Without giving any explanation, Seung-hoo turned and began walking deeper into the forest.
Not toward an exit that never existed until the Rift was cleaed. Not toward the wounded hunters groaning behind them.
Just… forward.
For a moment, no one followed.
They simply watched his back as he moved through the trees like he already knew where he was going. His steps were steady, unhurried, as if the battle that had just ended meant nothing at all.
Then Seo-yeon blinked.
"Hey—wait," she murmured, snapping out of her thoughts, and hurried after him.
One by one, the others followed.
A-rank hunters exchanged uneasy looks, silently asking each other the same question: Why are we going that way? But no one spoke it out loud. Their bodies moved before their minds could argue, drawn along by Seung-hoo's quiet confidence.
Soon, the entire group was walking in a loose, awkward line behind him.
The forest felt different now.
Heavier.
The air pressed against their skin, damp and cold, carrying the smell of crushed leaves and burnt mana. Broken branches snapped beneath their boots. Mud clung stubbornly to their armor, making each step sound louder than it should in the unnatural silence that followed the fight.
No monsters cried out.
No spells flashed.
Only breathing.
And footsteps.
Seung-hoo didn't speak.
Didn't look back.
Didn't slow down.
His eyes stayed fixed ahead, dark and distant, as if something invisible were pulling him forward by the chest.
Then—
A familiar mechanical shim rang inside his head.
______________________________________________________
|[ You seem distant? ]|
|[ You wanna talk about it ]|
|[ The system is a licensed therapist after all...Just kidding ]|
|[ Hehehe... ]|
______________________________________________________
Seung-hoo almost snorted.
The sound was quiet, barely more than a breath through his nose.
He tilted his head slightly, making sure no one could read his lips too clearly.
"No, I'm not lonely," he muttered. "I'm just focused."
The system paused, as if pretending to think deeply about that answer.
"So that I won't miss any of your quests," he added dryly.
A small, reluctant chuckle slipped out of him before he could stop it.
Behind him, Byung-chul noticed.
He frowned.
"…Is he talking again?" Byung-chul muttered, rubbing his forehead with two fingers as if trying to massage sense back into his head.
He studied Seung-hoo carefully.
No phone.
No headset.
No communicator.
No one standing close enough to whisper to him.
Just empty air.
Byung-chul exhaled sharply. "I've really seen too much today…"
The system kept chatting inside Seung-hoo's mind, tossing out playful remarks that felt completely wrong in a place soaked with danger and death.
Strangely, Seung-hoo felt his shoulders loosen just a little.
The voice distracted him from memories he didn't want creeping back in—images of teammates falling, of screams, of blood that never washed away no matter how many times he closed his eyes.
For a few steps, he almost forgot where he was.
Then—
A shadow swallowed the forest floor.
It wasn't sudden like an ambush.
It was slow.
Wide.
Unnatural.
Byung-chul was the first to sense it.
"…What was that?" he whispered.
His feet stopped moving.
So did everyone else's.
The shadow kept spreading, sliding over broken trunks, over crushed monster remains, over the hunters' boots. The light dimmed as if clouds had gathered out of nowhere.
Someone lifted their head.
Then another.
Then all of them.
Above the forest canopy, something enormous blocked out the sky.
A gigantic bird circled overhead.
Its feathers were longer than a car, layered like dark armor plates of blue and gray. Each flap of its wings stirred the air violently, sending leaves and dust spiraling upward. The wind it created pressed against their faces and made their cloaks snap loudly.
Its wingspan was so wide it felt unreal—like two blue whales had been stretched into the shape of wings and forced into the sky.
Its body resembled a kingfisher.
But twisted.
Stretched.
Deformed.
Grotesque.
The beak was long and sharp, glinting faintly as it turned its massive head. One enormous eye stared down at the forest below, cold and unreadable, as if the hunters were nothing more than insects crawling on wet ground.
Hunters froze.
A weapon slipped from someone's fingers and landed with a dull thud.
"…That does not look like an A rank monster," one hunter whispered, voice shaking.
"No way…" another breathed.
"Why is it flying so low…?"
Seung-hoo stopped walking.
Slowly, he lifted his head.
His gaze met the creature's silhouette in the sky.
