Excited Abel wanted to explore the surroundings right away, but he couldn’t walk a few steps and had to sit down again.

Because he was in the worst condition.

“Ugh… … .”

Mei stared at Abel, who sat down with a moan, and said.

“Don’t overdo it. Will the other kids be okay?”

“huh?”

“Just before I was swept away, I heard Gigant approaching in the distance.”

“ah… … .”

May seemed to think that Abel was overdoing it because he was worried about the other kids.

In reality, it was Abel who confirmed through the message that the giant had already fallen, but he nodded as it was a misunderstanding that did not need to be corrected.

“okay? thank god.”

“huh.”

May gave a brief answer and then shut her mouth again.

An awkward atmosphere lingered. No, to be precise, only Abel was like that.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t familiar with May.

Rather, they tended to attend more often than other children in the same class.

But it was the first time they were together like this.

‘In the first place, Mei doesn’t talk much either.’

Even in the game, Mei didn’t talk much.

To be precise, he was a bother to everything and was always dozing off, so there was little to hear him say.

‘It’s because it has its own story.’

While I was thinking about that, May spoke to Abel again.

“What are you going to do?”

“huh?”

“I can’t stay here forever.”

As he said, the place where the two of them were was too open.

It’s an environment that’s too easy to stand out.

“That’s right. We don’t know how long we’ll have to wait, so let’s move to a safe place.”

“I think we should leave Gigant behind. Both are broken to the point where maneuvering itself is difficult.”

Abel’s and Mei’s were in poor condition.

Core breakage during sudden movement.

It seemed that he was exposed to powerful energy and caused an overload.

“Then let’s see if there’s a cave or a place to hide in the area.”

“huh.”

Mei nodded.

Even Abel needed a break right now.

‘It would be best to rest after finding the ruins.’

Still, if I had moved to a place near the ruins, I would have had a little more time.

After all, the original goal was to find the ruins within today.

“then… … Ugh.”

Abel staggered from his seat.

I was rolling my head hard, and for a moment I forgot that I was not in good shape.

He lost his balance and staggered greatly, but fortunately he did not fall unsightly.

It was thanks to Mei who came and grabbed my arm.

“Ah, thank you.”

“Can you walk?”

“I think it will be okay if I just walk slowly.”

After saying that, Abel took a cautious step.

But the tingling pain quickly frowned.

May looked at him and suddenly pulled Abel’s arm.

As Abel looked at him in bewilderment, May said in a calm voice.

“I’ll help you.”

“Not necessarily… … .”

“It makes sense to quickly find a safe place to rest.”

At that, Abel shut his mouth.

It was because I thought that it would be much faster to be supported than to just walk.

“… … Please.”

“huh.”

Abel started walking with May’s support.

Although it was uncomfortable due to the slight height difference, it was much better than walking alone.

‘It’s soft.’

Unknowingly thinking that, Abel looked down at Mei and met her eyes.

“uncomfortable?”

“Oh, no.”

Abel hurriedly turned his head and began to look around.

I thought I might be able to get a clue about where I am now, but unfortunately I didn’t have much success.

‘They all look alike.’

All around are huge trees. There was nothing special about it.

As he kept walking, the pain grew, so Abel focused on just walking.

how much time has passed

It was around the time when I wondered if I should just climb a tree and rest.

“Abel.”

“huh?”

“Look over there.”

May pointed to one side.

There was a small hole in it that you could barely get through by crouching down.

“Ugh. Let’s check.”

It would be difficult to rest if the inside was that large, but it could be different from what it looks like on the outside.

May also nodded at Abel’s words.

“I’ll go in first.”

“huh.”

Mei carefully leaned Abel to one side and went inside.

Abel thought with his back against the hard stone wall.

‘Magic Exhaustion… … It’s scarier than I thought.’

I knew in my head that when magical exhaustion came, the physical condition deteriorated, but actually experiencing it was more than that.

If he had failed to land a fatal blow at the end, he might have lost his life on the spot.

I lost my mind right away.

‘I’ll have to move more carefully next time.’

I think it was the best choice in the situation at that time, but I still had to reflect.

“Abel.”

Near the end of his self-reflection, May came out of his den and called out to him.

“The inside is wider than I thought. can you come in?”

“huh. are you okay.”

Mei nodded slightly and went back inside.

Abel waited a moment, then crouched down and crawled inside.

‘I’m really going to die.’

I was still in a bad physical condition, but I was really dying to lie on my stomach, but I couldn’t help it.

If you stay outside and run into a fragment of a giant, you could really die.

Fortunately, within a few minutes the aisle was wide enough to squat down.

Abel started to duck-step again, and before long he was able to stretch himself to the waist.

“Here.”

Mei appeared soon after.

Abel answered as he moved slowly.

“It’s wider than I thought.”

“huh.”

I wondered how wide it would be if it were wider, but when I reached the end, I realized that I was wrong.

Inside, there was a larger space than the living room of most houses.

The floor was flat and the ceiling was quite high, so there seemed to be no problem at all resting.

“Is this enough to spend a day here?”

“huh.”

