Red lasers began shooting one by one at Dominic's body.
1, 2, 3, ……5.
Five chick drones floating around Geuru were preparing to attack.
"……Hangdari?"
"Hangdari?"
"Bii?"
While Dominic, Beillark, and Mepisto each held their own questions.
"Kidnapper!"
Geuru shouted loudly and stabbed a fork into Dominic's shoulder.
Swish, swish, swish, swish—
At the same time, bullets shot out in a straight line, and Dominic moved quickly to evade them.
"Ugh!"
But he couldn't dodge them all.
Three missed, but one hit his arm, one his thigh, and the wound on his shoulder from the fork on top of that…….
He looked at his shoulder, now sporting a hole from the fork.
Wounding my body?
It wasn't a demonic sword or holy sword, not even something forged by a master artisan.
They were mere toys.
Yet such power.
Because of this, it became clear that he was no ordinary human child.
"The new master is quite different from what I expected."
Dominic looked intrigued, as if slightly surprised.
At that sight, Beillark scrunched up his face ferociously.
A growling voice threatened him.
"Carmirak. Did you think you could lay a hand on my master and survive?"
Beillark shot forward with his arm demonized, and Dominic quickly stepped back.
"Once again, my name is Dominic."
Dominic dodged Beillark's arm as it swept past the side of his face. But an invisible force was pulling his body toward Beillark.
It can't be helped. Dominic's body began to turn to mist.
Only then did Geuru, released from Dominic, land on the floor.
"Hup-cha!"
Steadying his feet, Geuru pitter-pattered over to Beillark and grabbed both his hands.
"Master, are you hurt anywhere……"
"I was worried!"
Beillark's shoulders stiffened with a flinch.
His tone, laced with moisture, clearly conveyed worry.
"Hangdari didn't do anything bad to Beii, right?"
The child toddled around Beillark, looking him over this way and that.
"……."
It's not like he could get hurt. He should worry about himself instead.
He felt dumbfounded, yet also a bit shy and flushed.
He could have shoved him away gruffly, but Beillark didn't.
Only now did Mepisto's words—that Geuru would be sad if he left his side—feel real.
Because Beillark wasn't used to receiving such feelings.
Suddenly, the image of his former master came to mind.
It was Beillark who kept Mepisto—who had usurped the throne—in check until the very end. Because he was Sheyer's loyal guardian.
But Sheyer sat arrogantly upon the snowfield, watching him being overpowered without emotion.
To Beillark, who had grown used to his former master's cold gaze, Geuru's feelings softly melted the hardened lump that had been lodged deep inside his heart.
"Mepidu! You okay?"
"Bii!"
Mepisto rubbed his cheek against Geuru's hand. While squeaking as if saying something, Geuru listened with an "Mmhmm, got it," to words he couldn't even understand.
Beillark watched that absurd sight, turned his head away, and covered his mouth.
"Beii, what's wrong?"
"……It's nothing."
Only then did Geuru relax, the corners of his mouth trembling as he broke into a beaming smile.
"Let's go home now."
"Okay."
"Bii, bii!"
But then, mist began to envelop their surroundings.
"Huh? This is……"
To this, Beillark replied with an annoyed look.
"It's Carmirak's dungeon."
Carmirak?
While Geuru wondered, his vision turned white. The mist had filled his sight.
In an instant, even what was right in front of his nose became invisible.
Tadadak—
From within it came a sound like a beast running on four legs.
'Hick!'
Geuru swallowed a scream, and Luxifer peeked his face out from Geuru's embrace.
As its sprout swayed left and right, illuminating the area slightly, Beillark's face became visible.
When Geuru reached out his hand, Beillark took it.
"You must never let go."
Nod, nod.
It was the moment Geuru nodded firmly with resolve.
A massive black silhouette brushed past them.
Tadadak—
"……?!"
While Beillark looked around tensely, Geuru checked somewhere and let out a scream.
"Mepi!"
Carmirak, having returned to his main body, was running away into the mist with Mepisto in his mouth.
