Slap, slap.
Hmm.
What is it?
My mind is hazy, and I just want to keep lying here, but the persistent slapping sound coming from somewhere is really distracting.
Plus, both my cheeks feel stinging.
"Ugh..."
My brain was ordering me to stay lying down, but as the sound grew faster and my cheeks stung more, I had no choice but to sit up.
Only then could I see the source of the sound.
The Isolation God, tears in its eyes, was slapping my cheeks with both hands as if they were drums.
Ah.
Right.
I was clearly attacked by the Gardener...
"Oww."
As blood began to circulate, a sharp pain spread throughout my body.
It hurt so much I checked to see if I had any wounds, but there wasn't a single external injury.
I could have sworn it felt like I had a hole in my stomach...
It was like a game character who takes no visible damage no matter how much HP they lose until it's completely depleted, only dying once it hits zero.
Seeing that there weren't even any bruises, let alone wounds, it seemed that mechanism was correct.
Ha, so Super Coward Mode censors even this, huh?
If that's the case, then my current state in game terms would be 'critical health' or 'one hit from death.'
To take this much damage from a mere mob's attack, not even a direct hit from the Outer God...
It sent shivers down my spine.
If a mere Outer God could do this, what about the Watcher, who's of a higher rank? If they had been hostile to us...
Just the thought was dizzying, so I shook my head to forget it.
Anyway, I gained something from this.
Thanks to Super Coward Mode, even if mental fear is managed, if there's a vast physical gap between me and my opponent, there's nothing I can do.
I got beaten up and was knocked out for a brief moment, but it confirmed something I was only vaguely aware of.
A valuable experience... if you could call it that?
Slap, slap, slap.
"...I'm awake. You can stop now."
I stopped the Isolation God, which was still slapping my cheeks, and it rushed at me with a pouty face, so I soothed it for now.
Somehow, the places the Isolation God slapped stung more than where the Gardener hit me.
If I looked in a mirror right now, would there be cute little handprints left behind?
As if not giving me time for such cute thoughts, the flower-like creatures that had attacked me earlier were closing in.
Looking around, fortunately, there were still gaps to escape through.
"Friend, which way is the escape route?"
I asked, but the Isolation God still only pointed toward the Gardener.
What intention does it have, persistently pointing at the Gardener?
Considering it slapped my cheeks to wake me up when I was in danger of dying again, it probably doesn't want me dead.
"Alright, is that it?"
Whatever the meaning, it was clear I couldn't handle this alone.
Maybe it was thanks to Super Coward Mode. The pain was momentary. Since I didn't feel the ache, I ran in the opposite direction the Isolation God was pointing.
By the way, is Muyeon really okay?
I'm starting to get a little worried.
Squelch, squelch, squelch.
A disgusting, crushing sound echoed rhythmically.
At the center of that sound was Muyeon, running without looking back.
The floor was littered with knights who had been eroded by plants, shriveled as if their sap had been sucked out. To avoid seeing them, Muyeon ran with her eyes closed, stepping on all the corpses.
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry!'
Even in such a terrifying place, the image of someone who stepped forward for her, who seemed to genuinely want to help her, flickered in Muyeon's mind.
Why is such a good person a criminal?
There must have been some misunderstanding.
'No, no!'
A criminal is someone who has done wrong, and that person... didn't they assault that Outer God out of lust?
It was an absolutely unforgivable sin in Rondane.
She had to think this way.
Otherwise...
As she was lost in thought, Muyeon finally reached the main gate. With a joyful expression, she ran at full speed and grabbed the gate with her hands.
But no matter how hard she pushed, the gate wouldn't budge. Muyeon grew increasingly anxious.
"Open, open already...! Why won't it open?"
After pushing with all her might for a while, Muyeon looked at the area where the main gate and the iron fence met and made a despairing expression.
"Ahh, no..."
Around the area Muyeon was looking at, incredibly tough-looking vines were wrapped multiple times.
As if to prevent escape.
Muyeon had never learned or heard that the Gardener imprisoned people like this.
The most likely reason for this...
Imagining Tantun, wrapped entirely by the Outer God's attack, dying a cruel death, Muyeon collapsed on the spot.
Fear overwhelmed her.
The thought that after Tantun, she would be next, dominated her mind.
'I don't want to, I don't want to...!'
Dying itself didn't matter.
She hated the process of dying, the fear of it.
To die miserably here, unable to even overcome fear...
Unwilling to face anything, Muyeon covered her ears and curled up.
That's when it happened.
A sensation suddenly felt on Muyeon's ankle.
Muyeon, already at the peak of fear, felt her brain tighten as if it would burst at any moment.
Her pupils shook violently, and her body trembled uncontrollably.
Her rationality, not wanting to see, clashed with her instinct to check and avoid, forcing her head to turn very slowly backward.
'Ah, no. Don't move.'
No matter how much she prayed internally, her body was already moving on its own.
It was as if a powerful force was forcibly grabbing her head and turning it.
Finally, Muyeon's head turned enough to see the situation behind her, and the moment she confirmed it.
"...Kyaaaaaaah!"
A desperate scream erupted from Muyeon's throat.
The corpses that had been scattered everywhere were all moving toward Muyeon at once. The corpses she had stepped on while running were now approaching her, still bearing the marks of being trampled, smiling creepily and hideously.
One of them was holding onto Muyeon's foot.
Muyeon tried kicking the corpse with her free foot, but even as its head flew off, it didn't let go of her.
Instead, it sneered and supported its grip with both hands to prevent it from slipping.
When her other foot, which she had been frantically kicking with, was also grabbed by another crawling corpse, she became unable to move, as if ice had been poured into her entire body.
Fear was consuming her body.
"No, I don't want to... Don't come..."
