System Mission: Seduce the Strongest S-Class Hunters or Die Trying!-Chapter 194: [A SUDDEN LOSS]

Eli stood frozen.

His breath hitched—caught somewhere between his lungs and his throat—because everything suddenly moved in slow motion.

A crack of air.

A blur of movement.

And then—

Kairo appeared in front of him in a violent burst of speed, blood-red aura flaring around him like ignited wings.

"KA—!"

Eli didn’t even finish the name before Kairo swung his blade upward, the crimson pulse of his Pulse Burst rippling through the forest like a shockwave.

The serpent hissed—sharp, startled—its smaller body recoiling from the surge of raw power.

But before Eli could scream, before he could move, before he could even breathe—

Another figure materialized behind Kairo, golden light blooming like a second sunrise.

Caelen.

His eyes glowed bright molten gold, his hand raised, his ability already in motion.

His voice was low. Cold.

"Pain Echo."

The air shuddered.

Eli’s heart lurched violently in his chest.

"NO—!" Eli screamed, his voice raw as he reached out toward the serpent. His fingers stretched, desperate, useless.

But he was too late.

He was too late the moment Kairo arrived.

Kairo’s blade came down with a deafening crack—the same moment Caelen’s ability detonated, releasing every stored fragment of pain he’d absorbed through their battle.

The attacks collided.

Merged.

Amplified.

A dual shockwave exploded outward—blinding white and violent crimson swirling together—like a star imploding.

The serpent let out a broken, choked hiss—

Then it ruptured.

BOOM—!

The blast tore through the clearing.

Chunks of scaled flesh burst into the air, spraying slime and glowing bioluminescent fluid across the forest. Splatter hit the ground like heavy rainfall.

Eli was drenched—soaked in the creature’s remains, the scent sharp and metallic and sickening.

His ears rang.

His vision blurred.

And in the center of the carnage—where the serpent had been seconds ago—there was nothing left.

Nothing.

Eli stared blankly at the empty space, chest rising and falling in small, panicked stutters.

His heart sank.

Crashed.

Shattered.

’It’s... it’s... dead...’

His legs trembled, bile crawling up his throat.

He had killed monsters before.

He had watched monsters die before.

He had helped kill monsters before.

But this—

This felt wrong.

The serpent hadn’t attacked him.

It hadn’t hurt him.

It had tried to communicate with him.

It brought him somewhere for a reason.

It looked at him like it knew him.

It wanted answers—wanted Orion.

And now it was blown apart right in front of him.

Eli’s vision swam.

His stomach twisted painfully.

He wiped his face—and only smeared more slime across his skin.

He felt sick.

He felt disgusted.

He felt... hurt. For some reason.

Kairo and Caelen...

They were both standing there, chests heaving from the force of their combined strike—Kairo with his blade still raised, Caelen with his hand smoking from the backlash of his ability.

Both staring at the carnage.

Both unaware of what they had just done.

And the cruelest part—

They had finally worked together at the exact moment Eli wished they hadn’t.

His inner voice cracked as he whispered:

’You... you weren’t supposed to kill it...’

His fingers curled into fists.

’It wasn’t... trying to hurt me...’

A sharp breath tore from his lungs, heavy and trembling.

’Why... why did it have to be now...?’

But Eli couldn’t blame them entirely.

Not fully.

Not when he forced himself to see it from their eyes — two S-Class hunters who had spent their whole lives treating monsters as threats, disasters, catastrophes waiting to happen.

They saw an SS-Class monster.

They saw it weakened.

They saw an opportunity.

They didn’t know the serpent brought him here.

They didn’t know it spoke to him.

They didn’t know it knew Orion.

They didn’t know anything.

Eli shut his eyes for a moment, swallowing the ache rising in his throat. He inhaled slowly, deeply — trying to steady the tremble in his chest.

Then he forced his eyes open again.

Both Kairo and Caelen were staring at him.

Kairo tense, jaw tight, his expression twisted between panic, anger, and relief.

Caelen standing tall, golden eyes bright but unreadable, slime dripping down his arm like it meant nothing.

Eli tried to smile.

Tried to sound grateful.

"Thank you for finding me," he said quietly.

But it came out flatter than he intended. Hollow around the edges.

Kairo stepped forward immediately, closing the distance in two strides. "Are you hurt? What happened? Why was the serpent smalle—"

He didn’t get to finish.

Caelen shoved him aside with an annoyed grunt. "Move."

Kairo stumbled back, glaring, but Caelen ignored him completely.

Instead, Caelen crouched in front of Eli, eyes scanning him from head to toe — not with his usual arrogance, but with something... tighter.

Thinner.

More controlled.

Concern...?

"Sweetheart," Caelen murmured, voice low, eyes narrowing as he inspected a smear of glowing blue slime on Eli’s cheek. "You had me worried sick."

Eli blinked, startled.

Caelen almost never used that tone.

Soft.

Steady.

Almost... grounding.

"When I saw Kairo get spit out and you weren’t anywhere..." Caelen continued, jaw clenching as he brushed a piece of dried serpent mucus off Eli’s shoulder, "I thought you died."

He let out a shaky breath — one he clearly didn’t want anyone to notice.

"But I knew you were smart enough," Caelen added, his voice dropping to something rougher, almost scolding. "I knew you’d find a way to survive."

Eli stared at him.

At both of them.

Eli didn’t know what to say.

His mouth opened... closed... opened again. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Nothing came out.

There was nothing inside him at all.

Just that strange, numb buzzing in the back of his skull — the kind that felt like someone had pressed his mind between two fingers and squeezed too hard.