*
Meanwhile, Sereuhi and Gidan, who had set out to find Geuru, ran leaping over the roofs of cars stopped on a six-lane highway.
At the light and swift movements of the S-ranks, drivers opened their windows and stuck their heads out.
"Gidan? Sereuhi?"
"Hunter Gidan!"
Some who recognized them took photos, but the two paid no heed and simply moved busily.
"Where is he?"
Gidan said while checking his phone.
"To the right!"
Sereuhi immediately turned right.
Geuru's location on the phone was within a 2km radius. It wasn't far.
It was only because Geuru had a GPS on his watch that disaster had been avoided.
They had to move before something happened to Geuru, before Jurim found out.
In an emergency, Geuru would call Jurim, but then the two of them, having failed to protect Geuru by his side, would be finished off by Jurim.
It was then.
Brrr— Brrr— Brrr—
Both of their phones rang loudly at the same time.
[Emergency Disaster Alert]
Safety notice: A mega dungeon occurrence is being checked in the Sinsa-dong area today.
Control of the area will proceed, so S-rank Hunters who received this message, please standby.
An emergency standby message sent separately to S-ranks when a dangerous situation occurred due to a mega dungeon or other disaster.
Gidan and Sereuhi, the two of them, met eyes.
A mega dungeon meant a dungeon of S-rank or higher.
If that was the case…….
Gidan and Sereuhi's faces paled.
There was only one deduction possible at this point.
'That crazy bastard…… did he really do something to Beillark?'
The two began to move even faster.
*
Jurim and Kazuki left the reception room, leaving behind Jeon Byeongho, who had fallen into panic.
If they left the aftermath to the lawyer, the matters involving the 'Inoue Haruna Special Exhibition' would roughly come to an end.
The weapons displayed at the special exhibition were all things from years ago.
Judging by when they were made, they must have been undisclosed items made by the Japanese government, not works of Inoue Haruna.
They must have announced that Inoue Haruna made them in order to raise her stock.
It was a decent harvest for something he had only checked because he couldn't stand the sight of someone blocking his child's future and wanted to find some fault.
Brrr— Brrr— Brrr—
Then, Jurim and Kazuki's phones rang loudly.
'A disaster alert?'
It was the moment Jurim tried to check the message.
[It is time.]
Suddenly, Sheyer's voice was heard.
At the same time, a chill that froze to the bone crept in.
Before he knew it, a snowy white field stretched out around Jurim.
Jurim hardened his expression and turned his head toward Sheyer.
"What do you mean?"
Then Sheyer, the master of the 99th floor who had been sitting idly on the throne, slowly opened his eyes.
He sensed that his kin, just as with Beillark, was approaching Geuru's side.
"……."
Instead of answering, Sheyer straightened the head he had been tilting crookedly.
Even while thinking it was none of his concern, he recalled the warmth of a child who was too small, too soft, and had a slightly high body temperature.
The thought that the child was a weak being who could perish in an instant made an unbearable impatience rise within him.
[Truly, you make it impossible to look away.]
Was this incomprehensible behavior what they called emotion?
Sheyer, who had existed for countless ages, still found emotions unfamiliar.
He suddenly recalled the image of his kin appealing to him with emotions, then soon erased it from his mind.
Then he descended from the throne and walked across the snowfield.
The snowfield was both the subspace that sealed him and a part of Jurim's consciousness.
Sheyer grabbed Jurim's shoulder.
Along with that, Jurim's consciousness was left behind on the throne where Sheyer had been sitting.
On the throne left all alone in the snowfield.
Leaving Jurim behind, Sheyer began to walk with heavy steps.
Soon, a fog that obscured the view appeared.
Beyond the fog, the figure of a child with a small rabbit perched atop his head was visible.
The child was holding another child his age tightly by the hand, looking left and right as if anxious.
Sheyer approached the child at once.
"Hello?"
Geuru turned around and met eyes with him.
Pale coral-colored eyes opened wide.
"Dad?"
Beillark, who had been holding Geuru's hand beside him, discovered him and twisted his face.