Chapter Index

    “Haa, haa…”

    Noah breathed roughly and swallowed dry saliva. His throat felt parched as if it were being torn apart, and a bitter taste rose from within.

    Suppressing the urge to vomit, Noah raised his sword.

    Clang!

    With a long beak, wings spanning over 6 meters when spread out, and a monster the size of a three-story building with eyes reddened, it rushed towards Noah.

    Clang!

    Kieeek!

    There were as many as three of these monsters. Noah swung his sword with a grimace. Fortunately, the monsters had no armor, making it easy to aim for their vital spots.

    But even that had its limits now.

    “How much time has passed?”

    Struggling to focus, Noah barely counted the time spent in this place. It had been at least a week.

    “When will this fight end?”

    In the endless expanse of the blue forest, monsters relentlessly charging from all directions. Since landing here, Noah had been endlessly swinging his sword.

    Yet the monsters kept coming without an end in sight.

    Faced with endless trials, Noah was filled with distant despair and determination. However, such thoughts didn’t linger long.

    In a place where monsters constantly surged, pondering was a luxury. Noah focused solely on wielding his sword like a madman to learn how to survive.

    Throwing himself into harm’s way to support others, the barrier blocking her crumbled instantly.

    “More, more, more! I can become stronger!”

    Beyond the limits of limits. Noah unleashed her desire for growth that had been suppressed until then. By the time her gaze shone fiercely and she could stun some monsters with just her presence.

    “Die!”

    …!

    A group of humans began to attack Noah. Despite their shabby appearance, with dirty clothes, unkempt beards, and eyes filled with desire, their swords and leather armor seemed quite serviceable.

    Contrary to their humble appearance, they were surprisingly strong, enough to startle Noah. Each of their attacks was sharp, and any mistake led to immediate wounds.

    Small wounds appeared and naturally healed, gradually revealing the vulnerable points of humans.

    Instinctively learning how to cut down enemies faster and more efficiently, Noah progressed further.

    With each assault by Noah and adaptation to the situation, the forest churned once, unleashing new foes. After defeating all incoming enemies, Noah always showed growth beyond a step.

    “Huuk, huk…”

    Thud!

    Gasping heavily, Noah drove his blood-stained sword into the ground. He seemed on the verge of collapsing and losing consciousness. His legs trembled weakly, and his head felt feverish.

    Shhh…

    At some point, the sky, which had ominously transformed, began pouring rain endlessly. He felt the blood washing off his body stickily.

    Was it thanks to the dozens of people and monsters he had just cut down?

    Amidst the sound of pouring rain and only his own breathing, Noah recalled past memories while watching the raindrops fall from his head.

    Noah and Nero. Although they were siblings, due to the nature of the slave market, they couldn’t stay together for long.

    Nero, with black hair and eyes, and Noah, with brown hair and green eyes.

    Though they were siblings, Noah didn’t look like Nero due to resembling their father, while Nero took after their mother. Their appearances also differed greatly, making it hard to find similarities unless looked at closely.

    They might have been sold tied up if they were twins or siblings who looked similar, but Nero and Noah often found themselves forcibly separated because they seemed like ordinary people unless the two claimed otherwise.

    Every time, Noah threw himself to prevent separation from Nero.

    “Why won’t this brat fall?!”

    Even when excited slave traders trampled on him, kicked him, or threw him away, Noah stubbornly stuck to Nero like a leech and refused to let go.

    In this cruel world, the only being Noah had to protect was Nero. That fact was Noah’s sole pillar of support. Therefore, he did not yield to any violence.

    Because Noah and Nero both had half-and-half appearances, they were marketable. If they weren’t going to kill Noah, they had no choice but to keep Noah and Nero together.

    Noah spat blood from his mouth, his body battered and in pain, yet he protected Nero with eyes wide open like a mother protecting her child.

    It was the only reason he had to live in this dreadful world.

    “Haah, ha…”

    Noah thought. There was no difference between then and now.

    Rolling on the dirty floor as before, his body covered in wounds, he forced himself to stand, enduring it.

    “Why was I doing this?”

    In pain, struggling, tormented, why couldn’t I stop this act? Why do I keep going? I’d rather -…

    Noah blinked slowly. In the distance, he vaguely heard the sound of a monster approaching, “Kik!”.

    Noah wanted to die. At the same time, he wanted to live. To live, he needed a reason, and that reason was Nero. When Nero was safe, that reason became Lian.

    Protecting someone is the right thing to do. Becoming stronger to protect someone is the right thing to do. So Noah thought he was on the right path.

