After parking the mana-infused flying stingray at a suitable location—it was difficult to reverse summon it due to excess mana—I immediately entered the floating island.

“Roman, isn’t this a bit rushed?”
“You kidding? I like this pace!”

Leif and Ray voiced their conflicting opinions, but I didn’t respond. My mind was entirely occupied by the name of the leader Shawn had mentioned earlier.

Jan Bong-sik.

The familiarity of those three syllables heightened my unease. Even the name I go by, Roman Seon, isn’t my real name. It’s a localized version adapted to fit the unfamiliar sounds of this world.

Could his name be the same? Perhaps An Bong-sik was altered to Jan Bong-sik?

“Roman... hey, Roman!”
“Huh? Oh, yeah?”
“Are you even listening?”
“...No, I didn’t catch that.”

I was excited—perhaps more than ever since arriving in this world.

Or, maybe not. The most intense my heart has ever pounded was when I summoned Seir. The fear of my heart stopping, the sensation of my heart nearly bursting—it was incomparable.

[Hmm... Well, that’s a natural reaction, of course.]

Ah, thinking of Seir must have naturally opened up the connection. Even Leraje was peeking in now.

[It’s probably because of your eyes, you know. They’re so bright blue, sometimes they even startle me. Honestly, some summoners have even had heart attacks just from looking at them, haven’t they?]
[Oh? Is someone feeling jealous?]
[What?]
[Contractor, stay calm. Dimensional transitions aren’t common occurrences, you know. In fact, your presence here is a miracle in itself...]

“I know.”

For the first time, I cut off Seir’s words.

“I know.”

Yes, I knew. I knew this was just a foolish hope—an empty desire I clung to for no reason.

But how could I not hope? How could I not wish for the existence of someone in the same situation as me?

“Besides, if it’s already happened once… there’s no reason it couldn’t happen again.”

Clutching that slender thread of hope, I ventured into the depths of the floating island.

“No guards, huh? Looks like that guy wasn’t lying.”

The entrance clearly showed signs of human interference. Ray was already there, scoping the place out.

Even without teleportation, Ray’s physical reinforcement allowed her to move at twice my speed. Despite setting off first, she had long since overtaken me.

“What about inside?”
“It’s clear. They’ve definitely gone in.”

Inside the ruins.

The interior was engulfed in darkness, with all the torches or glowing stones previously used to light the way removed. It looked like the gaping maw of some giant creature.

“Leif, could you light the way?”
“Yes!”

Leif, holding her staff close to her chest, cast a light spell. As the room lit up, we stepped forward.

“Roman, fall back.”

I was quickly stopped by Ray.

She was the vanguard. It was her role.

Her cold, steel-gray eyes insisted that she lead the way.

“Alright. I’ll leave it to you.”

I stepped back, allowing Ray to take the lead. Despite her small frame, her strides were long and confident.

The interior was surprisingly clean.

There were no signs of monsters or looting. The only indication that others had passed through was the faint digging marks on the walls, likely where torches had once been placed.

“Looks like they didn’t ransack the place.”
“It’s underground.”

If they carelessly dug around and caused a collapse, it would be a disaster.

“This structure feels familiar,” Leif said from behind.

“Familiar how?”
“I think this might be a tomb.”

A tomb?

Now that she mentioned it, the structure did feel different from typical ruins.

The passage was straight and simple. It wasn’t even as complex as a dungeon, nor as intricate as the research facility we’d visited before.

And if this were a ruin, there would usually be monsters, but we hadn’t seen any. If the ones ahead of us had cleared them out, there should’ve been some signs of battle.

“It’s definitely strange.”
“You and Ray might’ve missed it in your rush, but there was a gravestone near the entrance.”

“A tomb this big? Really?”

Despite being further ahead, Ray had sharp ears and heard Leif’s comment. She turned back to us, using her hands to make rough gestures indicating size. She made a large circular motion, about as big as her torso.

“You’re only thinking of small gravestones, aren’t you?”
“Gravestones? What’s that?”

Ray blinked at me with a clueless expression, clearly unfamiliar with the concept.

“You don’t know?”
“We practice sky burials.”

I asked her with some surprise, only to be met with Ray’s confident response, dispelling my rising curiosity.

“Ah, that makes sense.”

In a sky burial, the bones are either burned and the ashes scattered to the wind, or the body is left out in the open to return to nature. The beastfolk, it seemed, practiced this method, meaning there was no need for tombs.

“That’s interesting. We use tree burials.”
“Tree burials? That’s a first for me.”
“Really?”

Leif looked surprised.

I suppose she found it strange that I didn’t know.

Seemingly satisfied with the opportunity to explain something, Leif hummed proudly as she continued.

“After cremating the body, the remaining bones are buried beneath a tree. Sometimes, the body is buried whole.”
“Is that so?”

So, it was just a matter of where the body ended up.

“But, Leif,” I interjected.
“Do you have another question?”
“If elves bury their dead under trees, just digging a little under a tree would suffice for a grave, right? How did you figure this place out?”

