VOL. 2: CHAPTER 23 — “THE SECOND MISSION, THE QUARRY, WHAT HUNTS WITHOUT FOOTPRINTS, AND SOMETHING THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST”

Iron bells rang from watchtowers at precise intervals — not musical, not ceremonial, but functional.

Measured. Regulated.

Each toll marked the changing of shifts for patrols and workers.
Steel boots hit stone.
Black smoke rose from forges.
Bakers opened shutters exactly on time.
Even the birds seemed to avoid flying too low over the capital walls.
Because in Valenheim—

Everything moved according to order.
And anything that didn’t……was corrected.

A fruit vendor whispered to her husband while arranging apples.
“Another early patrol.”
“Third this morning,” he muttered. “They’re nervous lately.”
“About what?”
“…Don’t ask.”

Two Radiant Knights passed, their white cloaks glowing faintly with holy sigils.
Children stopped playing.
Adults bowed their heads.
The empire didn’t demand worship.
But it demanded obedience.

And that difference was smaller than most people liked to admit.
Far beyond the walls—
Where stone became soil—
Where steel became wind—

The empire’s control grew thinner.
But never disappeared.



— KAI’S POV —

Guild Front Hall

The Guild Hall smelled like iron and bread.
Steel polish. Sweat. Cheap ale.
Fresh morning stew.
It was alive in a way the capital wasn’t.
Messy. Human. Real.

Which meant I could breathe.

Ryn was practically vibrating beside me.
“SECOND MISSION— SECOND MISSION—!”

Lyka yawned loudly. “It’s sunrise. Stop yelling.”

“I HAVE SURVIVED ONE QUEST. STATISTICALLY I AM IMMORTAL.”

“You tripped over rubble.”

“That rubble attacked me first.”

“That rubble was a rock.”

“Assassin rock.”

Chorona covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
I pretended not to smile.…Pretended.

We reached the quest board.
Paper slips fluttered under mana lamps.

Requests layered over each other like scars:
• Missing livestock
• Goblin nest clearance

• Caravan escort

• Drainage slime infestation

• Herb gathering

Normal jobs.

Normal problems.
That was good.

Normal meant fewer graves.

Then I saw one.
Higher pay.
Priority tag.
Civilian request.

“…This one,” I said.

Ryn leaned over my shoulder.

“‘Farm workers missing near Westridge Quarry.’ Hm. Missing people quests are either easy… or traumatizing.”

Lyka cracked her knuckles. “Better than rats.”

Chorona nodded softly. “Let’s help them.”

I didn’t hesitate.“…We’re taking it.”

Because—

Missing workers. Remote quarry. No blood. No bodies.

I’d seen that pattern before.

And it never ended well.

— JOURNEY: City Outskirts—

Leaving Valenheim felt like stepping through invisible pressure.

Inside the walls:
Stone streets. Iron lanterns. Holy banners on every tower. Uniform architecture.
Everything straight. Measured. Planned.

Outside—
The world breathed again.

The stone roads faded into packed dirt.

Fields spread wide and golden, wheat dancing in the wind like an ocean.

Farmhouses dotted the land in irregular patterns — built where soil was good, not where maps demanded.

The air smelled like hay, earth, and livestock.
Children chased chickens barefoot.

Women washed clothes in small canals fed by mana pumps.
Men repaired fences with crooked nails and mismatched wood.
It was imperfect. Alive. Real.

But—

Watchtowers still stood every few miles.
Tall. Grey. Cold.
Imperial flags flapping lazily.

Ballistae mounted at the top.
Always watching.
Always counting.

Ryn noticed too. “…You ever feel like they’re guarding people or watching them?”

“Both,” Lyka muttered.

Chorona walked quietly beside me.
“You don’t like this place.”

“…It’s efficient.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“…No. I don’t.”

She nodded.

Like she understood something I didn’t say.

— RYN'S MOMENT —

We passed a cart stuck in mud.
An old woman struggling to push it alone.
Before anyone reacted—

Ryn jogged over. “Hold on, hold on— I got it—!”

He pushed with both hands.

Nearly fell face-first.

Tried again.

Grunted dramatically.

Lyka rolled her eyes. “Show-off.”

But she went to help anyway.
Together they freed it.

The woman bowed repeatedly. “Bless you children—”

Ryn scratched his head awkwardly.