Because no matter how "worried" Caelen sounded...

No matter how furious Kairo looked...

No matter how relieved they both seemed...

Eli couldn’t stop staring at the thick splatter of glowing blue slime sliding slowly down his arms, dripping off his fingertips onto the dirt.

The serpent’s remains.

The serpent that had tried speaking to him.

The serpent that had protected him.

The serpent that had looked at him with what could only be described as hope.

Gone.

He swallowed hard, lifting his gaze slowly.

Kairo was still glaring at Caelen — chest heaving, shoulders tense — but when his eyes met Eli’s, just for a second... the fury melted. Something softer broke through.

Fear. Worry. Relief so sharp it almost looked painful.

Kairo took a step toward him. Then another. This time slower, like he was afraid Eli might dissolve if he moved too fast.

"Eli... seriously." His voice cracked slightly. "What happened? Why was it smaller?"

Eli didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

Kairo’s gaze drifted behind Eli—

—and froze.

"What... is that?" Kairo asked, voice suddenly sharp.

Caelen’s head snapped in the same direction. His brows furrowed hard. "Is that... a building? In the middle of a forest... in a dungeon?"

Of course they’d notice it.

The eerie, unmistakably human architecture.

Eli opened his mouth — heart racing, hands trembling — ready to tell them.

Ready to explain.

Ready to tell them everything inside that lab.

Everything the serpent had shown him.

Everything he’d found, and everything he didn’t understand.

But the moment the first word formed—

FWWMP—

The air around them shook.

A sound like fabric ripping, but deeper — like the world itself splitting open.

All three of them whipped toward the forest just as a blast of bright blue light shot upward, spiraling through the canopy like a beacon.

Eli’s breath stopped.

Kairo’s eyes went wide.

Caelen took a step forward, posture suddenly rigid, every hunter instinct snapping into focus.

And then—

The ground beneath their feet began to glow.

Lines of cyan light stitched themselves into the grass, carving perfect circles beneath them. Runes coiled outward in spirals, each symbol igniting with a bright, ethereal pulse.

Eli’s throat closed.

"No way..." he whispered.

The light built — blinding, overwhelming — then condensed inward, rising like a pillar before snapping into shape.

A towering rectangular gateway burst into existence, shimmering with cyan and white.

The dungeon exit gate.

Right in front of them.

Caelen exhaled sharply, almost in disbelief. "Hah. Guess it’s finally over. Faster than I expected."

But even his voice wavered.

Just a little.

Kairo didn’t move.

His fists trembled, eyes locked onto the swirling blue portal, refusing to blink.

"So it really is done?" he whispered. "It was... that easy? That quick?"

His voice cracked.

He looked like he wanted to deny it.

Like he didn’t trust it.

And how could he?

Because the truth burned bright and merciless in front of them:

The exit had opened.

Which meant the serpent—the SS-Class boss—was truly dead.

’It’s time to go home then.’

The thought should have felt like relief.

It didn’t.

Eli’s chest tightened painfully, like someone had wrapped a cold hand around his ribs and squeezed.

A hollow ache crept into the space where confusion used to sit.

’This is good... right?’

He didn’t know why the answer tasted bitter.

He felt sick.

He felt small.

He felt... strangely, unbearably alone.

And he couldn’t understand why.

Caelen took a step back, scanning the shredded treeline. "We need to go. Arman and the others probably followed the serpent’s trail—they’re somewhere behind us."

Kairo nodded stiffly, though his jaw clenched so hard it looked like it hurt.

He looked frustrated... but also like he wanted nothing more than to stay beside Eli and not let him out of his sight.

"We’ll get them," Kairo said, voice low and tight. "Just—stay here. Don’t move."

Caelen shot him a glare sharp enough to cut bark. "I don’t need you telling him that."

"I’ll say what I want," Kairo snapped back, instantly, his voice cracking with leftover panic.

Eli blinked between them, exhausted.

He didn’t have the strength or the mental willpower to care about their arguing right now.

Not when the serpent’s slime was drying on his skin like a fading memory.

Not when the creature that tried speaking to him—understood him—was now dead because of them.

Because of him.

He didn’t know how to carry that.

Both S-Class hunters hesitated—not used to leaving him alone, not after everything. Their eyes lingered on him, searching, worried, almost guilty.

Caelen stepped forward first. His voice was steady, but his brows were furrowed. "We’ll be right back. Don’t wander."

Kairo stepped closer too—closer than Caelen had—and his voice softened in a way Eli had never heard before. Almost pleading. "Eli... stay put. You hear me?"

Eli nodded.

Barely.

It felt like his body was on autopilot.

Kairo’s eyes flickered—hurt, worry, something complicated—but he didn’t say more. Caelen didn’t say more either.

They both looked at him for a moment longer.

Long enough to register how shaken he really was.

Long enough for Eli to know they wanted to say something else—an apology, maybe, or something like it—but neither of them did.

Then—

WHOOSH.

Two blurs of red and gold shot into the forest, wind cracking in their wake as they vanished to search for their teams.

The clearing fell silent.

Utterly, painfully silent.

Eli stood alone in the middle of the destruction.

The wind tugged at his clothes gently, brushing dried slime off his sleeves, carrying away every sound except the dull pounding in his chest.

But the ache there—

That stayed.

Slowly, he turned toward the exit gate.

Its bright cyan glow lit the clearing, humming softly.

A way out.

A way home.

A way back to safety.

Back to normal.

But staring at it... Eli felt nothing like victory.

It felt like a sudden loss.