Transmigrated as The Forgotten Extra-Chapter 129 Collapse.

The first thing Cain saw was Senior Luna running toward him.

Without any warning, the girl wrapped both her arms around his back, hugging him tightly.

However, instead of comfort or warmth, what Cain felt was weight, pressure, caused by the hard armour suit Luna was wearing.

He gently patted her side, causing her to loosen her grip. Luna stepped back, finally realizing what she had done.

From behind her visor, Cain could clearly see the flush on her cheeks, but it vanished the moment Luna shook her head lightly and asked.

"Are you alright?"

Her blue eyes scanned Cain from head to toe. She lightly patted her own chest and let out a short breath of relief when she saw no visible injuries on him.

Cain nodded, straightened his posture, and replied calmly,

"As you can see. I’m fine."

"I’m glad."

Just after Senior Luna said that, hurried footsteps echoed from behind. The source was Cain’s four teammates, who ran over and came to a stop.

They paused briefly, looking between Cain and Senior Luna. Their breathing was ragged—not from running, but from the battle earlier.

It seemed the fight was still echoing in their minds.

That was understandable. It had been an extremely dangerous battle.

A dark, cramped terrain. An enemy count that felt endless, hiding behind layers of blackness. Even veteran soldiers would’ve chosen to retreat in such a situation.

Yet Cain’s group chose to fight. They fought and survived, gaining valuable combat experience.

That aside, Abel let out an exaggerated sigh and stepped forward, his yellow eyes staring straight into Cain’s.

"Cain, are you really okay?"

Cain nodded lightly, and Abel began scanning his body, finding no visible wounds.

"I’m glad."

Abel lowered his head briefly, then lifted his face again and spoke,

"Cain, put your armour suit back on. This place is dangerous!"

"Abel’s right. Why did you take it off during the fight? And besides..."

Rika cut in, but her words trailed off. She inhaled deeply, trying to steady herself and wash away the lingering tension from the battle. She looked straight at Cain and said,

"Put it on. Before it’s too late."

The red-haired girl spoke firmly. Perhaps because the virus infection inside Cain was still minimal and hadn’t shown clear symptoms yet, she urged him to seal himself off before it became irreversible.

It wasn’t strange for her to react this way.

From the books Cain remembered, awakened bodies possessed high resistance to cosmic viruses and could neutralize small amounts once they entered the body.

However, that was a different story if the virus had already shown visible symptoms—like twitching crimson lines that looked alive.

Once that happened, even the best doctors wouldn’t know how to cure it, at least for now.

From the side, Louise nodded furiously. She raised her hand to her visor—a habit she had whenever she felt flustered.

"P-Please hurry, leader."

Peter, standing beside her, stared at Cain, his arms crossed over his chest as if silently pressuring him.

Faced with everyone’s concern, Cain merely shrugged and lowered his head, deep in thought.

This may be the right time to be more open with one another.

For too long, there had been an unspoken rule within their group: never pry into each other’s past lives.

With this small step, they could move closer, building an unshakable bond as the foundation of the team he led.

Besides, Cain didn’t want to abandon Louise, who had already opened up about the darkness in her heart to him and the others.

What kind of leader would refuse to act when one of his teammates dared to step out of her comfort zone?

Especially when that teammate was the once-shy girl, that alone would put his position as a leader into question.

Cain chuckled softly and raised his head. His black eyes swept over everyone around him before he spoke,

"Relax. You guys might not know this, but my body has an exceptional ability to adapt. I’m immune to cosmic viruses, and I can even store them as reserve power."

Hearing that, all four of his teammates stiffened. They stood like statues, their minds grinding to a halt, unable to process what he had just said.

Noticing the silence, the grey-haired boy clarified,

"No need to worry. Like I said, I won’t be infected by cosmic viruses. In fact, situations like this are beneficial to me; I can store extra power for emergencies."

Even after that explanation, they remained silent. Their thoughts scattered in every direction, turning the area eerily quiet.

The silence lingered for a few seconds before Abel finally broke it.

"Whoa... just as expected from Cain. You’re amazing!"

As usual, his straightforward tone and sparkling eyes eased the tension around them.

The blond boy continued, raising his thumb into the air while winking, causing his childhood friend beside him to let out a long sigh and slap her helmet visor, clearly exasperated by all the information.

"So that’s how it is. That makes sense now. You were infected before, there’s no way you could’ve recovered without an adaptive body..."

Rika muttered to herself.

