I ran without looking back, in the opposite direction the Isolation God had pointed.
I kept running until I was sure the smiling plants she controlled were no longer chasing me, my breath growing ragged and my legs aching.
"Are they still following?"
Seeing the Isolation God, who had popped its head out of my pocket, shake its head, I knew nothing was chasing me anymore.
Only then could I stop for a moment to catch my breath.
"Whew, hoo..."
Outwardly, I look perfectly fine, but my energy keeps draining away. I don't even know what condition I'm in anymore.
Thanks to Super Coward Mode, there are no visible external injuries, but the problem is I have no way of knowing my actual physical state.
For now, since my body can move, I'm moving it, but I'm worried that maybe my insides are completely mangled.
...Imagining the worst-case scenario isn't helpful, so I'll push those bad thoughts aside and try to think.
Since the Gardener is so hostile toward humans, I can never confront her alone.
What I need, then, is the power to oppose her.
If I had some skill, like the Hunter, I could probably handle her in an instant.
But I don't have that, so it's impossible.
"Friend, can you get me the candy?"
The Isolation God ducked into my pocket and pulled out three lollipops one by one.
Physical Enhancement, Mental Enhancement, and Suicide.
For someone with mental immunity like me, Physical Enhancement would be the most useful, but how much of a boost would it give, and how long would it last?
As a first-time user, I had no way of knowing.
"This isn't enough to take down the Gardener."
Unless I had a weapon.
But they wouldn't give a weapon to a criminal who would just use up precious Outer God hunting tools.
To break through this situation, it seems...
"I need Muyeon."
The raw power that shattered the ground in the underground prison.
The axe that split trees like cutting paper.
The story I saw on the community about being the daughter of the 'Musin'.
If Muyeon were here, everything would click into place and be resolved.
But if Muyeon has already escaped and left, then even this is meaningless.
"Friend."
I called out to the Isolation God, and it flew up to eye level with me.
"Can you guide me to where Ms. Muyeon is?"
But the Isolation God shook its head.
Unlike finding the escape route, can it not detect people?
...Thinking about it, when I asked for the way out, it pointed to the Gardener. It seems the mechanism behind the Isolation God's responses isn't as simple as I thought.
"Then, can you fly up and look for the pink-haired woman?"
At that, the Isolation God nodded, saying "Umu, umu," and whoosh—it flew up.
It looked so defenseless; I was worried it might get caught and hurt by the Gardener. But perhaps the Gardener, true to her name, can't interfere with the sky?
Fortunately, the Isolation God landed back on my shoulder unharmed.
"Did you find her?"
It nodded, but its expression was darker.
Did something happen to Muyeon?
"Guide me. Let's go quickly."
The place I arrived at, following the Isolation God's guidance, was the area with the main gate.
As expected, it seemed Muyeon had fled toward the exit...
But the exit was blocked by vines, with no apparent way to escape.
And Muyeon is supposed to be here...
Even though I'm the one being helped, I felt a bit like grumbling as I looked around, but my mouth clamped shut.
"W-what in the world?"
Just when I entered, I thought they were very beautiful flowers, but now they were crawling out of the ground, slithering toward one spot.
The flowers, moving with their small stems and leaves, began to hop and then started to surround one area in layers.
Stems intertwined, becoming abnormally thick.
And there, trapped within the enclosure, was Muyeon.
"Snap out of it, Ms. Muyeon!"
No matter how I looked at it, her condition seemed critical.
I rushed over and tried to tear the stems off with my bare hands, but they were as tough as handling wood.
After struggling for a while, the Isolation God handed me lollipops of different colors.
Right, physical enhancement!
The Isolation God pointed to a red candy.
Is this the physical enhancement candy?
"But is this really the candy that boosts physical abilities?"
Because of Super Coward Mode, all the candies looked similar, and I couldn't remember which one was which.
Since the suicide pill was mixed in among them, if I took the wrong one, I'd have to bid farewell to this world without even getting to do anything.
The Isolation God was pointing at one specific candy, though.
Remembering how it had guided me to where the Gardener was earlier, I gave it a slightly doubtful look, and the Isolation God began hopping up and down as if insisting it was the real one.
