Luckily, I was ready for this question.

“As you can see, my regeneration is poor, so my mentor told me earlier.”

“Who’s your mentor?”

“Choi Yun.”

It was not Kudo who reacted, but the president of Cureus Corporation.

He made a strange sound. Stroking the head of the four-year-old girl yanking on my white hair, I turned my gaze.

“You mean that Choi Yun?”

“What Choi Yun is that supposed to be?”

“The adopted son of A-Tech’s president! What are you, completely ignorant?”

Deciding the conversation was worthless, the senior shifted his body.

Kudo splashed through ankle-deep water toward the south gate.

That way, too, was blocked by collapsed rubble. The solid stairwell door that should have led to the underground parking lot was barely visible.

I followed him, answering the president’s words.

“I grew up without parents, so I’m lacking in many ways.”

At least the man had enough shame to flinch.

“Black Badger Choi Yun is the adopted son of a conglomerate?”

“You call him your mentor and don’t even know that? ...Not that he’d explain it himself.”

He knew well.

I nodded, properly adjusting the children squirming in my arms. When I had found them, both had been terrified. Putting a splint on and babbling useless chatter seemed to have helped ease their tension.

The frozen children had begun moving again.

The girl who introduced herself as Becky tugged at my hair. The boy who called himself Luke waved his good arm wildly.

Ignoring the pain of hair being pulled out and the distraction in my vision, I stood behind the senior.

“Can we get through?”

Kudo did not answer, only gripped his sword again.

He intended to cut through the debris.

I stepped back.

“What’s that uncle doing?”

Luke pointed at Kudo’s back.

“Is the sword real?”

“It’s real.”

“Can a sword cut stone?”

Becky yanked my hair again, tilting my head to the side.

Watching Kudo’s blade trace elegant arcs, I answered slowly:

“Depends on who wields it.”

Slash.

Thud, crash! The piled ruins shattered into neat pieces and tumbled down. The cut surfaces were clean and flawless. His graceful movement continued, carving the rubble into even smaller fragments.

“Wow!”

Becky finally let go of my hair in awe.

“Cool uncle!”

“Awesome!”

“And what are you doing?”

Beside the pure admiration of the children, the president made a sharp remark.

I looked at the senior sweeping away rubble with his shoe tip, then turned my head.

Meeting the president’s contemptuous look, I smiled crookedly.

“I’m a rookie.”

“Can’t you do that, too?”

“Big brother can’t do that!”

“Useless bastard.”

Too harsh, Becky.

Sad thing was, I could not deny it. Smiling emptily, I adjusted my grip on the slippery children.

I stepped up beside the senior, moving my foot with his to clear rubble. Naturally, the so-called president did not help, and I had no thought of setting the children down even if they offered.

Wordlessly, the senior and I cleared the debris blocking the stairwell door.

Rumble...

This tower really was about to collapse.

As the building shuddered with a chilling groan, Kudo opened the stairwell door.

The lights were out. Beyond the opened door, only the faint light spilling in remained. We would have to be careful not to misstep. The underground parking lot would be pitch black as well.

Perhaps thinking the same, the senior turned his body toward me.

“Give me one.”

Sliding his katana neatly back into its sheath, he held out his hand.

Becky’s body leaned toward him. I passed the squirming girl into the senior’s expressionless arms.

He held the small child on his left arm, unperturbed.

Then began to walk down the stairs. The crisp sound of his shoes echoed eerily.

I let the president, insisting on going first, stumble ahead, then followed behind.

The echo of shoes filled the stairwell.

“Hey!”

The president shouted as he staggered down.

“There’s a crack in the wall!”

“That’s why we’re going down before it collapses.”

I glanced at the senior, who looked like he was restraining irritation.

“Don’t waste your strength...”

Boom!

I nearly tumbled down the stairs.

Rumble, crash! The building shook again. Fragile structures above collapsed into the lobby. The roar from behind vibrated through the narrow stairwell.

Chunks of cement fell through the open doorway.

The smell of dust swept in. The space grew darker. The light that had faintly lit the stairwell was swallowed by shadow. The already narrow, eerie space was now smothered in darkness.

The debris had blocked the open door.

“Shine your phone on the stairs!”

The president’s voice trembled faintly.

“I can’t see anything!”

“Step carefully.”

I pressed Luke against me as he let out an old-man-like sigh.

“If you go slowly, it’ll be fine.”

“Uncle, are you married?”

In front of the panicking president, Becky boldly asked.

A brave child indeed.

From the darkness ahead, Kudo’s even voice answered.

“I was.”

“Why was?”

