.

.

.

"Ahh..."

A weak groan escaped my lips. The darkness surrounding me slowly began to fade away as my consciousness returned bit by bit.

At first, I couldn’t understand what was happening. Everything felt distant and blurry. The sounds around me seemed muffled and my body felt strangely light.

Then, the pain returned.

"Urrgh..."

A sharp headache exploded inside my skull and my brows immediately furrowed. It felt as if someone was repeatedly striking my head with a hammer.

For a few seconds, I kept my eyes closed while trying to figure out if I was dead or alive.

Then I heard footsteps.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

The sound of boots stepping over dry earth entered my ears.

Slowly, I forced my eyelids open and the first thing that entered my vision was a crimson sky.

I thought I was lying on the ground, and my gaze remained fixed there for several seconds before I realized something else.

I wasn’t really lying down. I was moving. Or more accurately... Someone was carrying me.

"Huh...?"

My voice came out weak and hoarse. As my vision gradually focused, I raised my head slightly.

"You’re awake."

A familiar voice entered my ears. It was Tan. Only then did I realize I was being carried on his back.

"Oh..."

I let out, and Fox, who was walking beside Tan, also turned her head toward me. Her sharp eyes swept across my face briefly before she let out a small sigh.

"Took you long enough."

Meanwhile, Black continued walking ahead as if nothing had happened. The four of us were currently moving through the strange forest together.

For several seconds, I simply blinked while trying to process everything. But not long after, another wave of pain struck my head.

"Urrgh..."

Instinctively, I raised my hand toward my forehead. The moment my fingers touched my skin, I froze.

The paper bag mask. It wasn’t there. My eyes widened immediately. Without caring about the pain, I quickly touched my face again just to make sure.

"..."

The memories of the fight immediately surfaced inside my mind. The goblin, my injuries, the dagger, and the moment I removed the paper bag before fighting—all of it came rushing back.

"Damn."

I muttered under my breath. Yet Fox noticed my reaction immediately.

"Looking for this?"

She raised her hand and the familiar paper bag mask was dangling from her fingers. In it, a small hole was visible near one side where blood had stained it earlier.

"You dropped it during your little suicidal adventure."

At her words, my face twitched and without waiting for an answer, she folded the paper bag and stuffed it into one of my pockets.

"Don’t worry. We’ll erase your face from our memories and act like we’ve never met."

I didn’t know why, but hearing those words made me relax slightly.

"Thanks."

I thanked her, and Fox looked away immediately, saying, "Whatever."

Meanwhile, Tan adjusted me on his back before speaking.

"You know... You’re actually insane."

"..."

I remained silent. There was no point in making useless confused or surprised expressions. And I knew what he was talking about. It must be because of my fight earlier.

"Most people would’ve died," he continued.

"I almost did."

"Exactly."

His answer came so fast that I couldn’t even argue. However, from the side, I heard a snort as Fox also joined the conversation.

"You didn’t almost die." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"What?"

"You absolutely died. Your heartbeat was barely there when we found you."

That information made me blink. There was no lie in it. It was true that I was close to dying a second time, and all of that was because of my own foolishness.

Next time, I wouldn’t let the same thing repeat itself. I would be prepared for this kind of situation beforehand.

.....

As we passed through the trees, nobody spoke again after the conversation we had five minutes ago.

For once, nobody was fighting. Nobody was arguing. The atmosphere felt strangely calm.

Only the sound of our footsteps echoed through the forest. However, I had to break the silence eventually.

"Did we clear it?" I asked, and in response Tan spoke up.

"Barely."

That immediately got my attention.

"What happened?"

Fox answered this time.

"When we got back to the corpse field... the goblins were there. But every single one of them looked like someone had stitched multiple goblins together."

So I wasn’t imagining it. The creatures I saw were real.

"They were stronger than before too," Fox continued, and Tan added, "We almost got overwhelmed."

As they spoke, my gaze unconsciously drifted toward Black. Something told me he played a major role. However, Black simply walked forward as if the conversation had nothing to do with him.

Fox noticed my gaze and sighed.

"He behaved himself."

With this, Black immediately looked offended.

"I always behave myself."

"No. You crushed us. Almost."

"That happened once."

"Once is enough." Fox delivered one final finishing blow, and Tan nodded aggressively. "Exactly."

The atmosphere became quiet again. Just imagining that battle was enough. Those stitched goblins weren’t weak. One nearly killed me by itself. And a group of them would’ve been a nightmare.

"What happened afterward?" I asked, and eventually Fox continued.

"After the last stitched goblin died..." Her expression twisted slightly as if remembering something unpleasant. "The corpses started moving."

"At first, I thought they were getting back up. Then the bodies began crawling toward each other."

My brows furrowed, "Crawling?"

"Yeah," Tan answered. "The dead goblins were dragging themselves across the ground. Missing arms. Missing legs. Some didn’t even have heads anymore."

A chill ran through my spine.

"And then they merged." Fox crossed her arms. "Bones, flesh, organs... everything."

Even Black glanced toward us briefly.

"Three heads. Six arms. Multiple hearts." Tan shuddered. "The thing wouldn’t stop regenerating. Every time we cut off a limb, another arm would start growing out of its body."

"It wasn’t a monster anymore." Fox lowered her gaze. "It was a pile of corpses pretending to be alive."

A brief silence followed. Then Tan pointed toward Black. "Fortunately, Mr. Gravity Issues got annoyed."

"I wasn’t annoyed."

"You dropped a small mountain on it."

"That’s not the same thing."

Several meters ahead, a massive portal floated in the air. It was the exit. Yet before moving forward, Black continued.

"Even after that, the Gate wasn’t cleared."

Immediately, all of us looked toward him.

"The boss was protecting the core. When it died, the core appeared."

Now everything made sense. There was a hidden boss. Like a hidden condition. It was understandable since the Gate had already been abnormal.

"We destroyed the core. And the exit appeared."

After that, Tan went on to tell me that they found me half-dead, and to save me they poured healing potions over every injury I had.

His summary was surprisingly simple considering everything that had happened.

The blue smoke swirled in front of us, and yet we simply stared at the exit. The familiar exit, which suddenly felt far more valuable than before.

I quietly looked at the portal. Then I looked down at my battered body. Even though, according to Tan, I was completely healed, my hand and ankle still hurt alongside my head.

Yet despite all that... A small smile appeared on my face.

The Gate was finally cleared and somehow I managed to survive and kill a monster without anyone’s help.

More importantly, I could finally go back to the villa and to the girl who was, maybe, waiting for me.

Without realizing it, my fingers lightly touched the pocket containing the paper bag. Then I looked toward the portal again.

’I’m coming back.’