A free fall from an insane height.

No matter how much I’d gotten my condition back through the doctor’s treatment, my body was, fundamentally, a human body.

There was no way I could fall from that height and be fine.

I jumped, keeping in mind I’d recover with vampire blood, but since I didn’t expect it to be this deep, my injuries were worse than I thought.

But......

“......”

I was able to open my eyes not long after.

The pain was still there, but I forced it down and checked my surroundings.

And then.

Even though this was underground so deep not a single ray of light should reach, the area around me was extremely bright.

And the source of that light......

I realized luminous mana was rising up from the ground.

Every time that warm mana reached my body little by little, the wreck of a body that couldn’t even recover quickly with vampire blood was restored in an instant.

“......This is.”

And.

I’d already seen this mana once before.

“This is the mana that came out when it healed those monsters.”

When I’d clashed with the fusions the doctor created up on the surface.

The very mana that instantly restored them.

Meaning—

‘The doctor’s power.’

For some reason, it was healing my body.

Thanks to that mana, I could get up quickly.

By the time my legs had somehow regained their shape, I forced myself upright and looked around.

“......Where is this?”

And.

I couldn’t help being a little shocked by the sight in front of me.

Up above, Gangnam, the doctor’s base, was a place where—rare for Seoul—at least the shape of buildings still remained.

But even so.

No matter what, you couldn’t call it clean or neat.

If anything, the opposite.

Hideous monsters that were hard to look at with a sane mind roamed around, and unknown saliva and slime they’d dripped were splattered everywhere, so it wasn’t a place you could walk around comfortably.

But.

This place was completely different from the surface.

‘......Clean.’

Really.

There was nothing else to say about it.

‘To an excessive degree.’

This space built deep underground

was so neat and spotless you couldn’t see a single speck of anything out of place.

A bizarre space so thoroughly empty it felt like an obsession.

Maybe it was because of the light-emitting mana filling this space, but it also felt strangely sacred.

‘Jeong Sua said there wasn’t a drop of water where my last surgery happened.’

I remembered what Jeong Sua had said.

Just like that.

There wasn’t even dust here, let alone water.

This place was so clean I felt like I was the foreign object.

{For me to tell you to go back......}

And.

From somewhere deep within that space.

{It’s already too late, isn’t it.}

A familiar voice drove straight into my mind.

And this voice—

‘It’s close.’

Closer than I expected.

Thinking the true body of [the doctor] was nearby,

I started walking that way.

‘Up there, the battle is probably still going on.’

Before my subordinates lose,

I have to find the doctor’s true body.

And.

It wasn’t hard to figure out where to go, either.

‘This mana.’

The mana flowing from somewhere deep within.

The very mana that was still treating my body, which wasn’t fully healed even now.

I just had to follow it.

‘It’s thick. An insane amount.’

The mana was so dense and abundant.

Maybe condensed mana carried a bit of physical force, too—

it was hard to even push forward.

‘This is...... similar to that [Underground Mine].’

That [Underground Mine] had been filled with Morjan’s mana.

In a space with nowhere for it to go, Morjan’s mana kept leaking out and formed an unbelievable density.

This place seemed similar.

Compared to that [Underground Mine], the scale was much smaller, but in a small space, someone’s mana had continued to condense, resulting in this high density.

{I was foolish, Legion Commander.}

And.

As I started walking toward the source of that mana, it spoke to me like that.

“Foolish.”

I didn’t stop walking, but I answered anyway.

“Foolish means you regret attacking me? That it was a stupid thing to do, so let it slide just this once? Is that what you’re trying to say?”

{No, not a chance.}

That sudden line about being foolish, like it was regret.

I wondered what it meant, but—

{It means it was foolish of me to trust someone.}

A voice with a bitter laugh in it.

That “foolishness” was for a pretty different reason than what I’d assumed.

{After getting played badly once already, to trust someone again. That’s truly foolish.}

Anger and resentment.

A voice that didn’t even try to hide how hurt it was.

{I regret that choice.}

And.

The instant I heard that voice—

[This is mana where thick thoughts linger.]

A message suddenly appeared in front of me.

‘This is......?’

This place is similar to the [Underground Mine].

When I reached the deepest part of the [Underground Mine], the thoughts mixed into that thick mana...... seeped into my head.

Like that.

Those thoughts were trying to resonate with my mind.

But.

I couldn’t understand it.

‘This mana is...... definitely strong, but it’s not at Morjan’s level.’

On the other hand, I’d grown stronger than I was back then.

This mana shouldn’t be able to influence my mind.

And yet, the mana digging into my head...... and the thoughts contained within it.

And only after a moment—

I realized why.

“This is......!”

A red light flared up from somewhere with a SHRAAAK!

