Chapter 38

Chapter 38

‘Did she not escape first?’

Honestly, it was unexpected.

I had thought she had boarded the Chinook with the civilians and escaped, but I had not expected her to still be here.

“Hurry…… take off…… Hurry!”

Ra Sihyeon shouted.

Tremble, tremble!

Seeing both hands that were emitting Ether trembling violently, it seemed extremely difficult for her to hold out.

“Take off! Now!”

“Yes!”

The Chinook carrying us slowly rose.

‘A Mage is still a Mage, I suppose.’

I did not want to acknowledge it, but what needed to be acknowledged had to be acknowledged.

The reason Mages were treated like nobles was because they had the power to change the situation simply by existing.

Ra Sihyeon at this moment was like that.

She had instantly bound the Gargoyles attacking the Chinook we were on.

Thud thud thud thud thud!

Thanks to that, the Chinook carrying us took off safely and began quickly leaving Jebudo.

Thud!

“Haa, haa!”

Perhaps Ra Sihyeon had exhausted her strength, because she collapsed to the floor.

Tilt!

When the Chinook attempted an evasive maneuver to avoid an incoming Gargoyle, the fuselage shook violently.

“……!”

Ra Sihyeon, who had been in front of the wide-open hatch, slid out of the Chinook.

I hurriedly threw myself forward and grabbed Ra Sihyeon’s wrist.

“Eunseong!”

At the same time that I caught Ra Sihyeon, Instructor Kim Sangeung caught my ankle.

“SCREEEEE!”

Three or four Gargoyles charged toward Ra Sihyeon, who was dangling in the air.

“What are you doing? Shoot!”

RATATATATATATATATATATATATAT—!!!

Kim Seunghye poured bullets toward the Gargoyles with an Mk.48 light machine gun.

“SCREEEEEEEEEE!”

Unable to withstand the shower of bullets, the Gargoyles were blown far away.

Meanwhile, Ra Sihyeon grabbed my hand and climbed back up.

“Hah, hah.”

Ra Sihyeon seemed so shocked that she could not even breathe properly.

It looked as though she had been badly frightened by the fact that she had nearly fallen from the Chinook and died.

“Breathe. Breathe.”

“Hah, haaah.”

“Breathe calmly. Nothing happened. Hoo, ha, hoo, ha.”

“Hoo, ha, hoo, ha.”

“Good. Slowly.”

The reason I bothered calming Ra Sihyeon down was because in some cases, people could faint after falling into panic, or rarely, even suffer cardiac arrest.

Regardless of whether I hated her or not, if she collapsed, things would become troublesome in various ways.

“Hoooo……”

With my help, Ra Sihyeon soon recovered her breathing and regained her reason.

“Are you clear-headed?”

“Yes.”

“How many fingers is this?”

“Three.”

“And this?”

“One.”

“Then you are fine.”

The moment I confirmed that she had regained her senses and tried to stand, Ra Sihyeon grabbed my wrist.

“Why are you not praising me?”

“Uh……?”

“Why are you not praising me?”

Ra Sihyeon spoke with a spiteful expression.

“Everyone survived thanks to me. Then should you not praise me?”

“…….”

I was so dumbfounded that I was at a loss for words.

Ra Sihyeon’s contribution deserved praise.

Thanks to her, the Chinook had been able to take off safely.

However, praise was not some obligation, and it was beyond absurd for her to abruptly demand it.

“Did you leave it to me?”

“Pardon?”

“We need to get the situation under control first before I praise you or not, do we not? Is it right to pester me for praise?”

“That is……”

Ra Sihyeon trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words.

‘What kind of upbringing did she receive for her to end up like this?’

I had felt this for a long time, but Ra Sihyeon seemed to lack basic ethics and morality.

Before I returned to the past, I had thought she had become arrogant and haughty because she was a Ranker, and even a Mage on top of that. But now that I saw her, that did not seem to be the case.

“Then when will you praise me?”

“Read the situation. We have not even escaped safely yet, and you want to do this now?”

“…….”

“Let me ask you one thing. Why did you step forward?”

“You said that if I wanted to be treated like a noble, I should act like one.”

“That is the reason?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

“Ah, no.”

I was appalled.

She had not done it to save everyone, but to be treated like a noble.

“You will treat me like a noble now, right?”

“We will see.”

“What did you say?”

Ra Sihyeon bristled, but I ignored her cleanly.

Talking with someone whose thought process was not normal would only waste my breath.

And now did not seem to be the time to leisurely quarrel with Ra Sihyeon.

Beep, beep, beep!

A warning alarm rang, and the inside of the Chinook was engulfed in red light.

“Visibility is rapidly dropping! The fog is too thick!”

The pilot’s urgent shout rang through the Chinook.

***

‘What kind of fog is this……!’

I unconsciously looked out the window and was startled.

Everything was pure white.

It was as if we had been buried inside a cloud, and nothing could be seen.

“Increase altitude! Keep flying!”

“But……”

“It is just fog anyway!”

The pilot cut off the copilot and gritted his teeth.

“Flying by relying only on the radar should be enough……”

At that moment.

BEEEEEEP!

The warning alarm rang even more sharply.

A red warning light blinked on one side of the instrument panel.

“Terrain warning ahead!”

“That is impossible!”

