Consciousness dragged his heavy shell of a body upward from the cold abyss.
First came the sound of wind.
Then the soft crackle of burning flame.
The damp touch of grass came from the back of his neck, carrying the earthy smell of mud.
He opened his eyes and saw a gray, overcast sky.
A muddy branch was poking at his cheek.
Loran raised his hand and grabbed the branch.
Following it with his gaze, he saw Kiro’s giant face.
“How did it go?”
Loran asked, his voice hoarse from having just returned from the void.
“There.”
Kiro jerked her chin to the side.
“See for yourself.”
Loran sat up.
This was the Site of Grace in front of Stormveil’s main gate.
The road leading to the castle gate was wide open.
“We won?”
Loran found it somewhat hard to believe.
“What else?”
Kiro answered in a tone that said, isn’t that obvious?
“You think you died for nothing?”
She tossed the branch away, sat cross-legged across from Loran, and began vividly describing what had happened after he “died.”
“I’m telling you, you died real ugly back there.”
As she spoke, Kiro gestured at her waist, miming someone being cut in half.
“Chop. Two pieces. Blood everywhere. I almost got splashed.”
Loran listened to her description expressionlessly.
“And then?”
“Then I used Frenzied Flame, obviously!”
Kiro’s eyes lit up again.
“At that moment, that Margit guy had just cut you down, and his back was turned to me. The opening was huge! I thought, this chance only comes once in a lifetime, so I poured all my FP into it in one go!”
She stood up and imitated her casting posture from back then.
“I aimed really well, okay? Right at his back! I’m telling you, if that shot had landed, forget him being some Omen or whatever. Even if he were a god, I’d have burned him into ash!”
“But...”
Her tone suddenly changed, and she gave an awkward laugh.
“I might have been... a little nervous. My hand shook.”
She scratched her cheek.
“And then the Frenzied Flame... kind of missed.”
After saying that, she pointed toward the edge of the boss arena not far away.
Loran followed the direction of her finger.
The cliff there looked as if a chunk had been forcibly bitten out of it.
A massive gap yawned open, and the rocks along the edge still carried a glassy sheen from being melted by extreme heat.
Loran understood instantly.
“All right, you don’t need to say anything else.”
“How was that? Pretty awesome, right?”
Kiro’s face was full of an expression that begged for praise.
“Sure, I missed, but I adapted on the spot and used the environment to kill him! That’s strategy! A victory of intelligence!”
[Affection: -99]
[Status: Proud / Taking Credit / Seeking Recognition]
Loran said nothing.
He was only thinking.
If Kiro’s “luck” was, at its core, a power that achieved the result she wanted by turning the misfortune of the people or things around her into payment...
Then what would happen when that power grew to its limit?
“Hey, why are you spacing out again?”
Seeing that he had not reacted for so long, Kiro pushed him in dissatisfaction.
“Say something already! I avenged you, you know!”
[Affection: -100]
“Mm. You were amazing.”
Loran gave a perfunctory response.
He stood up, patted the dust from his body, and looked toward the gate leading into Stormveil Castle.
On the wall, Rogier was leaning there and waving at them.
His complexion was poor, but he did not look like his life was in danger.
Kiro hummed a tune that was completely off-key, happily leveling up and pouring every single point into Faith without hesitation.
Loran was different.
The sensation of being cut in half by that blade of light remained vivid.
He looked at his attribute panel.
This time, his gaze no longer lingered on his Intelligence value.
Instead, it stopped on his Vigor, which was only at “10.”
Fragile.
He put most of his runes into Vigor.
A warm power flowed through his limbs, repairing the fatigue in his body and filling every blood vessel.
He could feel his heartbeat becoming stronger.
His breathing also became deeper and steadier.
It was a grounded sense of security.
“Hey, are you done leveling yet?”
Kiro stood up and urged him impatiently.
“Hurry up, hurry up. Let’s go kill Godrick the Grafted too! His Great Rune is pretty useful!”
Rogier was also looking at them, a gentle smile on his face, as if waiting for them to enter the castle together.
Loran shook his head at him.
“We’re not going into Stormveil Castle yet,” he said to Kiro.
“What are you doing now?”
The fighting spirit Kiro had just built up was instantly doused by half with a single sentence from Loran.
“If we’re not going into the castle, then what are we doing here? Sightseeing?”
Loran glanced at her and asked back,
“You got your Frenzied Flame incantations. Am I supposed to stay empty-handed?”
“Oh—”
Kiro suddenly understood.
“Okay! I’m fine with that!”
Unexpectedly, she agreed very readily and patted Loran on the shoulder.
“Now that’s more like it! We’re a team now, not opponents trying to kill each other. If my teammate gets stronger, that means I get stronger too! Hurry up and go get yourself some powerful moves. Next time we run into a tough one, I won’t have to carry the whole fight by myself. No loss there.”
Loran looked at her in surprise.
He had already prepared himself to waste more breath arguing with her, and had even been ready to sign another round of unequal treaties.
He had not expected Kiro to understand it this clearly.
She had even said the word “team.”
Was this really the same selfish, self-centered chaos gremlin from before?
[Status: Approval / Team Awareness: Beginner / Investment Mindset]
In any case, this was a good sign.
“Since you have no objections,” Loran said, “we’re going to Caelid.”
The moment he finished speaking, the smile on Kiro’s face froze.
“Go... where?”
“Caelid.”
Loran repeated.
“To the Street of Sages Ruins. We’re getting Rock Sling.”
“Eek—”
Kiro reacted as if she had just heard the most terrifying place name in the world. Her whole body jumped a huge step backward, and all color drained from her face.
“No! Absolutely not!”
She shook her head like a rattle drum.
“At least not right now!”