Guardian's, Graveyard

[Simulation]

I immediately activated a simulation.

‘Conditions: harpy! And Mom, Dad, Teacher Sena, Yuria! The mobile barrier too!’

With the situation escalating rapidly, I couldn’t be bothered with everyone else.

I only included people important to me as conditions. Even so, the condition burden approached 10 Jun-woos.

I’d barely started the simulation and already felt like my head might explode.

Gritting my teeth, I endured.

‘I need to see! What the harpy is going to do…!’

It was an instinctive premonition.

Flap!

The harpy appeared in the pitch-black world.

The harpy’s face alone might be mistaken for a beautiful woman with pale skin and blue hair.

But it made my skin crawl. Instead of arms, massive wings fluttered. It stood about 2 meters tall, and its fully spread wings spanned over 5 meters.

With eyes that were completely silver with no distinction between whites and pupils, the harpy looked down at us.

Screeeech-!

After staring at us impassively, the harpy suddenly let out a piercing cry. Its wings flapped powerfully up and down. And the next moment…

Crack!

…Mom was shattered into pieces that scattered across the ground.

[Simulation End]

My vision cleared. A single phrase escaped my lips involuntarily.

‘Thank goodness…’

That was just a simulation. Mom’s still alive…

My heart raced frantically. But there was no time for relief as icy terror gripped my heart once more. Yes, that was just a simulation, but simultaneously… it was also a highly probable future.

I turned my head. I could see the vast prairie with its massive standing stones. Unlike here, the sky there was blue. The Guardian’s Graveyard was truly within reach now. Just 1 minute. If we rode for just 1 more minute, we’d reach it. But… to die here, with the goal in sight? And Mom of all people?

My eyes quickly assessed the harpy. Right. I didn’t include everyone as conditions from the start. Maybe the harpy could… target someone other than Mom… oh who am I kidding!

Huh?

The harpy tilted its head curiously and its gaze… fixed directly on Mom. I don’t know. I really don’t know if it’s targeting Mom specifically… but at least to my eyes, that’s how it appeared.

[Simulation]

The world darkened again.

‘Conditions: me and the harpy!’

In a world containing only the harpy and me, I gripped my bow, aiming at the harpy. My body, already exhausted from the day’s ordeals, trembled uncontrollably, and my head felt ready to split from overusing my Gift. But… I couldn’t stop.

Absolutely… absolutely, I could never let the harpy take Mom.

Twang-!

My arrow pierced the storm, aiming for the harpy.

Ting-

It bounced off pathetically.

‘Rewind!’

I shot again. It bounced away. ‘Rewind!’ Shot again. ‘Rewind!’ And again.

In time that wasn’t really passing, I shot, and shot, and shot. I probably exceeded my Gift’s usage limit long ago.

But again…

‘Rewind.’

And yet again,

‘Rewind.’

I kept trying until I found the right trajectory.

The headache was so severe it felt like my skull was splitting in half.

But the moment I give up on the simulation… Mom truly dies.

‘Rewind.’

How much time had passed like this?

In the simulation world where only the harpy and I existed, I sensed another presence. The magical powers.

Still standing, still shooting my bow, I seemed to dream as I listened to their murmuring.

They were different from usual. They seemed to be performing some kind of role-play.

Their murmurs were always hard to understand, but this time they were even more difficult to comprehend.

<Stop. You’ll die if you keep this up.>

<No… I won’t die until I bring down ??.>

<That’s beyond your level. You need higher ???.>

<The ?? written in the sky ??? isn’t fixed.>

<…what exactly are you trying to do?>

<Saíl!>

Ting-!

As I released another arrow, I thought to myself.

‘Have I gone mad?’

When I’d previously heard the magical powers’ murmuring… the powers had shown me such reactions. When the magical power seemed to say ‘Not bad,’ that particular colored magical power would flow toward me.

