He saw the shadow’s finger pull the trigger once more.

“Rini! Magnet Horn!”

“Ung!”

With ‘Magnet Horn,’ an ability capable of altering the trajectory of metal attacks, blocking a bullet was a simple matter.

The moment Rini’s horn trembled, a second bullet was fired.

[The special ability ‘Magnet Horn’ is activated!]

As the bullet flew in a straight line, Rini’s Magnet Horn began to warp its trajectory.

Following the distorted trajectory, the bullet should have struck the ceiling.

However, blood soon spurted from Seo Kangrim’s shoulder.

-Ppeok!

The bullet, which had been curving toward the ceiling, suddenly plummeted to the floor as if bewitched by something, piercing through Seo Kangrim’s shoulder.

Seo Kangrim clutched his shoulder and glared at the shadow.

‘This sensation. It’s familiar.’

As the shadow tried to take aim once more, Seo Kangrim immediately activated ‘Hidden One’ and dodged.

When he vanished, the barrel of the shadow’s gun wavered.

Seo Kangrim circled behind it at the speed of light and slashed the shadow’s throat.

-Geu, geueuk…

The shadow thrashed for a moment before dropping to its knees and collapsing.

But this was not the end.

Sensing a killing intent, he turned around to find another shadow aiming an arrow at him.

He swiftly snatched up a low table nearby.

-Kwagak!

He blocked the arrow by a hair’s breadth.

Before the shadow could draw its bowstring a second time, Seo Kangrim hurled the sword in his hand like a spear.

-Ppeok!

The blade embedded itself dead center in the shadow’s chest.

Struck in a vital point, the shadow soon lost its form and began to dissipate.

Seo Kangrim immediately dashed forward to retrieve his sword and glanced back.

There were still plenty of shadows left.

-Gagagak!

Seo Kangrim charged forward, fending off the shadows lunging at him with his entire body.

There were simply too many of them, and several shadows looked formidable at a glance; fleeing seemed like the better option.

However, the shadows blocked his path, making it difficult to break through.

Just as he gritted his teeth to pierce through the shadows—

“Hyung!”

Jang Taeheon’s voice echoed from the ceiling.

He looked up and saw Jang Taeheon and Yoon Bom’s faces through an open door.

As Yoon Bom leaped down and opened fire, the shadows began to topple over, struck by bullets.

“Hyung! Climb up here! Hurry!”

“Rini! Go up first!”

Even with severed limbs, the shadows clung tenaciously to Seo Kangrim.

He kicked off the shadow clinging to him and sprinted toward the passage in the ceiling.

Jang Taeheon reached out his hand toward him.

Seizing that hand, Taeheon hauled Seo Kangrim up with astonishing strength.

“Got it! Yoon Bom, come up!”

“I’ll close the door!”

The door slammed shut the moment Yoon Bom climbed up.

Seo Kangrim exhaled ragged breaths and focused his senses downward.

He could still feel the shadows prowling below.

“Master! Are you alright?”

Yoon Bom frantically examined Seo Kangrim’s condition.

He had no major injuries, but blood was oozing from the gunshot wounds on his shoulder and side.

“Wait just a moment! Father Yohan isn’t here right now, so…”

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

They had all merely grazed past, avoiding the vitals.

Chewing and swallowing one of his remaining Medicine Pills, he surveyed the interior and realized this was a prison.

Not a single window allowed in the light; only lanterns hung here and there illuminated the surroundings.

The stone walls and floor lent an inexplicably more sinister atmosphere to the place.

And that atmosphere lingered on the people’s faces as well.

In just a few days, everyone had grown noticeably haggard.

Jang Taeheon let out a sigh of relief and spoke.

“Good thing we opened the floor. Bom said she heard your voice below, so we opened it just in case…”

“You ended up coming here too, Master. It’s good to see… no, wait, should I not say I’m glad to see you?”

Yoon Bom offered a slightly bitter smile.

Seo Kangrim himself wasn’t sure whether he should be glad to see them or concerned.

Deep down, he had hoped everyone except Shin Sooa had already escaped this place.

Hiding his true thoughts, he asked.

“Where are the others?”

“Yoon Gyeoul, Father Yohan, and Dokgo Jun oppa went to another room for a bit. And Sooa unni…”

At the mention of Shin Sooa’s name, a peculiar tension flowed between the two.

They looked as if they were agonizing over how to explain.

“Did Shin Sooa go to another room too?”

“No. She is in this room, but… um, I’ll guide you there…”

Seo Kangrim nodded, then staggered to his feet.

Yoon Bom led him deeper into the prison.

As they went further in, he felt the air grow even colder.

The stale smell of dust and the metallic scent of blood.

A single lantern hung at the very back of the prison.

And beyond those iron bars, there was someone.

“Um, that’s…”

Leaving Yoon Bom’s explanation behind, Seo Kangrim approached the cell.

Shin Sooa was there.

Just like in the photo, her entire body drenched in blood.

【W-what?? Is Shin Sooa dead?】

【No, she doesn’t look dead.】

【Then why isn’t she getting treated and staying in a prison?】

【Did the others betray her?】

The gods were bewildered by Shin Sooa’s condition.

It was only natural; her state was so severe she looked like a corpse.

Her entire body had been slashed to ribbons, making it harder to find a spot without a wound.

Seo Kangrim showed no surprise, merely staring at Shin Sooa with cold eyes.

