CHAPTER 11
KWAAAAAANG!

The sound of the airship crashing echoed from a corner of the Fairy Forest. No matter how slowly it had fallen, a mass of that weight was still a catastrophe.
Trees were shattered, and the surrounding area was decimated.
If we had been on board, there wouldn't have even been bones left to collect.
Aranseol and I had escaped safely using the emergency vessel.
The escape vessel was designed to descend to the ground automatically, without needing to be piloted.
Of course, it did have manual controls.
If either of us had any experience flying an airship, we could have piloted our way out, but neither of us had any such skills.
So, we had to be content with just landing on the ground.

“……We’re alive.”
Aranseol muttered blankly.
Just as she said, we had somehow survived.
We may have to cross the Fairy Forest without the aid of an airship, but we were alive.
A cool breeze blowing through the trees brushed past our faces.
It felt good, different from the harsh winds we’d faced high up in the sky.
As expected, people belong on the ground.
“Let’s hurry up and finish this errand.”
I miss my life at the mansion.
Perhaps because of my nonchalant reaction, Aranseol stared at me with a look of disbelief.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Am I that handsome?”
Aranseol’s face contorted in disgust.
She could have just said no. That hurts.
“I just find it amazing that you can be so calm after what we just went through. Harua, you act like you can’t die.”
Sharp one, isn’t she?
I suppose after being revived so many times, it’s become a habit I’m not even aware of.
“Who in this world doesn’t die?”
Right here.
“I’m just pretending to be fine.”
Not that I have any intention of carelessly revealing my resurrection ability.
“I suppose so.”
A bitter smile touched Aranseol’s lips.
“Shishiroka must have felt the same way.”
Shishiroka.
Her name had been mentioned.
“Shishiroka’s final moments. I heard you were there with her, Harua.”
Aranseol was finally opening up about her.
Perhaps she, too, hadn't wanted to fully accept Shishiroka’s death.
After all, they were friends.
“How was she?” Aranseol asked cautiously.
I could feel a faint tremor in her eyes.
She was worried that Shishiroka might have despaired and given up on life.
“She had regrets,” I told her honestly.
“She regretted not being able to try harder.”
Aranseol fell silent.
Her eyes were filled with a deep sorrow.
“……I see.”
A flower I hadn't seen before had been placed on Shishiroka’s grave.
It was a pure white flower that resembled Shishiroka, the same kind that often decorated her room.
I didn't know its name.
I couldn't be expected to memorize the flowers of this world, too.
I only knew that it was the flower Aranseol often gave her as a gift.
I started walking without a word.
Aranseol followed behind me, also silent.
The death of one person can make you think of so many little things.
And yet, we live on amidst many deaths.
In the end, death is an inseparable part of life.
All we could do was indirectly feel the approach of a death that would one day come for us all.

Aranseol and I pressed on through the Fairy Forest.
Just as it looked from the outside, the forest was quite rugged.
Unlike the forests in Korea, sunlight struggled to pierce the canopy, causing the undergrowth to flourish. The trees were massive, and everything was a vibrant, deep green.
The scenery was similar to what I’d seen in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
Fortunately, the dense foliage blocked out much of the heat, and Aranseol looked much more comfortable.
“So this is where it crashed.”
Before long, we arrived at the airship’s crash site. Thankfully, the fire from the wreckage hadn’t spread to the forest.
The trees were too damp to catch fire easily.
“We’re almost there.”
We were close to the Breath Tree, where the fairies actually lived.
I was just about to take another step.
That is, until Aranseol shoved me aside.

KAAAAANG!

A harsh metallic clang rang in my ears.
The next thing I knew, I was tumbling down a steep slope.
“Ugh-gack!”
I couldn’t even scream properly as I rolled down the hill. When I finally managed to get up, my ribs were rattling, a stark reminder of how fragile the human body is.
“Kehek, cough.”
A mouthful of dirt spilled from my lips.
I learned something new.
From now on, don’t scream while rolling downhill.
You’ll just end up eating dirt.
Even though Aranseol had pushed me, I didn’t blame her.
I had my own years of experience working as a pioneer.

That metallic sound just now.
Aranseol had pushed me to protect me from someone.
It was just my luck that it was a downward slope, but something had definitely happened.
And I immediately understood the situation.
“Oh, shit.”
The airship had been shot down by something.
That meant someone had intentionally targeted it.
I should have considered the possibility that the attacker was still in the area.
The dopamine rush from surviving the crash had kept my brain from working properly.
I’m disgusted with my own poor judgment.
This was like walking willingly onto the path to hell.
But there was no time to blame myself.
The attacker had appeared, and the situation had erupted.
All that was left was to figure out how to get through it.

