When the world suddenly turns dark, Noriel can no longer see and feel anything around her.

 

The disappearance of blood stench, her friends, hesitatingly the merchant and the perception of her surroundings has made her rapidly run anxious. Her soundless ragged breathing signals the extreme confusion and fear to nurture within her from being clouded in absolute darkness.

 

Such powerful emotions have messed her mind as she frantically calls for her friends, but all she receives is the deafening sound of her brain's static noise. The silence is mighty in this unknown space of absolute darkness, as if the darkness itself consumes everything down to the smallest bits of the world but leaving her intact to derange her mind.

 

Noriel does not know how she ends up in this dark space as she tries to move within it, however, she is shocked to realize she can not know if she is even moving. All she can feel is void.

 

When Noriel deeply thinks about it, she does not even know if she is currently on a ground. If she is floating, she would have felt the traces of mana or the air movements, but she does not feel any of those.

 

Abruptly, she mentally twitches immediately after she feels something slithering all over her body.

 

She feels like a myriad of tentacles are squirming around her body. Despite the fact that she can not even sense the movement of her limbs, she can somehow ‘feel’ something slipping through her thighs and arms without pulling or compressing them. It strangely only slides along her body while leaving inexplicable ‘goo’ as it touches her skin.

 

Noriel keeps ruminating regarding it, but the moment she realizes it, she can no longer feel the ‘slimy’ sensations from her thighs and arms.

 

Her nonexistent breathing immediately rags as her mind rapidly begins haywiring, causing her to aimlessly cast magic mentally all around her, yet all that transpires is the gradual loss of the only sensations.

 

Noriel truly starts to deteriorate as she perpetually casts multiple incantations and magic to the point of her mana reaching its limit, yet all that passes is the waste of her mana.

 

The lack of mana means she can no longer use cast magic or even manipulate it, forcing her to futilely move physically in an attempt to escape the place, yet death is the only feat she attains.

 

Noriel can no longer feel anything under her head. The slithering continues around her head while she still tries to retaliate, but her mind… her entire existence is leisurely voided and assimilated with the emptiness of the space.

 

Her entire existence is absorbed into the void. A finale of true darkness. 

 

…

 

…

 

…

…yet, even true darkness necessitates light.

 

Noriel’s body instantaneously returns before the world cracks with blinding rays.

 

————<>———O———<>————

 

Muffled sounds begin to echo inside Noriel’s once dysfunctional ear chambers. She does not know why her mind suddenly goes hazy right after the explosion happened, but when she thinks about it through her confusion, why did the magic stone explode?

 

Those thoughts immediately assault Noriel’s mental state, causing an excruciating headache throughout her mind until she stops thinking about it. After that, a tangible faint of auditory signals floods her brain, perturbing her brain to integrate the loose waves of signals.

 

“...el.”

 

Through Noriel seemingly effortless attempts, she manages to hear fragments of the muffled sounds.

 

Noriel is still in confusion when she does that. However, those fragments are impossible to piece together to form a single comprehensible word. It stems not from her reduced hearing effectiveness, but her confused state and lowered brain processing efficiency by unknown force. Because of that, she steadily waits for the restoration of her hearing capability while her mind naturally mends itself to its normal state.

 

After hearing the auditory fragments, Noriel does not hear anything. As time goes by, she eventually regains a speck of her eyesight. But it is tremendously blurry and being more difficult to interpret the situation than the muffled noises. Furthermore, her hearing and brain capability are still recovering.

 

Her severely impaired eyes show an extremely blurred sight of wavering lights scattered on a ground. A big and numerous small figures paint her vision as they hazes in and out of her vision, leaving trails of blurry images along their trajectories.

 

“Nor…”

 

Another auditory fragment has failed to be interpreted.

 

Noriel does not know how much time has passed since her awakened state, but her brain has mended itself to a half point, enabling her to further see and hear in clearer forms.

 

Though when Noriel tries moving her limbs, she does not feel any sense of movements, or even the sense of coordination from her brain, causing further confusion within her unstable mind. It is as if she is moving something too heavy for her while not knowing the direction it would move to. Furthermore, her impeded muscle movement capability is stressing her breathing and heart beats, constraining most of her energy to pulse her life.

 

After some time, Noriel hearing and brain capability have considerably improved, but it is barely enough to translate the muffled noises that have been resounding in her ears.

 

“...Noriel!!!”

 

Without a warning, the abrupt high volume of once muffled noises strike Noriel’s eardrums as her entire field of vision is smoldered into a dark view, instantaneously jolting her body which energizes her brain to fully mend her eyesight and ears. Notwithstanding that, her muscles are still the same.

 

Noriel’s improved eyesight has enabled her to immediately see the figures she has been seeing, however, Borvon's bloody face plastered in dismay immediately displays in front of her.

 

“Are you alright!!!?”

