Chapter 256: Information
Alex looked around the room, but his vision suddenly felt as if it had been pulled farther away from him. His ears began ringing, and for some reason, breathing suddenly required conscious effort, as though his body had forgotten how to do something so simple.
’Calm down. Mom could just be in another room,’ he thought, but somewhere inside, he already knew the truth. His Advanced Battle Instinct was merciless when it came to situations like this, forcing him to consider every possibility, derive every conclusion, and counter every argument until only the most likely answer remained.
Alex took one step forward, then another, and another. His entire body felt strange as he continued walking toward the bed, almost as if someone else was controlling him and moving his arms and legs while Alex simply watched from somewhere inside his own mind.
The ringing in his ears continued growing louder. Was this what happened when someone experienced a loss?
The thought crossed his mind, but even that thought felt distant. Alex felt detached from everything around him, including his own emotions and body, as if he were merely an observer watching something happen to someone named Alex Mercer.
A heaviness slowly began rising from his heart. It felt as though something was twisting it from the inside, but even that pain seemed strangely distant because of the detachment surrounding his mind.
Alex eventually stopped beside the bed and looked toward his father.
"It’s good to see you’re here. Did one of the search parties find you?" he asked, the words sounding strange to his own ears.
"Yes," his father answered with a nod.
Alex looked at his younger sister, who was still crying beside the bed. He gently patted her head before turning his attention back toward his father and asking, "How are you feeling right now? Do you have any injuries?"
His father shook his head. The man’s eyes were deeply exhausted, and there was a weakness in them that Alex had never seen before, making him look as though he might break down and cry at any moment.
For the first time in his life, Alex saw Andrew Mercer looking weak. The father Alex knew had always been strong, and whenever something went wrong, his father had been the person who remained calm and found a solution.
Even when things became difficult, Andrew had always given Alex the impression that everything would eventually be fine as long as he was there. But now, that same man looked helpless, and the sight made the heaviness inside Alex’s heart increase.
Alex immediately began pouring more mana into his mind and soul. With his improved mana control, he compressed the mana before sending it through his mind, reinforcing his thoughts and pushing his emotions deeper beneath his consciousness.
His focus increased, but the emotions did not disappear. Alex could still feel something twisting inside his chest, yet the Advanced Battle Instinct prevented those emotions from overwhelming him, almost as if his mind had decided that dealing with them could wait until later.
"What about Mom?" Alex finally asked.
His father didn’t answer, while Ava’s crying became louder. Alex slowly looked around the room and noticed that his friends were watching him, with Sophia in particular looking extremely worried about him.
Alex was currently using his Advanced Battle Instinct Spell, so from the outside, he probably looked calm and composed, almost unnaturally so. That made him wonder why Sophia was looking at him like that until he suddenly understood.
’She’s a Priest. She can automatically absorb Will from the surrounding area. She must have noticed that my Will is increasing, but she can’t absorb it because I’m controlling it with a spell. She probably realized that I’m using the spell to suppress my emotions.’
Alex shifted his gaze back toward his father. After several seconds of silence, the man finally spoke.
"...She’s no more."
Alex nodded, but his insides twisted even more violently. Despite having his Sustained Breathing Spell active, he suddenly felt as though there wasn’t enough air in the room, yet the strange detachment remained and made everything feel unreal.
It felt as though these things were happening to the body of Alex Mercer rather than to him. He knew that his mother was dead, understood what those words meant, and could even logically explain how it had happened, but none of it felt real.
"Can you tell me what exactly happened?" Alex asked.
"I... don’t know," his father replied quietly. "I woke up around five in the morning after returning from the Land of Origin. The buildings around us had already been destroyed. Somehow, I wasn’t crushed, but..."
His father stopped speaking, but he didn’t need to finish. Alex understood what had happened.
He silently calculated the time in his mind. He had returned from the Land of Origin for the first time at around four in the morning, while his father had returned at approximately five.
Even if there had been no monster involved, considering the distance between them at the time, Alex wouldn’t have been able to reach his parents before six in the morning. The building had also likely collapsed during the earthquakes that had occurred when the System first arrived, which meant that from the beginning, there had been nothing he could have done.
Alex’s heart shook, and the ringing in his ears grew louder. His expression remained calm because the Advanced Battle Instinct continued forcing his mind to function normally, but the effort required to maintain that calmness was increasing.
"I see," Alex finally said. He swallowed the rising lump in his throat before continuing, "Please rest for now and take care of yourself. We’ll handle the funeral after the situation here settles down."
His father nodded silently. Alex remained beside the bed for a little longer, asking a few more questions about what had happened, if his mother was also a Pioneer, and making sure his father had no serious injuries.
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