Memorize

Thud! Crack!

Thump!

After smashing the head of the last remaining Deadmen, I leaned against a tree. Around me, the remains of the Deadmen with shattered heads were scattered in the surrounding area.

Even though I carefully and methodically dealt with them one by one, it ended quickly. It was, quite literally, a one-sided massacre. However, I couldn't be satisfied. Instead of feeling relieved, I was left with a nagging sense of unease.

"Pah."

I spat on the debris in front of me, but the instinct for more slaughter seemed to be rebelling against the restraint I had forced upon it. I tried to calm myself with deep breaths, but it only seemed to stoke the flames further. Suddenly, I wondered if I had never intended to stop feeling this way in the first place.

"Damn it. This isn't some child's play. I'm just losing my taste for it."

Despite merely smacking my lips in frustration, I ultimately couldn't suppress the rising murderous intent and struck the nearby tree.

"Crash! Crash…"

Even though I hit it with pure physical strength, without any magical enhancement, the sturdy tree fell with a heavy thud. It slightly eased my frustration, but the murderous intent that had filled me was still far from dissipated.

The others had left, and although I wanted to set the forest ablaze out of frustration, I forced myself to hold back. Even though I'd crossed the stone wall, there was no telling what other monsters might be lurking outside the forest. I was worried about the others and needed to retrieve my arrows, so I couldn't afford to dawdle.

Since there was no one around to see, I quickly controlled the magical energy I had been holding back and moved swiftly.

The trees, forest, and surrounding scenery rushed past me. I reached the stone boulder I had been at earlier, almost as if no time had passed at all.

As I pulled out the arrows stuck in the heads of the Deadmen and sensed my surroundings, I realized I couldn't detect any presence of my companions. It seemed they had left immediately after I entered the forest.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight… This should be enough."

I wanted to just stick the arrows back in my pouch, but I worried that if An Sol saw them, she might have a fit, so I roughly brushed off any foreign matter from them.

"Well then, shall I head out slowly?"

Since there might be An Hyun and his group just outside, I moved my steps cautiously. Before crossing the stone wall, I turned my head to glance at the quiet forest.

The forest was the same as before. It looked exactly the same now as it did back then. When I had left the forest before, I was too busy being chased to think about anything. I had simply run and, before I knew it, I had left the forest behind.

But now, it is different. I stared at the forest for a long time, feeling a sense of lightness as if I had set down a huge burden.

After savoring the moment of sentimentality, I swiftly leapt over the wall. I wanted to avoid indulging in such trivial emotions; what was important to me now was something else entirely.

*

After leaping over the stone wall, the scene before me was far from what I had expected. The path I was now on was uneven, but it showed signs of human intervention. It wasn't immediately noticeable, but the rugged sides of the path had a consistent, if not entirely straight, shape.

Below the path stretched a vast plain with an endless horizon. The surroundings were quiet. Only the occasional breeze hinted at the presence of life.

There were no signs of monsters anywhere, and neither could I see my companions. No matter where I looked, even using magical detection, I couldn't pick up any trace of them. Suddenly, the thought crossed my mind that they might have abandoned me.

Given that there were three people with the alignment of the good, the likelihood of betrayal should be relatively low. However, I couldn't judge solely based on their traits.

If I set aside the possibility that they left me behind, it was more reasonable to think that they had waited for me while I was absent and then met with trouble. There were quite a few different types of monsters that appeared during the passing ritual, aside from the Deadmen. Deciding that something must have happened, I first set out to find traces of my companions.

Finding clues, or tracking footprints, was not difficult for me at this point. As I calmly examined the surroundings and followed the stone wall, I discovered a patch of soil where sneaker prints were deeply imprinted. It seemed that someone had crossed the wall in this direction.

As I continued walking in the direction where the soil was disturbed, I soon found traces where my companions had gathered. After confirming that there was nothing around, it seemed they had waited for me here. Realizing this, the slight feeling of betrayal that had begun to settle in the back of my mind seemed to melt away like snow.