But this was completely different. The five-colored magical powers were lined up as if performing a chorus together, and their content was like some kind of play. They were talking entirely among themselves, with no relation to me.

‘Magical powers not only speak but now perform plays?’

…What sort of insanity is this?

Am I seeing hallucinations as I near death?

‘Maybe… that’s really it…’

It felt like seeing visions and hearing voices. Perhaps my subconscious desires were manifesting in the form of magical powers?

That would explain the coincidence.

Saíl (射日). Shooting the sun! Isn’t that exactly the mindset I need right now?

“Huff!”

Creak!

My bow was drawn to its limit. The magical power rippling in my forearm pulled taut and disappeared beneath my skin. Magical power condensation—one of the conditions for the Mana Sword. This state was achieved effortlessly, before I’d even run through many simulations.

Well, magical power had condensed spontaneously when I saw Yuria being insulted too. It would be stranger if it didn’t condense in this situation.

Slither.

Was it due to my extreme concentration? The mana of my bow and my own mana merged into one. Unity of bow and self. The moment that happened, my condensed magical power surged into the bow and arrow.

Mana Sword.

Implemented through a bow. Of course, this wasn’t my first time doing so.

Whoosh-!

The arrow infused with magical power sounded different from the start.

Thud!

Crack!

But still useless. The arrow clearly embedded itself in the harpy, but it didn’t stop the creature’s descent. It just carried the arrow with it as it tore Mom to shreds.

“Aaaah!!”

No matter how many times I watched, my anger never diminished.

‘Rewind!’

Drip.

When had it started? Everything I saw was tinged red. After a nosebleed began flowing, now blood was bursting from my eyes too. My body was breaking down from excessive Gift usage.

A weak part of my mind surfaced.

‘I really think I’m going to die here. Without accomplishing anything.’

But I shook my head again.

No. No… I can’t die like this…

Didn’t someone say something about shooting the sun…?

But… the sun…?

‘Who said that just now…?’

My mind was foggy. It seemed like something I’d just heard, but I couldn’t remember at all. Shooting the sun? Who said such a thing? No… did I even hear it?

My body was at its limit. Even my consciousness was rapidly fading.

Blurring vision. Collapsing hands and feet.

Still, I held my bow until the very end.

Pursuing fragments from my memory, unconsciously, I placed that word I seemed to have heard on my lips.

<Saíl (射日)>

Strange, isn’t it? I know what this means… but I’ve never heard this sound before. How can I know the meaning of a sound I’ve never heard? …Am I even still alive?

Whatever.

Click!

I aimed my bow at the harpy. And something truly bizarre began to happen.

The magical power filling my entire body bubbled up and condensed into needle-thin threads. These needle-like threads of magical power flowed along my arms.

Pop, trickle.

It felt like something clogged was being cleared. A tingling pain that made my hair stand on end, and then—refreshing relief! The needle-like magical power carved pathways through my arms, finally flowing into my bow and arrow.

Whizz!

A white flash left the bowstring with a faint noise.

Booom!

Then, with a tremendous noise, it knocked the descending harpy far away. The harpy’s shattered feathers rained down, embedding themselves in the ground.

“Is that… Ki-force…? Ki-blood magic…?”

I heard Teacher Sena’s astonished voice.

‘But this is… inside the simulation… why am I hearing Teacher’s voice…?’

I couldn’t understand what was happening, but somehow hearing her voice felt reassuring. I collapsed onto the cart and lost consciousness.

+ – + – +

Screeeech-!

The harpy shrieked.

“Damn it… we’re so close to the finish line…”

Teacher Sena sensed death approaching.

Only 1 minute of travel remained. But with a harpy, that 1 minute would be enough to devastate the entire nomad. She fell into despair, completely dazed.

Just then, strange mutterings reached her ears.

“Rewind…”

Teacher Sena started, turning toward the sound.

“…Baek Jun-woo…”

It was a pitiful sight. That boy, who had seemed perfectly fine just moments ago, was now covered in blood.