“Ridge five hundred meters ahead on radar!”

“That is impossible! There should be nothing ahead!”

Even while refusing to believe the radar, the pilot pulled the control stick and raised the altitude.

“Climb! Maximum output!”

Thud thud thud thud thud!

The rotor roared.

The Chinook’s fuselage tilted, and its flight altitude rose sharply.

Even in the middle of that, the fog seemed endless, and the view never opened.

‘Could this be.’

Judging from the shouts coming from the cockpit, I had an idea.

I had experienced this phenomenon before in the past.

“Stop!”

I urgently shouted toward the cockpit.

“The terrain is distorted! Space has become tangled inside the fog! If we keep flying, we will all die!”

“Wh-What are you talking about!”

“The fog is distorting space! Space itself is in complete chaos, so if we keep flying, we are certain to crash into something!”

“Then what are we supposed to do!”

“Just land vertically! Right where we are!”

“D-Damn it!”

While the pilot hesitated, unsure whether he should believe me or not.

The warning lights on the instrument panel blinked red.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Inside the fog, the radar’s terrain warning rang intermittently.

“……There is no choice.”

The pilot seemed to have made his decision and gripped the control stick.

The aircraft’s speed gradually began to decrease, and then the Chinook, hovering in the air, slowly began to descend.

Inside the thick fog where nothing could be seen even an inch ahead.

The massive Chinook slowly sank.

‘For now, let us land safely. Please.’

I prayed desperately.

As I was now, I was not confident I could survive a crashing Chinook.

CLANG!

Suddenly, a roar like the rotor breaking echoed out, and the fuselage lurched.

Soon, I felt as though I were riding a roller coaster, and the aircraft dropped sharply.

***

BOOOOM!

The aircraft plunged down, and an immense impact struck us.

“Urrgh!”

I struggled to raise myself.

Fortunately, the fall had been very brief.

It had felt like less than two seconds, and it seemed we had fallen from a height of less than ten meters.

It was no exaggeration to say that we had avoided the worst.

“I-Is everyone all right?”

“We are all right!”

“No abnormalities!”

While Instructor Kim Sangeung quickly checked the condition of those on board, he swiftly opened the hatch and ordered an evacuation.

“Disembark immediately! Everyone, hurry!”

“Yes!”

Since we did not know when the crashed aircraft might explode, we hurriedly escaped from the Chinook.

Outside, we were still inside the fog.

Beyond the faint field of vision, the crashed Chinook lay sprawled in front of a rock that stood tall like a blade.

It was a unique rock formation of Jebudo called [Maebawi Rock], and it seemed the rotor had struck it and caused us to crash.

‘It is definitely the Fog Labyrinth.’

My prediction had been right.

The Chinook had clearly flown east.

Yet the place where we had actually arrived was in front of Maebawi Rock on the southern coast of Jebudo.

As expected, the identity of this dense fog was undoubtedly the [Fog Labyrinth] that distorted space.

“Do not move carelessly! Maintain formation!”

“Yes!”

Following Instructor Kim Sangeung’s orders, we gathered closely together and prepared for possible enemy attacks.

Fortunately, there were no obvious signs of an attack.

“Is anyone injured?”

“No!”

Since we had not fallen from that high, no one seemed to be badly injured.

“Urgh.”

Ra Sihyeon, who had weak Defense by nature because of her class, seemed to be showing symptoms of a light concussion, but it did not seem serious enough to pay much attention to.

‘This is dangerous.’

I constantly kept watch over our surroundings.

If we were surrounded by enemies on such an open beach, it would be over.

‘Still, it is fortunate. I have the Search card.’

I did not know whether the [Search] card would be effective inside the [Fog Labyrinth], but it was fortunate that I had at least one thing to rely on.

‘If we move to a safe area and hold out for a little while, it should be fine. Minister Ahn acted quickly, so as long as we remain alive for now……’

SHWAAAAAAA!

Suddenly, I heard the sound of violent waves.

“Huh?”

Since the land route was blocked by the tide right now, there was no particular reason for the sound of waves to be heard.

‘W-Wait.’

Something was strange.

During high tide, the Maebawi Rock area should have been submerged in water too……

‘No way.’

With an ominous feeling, I turned my gaze toward the direction where the sound of waves came from.

Thanks to the thick fog, through my faint field of vision, I could see something like a massive wall slowly surging in.

There was no need to say out loud what it meant for a massive wall to surge in along with the sound of violent waves……

“Hoo.”

A sigh escaped me on its own.

They said there was always another mountain beyond the mountain. After surviving the crash, now it was a tidal wave.

“Let us see each other alive.”

“……?”

The people tilted their heads, not understanding what I meant.

It did not matter.

They would soon know.

Roll, roll, roll!

The sound of dice rolling rang in my ears.

‘This sound is……’

Soon, the Goddess of Luck, whose two eyes were covered with bandages, appeared and embraced me from behind.

“May luck be with you and your comrades.”

At the same time that I heard the goddess’s whisper, a status window appeared before my eyes.

The dice were 5 and 6.

A total of 11.

Luck increases by 110% for 5 minutes!

Even if luck was on our side, whether we could come out safely was something we would only know after this.

SHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

BOOOOOM!

A massive wall made of seawater swallowed us.