 

Blood is dripping from Borvon’s face while he shouts those words in front of Noriel, tainting her face as her eyes instinctively twitch from the warmth of the droplets of his blood contacting her face.

 

“...I……no…”

 

Noriel strenuously tries to formulate her words, yet all she can articulate are incoherent mumblings.

 

Borvon flashes a face of frustration when he sees Noriel in such a state. Then, the next second, his face suddenly twists for milliseconds before immediately turning his body around, sweeping his bloody sword across Noriel’s vision.

 

Noriel’s eyes follow the path of the sword before settling on the horrific sight of Borvon’s back.

 

Her eyes expand when she sees several arrows have pierced into his back. Most of his armor has already been reduced to fragments of metal, which allowed the arrows to perforate into his skin, oozing liquid from their crevices.

 

All of her magic barriers have also shattered, which is the main reason for Borvon to have sustained an attack.

 

Borvon sweeps his sword in his hand horizontally, gushing out arcs of blood along the sword’s path as it completes its trajectory. Then, several dismembered goblins’ bodies drop to the ground in front of him, decorating Noriel's sight the gory scene of conspicuous blood and split flesh and bones before bashing the other goblins that are reaching for her.

 

While Borvon continuously slices and crushes the endless flows of goblins, Noriel notices her friends and the adolescent girl lying unconscious on the ground at her sides when she moves her head, however, she does not see the merchant. But merely moving her head has made her exhausted, causing her to vigorously gasp for air as her vision turns foggy.

 

Noriel's disheveled state effortlessly distracts her from the thought of the missing person. When she regains her breath, she can only think of wanting to help Borvon, but her weak muscles are forcibly locking her movements.

 

Due to her mysteriously dried mana, she is unable to cast backline support through magic, making her utterly an hindrance in the current situation, forcing her to only watch Borvon's endless fights with a heavy heart.

 

Borvon keeps mowing down the goblins that are nearing Noriel and the others, repeatedly disconnecting several of their limbs in a single strike and forcibly twisting their bodies in a single bash, splattering blood along the sword's arcs and forcibly dislocating their joints.

 

The sword easily splits their bodies to a half while the shield on his other hand allows him to haul the goblins before violently knocks them far from Noriel, disjointing and breaking their bones as their bodies are dragged fiendishly by pure kinetic force along the viscous red ground.

 

At the moment, the ground near her is thickly soaked with blood and flesh as the illumination from behind her is providing illumination against the darkness looming over the area. Stacks of grotesque goblins’ carcasses decorate the ground as their fresh bodies continuously permeate through the soil, creating a mist and stench of blood. But Noriel feels strange that the ogres are nowhere to be seen, even their corpses, though she is glad they are not within the area.

 

Farther from her, the explosion has erased a few terrains. Porous grounds fill the distant place as some trees and rocks are missing from where they should have been and abnormally have left no remnants of them from their places.

 

Unlike Earth, the moons of this world are considerably smaller in size which only illuminate dimmer light upon this world. So, the light behind her is the only source of penetration against the darkness since her light orbs are no longer present and unable to be materialized.

 

The light aids in Borvon’s perception for aerial attacks. He is able to evade or block most of the arrows racing towards him due to the presence of the light. But then, the dark sky is suddenly filled with whistling sounds, causing Borvon to immediately speed towards Noriel and the others. Then, he kneels near them and covers their bodies with his shield.

 

But the shield does not span enough to reach Noriel, exposing her to the arrows.

 

“Damnit!”

 

Borvon curses at the situation while Noriel can see the arrows flying towards them, trembling her body from the fear of getting pierced helplessly.

 

However, she is perplexed when she sees Borvon moves his colossal body directly on top of her helpless body, directing her entire view only of his mortally wounded frame. The sword in his hand is sunk to the ground to support his weight.

 

“Yo…u…!”

 

Noriel's words stammer as she frowns miserably at Borvon.

 

A second after that, the sharp rain drills into the unprotected ground and Borvon's flesh, filling Noriel's ears with the sounds of groaning and metallic collision. She can clearly see the arrows easily penetrating deep into the soil at the corner of her miserable eyes, burying their metal tips deep into the ground.

 

When the rain has stopped, Borvon does not say a word before he immediately turns around and restarts his onslaught.

 

Noriel feels guilt and shameful helplessness throughout the time, leaking out water in her eyes.

 

“That was their last batch…”

 

After having said so, he instantaneously charges towards the darkness with his shield raised, deflecting the arrows shot at him.

 

The ground trembles as hideous screams echo from the darkness as sounds of metals resound along the screams.

 

After some time, the place is now devoid of any sound.

 

It is too quiet for Noriel to be composed.

 

Has he killed all of the goblins? Why is he not returning? Has something happened to him? Are there stray goblins?

 

Anxiousness floods her mind. She can not control herself from looking around to find him, exhausting herself as she does that but her worries immediately disappear when Borvon emerges behind her.

 

“Can you move now?”