KAAAANG!

Another metallic clang echoed from above.
I grabbed onto tree roots and tough weeds to pull myself up the slope. Another clang rang out.
Through the trees, I could see Aranseol and a man wearing knuckles.
And then I froze.
What the hell is that?
The man had no head.
To be precise, where his head should have been, there was a giant red flower.
Could that be another species?
But even for another species, how could it move without a head?
At least, this man seemed capable of it.
This fantastic otherworld.
It’s so fucking screwed up.

KAAANG!

In that time, Aranseol and the mysterious man clashed again.
Aranseol wielded a longsword with a long reach.
In contrast, the man had only the knuckles on his hands.
And yet, he unhesitatingly closed the distance, stepping inside Aranseol’s reach to throw a punch.
To charge at someone with a sword, you’re either insane…
Or you’re that confident in your skills.
Indeed, Aranseol seemed to be losing her composure.
On top of that, the forest was a restrictive space.
There were too many obstacles for Aranseol to use her swordsmanship to its full potential.
The man, on the other hand, only needed enough room to swing his arms.
The closer the distance between them, the more of an advantage he had.

“Harua, run!” Aranseol shouted.
I don’t think she knew where I was; she just yelled it out.
She knew she was being pushed back.
I knew it from the airship incident, but she’s consistent about trying to save others.
What to do?
I had no intention of running.
I was just trying to figure out how to get out of this situation.
My combat ability is pathetic.
All I have is a little bit of holy magic.
And I haven’t even managed to make my Seed bloom yet.
A holy mage who hasn’t even mastered the basics.
That’s my current status.
Could someone like that jump into a chaotic fight like this and accomplish anything?
I’d be lucky not to get killed by a stray fist or sword.
But I can’t die.
Even if I get hit by a stray fist or sword, I’ll just come back to life after some time.
Resurrection magic.
The hidden card in my hand.
My eyes gleamed quietly.
I could see one way out.

Soun, the Sword Lord.
One of the 11 Lords, and regarded as the greatest of all swordsmen.
Aranseol had gone through all sorts of hardships and efforts just to become his direct disciple.
She worked hard, but she lacked talent.
Soun had tried to teach her time and time again, but she could never fully absorb his lessons.
This fact was both a source of insecurity and regret for Aranseol.
Yet, she never gave up the sword.
Instead, she clung to it, training with even more tenacity.
The reason was simple.
It was to take revenge on the Transferee who murdered her parents long ago.
The murderer had vanished without a trace.
Aranseol had gathered all the information she could to track him down, but she still hadn't found him.
So, all she could do now was swing her sword.
Revenge was the driving force that had sustained Aranseol throughout her life.
Sometimes she wondered what the point was, now that her parents were dead, but this was all she had left.
A life spent struggling with a lack of talent, living only for revenge.
When she heard that her friend Shishiroka had died, for some reason, she felt a sense of release from her own miserable life.
She knew how disrespectful that thought was.
And yet, the fact that she had thought it so carelessly filled her with self-loathing.
Was it because she had harbored such a disrespectful thought toward Shishiroka?
Today.
The day the airship crashed.
She thought that perhaps her lifelong obsession with revenge might finally be coming to an end.
And somehow, she had survived.
But the real crisis comes when you let your guard down.
The man with a flower for a head.
The moment he burst out of the woods, Aranseol knew who he was.

The Arch-Sinner.
A title given to the worst criminals recorded in Astrape.
Sloth of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Cosmic Jac.
He had appeared right there.

