Black Badger

Even so, moonlight seeped into this level.

Far down the corridor, everything was bathed in a blue glow. It was clear that collapses had happened here and there in this place too, but unlike other areas, it didn't seem completely blocked off.

We might have been able to escape through a window.

I had to get out quickly and check if Barbie and Asil were alive.

I turned to the senior while clutching the Death Mask tightly.

"Stay in the elevator."

Ricardo ignored my words.

He slowly stepped out of the elevator. I rolled my eyes and followed behind him.

If it had been up to me, I would have grabbed him and shoved him back into the elevator.

But he was a distant senior. And one who was having the worst day imaginable. If I acted on that impulse and we made it back to headquarters, who knew what would happen...

Holding back tears, I followed behind him.

Once Ricardo stepped into the corridor, he began examining the wall with the elevator buttons.

"What are you looking for?"

I watched the senior as he groped along the unbroken parts of the wall, as if searching for something.

Naturally, I didn't expect much of a response.

And indeed, none came, so I kept an eye on his actions with my peripheral vision while staying alert ahead.

I carefully recalled the warning that had echoed earlier. It had said a total of five cages were open.

Three of those, I must have killed in the arena.

That left two more.

They weren't immediately visible. I took in the sight of A Level, soaked in moonlight. This place was much larger than B Level, and the cages were bigger too.

The weight of the presences emanating from the things inside the cages felt different as well.

Things buried in the darkness, unmoving, fixed their gazes on us.

Clunk!

I whipped my head toward the sound.

"Senior?"

"Do you know how to shoot a gun~?"

Where the hell did that come from?

As I widened my eyes in surprise, I noticed that one of the wall tiles had opened. The senior had pulled out a gun about the length of his forearm from inside it.

How did he know that was there?

It must have been the benefit of a senior who had done this mission plenty of times. Apparently, the mafia stashed spare weapons in case things went wrong.

Relieved that at least we now had a weapon, I shook my head at Ricardo.

"No."

At my straightforward answer, Ricardo blinked once.

"Hmm~?"

"I'm in training, but still pretty unskilled."

Anyone could figure out how to shoot one.

It was just that my accuracy sucked. Besides, even before the war, I hadn't used guns much. Training with Yoon every day was slowly bringing it back, though.

I relayed the facts to the senior, who was deftly loading the gun.

Ricardo approached me slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"How bad are we talking~?"

"If I relay Yoon's words, it's about the level of a normal trainee after two months."

"Oh dear..."

I still couldn't sense any creatures yet.

I glanced at the senior's ankle as he drew near. Given his personality, he was definitely holding back the pain. It was swollen bright red just looking at it, and it hurt me to see.

But if I offered to support him, he'd refuse.

If things got dicey, I might have had to serve as his meat shield, so I needed to stay close.

When I insisted on walking three or four steps ahead of him, Ricardo nodded slowly.

"There should probably be an elevator to the first floor at the end of this corridor... They always remodel the buildings with that kind of layout..."

"Understood."

I looked toward the end of the corridor, dyed in the bluish light of the night.

There was rubble piled up in what seemed like the arena's location, but the passage wasn't completely blocked. If we climbed over that debris, the elevator should have been there.

There might have been stairs too? They were probably locked, but maybe we could have forced them open.

Of course, behind the rubble, there could have been those two escaped creatures.

Either way, we'd have had to face those two sooner or later, whether they were here or there.

I focused my senses, trying to gauge the distance to any creatures, when the senior's voice came.

"You think you can improve by the exam~?"

"Huh?"

What was that?

Unable to grasp it, I shot him a puzzled look, and Ricardo made a similar expression.

"You have to take the promotion exam around mid-next year, right...? You didn't know~?"

"Huh?"

What?

"Huh?"

An exam?

What promotion...? What exam?

The shocking statement made my thoughts freeze for a moment. I briefly forgot that there were two unidentified creatures prowling around.

Choi Yoon hadn't breathed a word about it?

Ricardo let out a long laugh, as if he'd guessed everything from my expression.

"Yoon must not have told you..."

"No."

That crazy bastard.

Ricardo chuckled at my expression.

"Calm down... There's still some time left. You can ask your mentor when we get out~."

"Do badgers do promotions too?"

"You have to shed the newbie badge eventually."

The senior started walking slowly while keeping watch ahead.

"Pass the exam, and you'll get your work schedule, assignment, personal weapon, and all that..."

"What if you fail?"

"Total embarrassment~."

His answer was way too cheerful.

"With a 90% pass rate for newbies, failing that would make you the talk of the town forever~."

Choi Yoon!

He should have at least told me this basic stuff! Clutching the Death Mask, I moved my feet while quietly seething.

The moment we got out, I was going straight to him to complain. Sure, there had been all sorts of things going on, but this wasn't something he couldn't mention.

No, why didn't he tell me in advance?

Why didn't he say anything?!

Fuming, I turned to look at the creature charging toward us.

Thud!

An arm swollen like a balloon on one side, grotesquely oversized on a humanoid ape, slammed into the ground.

I vaguely remembered this creature. It had lived in a forest so dense with trees you couldn't see ahead. More precisely, it was the cursed ones among those that had inhabited there.

