Ch.146The Horn-Blowing Star (1)

While on the way to hunt a fallen star, Najin had a question. What exactly does the term “constellation” refer to? She had heard the word many times but never truly understood its meaning.

What is a constellation (星座)?

And what’s the difference between herself, who possesses a star, and a constellation?

Right beside Najin was someone who could answer this question. The self-proclaimed great constellation Merlin, who possessed eleven stars, began to speak.

“There isn’t much difference between someone who simply has a star and a constellation. At most, it’s the number of stars. When you don’t just display stars but connect them to form a constellation, that’s when you become a constellation.”

Connecting stars to form a constellation.

When Najin asked if there was a minimum number required, Merlin shook her head.

“There’s no fixed rule. You can make a constellation with just three stars, but I’ve only seen one person do that… and they were a special case. Generally, you become a constellation when you gather four or five stars.”

“Arthur and I became constellations around that point too.”

As she spoke, Merlin wiggled her finger. Stars sparkled from her fingertips, connecting to form a constellation.

“There are concepts like ascension and authority, but I can explain those later… What you’re curious about now is this, right? What fallen stars are. What forgotten stars are.”

Najin nodded, and Merlin drew her finger downward. The sparkling star fell.

“Even constellations aren’t eternal. They sometimes lose stars. Each time you lose a star, your mind suffers a great shock. What happens if you experience that repeatedly?”

“You go mad. No sane mind could endure it.”

She spoke as if from experience. Merlin shook her head as if the thought was unbearable.

“The more stars a constellation has, the higher their rank, the greater the shock. If you repeatedly suffer such shocks… and lose all your stars, you can no longer maintain yourself.”

“What does it mean to not maintain oneself?”

“It means becoming a specter.”

A constellation that has fallen and forgotten itself.

A fallen star (落星), a forgotten star (忘星).

A star that has become a specter—that’s how Merlin described it.

“Originally, constellations are beings that transcend human flesh. If such beings become specters, well… they’re certainly not what you’d categorize as ‘human.'”

2.

Najin ventured deep into the Outer Continent with the Helm Knight. The deeper they went, the more frequently the Helm Knight warned, “Don’t cross that line. Beyond it is the domain of constellations.”

A place where numerous star domains exist.

Where the territories of constellations truly begin to appear.

As they continued, the Helm Knight descended a slope. They climbed down sheer cliffs, going lower and lower. After following the Helm Knight for several days, Najin arrived at a vast wasteland.

Forests, plains, snowy mountains, fields… the Outer Continent was a mixture of countless terrains. But where Najin had arrived, there was no mixture of landscapes. Only a single vista stretched to the horizon.

A vast wasteland.

A barren land where no living creature could be found.

All that existed there were countless weapons haphazardly stuck in the ground and enormous stones embedded in the earth. These weren’t just ordinary stones. Starlight leaked from them, extending all the way up to the sky.

Stones that had fallen, trailing stars.

The scene evoked the image of fallen stars.

Overwhelmed by the sight, Najin remained silent for a moment. The Helm Knight broke the silence. He looked at the vast wasteland and sneered.

“Outside, they call the Outer Continent the battlefield of stars.”

“But,” he said.

“The stars living in the Outer Continent call it this.”

Pointing to the vast wasteland.

Pointing to the fallen stars, he said:

“The graveyard of stars.”

“……”

“This is where stars fall. It’s filled with stars that were once heroes, once brilliant, but ultimately fell.”

Shrugging his shoulders, he gestured to Najin.

“Do you know any heroes? Specifically, those who are said to have ‘died honorably’ on the continent.”

“Quite a few.”

“Name a few. From roughly 300-400 years ago.”

“Guardian of the Sacred Tree, Arta Trigadian.”

War hero Arta Trigadian.

The Guardian of the Sacred Tree who created the swordsmanship used by the knights of the Albania ducal family. Hearing the name, the Helm Knight thought for a few seconds before answering.

“The Guardian of the Thorn Tree. He fell 170 years ago. And became a forgotten star. Kirhov hunted him down.”

“…What?”

“It’s not known on the continent? That’s possible. Any other names?”

“Kinburga Alzen.”

“Guardian Kinburga. A star that fell 200 years ago. Devoured by demons. He’s probably in their stomachs by now.”

“…Safia.”

“Safia of the White Flower. The Empress of Bliss made her fall. Relatively recent, about 100 years ago.”

“Lekdir.”

“Conqueror Lekdir? He also fell to the Empress of Bliss. Now he’s her jester. He’s displayed in her palace with his limbs cut off.”

Each time Najin named a hero, the Helm Knight gave a similar response. Only after naming more than ten, more than twenty heroes, did she finally hear, “Ah, that one did die honorably. Probably died on the continent.”

“Well, that’s how it is. On the continent, they’d say they died honorably, martyred themselves. But how could death in the Outer Continent ever be honorable?”