And the source of that light was my own chest.

[The thick regret mixed into the mana seeps into your mind!]

Shining in the center of my chest.

A red jewel shaped like a droplet.

***

{I’d sworn I wouldn’t be fooled so easily again...... truly impressive, Legion Commander.}

It kept talking, and as the thoughts embedded in those words affected the surrounding mana—

‘This is.......’

In front of my eyes.

The scenery of a world I’d never seen before unfolded.

{Even I was completely fooled by you.}

A world that looked ordinary and peaceful.

The sight of residents walking through that world.

{You said you didn’t know much about gods, and you begged for help just once...... you appealed to sympathy.}

And at the highest point of that world.

Inside a temple built there, an old man with a benevolent-looking face was sitting.

The moment I saw that, I realized what it was.

[Lord of Healing and Recovery]

[Serajin]

That bastard—

was the master of this world.

‘The god it said lied to the doctor.......’

That was the divinity.

{You asked if I wanted to join the Legion, and you put on a show of friendliness.}

That divinity gazed down on its world with a benevolent expression.

It didn’t have the overwhelming presence Morjan had, but it did have something different—something like warmth.

And then.

THUD-CRASH!

Among the people running around that temple, I saw a small child tumble forward and fall.

Not only had the kid been running at full speed, but with bad luck, it happened right where the temple stairs were.

The child rolled down the stairs hard.

‘That injury is severe.’

Blood ran from the kid’s head.

Scraped up all over, too.

And the leg, badly injured, was bent at a grotesque angle.

If this were Earth, it would be an emergency where you’d have to call 119 immediately.

Even with treatment, you wouldn’t know if it would fully heal.

That kind of serious injury, but—

“You should be more careful, shouldn’t you?”

“Hehe...... I’m sorry.”

The child got up like nothing had happened.

All the wounds, fractures, and bleeding on that body—

SLIDE......

before the kid could even feel pain, had already recovered completely.

‘Incredible.’

Even though that divinity didn’t seem to do anything special, the wounds healed as if it were natural.

{I thought I’d finally...... found a collaborator I could trust.}

And that wasn’t just the child.

All across the world, people got hurt and injured—

but all of them finished recovering before they could even feel the pain from those injuries.

A sight so overwhelming that anyone in the modern world would probably develop faith on the spot......

And yet.

{But in the end.}

As that peaceful scenery continued, at some point......

{What comes back is always betrayal.}

The scene changed violently.

‘......What happened?’

Black smoke rose everywhere.

The residents who looked peaceful were groaning in pain.

Some had bodies that turned red-hot, while others were dyed an eerie blue.

Some had bizarre tumors swelling up, while others had yellow pus filling their entire bodies.

The peace from just moments ago was nowhere to be found.

A hellish scene where every resident writhed in agony.

And.

The place where the divinity that once ruled them had been.

The land where the highest mountain had stood—

‘.......’

as if it had been struck by a massive meteor, the mountain itself was gone.

Not even a trace remained that a temple had ever stood there.

‘No, no.’

Looking closer.

It wasn’t that not even a trace remained.

{No matter how much goodwill I showed.......}

In the middle of that ruined spot, something squirmed.

And I saw the figure of one person standing in front of it.

{In the end, what comes back is always betrayal.}

And.

After that, more scenes kept flashing past my eyes, but—

‘......This is strange.’

I.

Something beyond those scenes started bothering me.

‘What it’s saying.’

That bastard was like me.

It was something I’d thought every time I talked to it.

The direction was a little different, but at the fundamental level, we overlapped in a lot of ways.

If so—

“What you should be saying right now...... isn’t that.”

What it should be doing

isn’t spewing resentment and anger like that.

If it’s like me.

If it’s really the same kind of coward who’s terrified of death like I am.

Then there was something else it should be doing right now.

“Shouldn’t you be begging me to spare you?”

{.......}

“Say you were really wrong, and just spare your life.”

To the very last moment.

Thrashing around like a dog, resisting in the ugliest ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) way possible—

anything, as long as you survive.

“If it were me, that’s what I’d be doing.”

If I had it figured out right.

That bastard would definitely do that.

But it didn’t.

{Ha ha...... you’re mocking me to the end, Legion Commander.}

And.

I found out why faster than I expected.

{Beg you to spare me? Don’t make me laugh.}

As I followed the mana that kept pouring out, what I came face-to-face with there was—

[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]

[Serajin’s Fallen Priest]

A young boy who looked no different from a human.

Someone who looked like an elementary school kid.

No—more accurately.

[Freshness - Lowest]

A child who was clearly dying.

{That’s only something you can do...... when there’s still hope left to live.}

The sight of a child on the verge of death.