Not wanting to let her spiral too deeply into her thoughts, Cain shifted his attention to the other two. He saw Louise glance left and right, hesitant, before nodding and raising her thumb.

"I-I understand now."

Meanwhile, the blue-haired boy beside her stared at the ground, lost in his own thoughts.

Considering Peter’s calm and cautious personality, it was natural that this revelation would be hard for him to swallow.

Still, the trust he had built with the group eventually won out.

Peter lifted his head and shrugged in surrender.

"Looks like we’ll have a lot to talk about later, right, leader?"

Hearing that, Cain nodded, his lips curling into a small smile.

"Yeah. You’re right."

With the ice finally broken, Cain and the others began chatting lightly, reviewing the battle they had just fought.

Even though they were surrounded by darkness, scrap metal was scattered everywhere. The stench of rotting flesh and black fluid lingering in the air, their spirits weren’t dampened.

If anything, they felt more fired up.

"Oh, right. Cain, about that technique you used earlier. That was the first time I’ve ever seen it."

Abel’s question drew everyone’s attention to the grey-haired boy.

Cain raised an eyebrow, carefully choosing the words he would say next.

It felt hypocritical. Cain had decided to be more open, yet now he had to pull back again.

But in this case, he saw no other option.

The technique he used earlier was a modification of one taught by Master Kenji, altered using the principles of Abel’s Heavenly Slash, which Cain had copied.

Cain pressed his lips together, feeling guilty about what he was about to say, but decided to be honest, at least partially.

"Oh, that technique... well?!"

Before he could continue, a massive rumble reverberated across the ravine from behind him.

Cain’s body tensed instantly. His left hand, resting on the katana embedded in the ground, tightened around the hilt.

He turned around, and instead of fading, the rumbling spread throughout the entire area, shaking the once-calm atmosphere.

A moment later, black mist surged forward like a dust storm, slamming into Cain head-on. He reflexively raised his free hand to shield his eyes.

A few seconds later, the storm subsided. Cain tried to take a short breath, but coughed as dry, dirty air filled his lungs.

"Cough!"

"Cain, are you okay?!"

From the side, Senior Luna’s voice rose slightly, unable to hide her concern.

Cain raised one hand and straightened his posture, staring into the seemingly endless darkness ahead. He grit his teeth, wondering if a second massive monster had caused the storm.

’It can’t be right?’

For a moment, he glanced at the massive monster’s body, now turned into minced scrap. Cain shifted at his right hand, clenching it several times. His brows furrowed as soreness and fatigue surged through his muscles, as he’d just lifted weights to the point of hypertrophy.

Thankfully, the backlash from his Limit Break skill was only temporary muscle pain, nothing like the first time.

Still, that didn’t change the fact that Cain was currently in no condition to fight.

If he forced himself now, the others would follow, and the entire group would be wiped out.

"We have to get out of here."

His mind was convinced they needed to escape this pit of darkness. Yet his instincts betrayed him.

Cain stood there, staring blankly into the ravine.

Time passed in dreadful silence.

One second.

Two.

Three.

When the count passed ten, Cain finally moved. But instead of retreating, he stepped forward, walking straight into the black curtain obscuring his vision.

"Cain?"

He stopped when a firm grip caught his hand. The boy looked over his shoulder, locking eyes with Luna for a few seconds before gently patting her arm.

"Trust me. Nothing’s going to happen."

At first, the girl hesitated. But after glancing at Cain’s other teammates and seeing them nod, Luna finally released her grip.

"Alright. But remember, if anything happens, we leave immediately."

"Alright. I promise."

Cain nodded, then turned his attention forward and continued walking.

He moved slowly, passing piles of cold scrap metal, showing no sign of life. The foul stench in the air assaulted his senses, contorting his face in disgust, but he gnashed his teeth, pressing on until he stopped before a cliff face.

Cain looked up. A massive pile of rock formed a small mountain, the result of a collapse from the towering ridge ahead.

But that wasn’t all.

His eyes, already accustomed to the darkness, caught something bizarre, something he couldn’t immediately put into words.

"What in the world?"

Behind the collapsed rocks, Cain saw a flat wall made of a mixture of iron and concrete with long gashes carved into it by his earlier attack.

"Is that a wall?"

The question echoed through the depths of the ravine.

The same thought surfaced among his teammates, rekindling their original goal of exploring the area to find a water source.

Instead, they had discovered ruins hidden behind a collapsed cliff.