The Helm Knight pointed to the wasteland.

“They’re all buried here, in the graveyard of stars. Or they’re still wandering as forgotten stars. Or they’ve become jesters for the Empress of Bliss, or been eaten by demons or beasts that crave stars.”

The graveyard of stars.

“Land where heroes go, battlefield of stars, birthplace of new stars… no matter how grandly you dress it up, when you peel back the layers, there’s no place more horrific than this. This is the afterlife for those who transcended humanity and escaped death.”

An afterlife and hell created for stars.

“Now, shall we go hunt a specter wandering the afterlife?”

The Helm Knight walked ahead. Following behind him in silence for a while, Najin finally spoke with difficulty.

“The Knight of Silence, Krinbel, you said?”

“Yes. That’s the name of the one we’re going to catch.”

“I’ve never heard that name.”

“I’m sure you haven’t.”

The Helm Knight spoke calmly.

“He’s someone who faced the fog of oblivion head-on. There’s nothing more terrible in this land than the power of oblivion. Whether others forget you, or you forget yourself, either way, you erode rapidly.”

“Is this the doing of the constellation that erased Rondinell?”

“That’s right. The constellation of incineration and oblivion.”

He seemed unwilling to discuss that constellation further, so Najin changed the subject. There was something she needed to confirm anyway.

“This knight Krinbel, you said he had six stars?”

“Yes. Six stars. Why, are you nervous?”

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t.

Six stars.

On the continent, both the Star of Sword Charon and the executioner Juel Lazian had six stars. Recalling their level, she didn’t think her current self would be a match.

“I can guess what you’re thinking, but he won’t be that strong. Falling stars means weakening, and it also means losing transcendence.”

“Aren’t stars and transcendence unrelated? Transcendent beings do have many stars, but…”

“Well, there’s no direct connection. But what’s the basic premise of a transcendent? It’s having confidence in oneself. Losing stars means losing yourself. When you can’t be certain of yourself, you lose transcendence.”

The Helm Knight pointed to himself.

“So that Krinbel fellow should be about my level.”

“Then it seems doable.”

The Helm Knight flinched, his pride wounded, and stopped walking to look at Najin.

“You don’t think I was using my full power when fighting you, do you?”

“I wasn’t at full power either.”

“Listen. Spears aren’t my main weapon. Swords are. You lost to me when I wasn’t even using a sword…”

“This isn’t my main weapon either.”

“What, do you have some weapon stashed away somewhere? A knight shouldn’t rely too much on weapons.”

As this strange battle of nerves continued, the Helm Knight clicked his tongue.

“If you saw me using a sword, you wouldn’t talk like that.”

“Then why don’t you use it?”

Najin pointed to the sword tied at the Helm Knight’s waist. The sword was wrapped tightly in chains along with its scabbard.

“Because I shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“There’s a reason. If I use this, it means I… Never mind. There’s a reason I can’t use it.”

How long had they been walking while conversing?

“Stop.”

The Helm Knight extended his hand to stop Najin.

Then he nodded toward what was ahead. Najin looked where the Helm Knight was pointing.

There were numerous spear shafts stuck in the ground. No, were those really spears? They looked more like skewers. Some resembled carelessly whittled tree branches. There were also blunt poles stuck in the ground, as if all that mattered was their ability to impale something.

Various forms. Various weapons.

However, they all shared one commonality: each had a person impaled on its end. Regardless of the type of weapon stuck in the ground, each had a person skewered on it.

Flag spears that had lost their flags used human corpses as substitutes, spears that had lost their blades used human hands as replacements, and hammers that had lost their heads used human heads instead.

There were dozens, hundreds of such corpses.

A land decorated with corpses impaled on skewers.

This seemed to be the domain of the constellation they were about to face.

But Najin couldn’t see the domain’s master. All she could see were corpses.

“So, where is this Knight of Silence?”

“Where? Right there.”

Najin blinked at where the Helm Knight was pointing. What was he indicating? There were only corpses there. The Helm Knight was pointing at a corpse standing between the spear shafts. While all the corpses were impaled on skewers, this one alone stood with its feet on the ground.

‘It’s a bit strange for a corpse to be standing.’

Najin didn’t know what else to call a human with nothing above the neck except a corpse. As she blinked in confusion…

Clank.

The corpse moved. In that moment, Najin almost instinctively stepped back. Why was it moving? Had she seen wrong?

Clank.

She hadn’t seen wrong. Najin had seen correctly. The corpse with nothing above the neck—that is, a headless corpse—was moving. Each time it moved, its armor rattled with a “clank” sound.

It looked toward Najin and the Helm Knight.

Though it had no head, Najin felt their gazes meet. It was intuition, and Najin’s intuition was usually accurate. This moment was no exception.

Rrrrrrrrrattle.

The headless knight’s body vibrated.

