'The island is large, but... most of them—no, all of the awakened—were gathered near this city.'

Wei, who had been bringing together the awakened scattered across the island, suddenly turned his head and looked toward the light.

Step...

The one who had created that sun.

Shin Youngjun was walking slowly, divine radiance pouring from his entire body.

Seeing those unhurried steps, Wei thought,

'He's moving slowly so we can keep up with him.'

At that pace, even the awakened who had been farther out on the outskirts would have no trouble catching up to the procession and gathering beneath that light.

It was unbelievably thoughtful. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

...But.

"As you ordered, we've gathered most of the survivors."

Even so.

Looking at the massive procession made up of the gathered survivors, Wei spoke with a dark expression.

"...There are too many injured."

The two nuclear warheads that had succeeded in striking the island.

They had miraculously managed to stop the second one.

But not the first.

A great many people had been badly wounded by that single explosion.

'It's only this manageable because they're awakened with strong life force.'

If they had been ordinary humans, then from the moment that nuclear blast had been visible to the naked eye, most of them would already have died.

"I-it's true."

"The sun rose again."

One by one, the surviving survivors joined the massive procession.

They looked at the brilliant light floating above Shin Youngjun's head and found hope in it, but—

"...Even so."

some of them soon lowered their eyes to their own bodies and muttered,

"For me... it's already too late."

There was no light left in their eyes.

There were many who had suffered severe injuries from that explosion.

"There are awakened with healing abilities, but there are nowhere near enough compared to the number of injured."

Among those in the procession, the lightly wounded were a minority, while the severely wounded made up the overwhelming majority.

The noncombat awakened had weaker physical abilities.

As a result, there were actually many severely wounded among the healers.

"Even if we succeed in escaping to the continent, most of them probably won't survive the process."

No matter that they were awakened, enduring a long escape in that kind of condition would be difficult.

"...I see."

Hearing that, Shin Youngjun nodded.

Then—

"I-I wasn't saying that because I expected more from you."

Seeing that reaction, Wei quickly shook his head and said,

"I only said it because it's regrettable that things turned out this way."

Even if many were lost, if even a few survived, it would all be thanks to this man.

"It can't be helped. If those with severe injuries fall behind... we'll just have to move on prepared for that."

To complain to someone like that.

Just as Wei was thinking he had been foolish—

"It can't be helped?"

the man whose whole body was shining brilliantly said, without stopping those slow steps,

"That's a strange thing to say."

"......"

"If I was going to leave behind the ones who'd fall behind like that..."

Slowly, the man raised both hands.

"I never would have started this miserable hell in the first place."

Wei looked at him in confusion.

Shin Youngjun, as if it were nothing, said,

"Luca."

Along with that short incantation Wei couldn't understand, he brought his palms together.

Paaaaaaaaaak!

And then...

that was enough.

"...What is this!?"

Warmth began to spread through the procession wrapped in brilliant light.

***

'What is this light?'

'The pain is disappearing.'

Light rose from the ground.

Anyone touched by that light was healed.

"...Let's go!"

"That man... no."

The people who saw that light lifted their heads and looked toward a light even more dazzling than it.

"Follow him!"

As if spellbound by something, they began walking after that brilliant light.

Countless people formed a massive procession.

The wounds of those within the procession beneath that light were slowly healing.

'This...'

And as they watched that sight—

'This isn't the power our teacher taught us.'

Yun and Yang, the two old men, thought that.

They had learned much from Karhin.

Yun raised a hand.

Paaak...

A faint golden light gathered there.

It was not enough to mean much, but even without that sun's help, he could use that power to some extent on his own.

And because of that, he could be certain.

'That sun... it is the same as our teacher's sun, and yet completely different.'

The result was clearly the same.

But the source of that power was entirely different.

Especially—

a power that healed like this had never existed in the teachings they had learned in the first place.

Which made sense.

'The power we learned wasn't meant to heal someone...'

If anything, it was closer to the opposite.

"How in the world...?"

Not only was he handling on such a massive scale a power they had only barely managed to reproduce after devoting such a long time to it, he could even wield this healing power, one utterly opposed to what they had learned.

They couldn't understand it at all, but—

"...That's not what matters right now."

"Hoo, right."

Thinking back on how he had protected their teacher to the very end, and how their teacher had accepted that protection, there was no way the claim that their teacher had entrusted them to him was a lie.

If so, then what mattered now was—

"...Moving as fast as possible."

"Right."

The two old men met each other's eyes, then turned their heads and shouted.

"You, you. You. And you lot!"

"Y-yes?"

"You'll come with us and move ahead first."

Yun and Yang.

When the two old men singled out a few people, confusion appeared in their eyes.

They were talking about leaving the procession led by the man wrapped in radiance.

For a moment, some even wondered if the two old men were refusing to follow him.

But they weren't.