Shiver—

A chill ran down her spine, and what she felt along with it was pure, unadulterated killing intent.
Without hiding his murderous intent in the slightest, he had targeted Harua first.
Harua was a Transferee.
And you never knew what kind of Ability a Transferee might possess.
So, it was a predictable move for him to target Harua first.
Ever since her parents were murdered, she had lived with a deep-seated discomfort toward all Transferees.
Harua was no exception.
Even when he had helped her when she was out of her mind with heatstroke.
Even when he had unhesitatingly stepped forward to save people on the airship.
She had only felt a sense of unease.
Opening her heart to him was a different story entirely.
And the sole reason for this was that Harua was a Transferee.
Thanks to that, she realized something.
I am forever bound by the revenge of that day.
She realized just how pathetic a life ruined by revenge was.
Perhaps that was why, as if to deny her own life, Aranseol had somehow managed to push Harua out of the way to save him.
As a result, she had taken the first hit, and her left wrist was struck squarely by his knuckle.
Her left hand, the one holding the sword, throbbed with pain.
Unfortunately, Aranseol was a left-handed swordswoman.
It was only natural that her combat strength would be halved.
Moreover, her opponent was an Arch-Sinner.
She didn’t know why an Arch-Sinner was here.
But it was clear that he was an enemy.
Cosmic Jac was not an absurd monster on the level of the Sword Lord, Soun.
Soun was a powerhouse who stood out even among the Lords.
But that didn't change the fact that her opponent was a skilled fighter.
More importantly, there was a reason why Cosmic Jac was called the Arch-Sinner of Sloth.
He never revealed his true strength.
His current fight with Aranseol was nothing more than a game to him.
And yet, she couldn't break through Cosmic Jac’s attacks.
Every time his knuckle shot out, all Aranseol could do was barely parry it.
He could have ended her life long ago, but his relentless attacks continued, as if he were waiting for his prey to give up on its own.
Then, Cosmic Jac’s attacks suddenly stopped.
“Hey.”
Aranseol seized the opportunity to catch her breath.
“You don’t really have the will to live, do you?”
And Aranseol’s shoulders froze solid.
The emotion that had been unconsciously infused into her sword.
The futility of a life lived for revenge, a life she had grown sick of herself.
Cosmic Jac had read it all.
And that was also proof that Cosmic Jac had killed countless people.
He knew the sword of someone fighting desperately to live better than anyone.
Aranseol’s sword lacked that desperation.
“I crashed the airship thinking Ririran might show up, but then I saw there were survivors, so I came running.”
He twirled the knuckle in his hand as if disappointed.
“And what I found was the laziest woman in the world.”

KAAAANG!

A fist shot up in an instant, deflecting her sword and leaving Aranseol wide open.
The pain from her hand was accompanied by a dull ache in her shoulder.
Aranseol’s eyes widened.
She hadn’t seen it.
She hadn’t seen his fist at all.
Moreover, the power behind that punch was on a completely different level from before.
She knew he was hiding his true strength, but she hadn't realized the gap was this large.
Cosmic Jac had lost interest in Aranseol.
Therefore, he felt no need to continue dealing with her.
Being Sloth, he ends things the moment he loses interest.
It was a very Cosmic Jac thing to do.
Into Aranseol’s guard.
Cosmic Jac closed the distance.
His knuckle shot up toward her abdomen.
This was a punch that could even send a sword flying.
If it hit her in the abdomen, her ribs would shatter, her organs would be turned to pulp, and she would die.
Aranseol instinctively threw her body back with all her might, but it was too late.
She was not at a distance where she could dodge Cosmic Jac’s fist.
To die like this.
Futility and a myriad of other emotions washed over her.
And within those emotions, a very faint…
A truly faint will began to rise.
It was the will to live, something every living creature is naturally endowed with.
Aranseol gripped her sword so tightly it felt like her hand would shatter, and tried to swing it down.
Her arm muscles tore and her bones screamed, but it was a final, desperate act to take him down with her.
But she was painfully aware that she had awakened this will far too late.
His fist was much faster than her sword.
So this is how I die.
Even though my life is like this, I don’t want to die.
Just as Aranseol saw her death right before her eyes.

Fwip!

Behind Cosmic Jac.
Harua leaped out from the bushes.
His hand stretched out with all its might toward Cosmic Jac.
Aranseol’s eyes widened, a look of bewilderment on her face.
Harua was a No-Named, but he was a holy mage.
Unless he was a holy mage on the level of Rapiel, you couldn't expect much combat ability from a typical one.
That’s why she had yelled for him to run, so at least he could survive.
So why was Harua charging at Cosmic Jac now?
It was absolutely not something a sane person would do.
And in that moment.

WHOOSH!

Cosmic Jac pulled back the fist he had thrown, skillfully twisting his body to evade Harua.
Harua landed on the ground in an awkward posture.
In that instant, Cosmic Jac had leaped far away from him.
Aranseol stared blankly, unable to comprehend the situation.
But Harua, with his hand still aimed forward, gasped for breath.
Cosmic Jac was quietly watching Harua.
Aranseol finally understood Cosmic Jac’s and Harua’s intentions.
And a slow, horrifying chill crept up her spine.
Harua was a No-Named.
The moment Aranseol had called out Harua’s name, Cosmic Jac must have known as well.
The reason Cosmic Jac had targeted Harua, a Transferee, first was because of his Ability.
And now that it was revealed that he was a No-Named with a powerful Ability, Harua’s charge must have been based on that powerful Ability.
But in reality, he was a holy mage.
His type of Ability must certainly be related to holy magic.
But Cosmic Jac didn’t know that Harua was a holy mage.
And therefore.
He also didn’t know what his Ability was.
As Aranseol met his eyes, Harua, with beads of sweat on his face, grinned.

Behold, a bullshit artist giving his all.