Najin suddenly looked at the armor the knight was wearing. Though headless, the knight was wearing a helmet. Normally, one wouldn’t use the verb “wear” for a helmet, but in this case, “wearing a helmet” seemed appropriate.

This knight, who had lost his head and couldn’t wear a helmet normally, had attached several helmets to his armor and shoulders. It gave the appearance of being dressed in helmets.

Rrrrrattle…

The vibrating knight’s body suddenly stopped. Then, with a “click” sound, the visors of all the helmets the knight was wearing opened at once. Like beasts opening their mouths.

Splat.

Black sludge stretched like saliva between the opened helmets. The helmets began to vibrate. The horn pipes stuck between the helmets vibrated in turn.

Boooooooooo—

The sound of horn pipes echoed. In place of his missing head, the knight blew the horn pipes through the heads of corpses. The majestic tone of the horn pipes echoed across the wasteland.

“Oh dear.”

The Helm Knight groaned.

“Our friend seems to be in a bad mood today.”

Then, abruptly, he grabbed Najin by the nape. The Helm Knight threw Najin up toward the sky. Almost simultaneously, the horn pipe sound that seemed like it would last forever suddenly stopped.

What replaced it was…

—————————!

The wail of a specter.

Najin frowned at the beast-like wail that couldn’t be expressed in language. Blood leaked from her ears. Suspended in the air, Najin looked at the roaring knight. Black light erupted from his body, gathering where his head should have been.

As if substituting for his head, black light flashed where his head should be. It resembled a star in the night sky.

-A forgotten star (忘星), a star that has forgotten itself and turned black.

The symbol of a constellation that has become a specter.

Najin soon understood why the Helm Knight had thrown her into the air. Roaring, the Knight of Silence pulled out one of the spear shafts stuck around him. A person was impaled on its end, and as if intending to add one more, he hurled the spear shaft toward the Helm Knight.

Whooooooosh!

The spear cut through the wind. The ground split along the spear’s trajectory. When the Helm Knight deflected the spear, his body also floated in the air. With a “crack” sound, the ground split from the point of impact. The corpse attached to the spear shaft burst from the impact.

“This is maddening.”

The Helm Knight waved to Najin as he flew far away. His hand was shaking quite severely.

“This won’t work. I need to regroup for a moment. I caught that spear wrong. I think my wrist is broken.”

“What?”

“Meet me back there. There’s a good rock to hide behind.”

“No.”

“I’m going ahead.”

The Helm Knight rolled on the ground, stood up, and started running with a “tap tap tap!” sound. It was a perfect running posture, just like when he had raided the giant’s food storage.

‘Oh shit.’

Najin started running after the Helm Knight as soon as she landed. Behind her, the Knight of Silence threw spears while making strange noises, but fortunately, he didn’t leave his domain. Najin retreated while receiving this fierce send-off.

No, knights don’t retreat.

It was a strategic withdrawal.

3.

“Wait, you said he was a bit weaker than you? How is that possible?”

“I’m quite strong.”

“You ran away.”

“Strategic withdrawal.”

The Helm Knight sighed as he adjusted his dangling wrist.

“It seems our friend is in a particularly foul mood today. Tsk, in the old days, he would at least return greetings.”

“Return greetings? That thing?”

“He used to.”

Najin found it hard to imagine. Above all, she was currently in a state of shock. It was a scene that defied common sense.

‘How can it move with its head cut off?’

Not only was it shocking that it moved without a head, but the posture the Knight of Silence showed when throwing the spear wasn’t a movement humans could make. It was a movement that far exceeded the range of joint mobility. It was a movement that couldn’t even be imitated by sight.

“Anyway, he’s always been reckless, then and now. Not even recognizing his superior.”

The Helm Knight clicked his tongue.

Najin, who had been half-listening, tilted her head.

“What did you say?”

“What? That he’s reckless?”

“No, after that. What do you mean by superior?”

“Ah. Didn’t I mention it?”

The Helm Knight made an “ugh!” sound as he adjusted his wrist, then spoke nonchalantly.

“That fellow was my subordinate.”

“What…?”

“He was the deputy commander of the Golden Horn Knights. The second strongest in the order after me.”

The Bull Horned Star.

The Knight of Silence, Krinbel.

And the deputy commander of the Golden Horn Knights.

“Remember that technique I used before? When I explained it, I said ‘there was someone who used it better’?”

“…I remember.”

“That’s him.”

The Helm Knight pointed at the Knight of Silence wandering in the distance. The spear shaft in his hand gleamed ominously.

“He’s incredibly skilled with spears. He reached the level of Master with just a spear. And…”

The Helm Knight pointed to the cross-star shaped spear stuck beside him.

“He’s also the owner of this spear I carry.”

“Don’t tell me you stole it?”

“Hey now, steal? I retrieved it when he became a specter. More precisely, he entrusted it to me.”

“Sounds like you stole it.”

“I said I didn’t.”

The Helm Knight slightly averted his gaze.

It seemed he had indeed stolen it.