*Kkeok, keo-eok.*
The slender neck wrapped within the monster’s thick tongue seemed ready to snap at any moment, and the struggles to survive were pitiful. As his windpipe was gradually constricted, Anya’s complexion turned increasingly blue.
The monster had not died despite having Haebing pierced through its heart. Anya looked down at the ghoul’s split abdomen through his vision that was fading into darkness. That ghoul’s vital point wasn’t its heart—it was the writhing, snake-like tongue hidden inside its abdomen.
“Ah….”
Anya’s hand reached out weakly toward Haebing, which was still embedded in the monster.
But as his breathing became insufficient, his outstretched arm kept drooping down. His vision gradually narrowed. Anya widened his eyes and reached out his hand again.
He kept reaching, reaching out, but somehow he couldn’t touch Haebing. It only seemed to grow farther away.
[Andalr, Andalr, Andalr]
[That race’s scent. As expected, they didn’t die out.]
[Let’s devour them. They’ll surely be delicious.]
[In Nijer’s name!]
At last, it was the moment when countless whispers were about to swallow Anya in the encroaching darkness.
An elegant longsword swept horizontally through the air.
The simple longsword without any decoration, fast and strong, severed the thick tongue.
*Keuaaaaak!*
Blue blood spurted into the air. The monster let out a scream filled with agony and shook its body. Anya fell with a thud and rolled across the ground. His entire body trembled violently from the impact that struck his back. Before Anya’s eyes as he crawled along the ground instinctively to survive, a familiar pair of shoes came to a stop.
Steam rose from the blue blood scattered across the white ground, and the disheveled cloak before his eyes was black as night.
“*Kollok!* E-Evernight-kyung…!”
Anya barely mustered the courage to lift his head. Tears that flowed out physiologically shattered into particles on the surface as they hit the cold air.
The man’s hair, like a tranquil night sky, danced in the snowstorm. Anya filled his eyes with that vivid contrast.
“Not yet…. Stay still.”
There was a faint irritation in his voice. Gripping his longsword properly, he cut down the charging ghoul in one stroke.
*Keuaaaaak!*
Again, and again he cut it down.
Screams that gnawed at one’s nerves ran rampant all around, but his swordsmanship was languid. Thick blood was sprayed onto the snowfield. The monster collapsed to the side without being able to put up much of a fight. Its muscles twitched finely, and before long, even that movement stopped.
A hand in blood-stained, finest quality moleskin gloves extended toward Anya.
“Th-thank you. B-but Ever….”
“I’m currently debating whether it’s right to kick out a troublesome novice who requires so much attention, so I’d appreciate it if you’d shut that mouth.”
The eyes looking down were tranquil and cold. His deep pupils seemed exactly like blue flames burning. Just like that monster.
Anya grasped that hand as if entranced. Strong grip strength lifted Anya’s body upright. As soon as his feet touched the ground, terrible pain rushed in.
“Go back to the inn. I’ll handle the cleanup.”
Anya wiped away the single stream of tears that continued to flow physiologically and held his breath. He looked exactly like a prisoner sentenced to execution. The boy’s appearance was a mess. In just a moment, his young face had become covered in tears and blood, and blood seeped through the torn fabric here and there, staining his white robe all over.
If he returned to the inn, there would be much to confess to him. Perhaps he would have to kneel and quietly present his back to receive a whipping. That would actually be better. If he could cast off his transgressions that way.
“……”
Anya glanced back. The monster seemed to be truly dead now. To think that such a terrifying existence could die in a single stroke… Evernight’s swordsmanship struck him as marvelous anew.
“B-but… kyung, the sword you’re holding….”
The blade of the longsword held in one of Evernight’s hands was corroding black. He threw the sword onto the snow without any regret.
“It can’t be helped when the monster’s blood touches it.”
He was the knight commander of Tildyen, yet he had no sword. He had given Anya the famous sword ‘Haebing,’ but he himself used whatever sword happened to be available.
“Follow me.”
Anya limped after Evernight.
*’M-Master Mage. Please save me.’*
Then, once again, a familiar voice was heard on the wind. Anya’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
“Anya!”
Evernight shouted. Anya turned around smoothly as if drawn by an irresistible gravity. Black haze was rising from the pile of the fallen monster’s corpses.
