head turned with a creak.

Da-eun’s eyes, showing no effort to hide her reluctance, landed on the spot where the man had been.

"...Huh?"

Once again, the dazed sound escaped Da-eun's mouth.

"Where did it go?"

"I told you. There was nothing that looked like a person."

"No, I definitely saw it... His neck flew into the sky..."

"If that had happened, he’d be covered in blood."

It's easy to cut someone without letting blood flow.

If I had used the power of the Crimson Aegis to slice his neck and cauterized the wound with fire at the same time, no blood would have flowed even after time had passed.

But since I used the sword purely without mana, the gym floor would be stained red with the blood from the corpse by now.

If I had cut a person, that is.

"Uh..."

There was nothing left in the spot where the man had been.

No corpse, not even a drop of blood.

Da-eun rubbed her eyes as if in disbelief.

But nothing would change now.

"What happened?"

Instead of Da-eun, who seemed to think, ‘Did I dream that?’ Yuki, who had completely regained her composure, asked.

"I don’t know."

Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough information to answer Yuki’s question.

I could answer, but it wouldn’t be much.

"But I do know that what we saw wasn’t a person. Well, it looked like a person, but I wouldn’t argue if someone called it a person."

Which side do you think it was?

I gave her a look with that thought, and Yuki nodded knowingly.

"I saw it. The corpse disappeared in an instant."

"Impressive."

Even though it looked human on the outside.

Hearing her speak of watching the entire process with her own eyes, I clicked my tongue.

The man I had cut.

It had the divine power of Edel.

At first, I mistook it for an angel under Edel’s command.

But upon closer inspection, the man's inner nature was entirely different from what I knew.

Unlike the angels, brimming with divine power, the man's insides were hollow like an empty tin can.

"...Tch."

Perhaps it really was Edel’s angel.

But whatever it had been before, the man had already been dead when he appeared before me.

That’s why, when I cut his neck, it vanished without leaving even a corpse behind.

"Something’s definitely going on."

Whether it was sent by Edel or not, something like this suddenly appearing in front of me couldn’t possibly be a normal, everyday occurrence.

I raised my mana and spread it around.

My mana, spreading over a wide range, quickly informed me that there was nothing like that nearby.

It seemed these things weren’t popping up everywhere.

If that was the case, it was highly likely it had come to me with some purpose.

"I guess I should go find out."

"...Huh? Where are you going?"

"Where else?"

After realizing the situation, Da-eun, who had somewhat calmed down, asked me, and I shook the Crimson Aegis in its scabbard as I replied.

"I was sent an invitation, so I should respond."

The sender of the invitation was unknown, the party location was unknown, the date was unknown.

In fact, I wasn’t even sure if it was truly an invitation.

The paper I received was filled with nothing but question marks instead of clear text.

But if the recipient thought it was an invitation, then it probably was.

To be honest, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t.

'If you play a prank at someone’s house, you should expect to get something back.'

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t my house either, though.

"Stay here, Da-eun and Yuki."

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"Okay."

If it were a typical situation, I would have taken them with me, as it was safer next to me than leaving them alone. But for some reason, I had a feeling this situation wouldn’t be so simple.

So, I told them to stay here, and Yuki nodded without objection.

"...Can’t we just not go?"

It was Da-eun who objected.

"I just have a really bad feeling about this..."

Her tone wasn’t much different from her usual whining, but the emotion behind it was worlds apart from her usual.

Her voice was filled with sincerity.

As I met Da-eun’s worried gaze, a smile involuntarily appeared on my face.

"That’s a flag."

A magical phrase that makes even trivial things seem important.

If I had said, ‘It’s fine. I’ll be back soon,’ or something similar, something would surely happen.

So, instead of saying that, I hugged Da-eun tightly.

Even through her somewhat thick clothes, I could feel her warmth.

That warmth and the familiar scent calmed my restless mind.

As I rubbed my face against Da-eun’s chest, a grumpy voice came from above me.

"...Now you can’t even say don’t go. You’re so unfair."

"It’s a blood loss service."

Perhaps it would never happen again.