“Nah, we’re adventurers. It’s kinda our thing.” He said it lightly.

But—

There was no hesitation. No calculation. He just helped.…Idiot.

A good kind of idiot.

The dangerous kind.

The kind who runs toward problems.

Heroes died early.

I knew that better than anyone.



— ARRIVAL: WESTRIDGE VILLAGE —

Westridge was smaller than I expected.
And older.

Not a planned settlement like Valenheim.

A grown one.

Twelve houses.

Wooden walls weathered grey.

Roofs patched with different tiles collected over decades.

Smoke stains marking long winters.
A communal well at the center.

Prayer ribbons tied to fences.

Small wooden charms carved to keep spirits away.
Tools left outside doors.

Because no one here expected thieves.
It was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone’s birthday.

And everyone’s grief.

But—
It was too quiet.

No chickens. No dogs barking .No children.
Just wind moving through empty fields.

Lyka’s ears twitched. “…This silence is bad.”

Ryn swallowed. “Yeah. Horror story bad.”



— VILLAGE ELDER —

An old man stepped out slowly.
Thin. Bent.
But his eyes were sharp.
Not weak. Tired.

There’s a difference.
His hands were calloused.
Miner’s hands.
Fingers cracked from stone dust and winter frost.

“…Adventurers?” he asked carefully.

“Yes,” Chorona said gently.

He bowed too deeply for someone his age.
“My name is Halden. I’m… the elder.”

His voice wasn’t commanding.
It was apologetic.
Like he blamed himself.
Inside his home—Small. Simple. But clean.

A table repaired at least six times.
Old mining helmets hanging near the door.

Seven empty pegs.

Seven missing people.

I noticed immediately.
Halden noticed me noticing.

“…Those were theirs,” he whispered.
“…My son’s was the third peg.”

Silence.

“…I told him not to work that shift.”
His voice cracked. “…But stone doesn’t cut itself.”
His hands shook slightly. “…A village can’t survive without quarry work. So they kept going.”

Lyka’s jaw tightened. Ryn stopped joking.
Chorona stepped closer and poured him water.

“…We’ll find out what happened,” she said softly.

Halden nodded.
Like he wanted to believe it.
But he didn’t dare to.



— THE WESTRIDGE QUARRY —

The quarry wasn’t dramatic.
It wasn’t some cursed pit.
It was… work.

Sweat. Labor. Reality.

Wooden lifts creaked slowly on rope pulleys.
Stone tracks carried carts.
Pickaxes lay where they’d been dropped mid-swing.
Lunch pails still half full.
A child’s scarf tied around a post.

Half-carved stone blocks stacked neatly.C
halk marks showing measurement cuts.
Work paused. Not abandoned. Paused.
Like people expected to come back.

Which was worse.

Much worse.
Because it meant—
Whatever took them—
Did it fast. Quiet. Efficient.

Ryn whispered, “…They didn’t even get to run…”

Lyka muttered, “…No predator hunts like that.”

Chorona touched the stone wall. “…This place feels wrong.”

I agreed. Too clean. No blood. No struggle.
Just—

Absence.

Like reality skipped a frame.
And people disappeared between moments.



— EMOTIONAL CORE —

I clenched my fist.
Not again.
Not villagers.
Not kids.
Not—

Stop.
Don’t think that name.

Don’t—

“…I won’t let this repeat,” I muttered.

Chorona looked at me. “…Repeat what?”

“…Nothing.”

Lie.
Big lie.

At the lowest platform—
Stone wasn’t broken.

It was—Folded.
Like space bent inward.

Lyka whispered, “…That’s not magic.”

Ryn backed up. “That’s not ANYTHING.”

Chorona closed her eyes. “…Time here… feels uneven.”

Amara spoke quietly.
『Conceptual residue detected. Artificial origin.』

Artificial.

Someone—Was testing things again.
On civilians.

My jaw tightened.
Cold.
Focused.

“Alright.” I stepped forward.“…Whatever you are.”
“I’m ending this.”



— KAI’S POV —

The air inside the quarry changed the deeper we went.
Not colder. Not hotter.
Just…Wrong.

Every sound echoed too long.
Every step felt half a second delayed.
Like the world itself couldn’t keep up.

Our lantern light stretched strangely across the stone walls, shadows bending at impossible angles.

