After coming out through the dimensional tunnel, Yonghoon sat leaning against a tree for a moment. He was extremely exhausted from the heavy consumption of Dimensional Power and numerous injuries.
Yonghoon looked toward the cave. As time passed, the dust and smoke that had been pouring out of the cave gradually settled.
Yonghoon forced his unmoving body to stand up. His head was spinning, but it was better to get away from here. Monsters might approach after hearing the explosion.
Although it had been hard to spot monsters around here thanks to the Awakened of Jian City regularly clearing them out, in his current state, even the weakest monster could pose a problem.
Yonghoon turned to the side.
Hyangseol was still unconscious. Judging by the irregularity of her Dimensional Power, it seemed there had been a shock to it at the moment she fainted.
Fortunately, her Dimensional Power was stabilizing over time. It looked like she would return to normal soon.
Yonghoon hoisted her onto his back and slowly moved away.
Perhaps because his Dimensional Power was depleted, she felt quite heavy.
Carefully checking his smart watch, Yonghoon slowly made his way back to the place where he had rescued Hyangseol earlier. There was something he needed to confirm.
The clearing he arrived at after some time had passed was unchanged from when he had left. The Awakened he had trapped in the cave must have passed through here, but perhaps he had been too busy chasing after Yonghoon to disturb anything.
Yonghoon set the girl down to one side and walked over to where the corpse lay. After glancing at the body, he picked up the shield lying next to it.
His guess had been correct. He hadn’t been sure when he glimpsed it before, but now he could be certain.
The shield was not as large as he had expected. The round shield, large enough to cover the upper body, emitted a reddish-brown glow, and a dragon emblem was embossed in its center.
He couldn’t verify it immediately due to his lack of Dimensional Power, but this shield was definitely a relic.
Yonghoon’s expression turned serious. The spears the other Awakened had been carrying also looked like ancient artifacts. There was a high chance they, too, were relics.
Things were about to get busy.
He would have to go back to the place where they had fought and check the spears caught in the explosion, and later, he would need to enter the cave after some time had passed.
But first, Yonghoon felt he needed to rest a bit. Dragging the shield behind him, he returned to where the girl was and slumped down beside her. Only then did the tension leave him, and he felt an overwhelming wave of fatigue.
Once her Dimensional Power stabilized, the unconscious Hyangseol was able to regain consciousness.
The first thing she saw was the beautiful evening glow painting the sky red. Seeing the crimson world, she briefly thought she might have died and gone to the afterlife.
But she soon had to abandon that thought. Her entire body was stinging and aching. Thanks to the realistic pain, she realized she was still alive.
As her memories returned, she snapped fully awake.
“What happened to the villains?”
Braving the pain that wracked her body, Hyangseol raised herself from where she had been lying. She barely managed to sit up and looked around.
This was the place where she had been surrounded by villains and fainted. The surroundings looked the same as before, but one thing had changed.
Instead of the two villains who had been glaring at her, there was now a man leaning against a tree, dozing off.
She stared at him for a moment. He was someone she had met for the first time today. They had only spent a brief amount of time together.
Yet seeing him, wounded and sitting there dozing against the tree, he felt like someone she had known for a long time.
Though she felt sorry for disturbing him when he was so exhausted, she needed to understand the situation. Moreover, this was a forest. They needed to find a safe place before nightfall. Even if there were no animals roaming like before, monsters prowled the nighttime forest.
“Excuse me?”
She called out to him softly. Only then did she realize she didn’t even know his name.
“Hello?”
She called out a bit louder.
Yonghoon, hearing the faint voice, struggled to pull his mind out of the deep swamp of sleep. It was extremely difficult, but eventually, he managed to open his eyes. A short-haired girl was staring intently at him.
Regaining his senses, Yonghoon reflexively checked his smart watch. Fortunately, there were no monsters nearby. Letting out a small sigh, he scanned his surroundings. The world was bathed in red light.
Thankfully, the sun had not yet fully set.
He calmly checked his body condition and Dimensional Power. Thanks to a brief rest, he was in much better shape than before he had fallen asleep. Though still unfit for combat, he should have no trouble moving.
After confirming his condition, Yonghoon looked at the girl.
She was waiting quietly beside him.
Yonghoon was impressed by her demeanor. It was a composure beyond her years. Despite everything she had gone through and all the questions she must have had, she was being considerate.
Yonghoon briefly explained the situation to her.
Hyangseol was startled by what she heard. He had defeated all those monstrous Awakened.
She knew from bits of news she had heard that Awakened of the villains’ caliber were extremely rare even worldwide.
Especially since her incredibly strong brother had been easily defeated and killed by one of them, she understood just how powerful they were.
Yet this man had defeated those monstrous villains alone. Even if he had fought them one by one, it was clear he was extremely strong.
Listening to Yonghoon’s battle stories, she couldn’t help but have stars in her eyes. She was especially amazed by the story of trapping the villain inside the cave during the final battle.
She was about to ask him some questions when she suddenly remembered she still didn’t know his name.
“Mister? Um, what’s your name?”
“Kang Yonghoon.”
Yonghoon answered simply, and she repeated his name several times in her mind.
“Um, Mister Yonghoon, are you also someone who can use two abilities like those people?”
“They’re rare Awakened. They’re called Linkers.”
She looked at him with a fascinated expression and continued questioning.
“But the last villain is still alive, right?”
“For now. But the chances are high that no oxygen is getting into the cave. Worst case, we can just wait for him to starve to death.”
Hearing Yonghoon’s calm words gave her a slight chill.
But she, too, was an Awakened living in this harsh era. She had no intention of feeling sorry for the villain who killed her brother. She quickly shook off the eerie feeling.
As Yonghoon answered her, he noticed the sunset deepening. They needed to find a place to spend the night. Yonghoon asked Hyangseol.
