Graf swung his sword.

There was no warning. His expression was natural, his breathing steady, and Najin could sense not even a trace of hostility. Graf swung as naturally as breathing, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Fast as Najin's reflexes were, even he would struggle to react to an attack like that. Yet the instant Graf swung, Najin drew his sword.

CLAAANG!

With the harsh clash of sword auras, Najin took a step back.

"Quick reflexes. Impressive," Graf murmured.

As he said, Najin's reflexes were quick, but that wasn't the only reason this time. Najin had been wary of Graf even before the man drew his sword.

'How could I not be?'

The people burned by Graf's sword aura lay strewn across the ground. Their scorched vocal cords had kept their voices from reaching Najin, but he could read what they were trying to say from their lips.

When Graf had said, ["They insulted my pride. They mocked me, asking what right someone living in the Outer Lands had to call himself a knight, let alone a knight of Kurtan," ] they had tried to say something else.

'That's not true. That bastard killed my companion.'

In other words, he had attacked them first.

From the moment Najin caught those words, he had kept a hand at his waist, ready to react at any time. Now that the attack had come, his face twisted.

"Graf, was it?"

"Mm. That is my name."

"Didn't you say you were a knight?"

Was it the attack that angered him? No.

What made Najin's brow furrow was the fact that this man had introduced himself as a knight.

"Of course. I am Graf, a valiant knight of Kurtan."

"Ambushes. Desecrating corpses. Cannibalism. What knight in the world enjoys such filthy shit?"

"Everyone does it in the Outer Lands. It's perfectly normal here. You're still young, so I suppose you don't understand."

Graf shrugged as though there were nothing strange about it. He spun his sword once and settled into his stance. Burning blue sword aura rippled along the blade.

His stance was flawless. It was so disciplined that it could have served as a model for any knight, and that made Najin's expression twist further.

"Do not accept as natural what is not. Have you never heard those words?"

"One of the precepts of a knight. What of it? Isn't it natural to put survival above all other values? People don't consider it 'wrong' when someone slaughters livestock for food, do they? This is the same. It's natural here."

"If that's what you're going to say..."

Najin's sword aura blazed white.

"Then you shouldn't have called yourself a knight."

Najin raised his foot and stamped down, about to charge Graf, when Merlin's voice rang in his ears.

"Don't."

Unlike the voice he was accustomed to hearing, hers was firm and cold. She warned him.

"From here on, don't fight recklessly. Though I think it may already be too late."

'What? What do you mean...?'

Najin soon learned why Merlin had warned him. Graf, standing before him, supplied the answer.

"Ah. Damn," Graf sighed. "The crows have noticed."

Arrows rained down on Najin and Graf. They were far too large to call arrows—closer to spears, really. In fact, there were actual spears mixed among them.

THUD-THUD-THUD!

As arrows, spears, and all manner of thrown weapons rained down, Najin knocked them aside with his sword and hurled himself sideways.

BOOM!

The ground where he had stood caved in.

Najin turned to look at the attackers. They were all around him, and he had no idea where they had been watching from or for how long. There were more than eight of them at least. His eyes narrowed. The presences he sensed from them were anything but ordinary.

Living in the Outer Lands naturally meant they had reached at least the level of a Sword Seeker.

And judging by their perfectly contained sword auras and presences, they were plainly skilled even among Sword Seekers. They had spent many years in that realm, honing themselves to maturity. Any one of them could give Najin as he was now a close fight.

"Hey! My crow friends!"

Graf shouted to them after knocking aside the arrows raining down on him.

"That fellow seems to have two stars. And they haven't lost their light yet. Wouldn't a rising star like him be worth more than an old star like me?"

He spread both arms and smiled.

"Besides, he's stronger than he looks. You saw how he reacted just now, didn't you? He might get away."

"..."

"So, how about we split the spoils? I'll help with the hunt."

"What share?"

"I found him first, didn't I? Just give me thirty percent."

"Twenty."

"Stingy lot, aren't you? Fine, fine. Twenty it is."

The deal was struck.

