Boooom!
A thunderous crash echoed from one side of the Fairy Forest as the airship went down.
No matter how slowly it had fallen, something that huge hitting the ground was bound to cause destruction.
Trees collapsed, and the surrounding area was left in ruins.
If we had still been on board, not even our bones would’ve been found.
Aransel and I managed to escape safely using the emergency pod.
The escape pod was designed to land automatically with no piloting required.
Of course, it did have manual controls.
If either of us had any experience flying an airship, we might have used them to steer.
But neither of us had the slightest clue.
So we were content just to have landed on solid ground.
“…We’re alive.”
Aransel murmured blankly.
Just as she said, we had somehow survived.
Of course, we still had to make it through the Fairy Forest without any airship support, but we were alive.
A breeze swept between the trees and gently brushed against our faces.
It felt nothing like the harsh wind we’d faced in the sky. This was cool and comforting.
Humans really were meant to walk on solid ground.
“Let’s hurry up and finish the errand.”
I missed life at the mansion.
Was it because of my nonchalant reaction?
Aransel gave me an incredulous look.
“What’s with that face? Do I look that good?”
Her face twisted into pure disgust.
Honestly, just saying no would’ve hurt less.
“I’m just amazed that you can be so calm after all that. Haru, you act like you’re invincible.”
Sharp observation.
Maybe dying and coming back a few times had made it second nature.
“There’s no such thing as someone who can’t die.”
I’m right here.
“I just pretend not to be.”
Not that I planned on casually revealing my resurrection magic.
“Right.”
A faint, bitter smile touched Aransel’s lips.
“Shishiroka must’ve felt the same way.”
Shishiroka.
That name was spoken.
“I heard… you were there for Shishiroka’s final moments, Haru.”
Only now did Aransel finally bring up Shishiroka.
Maybe… maybe she hadn’t been ready to accept Shishiroka’s death either.
They had been friends, after all.
“What was she like?”
Aransel asked carefully.
There was a faint tremble behind her eyes,
As if she feared Shishiroka might’ve died in despair, having lost hope in life.
“She had regrets.”
So I answered honestly.
“She regretted not being able to do more.”
Aransel went silent.
Her eyes reflected a deep well of sadness.
“…I see.”
Someone had placed an unfamiliar flower on Shishiroka’s grave.
A pure white blossom often used to decorate her room. One that resembled her in its softness.
I didn’t know the name of the flower.
Remembering the names of otherworldly plants was too much to ask.
But I did know one thing. It was the kind of flower Aransel often gave her.
Without another word, I started walking.
Aransel followed quietly behind.
The death of a person stirs memories with even the smallest things.
And yet, amidst many deaths, we keep living.
Because death is inseparable from life.
All we can do is brush past its presence now and then,
Until the day it comes for us.
***
Aransel and I pressed on through the Fairy Forest.
Just as it had seemed from the outside, the forest was rough and wild.
Unlike forests in Korea, sunlight barely filtered through the thick canopy here.
The undergrowth was dense, the trees were large, and everything was colored a vibrant green.
It reminded me more of a Southeast Asian rainforest than anything back home.
Thankfully, the thick foliage kept the heat at bay, and Aransel looked visibly more at ease.
“So this is where we crashed…”
Before we knew it, we arrived at the crash site of the airship.
Thankfully, the flames hadn’t spread to the forest.
The trees were damp enough to keep the fire from catching.
“We’re almost there.”
We were just a short distance from the Breathing Tree, the heartwood tree where fairies actually lived.
But just as I was about to keep walking—
Aransel shoved me out of the way.
Claaaang!
A sharp metallic clang exploded in my ears.
By the time I realized what had happened, I was tumbling down a steep slope.
“Gagh—!”
I couldn’t even scream properly as I rolled all the way down.
Finally, I managed to haul myself up.
My ribs were trembling. It hit me all over again how fragile the human body really is.
“Khff—ugh!”
A mouthful of dirt spilled from my mouth.
Lesson learned.
Don’t scream when you’re falling.
All it gets you is a mouth full of dirt.
I didn’t blame Aransel for shoving me.
I spent a few months as a pioneer, after all. I knew the signs.
That metallic sound just now?
Aransel had pushed me to shield me from someone’s attack.
It just so happened I’d been standing on a slope, which made things worse.
But the bottom line was something had gone down.
And I immediately realized what was happening.
“Ah, shit.”
The airship had been shot down by something.
Which meant someone had deliberately targeted it.
I should’ve considered the possibility that whoever attacked the airship was still nearby.
But I’d let the dopamine rush from surviving cloud my judgment.
Now I was furious at my own stupidity.
I’d practically walked into death with open arms.
But there was no time to wallow in that.
