MORPHORCE-Chapter 46 - 45: The First Gate Raid (10)

Soraya somehow forced herself to her feet as quickly as she could.

And in the middle of standing up—when she looked toward Rihan—

She froze.

What she saw made her breath stop.

The blue blade that had been crashing down—

was frozen in midair.

Barely an inch above Rihan’s head.

Rihan’s eyes were still closed.

Then—

“Gosh...!”

A familiar voice echoed through the dead forest.

“Look at you—smiling like that with your eyes closed.”

Rihan’s eyelids fluttered.

He slowly opened his eyes.

And in the same instant—

CRACK!

A sharp fracture split across the shadow creature’s glowing core.

Thin crimson lines spiderwebbed through it.

Then—

KRK—CHIIING!

The core shattered like glass exploding from the inside.

The monster’s body trembled.

Its shadow form unraveled into drifting black mist, dissolving into the air—

—and as it vanished, a figure stood where it once was.

A man holding a dagger.

Calm.

Unshaken.

As if he had simply crushed an insect beneath his foot.

“What do you think?” the man said lightly.

“Are you some kind of hero or something?”

Ishan Navraan.

The moment Rihan recognized him, all the tension drained from his body.

Relief washed over his face.

A weak, warm smile curved his lips.

“Ishan...” he whispered.

“You finally came, huh? Now I can—”

His voice faded.

The forest blurred.

Darkness slowly swallowed his vision.

And Rihan collapsed.

***

A few hours later—

Rihan was still unconscious.

“We’ve already lost too much manpower.”

“At this rate, we can’t even guarantee that a single one of us will make it out of here alive.”

As Rihan slowly began to regain consciousness, faint murmurs reached his ears.

What’s going on...?

Why is there so much noise...?

“How are the injured now? Did the healers manage to treat everyone?”

Rihan’s eyelids twitched. Slowly, he began to open his eyes.

“Yes. They did,” another voice replied. “But even after being healed, many of them aren’t mentally stable.”

“I know... If we hadn’t been separated from the very beginning, none of this would have happened.”

“That’s true. But it’s not like we can change that now. What’s done is done. There’s nothing to gain by dwelling on it.”

There was a brief pause before the voice continued.

“What we need to think about now is how to survive this place. Once the unconscious ones wake up, we’ll move forward.”

Rihan’s vision was blurry, the shapes around him still unclear.

“But shouldn’t we wait a little longer for the others?”

He blinked several times. Slowly, his vision began to stabilize.

“We’ve already waited long enough. The ones who went out to search have all returned.”

A heavy sigh followed.

“I don’t think there’s anyone else alive outside of this group.”

“Ah...”

Rihan groaned softly as he tried to sit up.

“Ugh... What’s going on? Where are we?”

Ishan, who had been speaking with Rayhan, turned his head toward him.

“Oh... Rihan. You’re awake.” He studied him for a moment. “How are you feeling?”

Rihan pushed himself to his feet and walked toward them.

“Hmm... I’m feeling a bit better now.” He glanced around once more.

“But... where are we right now?”

Rihan’s confusion was understandable.

Unlike the rest of the forest, this place was different. Only a handful of locations within the forest received even a trace of light from the twin crimson moons—and this was one of them.

Everywhere else was swallowed by darkness, buried beneath countless leafless, skeletal trees.

But here, the land was wide and open. The field stretched far and wide, with barely any trees in sight, allowing the eerie red moonlight to fall freely upon the ground.

Quiet murmurs still echoed through the area.

Some people were talking in low voices.

Others lay sprawled across the ground, asleep—whether from sheer exhaustion or mental shock, it was hard to tell.

“Ah...” Ishan said, turning back slightly, though his gaze remained fixed ahead. “As you can see, Rihan, we’re probably close to the center of the forest now.”

He raised his hand and pointed forward.

“You see that?”

Rihan and Rayhan followed his line of sight.

A short distance away, in the middle of the open field, something stood out against the barren land.

“...Is that a cave?” Rayhan asked.

“I’m not sure,” Rihan replied slowly. “But from here... it does look like one.”

He then turned toward Ishan.

“So... are we heading there next?”

“Yeah.” Ishan nodded. “Once everyone wakes up, we’ll move forward.”

Rihan fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

“But you already know this, don’t you?” he said quietly. “The deeper we go toward the center of the forest, the more dangerous the creatures become. The last thing we fought...”

His hand slowly clenched into a fist.

“...that monster was completely out of our league. Even with me, Soraya, Afraan, and a member of the Association fighting together, we barely survived. We almost all died just dealing with that one thing alone. So don’t you think—”

“I understand what you’re trying to say, brother.”