An arm swollen larger than its own body.

The fist at the end of it flew toward my face.

"Need help?"

"No."

I raised the Death Mask.

"Got it."

Splat!

The fist embedded perfectly into the inside of the mask.

An immense shock traveled through the hand holding the mask. If my stance had been off, my arm would have snapped.

But I'd caught it safely, so that was fine.

"Does that work?"

"Of course."

I watched the creature, starting from the fist in contact with the mask, as it gradually withered away.

"These things always..."

The Death Mask had always been hungry.

It devoured everything. Anything with life in it.

The withering sped up. I watched as moisture drained from the cursed ape's body – whatever the badgers called it, I didn't know.

I struggled to keep hold of the Death Mask as its power grew stronger.

The Death Mask greedily consumed the unfortunate lifeform.

Ricardo let out a hollow laugh.

"You must study the creature codex diligently, huh?"

He was looking at the Death Mask in my hand.

"It's a near-extinct specimen, so you wouldn't have encountered one outside..."

"Is that so?"

Well, it wasn't hard to catch.

With a flamethrower, it was nothing to fear. Of course, the moment something like this ape touched the back of the mask, disaster began, and anyone hoping to survive would have had to amputate the contact point.

That was probably why they'd exterminated them so thoroughly.

As I thought of it casually, Ricardo muttered lowly.

"Veterans hated it, saying it resembled Tier 10."

My body stiffened.

I widened my eyes and looked at Ricardo.

Even as the creature, now like a shriveled apple core drained of all moisture, thudded to the floor, he didn't care.

I...

Why was Ray coming up here?

"Where does it...?"

I tried to ask properly, but the words caught, shortening unintentionally.

The senior didn't mind. His green eyes fixed on the unrecognizably withered creature corpse, unmoving.

"They said the way it devours is the same..."

"...What do you mean?"

"You've only seen the last footage left by that unlucky reporter, right?"

That video.

Recalling it choked me. I had to struggle to keep my expression neutral.

The image of Ray in that short video was far from what I remembered. I'd tried not to think about it in detail. Ever since Ye-hyeon helped me recall my memories, I'd futilely poured effort into not dwelling on that footage especially.

Because it clearly captured my cowardice and mistakes.

"Yes."

My squeezed-out voice, fortunately, didn't waver.

Ricardo didn't seem to catch my odd reaction.

"You heard why Tier 10 was so deadly~?"

"That too, yes."

Ray, who had stopped upon seeing the sword.

I'd heard plenty about how he'd massacred countless humans. Among the badgers who fought in the First War, no one escaped being swept up in Ray's power.

Ricardo slowly tore his gaze from the creature's corpse.

"It revived by devouring nearby creatures."

Ah.

I didn't want to hear more.

"At least, according to Richard and Ye-hyeon~. Even if you killed it over and over, it sucked the life from surrounding creatures and came back to life... Like thick black tree roots draining nutrients~. I never faced Tier 10 myself, so I don't know how much is true..."

The image of Jin Silver's arm, turned gray, flashed in my mind.

Nausea surged. I clamped my mouth with the hand not holding the Death Mask and bowed my head.

Ricardo, who had been scanning ahead, whipped his head around.

"What's wrong?"

I couldn't answer.

Unable to hold it in, I staggered to a corner.

Urk...

I slammed my forehead against the bars and vomited, and the creature inside shot me a look like what the hell. It resembled a four-legged goat.

Sorry about that...

Panting with my forehead pressed against the bars, the senior grabbed my nape from behind and pulled me back.

"What's with you?"

His voice was stiff with tension.

I slowly turned to face Ricardo. The faint bluish moonlight seeping through the wide window bathed his hardened face.

"Seems like a side effect from the drugs."

I made up an excuse and smiled faintly.

"Feels better after throwing up."

"Suddenly?"

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Knowing I'd stink, I stepped a bit away from the senior.

Ricardo frowned, observing me closely. He looked like he wanted to say more but held back.

I was grateful he'd shut up. Pretending to be fine like this was hard enough already.

Don't think about it until we get out of here.

One more step, and I'd recall another fragment of the past, but I resolved not to take that step. Now wasn't the time.

Once out, I had a mountain of things to grill Yoon about!

Sighing as I gripped the Death Mask – figuring it'd get too heavy to hold if it ate more –

"Sorry. I'm okay now. Let's keep going."

"...If your condition worsens, speak up immediately..."

Ricardo's voice was displeased.

"Hiding it could mean bloodshed around you in a fight..."

"Yes. Understo..."

Ding!

od?

Ricardo and I whipped our heads toward the elevator stopping sound.

The place we were heading to.

The sound came from the elevator connected to the first floor.

[Warning. Cage 1 is open.]

[Warning. Cage 2 is open.]

[Warning. Cage 4 is open.]

[Warning. Cage 10 is open.]

[Warning. Cage 12 is open.]

The AI blared the same warnings as when we'd arrived via the elevator behind us.

Ricardo pulled me along.

Without a word, I followed, crouching low, muffling our footsteps, and hiding behind the rubble.

As we heard people pouring out of the elevator.

"Shit!"

Was that Jae-yeon?

"It's dark! Turn on the lights!"

No.

The voice belonged to Mick.