-Kuhurheng!

A beast charged forward. Red fur whipped in the wind. A gaping maw opened wide as a howl erupted and spread through the air.

Red leaf hound. Easily twice my size. If seen with eyes, it would have obscured all in view.

As I considered this, I couldn’t help but fixate on the hound’s red fur.

As the name ‘red leaf hound’ would suggest, it would naturally have red fur… but through spatial perception, I also observed ‘human blood’ in its fur.

Especially around the muzzle.

Gritting my teeth…! I clenched my fist, pouring abundant magic into it and employing the art of Hardening, covering it all with Qi.

I didn’t like the look of that muzzle. I brought my fist down from above, striking downwards.

-Bang!

Flesh compressed, hard substances beneath shattered. A disgusting sensation of something soft bursting within followed through my fist.

The once-agape muzzle snapped shut. Upper and lower teeth clashed and broke from the impact. It was somewhat comical to see eyeballs popping out due to the shock.

One was dead. But one red leaf hound wasn’t all.

Even amidst the struggle with the dungeon’s power, spatial perception did its job. Two more hounds were charging from behind. I immediately manipulated my magic.

Whooosh! The sky’s wing feathers, hanging like a cloak, unfolded.

‘Shape-shifting.’

The edge of the sky’s wing feathers, sharpened like blades, were launched.

Crunch! The forefront hound’s brow was pierced. Contrary to its usual fluttering appearance, it neatly punctured through skin and skull.

As one fell with its brow speared, another hound continued its charge.

I pushed more magic into the sky’s wing feathers. Swoosh! The feather sliced through the skull, grazing the neck of the oncoming red leaf hound.

-Slash

Blood gushed from the cut. The hound’s round eyes bulged then went limp, collapsing to the ground.

The skidding red leaf hound slid near. Quickly approaching, I raised my foot. Infusing it with magic and wrapping it in Qi, I brought it down with all my might. Crunch! A sizable head crumbled, and blood pooled on the ground.

Frowning, I took a few steps back. Due to its size, it bled profusely.

Using spatial perception, I scanned the area meticulously. Was there a chance I missed something?

The area was awash with red. Not just from the blood spewed by this creature, but also due to the piled-up bodies of monsters everywhere.

All nearby monsters were dead. After confirming this, I turned my head.

A short distance away, in the rubble of a collapsed building, there were people hiding. One man, one woman, and a child squeezed between them, seemingly a family.

I tried to speak…

‘Now it’s okay… okay… damn muzzle.’

I shut my mouth and tapped my smartwatch.

Though the connection to the outside was severed, the basic functions built into it were intact. It was a feature derived from the power of The Tower of Harmony, and it would be problematic if even this were impossible.

[You are now safe. Please move quickly to the evacuation route.]

“Thank you, thank you so much…!”

The man bowed continuously in thanks.

With disheveled hair and dust all over, and clothes torn and stained with faint blood, he looked like a refugee.

Seemingly out of his mind, he hurriedly offered thanks and turned towards the direction of the shelter.

The woman, who also looked as ragged as the man, quivered with fear as she struggled to move her trembling legs.

Yet, despite all of this, the hand holding the child was firm, which was nothing short of remarkable.

-Hoo…

I scanned the direction they were heading with my spatial perception one more time. Confirming no monsters, I let out a breath loaded with fatigue.

Nearly two hours had passed since I got caught up in the dungeon’s rampage.

After delivering the child to the shelter…

Without rest, I roamed the areas ensnared by the rampage, slaying monsters and rescuing people who were unable to evacuate and guiding them to safety.

My spatial perception was superior to the observation abilities of most high-level superhumans. Finding those who hadn’t been able to evacuate was my forte in this space.

Killing monsters wasn’t difficult either. The dungeon’s rank was class 4.

The standard rank of the emerging monsters was at most class 8, and considering the influence of the dungeon, they did not exceed class 7.

The red leaf hounds I’d just dealt with were class 7. I had taken down hundreds of them. It wasn’t difficult, but the process was draining in many ways.

