– Frey Starlight's POV –
BOOM!!
Under the night sky lit by those glowing moons above us...
The sound of deafening explosions was the perfect anthem for that night.
After entering what looked like a forest hidden within the endless desert, we found ourselves under attack by Nightmare creatures erupting from underground.
Giant worms with spinning maws of hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, like living buzzsaws.
Exhausted from the battles we'd fought day after day ..
Snow and I leapt at the cursed creatures, which kept diving back into the earth after every strike.
There was only one way to deal with them.
"Ignition!!"
"Great Cosmic Formation!!"
Unleashing our strongest attacks at once, Snow and I launched nuclear-grade assaults, tearing the entire ground apart and reducing those damned worms into scattered pieces beneath the soil.
Once we were done, we both collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
Hair disheveled, blood dripping from every part of our bodies, armor shattered completely ..
We were in a miserable state.
"One full month…"
It had been a whole month since we entered this land. The desert I thought we'd clear quickly… turned into a month-long trial, and we hadn't even reached its end yet. We were already pushing beyond the limit I'd set for this mission.
It made me question—how massive is this planet called Londor?
What made it worse was that we'd found nothing. All we encountered were relentless attacks from nightmare creatures the likes of which I'd never seen before…
"Are you both alright?" Ghost asked. He was in slightly better shape since he fought from the shadows, but even he had taken a beating from this land.
I waved weakly.
"I'm fine…"
With a motion, I activated the dimensional ring I brought with me and pulled out another set of light armor. This was my fifth change already.
"We can't keep going like this," Snow said, stating the obvious.
"There's no other choice…" I replied simply, the weight of dead ends heavy on my shoulders.
"You said head north, and that's what we've been doing for an entire month ..but all we've found are stronger nightmare creatures than the ones on our planet."
Snow stepped closer, those golden eyes burning with the same determination I'd come to expect from him.
"We've survived so far, but we're reaching our limits, Frey… How much longer can we keep going? A day? A month? And what if the next enemy is the one who ends it all?"
It had taken the full effort of all three of us to survive so far ... and barely at that.
I knew this already. But still...
"Then what do you suggest we do?!" I snapped, a bitter taste filling my mouth.
"Our only lead is to keep heading north. Like it or not… that's the only option we have."
I couldn't turn back now. I had no other choice but to press on—even if we found nothing.
I couldn't allow despair to win just because I'd failed for a month. I had to keep moving north. No matter how long it took.
Trapped in a spiral of negative thoughts, Snow could clearly see the storm inside me.
In a swift motion, he grabbed my head and lifted it to meet his gaze.
"Get a grip, Frey. I'm not saying we should stop. But in our current state, the path ahead might not be the right one either."
I understood what he meant, but it didn't matter .. my only clue was the system's advice.
"As I said before, this is the only—"
"No, it's not."
He cut me off before I could finish.
"There's still that riddle you told us about earlier."
He pointed to the random system advice I had shared with them as a backup—though it had gotten us nowhere so far.
But Snow had another take.
"'Son of the star, heart of darkness, the villainous hero… the cursed lucky fool and the mad idiot…' No matter how I look at it, these are just traits. Descriptions of a person .. not directions."
Resting a hand under his chin, Snow began pacing around the area, deep in thought.
"Got something?" Ghost asked, having already given up on the riddle and seated himself on the ground.
"I have a theory… but for now, I'd like to change our course."
Snow suggested.
"Where to, then?" I asked this time.
Although we hadn't found anything yet, that could easily change tomorrow—or maybe even the day after.
I couldn't bring myself to stray from our current path just to try something else…
But Snow had a different opinion.
"For now… we'll head South."
"But—!"
I was about to object, but Snow saw it coming.
"Frey, we've spent an entire month heading north. There's no harm in trying something different. If it fails, we can always go back. That path isn't going anywhere."
With his typical heroic composure and convincing logic, I found myself losing the argument entirely.
"I want you to trust me."
After hearing that, I had no choice but to agree. I couldn't say no .. especially considering he had followed me this far based solely on faith.
Letting out a heavy sigh, I nodded.
"Alright… let's do it."
Snow smiled in return as Ghost rose from his spot.
"South this time, huh?"
"So it seems."
We took a few minutes to recover before setting off again—this time, toward the South.
We moved swiftly through the sandy plains, doing our best to avoid the nightmare creatures. We'd encountered many types so far .. flying beasts from above, feral ones from the front, and even those monstrous worms that attacked from beneath the ground.
The one thing they all had in common… was that even the weakest of them surpassed Rank S.
A ridiculous power scale, even by nightmare Lands standards.
"So this is what it looks like…"
After hours of running and evading nightmare beasts .. creatures we'd grown more adept at dealing with .. Ghost was the first to break the silence.
"What do you mean?"
He scanned the lifeless, barren terrain around us.
"The land that lost to the demons…"
In other words .. this is what humanity's world would look like if we lost.
In fact, maybe that's already happening. Nightmare lands like this… they might be just the beginning.
Time flew by, and I grew more and more convinced that heading South was a mistake.
The system doesn't make mistakes.
I was sure of it.
That thought consumed me .. until something suddenly shifted inside me.
A flutter, like butterflies in my stomach. As if my insides were being stirred by something far away.
I clutched my chest and came to a halt.
Snow and Ghost stopped as well.
"What's wrong?" they both asked.
But I was too focused on the strange sensation to respond.
I couldn't explain it.
It felt as if… something was pulling me.
Like…
"I've been here before…"
A sudden sense of familiarity. Of belonging.
It was powerful .. overwhelming, even.
Before I knew it, I had started running. My eyes glowing faintly with violet light.
Seeing this from behind, Snow nodded with a faint smile.
"Looks like you've found your path."
He said it calmly, but I hated to admit…
He was right.
"The answer to that riddle… was you."
Yeah…
Honestly, I'm still not sure if this feeling is real or not.
But it's strong—so strong I can't ignore it.
In the end, I was the answer.
The moment I neared my goal, I could feel it.
I was the map.
Realizing that, I finally understood what the system's "direct advice" had done to me.
The obstacle… was the advice itself.
By heading north, I was moving away from my destination .. making it impossible for me to sense it.
My blind faith in the system would've led me straight to death this time.
But now that I had a thread to follow…
We pushed forward .. twice as fast.
The feeling inside me kept growing stronger and stronger.
It made me wonder .. what was I about to find?
What was wrong with my body?
I was certain I'd never set foot in this place before…
Yet somehow, the feeling inside told me otherwise.
As if I'd been here not too long ago.
All of it only deepened the confusion clouding my mind...