Chương 13: The Thing Lena Chased

Ch 13 - The Thing Lena Chased Lena left suddenly that morning without any warning. Honestly, it sounded completely normal to Zeph, at least on the surface. She was not a child anymore, and they all had things to take care of. She could have gone to restock ingredients, run an errand for the inn, pick up a delivery. There were countless reasonable explanations. But seeing the way Madou reacted, something about it felt wrong. It did not look normal at all.

Or maybe there was something happening between them that Zeph did not know about.

Because of that, he quickly returned to his room and moved on instinct. He slipped into his shoes in a rush and grabbed his backpack, the one he never truly unpacked because of his habit of always being ready to leave at any moment. He hurried out and rushed down the stairs. Taking several steps at once, he leaped down recklessly. When he reached the lobby, he felt a small sense of relief seeing that Madou was still standing there in the middle of the room, facing someone else.

Haro, Madou's father, stood in front of the young man. No words were exchanged. They only stared at each other in silence. Zeph slowed his steps, trying not to interrupt whatever quiet communication was happening between them. Then Madou suddenly moved again and headed out of the room quickly without saying anything. Zeph followed but stopped in front of Haro, looking at the man he had only really spoken with properly the night before.

"Do you know what's going on?" Haro asked.

"Not really."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going after Madou." Haro nodded.

"Please, Zeph." Zeph clenched his fists for a moment, then immediately ran after him. And damn it, he did not even know why he was doing this. He could feel it clearly, something was wrong. He should have stayed away. Trouble was obvious, and it felt big. But Zeph chose not to stay silent. The two weeks they had spent together in this place were enough to change something in him. Somehow, he had stepped into Lena's life. Into Madou's. Even into Haro's.

And without noticing when it happened, they had stepped into his as well, even if only a little. What the three of them did together might have seemed completely normal to ordinary people. Hiring someone. Providing food. Paying a salary. Inviting him to train. That honestly sounded normal. At least it should have been. It only felt extraordinary because Zeph's previous life had been so terrible.

But he shook his head, pulling himself back to the present, just in time to see Madou getting into a black SUV that still looked hurriedly parked. Zeph ran forward, and just as the car was about to move, he opened the left door and slipped inside. Madou turned to him.

"You don't have any responsibility in this, Zeph."

"I'm doing this for myself."

"And how exactly does chasing after Lena serve your reasons?"

"Fights. Challenges. Real situations like this," Zeph said.

"They all help an Awakened grow. You don't seriously think staying here doing chores every day will make me stronger and help me rank up, do you?"

"You're not wrong." Zeph gave a faint smile.

"So don't stop my selfish decision." Madou let out a short breath. He turned his eyes back to the road, started the engine, and the car pulled away from the inn before merging onto the main street. The vehicle sped forward, and the urgency was obvious from the tight expression on Madou's face. They passed the city wall checkpoint quickly, barely slowing down before being waved through. Soon after, they were already leaving the city behind. The same city wall Zeph had crossed two weeks ago when he first entered.

But all the way outside the city? Lena?

"Lena went this far?" Madou nodded slowly, his jaw tense.

"Tell me what's going on, Madou."

"You jumped into this without knowing anything," Madou replied.

"This isn't something small. Your life could be at risk." Zeph gave a faint smile.

"I've been through more dangerous things than you probably imagine."

"Well, I won't argue with you about that," Madou muttered. Zeph looked ahead at the road, and from the corner of his eye he noticed how tightly Madou was gripping the steering wheel, his knuckles nearly pale.

"Lena's parents were Awakened too," Madou continued. Zeph turned slightly, feeling like he was finally getting closer to the answer he had been looking for.

"They were Rank Five Grandmasters." Rank Five Grandmasters? They were not ordinary people. There had to be something bigger behind their deaths.

"But they weren't just fighters," Madou went on.

"They were dimensional rift researchers. They studied rifts. Their patterns. The way they behaved."

"Dimensional rift researchers?" Zeph repeated. Madou nodded again. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"They disappeared during an expedition inside a dimensional rift. Lena was five years old at the time." Zeph lowered his gaze for a second before looking back at the road. It did not sound pleasant at all. He had lost his mother too. But at least he still had his father, even if that was not something he had ever truly wished for.

"Since that day," Madou continued, "Lena has been monitoring every rift that appears near this city. Even the smaller ones in the surrounding regions. She's been searching for one specific type. And eventually, the rift she had been waiting for appeared. One similar to the one that showed up in Mekarion."

"The rift in Mekarion?" Zeph repeated.

"The massive one that split the sky open and dragged the city into disaster?"

"Yes. The rift that appeared just before you arrived in Lumeris."

"What kind of similarity was she looking for? The creatures? The same phenomenon?"

"The same mana fluctuation pattern. The creatures inside that rift, those Night Cavalries, carried the same mana signature as the rift where her parents disappeared." Maybe that was also why, during Zeph's journey to Lumeris, Lena and Haro had been driving from the direction of Mekarion. Maybe she had gone there to investigate what happened. Because of the Night Cavalries. Because she was chasing the same thing that had taken her parents.