...I'm not going to die after eating this, right?
Well, it's a dire situation with someone dying, so I'll just put it in my mouth and see.
Whether I die from this candy or get killed by the knights without defeating the Gardener, it's all the same in the end.
I unwrapped the candy and put it in my mouth. A pungent yet sweet flavor filled my mouth.
How should I describe it? An incredibly sweet and delicious cherry flavor?
If candies tasting like this kept coming, I'd be willing to eat them continuously.
Ah, right.
This isn't the time for such thoughts, so I crushed it with my molars and swallowed.
The moment I felt it going down my esophagus, it felt like it instantly evaporated.
Since it's made from an Outer God's body part, it seems it was absorbed by my body without any digestion process.
Did I really take it correctly?
Perhaps because I was so tense, cold sweat started dripping from my head.
A few seconds passed like that.
Still, no reaction occurred.
Did I accidentally take the mental clarity candy instead?
I glanced at the Isolation God, and it made an angry emoticon-like expression, then immediately pointed at the flowers as if telling me to try it now.
Well, whatever.
I don't feel particularly stronger, so even if I try, won't it just be useless?
Thinking that, I grabbed and pulled at the flowers surrounding Muyeon.
Creeeak!
As if confirming I'd taken the right one, the stems, which hadn't budged before, still felt heavy but began to tear away bit by bit.
If the effect is working, it should show. Why don't I feel anything?
This is baffling.
"Ms. Muyeon, I'll save you now!"
Seeing Muyeon's vitality fading away, it didn't seem like a time to be leisurely.
I quickly tore off the flowers clinging to Muyeon and noticed that some of these flowers were wrapped around her legs.
This seemed to be what was killing Muyeon.
Whether these things were also hell-bent on killing Muyeon, whenever I removed one, it would stick back to her like glue, repeating the process.
But thanks to my enhanced physical abilities, I could move faster than the stems' speed, and for a very brief moment, there was an instant where Muyeon wasn't held by any flowers.
I didn't miss that moment and immediately grabbed Muyeon's arm, pulling her away. The stems simultaneously thrust sharp vines into the spot where Muyeon had been.
Stab, stab, stab!
The sound was endlessly cute, but the fact that they tried to impale something into Muyeon's body remained unchanged, making it feel creepy.
"Ms. Muyeon, excuse me!"
Holding Muyeon in both arms, I ran like crazy.
Conversation had to wait.
With their nutrient source gone, the stems were now all rushing toward me.
As the drug's effect gradually began to wear off, my strength rapidly drained away.
"Is this far enough to be safe?"
After running for a while, the stems stopped chasing me at some point.
Do these things also have their own territory, like other plants?
Reaching a flat area without flowers, I finally found a place to rest.
First, I laid Muyeon down and performed first aid by having the Isolation God take out a mental stabilization candy and placing it in Muyeon's mouth.
I've done all I can for now...
I let out a sigh at this damn day and looked at Muyeon. The areas where the flower stems had been pulled out only had slight marks, and to my eyes, they looked perfectly clean, as if nothing had happened.
Muyeon's incredible recovery ability was evident in how even those marks disappeared in an instant.
"Ms. Muyeon. Wake up."
I called out to Muyeon in a weak voice, but no answer came.
"You're already awake, aren't you?"
When even that got no response, I shouted.
"I won't blame you for running away, so wake up."
Then, she slowly began to open her eyes.
Her expression, filled with endless sorrow, seemed to make even me feel solemn.
Eventually, tears began to flow from Muyeon's eyes.
"...Sniff, I'm sorry. I was scared, I wanted to run away, because of the order...."
"Stop crying and talk."
"I'm so, so grateful that you saved someone like me, but it hurts so much that I deceived you, I'm so sorry, I'm so ashamed..."
"Ah, geez, I told you to calm down."
Muyeon was so consumed by tears that her pronunciation was slurred.
I absentmindedly put my hand in my pocket, and suddenly something like a handkerchief was in my hand, so I immediately handed it to Muyeon.
Wait, was it there originally?
