I quietly listened.

What Ban Iner was saying was closer to grumbling.

But it was grumbling worth hearing.

“At the beginning, I kept obsessing over it for a while—why the hell I was summoned to a place like this and forced to suffer.”

I could relate to that completely.

Thanks to the Transcendent Gallery, I probably had fewer pointless thoughts like that.

Ban Iner glanced at me and asked,

“What kind of world did you live in?”

I picked only the bits I thought Ban might find interesting and replied,

“A flying vehicle made of aluminum alloy that carries 500 people through the sky. A relatively peaceful world, all things considered.”

Ban opened her mouth in a perfect circle.

“And that kind of thing flies through the sky, but you call it peaceful...? You really did come from a weird world.”

Ban acted pretty friendly toward me.

She probably had a naturally open personality.

“You’re Fifth Rank, so you can’t use domain techniques. Hmm, maybe we should have a spar.”

Ban stared at me for a long moment, then slowly shook her head.

“Then again, we’re going to be fighting like hell soon anyway. No need to waste energy now, right?”

I did want to spar.

But just like Ban said, now wasn’t the right time.

“Have you ever fought Dranas?”

“I’ve fought, yeah, but I don’t think you can really call it a fight.”

Ban sighed.

“All I did was shoot arrows from behind while the Silane warriors were struggling at the front lines. So there wasn’t any real danger.”

“Do the Silane warriors make sure the player doesn’t get put in risky situations?”

Ban shook her head.

“I don’t think so. They probably just haven’t found the proper path to the roots of the ones invading right now. If they had, they’d probably expect me to throw my life away bravely just like they do.”

I remembered there was another thing I needed to ask.

“When I first entered the stage, seeing what the Silane warriors were fighting, it didn’t look like something you could kill. If you can’t kill them, doesn’t that mean you can’t get EXP either?”

Ban suddenly smirked.

“Seriously? That’s your biggest worry right now? That you can’t kill the monsters and won’t get EXP? You’re worried your limbs won’t grow back properly if they get torn off in battle, huh?”

“You psychic or something?”

Ban laughed quietly.

“Well, when I saw what Dranas looked like, I thought the same thing—‘What if I can’t level up at all from this?’ So yeah, we’re on the same page.”

Ban continued.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, it seems like the fragments Dranas splits off—like offspring—are each counted as individual monsters. I took one down yesterday, and my EXP went up a bit. Those fragments just keep getting spat out, like endlessly multiplying.”

Fragments.

“How strong are they?”

“In terms of rank, I think they range from Fourth to Sixth Rank.”

What Ban meant was clear: no matter what kind of fragment I encountered, I had to stay on edge.

If those endlessly multiplying fragments were that strong, the strength of the main body was impossible to imagine.

From between Ban’s silver hair, her blue eyes narrowed slightly.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-one.”

“No way. Seriously?”

Ban suddenly stopped walking and grabbed both my cheeks with her hands.

“We’re the same age!”

“Is that so?”

When I raised my hand to lift her arms off, she finally let go of my cheeks.

Ban pointed toward the desert horizon.

“See those black silhouettes beyond the sand fog? That’s them. Dranas.”

If Ban hadn’t pointed it out, I wouldn’t have noticed.

But thanks to her, I could lock onto their position.

“You probably don’t know how busy those things are yet, right? Except for six hours of rest a day, they’re constantly moving. Constantly spawning fragments.”

“So the rest period just started. Now.”

“Yeah. That means we should sleep within the hour.”

Ban stretched her arms like she was doing light warm-ups.

“You’re Fifth Rank too, so you can probably go a few days without sleep. But that only works when you’re fighting manageable enemies. Against those things, you need proper rest.”

I stared at Ban.

“You say that, but you don’t seem scared.”

Ban smirked.

“Can’t afford to be scared. You get scared in this situation, you die.”

She was right.

Ban gave my shoulder a pat.

“Let’s go in. Even a little sleep is better than none.”

“Yeah.”

Thump.

Ban suddenly threw her arm over my shoulder.

Very casually.

Her voice came with a teasing tone.

“You can’t sleep next to me just because you’re scared, okay?”

“If you drag me to your tent, I’ll walk out.”

“Pfft, that’s kinda harsh.”

***

Han Yuseong opened his eyes.

‘Feels like I slept for about three hours.’

He didn’t feel tired at all.

This was a situation where he was practically standing on a razor’s edge.

His body and mind had sharpened for survival—there was no room for fatigue.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The world was already getting noisy.

Shfff!

He pulled open the tent flap and stepped outside, immediately feeling eyes on him.

“Did you get any sleep?”

Ban Iner had tied up her long silver hair.