The attacker had already revealed themselves, and the fight was on.
All that mattered now was surviving this mess.
Claang!
Another harsh metallic clang rang out from above.
Grabbing onto tree roots and thick grass, I scrambled back up the slope.
Again, that same sound rang out.
Through the trees, I spotted Aransel—
And a man wearing knuckles on his hands.
And then I froze.
What the hell was that?
The man had no head.
More precisely, in place of a head…
There was a huge red flower.
Was that… another race?
Even if he was, could any creature move without a head?
Apparently, this one could.
God, this fantasy world is really pissing me off.
Claang!
Aransel and the strange man clashed again.
Aransel wielded a longsword with impressive reach.
In contrast, the man had nothing but a pair of knuckles on his hands.
Even so, he boldly closed the distance within Aransel’s reach and threw a punch.
Charging at someone wielding a sword….he was either crazy,
or just that confident in his own skills.
And in fact, Aransel didn’t look entirely composed.
The fight was already happening in the confined space of a forest.
There were too many obstacles for Aransel to fully use her swordsmanship.
On the other hand, the man needed only enough space to swing his arms.
The closer he got to Aransel, the more the fight tilted in his favor.
“Haru, run!”
Aransel shouted at the top of her lungs.
She probably hadn’t pinpointed my location. She was just yelling out instinctively.
She must’ve realized she was being overwhelmed.
Even during the airship incident, she was like this, always trying to save others. Some things never change.
What should I do?
But running wasn’t an option.
All I could do was rack my brain for a way out of this situation.
My combat ability was hopeless.
The only thing I had was a bit of holy magic.
And even that hadn’t yet blossomed.
I hadn’t even laid the groundwork for it.
That was my current state. A holy mage in name only.
Could someone like that really do anything in a chaotic fight like this?
I’d be lucky just not to get killed by a stray punch or sword swing.
But I won’t die.
Even if I take a hit from a random fist or blade, I’ll just come back to life after a while.
Resurrection magic—
My hidden card.
I quietly narrowed my eyes.
There was exactly one way I could break through this.
***
The Sword Lord, So-woon.
One of the eleven Lords, and the one regarded as the greatest with a blade.
Aransel had endured countless trials and put in tremendous effort just to become his direct disciple.
She worked hard but lacked talent.
So-woon had passed down his teachings to her multiple times, but she couldn’t fully absorb them.
That fact was both her complex and her regret.
Even so, she never gave up the sword.
On the contrary, she threw herself into it with even greater determination.
For one reason, and one reason only.
Long ago, it was to take revenge on the Transporter who murdered her parents.
The killer vanished without a trace.
Aransel did everything she could to gather information and track him down, but she still hadn’t found him.
So for now, the only thing she could do was wield her sword.
Fueled by vengeance, Aransel had lived her life with that purpose alone.
There were times she didn’t know what it all meant. After all, her parents were already gone.
But this was all she had left.
Struggling with her lack of talent, living only for revenge—
When she heard that her friend Shishiroka had died,
For some reason, she felt as if her friend had finally been freed from a wretched life.
She knew what an offensive thought that was.
And yet, the fact that it had crossed her mind so naturally made her feel disgusted with herself.
Was it because she had disrespected Shishiroka by thinking that?
Today.
The day the airship crashed.
For a moment, she wondered if the revenge that had bound her for so long might finally come to an end.
And somehow, she survived.
But the real danger always comes when you start to feel safe.
The man with a flower for a head—
The moment he emerged from the forest, Aransel recognized him immediately.
A Great Sinner.
A term used in Astrafe to describe the worst of the worst.
One of the Seven Deadly Sinners. Sloth.
Cosmic Zak.
He had appeared.
A chill—
The shiver that crawled up her spine came with an unmistakable sense of bloodlust.
He didn’t bother to hide his killing intent as he made a beeline for Haru.
Haru was a Transporter.
And Transporters could possess unknown abilities.
So it was only natural that Zak would go after Haru first.
Ever since her parents were murdered, she had lived with a deep discomfort toward Transporters.
And Haru was no exception.
Even when he helped her during her heatstroke,
Even when he risked himself to save others on the airship—
All she felt was reluctant gratitude.
Opening her heart to him was a different matter entirely.
And all because he was a Transporter.
But because of that, she came to a realization.
I’ve been a prisoner of that day’s revenge all along.
She finally saw how pitiful a life consumed by vengeance really was.
Perhaps that’s why—
As if rejecting her own life, Aransel pushed Haru away with all her might in an attempt to save him.
Because of that, she allowed the first strike, taking a direct hit to her left wrist from his knuckle.
Pain throbbed through the hand that held her sword.
Unluckily, Aransel was left-handed.
It was only natural that her combat ability would be halved.