It charged toward Anya against the wind in an instant.
*Ah….*
It was already too late to realize that something had gone wrong. His body, consumed by fear, stepped backward without knowing he was standing at the edge of the wall. His eyelashes trembled for just a moment, then the ghoul opened its massive mouth wide with a *jjeeo-eok* right in front of Anya’s nose. Filthy saliva mixed with blood dripped down onto Anya’s face.
He was going to die.
In that moment, someone’s hand embraced the back of Anya’s head and trapped the boy in their arms.
“…Don’t look.”
Evernight whispered while holding Anya.
“…Kyung… kyung….”
In an instant, Evernight wedged himself between Anya and the monster, and while embracing his partner, he pulled out Haebing that had been embedded in the monster’s heart. Then he spun Haebing around once and thrust it straight into the monster’s mouth.
The wall was narrow and visibility was dark. The monster rampaged here and there, driving them further toward the edge. He felt the cool chill blowing from below the cliff behind his back.
[God… goddamn… Andalr…!]
They could retreat no further. The monster pressed them while Haebing was still embedded in its mouth. Evernight tensed his thighs to avoid being pushed back while gripping Haebing in his hand. Thousands of teeth contracted and pierced into Evernight’s arm and the back of his hand.
“…E-Evernight-kyung…!”
The vambrace covering Evernight’s forearm shattered and was finally dyed bright red. Anya called out to him with a sob. The monster’s blue-green eyeballs rolled toward Anya. It instinctively detected the weaker one. The ghoul, retching and pulling out Haebing that was stuck in it like a skewer, writhed in pain and stepped backward, then in its final struggle, it bound Anya’s leg and threw its body down that cliff.
Before Evernight could cut the monster’s tongue that was gripping Anya’s leg, the small body vanished below the cliff in an instant.
*Damn it!*
A rough curse burst from his mouth. Soon Evernight kicked off the ground and leaped high.
* * *
“He-heuk.”
Anya let out a rough breath at the cool sensation that grabbed the nape of his neck. Evernight was hanging on the wall while holding onto Anya. At the same time he cut the monster’s tongue, he snatched up the falling Anya and embedded Haebing into the wall. They were precariously hanging from Haebing. Anya blankly stared at the dark red blood flowing down his forearm.
Beyond the wall, the monster’s body that had plummeted below was crushed and completely stopped moving.
“This is the limit now.”
At the same time, Evernight said quietly. With a *ujijik* sound, Haebing tilted downward. Soon, both bodies plummeted below the wall in an instant. Evernight tried to reduce their speed by embedding Haebing deeper into the wall, but they continued falling regardless.
Into that unknowable land of death.
*’Dragcals, Dragcals, Dragcals.’*
Anya earnestly called the spirit’s name with his face buried in his chest. But spirits who have not made a contract do not reveal themselves.
Finally, the two bodies fell onto the land of the dead beyond the wall. Evernight embraced Anya with all his strength.
The two bodies united as one rolled roughly through the snowfield and only stopped their momentum after colliding with a rock with a *peok* sound. Anya let out rough breaths from within Evernight’s embrace. It hurt as if all the bones in his body were broken. The boy was afraid to even open his eyes, but he barely mustered his courage.
“E-Evernight-kyung… are, are you alright?”
Anya escaped from his embrace and quickly examined the man’s face. He had no movement at all, exactly like a dead person. When he unconsciously touched his body, blood came away covering his palm. Looking around, nothing existed. At a glance, this place was not Northernmost. Beyond the wall—it was the land of the dead.
“D-don’t die. You, you can’t, can’t die. Don’t, don’t die just, just because of me.”
Anya was noticeably panicked. Tears flowed down his young jawline in streams. Anya struck his own head mercilessly, at a loss in this remote world.
It was the worst day. This is how the cursed bloodline of Claicer manifested itself.
*Peok peok*, violence that was nothing less than self-harm continued. The snowstorm grew more fierce as time passed, but there was no time to feel the cold. *Hwii-ing*. Occasionally, eerie sounds mixed into the wind.
Anya finally buried his face in Evernight’s chest and burst into tears that he had been holding back.