Looking at the corpses persistently clinging to her legs, Muyeon, pale-faced, shook her head with difficulty and spoke frantically, but there was no one to listen.
"Kehahaat! So, this is the end you meet!"
Suddenly, a voice came from somewhere.
Muyeon looked around in confusion and realized the source of the voice was the corpse holding her leg.
Its form gradually transformed into the shape of a knight's corpse.
"Are you going to let the criminal who helped you die because you were too scared of a mere Outer God to even look?"
"Ah, no... I just..."
"Hehahaat! Look at you making excuses! What kind of knight is this!"
Cackle, cackle, cackle!
The skeletons clattered their jaws and laughed uproariously with their bony hands.
The laughter, sounding like they couldn't even breathe properly, amplified Muyeon's fear.
"Your father, who died in the Mt. Seol expedition, must be weeping underground, buried in snow!"
"Ah, Father..."
"And you, carrying his blood, instead of the glorious hunt of Outer Gods, are acting like a ruffian? What are you, his daughter, doing?!"
This is a mental attack.
I mustn't keep listening.
I know, but it's human nature to be unable to ignore words that stab at your self-esteem.
Muyeon covered her ears to block out the corpses' words, but they began to gnaw at her mind.
"Your father did it for you..."
"Tarnishing the name of your father, one of the strongest knights..."
"You are a powerless child..."
"A coward who cowers in fear of something like this..."
The voices of the various corpses began to扰乱 Muyeon's mind.
Now that the voices had become faint, Muyeon was sweating profusely, barely managing to control her emotions.
Her breathing grew rapid, and the corpses continued to pull at her legs while holding on.
And as if to put a final period, one corpse's voice rang out.
"You brat! You're not even worth a single hair of your old man! You worthless little shit!"
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Finally, at those words, Muyeon grabbed her head with both hands and tore at her hair, releasing her stress.
Perhaps because of that.
Rip!
"Ah, ahh..."
The protective talisman she had brought with her had finally exhausted its efficacy, torn to shreds, and fallen to the ground.
Unable to withstand the mental attack, the talisman had held out once and then spent its power.
Then, the sounds of the corpses crawling toward Muyeon all stopped at once.
The moment Muyeon raised her face toward the corpses, she was so shocked she forgot to breathe.
The corpses all looked at the torn talisman, then expressionlessly stared at Muyeon.
"...It's torn."
"It's torn."
"It's torn."
One corpse crawled up Muyeon's leg and grabbed her chin with one hand.
"Now that it's gone..."
"Finally, we can become one."
With those final words, Muyeon's legs were pulled with incomparable force.
"So tough! Your spirit is utterly powerless, but your body is blessed with strong bones!"
Because of that, Muyeon's upper body, which she had raised, fell backward, and she began to be dragged away.
"No, nooooo!"
"Kehahahahat!"
As soon as Muyeon's position was in the midst of the horde of corpses, they all rushed at her at once and began groping her entire body.
Only her face remained uncovered, revealing her expression, broken by fear.
"Stop it, I don't want thiiis!"
Not content with groping, Muyeon suddenly felt an excruciating pain in her thigh.
"...Ah?"
"If your spirit doesn't break, then your body remains untouchable."
"But... you lost to us. Shouldn't you offer that body?"
Unable to understand those words, Muyeon quickly looked over each corpse one by one. Then the corpses shouted in unison.
"Become a flower."
"Become a beautiful flower like us."
"Yes, join us."
Ah.
So this is how it ends.
"What kind of flower is a coward's flower?"
Her mind grew distant.
The corpses began to look like flowers.
The mental pollution felt like it was tearing apart each and every brain cell.
Gradually, the voices whispering to her converged into a single, noisy language.
"҉͈͖͇͖͉͔̭͙̱̯͍̏̍̔̀̆́̓̏̇͑̍̈̾͒͗́""к҈͚̟̗͙̯͚̲̱͔̠̳͗̓̆̑͗͒̄͋̇р҈̩͔̬̣͎̜̬̤͕͙̬͉̎̓̈́͊̒͌̈́̃а̷̳͈͈̰̥͙̗̰͇͚̩̙͌̎̒̉͗͛͑̂̂͌͑͛͂ͅͅс҈͉͚͕͙̦̲̘̯̱͖̱̭͔̣͖̾̋́͌̌̍͊͑͐̀͗̆͆и҉̮͉̣̤̩̖̪͉̫̀̈́̃͆̓̀́́̋͌̔̈́ͅв̸̣̗͈̖̟̞̰̳̳̄̇̿͆̿͊̇̎͌̉̒̆͂̓ы̵̭̗̥͎̳̘̲̠̝̪͖̲̐͋̍̍͆̑͊̓̔̐̆̆̄ͅͅͅе̸͍̰̣̫͚͉̟́́̓̀̎̈̆̀̿͗̈́̓̚ͅ ц̴̠̰̙̤͖̳͓͈͓̘͈̝͔͂̋̌͌̓̈͋̒͒̈́̿́̇̉в҈̝͖̤̯͈͎̗̭̤͕̫̘͓͈̃̐̉̽́̾͒͛͂̈̑̐ͅе̴̫͈̯̤͙̜͖̳̦̲̬͂̾͗͑͐̉̏̃̊́̌̓͑т̴͓͎̯̱͕̫͕̭͈̈́̾̇̓͋͌̆̾̋̚ы̷̭͙̬̜̰̲̞̲͎̂̓̓̌̎̌̂̄͑̌̉̆̇̚"""
A flower bloomed beautifully.
A flower bloomed.
The flower blo-
The flower's blo-
Blood.
In her fading consciousness, Muyeon thought that perhaps such an end suited her.
She deserved to end up like this.
So it was right to accept it humbly. Just as Muyeon was thinking that.
"...Snap out of it, Ms. Muyeon!"
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