And to make matters worse, her opponent was a Great Sinner.
She didn’t know why a Great Sinner was here.
But one thing was certain. He was the enemy.
Cosmic Zak wasn’t some ridiculous monster like the Sword Lord So-woon.
So-woon was powerful, even among the Lords.
Still, her opponent was undeniably skilled.
But more than anything, there was another reason Cosmic Zak was known as the Great Sinner of Sloth.
He never revealed his true power.
This fight with Aransel, it was nothing more than a game to him.
And yet, she still couldn’t counter his attacks.
Each time his knuckle came flying, all she could do was barely block.
He could have finished her off long ago, yet he kept attacking relentlessly—
As if waiting for the prey to give up on its own.
Then, all at once, Cosmic Zak’s assault came to a halt.
“Hey, you know.”
Aransel seized the chance to catch her breath.
“You don’t really want to live, do you?”
And in that moment, her shoulders stiffened.
The emotion she had unknowingly poured into her sword—
The emptiness of a life driven by revenge, the disgust with herself—
Cosmic Zak had read it all.
And that too was proof of how many lives he had taken.
He knew better than anyone the desperation in the blade of someone who wanted to live.
But he didn’t feel that desperation in Aransel’s sword.
“I thought maybe crashing the airship would lure out Liliran. But then I found a survivor and figured I’d drop by.”
With a hint of disappointment, he twirled his knuckle weapon in his grip.
“Too bad… I ended up with the laziest woman in the world.”
Clang!
In an instant, his fist shot upward, glancing off her sword and sending Aransel’s body flying back.
Pain radiated from her hand, and a dull ache spread through her shoulder.
Her eyes widened in shock.
She hadn’t seen it.
Not even a glimpse of that punch.
What’s more, the power behind his punch was on a completely different level than before.
She had known he was holding back, but she hadn’t expected the gap to be this vast.
Cosmic Zak had lost interest in Aransel.
Which meant he no longer saw any value in continuing the fight.
He was sloth incarnate. Once bored, he brought things to an end.
It was exactly the kind of thing Cosmic Zak would do.
And now, he was in her space.
He had closed in, deep into Aransel’s guard.
His knuckle shot upward toward her abdomen.
It was a punch that could deflect even a sword.
If it landed, her ribs would shatter, her organs would rupture, and she would die.
Aransel instinctively pulled her body back with all her might, but it was too late.
She wasn’t far enough to dodge Cosmic Zak’s fist.
To die like this—
A swirl of emotions washed over her: futility, regret, and sadness.
And within those feelings—
A faint, barely-there will.
So faint, and yet unmistakably real.
The will to live. A natural instinct granted to all living beings.
Clenching her hand around the sword so tightly it felt like it would shatter,
Aransel tried to swing it downward.
Muscles tore, bones screamed in protest—
But this was her final act of desperation, even if it meant mutual destruction.
Yet she realized, too clearly, that she had awakened this will far too late.
His punch was much faster than her sword.
So this is how I die.
Even after all this, I still don’t want to die.
As death loomed right before her eyes—
Pop!
From behind Cosmic Zak,
Haru burst out of the brush.
His hand stretched forward with all his might, reaching for Zak.
Shock widened Aransel’s eyes.
Confusion followed.
Haru was a No-Name. But he was also a holy mage.
Unless he was on the level of someone like Raphael…
You couldn’t expect much fighting power from an ordinary holy mage.
That’s why she had shouted at Haru to run, to do whatever it took to survive.
So why was Haru now charging straight at Cosmic Zak?
There was no way he was in his right mind.
And then—
Whoosh!
Cosmic Zak pulled back the punch he had extended and twisted his body with precision, narrowly dodging Haru.
Haru landed awkwardly on the ground, still off balance.
In that brief moment, Cosmic Zak had already put distance between them.
Aransel’s face went blank. She couldn’t grasp what had just happened.
But Haru stood there, with his arm outstretched, breathing hard.
Cosmic Zak stared at him in silence.
Then, at last, Aransel realized what they were doing.
And a slow wave of horror crept over her.
Haru was a no-name.
The moment she had called out his name, Cosmic Zak would have known.
Zak had gone after Haru first because he was a Transporter. Because of the potential of his unknown power.
Now that it was clear this no-name possessed a powerful ability…
Haru’s reckless charge could only mean one thing—
He had acted based on some overwhelming ability.
But in truth, he was just a holy mage.
And if that was the case, his powers were likely related to holy magic.
Yet Cosmic Zak didn’t know that.
Which meant—
He had no idea what Haru’s ability was.
When Aransel’s eyes met Haru’s,
He flashed a grin through the sweat dripping down his face.
Right now, standing here, is the most convincing liar in the world.
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