The moment the trigger was pulled, Sobin’s world slowed.

BZZZTTT!

A flash of searing blue energy surged from the Artifact’s barrel. The crackle of compressed power tore through the air, its glow painting the walls in violent hues. Sobin’s pupils shrank as the bolt of energy screamed toward his chest.

In that heartbeat before death… his mind drifted.

His eyes widened. His chest tightened.

‘Ah… is this it? Is this death?’

The ground trembled as compressed energy carved through the air and neared him with frightening speed.

Yet Sobin stood at the center of it all, completely immobile.

He thought of her.

His wife. The reason he fought. The reason he endured this nightmarish world.

Her smile. Her warmth. Her—

But…

The image wouldn’t form.

Her face… was blurred.

Like a smear of fog on glass, her features dissolved no matter how desperately he tried to hold them together. He could feel her presence, could sense the love he carried, but her eyes, her lips, her everything—gone.

“…Why…?”

The thought rattled him harder than the oncoming blast.

Why can’t I see her?

The bolt struck.

…And nothing happened.

No pain. No burning hole through his chest. No death.

Sobin blinked, eyes wide, as smoke curled around his jacket. He patted himself, confused.

Still alive.

The hall was silent.

The Boss’s grin faltered. “…Huh?”

He aimed again, sneering. “Fine, maybe I didn’t charge it enough.”

Another shot burst forth. BZZZTTT! Sparks tore through the air, burning the stone walls, shattering weapons held by nearby subordinates. The crack of raw energy echoed like thunder.

But Sobin?

He still stood.

Not even a scratch.

“…W-what…?” His voice was low, bewildered. “Why… am I still… here?”

The Boss’s eyes bulged. He whirled toward one of his men and pulled the trigger.

BZZZTTT!

The subordinate didn’t even scream. One moment he existed, the next—his body was vaporized, erased in a spray of blood and ash.

The hall reeked of ozone and burnt flesh.

The Artifact worked. Perfectly.

The Boss turned back, sweat pouring down his forehead. His grip on the weapon trembled. “Then why… why aren’t you dead?! WHAT ARE YOU?!”

Sobin’s chest heaved, though not from fear. His mind wasn’t on the gun. It wasn’t even on survival.

It was on her.

Her missing face.

His wife. His anchor. His everything—stripped away like a cruel joke.

His hands clenched into fists. His teeth ground together.

“System…” His voice cracked, raw with fury. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!”

[Eh? What do you mean?]

The System’s artificial tone chimed faintly, nervous.

“My wife! WHY CAN’T I REMEMBER HER FACE?!” His roar shook the very foundations of the hall.

The lights flickered.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

The ground rumbled as if the entire fortress quivered beneath his anger.

The Boss staggered back, weapon raised but hands shaking violently.

A suffocating weight filled the air. A bloodlust so dense it felt physical pressed against every living being in the room.

Plunderers screamed, clutching their heads, and one by one collapsed unconscious to the floor. Their bodies twitched briefly, then lay still.

The Boss alone remained upright, but barely. His cloak clung to him with sweat, his eyes bloodshot, his nose streaming.

He screamed, high-pitched and broken, like a terrified child.

“G-gahh! Don’t come closer! Don’t—don’t—!” His words slurred as tears poured down his face. His vision blurred, his weapon wavering as though weighed down by chains.

He was afraid—deeply afraid.

Despite the overwhelming compulsion to fall unconscious, the boss fought with all his strength to stay awake. For he feared that if he closed his bloodshot eyes at this moment, he would never be able to open them again.

“Y-you’re not human! You’re a monster—!”

Sobin ignored him. His fury wasn’t aimed at this trembling giant of a man.

It was aimed at the void.

At the unseen.

The System.

[Calm down, Sobin.]

The mechanical voice whispered, but it wavered, uncertain.

“Calm down?!” Sobin’s voice shook the air again, and more cracks spidered across the walls. “I can’t even remember the face of the woman I swore to return to! Yet you want me to calm down?!”

WHUUUUMMM!!!

His aura exploded outward. The ground fissured beneath his boots, fragments of stone lifting as though gravity itself faltered in his presence.

The Boss shrieked again, clinging to the Artifact, but his fingers were too weak to pull the trigger. Every time he tried, his body convulsed in terror.

Sobin turned to him finally, eyes burning, voice low and dangerous.

“Shut up!”

The Boss blinked, his face drenched in tears. “W-what?”

“You’re too loud with that screaming…” Sobin stepped forward slowly. “…It’s not letting me think.”

His hand whipped forward—

SLAP!

The impact echoed like thunder. Fresh chapters posted on novel·fire.net

The Boss’s body exploded into a grotesque spray of flesh and blood, his massive frame reduced to quivering lumps that rained across the hall.

Sobin’s jacket and face were drenched in gore. But he didn’t even flinch. His eyes stared past it all, fixed on nothing.

His trembling voice rose once more. “System… why? Why can’t I see her?!”

[We have no record of that detail.]

The voice was cold, yet quieter than ever before. Almost… cautious.

[Perhaps something occurred during your transmigration. Something that scrambled portions of your memory.]

Sobin’s teeth ground together audibly.

His fists clenched so tightly that blood dripped from his palms.

“Scrambled…?” His chest heaved. “Why was her memory specifically scrambled? She is my everything. My reason for breathing. My only anchor in this nightmare—and now you tell me I can’t even remember her face?!”

The System hesitated.

Then—

[If you complete your quests… if you return home… all things should reset. Your memories. Your world. Even your wife. Everything will be as it was.]

Sobin froze.

The rage simmered but did not vanish.

His shoulders trembled as he let out a slow, ragged breath. “…It better be.”

He raised his head, eyes narrowing with terrifying clarity.

“Because if not…”

His voice dropped, heavy as a death sentence.

“…I don’t know who you are. Or who’s watching me through this thing. But if there is anyone—anyone—pulling the strings behind the System…”

His crimson eyes glowed, blood dripping from his clenched fists.

“…I’ll find you. And I’ll make your life a living hell.”

Silence fell.

The unconscious Plunderers littered the floor like broken dolls. Blood dripped from the ceiling where their Boss had exploded.

And at the center of it all stood Sobin.

Not victorious. Not proud.

But seething.

And more dangerous than ever.

“…Her face…” His whisper cracked, broken. “…I just want to see her face again…”

The System said nothing.

And for the first time since arriving in this world, Sobin felt something far more terrifying than monsters, bandits, or even death.

A hollow fear.

That he might never remember.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep