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(Sfx)WOOSH.
Hearing a sound that punctured the silence, I couldn’t help but open my eyes.
“What?” The bonfire was immediately extinguished, and the three of us held our breath in a world without light.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound grew louder and louder.
Jung Yi Joon took a step forward and positioned himself in front of me, as if he wanted to hide even the heat of my body behind him.
“Aren’t we meant to flee?”
“Where?”
Nothing seemed to be there now that the woodland was utterly black. What if we tried to run away from the sound in our current condition where we were practically blind, only to fall again or end up in a perilous situation?
Because this was the first time we had experienced such a situation, it was tough for us to come to a decision. It was then that a massive deer emerged in front of us.
“Ahh!”A herd of deer rushed by us and ran over the water after that. We were able to avoid the deer by hiding in the corner.
“– for the time being.”
What was chasing them? The deer were several times bigger than us already; if it was enough to make them flee, just what was chasing them?
“I believe we should also flee.”
Nobody shook their heads in disagreement when they heard those words.We had a gut feeling that what was behind us was deadly.
We proceeded in the opposite direction as the deer attempted to flee. I was crossing my fingers that whatever was hunting the deer didn’t come after us.
We moved carefully because there was little light to navigate by without the aid of stars or moonlight. My range of view would widen slightly if I shone the light from my phone, but I couldn’t afford to do so because I was worried the light might attract a monster. Thankfully, whatever was chasing the deer didn’t come after us.
We were able to breathe a collective sigh of relief as we moved away from the noise and returned to a land of silence.
“What was it, exactly?”
“I have no idea what it is, but it must’ve been enormous—”We decided to travel in search of a better camp site because the area where we were standing was unsuitable for relaxing. We came into a vacant lot while walking past the trees in this manner.
“It’s fairly large—”I paused in conversation to examine the location. The other two were staring in the same direction as me.
“Isn’t that what you mentioned earlier?” Yi Joon inquired, a little hesitantly.The Dimension stone.It was right in front of our eyes.
‘How did the dimension stone end up here?’ So what you’re saying is that where we are currently is the centre?
Then, the Final Boss must be located here!
Puck!“Ouch!”
“Yoon Jae!”
“Hey!”Something slammed into my body, and I shuddered.I didn’t feel anything breaking, but it hurt a lot.
“Argh… argh… argh… argh… argh… argh—”I saw something large standing next to the dimension stone as I blinked my eyes, which were blurry due to tears that sprung up due to pain.
“How come there are dinosaurs here?”
The dinosaur let out a low whine and swung its tail at me once more. It had to be that tail that slammed into me. I tried to get away from it, but it was a little quicker. A whip-like tail had already nearly reached me in the blink of an eye.
As my desperation rose and my body grew stiff, a red-coloured shield spread out in front of me, but it was hit by the tail and broken.
“Hey, you moron! Get up now!”
Eui Yeol tossed a stone from the side to distract the monster as Jung Yi Joon spread his power to protect me. It was the size of a dot compared to the dinosaur, but their attempts were successful, and instead of looking at me, it gazed at the two of them. I was able to stand up during that period.
“Run!”
Two people approached me at the same time as Jung Yi Joon was speaking. The dinosaur’s tail dropped on the two of them because they were distracted, but it couldn’t hit them because of Yi Joon’s protection.
“Fuck! What a force!”
As he witnessed his protective shield break, Jung Yi Joon spat out crude words.The thicker the colour of red was, the thicker the shield, and despite being dark red, it broke with just one swing of its tail
Yi Joon spat profanities and grabbed my arm before fleeing. I was virtually dragged towards him as I sprinted to him.
Maybe throwing stones at the dinosaur wasn’t a good idea, because it was rushing at us without bothering to defend the Dimension Stone.
The dinosaur whose skull was struck by the rock he hurled staggered and passed out. Although it wasn’t enough to kill it, it was an attack that appeared to have caused significant damage.
Before the dinosaur came to its wits again, I grasped Jung Yi Joon’s hand to flee.
