The bird's massive body began to crumble.
Not violently. Not with fire or light. Just… quietly.
Its feathers faded first, breaking apart into fine gray dust that drifted into the air like ash. The enormous wings collapsed inward, dissolving piece by piece.
The lake beneath it rippled as chunks of its body lost form and sank into nothingness. Even the terrible eye that had glared down at them moments ago dimmed and scattered into the wind.
Seung-hoo stared for a second, making sure it wasn't getting back up.
Then he turned and ran.
"Seo-yeon!"
His boots splashed through shallow water and mud as he rushed toward her. She had just finished brushing stone fragments from her sleeves, still shaky from being petrified. Before she could fully process what was happening, Seung-hoo grabbed her shoulders.
"You're alive…" he muttered, his voice lower than before, almost breathless.
Then he pulled her into a hug.
It wasn't dramatic. It wasn't heroic. It was sudden, clumsy, and full of relief.
Seo-yeon stiffened for half a second, then let out a small laugh. "H-hey! Personal space," she said, tapping his arm lightly. "You're crushing me."
Seung-hoo didn't let go right away. "You were stone," he said. "I thought…"
"…Yeah," she replied softly. "I know."
Around them, hunters were still catching their breath, staring at the dust where the bird had been. Some sat on the ground. Others leaned on their weapons like canes.
Then—
The ground shook.
At first, it was gentle, like distant thunder. Then stronger. Stronger still.
Leaves fell from trees. Water rippled in violent rings. Cracks spread across the muddy shore.
Seung-hoo and Seo-yeon barely reacted, still standing close to each other.
But the others panicked immediately.
"What the hell is that?!" "Another monster?!" "The Rift isn't done yet?!"
Weapons were raised again in shaky hands.
The shaking grew louder.
Behind where the bird had disintegrated, the Rift split open.
Stone rose from beneath the lakebed.
Slowly. Massively.
A tower emerged.
It was dark, jagged, and far taller than the surrounding trees. Ancient symbols glowed faintly along its surface as if it had been buried there for centuries, waiting.
Hunters gasped.
"I-is that the tower?!" "The Rift core tower…!" "So this is the real end?!"
Before anyone could move toward it, the tower began to tilt.
Not crumble. Not explode.
Lean.
From where the hunters stood, it looked like the tower was shrinking.
"…Why is it getting smaller?" "No… wait… it's falling—!"
The massive structure collapsed sideways, breaking apart midair. Stone shattered into enormous fragments that slammed into the lake and forest, sending waves of dust and water into the air.
Silence followed.
No monster came out. No explosion of mana. Just broken stone and confusion.
Hunters stared in disbelief.
"…How are we supposed to clear that?" "What do we even do now?" "The exit—where's the exit?!" "Are we trapped?!"
Their voices overlapped in panic.
Then—
The ground shook again.
Stronger than before.
A deep, humming sound filled the air, and beneath everyone's feet, light began to form.
A circle. No—dozens of circles merging into one.
A massive portal spread across the forest floor, glowing pale blue and white, wide enough to swallow the entire group.
Wind rushed upward from it.
"What's happening?!" "A portal?! Under us?!" "RUN—!"
But there was nowhere to run.
The earth vanished.
And everyone fell.
Not chaotically. Not separately.
Together.
Like gravity had decided to take them all at once.
Some screamed. Some grabbed at the air. Some shut their eyes.
Seung-hoo didn't move.
He stood calmly as the Rift tilted beneath him, his coat fluttering upward as he dropped. Seo-yeon fell beside him, arms flailing before she forced herself upright in midair.
The barren forest disappeared above them.
Light swallowed everything.
And then—
Impact.
They didn't land forward. They didn't land down.
They landed sideways.
Bodies hit hard ground all at once with a loud chorus of groans and clattering weapons.
"Ow—!" "My back—!" "Who designed this exit?!" "Why are we horizontal?!"
Seung-hoo landed on his feet.
So did Seo-yeon.
They barely stumbled.
When they looked up, the Rift entrance stood behind them like a broken mirror in the air. Officials and support staff were already gathered outside, frozen in shock.
Then chaos exploded.
"They're out!" "They survived!" "Medical team, now!"
Officials ran toward them, radios blaring. Stretchers were dragged forward. Cameras flashed. Voices overlapped in panic and relief.
One official nearly tripped as he rushed up to Seung-hoo and Seo-yeon.
"You've been inside for five hours!" he shouted, breathless. "That's five days in real time! We thought you were dead! The mana readings went insane—then vanished completely!"
Hunters slowly began to sit up, staring around like they had just woken from a nightmare.
"Five days…?" "We were only in there for…" "Did we really make it out…?"
Seo-yeon looked back at the Rift, then at Seung-hoo. "Time's messed up again," she muttered.
Seung-hoo said nothing.
He only looked at the sky, bright and ordinary, and then down at his hands, still faintly warm from lightning and fire.
The Rift behind them began to tremble.
At first, it was barely noticeable—just a faint ripple in the air, like heat rising from asphalt. The warped space that had once been wide and violent now flickered unsteadily, its edges breaking apart into thin lines of light.
A low humming sound filled the area.
"What… what's happening now?" one hunter whispered, still sitting on the ground with his helmet crooked.
An official turned sharply. "The Rift—look at the Rift!"
Everyone looked back.
The massive tear in reality started to shrink.
Not collapsing. Not exploding.
Closing.
The swirling colors inside it twisted inward, folding into themselves like a curtain being drawn shut. The forest from the other side—the broken trees, the lake, the battlefield where the bird had fallen—blurred and distorted as if being erased from existence.
