Beyond the Eternity

"Hah... Hah... Hah!"

Lee Gyeong's breaths came in ragged gasps as she continued her tremendous sprint.

She risked a glance over her shoulder, and her heart pounded faster as she saw several shadows pursuing her.

Wolf-like creatures with reddish fur and sharp fangs. Intermediate Grade 9 Bloodhounds. Not only were they strong, they also travelled in parks making them very hard to hunt.

And right now, she was running with all her might away from those dangerous bloodhounds.

"Ahhhhh!!!"

Lee Gyeong was fast, but not fast enough. They were slowly catching up to her as if it was one big joke.

She was running in a straight line—no cover, no escape. It was only a matter of time before they caught her.

"So-Somebody help!"

As she screamed, the bloodhound that was right behind her, leaped and opened its jaws wide. It looked like it was going to crush her head in one go.

Spurt—!

Blood scattered everywhere. Not the blood of Lee Gyeong but the blood of the bloodhund.

A metallic gleam flashed through the air and pierced the bloodhound's skull, exploding its head on impact. But that was not the end.

Bang, Bang—

One by one, the bloodhounds' heads burst apart, blood and brain matter splattering across the ground. In mere moments, seven of the twenty bloodhounds were killed.

Before the surviving beasts could even register the threat, two black figures darted through the air.

Peok— Puok—!

The skulls of the bloodhounds was crushed. Lee Gyeong recognized the newcomers immediately—Jung Yunhee and Angelica. Both women moved with lethal precision like the hand of a giant.

Grrr, Grrr—

The bloodhounds growled at the new actors with malicious intent. They crouched, ready to pounce. However, that was all part of the plan.

"It's time," a deep voice called from behind.

Lee Jongho emerged from the shadows and swung a metal pipe like a baseball bat.

Pow—

The sound of skulls cracking echoed as the bloodhounds were swept away into the air. A home run. Even baseball players would be jealous.

"Twelve down, six left,"

Without wasting a second, Jongho, Jung Yunhee, and Angelica charged at the remaining beasts like savage beasts.

Slam— Crack—

Three bloodhounds were taken down simultaneously in no time. Now it was remaining three bloodhound.

The bloodhounds in question were shaking seeing their fallen brethren. The party was slowly approaching the bloodhounds to finish them off.

And then something unthinkable happened.

The bloodhounds turned tail and ran.

Lee Gyeong's eyes widened in disbelief. Monsters were retreating from humans?

If anyone had told her this, she'd have called them insane, but now she was seeing it with her own eyes.

Before she couldn't even think further...

Spurt—!

Just as the last bloodhounds attempted to flee, their heads exploded in an instant. Lee Gyeong barely saw something flying past her.

"Good work, everyone."

Lee Gyeong slowly turned her head and saw the new speaker. It was a person with a mysterious presence.

180 centimeters tall, slender physique, pale skin and brown eyes. His messy hair parted just above his left eye and cascaded in soft waves a few inches past his neck. His features were undeniably attractive—handsome, though not quite to the level of an idol.

His name was Kim Jakga.

At the very least that was what everyone called him. Was that his actual name? No matter how she thought about it, Lee Gyeong thought his name was odd.

It was understandable. It was strange for anyone to name their child 'Jakga'. It sounds more of a title than an actual name a parent would give their child.

When the gaze landed on that person landed on her, a slight smile formed on his lips and Lee Gyeong trembled subconsciously.

"You did well too," his tone was surprisingly gentle.

"I didn't do anything though."

"But you played your part. That's worth something."

His words were sincere, which only left her more stunned. As she tried to process his kindness, Kim Jakga's attention shifted to the others.

Lee Jongho, Jung Yunhee, and Angelica were already gathering the glowing monster cores scattered among the bloodhound corpses.

It was only when they were done that Kim Jakga opened his mouth.

"How many cores did we get?"

"Twelve cores," Jongho replied, holding up his pouch.

"Not bad. Twelve cores from twenty monsters—it seems the drop rate is improving."

For any lone hunter, that would be a jackpot. But thanks to Kim Jakga's strategy, they were efficiently hunting monsters in packs, and gather resources far faster than anyone else could dream of.

Studying the territory and using their surroundings to lay out a several traps and ambush the monsters.

In just two hours, they had earned over a hundred cores. A pace like this meant they could potentially complete the Third Fable well before the third day. Could the Mainframe group do the same? Lee Gyeong highly doubted it.

Kim Jakga handed out the cores, two for each person. He took four for himself and handed two to her. Before she could question it, he spoke again.

"Kang Manshik is late."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he will arrive soon." Says Jung Yunhee as she shrugged her shoulders.