I took a moment to check my condition.

It was just exhaustion. Though my physical strength was fine, I was overworking my circuits and core to compensate for the expended magic.

In The Tower of Growth, it was somewhat manageable.

Partly due to intentional overuse to induce growth, and partly because the concentration of mana inside the tower was so extraordinary that the slightest absorption caused it to surge.

Here, inside the rampaging dungeon, the concentration of mana had greatly increased… but it couldn’t compare to the interior of The Tower of Growth.

‘I should be thankful it’s only class 4.’

I kept killing monsters. Almost all were red leaf hounds, and they were at most class 7.

Occasionally, I encountered other superhumans. Most were out destroying monsters, while some moved in parties to rescue people.

Though few in number, the fact that other superhumans besides me were caught up in this offered some solace.

I too saved people. I guided those too terrified to leave the buildings to the shelter and consistently took down monsters on the evacuation routes.

There were many dead.

‘……’

I chewed on my lip. People had been caught in collapsing buildings due to the aftereffects of the dungeon’s rampage. Many were killed… devoured by suddenly appearing monsters.

Spatial perception conveyed it all without filter.

Bodies crushed into a pulp by heavy buildings, pieces of corpses left behind because the monsters couldn’t swallow them entirely, resembling mashed flesh inside monster bellies…

‘Damn it.’

Nausea welled up. I wanted to vomit everything out, but there was no time for that.

While I was busy retching, the bodies could pile up. It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t bear it.

It was the same now. I quickly checked my status and jumped off. Stepping firmly on the building’s outer walls, I climbed to the rooftop and leaped across to the next one.

I felt the performance of my body anew. To ascend to a building’s rooftop with a few hops and to move by jumping from one rooftop to another was unimaginable in the past.

‘Are there any survivors left?’

The dungeon’s rampage hadn’t swallowed the entirety of Shipnaha.

Several dungeons rampaged together, expanding their reach, but even if Shipnaha belonged to a small town, it was too much to swallow it whole.

However, a significant portion was consumed. At least half of it was within the range, and many people were caught up in it.

Thankfully, being a small town, Shipnaha had fewer people. If it had been a part of a larger city with a dense population… I didn’t want to imagine it.

‘……’

The dungeon’s rampage. A representative calamity of this world.

The reason for the loss of territories, including modern Africa, and if the story proceeds as it does post-graduation from Shio-ram, a trivial disaster that will come as often as meals.

A disaster that pales in comparison to the invading towers that may awaken in the future.

If I survive here, if I graduate from Shio-ram unscathed… and when a decent future is assured, what should I do?

Should I stand against it? The thought made my head spin. I was too frail to face such a calamity…

-Hoo…

I exhaled and inhaled. Pushing the emerging thoughts aside, I gathered information through my widely open spatial perception.

Enough time had passed. As superhumans, including myself, continuously led survivors to the shelter, my spatial perception no longer picked up survivors but was filled with monsters.

I scattered the prepared spells. It was time to conserve magic.

Initially, I cleaned up the wandering monsters out of fear they would attack people, but now there weren’t any people left to attack.

‘Maybe it’s time to head to the shelter.’

I roamed around the area affected by the rampage several times. Having scanned with spatial perception, I needn’t worry about missing anyone.

I turned around. All those who could be saved were saved. What remained were corpses that couldn’t be saved.

If I had been considering necromantic villains or monsters, it would have been appropriate to clear out each one I encountered… but now it wasn’t necessary.

It didn’t take long to reach the shelter. Using Hardening to leap across rooftops, I arrived quickly.

The entrance to the shelter came into the edge of my spatial perception. Around it, the bodies of monsters were piled up like mountains.

When I first arrived, there were perhaps only two guarding the entrance, but now five or six were keeping watch.

The feeling I got from them… they seemed weaker than me. Was it a testament to my monstrous growth? I pushed off the ground once more with a peculiar expression.

‘……!’

I was about to leap when a sharp intuition pierced my spine.

