I’m a Young God, Won’t You Raise Me?

The black goggles displayed no emoji.

They simply reflected my face with perfect clarity.

The face I saw reflected in them was completely rigid.

Silence fell over the place.

Neither Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno nor I opened our mouths.

As that stillness weighed heavily on the atmosphere, a cheerful notification rang out.

The sun is setting! The sun’s heat has disappeared from the dungeon, and night has arrived.

What kind of adventures await you in the nighttime dungeon?

It was the notification that the daytime dungeon had ended.

I could feel the scorching heat that had filled the dungeon beginning to fade.

I slowly parted my lips.

“Lieutenant Colonel Je.”

There was no response.

I had killed Gorgos, so he should have awakened from the illusion spell.

Just as I was about to call him again.

I stepped back on pure instinct.

Slash!

The ground where I had been standing only a moment before was deeply cleaved.

Where his metallic hand had passed, it left marks like those of a beast that had raked the ground with its claws.

I swallowed.

I remembered what Kwak Hanmuk had said in Death Zone Deal.

As long as emojis appeared on the goggles, it meant he was still in his right mind.

I looked at those completely dark goggles and called out to him again.

“Lieutenant Colonel Je, are you alri… agh!”

He swung his hand again.

I dodged the path of the metallic hand, but it was useless.

Several black crescent blades fell toward me, and one of them finally managed to draw blood.

I had only just escaped from the thorny vines, and I had already suffered another wound.

“Mr. Gunbam.”

Dominic called to me.

I hurriedly whispered,

“No, I’m fine. I’ll handle this myself.”

Under no circumstances could I accept his help.

Dominic had already put on far too spectacular a display of magic.

Even if I only asked him to restrain Lieutenant Colonel Je, he might use that same magic again and then say it had been an “accident.”

If that ray struck him, not even Je Hyuno would come out of it unharmed.

I had to face him alone.

The problem was my class.

I was a Chef.

Naturally, I had no offensive skills, nor did I have a decent weapon.

I had filled my inventory with cooking ingredients, so I wasn’t even carrying any healing items.

There was no way for me to recover my health.

However, there was one possibility.

Je Hyuno wasn’t actually trying to attack me.

His movements felt more like he was trying to keep me away.

If he had truly wanted to kill me, the black crescent blades he had just launched would have already pierced my vital points.

‘The fact that it only grazed my forearm…’

Against Je Hyuno, that couldn’t even be considered a serious warning.

In fact, his attacks carried far less force than usual.

That was exactly what worried me.

He really seemed to be in very bad condition.

I watched him with a tense expression.

Surprisingly, after launching the black crescents, he stopped attacking.

He simply stood there motionless.

For a moment, I actually hoped I might be able to bring him back to his senses by talking to him.

Clack.

Je Hyuno suddenly spread his wings.

The six metallic wings unfolded with the sound of metal scraping against metal, casting an ominous shadow.

If he launched all of his metallic feathers from that position, I would die instantly and end up on Infernum’s table.

But then I felt a strange certainty.

I was convinced he wouldn’t attack me.

However, that certainty didn’t reassure me.

On the contrary.

The unease inside me only grew stronger.

Craaaack.

At the same moment the sound of scraping metal rang out, Je Hyuno disappeared.

He shot forward at a speed I could barely follow with my eyes.

The destination of his charge was.

The dungeon wall.

Booom!!!

The wall shattered into pieces.

However, since it was a space sustained by magic, it did not remain destroyed and immediately began reconstructing itself.

Before it had even regained its smooth surface.

Je Hyuno slammed his head into it again.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The sound of the impacts never stopped.

Dominic asked with obvious confusion,

“Is that also an ability unique to a Berserker?”

Still unable to understand what was happening, I reacted too late.

“Lieutenant Colonel Je!!”

His sharp metallic wings completely surrounded him.

I couldn’t even get close enough to touch him.

A curse escaped my lips.

I had been prepared to dodge his attacks.

But I had never imagined I would have to stop him from smashing his own head against a wall like this.

I mentally reviewed the items I was carrying.

Fortunately, there was one that might help.

Infernal Oven Gloves: Thick cooking gloves reinforced with lava crocodile leather. Ideal for cooking at extreme temperatures. .

They were a Chef-exclusive item that the 29th-floor Boss, the Pyromaniac Goblin, dropped with a low probability.

I had been saving them to use as cooking equipment, but they also had fairly high defense.

And above all, they were thick gloves.

They should be able to block the metallic feathers, at least to some extent.

I quickly put them on and ran toward Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno.

Using the gloves, I pushed the metallic wings aside.

I tried to avoid touching the edges of the blades as much as possible, but it was impossible to block them completely.

The gloves were torn apart almost immediately, and the blades reached my hands.

The cold steel grazed my palms.

My body shuddered on instinct, but I forced myself to keep moving.

I managed to grab Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno by the forearm.

Almost collapsing, I pulled him with all my strength.

“Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno, come back to your senses…!”

I thought he would resist.

However, Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno moved away from the wall in exactly the direction I pulled him.