Lee Gyeong and Kang Manshik had one job—lure the monsters. They were bait, plain and simple.

Bring back a horde of monsters. A big group around ten or more will be enough.

At first, she doubted his plan. How the hell were they going to handle a large group of monsters? Wouldn't going after monsters in small groups be more ideal?

It was only when she started did she realise how mistaken she was. If they went around and hunted down monsters in small groups, they wouldn't have gotten these many cores.

But hunting a large group of monsters wasn't easy either. They were only able to do so because they used their surroundings to their advantage.

Speaking of which, I wonder how high their stats is.

If they were able to hunt down a large group of monsters then their overall stats must be pretty. Perhaps all their stats were above 10.

There was no way she was going to ask them. In this new world, a person's overall stats and skill were very important to the point it had to be concealed. If she opened her mouth and asked, she will become suspicious.

'This is hard.'

It was very hard. Her mission, that is. As she spent more time with them, the difficulty of the mission was slowly increasing. Maybe she can use that...

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Lee Gyeong's line of thoughts was suddenly interrupted. She looked forward and saw several shadows rushing towards them.

"Gyaaa—!"

"Shyaaa, shyaa—"

"Looks like Manshik's back,"

Kim Jakga said, standing up as the others followed suit.

Kang Manshik had returned, leading another horde of monsters. Lee Gyeong sighed as she rose to her feet. It was time to continue the grind.

* * *

Bang— Puooookk—

A magic bullet tore through a monster, sending it crashing to the ground in a pool of blood. I wiped some of the splattered blood off my clothes and grimaced.

"What a mess."

I looked around and saw the others finishing off the ground rats and extracting their cores. It was another overwhelming victory.

Next, I saw Kang Manshik and Lee Gyeong opening up the corpses of the slain ground rats. While luring the hordes, the two were not negligent, killing a few monsters here and there.

I approached Lee Jongho, who was extracting a core from a particularly large ground rat.

"Jongho-ssi, how many cores do you have now?"

"Twenty-eight. You?"

"I've got thirty-two, but the drop rate's been decreasing."

I frowned. This was becoming a problem. As we hunted, the number of monsters was dwindling. No monsters meant no cores. No cores meant failure.

That was the problem with this Fable.

However, there were two ways we could solve this situation.

Firstly, we can look around for stronger monsters which was out of the question. Secondly, we hunt other walkers and steal their cores.

I knew which option I preferred, but the others wouldn't agree. Morality was a weakness in this world, yet some clung to it like fools.

I summoned the system timer.

[ 57:59:45 ]

Fifty-eight hours left. We had time, but I wasn't going to risk it.

"Everyone, gather the cores quickly. We're going to find shelter."

After making the announcement, I began to pick up the monster cores one by one and placed them in my storage pouch.

Jongho asked, "Jakga-ssi, are we going back to the safe zone?"

"No, it's too far from here. We have to find somewhere else to stay."

Of course, we will be safe if we go back to the safety zone. But what was the point traveling all that distance and coming back here.

We moved through the ruined streets, scanning the buildings for anything that might serve as temporary shelter. Most were destroyed or overgrown with vines, uninhabitable.

We kept walking for a long time and we haven't found any good shelter. Anything will do.

Should we just camp in an empty alley? I started considering that option, but I quickly decided against it. If we stay in the open and make a fire, we will draw monsters to our location.

"Hey, look over there."

Angelica gathered everyone's attention and pointed towards a building. Instead of an apartment, it was an ordinary house and it seems to be still in fact.

Good! That's good! We finally found a place.

"Let's go."

We quickly rushed towards the house and entered without hesitation. We did not knock or remove our shoes. Besides, there was no need to. The house was empty.

The house was a mess. Everything was disorganised including the furnitures. It seems the original owner was in a hurry to leave. I wonder if he managed to survive.

"Since it has come to this, search around for food."

"Jakga, I feel this is wrong."

I looked at Angelica and responded.

"You don't have to worry. I don't think the owner will come back soon."

"Are you saying the owner is died?"

"It is a possibility but I don't think that is the case. In the end, it doesn't matter if he is dead or alive. He won't be coming back here and I'm sure you know why."

Angelica fell silent. We both knew the truth.

Naturally, what we were doing would have been a crime in the old world—breaking and entering, theft. Back then, we would have been arrested on the spot.

But that world had already crumbled, and with it, the police who once enforced its laws. Perhaps they were the first to fall in Seoul. Now, there was no one left to stop us.

The world had become lawless, where criminals roamed free without consequence.

But in the end, it didn't matter. In this new world, the only thing I cared about was survival.