Inside his mind, the system fell silent.
The bird's wings beat once.
Twice.
Each movement pushed the air down harder, making branches bend and leaves scatter across the forest floor.
Then its body tilted.
The air itself seemed to warp around it as it aimed straight down.
In a terrifyingly smooth motion, the giant bird folded its wings and dove.
Its beak pointed directly at the group, cutting through the sky like a spear of light. The sound of rushing wind exploded around them, growing louder and louder, as if the heavens themselves were tearing open.
Time felt slow when the gigantic bird descended
Hunters raised their arms in panic.
Some screamed.
Some tried to run.
Others stood frozen, legs locked in place by fear.
Seo-yeon stepped closer to Seung-hoo without thinking, her hand tightening around her weapon.
Byung-chul's breath caught in his throat as the shadow swallowed them whole.
The bird descended, filling their vision completely—its feathers rippling like waves, its massive body blotting out the sky, the reflection on its beak flashing brighter and brighter as it plunged toward the barren forests floor.
"Is that a bird… is that a plane… no, yeah, it's a bird," Seung-hoo said flatly, his voice carrying an awkward hint of comedy despite the enormous shadow swallowing the forest.
Several hunters stared at him like he had just lost his mind.
The wind from the creature's wings howled through the trees, bending branches and shaking loose clouds of dust and leaves. The ground vibrated faintly beneath their boots as the massive form descended.
Inside Seung-hoo's head, the system reacted immediately.
______________________________________________________
|[ Really😒 ]|
|[ Be serious man ]|
______________________________________________________
Seung-hoo winced. "Hey, I am serious. I just… process fear differently."
"Be serious, Seung-hoo!" Seo-yeon shouted, her voice sharp with panic as she grabbed his sleeve. "That thing could crush us with one wing!"
The gigantic bird didn't strike them directly.
Instead, it tilted its body at the last second and slammed down into a nearby lake at the edge of the forest.
BOOOOOOM—
Water exploded upward like a bomb had gone off.
A wall of water rushed outward, soaking the shoreline and sending ripples racing across the lake's surface. Hunters stumbled backward, shielding their faces as muddy water splashed against their armor. Some fell to one knee. Others barely kept their balance.
"What the hell was that landing?!" one hunter yelled.
Another coughed. "It just… chose the lake?!"
The creature rose slowly from the water.
Its wings unfolded with a deep, heavy sound—like wet cloth being dragged across stone. Water streamed off its feathers in thick sheets, splashing back into the lake. Each movement sent waves rolling outward, disturbing the fog that hovered over the surface.
The bird stood tall in the shallow water, its talons sinking into the muddy lakebed.
Its reflection wavered in the ripples.
Up close, it was even more terrifying.
Its feathers were ragged and uneven, some bent at strange angles. Its chest expanded and contracted as it breathed, releasing a low, hollow sound that vibrated in the hunters' bones. When it turned its head, its single visible eye locked onto the group at the forest's edge.
No roar.
No screech.
Just silence and that unblinking stare that could crush a dog's bone.
"…It's looking at us," someone whispered.
Byung-chul swallowed hard. His jaw clenched as he stared at the monster. "Why do all the big ones look like they own the place…"
Seung-hoo shaded his eyes with one hand, squinting. "So… it's a lake bird now. That's new."
Seo-yeon shot him a look. "How are you still joking?"
He shrugged slightly. "If I stop joking, I start thinking."
The hunters spread out instinctively, forming a loose semicircle near the trees. Weapons were raised.
Spells began to glow faintly in trembling hands.
The lake water continued to drip from the bird's wings, each drop hitting the surface with a heavy plop.
Plop.
Plop.
Plop.
The sound felt louder than it should have.
The system spoke again inside Seung-hoo's mind, its tone unusually quiet.
"…That thing's mana signature is unstable."
Seung-hoo's eyes narrowed just a little. "Unstable how?"
"Like it doesn't belong to this Rift layer. Like it was pushed here."
Seo-yeon stepped closer to him. "What are you muttering about now?"
"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just… thinking out loud."
The bird suddenly twitched.
Its wings flexed, sending another gust of wind across the lake. Trees near the shore bent violently, leaves ripping free and flying past the hunters' faces.