Chapter 29
Baek Yi-heon, who had been growing cold, fortunately opened his eyes.
However, his gaze was still hazy and without consciousness.
“…Noah?”
‘Finally, has he regained consciousness?’
I slapped his cheeks and shook him vigorously.
“Wake up! That’s an illusion! It’s all a lie!”
“…A lie, you say?”
He mumbled dazedly.
“Yes! It’s all an illusion! A dream! And a nightmare at that!”
“If this is a nightmare…”
I paused for a moment as I was shaking him.
“H-hey, look…”
Baek Yi-heon is crying.
This giant man, at least three heads taller than me and probably twice my weight.
He sobbed violently, his shoulders shaking.
“…I don’t want to wake up forever.”
Seeing him like this, my heart ached with a sharp, swelling pain.
At the same time, my throat tightened as if something had lodged in it.
‘What is this emotion?’
Before my mind could conclude, my body moved on its own.
I stretched out both hands and tightly embraced his massive, trembling, crying body.
As strongly as I could with my insufficient strength. So that my warmth would be transmitted without any gaps.
He then wrapped his thick arms around my waist and burrowed deep into my embrace.
It seemed more like an instinctive movement seeking someone’s warmth rather than anything sensual.
Just like a baby animal desperately nuzzling into its mother’s embrace.
I cupped his cheek with my hand.
“Open your eyes, Baek Yi-heon. This warmth, this sensation—this alone is real. Wandering in dreams will only lead to emptiness. …No matter how sweet the dream may be.”
This was also me speaking to myself.
To myself, still haunted by the vision of my mother, the image of her whispering words of love.
“This alone… is real.”
He’s a man who has endured alone through events that would have driven an ordinary person mad long ago.
A human with a will as strong as a blazing fire.
Slowly, strength began to return to Baek Yi-heon’s eyes, which had been like a flickering candle about to go out.
He looked at me straight on with an intense gaze that made me dizzy, and murmured,
“Only you… are real.”
The moment I met that gaze, my heart sank.
Anyone would have felt the same.
When faced with such an intense, passionate gaze…
The muscles of his arms embracing my waist tensed.
Our bodies pressed together without any gap, with a strength incomparable to when I had embraced him.
But I couldn’t move away or avert my gaze even slightly.
It was as if his intense gaze had paralyzed my body, like the venom of a Nurker.
In a sensation where time seemed to stop, his face slowly drew closer to mine.
I watched, breathing heavily, as his thick eyelashes slowly lowered.
At that moment.
Crash—
The sound of the sky mirror shattering rang out.
I startled and pulled away from his embrace.
His large hands that had been holding my waist lingered reluctantly before letting go.
I looked towards the source of the sound and shouted loudly.
“It’s a Nirker!”
Through the cracks of the shattered sky mirror, a repulsive water snake thrust out its maw.
Having failed to deceive its prey with illusions, it revealed itself directly.
Of course, the presence of two fresh prey must have played a part too.
But before the water snake could even squeeze through the hole in the broken mirror.
Grrrrr—
A massive roar, incomparable to the water snake’s sound, shook the entire space.
‘Damn. Looks like the boss has already awakened…!’
Currently, there are two living humans in the dungeon.
There were also two monsters, but I just sent one away.
So, the other monster must have sensed the prey and awakened.
[(Messenger) Indra, who had been watching the situation while holding his breath and saying ‘Oh my, oh my’, comes running breathlessly.]
[Indra secretly wipes away the tears he shed at the touching scene.]
And it seemed the messenger had grasped my emotions before I did myself.
[(Messenger) A hint of compassion that had been sleeping within you awakens.]
[Re-evaluating synchronization rate with Indra due to increased compassion.]
[Please wait a moment as this process takes some time.]
“Com…passion…?”
Yes. This emotion I felt for Baek Yi-heon was compassion.
I placed my hand on my still-pounding chest and murmured softly.
“Yes. That’s what it is…”
“What did you say, Noah?”
Baek Yi-heon, who had swiftly dealt with the Nurker, approached and asked me.
Just as I was shaking my head and about to answer.
Crash! The sky mirror surrounding us shattered with a loud noise and collapsed.
Baek Yi-heon quickly embraced me, completely enveloping me in his arms.
His powerful body, wrapped in mana, protected me from the glass shards like a massive shield.
Only after all the glass pieces had fallen like rain did I finally raise my head from his embrace.
And I immediately realized why the entire sky mirror had shattered.
A sea dragon, so enormous it could never have passed through the cracks in the mirror, stood before us.
About as tall as a 5-story apartment building?
The monster was so large that we had to completely bend our heads back to see its head in full.
‘Damn… Monster information view.’
As I internally muttered along with a curse, a blue window that only I could see appeared before my eyes.
[(Messenger) Monster: Leviathan
+Rank: A-rank
+Type: Sea monster
+An evil god has resurrected this legendary beast to stimulate human fear.
+It’s the devil’s sea dragon, also known as the Leviathan.]
Yes. It’s exactly as described in the novel. An A-rank sea monster, no less.
‘But it didn’t say it would be this big in the novel…’
I internally swallowed my dismay.
The novel clearly described the combat difficulty of the fantasy dungeon as low-level.
Baek Yi-heon, after escaping the illusion, had easily defeated the monsters with his companions.
But now, the situation is very different from the novel.
The current Baek Yi-heon has neither proper weapons nor properly awakened combat-capable companions.
Kuaaaah—!
The dragon, awakened from hibernation, let out a thunderous roar.
I hurriedly began rummaging through the items I had stored in my hip sack.
“What’s that?”
Baek Yi-heon asked, looking at the giant fang I briefly took out.
“I got this after killing the water snake that cast the illusion on me. I was lucky.”
“Can we defeat that monster with it?”
“It’s impossible. It’s a higher-level boss monster, so this poison won’t work.”
Baek Yi-heon’s face darkened.
He must be wondering how to defeat that monstrous dragon without proper weapons.
“Noah. I’ll distract its attention for a moment, so quickly—”
“You mean run away? Where to?”
Everything is turned upside down.
Unless we smash the dungeon with overwhelming force, we have to defeat that boss to get out anyway.
I put the fang back and instead took out all three red mana stones I had diligently collected from my hip sack.
“Aren’t those fire-element mana stones?”
“That’s right. As a rule, creatures living in water are weak against fire.”
It’s a bit disappointing that they’re all D-rank or lower-grade stones, but.
I infused power into the mana stones in my hand without hesitation.
A tingling, refreshing sensation swept from my head to my fingertips.
Whoosh—
A massive pillar of fire swirled up in front of me, then charged straight at the sea dragon.
The heat emanating from the fire pillar was strong enough to make my hair flutter backward.
Gyaaah!
The dragon, hit squarely by the pillar of fire, writhed in apparent agony while letting out a shriek.
“Die. Die, please.”
I murmured desperately.
Please let this end it…
But of course not.
The pillar of fire dissipated before it could even penetrate the dragon’s thick skin.
I quickly discarded the mana stones that had lost their light and crumbled like ash, and grasped new ones.
One more time.
Whoosh—
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