Lyka’s ears stayed flat.
Ryn stopped talking.
Even Chorona’s breathing grew shallow.

That alone told me everything.
This wasn’t a beast.
This wasn’t a normal dungeon.
This was something that shouldn’t exist.

Then—

We heard it.
A scream.

Human. Raw. Close.
“HELP— SOMEBODY—!”

Ryn didn’t wait.
“THERE—!” He sprinted.

“Ryn—!” Lyka snapped.

Too late. Idiot. Absolute idiot.

I clicked my tongue and chased after him.



— SCENE: FIRST CASUALTY —

We rounded the bend.
And saw them.
Three miners.
Covered in dust.

Running blindly toward us.

Behind them—Stone.

No. Not stone. Space.
It rippled.

Like heat haze.

Like the air itself was folding inward.

One man stumbled. Fell. Reached out.

“PLEASE—!”

And then—His arm disappeared.
Not cut. Not torn. Gone. Erased.

Blood didn’t spray.

There was no wound.

His body simply ended mid-shoulder.
Then the rest followed.

His torso collapsed into nothing like sand sucked into a hole.

His scream cut off mid-syllable.

Gone.
Like he’d never been born.

Ryn froze. “…What…”

The second miner slipped.
The distortion passed over his legs—
CRUNCH.

This time—

It wasn’t clean.

His lower half twisted.
Bones snapped sideways.
Flesh folded.

Blood sprayed the wall like thrown paint.
He screamed until his lungs tore.

Then—
Silence.

The third miner ran straight into Ryn.
“PLEASE SAVE MY SON—!”
Behind him—

The distortion lunged.
Fast. Too fast.



— KAI: FIRST SAVE —

I moved. No thinking. No philosophy. No “karma is fake” speech.

Just—Move.

ANYparxía: Boundary Dissolution.

Space thinned.

I grabbed the man’s collar and yanked him through myself—
The distortion passed where we’d been.

The wall behind us crumpled inward like paper.
Stone ceased existing.
I shoved the miner toward Lyka.

“Get him out!”

Lyka caught him instantly. “MOVE—!”

They ran. Ryn stayed. Of course he stayed.

“…We can’t leave the others,” he said.

I stared at him. “…There are no others.”

He clenched his fists.
“…Then we stop whatever did that.”

…Idiot. Hero. Same thing.



— MONSTER REVEAL —

The air warped again.
Then—It stepped out.
Or rather—It glitched into existence.

A creature made of fractured geometry.
Half-visible. Half-not.
Limbs bending wrong directions.
Surface like cracked mirrors reflecting nothing.
Parts of it flickered between solid and void.
Like reality kept failing to render it.

Chorona whispered behind me:
“…It’s not walking…”

She was right.
It wasn’t stepping.
It was—Skipping.

Like frames of time were missing.
That’s why there were no footprints.
No tracks. No warnings.
It didn’t move through space.
It moved between moments.



— AMARA —

『Classification: Artificial conceptual predator.』
『Design resembles unstable Void-Tech.』
『Recommendation: eliminate immediately.』

“…Way ahead of you.”



— FIGHT PHASE I: CHAOS —

The creature blinked.
Then appeared behind us.

Tail scything.

Ryn reacted first. “DOWN—!”

He tackled Chorona out of the way.
The tail smashed stone into dust where her head had been.
Lyka darted in.

Claws glowing.

“HEY UGLY—!” She carved across its flank—
Her claws passed through.
Like smoke.

“…WHAT—”

The creature’s limb folded inward and struck.

CRACK.

Lyka slammed into the wall.
Blood spraying.
“…Tch—”

Ryn shouted, “LYKA—!”

He ran toward her.
Again. No hesitation.
Even though it meant turning his back to the monster.
Even though it meant dying.

He just—Ran.

Like it was obvious.
Like saving people was just normal.…
Stupid. Good. Dangerous.



— CHORONA’S INSTINCT SPIKE —

She raised her staff.
Time trembled.
For half a second—Everything slowed.
The creature flickered.

Her eyes widened. “…I’ve seen this before…”
Not a memory. A feeling. Like déjà vu sharpened into pain.

“…Don’t die…”

She didn’t know who she meant.

But her heart screamed it anyway.



— KAI: BRUTALITY RISING —

Enough.
I stepped forward.Lightning erupted around my arm.

Dense. Black-tinged. Compressed. Not flashy. Deadly. Void Strike.
I punched.

