The World after the Fall

Would it have changed if he had accepted Surha's offer? Jaehwan didn't know.

"No."

With that said, Jaehwan and Rupture's relationship was decided. 2nd Captain Surha raised her scythe weapon named 'Thundering Imp' and the fight began.

The fight was intense. The pathway to <Depth> was destroyed through it. After Jaehwan experienced the power of Catastrophe, his spirit gained more power. It wasn't enough to have him move onto the next step, but he was now able to utilize the power of Creation at will.

'If I was in my best condition…'

With his heavily wounded body, he wasn't able to fight against Surha. Jaehwan had to use his last resort.

The skill that Rupture named as Perishing Slice.

Surha couldn't attack easily after that. She too had the linkage. If Jaehwan managed to cut her ties, she might be trapped in this part of the world.

-You'll regret this.

Jaehwan's gamble eventually paid off. After time passed, the barrier was lifted and Surha disappeared. But the problem was still there.

'Ah, dammit.'

Jaehwan thought as he looked around the area that was now pitch black.

'The path is closed.'

He couldn't find Chunghuh, Karlton, or Sirwen. It seemed they probably had moved onto <Depth> already. If they were in <Depth>, he would soon meet them again. That wasn't a problem then.

The problem was Jaehwan himself.

[If the path closes before you go through, follow the closest light. If you are lucky, you might get out of <Depth> that way. It won't be a pleasant experience, however.]

Jaehwan didn't know what that meant, but he had no choice. He swam through the darkness looking for the light. It was completely dark so he didn't even know where he was going.

'Nothing's easy.'

He was too exhausted from the multiple battles and he was now losing energy. He tried to stay awake but it was no use.

After a while, something changed. The surrounding air turned into water and he felt his skin turning into scales. He began breathing through gills like a fish. As he breathed, he constantly swam.

It was then that the light appeared from above. The fish, Jaehwan, realized he should move towards it.

'I must go there.'

Nobody ordered him to go, and Jaehwan wasn't fully conscious, but he followed his instincts. And then, he finally reached the light.

He felt he was being dragged up and writhed in pain. So, this was the experience. The feeling of becoming a fish wasn't pleasant at all. And being fished up was another. Jaehwan thought it wasn't a pleasant experience before he fully lost his conscious.

Sometime later, Jaehwan realized someone was calling him.

A small hand was shaking his body.

[HEY!]

A voice.

[Wake up! Hey!]

It was the voice of a girl. Jaehwan opened his eyes. There was a young girl wearing a white one-piece skirt without shoes, crying, and wailing. She was shaking Jaehwan, panicking. Jaehwan wasn't sure what was going on.

'What is it?'

[What is it?! Is that all you have to say to me?!]

Jaehwan frowned. He looked around and only found darkness. But it wasn't like the darkness from the path to <Depth>. After he checked the Eye of Asura in the sky, he realized he was inside of his unique world, but then another question arose.

'Who is this girl?'

It was strange. No being was allowed to come into his unique world without his permission. Yet this girl was standing there as if she belonged there from the start.

[What the heck are you talking about! You ate me!]

'Ate you?'

[Yeah! Do something!]

He wasn't sure what she was talking about, but it seemed like he did something bad to her. Jaehwan asked, 'What do you want me to do?'

The girl then flung on to him.

[…Save!]

'Save? Save what?]

[Save my only [Follower]!]

'Oh, Goddess…'

He should've run when he realized someone was approaching. Runald looked at enemies in front of him. They emerged from the bushes. They had a dark cape and tattoos all over their face. Runald knew he was in danger.

"You're a fool to walk around the forbidden sites alone, kid."

Runald knew who they were.

Forbidden sites of Caspion weren't only dangerous because of the Ancient God's Lost Ones. The Lost Ones were definitely dangerous, but there were more realistic dangers lurking around.

'Hunters.'

Hunters were those who lurked forbidden sites to hunt newbie Vicegerents.

"Hey, kid."

Runald then realized their elbows were twisted weirdly, like those of a mantis.

'Followers of Belkain.'

Mid-ranking god Belkain the Furious Talon.

All of his [Followers] were infamous for being vicious and evil. Runald heard they had moved their base to Caspion, but he didn't realize it was at this Blue Forest site.

"Kid, you hear?"

"Uh, y-yes."

"What were you doing?"

Runald grew anxious. He was against Hunters and [Followers] of a mid-ranking God. If they found out what he was going through, he would be killed instantly.

"I was just examining the new [Fishing Spot] I found."

Runald thought up a quick lie.

"[Fishing Spot]?"

"Yeah. It's the one that my Goddess and I found. Do you want to see it?"

The new [Fishing Spot] was very valuable to Runald and Andresen. It held tremendous value, but nothing was more important than their lives. The men became excited.

"Whoa, it's really a [Fishing Spot]!"

"And it's an unregistered one!"

"It's a bit small but…."

"God Belkain will be pleased!"

The three men looked around the pond and soon, one who looked like he was the leader came up to Runald.

"Kid, did you tell anyone else that you found this place?"

"No, not yet. Only me and my Goddess know about it."

"I see."

Runald then realized greed was filling the man's eyes and he quickly explained, "If it's alright, I will have you take this [Fishing Spot]. My Goddess tells me to do so too."

"Oh? Did she? Who is your Goddess anyway?"

"It's Andersen."

"…Andersen?"

The man became confused and turned to his friends.

"Hey, you know who Andersen is?"

"Andersen? What's that?"

"…Bah, there are so many of those no-names."

Runald blushed with embarrassment. But it was a common sight and it was sometimes better this way to be ashamed by someone who didn't know then…

"Wait- are we talking about that 'Naked' Andersen?"

Runald frowned.

"Naked…? Oh? You mean the one who was dropped to the lowest rank?"

"Hahaha! So she still had [Followers]?"

The men cackled while Runald silently rose up.

"I-I better get going then."

Runald then picked up the naked black-haired man and thought., 'At least we got him.'

He couldn't feel Andersen's presence, but it wasn't certain that she had disappeared until this man woke up. If Andersen was safe, then it wouldn't be bad to just get out of this situation safely. In the end, Andersen was going to get another [Follower]. That was good enough.

"Wait."

But things weren't going to end up like that so easily. Runald flinched at the voice.

"Put that down."

"…What?"

"Huh? Don't pretend you didn't hear it. Put it down. That's ours now."

The [Follower] was directly pointing at the naked man.