The eyes of Jung Yi Joon were wide open. He continued to use his skills after passing through the gate. The burden on the brain was enormous since telekinesis used up mental strength. As the only thing he could believe in, in this situation, was his own abilities, he appeared to have overused them to the point of overloading.
The dinosaur was still unconscious when I looked at it. Fortunately, his attack on it was successful.
Eui Yeol and I ran away with Jung Yi Joon, who was unable to walk. I was hoping that the dinosaur would stay unconscious for as long as possible.
‘Damn body,’ I mumbled.
Instead, I had to drag Jung Yi Joon around since he was taller and heavier than me. Our situation became much more depressing due to that fact.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“—Just let go.” What?I was unsure if I had understood Jung Yi Joon correctly, but he repeatedly told me to let him go.
“You can get away more quickly if you just run away alone.”
“It’s just… I’m used to being abandoned—”So I was irritated by Jung Yi Joon’s remarks saying it was all right to just leave him and go because his voice was filled with defeat, resignation, and compassion for me.
At this rate, who cares if everyone died? It wasn’t even funny.
“Shut up,”
“…”
“Try telling me what I should be doing again, and I’m really going to murder you.”
You’re stupid, you’re insane.I spat profanity, but Jung Yi Joon remained silent. After wiping away the sweat falling into my eyes with my sleeve and clearing my fuzzy vision, I heard Eui Yeol calling me.
“Over there, Yoon Jae.”
He pointed to a location beneath a huge tree. As there was a gap between the roots, we decided to hide ourselves there for a bit. Eui Yeol and I dashed down the tree and hid.
Jung Yi Joon’s eyes were closed and his face was pallid, as if he would faint.’Are you sure we’re not going to die?’I was worried that Yi Joon seemed out of breath.
I heard the dinosaur rushing around, bellowing as if it had regained its senses, while I wiped away a small amount of his nosebleed with my sleeve. The monster appeared to be pursuing us again.
‘Why?’
The dimension stone was unwaveringly defended by the boss monster. Since a single stone the size of that person’s head was what supported the entire planet, instinctively it should have known to defend it instead.
‘There’s no way—’
Was it aware that we were its foes? Shouldn’t it just be passively guarding the Dimension Stone and coping with whatever comes in it’s way instead?It was possible that it might have identified us as hostile aliens that didn’t belong in this realm, and that when the adversary vanished, the Dimension Stone would become safer.
‘Then come after me with all your might.’It was far more intelligent than I had anticipated. Its brain appeared to be the size of a walnut, just like a real dinosaur, but I was duped by its appearance.Most boss creatures in the original story just hovered near the Dimension Stone to defend it, so I assumed it would be the same...
‘No. In fact, Incompetents never entered the gate in the original story.
‘Hunters were dispatched based on the gate level. To put it another way, they were powerful enough to raid boss creatures. However, we were involved in an accident, and Jung Yi Joon was now its sole opponent with an ability. Eui Yeol, who was inept, and me, who was also inept, were both burdens in this situation.
‘This is bad.’
To the boss monster, Jung Yi Joon’s existence was like a thorn in its side. It was straightforward enough for it to manage the situation at any moment. Even if it didn’t use its own limbs, it could control other monsters.
Jung Yi Joon, on the other hand, was a one-of-a-kind character. Since he was such a formidable opponent, the boss monster had no choice but to be on guard.
As a result, it was forced to deal with us. That, I believe, was why he was on the lookout for us right now.
‘What? Oh, my goodness…Would I, if I were the boss monster, take a moment to consider my options before making a decision?’
No, rather than that being the case… We had to be able to find a chance to ideally catch our breath. It wouldn’t return until it had found and dealt with us. It was pointless to hide in this manner.
‘I need to go out and entice it in.’
Of course, I believed I had to. Yi Joon was unconscious and Eui Yeol was barely conscious. They say we are the protagonists of our own futures, so I felt it was only right that I took the lead.Of course, I was one of the major antagonists, but there were plenty of other villains on this planet even without me.
Isn’t there a villain who could take my place?
My mind said yes, but my body remained motionless. I had to make a choice when the sound of dinosaur footfall neared.
Regarding that,
[It's a desperate situation. player.]