"Otis, I can't see you."
"Moejang said that Otis and Don Quixote gather intelligence by day and the rest fight by night."
The next morning, Sinclair and I, as ever, pressed our heads together, debating how to climb the cliff.
"There. Do you see it? That protruding ledge. If we step on that, maybe we can jump sideways...?"
"I don't know... probably faster to just roll down."
"Shall we give rolling a shot?"
"What? If you get seriously injured this time, there won't be anyone to treat you!"
"Wouldn't Faust or Lee Sang handle the treatment?"
"Isn't that way too reckless...?"
Maybe. Still, trying something feels more relieving than just sitting here waiting to die.
"Sigh. Let's focus on training our breathing. We're not ready in our current state."
The [National Sword]'s breathing method circulates breath through the entire body. Now I see why Otis stressed its necessity for me. It eases the overload on my body—a sort of coolant system.
"Keep the breathing steady... let it flow naturally..."
They say that once a practitioner attains a certain mastery of the [National Sword], they can maintain this breathing technique in daily life—even while asleep.
"Sinclair. How long has it been?"
"Not even ten minutes yet."
"What? Didn't you say thirty minutes?"
We've been this focused, and it's not even ten minutes?
"It's accurate."
My god… this is outrageous.
"Sigh... at this rate, when are we ever going outside?"
Moejang said she'd let us head out once she judged us ready...
"What is out there beyond here?"
"Huh? You've never been outside this building?"
Is that not obvious? I grew up in back alleys that looked like streets from the Eighties—surrounded by garbage and gangs.
"Is there even anything around here? This place is a complete backwater."
"I think I heard that if we drop down a bit from here, there's a lone village..."
A village... wonder what that means. Thatched huts like this place? Or modern buildings? I'm curious.
"If we sneak down there, I wonder if we'll get jumped?"
"Heading outside the building... I don't know. Isn't it safer here?"
True, but I can't sit here like a magpie trapped in a cage for the rest of my life.
"So in the end, to gain approval, we have to practice diligently?"
"That seems about right. Let's do it again."
Good. Our objective is clear: reach a skill level that lets us safely leave this building.
"Huh? The forest... doesn't it sound a bit unsettled?"
It wasn't the wind. More like the crunch of leaves being crushed en masse by something.
"Those are [Originium Larvae], aren't they?"
[Originium Larvae]. They swarm as common mobs in games—wild infected creatures. I've seen them prowling back alleys. They feed on pine needles, hence their pine-green hue.
"Crawling all the way down here... have they lost their way?"
"I don't know. They say some people even keep these as pets. Should we try raising one?"
"This? Uh, I'll pass."
"I'm not exactly serious... Sinclair? Those things—are there usually this many?"
"What... no. They only swarm like that when a [Catastrophe] hits or if they're under threat..."
[Catastrophe]. The damned force of nature that turned Terra into a hellish landscape, delivering Originium and sapping life. They take forms from ordinary storms and blizzards to meteor strikes—a fiendish variety.
"But Moejang said this place was relatively safe from [Catastrophe]."
In Sherag's icy ranges, high peaks like Mount Karan shield the region, making [Catastrophe] occurrences rare. In fact, historically, the number of [Catastrophe] events here is recorded in tomes so thin they're thinner than Victoria's cookbooks.
"Where are all those creatures coming from, or rather, what are they fleeing from?"
If it isn't a [Catastrophe], then what could drive so many [Originium Larvae] to run?
"This doesn't bode well... let's descend for now."
"...Yeah. That's for the best. Let's head down..."
Thud!!
"What was that just now?"
"A crash coming from behind us!!"
Behind the cliff where we stand—toward the path descending back into the building—several trees lay snapped and scattered.
'What on earth could have broken such a massive tree?'
We're not in a typhoon. Nothing should have enough force to snap a tree that big like that.
"Sinclair... hug the cliff. Something large is coming."
With our backs against the cliff, at least we won't get flanked. Let's see what kind of monster this is.
"That... that's a beast, isn't it?"
A grotesquely large beast. It looks like a bovine, but its horns resemble a deer's antlers. Its eyes glow red, and despite lacking fangs, it appears herbivorous.
'Arrows are embedded in its back. It must have been hunted.'
At any rate, as long as it doesn't see us, we're safe. Move carefully, don't even breathe, stay silent. It'll move on somewhere else.
Grrrrr...
Great. It's just moving on...
Kuwaaaah—!
"No, goddamnit!!!"
We made eye contact! I locked eyes with those bloody-red eyes!
"Climb up, Sinclair! Or we both die!!"
With the mountain this noisy, any [Sword Sect] member will notice and come. We just have to hold out on the cliff until then!
"Don't let fear disrupt your breathing! Focus!"
"Y-yes... got it!"
My survival instincts, sparked by fear, forced me to climb a section of the cliff I couldn't manage moments ago. I'm just above the midpoint, and Sinclair clings just below me.
"What is that thing? How did it just appear?"
"Maybe it came over from another mountain... running wild despite those wounds."
With arrows in its back and lacerations down its legs, yet still rampaging. That's true terror.
"Let's hold here for now. If we don't come down, others will come up. Maybe they already are."
With the sound of trees crashing like that, someone will investigate.
"Huh...? That thing... looks like it's running away."
Indeed. Has it given up and is heading back because we're up here?
"Wait... that thing. Why did it stop there...?"
No... more importantly, why is it turning back toward the cliff?
"No way... right? No, it can't be..."
"Sin... Sinclair. We haven't been together long, but I should say thank you..."
"Don't say that now!!"
But the beast is charging directly toward our cliff.
Thud!!!
"Uwaaah!! Hold on tight! If it pins us, it'll tear us apart!!"
It's crazy—it's actually ramming us!!
Thud!!!!
"Uaaah!!"
"Hold on, Sinclair!!"
During the second charge, Sinclair's hand slipped off the cliff.
"Don't let go! Never let go!!"
"I am... I'm trying...!"
I'm barely hanging on with both hands, and now I have to hold Sinclair too?
"Sinclair. We jump on three. Get ready."
"What? Jump? What then?"
"What else? We have to kill it to survive."
"What? That makes no sense—"
"Get ready! Three!!"
Thud!!!!!
We timed our jump to coincide with the beast's cliff-shattering charge. We tumbled across the ground several times, but that's a hundred times better than being carved to pieces.
"Cough! Get your footing, Sinclair. If you don't pull yourself together now, we're both dead."
"Ugh... okay. Let's do it. Let's do it!"
"Tonight's dinner is beef? Venison? No, that beast is what's for dinner!!"