"And now you're telling me that the same type of rift might appear again soon? As big as the one in Mekarion?" Madou did not answer right away because the car suddenly screeched as he made a sharp turn and left the main road. The vehicle slowed as soon as it hit uneven ground, bumping hard as it rolled across a rocky path scattered with loose stones. The whole cabin shook with every jolt. Zeph grabbed the handle above the door to steady himself so he would not slam against the window.

"Lena left her awakener device behind," Madou said.

"She didn't want us contacting her." Zeph stayed silent, listening.

"But I received information about this rift," Madou continued.

"It's classified as a Tier One rift. She has already registered herself with the expedition team to explore it."

"You're saying a Tier One rift has the same mana signature as the one that appeared above Mekarion?" Madou nodded slowly.

"If Lena rushed out without telling us anything, this is most likely the reason." A Tier One rift connected to those Night Cavalries? Honestly, it did not sound good at all. Just a few weeks ago, those creatures had poured out in large numbers and thrown Mekarion into chaos. If not for the high rank hunters who stepped in and forced them back, the city might have been reduced to ash by now. But if this truly was the same kind of rift, and if Zeph could join the exploration team… Would that not give him something?

His first sigil had come from that very creature. A Night Cavalry. Who knew? Maybe inside that rift he would find one of those dark horses again, the kind that ran across the sky like a shadow. If he could bring one back and make it his mount, would that not complete his image as a true Night Cavalry? A faint smile formed on his lips before he could stop it. The real problem was this. To register for a group that explored a rift, someone had to be officially recognized as an awakened.

That simply meant owning an awakener device and successfully activating it. However, a rift had to be booked in advance. Booking was only possible once a full expedition team had been formed. So if Lena had already registered for this team and was leaving today, it meant the team was complete and ready to depart. Was Madou planning to stop her? If she was going with a full team, she should be fine. This was only a Tier One rift, right? And her level was high.

The car kept moving forward until Zeph spotted something in the distance. A wide, open stretch of rocky land had been turned into a temporary base. A cluster of people stood near a shimmering tear in the air, and several vehicles were parked in uneven rows nearby.

"Is that where the rift is?" It was normal for representatives from the Hunter Association to guard the area. But the number of cars and people there seemed far greater than Zeph expected. The car sped up again. Zeph tightened his grip as the distance between them and the gathering shrank, and what was happening there became clearer.

"They're already starting to go in," Zeph said.

"They're entering the portal." Madou pressed harder on the accelerator, clearly trying to close the gap. One thing Zeph immediately noticed was the size of the expedition group. It was larger than he had anticipated. There were different types of rifts. The number of members allowed inside often depended on the threat assessment. Usually, a team consisted of five to ten people. From what Zeph could see, this one looked close to the maximum. Lena. He saw her clearly as she leaped into the portal without hesitation.

"Damn it," Madou muttered. He slammed the brakes, and the truck screeched before coming to a sharp stop. Dust rose around them. Zeph and Madou threw their doors open and jumped out, immediately sprinting toward the rift. A few of the remaining expedition members who had not yet entered paused and turned to look back at them. Three young men, all around their early twenties, turned toward them.

Two representatives from the Hunter Association, dressed in sharp black suits, were also standing nearby, observing the scene without much expression.

"What are two idiots like you doing in a place like this?" one of the awakened said. He looked like the oldest among them. His body was thin, and one of his eyes drifted slightly to the side. Madou did not respond. He strode straight toward them, clearly intending to pass. Before he could, the other two grabbed him by the shoulders and held him back. Zeph stood a short distance away, watching carefully.

"What stupid move are you trying to pull?" the cross-eyed man continued.

"We secured this rift, formed this team, and handled the booking. Leave now, or you'll regret it."

"I'll take one slot from this expedition," Madou said. With his left hand, he pulled out a brown envelope and handed it over. The man with the drifting eye took it, opened it without hesitation, and checked the contents. Thick stacks of cash filled the envelope.

"One slot?" he asked, raising a brow.

"I'll give him mine," one of the others suddenly said with a shrug.

"Easy money. I'll sit this one out." The Hunter Association officers did not look bothered by the exchange. In fact, they casually turned and walked a few steps away, as if none of this concerned them.

"Alright then," the cross-eyed man said after a moment, nodding. The other two released their grip on Madou's shoulders and stepped aside. Madou did not waste another second. He dashed forward and, without hesitation, leaped straight into the glowing portal. The one who had given up his slot quickly walked away, stuffing the envelope inside his jacket, leaving only two of them behind.

"Damn it, I actually wanted that money," the bald man muttered with a click of his tongue. After that, he casually headed toward the portal.

"Well, it's just a Tier One. It's not like anything crazy will happen." He stepped forward and disappeared into the portal. Now only the oldest one remained. The thin man with the drifting eye stood there alone, staring at the portal with irritation. He walked toward it and tried to step in. The moment his body touched the surface, he was thrown backward. He stumbled several steps before managing to keep his balance.

"What the hell!" he shouted angrily.

"What's going on? This rift should be able to hold ten people!" His voice echoed across the rocky field. Then something clicked in his head. His expression shifted. His eyes darted to one side, then to the other, scanning the area quickly.

"Damn it! Damn it!" he roared.

"Where's the other brat?! Where did that other kid go?!"