Yoon Bom mumbled hesitantly.

“W-well, I don’t know where to begin… Master, what do you think the ability of the demon beasts that appear here is?”

“Ability copying.”

Seo Kangrim said as he looked back at Yoon Bom.

Her eyes had gone wide with surprise.

“The demon beasts here seem to be copying the abilities of the trainees.”

“H-how did you know?”

“I saw shadows that resembled you and Yoon Gyeoul.”

He had known thanks to his past life experience, but there were other hints as well.

Just moments ago, while fighting the shadows on the floor below.

Rini had altered the trajectory of the incoming bullet, but the bullet pierced through Seo Kangrim as if bewitched by something.

That was undoubtedly Yoon Bom’s ‘Hundred Shots, Hundred Hits’.

He could also tell from the shadows’ characteristics.

Each shadow had a faint red line on it.

The one presumed to be Yoon Bom’s shadow had a faint red line drawn over its right ear.

And right now, a Saw Bone Belt was wrapped around Yoon Bom’s right ear.

“Just as you said, Master, these shadows seem to have copied our abilities. And even if we defeat them, they regenerate when the next drum sounds…”

When Joo Hyeryung called the demon beasts ‘Shadows’.

Seo Kangrim had thought she had named them quite well, considering they didn’t even show up on the Fortune Window.

═══════════════

[Name] Shadow Thief

[Rank] First Human Grade

[Description] It possesses a special ability that replicates human abilities. The replication is canceled upon leaving the Shadow Thief’s domain.

It exhibits the characteristic of copying the abilities of targets that enter its domain, then attempting to replace the original.

═══════════════

This Demon Realm was the domain of the Shadow Thief.

Therefore, until they left this place, even if a Shadow Thief was destroyed, another demon beast would replicate the special ability once again.

They were weak individually, but encountering them in an enclosed space was quite a headache.

‘Stealing abilities. They’re like bugs.’

Thinking that, Seo Kangrim mocked himself inwardly.

Because it sounded exactly like something he would say to himself.

Seo Kangrim silently looked down at Shin Sooa and asked.

“So why did Shin Sooa attack herself?”

“Well… We realized that if the original takes damage, the shadow takes damage too.”

Because of that characteristic, the Saw Bone Room had become a living hell in his past life as well.

At first, the people who had been cooperating changed their minds once the shadows kept attacking and they learned of the shadows’ characteristics.

If the original is strong, the shadow is strong.

If the original dies, the shadow dies.

However, even if a shadow dies, it revives.

In that case, all they had to do was kill the original.

Because of that, the strong ability users became targets in an instant.

Joo Hyeryung’s attempt to poison Seo Kangrim was for a similar reason.

She had intended to dispose of the original before Seo Kangrim’s shadow appeared and posed a threat.

‘That’s why I tried to come in as late as possible.’

Seo Kangrim also knew his own shadow was dangerous.

That was why he had planned to enter this Demon Realm alone after everyone else had left.

And Shin Sooa must have attacked herself for a similar reason.

“Strangely, Sooa unni’s shadow grew stronger as time passed. Even stronger than unni herself.”

“So Shin Sooa attacked herself to weaken her shadow?”

“Yes. After everyone left, she said she’d handle it herself… Unni is too kind for her own good.”

Kind?

Seo Kangrim wanted to refute that expression.

He too had initially thought Shin Sooa was simply a kind person, but such a thing should not be described as kindness.

Shin Sooa was crazy.

Even kindness has its limits.

When anything exceeds those limits, the act loses its original intent and borders on madness.

If hacking your own body to pieces for the sake of others isn’t described as crazy, then what is?

Dokgo Jun wasn’t the only diligently crazy one.

Shin Sooa was also a diligent lunatic.

The direction of her madness was just a bit different.

He knew full well the reason she drove herself to the brink, but that didn’t make the sight any prettier.

Swallowing his complaints inwardly, Seo Kangrim changed the subject.

“Did you find the Identification Tags?”

“Ah, yes. We found a few of ours. But we couldn’t find Yoon Gyeoul and Father Yohan’s tags.”

It was a shame they hadn’t found them all, but it was a relief to have found at least some.

The faster they got out of here, the better it would be for both Shin Sooa and Seo Kangrim.

“Understood. And could you step aside for a moment? I need to talk with Shin Sooa.”

“Unni is unconscious right now…”

“I have Recovery Potions.”

Yoon Bom nodded and stepped out of the prison.

Seo Kangrim took out a Recovery Potion from his Storage Pouch and poured it into Shin Sooa’s mouth and wounds.

She looked more like a plaster doll than a human.

Her face was that pale.

Just as he was nearly done pouring the entire bottle, color slowly began to return to her face, and Shin Sooa’s hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“…Don’t.”

The hand gripping Seo Kangrim was astonishingly weak.

So weak that it was hard to believe she was the same person who had once carried him and flown through the sky.

She struggled to open her eyes and looked up at Seo Kangrim.

“Let’s talk.”

“Put the medicine away first… I can’t recover. The people will be in danger…”

Saying that, Shin Sooa picked up a dagger lying beside her.

She tried to stab her newly healed thigh once more, but Seo Kangrim moved faster than her.

Gripping her hand tightly over the dagger, Seo Kangrim spoke.

“Let’s talk.”

His voice was laced with anger.