"We'll go on ahead and get the ships in the harbor ready."

"This many people have to move at once. The ships will have to go back and forth several times, so if we want to escape as fast as possible, we need to hurry!"

At that order, people nodded and immediately started moving.

'I thought so.'

'Even the two vice chairmen are following him!'

Karhin had been their official leader, but the ones who had actually given the most orders and been followed at close hand were the two old men.

"...Yes!"

Once the two old men showed they were actively cooperating, even those who still had slight doubts because they didn't know who the shining man beneath that sun was joined in without hesitation.

But then—

"...Good Lord."

When the two old men actually reached the harbor, they had no choice but to frown, cold sweat running down their faces.

"Those mosquito bastards actually dared..."

"...They moved the moment the Chairman's sun disappeared."

And for good reason.

"They reached the island this quickly...?"

The harbor had been catastrophically destroyed, and most of the ships they had desperately secured were damaged beyond belief.

***

"...This won't work."

Among the people the two old men had brought with them were awakened of production-type classes who might have been able to repair ships, but they all shook their heads and said,

"If only the exterior had been destroyed, we could've repaired them somehow, but the most important parts—the engines and the main shafts—are all broken too."

"These were ships modified to withstand even sea monsters..."

Just how many monsters had swarmed in?

It was impossible to tell, to the point that it looked as though they had been deliberately smashed to pieces.

'...Do we have to swim across?'

The two old men looked out at the sea.

Since most of them were awakened, under normal circumstances, swimming across the sea would not have been entirely impossible.

The problem was—

Paaaang!!!

the aftereffects of that explosion were far too great, and the waves along the coast were violently rough.

Anyone who wasn't an awakened warrior with outstanding stamina would have a hard time getting through those brutal waves and reaching the continent.

Even if they waited until the waves calmed down, there were also monsters in the water that moved underwater.

Even if they succeeded in crossing the sea, it would consume an enormous amount of stamina, and many of those who were not warrior-type awakened would end up swept away somewhere out in the ocean.

"...You old bastard, wasn't water your specialty? Do something!"

"Hoo."

At Yang's shout, Yun reached out and made a grasping motion at the waves.

But—

Tremble...

he could create a spear of tremendous water pressure using seawater, but that was all.

"Crossing the sea is beyond my abilities."

"What do you mean? You strutted around like you were so impressive!"

The reason was simple.

'...The limits of an awakened mage.'

The skills of the awakened were certainly powerful.

But the fact that they were not using magic through complete understanding, but manifesting it in the form of "skills," was itself a drawback.

If something existed within the domain of a skill, they could handle power so great it defied imagination, but if it was something they had not learned as a skill, most awakened had very limited adaptability.

Warriors and mages alike.

The one period when that adaptability grew rapidly was after crossing level 30, when they found their specialization.

But—

"...To think the day would come when I'd regret becoming a [Sun Mage]."

Unfortunately, after meeting Karhin and receiving those teachings, he had rebuilt his abilities from the ground up toward methods effective against vampires.

His adaptability in handling water was not especially great.

"...Damn it. Production types! Can you build ships?"

"It's not impossible, but... if there were even motors left, maybe. But with every ship destroyed, building proper ships from scratch now is going to take quite a while."

"Don't give me vague nonsense like quite a while. Exactly how long!"

"To build ships safe enough from the monsters under the water, and enough of them to move the entire population of the island... even with the shortest estimate, it'll take a week."

"A week?"

At those words, Yang and Yun, the two old men, turned to look behind them.

Step...

Step...

From far away, with a countless crowd in tow, a man was slowly walking toward them.

His body, connected to the sunlight, ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) shone brilliantly, making him look like some sacred heavenly being descended from the sky.

But the two old men, both powerful awakened, could tell.

Drip...

From that holy face wrapped in light, a bead of sweat slowly ran down.

'...Damn it, I thought so.'

'This Shin Youngjun's abilities are absurdly outstanding, but he's different from the Chairman.'

Others might not have noticed, but the two old men were certain when they saw him.

'...He's human, just like us.'

A delay of more than a week here could never be allowed.

"Damn it! There has to be some way..."

They racked their brains any way they could, but no suitable solution came to mind.

And while the two old men were stomping in place and agonizing—

step.

Shin Youngjun's foot, the sun at his back, reached the harbor.

"...I'm sorry."

"We tried to find a way, but..."

When the two old men saw him, they approached with ashamed expressions.

But—

"We've arrived."

The face surrounded by light was looking at not the two old men.

"And now comes the hard part. I'll be counting on you."

And then.

Words the two old men couldn't understand began to flow from his mouth.

Whether it was his homeland's language, or else...

"Jeong Sua."

Those words—perhaps an incantation—rang out, and with them,

Paaaaaaaaaaaaak.

Across the vast sea where violent waves had been raging, a "road" opened.