Mei nodded her head without any change in her expression.

After that, silence came again.

Abel casually went to one side, sat down, and spoke to May.

“I’ll do some meditation.”

“huh.”

I wanted to lie down as it was, but in the current state, I had to focus on recovery through meditation.

Since the mana is depleted, the recovery of the body will be accelerated once the mana is recovered even a little.

Abel sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Originally, I should close my eyes and focus immediately, but I thought about this or that because of the pain in my body.

‘Looking at the space shift phenomenon, it must mean that no one has entered the ruins right away.’

The ruins in this forest ‘summon’ those in the vicinity who are worthy.

Of course, it’s not that the ruins have some kind of intelligence to select qualified people, it’s to move those with special qualifications into space.

‘And that qualification is tuned in.’

In the game, the same thing happened when the sync rate was A or higher.

However, if even one person is inside the ruins, that doesn’t happen.

In other words, at least the moment Abel was space-shifted, there was no one inside the ruins.

‘Then it means that I still have time to spare.’

Ruins are not a space that can be broken through in just an hour or two.

6 hours minimum. That is also the case with the user.

In the game, the average time it took for a group of prophets to pass through the ruins was more than 12 hours.

‘After subtracting this and that time, it can be considered that there is at least 8 hours to spare.’

After finishing the calculations in his head, Abel suppressed the impatience to raise his head subtly.

Now I have to focus on recovery.

If you act hastily, you’re going to mess things up.

Isn’t there a saying that the sooner you go back?

“Whoa.”

Taking a long breath, Abel began practicing the breathing technique he had just learned, trying to clear his mind.

Slowly, very slowly, he fell into a deep meditative state.

* * *

“… … bell.”

Abel, who was slowly coming out of his meditative state at the sound of a voice somewhere, narrowed his brows.

“Abel!”

And when I definitely heard my name called, I opened my eyes.

The first thing that caught my eye was her white skin and impressive eyes with long eyelashes.

“may?”

“Shhh. quietly.”

Abel flinched.

It was because the distance with May was so close that you could feel the breath intact.

Abel asked her in a low voice.

“what’s the matter?”

“this place. It was no ordinary cave.”

“What is that… … .”

May pointed to one side and said, and Abel tried to ask what he was talking about, but fell silent.

It was because there was an open passage where she pointed.

It was a place that was blocked by a wall until I started meditating.

It was obviously surprising.

However, that didn’t explain why Mei was so close.

“But why… … .”

“Shh!”

Abel was about to ask, but May put a finger to her mouth again and told her to be quiet.

The warmth of Mei’s closeness was transmitted to Abel.

But what caught Abel’s attention more than that was the cold sweat running down her forehead.

Looking closely, Mei was stiff with tension.

And the question was quickly resolved.

thud-! thud-! coo-!

With the dull sound of footsteps, a gigantic figure appeared at the end of the aisle.

It walked on two legs like a human and covered its entire body with thick armor.

There was nothing strange up to that point, but the problem was that he was over 2m tall.

Kung, kooung, kung-!

It looked around for a while and passed, and May finally opened her mouth.

“It’s the Guardian. Do you know what it is?”

“huh.”

Abel nodded.

It looks like a human, but that is not a human.

Guardian.

It is a ‘weapon’ that is sometimes found in ruins like this. In other words, that passage was the path connected to the ruins.

It was a very happy event for Abel.

Of course, I couldn’t show it off.

Originally, the ruins were an extremely dangerous place, and I even confirmed the existence of the Guardian right away.

It was a normal reaction to be as nervous as Mei was.

Abel said while thinking about how to ask to enter the ruins.

“What do we do?”

“I can’t go outside.”

“huh?”

“I checked while you were meditating, and there are a lot of colossus fragments around.”

Mei said while creating wrinkles between her white eyebrows.

“I think it would be better to look for another exit from inside. How about it?”

“That is a wise decision. Of course I agree

Abel readily agreed.

May looked at Abel with a strange expression when he answered right away.

“Are you okay?”

“You say it’s more dangerous outside? Then let’s go inside.”

“that… … yes. How are you feeling?”

“ah.”

Abel belatedly checked his physical condition.

Come to think of it, I felt much better than before I started meditating.

The pain lingered, but not to the point of needing support like before.

Recovering mana through breathing seemed to be effective.

“It’s much better.”

“okay. But in case you don’t know, I’ll take the lead first.”

“okay.”

Mei nodded and got up from her seat.

Abel thought as he got up after him.

‘Come to think of it, he seems to have a completely different personality than usual.’

I thought it looked different from the game recently, but it was different from that now.

It wasn’t just about talking a lot.

Despite the circumstances, he seemed to feel a strangely strong sense of responsibility.

It made me feel like a different person.

When I thought about it, Mei’s past suddenly came to mind.

‘Maybe it overlaps with memories of the past… … .’

“Abel.”

Abel, who was lost in his thoughts for a while, came to his senses at May’s call.

She was beckoning to come quickly.

Abel put aside the thought he had just thought of and followed her.

I had more important things to do right now.

It was time to explore the ruins.

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