It wasn’t just a feeling; it was an intense intuition. Ever since creating the 13th cycle, I no longer dismissed intuitions as purely negative.

Now… even more so. Regardless of the process, the simple fact that danger was imminent struck my mind directly.

No process? I might be wrong. Right now, at the far end of the shelter, on the edge of my spatial perception, a beast with red fur entered.

A canine beast with red fur. It should have been a red leaf hound… but I couldn’t think that.

It had red fur. That much was the same. But it was different. Compared to the filthy blood of a typical red leaf hound, the quality of the blood enshrouding its fur was disgustingly distinct.

It was huge. This thing was even larger. A regular red leaf hound might be about twice my size, but this was four times as large.

It stood on two legs. That made it feel even more massive. Spatial perception observed this monster.

From a distance well over several hundred meters, the beast’s round, blood-red eyes stared directly at me.

A killing intent pounded against my body. My limbs would have seized up had it not been for the instinct to survive, which thankfully moved my body.

I stopped, following my intuition. It was the same now.

I pulled up magic without thinking of the consequences.

Excessively employing Hardening.

I wrapped myself in a thick layer of Qi.

I didn’t stop there and spread out the sky’s wing feathers around my body.

Drawing the sword I hadn’t needed to unsheathe before, I constructed defensive spells in front of me.

Spatial perception had never missed an opponent’s attack.

On the day of the freshman welcoming party, when I collided with Hong Yeon-hwa, it showed up, but my body didn’t move in time to avoid the collision.

The same with Katsuki Yusei, who flew at me. Even though I observed them, my body didn’t follow.

It was the same with the duel against Professor Atra. Of course, she must have been holding back, but I saw every attack. I couldn’t dodge because my movements were inferior.

Now, as well, it was the same.

I saw the attack.

The body that crushed the ground entirely and leapt, the thick foreleg pulled back with great force and swung, the blood-mist shrouding it…

-Crack!

The defensive magic didn’t stand a chance and was pierced instantly.

The drawn sword was cut as if sawed through, powerless. Even surrounded by Qi.

Then the sky’s wing feathers were torn, and the Qi wrapped around my body followed suit.

The massive foreleg approached. Its size alone was more than enough to cover my upper body.

-Bang!

My mind grew hazy. Already burdened mentally by spatial perception, a tremendous agony raced through my physical form.

I was flung from the rooftop. My body, which fell from the height, scraped the wrecked road as it crashed down.

-Crack-crack!

I thought I might scream. Thankfully, the shock was too sudden for a sound to escape.

My dazed consciousness snapped back into focus, clearer than before.

Because I felt death. My eyelids trembled with pain. I assessed my body through spatial perception.

A chunk of my left forearm was gouged out. No bone was exposed, but I felt its absence.

That attack. If any defensive element had been lacking, I would have died. Not just an arm torn off, but it would have ripped through my stomach.

-Thud!

Rough vibrations from the ground jolted my body. Not far from me, on the road, the giant beast had landed.

-Rumbling…

A growl echoed, belching out from its throat. The unique cry of a beast rang in my ear.

Though I’d heard it incessantly over the past few hours, the monster’s sound felt entirely different.

‘…That one.’

It reminded me of a similar creature. No, it was almost identical to an entity I remembered from the original work.

With my mind sharpened by the proximity of death, memories of the original work were rapidly sifted through to pull out similar information.

〈Savior〉 didn’t assign a specific final boss.

There were several entities that felt like final bosses, but the game system didn’t definitively mark any.

Nor were there only as many as presumed to be the final bosses; there were many just as strong.

‘……’

The creature’s name, Blood-Cloud Aerulus.

By the Association’s ranking system, it was an alpha of class 3.

A beast that would devour several top-tier heroes in the distant future.

That creature, not yet fully grown, was now baring its teeth right in front of me.

* * *

[Player Adjustment System: Pioneering Score]

[Detecting a trial approaching the player]

[Quest ‘Beast of the Red Mist’ initiated]

…

[The player faces a crossroads]