They said nothing more. Their answer was to turn the bows, spears, and blades they had aimed at Graf toward Najin instead. Watching all this, Najin was bewildered—a rare occurrence indeed.

'What the hell...?'

"I told you."

Arrows rained down again. Someone stamped the ground with a thud and hurled a spear. The instant Najin deflected the spear slicing through the air, he was driven far back. His hand tingled. Graf and the other attackers seized the opening and charged.

"This is the kind of place it is."

CLAAANG!

Driven back by the unrelenting barrage, Najin rolled across the ground and rose. He jerked his head up to find the eyes of beasts before him. Nine humans were charging him like animals.

Their gazes were fixed on his heart.

A curse rose in Najin's throat. He had only just arrived, and already he was dealing with this madness. Merlin had told him what the Outer Lands were like, but experiencing them was different. What appalled him most of all...

Was that he could sense not a shred of hostility in their eyes or movements. To them, all of this was simply natural.

Humans rarely felt guilt when hunting animals. This was much the same. To these people, hunting humans seemed little different from hunting beasts.

For countless ages, humanity had devoured other living creatures to survive. In the Outer Lands, the prey had merely become fellow humans.

The hunters lunged at their appetizing prey.

2.

He couldn't win a head-on fight. Perhaps he could take them one at a time, but even Najin would struggle to face so many skilled opponents at once.

He turned and ran.

With the attackers pursuing him, Najin hurled himself down a steep slope. Rather than checking his acceleration on the descent, he kicked off the ground and fled in near-leaping strides.

Normally, few could catch Najin if he was determined to escape. His speed and skill at fleeing were well established.

WHOOOSH!

But not in the Outer Lands.

An arrow flew with deadly accuracy toward the running Najin. Had he not twisted aside, it would have pierced his back. He turned, but another arrow grazed his calf.

RIP!

It had only grazed him, yet it tore away a chunk of flesh. As Najin staggered, a streak of light shot toward him. Only belatedly did he realize it was a spear. He couldn't dodge it. The instant he swung to deflect it, he lost his balance and tumbled down the slope.

Still, his opponent had lost the spear. There would be some time before the next attack—or so Najin briefly thought.

『My spear never leaves my side.』

The spear wrenched itself from the ground and returned to the distant attacker's hand at precisely the speed it had flown toward Najin. The man caught it, spun with its momentum, and immediately threw it again.

WHOOOOSH!

The spear sliced through the air. As Najin deflected it once more, a cracking sound rang from his fingers.

CRACK!

But there was no time to rest.

Arrows, spearheads, and magic surged toward Najin again. And that wasn't all: Graf had closed the distance and swung his sword at him.

FWOOSH!

Najin leaned back, barely evading the attack, then swung his sword to drive Graf away. But Graf was no easy opponent either.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

He parried the sword and flung himself sideways. Five arrows, hidden behind Graf's body, suddenly appeared in Najin's sight.

SHING!

Even then, Najin reacted and managed to cut down four arrows, but the last buried itself in his shoulder. Its stopping power threw him off balance.

Then much the same thing happened again.

The entire sequence was unnervingly smooth. They had clearly done this far more than once or twice, and there was no gap between attacks. Their coordination was near perfect.

"Stay calm."

Merlin's voice rang in Najin's ears, cool enough to quell his wildly pounding heart.

"I'll show you the way."

Merlin reached out and gently enclosed his sword hand in hers. He felt no warmth. No touch. But he could feel her presence.

"Running is one thing you're confident in, isn't it? Stay calm. There are plenty of places to escape to here. Even more places to hide."

Najin's narrowed field of vision widened.

"Don't be afraid of injuries. Wounds like these are nothing in the Outer Lands. The power of your stars is stronger here, and so is your ability to heal. So stay calm."

He did. Najin took a deep breath and focused his eyes. His bloodshot gaze read the terrain. Keeping the attackers' movements in view, he moved.

"Yes. Just like that."

Merlin smiled and pointed toward terrain littered with fallen rocks and trees. Najin began running that way. Open ground put him at a disadvantage. Then he would lure his opponents into a narrow area full of obstacles that blocked their sight.