Blood poured endlessly from his nose, eyes, mouth, and ears.

“Rewind…”

He muttered while raising his bow to aim at the harpy.

He had apparently exhausted himself so completely that his ‘Simulation’ had ended, but he didn’t seem to realize it.

The scene was so dreadful she could hardly bear to watch. Teacher Sena was about to look away when a single word held her attention.

<Saíl (射日)>

“Huh?”

Teacher Sena’s eyes widened. It was a language she’d never heard before. Yet somehow, that sound carried a strange resonance.

Whirring-!

Suddenly, a sound like buzzing bees erupted around Baek Jun-woo. Teacher Sena’s expression hardened.

“That sound… and the tactile sensation… tremendous magical power concentration…!?”

Even Teacher Sena, who couldn’t see magical power, could sense the enormous magical power surging toward Jun-woo.

That’s when she began to understand what word Jun-woo had muttered.

“Could it be… a Primordial Incantation?”

A mysterious technique that dramatically amplifies magical resonance just by uttering it—a skill possessed only by elites living in the Tower of Covenant. Had Baek Jun-woo used that?

Before Teacher Sena’s astonishment could fade,

A brilliant white flash erupted from Baek Jun-woo’s bow.

Booom!

The harpy, just beginning its descent, collided with the flash. Feathers and light scattered in all directions as the harpy was thrown backward at invisible speed. Thud! Thud! Following the harpy as it bounced across the ground, the sheets of rain wavered.

“Is that… Ki-force…? Ki-blood magic…?”

You’ve never even learned that!

It was an incomprehensible sight, but… Teacher Sena decided to focus on the immediate task.

“Everyone full speed ahead!! Run for your lives!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

The horses, which had stopped in terror at the harpy’s appearance, all began galloping at once. The blue sky expanded wider and wider ahead.

But the harpy wasn’t about to let them escape so easily.

Screeeech-!

The creature that had been slammed into the ground rose again. It flapped its wings. But one wing seemed broken from Jun-woo’s arrow, as it wobbled unsteadily, unable to fly properly. Still, the harpy didn’t give up. Flapping its wings, crawling along the ground, it charged with terrible momentum. Churning up mud through the storm, the silver-winged monster pursued the nomad.

But…

“Too slow.”

Snap-!

Teacher Sena snapped her fingers. She didn’t have confidence in intercepting the harpy in flight.

Even if she could intercept it, she didn’t have confidence in pushing it back.

‘But if it’s crawling on the ground, that’s a different story.’

Boom!

The ground beneath the harpy’s feet bulged dramatically and exploded.

Screeeech-!

The harpy tumbled backward helplessly along with chunks of earth. Its massive silver wings flailed in the rain.

“Goodbye! Let’s never meet again!”

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Leaving her farewell, Teacher Sena snapped her fingers repeatedly. Before the harpy could rise, explosions engulfed its body.

“We made it! We’re alive!!”

The first group of the nomad to enter the Guardian’s Graveyard shouted with joy.

+ – + – +

Whoooosh-

Screeeech-!

“Hah… we’re really alive…”

Moss, grass, and ancient trees covered the land where horses and people now lay sprawled haphazardly. The storm ended abruptly at the border, as if cut with a knife. Beyond it, the enraged harpy continued to wail, but it never crossed the boundary into the Guardian’s Graveyard.

“We’re alive… really alive…”

No one had the energy to assess casualties or lost supplies. People and animals alike just lay on the ground, catching their breath.

“Haaa…”

Jun-woo’s mother, Baek Song-i, had only managed to collect her unconscious son and lay him down comfortably before sitting against a nearby rock. She stared thoughtfully at the row of standing stones, then muttered quietly.

“Ha… so I’ve returned on my own two feet… to this accursed place… how ironic.”

She closed her eyes tightly and let her head fall back against the rock.