Thanks to the Isolation God's ability, I felt no weight at all, so I had no way of knowing.
Just what is the state of my pocket?
I wiped Muyeon's tears with the handkerchief, dab by dab, and helped her blow her nose. Finally, we were able to make eye contact.
Then, wasn't Muyeon looking at me with surprised eyes?
"Why, why...! No, wait a minute..."
Muyeon looked at me with a shocked expression, scanning me up and down, then tears poured out even more, to the point where wiping them was meaningless.
"Mr. Tantun, your body...! Your body...!"
The place Muyeon was pointing to was exactly where I had felt the pain.
Thanks to Super Coward Mode, I thought I was fine, but is something wrong with my condition?
"Ah, this is..."
"A hole... I can see... gulp!"
No.
Was I injured that badly?
They say people only believe what they see, right.
Maybe that's why, even after hearing those words, I wasn't suddenly overwhelmed with pain or collapsing.
Perhaps she was in shock, I patted the still-sobbing Muyeon's shoulder to comfort her.
"Ms. Muyeon, I'm fine. Please stop crying."
But she still had a shocked expression, so I let out a sigh and said.
"...Ms. Muyeon, calm down. All the scary things are gone now. I'm a huge coward too, so I understand well."
I thought I was comforting her quite well, but.
"...That's not it!"
Muyeon forcibly cut off her tears and shouted loudly.
Surprised, I quickly put my index finger to my lips, signaling her to lower her voice.
She then, while making gulping sounds, lowered her voice.
"...Being scared... that's part of it... but more than that, I...! Mr. Tantun got hurt this much saving me, and I... I feel so sorry about that... I hate myself so much for it...!"
"I understand for now, so please calm down a bit."
I decided to wait, patting her back, until Muyeon stopped crying.
A few minutes later, Muyeon was still sniffling but began to speak in a slightly better voice.
"...Actually, this mission to capture an Outer God and prove ourselves... there was a hidden intention from the Vice-Captain."
"An intention?"
"Actually, the other two knights besides me... they are people who have committed crimes.
That orb they used during rock-paper-scissors earlier... it's an item that steals the opponent's luck, making the fight favorable for the users.
They committed various crimes while being trainee knights. But still, a knight is a knight."
Ah.
So it was a rigged game after all.
But what was the voice from that orb?
Since it wasn't urgent, I decided to erase it from my mind.
"The Vice-Captain only handles people he can control. Those he can't manage or who are problematic, he judges as useless.
So, the Vice-Captain sent us here with the criminals who were captured, meaning for us to die together."
...I wondered if that might be the case, but for it to be true...
Well, from the knights' perspective, we are dangerous felons who committed serious crimes, so they probably wanted to kill two birds with one stone and eliminate us along with them.
I can understand that, but still, we even repelled an Outer God. Isn't that a bit too harsh?
"...What about you, Ms. Muyeon?"
"...The Vice-Captain told me to come back alive. Because of my father's competence and the fact that I'm Senior White Mask's disciple, I was given the role of overseeing this mission.
But... I'm a coward who couldn't even accomplish this task. The Vice-Captain always said: Those who can't even carry out orders properly are useless and unnecessary.
...So, I'm no different from those two knights earlier. I'm a coward who tarnishes my father's name. He might have sent me as a target for disposal under some pretext too. So, back then, I should have just..."
She's completely engulfed in negative emotions.
I put my index finger to my lips to stop Muyeon from saying more. "Shh."
It's true that Muyeon did something that would make me angry from my perspective.
But Muyeon was just following orders from above, and her actions are what would be considered proper treatment for a criminal.
Of course, I became a criminal unjustly, but that's not something ordinary people would know.
So, I hold no feelings against Muyeon.
Now that I've found her, I just want to tell her what I need her to do.
"Ms. Muyeon."
"...Yes?"
"There's a way for you to rid yourself of guilt toward me and become a competent person."
A coward's heart is best understood by a coward.
So, I am also the person who understands Muyeon's heart the best.
Muyeon looked at me with an expression full of curiosity.
Looking at her, I smiled slightly.
"So, how about it? Would you like to give it a try?"
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