"Heh... That’s true."

Da-eun let out a quiet laugh as she tightly hugged me.

"Make sure you come back safely. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"You said that last time too, but you came back completely exhausted."

"...I wasn’t hurt last time."

I wasn’t really hurt, just a bit surprised.

I didn’t like the fact that she brought it up again, so I pressed my head firmly into Da-eun’s embrace.

"...I can’t stand watching this."

When I pulled away from Da-eun’s embrace, I heard Yuki’s voice, full of disbelief.

She turned her head sharply, whether she was serious or not.

...Was this more unpleasant than seeing a head fly off?

I left the gym, shaking off the considerable shock.

To find out who sent me the invitation.

The broadcast nickname, Fine.

Real name, Dohyun.

Today, for him, was like any other day.

The sun was shining, the sky was clear, the air was mildly chilly...

If there was anything different, it was that he, who usually didn't roam outside much, was in the middle of Seoul for a meeting with a company.

However, that was not anything drastically out of the ordinary, it was just a regular 'break from the norm,' as one could call it.

The meeting with the company was related to his broadcast, not some random encounter with a new business, after all.

It was a slightly annoying task, but ultimately, he was heading towards a typical ending for the day.

...Or so he thought.

"...What is this?"

Unexpectedly, a strange turn of events occurred, far different from what he had anticipated.

It came without any warning.

What sound would there be if the sky were to collapse?

"I imagined it might be a loud rumble, something like 'grrrrr, bang!'"

But contrary to his vague thoughts, the blue sky split silently.

And the scenery that unfolded beyond it...

"..."

Suddenly, a night sky appeared in the middle of the bright day.

...No.

That wasn’t a night sky.

Dohyun unconsciously took a step back.

Some passersby, who seemed to feel the same thing, also took a few steps back, their faces ashen.

However, not everyone seemed to feel the same way.

"Is this a movie shoot? Was there any notice about filming here today?"

"Wow... What a scale..."

"I wonder how much it cost?"

Dohyun noticed people in the corner of his vision talking in awe while looking at the massive black curtain.

It was something that would instinctively alert anyone, yet they seemed oblivious to it.

"...Run."

Dohyun murmured, forcing his legs to lift, which stubbornly refused to move.

"I have to run..."

...But to where?

If he ran to another place, would he escape the shadow of that eerie black curtain?

With negative emotions swelling in his heart, Dohyun’s eyes gradually turned cloudy.

If he couldn’t run, perhaps it was better to stay here and—

"—?"

Dohyun suddenly lifted his head, which had been directed toward the ground.

"...What was I just thinking?"

It felt like he had thought something strange, but his head felt foggy.

It was as if a thick fog had clouded his mind.

So, he gave up on recalling his previous thought and blinked.

There was no way he could continue that train of thought.

"What is that?"

From the previously dark curtain, a giant arm appeared.

The revealed part alone—just the hand—was bigger than a large vehicle, sweeping through the sky.

It looked like a human hand, but it was definitely not a human hand.

"...There’s no way that’s a human hand."

What kind of human has such a giant hand that it could reach and grab the sky?

What kind of human has an arm so huge that it could cover the entire sky?

As Dohyun stared up in a daze, a question flashed through his mind.

What would happen if the owner of that arm fully revealed itself...?

‘...The maturity date of my savings is almost up.’

Strangely, Dohyun’s first thought was this.

In the face of such an unreal and illogical sight, his mind had surprisingly focused on something so realistic.

It was also a sign of his resignation, an acknowledgment of the unavoidable disaster he was about to face.

Thus, Dohyun looked up at the massive, unstoppable calamity.

And then...

A gentle breeze...

"...?"

A wind that didn’t belong to the atmosphere of the scene brushed against his cheek.

It was soft, sweet, and yet somehow carried a chilling energy.

The wind had no color, yet without realizing it, Dohyun thought it was pink.

Unconsciously, he turned his gaze toward the wind’s lingering scent.

And then, his eyes widened in shock.

Swish!

The single, clear pink line drawn across the sky split the massive arm in two.