Han Yuseong nodded.

“Maden called us. Said to come to the assembly hall.”

“Got it.”

Unlike yesterday’s comfortable robes, Ban was now wearing armor made of some special-looking navy material.

“You’re here.”

Tap.

Maden slammed his wooden staff down onto a wide map.

“This is the outermost root we’ve designated as the first target. Today, we’ll strike here. One root every three days—that’s the plan.”

Han Yuseong and Ban confirmed the spot Maden pointed to.

“Understood.”

As soon as Ban replied, Maden added,

“We’ll assign warriors to you. Turiana and Gailde will focus solely on protecting the two of you. So don’t worry about dying—just concentrate on planting the divine stone in their roots.”

Han Yuseong decided to only half-trust Maden’s words.

Sure, Turiana and Gailde would try to protect them, but there was no guarantee they could keep them alive.

Ban and Han Yuseong took the gear provided by Maden and Turiana and left the assembly hall.

“Hey.”

Ban tapped Han Yuseong’s shoulder.

“Don’t trust them completely. We have to trust each other. It’s obvious, isn’t it? This floor’s the kind where if we don’t work together, we’re both dead.”

She wasn’t wrong.

“You don’t trust me yet either though, do you?”

At Han Yuseong’s response, Ban scratched her head.

“Ah, busted.”

The equipment provided by the Silane warriors was auxiliary armor that made it easier to move in desert-like terrain.

“Move out!”

Turiana’s voice rang out, loud and shrill as ever.

Flanking her on either side were Gailde and the other Silane warriors Maden had mentioned.

Thirty soldiers in total.

Han Yuseong immediately recognized that they were meat shields sent to ensure his and Ban’s safety.

Thud thud thud...

The formation moved.

A circular formation surrounding the two of them.

A positioning that clearly showed intent to protect.

Dust and sand swirled into the air.

They reached the front lines.

Dranas’s bizarre black flesh came into view.

[Activating ‘Visographica’.]

[One use has been deducted.]

Han Yuseong took out his terminal and activated the Visographica recording function.

A blue sphere rose from the device’s screen and floated into the sky.

Once Dranas was clearly in sight, the swarm of incoming fragments became visible.

Kuuuu—! Ku! Gu! Kwaaah—!

The incoming shapes—

Were dozens of hands.

KA-BOOOOM!

A massive hand smashed through the sand fortress the Silane had spent ages building.

“It’s a Formed Fragment! Protect the Wavebearers at all costs!”

Turiana’s shout.

Followed by Ban’s yell.

“What the hell is a Formed Fragment?!”

Turiana responded hastily.

“It’s not just any fragment! It’s a fragment Dranas moves with deliberate intent! Everyone, keep both feet planted firmly on the ground!”

Ironically—

The first to lose her footing was Turiana.

From her lead, the warriors’ bodies began lifting into the air.

Not from simple impact—these things were grabbing and flinging them upward, or hurling them skyward with splayed palms.

The defensive formation meant to protect Han Yuseong and Ban only provoked Dranas’s curiosity:

What are those two, to be surrounded like that?

The Formed Fragment that flung the warriors now rushed toward its object of interest—Han Yuseong.

“Han Yuseong, duck!”

Standing beside sword-in-hand Han Yuseong, Ban Iner’s body radiated a blue current.

Han Yuseong stared, briefly dazed.

A burst of blue light exploded outward.

From both her hands, waves of deep navy aura surged wide.

Thk-thk-thk—! THK-THK!

Then the eight arms lunging in like flower buds twisted grotesquely.

Ban’s right hand rested on the sword at her hip.

“Tilting Sword.”

A sharp metallic screech rang out.

And all the twisted arms were severed. Each sliced cleanly at the same angle—an almost supersonic technique.

Ban turned her head sharply at the chill brushing the back of her neck.

A massive hand behind her °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° had split vertically down the middle.

“There was another one.”

Han Yuseong flicked the blood from his sword.

“There was.”

Ban grinned.

Tap.

Han Yuseong and Ban instinctively stood back to back.

There were still fragments left.

“Kill anything that enters your line of sight.”

Ban Iner’s voice echoed in his ears.

Fast. Precise.

“Got it.”

Han Yuseong felt himself getting more immersed.

“And when the Silane warriors break a path—rush that root. We’ll have to accept some sacrifices.”

“I understand.”

Comrades.

He was starting to understand what it meant to have a comrade with comparable strength.

Ban spoke.

“One’s breached.”

Han Yuseong responded.

“Two.”

The final number was silent.

Thud.

Simultaneously, their right feet slammed into the ground.

Two streaks of movement shot forward like lightning.