“Hey, Becky! Don’t ask that!” 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Luke stretched his head forward and shouted.

“Just ask how his job is these days!”

“Second life, and you?”

At Luke’s overly mature words, I clicked my tongue. From below, Becky’s bold voice came again.

“Big brother, were you married?”

She must have meant me, since she called me big brother and not uncle.

Carefully descending, I answered without much thought.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Why don’t you know?”

“Hey Becky! He already answered!”

Luke raised his voice again.

“Don’t ask more!”

Not quite, but...

I was a little flustered, yet did not correct it. I also ignored the president, who kept grumbling that we needed to shine the phone light. I kept one hand free in case something happened.

The stairwell was narrow and dark. To reach the underground parking lot, we had to go down two floors. A misstep or falling debris would be disastrous.

And the building’s condition was far from reassuring...

...Hm?

Something scratched at my nerves. Carrying Luke on my left arm, gripping the railing with my right hand, I slowed.

Below, the silhouettes of people moving. The president fumbling downward. The senior already half a flight ahead.

And on their backs, faint crimson afterimages flickering.

Crimson...?

I turned urgently—at the same time a volley of flaming arrows rained down.

Thwip!

An arrow pierced my right thigh.

“Brother!”

“Damn it! It’s back!”

Luke and the president shouted.

The one attacked—me—was struck silent by the stabbing pain.

It hurt like hell.

But the pain sharpened my senses. I looked up at where it came from.

A ball of flame floated above the first stair landing. It writhed, preparing another arrow.

“Luke. Curl up!”

I pressed the boy tight to my chest.

“Move, move!”

The president, panicking, bolted blindly down into the darkness. Kudo set Becky down and dashed back up.

As he ran up, I raced down past him.

Before the stairwell was fully swallowed in darkness, I had spotted something.

“Fire hydrant box!”

Leaping down half a flight in one bound, I reached toward the wall.

“Senior, use the hydrant!”

Clang!

Thud. Bang. Thud! The flaming arrows deflected off Kudo’s blade, clattering into the walls. The stairwell shook with blasts of heat and heavy impacts.

The president shrieked and collapsed where he stood.

I set trembling Luke down behind me and opened the fire hydrant box.

“Spray water.”

The senior gave the order without looking back, still facing the creature.

“Right after the next volley.”

“Yes.”

I gripped the hose, waiting.

The Fire Shield spat a barrage, then needed time before the next attack. We had to strike in that gap.

I narrowed my eyes at the flaming arrows lighting the darkness, watching the timing. Hadn’t Yun explained it? Exploit the instant.

Just like Yehyeon, when he thrust his blade into a 10th-class creature’s body...

“Spray!”

Kudo shouted sharply, twisting his body.

Whoosh!

Water burst out under heavy pressure.

At the same time, Kudo darted down the stairs and scooped Becky into his arms, and my hose struck the creature.

It was pushed back. The hovering flame the size of a soccer ball.

But why did it not go out?

“Brother!”

As I dashed up the stairs, Luke screamed behind me.

“Brother, don’t!”

[Creature ‘Fire Shield’]

As the distance closed, the Creature Index read the entry.

[Extremely difficult to eliminate completely. When encountered, evasion is recommended. Method of reproduction unknown. One of the uncontainable creatures. Reacts to movement and attacks it....]

Bang!

The moment the creature was forced out of the stairwell, I kicked the glowing red-hot door shut. Fwoosh! Fire burst through the cracks.

“Taleb!”

The senior, now holding Luke as well, shouted up from below.

“We’ll head for the underground water tank. Run!”

Without a word, I flung the hose aside and dashed down.

***

“Should we call Mr. Mühlen?”

In the pitch-black underground parking lot, we had put distance between ourselves and the Fire Shield. Standing by a pillar, we caught our breath.

The president and the children were half-dazed, speechless. Only the senior and I moved in the dark.

Watching Kudo staunch his thigh wound with a calm face, I spoke.

“If anyone could know a way to kill it, it’d be him.”

Kudo looked at me as if hearing the strangest nonsense.

After a long silent stare, he asked:

“Mühlen?”

“Yes.”

“John Mühlen?”

“Yes. From the science division.”

“Can you even reach him?”

He muttered, eyebrows twitching.

“You have his number?”

“Yes, I do. I’ll try calling.”

Ignoring the senior’s disbelief, I dialed.

Nothing to lose.

If he was truly a scientist rivaling Einstein, maybe he could offer a new perspective on dealing with this creature.

“...You’re actually calling?”

“Oh, he picked up.”

Perfect timing.

I lifted the phone to my ear.