Ishan cut him off calmly.

“But we don’t have any other choice.”

Rihan looked at him.

“We can’t get out of this place by doing nothing. We didn’t bring any food with us either. And since there’s no day or night here, we can’t even tell how much time has passed.”

His voice hardened slightly.

“But it’s been at least two days since we entered this gate.”

He turned his gaze toward the dark horizon ahead.

“At this rate, we’re already dying.”

A brief pause.

“So we have to move. Even if it’s dangerous. At least if we keep going forward... there’s a chance.”

A faint resolve settled into his eyes.

“...that we might find something. A way out of this place.”

A brief silence settled between the three of them.

What Ishan said was harsh—but true.

Rihan couldn’t deny it. Still, the shock from the earlier battle clung to him like a shadow, something he hadn’t yet managed to shake off.

“Ah...” Rayhan, the eldest among them, finally broke the silence. “I’ll keep an eye on the injured for now. You two can talk.”

Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away. He had no intention of interfering in matters between the younger ones.

His footsteps faded.

Silence returned.

“What about the others?” Rihan asked at last.

“They’re over there.” Ishan tilted his head slightly, glancing toward the resting group. “All of them are sleeping.”

Rihan followed his gaze.

Soraya and the other Navraan members lay scattered across the open field, their bodies slack, breaths shallow and slow. Armor lay loosened, weapons set aside.

They looked utterly exhausted.

“...Should I wake them up?” Ishan asked, still watching them.

“No.” Rihan shook his head. “It’s fine. Let them rest a bit longer.”

Ishan studied Rihan quietly.

He hadn’t forgotten what Rihan had gone through earlier—watching an ally die right in front of him, standing at death’s door himself. That kind of trauma wasn’t something anyone could brush off easily.

Rihan took a step toward the resting Navraans.

“Ahem.”

Ishan suddenly cleared his throat.

The shift in his tone was immediate.

“Now that I think about it,” he said casually—far too casually—“you looked pretty good back there. With that posture of yours.”

He emphasized every word, slow and deliberate.

“B. R. O. T. H. E. R.”

Rihan froze mid-step.

His shoulders stiffened. His expression twitched—then slowly twisted into a forced smile as he turned back.

“W-What do you mean?”

“Oh, come on, brother.” Ishan’s lips curled into a wicked grin. “You know exactly what I mean, don’t you?”

“Nope.” Rihan turned away instantly, already preparing his escape. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Is that so?” Ishan continued leisurely. “But you know...”

He took a step closer.

“...smiling...”

Another step.

“...eyes closed...”

He dragged out every word on purpose.

“Like a hero...”

“...saving his little sister...”

Rihan stopped.

Slowly, he turned back. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

That same strained smile was still plastered across his face.

’This bastard.’

“Heh... hehe...” Rihan laughed awkwardly. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about, brother. I think you saw someone else.”

“Oh?” Ishan raised an eyebrow. “Funny. I don’t remember saying who I was talking about.”

“...Ah.”

Rihan’s smile twitched.

“Ishan,” he said calmly, far too calmly, “I think you really want to get beaten.”

“Oh?” Ishan shrugged. “Can you even do that? I’m stronger than you, you know.”

Rihan felt his anger boil violently inside him—

—but he kept that smile firmly in place.

’This bastard is doing it on purpose.’

“Ugh... forget it. Arguing with you is pointless.”

With that, Rihan turned and started walking away.

Then—

The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.

“Brother...”

Ishan’s voice was serious now.

“You can’t keep clinging to what happened earlier,” Ishan continued.

“You already know this, don’t you? It’s not your fault that someone died.”

Rihan stopped.

But he didn’t turn back.

“No.”

His voice was low. Dark.

“It was my fault.”

His fingers clenched at his side.

“If I was stronger,” he said quietly,

“it wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Ishan’s expression hardened.

Anger slowly surfaced.

“SNAP OUT OF IT ALREADY!”

His shout echoed through the open field.

Everyone around them turned to look. The murmurs stopped instantly.

Silence.

Ishan slowly lowered his voice, but the intensity didn’t fade.

“You did everything you could in that moment. If it had been anyone else instead of you...”

He paused—just for a second.

“...there would’ve been even more casualties.”

His eyes locked onto Rihan’s back.

“Maybe they all would’ve died before I even reached there.”

The words hit like blunt force.

“At least,” Ishan continued, voice firm,

“you saved three of them.”

Silence followed.

A long, crushing silence.

The kind that pressed down on the chest and made breathing feel heavier.

Then—

Rihan started walking again.

Step.

Step.

Step.

He didn’t say a single word.

And Ishan didn’t stop him.