 

Notwithstanding the oozes of blood from his countless wounds, he kneels and looks at Noriel with a bloody face.

 

Her fingers meekly twitch at the sight before trying to utter a word. The blood on his face is dripping on to her face, reflexively twitching her eyes.

 

But, she can not muster up the strength to speak after exhausting herself from before.

 

“...you just need time.”

 

Borvon looks around, warily glancing at his surroundings. Noriel earnestly tries to articulate even a word while staring gloomily at him. Even after Borvon has returned his gaze towards her, she can not achieve such a simple task.

 

“There’ll be more coming here and I don't think I can handle them alone. My bad, but you'll have to endure the discomfort for a while.”

 

After Borvon says so, he pulls out the arrows on his back before hauling all of the surrounding people's bodies on to his wounds-filled body, carrying Helson and Aria on both of his shoulders and the adolescent in his blood-trickling arms. Since Noriel is conscious albeit has a tangible strength, he asks her to keenly grip his body before settling her on his porous back.

 

It takes Borvon quite the time to load the people on to him while he keeps glancing at the ember of the burning wagon that has been razed from the explosion.

 

“I don't know if you have noticed it but the merchant is killed. His body probably got burned down because I can’t find him.”

 

Borvon faces his body towards the burning site to ease Noriel's frail strength to look at the state of their vehicle.

 

Noriel's eyes widen when she sees the light emanating behind from before is in truth their burning vehicle. It has almost burned completely burned as its dark smoke slowly wanes. Additionally, various kinds of items scattered around it are also being razed to embers.

 

The vehicle is the only means of ease of transportation for them and it having been utterly destroyed means escaping the place without being noticed by the impending goblins is astronomically hard. Furthermore, the chances of Borvon's survival has dropped considerably for bringing the others without the aid of wheels.

 

When Noriel gazes at her front's surroundings, she realizes Borvon's intention, causing her to move frantically as a way for her to implicitly tell him.

 

“Noriel…”

 

Borvon has also realized it, glancing at his back towards Noriel's gradually watering eyes.

 

“I know that. If I don't do this, it would be a lot harder for me to protect all of you when they have reached this place.”

 

Noriel earnestly frowns at Borvon while small streams of water begin to flow down from her eyes, ceaselessly moving her body to show her earnest disapproval.

 

“Since I'm the only lucky guy to somehow survive that, it's my responsibility to keep you guys alive while they do that. I don't know when the others will wake up, but it’s better to be safe first.”

 

Noriel's strength is weakening as she actively exerts her strength, and eventually stops her movements from exhaustion, forcing Borvon to bend his body slightly forward to stop her from falling.

 

“My bad.”

 

Borvon coughs out viscous blood from using too much of his already critically wounded vitality, splattering the already reddish molded ground. He spits the bolus of blood before treading away from the burning wagon with haste.

 

Noriel silently rests on Borvon's back while the blood oozing from the several holes and cuts taints her body and the others. The mixture of salty water has diluted the blood around Noriel's face as she gradually regains her strength to grip on to Borvon’s body.

 

Borvon is wavering, Noriels knows that yet he keeps on insisting to carry four people against his weakening body, fuming Noriel through that but she can not do anything about it for she is in a much worse condition than Borvon. Of course, Borvon also knows it but his will to guard his friends and the little girl in his arms exceeds the odds. Unlike Noriel.

 

After they have moved far from it, ominous war cries echo through the darkness from it. The distance is still enough for the goblins to notice them, fortunately though, they seem to be busy with something else and have not discovered their presence.

 

As the distance has reached far enough, only night sounds reverberate the air with slow heavy steps blend with it. Crickets and birds deafen the silence as Borvon’s steps begin to stumble.

 

The stepping sound steadily slows down. Borvon can feel his pulses slowing down as his vision begins to blur.

 

He quickly drops the adolescent beside him before feebly collapsing to the ground, dropping his hauls on to the ground with Noriel still lying on his bloodful back.

 

The night is thick. Noriel desperately tries to cast healing magic to Borvon despite her absence of mana. In truth, she has been trying to cast it while Borvon was massacring the goblins.

 

She simply can not give up. She must save him. If not for him, all of them would have died together with the merchant or fated to a horrific end.

 

“Uugh-... Borv… ple…ase…….”

 

She can no longer control herself as tears begin to rapidly blur her vision instead. She vehemently attempts to move her body so that she can at least physically treat him.

 

Of course, with the current state, that is but a pipe dream. Accounting her intense will and hope, reality equalizes everything and passes fair judgment to all.

 

“...lea…..se……”

 

She clings on to hope, arrogantly ignoring the inevitable outcome as she is finally able to move her head around.

 

Amidst her water eyesight, at the corner of her eyes, a blooming silver flower is descending from the dark sky. But she ignores it and continues the futile attempts.

 

As the silver flower descends and soon touches its petal against Reina’s forehead, Noriel’s consciousness is plunged into zero.