The impact didn’t explode.
Didn’t spark.
The creature’s shoulder simply vanished.
Erased.

It shrieked.
Not a roar.
A broken radio static scream.

Then—It regenerated.
Faster. Too fast.

Amara spoke:
『Core located across multiple time phases. Standard destruction ineffective.』

“…Of course it is.”

Behind me—
More screaming. More villagers. Two more miners running.

The creature split.
One copy moved toward them.
No. Not split. Afterimages.
Time echoes.



— KAI’S TRUE NATURE —

I could ignore them.
Focus the monster.
Win faster. Safer. Smarter.
But—My feet already moved.

Mom’s voice echoed in my head.
“If you see someone falling, you catch them. No matter what.”

“…Tch.”

Karma’s fake. Fate’s fake.
But—I still ran.
Because that’s just how I am.

I grabbed one miner.
Threw him toward Ryn.
The other—
Too slow.

The creature clipped him.
His torso twisted inside out.
Organs spilling.
Blood painting the stone.
He died screaming for his wife.

I bit down so hard my teeth hurt.

“…Damn it…”



— RYN'S HERO MOMENT —

“THIS WAY—!”

Ryn dragged the survivor while shielding him with his body.
Stone shards rained down.
He didn’t look back.
Didn’t complain.

Didn’t hesitate.

Lyka staggered up—The creature blinked behind her—Too close—I couldn’t reach—Ryn did.

He shoved her out of the way.
The creature’s limb speared through his side.

CRUNCH.Blood burst from his mouth.

“…R-Ryn—”

He still swung his sword.

Still.
Even impaled.

He screamed:

“GET— AWAY— FROM— HER—!”

The strike did nothing.

But he still fought.
Because that’s who he was.

Not strong. Not special.
Just—Someone who refuses to let others die first.…Hero.
Damn it.



— KAI: LINE ALMOST CROSSED —

Something snapped inside me.
Vision narrowed.

Breathing slowed.
Voices faded.

I stepped forward

.Cold. Empty. Quiet.

“…Enough.”

The air distorted.
Darkness pooled around my hand.

ANYparxía—Concept Break.

One touch. And it would be over. Erase everything.
Monster. Stone. Possibly half the quarry.

Maybe the survivors too.
Didn’t matter. End it. Now.

Amara whispered urgently:

『Warning. Excessive output will destabilize surrounding reality. Civilian casualty probability: 78%.』

My hand trembled.
Damn it. Damn it. DAMN IT.
“…Fine.”

 I exhaled. Pulled back. Chose restraint.
Again.



— FINAL FIGHT —

“Chorona— slow it!”

“Ryn— stay alive!”
“Lyka— flank right!”

Everything moved at once.

Lightning. Frost. Wind. Steel.

The creature flickered between moments.
But every time it phased—
I punched through space.

Every time it attacked—
I dissolved the boundary.
Every time it regenerated—

Lyka tore at its weak points.

Chorona locked its timeline for half-seconds.

Ryn dragged civilians away while bleeding everywhere.

Then—

I saw it.
A stable node.
Half a second longer than the others.
Its “heart.”
“…Got you.”

I compressed lightning.
All of it. Everything. Into one point.

Lightning Break.

My palm extended.
A condensed beam exploded forward.
Pure. Blinding.

The quarry shook.

The beam drilled through the core.

Through three time layers.
Through the distortion itself.
The creature screamed—

Then—
Collapsed.

Reality snapped back.

Silence.
Only breathing.
Blood.
Smoke.



— AFTERMATH —

Lyka rushed to Ryn. “…You idiot— you absolute idiot—”

He grinned weakly. “…Did I look cool at least…?”

“…You looked suicidal.”

“…Same thing…”

Chorona healed him desperately.
Hands shaking. “…Don’t scare me like that…”

He blinked. “…Why are you crying…?”

“…I’m not…”

She was.

I looked at the dead villagers.
Three bodies. Too many. Always too many.

“…Sorry,” I whispered.

Even though no one heard.
Even though karma’s fake.
Even though fate doesn’t care.…I still said it.



— FINAL SHOT —

Far above—
On the ridge—

Two hooded observers watched the smoke rise.

“…Interesting,” one murmured.

“The anomaly protects civilians.”

The other replied:

“…That makes him easier to control.”