Wind rushed outward from the Rift, pushing dust and loose leaves across the ground. Some hunters shielded their eyes.
"It's sealing…" "So that really was the end…" "We cleared it…"
A few people laughed weakly. Others just stared in silence, unable to believe it was finally over.
Medical teams rushed in, grabbing injured hunters by the arms and shoulders.
"Sit still, don't move too fast." "You're bleeding—here, press this." "Who's still petrified? Anyone still petrified?!"
Byung-chul stood stiffly near Seo-yeon and Seung-hoo, rubbing his neck where stone had once covered him. His face was pale, and his eyes kept flicking back to the Rift as if afraid something else would crawl out.
"…It's really closing," he muttered.
Seo-yeon watched the shrinking Rift carefully. "So that's it," she said quietly. "No more monsters."
The portal pulsed once.
Then again.
Its light dimmed, shrinking to the size of a doorway… then a window… then nothing more than a thin crack in the air.
Seung-hoo stood a few steps away from the others, hands in his pockets, coat fluttering slightly in the fading wind from the Rift. His expression was calm, but his eyes stayed locked on the space where the bird had fallen and where the tower had collapsed.
Inside his head, the system was unusually quiet.
No jokes. No comments. No sarcastic congratulations.
Just silence.
Around him, the world felt… strange.
Normal.
The sky was blue. The ground was solid. No monsters. No screaming mana.
Only humans breathing heavily and trying to understand what they had just survived.
One hunter suddenly laughed, shaky and loud. "We lived… we actually lived."
Another sank to his knees. "I thought that bird was the end…"
An official spoke rapidly into a radio. "Rift activity is dropping to zero. I repeat, Rift activity is dropping to zero. Prepare full extraction protocol."
Cameras turned toward the closing Rift, capturing the final seconds.
The crack of light flickered one last time.
Then—
It vanished.
The air snapped back into place, leaving nothing behind but an empty patch of land and scorched ground where the portal had once been.
No gate. No glow. No trace of another world.
Just silence.
For a moment, no one spoke.
The forest outside the Rift zone felt too quiet, like even nature was holding its breath.
Seo-yeon exhaled slowly. "It's gone…"
Byung-chul stared at the empty space. "Five days," he murmured. "We were stuck there for five days."
Seung-hoo finally turned away from where the Rift had been.
Around them, stretchers were being loaded, injured hunters were helped to their feet, and officials were shouting orders about reports and containment and interviews.
"How did you and the others survive without an S-rank?!" a reporter shouted, pushing forward through the crowd and thrusting a microphone toward Byung-chul's face.
Cameras flashed instantly.
Byung-chul stumbled slightly, his legs still shaky from exhaustion. Seo-yeon caught his arm before he could fall, steadying him with a firm grip on his shoulder.
"Easy," she muttered. "You've been standing like a statue inside...literally"
Byung-chul sucked in a breath, then lifted his head toward the reporter. His face was pale, streaked with dried mud and blood, but his eyes were sharp.
"We do have an S-rank," he said hoarsely.
The reporter blinked. "What?"
Byung-chul raised a trembling hand and pointed past the cluster of officials and medics.
"There."
All heads turned at once.
Seung-hoo stood a short distance away from the crowd, separated from them by nothing but empty space and the smell of burned earth. His coat was torn at the edges, his hair damp with sweat, and his chest rose and fell heavily with each breath. He wasn't looking at anyone.
He was staring up at the sky.
Not at the cameras. Not at the reporters. Not at the hunters whispering his name.
Just the sky.
As if making sure it was still there.
"…That guy?" one reporter muttered. "Him?"
Another cameraman zoomed in. "Wait, is that—?"
Whispers spread like wildfire.
"That's the one from earlier…" "He walked out without a scratch…" "He didn't even fall when the portal collapsed…" "He's the S-rank?"
Seo-yeon glanced at Seung-hoo, then back at the reporters. Her voice was steady, but there was something tight in her chest when she spoke.
"He cleared the Rift," she said simply. "That bird would've wiped us out without him."
Byung-chul nodded. "He fought the core monster alone."
The reporter's eyes widened. "Alone?"
"Alone," Byung-chul repeated.
Another reporter pushed forward. "Then why wasn't he registered on the official list of S-rank hunters present?"
Byung-chul hesitated.
Seo-yeon tightened her grip on his arm. "That's not your business," she snapped.
More cameras turned toward Seung-hoo.
Someone called out, "Sir! Is it true you're an S-rank?"
Another voice followed, louder. "Did you defeat the monster all by yourself?!"
Seung-hoo didn't answer.
He slowly lowered his gaze from the sky and looked at the crowd for the first time.
Bright lights hit his eyes. Dozens of faces stared back at him. Microphones pointed toward him like weapons.
His ears still rang from battle. From the bird's screams. From the system's voice.
He wiped his face with the back of his hand and let out a slow breath.
"…So noisy," he muttered under his breath.
Byung-chul noticed and laughed weakly. "You're famous now, idiot."
Seung-hoo didn't smile.
An official hurried over. "Please step back, everyone! The hunters need medical evaluation!"
"But the S-rank—" "Just one question—" "How did you kill the monster—"
Seo-yeon stepped forward slightly, placing herself between Seung-hoo and the reporters without realizing it.
"He's exhausted," she said. "Ask later."
One reporter leaned in anyway. "Sir! What was going through your mind when you faced the Rift monster?"
Seung-hoo paused.
For a second, his eyes flicked to Seo-yeon. Then to Byung-chul. Then to the spot on the ground where the Rift had closed.
---END OF VOLUME 3---