“Huh? Well… uh…”

Leif stammered. It was as if I had struck a nerve. Just as she was fumbling for an answer, Ray signaled us with a hand gesture.

She spread her palm wide, then raised only her index and middle fingers. In that instant, Leif extinguished her light spell.

Darkness filled the space once more. We communicated through mana-infused hand signals, readable through magical senses.

'Enemies. Two.'
'Confirmed.'

We held our breath.

We thinned our magic barriers to the bare minimum, concealing our presence as much as possible.

The enemies hadn’t noticed us yet. If they had, Ray’s keen senses would’ve picked up on their awareness.

'Let’s ambush.'
'How?'

At Ray’s inquiry, I pointed to Leif, then gestured toward my Axis.

I’d teleport with Leif, and we’d take out one of them with a high-pressure water blast.

It was our first strategy, perfected after the raid on the Abyss Cult’s training camp. Leif and I would move as a pair, creating a distraction, while Ray would pierce through the enemy defenses like a spear, finishing them off with Argentos’ barrier-penetrating strikes.

It was an almost foolproof tactic.

Once the plan was decided, we moved immediately.

I activated Axis, and in the blink of an eye, magic coordinates unfolded, allowing me to teleport with Leif.

Fwoosh!

“Huh?”
“What the—?”

Since we had the jump on them, our first attack was a guaranteed hit.

Crossing space from an unanticipated angle, Leif’s instantaneous spirit magic pierced through one of the enemies.

Splatter!

The high-pressure water jet shot through the first target’s body in an instant.

Before the blood had a chance to hit the ground, Ray’s silver-clad fists gleamed as they tore through the air.

Rip! Crack!

Argentos ripped through the hastily raised magical defenses of the second enemy, and Ray’s fist landed a sickening blow to his side. The sound of cracking ribs echoed—it was enough to break several ribs for sure.

“Gah…!”

The second enemy could barely make a sound as his collapsed lung struggled to take in air.

Ray, holding him by the mouth, whispered softly.

“Shhh.”

As if that would help—his lung was clearly punctured.

“No, I didn’t hit hard enough to puncture his organs. His lung just collapsed from the broken ribs.”

Experience was the best teacher. After a few too many mistakes where she had gone too far, Ray had learned how to strike with precision.

“Are the rest inside?”

The man, now caught in Ray’s grip, nodded in response to my question. His eyes had lost focus, as if he couldn’t tell if this was reality or a nightmare. The sudden end of the battle, combined with his excruciating pain, had loosened his tongue.

“Don’t kill him.”

Thud!

Ray knocked him out cleanly.

He fell unconscious so smoothly, it was as if Ray had struck a pressure point.

“You’re planning to use him as a hostage?”
“For now.”

Whether it would work or not remained to be seen, but we had to try. Worst case, he’d be a meat shield.

Using the unconscious man as a shield, we moved forward. By now, the enemy must have detected our intrusion through the mana fluctuations from the brief skirmish.

Prepared for anything, we entered the room at the end of the corridor.

And there, waiting for us, was a man staring directly at us.

I narrowed my eyes, carefully examining him.

I hoped my expectations were correct.

But no matter how I looked at him, his appearance resembled the people of this world more than it did mine.

“Well done making it here,” the man said.

“And now, it’s time for you to leave.”

Click.

Thud!

The moment he triggered something, the floor gave way beneath us.

Jan Bong-sik watched as Roman and his team fell into the pit trap at the entrance, but instead of celebrating, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Were his subordinates really beaten by people who couldn’t even detect such a simple trap?

And there were four of them, no less?

They were pitiful, to say the least.

“Hey.”

A soft voice drifted in, making Jan Bong-sik realize just how wrong his judgment had been.

It didn’t come from the pit below.

It came from behind him.

Cold sweat ran down his spine as Jan Bong-sik instinctively pushed off the ground, distancing himself from the source of the voice.

He had instinctively prepared for a chase, but it wasn’t necessary.

His opponent, who had somehow gotten behind him, simply clapped—slowly, as if in admiration of his evasive skills.

The rhythm of the clapping was strange.

'A Minstrel?'

As Jan Bong-sik’s mana began circulating, preparing for an imminent attack, the one who had clapped in the first place spoke in a nonchalant tone, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Don’t recognize me? Korea? UN? Olympics? World Cup? No?”

Jan Bong-sik was utterly confused.

What was this nonsense? He half-wondered if it was some kind of incantation, but the casual tone didn’t suggest that either.

“Ha… Bong-sik.”

“…What?”

“So, your name is Bong-sik.”

“Nonsense. My name is Jan. Bong-sik is my surname.”

As he replied absentmindedly, Jan Bong-sik ramped up his magical awareness, trying to figure out his opponent’s next move. How had he appeared behind him so quickly? Was it some form of acceleration magic? Or had he been fooled by an illusion from the start?

But his answer, however vague, extinguished the last flicker of hope Roman had been holding onto.

Roman no longer felt the need to continue the conversation.

He gripped his Axis tightly.

If this man wasn’t from Earth like him, then there was no reason to show any mercy.

“You’ve disappointed me.”