“We need a place to rest tonight. It’s too far to reach the city. Is there somewhere nearby where we can stay?”
This was her playground. She answered immediately.
“If we head southeast for about ten minutes, there’s another cave like the first one we found. It was abandoned because it didn’t connect to any ruins. It’s not very deep, but it should be good enough for the night.”
Yonghoon nodded. That would be sufficient. After a day of rest, both his and Hyangseol’s stamina and Dimensional Power would return to normal.
Yonghoon and Hyangseol set off toward the place she had mentioned. Hyangseol was curious about the shield visible on Yonghoon’s arm, but she was too exhausted. They moved in silence.
After walking for about ten minutes, they arrived at a small cave, about 3 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep, carved into a cliff. Even so, it was a blessing.
Outside, it was getting darker.
Yonghoon had Hyangseol rest there while he went out to retrieve their supplies.
Yonghoon didn’t return for quite some time. Hyangseol began to feel afraid as the surroundings grew darker.
Yonghoon returned once the sunset had completely vanished and it was pitch black.
He was carrying a backpack.
He had hidden the backpack in the forest beside the cave with the destroyed entrance. Fortunately, after some time, the monsters had all gone back to their territories, and the area around the cave was quiet.
Yonghoon pressed his ear to the cave entrance, worried he might hear sounds from the trapped Awakened, but there was no sound at all.
Shrugging his shoulders, he simply took the backpack and left the cave.
The girl tilted her head. It had taken too long just to retrieve the backpack. As she examined him, she noticed something different. There were now two spears visible on his back.
One was the spear Yonghoon had originally carried, and the other was the one the villain with the dark expression had used. Hyangseol remembered seeing it used in the city.
Yonghoon noticed her gaze lingering on the spears he had brought.
“I went back to the first battle site to retrieve the spear. Luckily, it seems the spear wasn’t damaged.”
The spear Yonghoon had brought back was stained with black soot from the explosion, but its elegance remained undiminished.
Yonghoon briefly explained the shield and spear he had retrieved, and then they pulled out sleeping bags and blankets from the backpack to prepare for the night.
A long day finally came to an end. Yonghoon set his smart watch to monitoring mode and fell asleep.
The next day, both Yonghoon and Hyangseol’s bodies had almost fully recovered. As expected of Awakened.
Yonghoon’s body was covered in bandages, and the girl’s face and body were dirty with mud, but they both got up energetically.
They decided to pack up and head down to Jian City. Yonghoon’s business was finished, but she didn’t know the situation in the city after her hurried escape.
Yonghoon also needed to take her to Jian City. The situation had changed since they first met. She had initially asked to be taken to Korea to escape the villains, but now she might want to stay in Jian City.
If she wanted to stay in Jian City, they would part ways there. If she wanted to go to Korea with him, he would take her.
But first, there was something Yonghoon needed to make clear.
“I need to talk to you about this sword.”
As soon as Yonghoon brought it up, Hyangseol immediately understood what he meant.
“That sword was a gift. Just taking care of those villains is more than enough.”
Yonghoon was quite fond of this quick-witted girl.
Yonghoon thanked her for her thoughtfulness.
Yonghoon hid the spears and shield he had retrieved, except for the sword he had received from her, in a corner of the cave. Bringing them into the city might cause trouble.
He decided to verify the performance of the weapons and shield after returning from the city. Anyway, there was another spear inside the cave that he needed to check.
As they headed toward the city, they glanced toward the cave whose entrance had been blocked by the explosion.
Yonghoon planned to enter the cave where the Awakened was trapped on his way back to Korea after visiting the city. There was no reason to leave it unsettled.
After a long walk, they arrived at Jian City, which was quiet.
Yonghoon and Hyangseol passed through the ruins of destroyed buildings and approached the wall that encircled the city center. The wall, roughly 4 meters high and made of various construction materials, had watchtowers on top monitoring the outside.
Yonghoon felt a bit bitter, as if he were looking at the fortress cities depicted in post-nuclear war movies. He figured that the surviving cities of ruined nations probably looked much like this.
Yonghoon and Hyangseol slowly approached the iron gate at the center of the wall. This was the central gate of Jian City, the barrier city.
The inside of the city grew noisy. It seemed they had spotted Yonghoon and Hyangseol.
A moment later, people holding rifles appeared atop the wall. They pointed their guns at Yonghoon and Hyangseol.
Yonghoon frowned at the sight.
This was not the posture of those prepared to face monsters. They should have known that conventional weapons were useless against monsters, yet they were all armed with guns.
When Yonghoon turned to look beside him, Hyangseol’s expression was also grim.
She grew worried when she saw none of the Awakened she knew. Besides the Awakened in the meeting room, there had been Awakened men guarding the wall, but none were visible here.
As they stared at each other, a man appeared behind the armed people. He was a sharp-looking middle-aged man who scrutinized Yonghoon and Hyangseol from behind the wall.
“Huh?”
A surprised voice came from beside Yonghoon. It was Hyangseol’s voice.
When Yonghoon turned to her, Hyangseol spoke quietly.
“He used to be the highest-ranking member of the security in our city before the monsters appeared. I hadn’t seen him since he clashed with you, Oppa.”
Yonghoon smacked his lips at her words. He had a bad feeling that things were about to get complicated.
“Hyangseol! What’s going on? And who’s the man next to you?”
He asked her in Chinese.
“He’s someone who came looking for me after getting a message from Oppa. He saved me from the villains when I was in danger.”
“What happened to them?”
His expression grew serious as he asked her.
“This man defeated them all.”
At Hyangseol’s words, he turned to look at Yonghoon.
However, his expression was not very favorable.
After thinking for a moment, he signaled to the side.
With a loud noise, the iron gate of Jian City began to open.