I crouched down at the spot where my companions had gathered and began to examine it slowly, one thing at a time. A skilled ranger or trapper would be able to deduce every detail of what had happened—when, where, how many, and why. Of course, I wasn't capable of such analysis. All I could do was make use of my keen observation and the abilities I had at hand.

I used my magical energy to enhance my tracking and compared each footprint carefully. First, I identified the prints that belonged to my companions and then focused on examining the remaining tracks. The footprints were so vividly marked that it was almost as if a group had performed a shuffle dance, making it a bit challenging to distinguish. A wave of anxiety brushed through my mind, but I reassured myself that it was too early to jump to conclusions and continued my investigation.

After a time long enough to have a cup of tea, I finished my analysis. I stretched my legs and stood up. Excluding the footprints that seemed to belong to my companions, no unusual marks were found. There was one footprint that was indented deeply, but it was covered by the tread pattern of a sneaker, making it difficult to determine if it belonged to my group or not.

Since there were no signs of dragged earth, it couldn't have been a Deadmen. I briefly considered the possibility of a boss monster but dismissed the idea. The event had just started and there were specific conditions for a boss monster to appear.

Setting aside thoughts of a boss monster, nothing particularly striking came to mind. In the end, there was only one method left. Even though I knew it might not work, I began to activate my magical circuits.

In an instant, I unleashed my magical power with explosive force and activated my Third Eye. What I was about to do now was on a different level than simply checking the user information of an opponent.

I hadn't expected to generate this much magical energy so early on, but given the urgency of the situation, I had no other immediate ideas. If I hesitated and relied on magical detection, and something happened in the meantime, I couldn't guarantee their safety.

What I was about to use my Third Eye for was to observe not the present, but the "past". Of course, this unique ability of mine was capable of examining even alternate dimensions, provided the conditions were right. Therefore, viewing the past and future of the current dimension was within the realm of possibility, depending on my skill.

Just as one worry began to flicker through my mind, a scene started to manifest naturally in my vision, drawing my focus effortlessly.

"Crack!"

"Ugh…!"

Even though I had only looked for a single second, the scene on my retina distorted, and a tremendous shock slammed into my eyes. My eyes felt as if they were burning like they were in a fire. Reflexively rubbing my eyes, I let out a wry smile.

It was just one second. I had only glimpsed one moment from the past for that brief duration, but my Third Eye had been forcibly canceled. After a brief period, as the pain in my eyes subsided, I muttered in a defeated voice.

"Ha… haha. To think that even with 96 magical power points, I can only endure for one second… it's maddening."

I had hoped against hope, but my magical power couldn't sustain the overdrive of my unique ability. While I was reminded once again of how high-level the Third Eye truly was, I also felt a pang of regret.

Viewing the past is regarded on par with viewing the future. It is a matter of a completely different dimension compared to merely predicting the future. Although I had hoped that my Third Eye, now at S-rank, might make it possible, the forced activation seemed to have caused a rank reduction to 2, which impeded my progress. Even though I received a rank boost back to 1 through the magic adjustment, it only allowed for the observation of current phenomena. Dealing with the past and future was still out of reach.

The pain was gradually decreasing, but my vision remained blurry. It seemed to be a residual effect from the magic being canceled and the mana backlash. Fortunately, as time passed, the objects in my sight became clearer, indicating that it wasn't a permanent loss of vision.

Although I had resorted to a dangerous method by accident, there was still something fortunate to report.

Even though it was just one second, I had indeed managed to see the "past". I took a deep breath, recalling the scene that had briefly appeared on my retina. After finally gathering only the essentials and escaping the forest, I now faced an even more challenging task.

If it were a matter of lacking strength, I could understand, but the reality that even with power, I must still restrain myself only made me more despondent. If things really came to a head, I would make a fuss about the passing ritual and everything else, but that was always a last resort.

I couldn't shake the feeling that it was a case of one mountain after another.

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