He took a couple of steps back and looked down at me.

“……”

My face was reflected on the smooth surface of his goggles.

Then, he slowly turned his head and raised his metallic hand.

A horrifying sound echoed.

Crunch!

My eyes widened.

The heavy scent of blood spread through the air.

With a metallic crash, one of his wings fell to the ground.

Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno was tearing off his own wings with his bare hands.

One of them landed intact on the stone floor.

I froze as I stared at the scene.

And when he started tearing off the second one.

I shouted in alarm.

“Je Hyuno!!”

I hurriedly activated my skill.

‘Restriction.’

The metallic hand gripping the wing froze in place.

Taking advantage of the brief moment I had gained, I tried to pick up the fallen wing.

But there was no need.

The wing began moving on its own before my eyes.

Clink… clink.

It broke apart into dozens of metallic feathers.

Soaked in blood, they returned to their owner one by one.

The feathers fused with the torn flesh and reconstructed the wing.

As though it had never been torn off.

It became exactly as it had been before, without the slightest trace.

The only proof that he had truly ripped it off was the blood covering the metallic feathers and the blood dripping between my fingers.

Restriction was released.

Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno, who had remained motionless, immediately tore off his wing again the moment he regained movement.

I cast Restriction once more.

The metallic hand froze again, but only for an instant.

As soon as the effect wore off, he tore off his wings again.

No matter how many times he ripped them off and threw them away.

It was useless.

As if his regeneration meant nothing, the wings restored themselves over and over again.

Even knowing it accomplished nothing.

He continued tearing them off.

No matter how many times I cast Restriction, as soon as its effect ended, he would hurt himself again.

Blood began pooling at his feet.

This was never going to end.

I clenched my teeth.

‘Then we’ll have to do it.’

Keeping my eyes fixed on Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno, I activated another skill alongside Restriction.

‘Restriction, Protection.’

Protection didn’t seem like an appropriate skill for this situation.

It was meant to block attacks from outside.

Not to stop someone from harming themselves.

But I had to try something.

Anything.

I just wanted to stop Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno.

Perhaps because I had activated two skills in such rapid succession.

I felt an intense burning sensation in my eyes.

Reflected in his goggles, my pupils glowed with a golden radiance.

Those eyes were different from usual.

Strange.

And at the same time, strangely familiar.

I felt that I shouldn’t keep using my abilities.

But I had no intention of stopping.

I didn’t want to keep watching one of my family members hurt himself with his own hands.

That was something I couldn’t allow.

Above the head of Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno, immobilized by Restriction, a golden veil descended.

The moment the veil covered him.

Restriction disappeared.

I was already prepared to cast it again.

But Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno did absolutely nothing.

He remained motionless.

As though he were still bound by my Restriction.

He only slowly raised his head.

The ceiling of the dungeon was completely sealed.

Not a single fragment of the sky could be seen.

And yet.

He gazed into the emptiness as if searching for the stars.

Only then did I realize he wasn’t looking at the stone ceiling.

He was looking at the veil of Protection.

Bathed in that golden light, Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno remained perfectly still.

He did not move until the veil disappeared.

When Protection’s duration ended, the golden glow began to fade.

The veil shattered as though it were disintegrating.

Fragments of light drifted slowly downward.

Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno slowly raised his metallic hand.

He tried to catch that fading light.

But that hand, capable of cutting through anything.

Could grasp nothing.

At last, he lowered his arm.

I watched him with my nerves stretched to their limit.

“That was an excellent use of your abilities, Mr. Gunbam. Thanks to that, this Berserker seems to have calmed down. Although, if you intend to keep him by your side as one of your family members… hmm, I think he’ll need a little education.”

I heard Dominic’s praise, but I barely paid attention.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno.

I was afraid he would smash his head against the wall again.

Or start tearing off his wings once more.

Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno turned toward me.

Click.

He removed his goggles and lifted them onto his head.

His eyes, now completely visible, locked onto mine.

The contrast between the color of his irises and his pupils was striking.

His gaze was perfectly calm.

It was hard to believe he was the same person who had been acting like a madman only moments earlier.

He reached his hand toward me.

The sharp tip of his metallic hand pointed directly at my eyes.

The blade stopped right in front of them.

I admit I was afraid he would pierce them.

But I didn’t step back.

I simply waited.

In the end, the hand that had seemed ready to gouge out my eyes slowly withdrew.

“Have you regained your senses?”

Lieutenant Colonel Je Hyuno silently looked at me.

“Goyo.”

I parted my lips.

“Yes, Lieutenant Colonel.”

The voice distorted by (Zero) scraped against my ears with its harsh tone.

“You really do have a death wish.”

“I… actually want to keep living.”

“Then why didn’t you run?”

After I had destroyed my eyes using my abilities to save him.

That was the only thing he could think of saying.

Even though I was getting angry.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but smile.

Because I could feel that he had truly regained his sanity.

“Because without you, Lieutenant Colonel, I don’t have enough space in my Inventory.”

I looked him straight in the eyes.

“So let’s leave together.”