Thud! Crack!
Thump.
After smashing in the skull of the last remaining deadman, I leaned against a tree. Around me, headless corpses were strewn about in a mess of blood and broken bone.
I had taken them on carefully, one at a time, conserving as much as I could. Yet it was over quickly—an outright slaughter. And yet, I felt no satisfaction. My chest burned with unease rather than relief.
Ptui.
I spat onto one of the corpses nearby, but the suppressed bloodlust within me, long held back, only surged more violently in response. I tried to calm myself, inhaling deeply, but the more I did, the more it stoked the flame. Maybe I never actually planned on calming this feeling in the first place.
"Damn it. This is ridiculous. Just left me with a bad taste."
Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I finally gave in. My fists clenched, and I swung at the tree beside me.
CRACK!
Rumble...
Even without any magical enhancement, the pure physical strength behind my strike splintered the thick trunk, sending it crashing down with a heavy thud. It took the edge off my frustration, but the suffocating pressure within hadn't fully subsided.
The others were gone by now, so part of me wanted to just burn this whole damn forest down. I held back, though. Just because we'd gotten past the stone wall didn't mean there weren't more monsters outside. Besides, I still needed to recover my arrows.
No one was watching anyway. Reining in my mana, I moved swiftly.
The trees, foliage, and scenery blurred past as I sprinted through the forest. It didn't take long before I reached the rocky mound I had used earlier.
I began pulling out arrows lodged in deadman skulls, scanning the surroundings as I did. No sign of the others. As expected, they must have left as soon as I lured the deadmen away.
"One, two, three, four... seven, eight. That should be enough."
I wanted to just shove the bloodied arrows back into my pouch, but considering how Ahn Sol might react, I gave them a quick wipe-down first.
Guess I should get going.
Not knowing if Ahn Hyun's group was just outside the wall, I took my time as I approached the stone barrier. Before climbing over, I paused and turned for one last look at the forest.
It was exactly the same as before. No different now than when I first entered. Back then, I'd been too busy running for my life to think about anything. One moment I was running; the next, I had somehow made it out.
But now, it was different. I stood there for a while, simply gazing at the forest. It felt like I had finally set down a heavy burden.
After indulging that bit of sentiment, I vaulted over the wall. No time to wallow in vibes—there were more pressing matters ahead.
The scene that greeted me on the other side was far from what I'd expected.
The path beneath my feet was rough and uneven, but clearly shaped by human hands. Not exactly paved, but worn enough to show some structure.
Below the path stretched a vast, open plain with no visible end. The surroundings were quiet—only the occasional whisper of wind breaking the silence.
No monsters in sight.
But... neither were the others.
No matter how far I looked—or even probed using mana—there were no traces of the group. A sudden thought struck me: Did they abandon me?
It seemed unlikely. With three members possessing 'Good' alignments, betrayal wasn't their style. But alignment alone couldn't be trusted entirely.
If I ruled out the possibility of being left behind, that meant something must've happened to them while they waited. There were many other types of creatures besides deadmen during the rite of passage. Assuming something happened felt safer.
With that conclusion in mind, I began searching for clues.
Tracking wasn't especially difficult for someone like me. As I carefully inspected the ground near the wall, I found a patch of dirt with deeply imprinted sneaker tracks—clearly where they had climbed over.
Following the disturbed soil, I found signs that a group had gathered shortly beyond the wall. Judging by the undisturbed terrain, they must have waited there for a while before moving on. Knowing that, the sliver of betrayal I'd started to feel melted away.
I crouched down, examining the traces one by one.
A skilled ranger or trapper could probably deduce every detail—who was where, what they did, when, and why. I couldn't manage that, but I did what I could with keen eyes and my own abilities.
I heightened my vision, comparing and matching the tracks. After identifying the footprints of our group, I moved on to check for any others.
The prints were chaotic—like someone had hosted a shuffle dance competition. It took time to sort them out. A sliver of unease flickered through my mind, but I pushed it aside.
Eventually, after enough careful analysis, I stood back up with a stretch. Aside from the group's footprints, I found nothing suspicious. There was one odd imprint—deep, as if someone had landed hard—but it was overlapped by sneaker marks. Hard to tell if it belonged to our group or not.
No dragging marks. So definitely not deadmen.
Maybe a boss monster? I shook my head. Only half a day had passed since the rite of passage began, and boss monster spawns had specific conditions.
I shelved that idea and moved on.
Only one method remained. Though I knew it wouldn't work, I activated my mana circuits.
In an explosive burst of magic, I activated The Third Eye.
This wasn't about identifying user info—it was something far more advanced.
I hadn't expected to use such an intense ability this early, but time was critical, and no other option came to mind. If I wasted time fumbling with basic mana detection and something happened to them in the meantime, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.
What I aimed to do wasn't to read the present, but the past.
Technically, The Third Eye could observe dimensions beyond our own, making it theoretically possible to glimpse both past and future. But it all depended on the user's strength.
And I wasn't ready.
CRACK!
"Gah...!"
Just a single second—that's all I saw before the vision twisted violently and a sharp pain stabbed through my eyes. My retinas burned like they were set on fire.
Instinctively, I clutched my face and let out a bitter chuckle.
Just one second. One second was all it took to glimpse the past, and The Third Eye forcibly deactivated itself.
When the pain finally faded, I muttered under my breath.
"…Ha. Haha… 96 points in Mana and I still couldn't handle more than one second? You've got to be kidding me."
I had hoped the Eye would hold up, but the Overdrive taxed my mana far beyond its limit. I was reminded just how absurdly powerful a high-level ability it truly was.
Seeing the past ranked on par with seeing the future—it wasn't mere foresight. This was something else entirely. I had thought that, being S-rank, the Eye could manage it... but the forced downgrade from its original level due to awakening trauma was a big setback. Even with Fire Spirit's buff raising it one tier, it could only handle present-level phenomena.
The pain eased, but my vision remained blurry. Mana backlash, most likely. Thankfully, it wasn't permanent—things were slowly coming back into focus.
It had been reckless—but I still gained something.
Even just one second was enough. I had seen the past.
Recalling the fleeting vision, I exhaled deeply.
I'd finally gathered a reliable team, only to be immediately thrown into another mess. It would be one thing if I lacked power—but it turned out that even with power, some things still had to be endured.
If worse came to worst, I'd throw the whole rite into chaos. But that would be a last resort.
It felt like every step forward just led to a new mountain to climb.