It was a basic combat tactic. Najin stuck to the basics and drew his attackers into confined ground.

"I'll handle it."

His pursuers understood the tactic too. Without slowing or breaking his running posture, Graf stamped down. Blue flames surged high above his sword.

An obstacle was no hindrance to someone as powerful as a Sword Seeker. They could simply clear it away.

『My sword is fire, and a blue wave.』

The flames grew fiercer. Graf swung the blazing blue fire. It rippled like a wave. Rocks melted at the touch of his blue sword aura, and trees burned down to handfuls of ash. As the blue fire swept through, the obstacles vanished, leaving an unobstructed view.

And one of Graf's arms flew through the air.

The moment Graf swung his sword, Najin rushed him from hiding. Slipping in while the blue flames obscured Graf's vision, Najin severed his arm. As blood spurted, Najin twisted his sword wrist.

Changing the course of his blade, he thrust straight upward. Graf drew his sword inward to protect his heart, but Najin's point wasn't aimed there.

"It's best to aim for the heart, but you don't have to aim only for the heart."

Najin's sword point pierced the underside of Graf's jaw. He tightened his grip and drove it through, until the tip emerged from the crown of Graf's head. A clean thrust. As Najin withdrew his sword, Graf toppled forward.

Just as Najin was about to stab his heart, Graf's eyes flashed. Despite the blade through his head, despite his eyes rolling back, his arm moved. Like a monster acting on instinct even without consciousness.

Those who survived in the Outer Lands for a long time gradually became something other than human. Graf was one such being. The sight of him moving as blood streamed from his eyes and nose was horrifying enough.

"Stab them through the head, and they start acting like beasts. See? A little easier to deal with, isn't it? Their movements become predictable."

Merlin was right. Najin kicked off the ground and opened the distance. At that instant, arrows rained onto the spot where he had stood. Only Graf remained there, and the arrows pierced his body.

Then—

WHOOOSH!

A spear flew in and pierced Graf's heart. Watching as he retreated, Najin let out an incredulous breath. So they had merely made a brief deal, not become comrades? The man retrieved his spear and bit into Graf's heart, still dangling from its point. As he chewed and swallowed it, he smiled.

As though in ecstasy.

"They're nothing but fucking beasts."

Was this the Outer Lands? Would he have to survive among people like these from now on? As Najin pondered that, the Outer Lands gladly whispered in his ear.

Did you think this was all?

Najin sensed more presences. The attackers pursuing him had increased in number before he knew it. Every time he kicked off the ground and ran, every time he entered new terrain, more joined the chase.

And every one of them was skilled.

The place teemed with fighters at the level of Sword Seekers.

On the continent, Sword Seekers were precious assets. Not in the Outer Lands. Why? Wasn't Sword Seeker a realm that geniuses reached only after great effort? Fighters of that caliber shouldn't be so common.

"That's true if you're looking at a single era," Merlin said.

"There aren't many Sword Seekers born over a span of ten years, or even fifty. But what if you extend that to a hundred years, five hundred, a thousand?"

People freed from aging.

People distanced from death.

They lived for hundreds of years, beyond a human lifespan. Even if they were driven off the continent, they didn't disappear. They steadily accumulated outside the world.

"This place is the sediment of human history."

A land where countless powerful figures had accumulated over nearly a thousand years. Though a wall had barred them from transcendence, it was full of people with at least a century of experience.

"And..."

Najin's eyes widened.

Fleeing his pursuers, he suddenly ducked. Something enormous swept over his head. A chilling sound followed.

CRRRUNCH!

The trees filling the forest were torn out by the roots.

He looked back to find a giant. Only then did Najin realize that the giant's palm had swept over his head.

"It's also a land teeming with monsters from the age of myth."

The giant roared.

Still roaring, it reached for Najin. He couldn't evade it. As he fled, Najin adjusted his grip on his sword, about to slash through the giant's hand.

"This way, boy."

Someone pulled him by the arm.