    Noah let out a laugh mixed with self-pity.

    “Is this what they call a martyrdom?”

    Challenging trials ultimately felt like his own selfishness. Doubts flooded his mind like rain about whether he was throwing himself like the protagonist of a novel for “protecting Lian.”

    Swoosh, thud, thud.

    Watching the raindrops fall to the ground with a blurred gaze, Noah felt the monster’s cries approaching closer. Still, he couldn’t lift a finger.

    “Shouldn’t I just die like this -…?”

    In the endless cycle of fighting, Noah truly wanted to rest, he thought.

    Kikik! Kehk!

    His powerless eyes met death flashing before him. A disgusting stench brushed past his nose. Faced with death, Noah recalled something entirely different from before.

    The blood staining the ground, the ‘horrible experiment’ he first encountered since birth. Even Noah, who grew up facing all kinds of cruelty, was engulfed in fear by true death passing by.

    At the same time, Noah remembered.

    [I’m fine.]

    The lips that casually smiled saying it’s okay, always busy embracing others without knowing if he was hurt.

    Was Lian, like Noah, holding onto precious ones forcibly to stay alive, intoxicated by oneself, clinging to the justification of ‘sacrifice’?

    The thought that Lian’s sacrifice was no different from his own selfishness seeped into his mind like rain.

    Thud.

    Noah gritted his teeth and swung the sword. His posture was a mess, his body creaked. But he didn’t stop. Then, the various voices swirling in his head began to fade.

    Swoosh -.

    The muffled sound of rain that hadn’t been heard began to be heard again. Noah continued to swing his sword without stopping, cutting through the corroded thoughts in his mind.

    “Was it because of my selfishness that I tried to protect Nero? Yes, that could be true.”

    The world was too cruel to endure solely out of affection for family. Death seemed more like rest.

    Therefore, even if his past self clung to Nero out of selfishness, he couldn’t deny it.

    But -..

    “Grrr!”

    As a monster that seemed to melt approached while melting the trees, Noah exhaled thinly and struck the ground. The floor was slippery due to the rain, making his body heavy.

    “The sacrifice of that person..”

    Noah thought, recalling Lian’s affectionate smile like sunlight with his fingertips.

    “It’s not about selfishness.”

    Something that had been nibbling at her mind began to burn fiercely due to strong will and denial.

    [ Kieeek! ]

    Something screamed inside his head, and something smaller than a baby finger attached to Noah’s neck burst and fell to the ground.

    “Ahh!”

    Without realizing that something had fallen from his body, Noah swung his sword roughly diagonally. The sword she wielded gleamed with a pale light like a lake under the moonlight.

    In that moment, she surpassed her final limit. And she woke up from a long sleep.

    ***

    Crackle, tap-tap-tap-tap! Shaaaak!

    “Be careful with the fire there!”

    “Excuse me, please move aside for a moment!”

    The kitchen was bustling at a time that should have been quiet. A party was being prepared for going beyond the boss’s limits. Lian also tried to join in but was held back by Lily.

    “Could you please hold Noah for a bit, brother?”

    “Huh? Why?”

    “Noah is preparing a surprise party secretly! Noah is so sharp, if any of us go and hold him, he’ll definitely find out, so please go and hold him!”

    “What? I’m not confident in doing that!”

    Pushing Lily’s back, Lian said, “Just buy some time by asking what training he did! We’ll prepare as quickly as possible!”

    So Lian was chased out of the kitchen. Scratching her head, she headed towards Noah’s room.

    “It’s an urgent situation… but I can’t leave right away. Let’s congratulate comfortably. Oh, I should subtly mention that I need to leave this place.”

    What if Noah doesn’t want to leave this place?

    With that thought, she headed to Noah’s room. Perhaps because she was walking while pondering, she arrived quickly.

    Knock, knock.

    “Noah, are you in there?”

    “Come in!”

    A familiar voice came from beyond the door. It was Juliana’s voice mixed with laughter. Lian immediately opened the door and went inside.

    “Oh? Where’s Noah?”

    Inside the room, only Juliana, who was looking at a book, was sitting on the bed. In response to Lian’s question, Juliana chuckled and said,

    “Oh, my body got quite dirty during the ordeal, so I went to wash up.”

    Lian’s gaze turned towards the bathroom. As she said, the sound of water was coming from the bathroom.

    0 Comments

    Heads up! Your comment will be invisible to other guests and subscribers (except for replies), including you after a grace period.
    Note
    // Script to navigate with arrow keys