Chapter 141: Kei Has Vanished

Moon So-Yeon quickly scanned all three of them. None of them were injured, but their complexions were drained of color.

The S-rank female hunter swallowed hard and began her debriefing:

"The Guild Leader was sleeping at the time. We had constantly kept people on watch beside him. No monsters emerged, nor were there any signs of danger."

It was precisely because of that that they had grown complacent and committed such a foolish mistake!

She clenched her fists tightly.

"Then, a region of blue light suddenly manifested beneath the Guild Leader’s body. It didn’t resemble any magic array we had ever laid eyes on. Within mere seconds, that light had swallowed the Guild Leader’s entire body."

"What were you doing during that time?" Moon So-Yeon asked.

"We rushed over immediately, but we couldn’t touch the Guild Leader. The moment our hands entered the zone of light, they were violently batted away. Right after that, the light vanished along with the Guild Leader."

The two A-rank hunters standing nearby nodded repeatedly in confirmation.

"Were there any traces left behind?"

"None."

Moon So-Yeon fell silent.

She had mentally prepared herself for the worst-case scenario, but hearing it firsthand still turned her complexion ashen.

Kang Ian wasn’t dead.

At least, there were no corpses or signs of combat here. Yet his absurd disappearance was no different from being swallowed whole by a bottomless abyss.

While Moon So-Yeon continued questioning the three hunters, Kei quietly drifted toward the far side of the forest.

He didn’t know why he was walking; ever since stepping into the Dungeon, an invisible force had continuously tugged him forward.

The deeper he ventured, the clearer that sense of familiarity grew.

A very faint fragrance of fresh grass.

The distant sound of flowing water.

And a fragment of memory seemingly buried beneath layers of time... memories that felt as though someone had forcibly scrubbed them from Kei’s mind.

Kei raised a hand to press against his temple. His head began to grow heavy, as though someone were trying to cram an infinite number of unfamiliar images into his brain.

A vast, verdant forest stretching endlessly with gigantic, ancient trees that had stood for thousands of years. A narrow path winding through those aged trunks, leading straight to...

Kei halted.

Right before his eyes lay a moss-covered trail.

There was nothing particularly extraordinary about the path. It merely skirted a low slope, partially obscured by a canopy of leaves, with its far end stretching deep into the forest’s interior.

And yet, Kei knew this place.

He had walked this way before.

Not in his current physical body, but perhaps in a very distant lifetime, back when he was still a child.

Kei stared unblinkingly at the trail, the throbbing pain in his head gradually escalating into a fierce throbbing that blurred the scenery before his eyes.

A vague voice echoed within his memory:

"Big Brother ****, hurry up!"

Kei’s chest tightened painfully.

He couldn’t clearly recall the other person’s face, but his heart recognized it before his reason ever could, taking yet another step forward.

*Who was that boy? Whose name had he been calling out?*

Unconsciously, Kei stepped onto the path before him.

One step... then another.

"Kei?"

Kang Mi-So was the first to detect Kei’s anomaly.

She had kept her eyes glued to Kei ever since they entered the Dungeon. It wasn’t solely because of her promise to Do Ae-Young, but also due to the eerie sensation that Kei in this place was acting precisely like someone guided step-by-step by their own memories the moment they set foot in the woods.

Kang Mi-So’s intuition told her Kei was walking into danger, but she was confident she could easily protect him and pull him away.

Kei kept moving forward, refusing to look back, entirely deaf to the calls of the people around him.

Kang Mi-So instantly quickened her pace to intercept him.

"Kei, where are you going?"

Kei offered no reply.

His gaze remained locked on the far end of the trail, where a pale blue radiance was quietly undulating amidst the foliage.

Kang Mi-So reached out, intending to grab his wrist.

Yet the exact moment her fingertips were about to brush against Kei, his body abruptly grew translucent.

It wasn’t instant teleportation, nor was it vanishing behind the cover of an invisibility skill.

Kei’s physical form faded away gradually, like a reflection shimmering on the surface of water.

Kang Mi-So was stunned.

"Kei!"

She lunged forward fiercely, but her hand clutched at the empty air.

Kei had vanished!

Without a shred of warning, a man had simply disappeared right before their eyes, as though devoured by a demon lurking in the void!

In the blink of an eye, the spot where Kei had stood moments ago was reduced to a patch of grass-covered earth, swaying silently under the Dungeon’s dim glow.

Kang Mi-So stood frozen in place, her hand still locked in the posture of trying to grab Kei’s arm.

"Where is Kei?" Do Ae-Young sprinted over instantly.

Kang Mi-So didn’t answer.

She stared unblinkingly at the trail before her, then glanced down at her own empty palm, her transparent golden eyes registering outright panic for the very first time.

Moon So-Yeon and the others rushed over in a flurry.

"What just happened?"

"Kei disappeared."

Kang Mi-So’s voice was remarkably light.

Yet those words plunged the entire forest into a suffocating silence.

Do Ae-Young surveyed her surroundings as bolts of lightning instantly crackled into life around her body.

"Disappeared?"

"He walked onto that path, and then his body suddenly turned translucent," Kang Mi-So clenched her hand into a fist. "I tried to pull him back, but I couldn’t touch him."

Moon So-Yeon stared at the trail ahead, her complexion draining to a sheet of white. She raised a trembling hand to cover her mouth, desperately fighting to suppress the mounting panic threatening to swallow her whole.

Kang Ian had vanished into a flash of blue light, and now Kei had vanished without leaving a single trace behind.

Do Ae-Young ground her teeth. "We have to find him right now."

She stepped forward, but Kang Mi-So abruptly thrust out an arm to block her.

"Wait."

Kang Mi-So stared fixedly at the pathway.

Deepest within the trunks, a faint blue light was slowly unfurling. It looked identical to the radiance that had swallowed Kang Ian, and identical to the light that had just made Kei disappear.

"Do not step in blindly," Kang Mi-So warned. "That might be the very thing that took Kei away, and it might end up separating us, too!"

No one argued with Kang Mi-So. In their current predicament, getting separated here would only leave a catastrophic outcome waiting at the end of the line.