Hot sand brushes against the skin.
Choi Hyun-seok, who arrived at the Isilius Desert, slowly surveyed his surroundings.
“Miss Sara must be sowhere around here…”
After the conversation with Sara Dunphy.
Choi Hyun-seok headed straight to the Isilius Desert.
This was because Sara Dunphy had left a ssage saying she would wait here.
“Why haven’t you been answering my calls!? No, more importantly, are you alright!? What about Gatren? Did you shake off the pursuit?”
-You’re too hasty. Calm your mind.
Right after the communication connected.
Choi Hyun-seok fired off questions urgently.
Sara Dunphy answered all questions step by step.
-The communication crystal, was broken, found out later. Just fixed it now.
-I am, fine… Don’t worry too much…
-Shook off the pursuit. Hemis helped, don’t know when we’ll be discovered again.
Perhaps because the communication crystal had been broken once, the reception wasn’t good.
Fortunately, there was no problem understanding what she was saying.
-So, I want, to et right now.
“Where are you? I’ll co right away.”
-Where we, first t. I’ll wait there….
Even before she could finish saying she would wait, the communication cut off.
Afterward, Choi Hyun-seok tried to reconnect several tis, but communication was never re-established.
That’s why he ca to the Isilius Desert without any particular plan.
“Since we first t in this desert. She must be sowhere around here.”
First eting with Sara Dunphy.
To be honest, it wasn’t such a good mory.
They t as enemies in the first place.
And Park Hyun-a, who fought alongside Choi Hyun-seok at the ti, almost died.
‘Co to think of it, it was strange from back then.’
Choi Hyun-seok recalled the not-so-distant past.
The guerrilla warfare against the undead in the desert.
The final battle that was eventually fought.
The last battle was truly one of the fiercest.
Park Hyun-a defeated the undead army with trendous magic.
After a desperate struggle, when only the supre warrior Liam remained.
Suddenly Sara Dunphy appeared and proposed a truce.
‘The reason I’m proposing a truce is to save the kingdom’s supre warrior Liam. It’s absolutely not because I’m afraid of losing to you.’
At the ti, he thought it was just bravado.
Even Choi Hyun-seok, who was about to collapse, was pretending to be composed.
Choi Hyun-seok was so desperate to hide his condition that he had nearly fainted while standing with his eyes open.
So he thought Sara Dunphy was the sa, but looking back now, that wasn’t the case.
‘Rather, it’s the opposite. She could have killed and older sister Park Hyun-a without needing to propose a truce.’
Not just Choi Hyun-seok, but everyone in the party at the ti was on the brink of death.
And Sara Dunphy saw right through that fact completely.
Although her condition wasn’t great either, it would have been nothing for her to dispose of a few half-dead people.
Yet Sara Dunphy proposed a truce.
She used the supre warrior Liam as an excuse, but was that really it?
Thinking about it now, it was strange.
‘No. This isn’t the ti to be thinking about such things.’
Choi Hyun-seok shook his head to clear his thoughts.
‘I need to find Miss Sara quickly.’
He needed to hurry to find Sara Dunphy who would be sowhere in this vast desert.
Choi Hyun-seok increased his speed.
***
‘This is strange. I’m sure this is where we first t.’
How much ti had passed?
Choi Hyun-seok had been frantically searching the desert.
However, there was no sign of Sara Dunphy.
Because they had encountered each other in so many places due to the guerrilla warfare, it was difficult to know the exact location.
Moreover, the confusion was amplified by the long-distance movents they had made using Park Hyun-a’s spatial transfer magic in between.
In the end, Choi Hyun-seok had to wander the vast desert for a long ti.
‘Where? Where are you!?’
No matter how much he walked around, it felt like the sa places were repeating.
Even when he asked Rachel, she only said she didn’t know.
He started to beco increasingly anxious.
‘Stay calm. Miss Sara definitely said it was where we first t. Where we first t…’
After much contemplation.
Choi Hyun-seok finally arrived at one location.
‘This has to be it.’
Although there were many battlefields, there was only one place that could be considered where Sara Dunphy and Choi Hyun-seok t.
‘Where the final battle took place.’
On the day of the final battle.
Choi Hyun-seok faced Sara Dunphy up close for the first ti.
Though brief, they even had a conversation.
So Sara Dunphy must be around here.
“Where could she be…”
Choi Hyun-seok, standing on a high rocky cliff, surveyed his surroundings.
Traces of battle remaining here and there caught his eye.
Actually, this was one of the first places Choi Hyun-seok had searched.
He had left quickly then because he hadn’t found anything, but after thinking about it, this had to be the place, so he ca back.
“Hoo…”
Choi Hyun-seok closed his eyes and concentrated.
He focused all his senses to detect even the faintest trace of demonic energy.
Drip- Drip-
Sweat that had run down his forehead falls from his chin.
After a long ti passed, Choi Hyun-seok opened his eyes.
“Still nothing…”
Even when concentrating his mind to detect demonic energy, he couldn’t feel anything.
This had to be the right place.
Why couldn’t he see any traces of Sara Dunphy?
Just as Choi Hyun-seok clenched his fist in frustration.
A voice ca from behind.
“You found it quickly.”
When he turned around, he saw Hemis wearing a black dress.
Unlike her usual self, she looked at Choi Hyun-seok with a calm expression.
“Later than I expected.”
“I’m sorry…”
It couldn’t be helped.
This was an abandoned desert.
There were no spatial transfer gates, and no one knew the spatial coordinates.
He had to run here on his own two legs.
Even after arriving, he endlessly road the desert looking for Sara Dunphy.
He wasn’t sure exactly how much ti had passed, but it must have been quite a while.
Even though he had only been running, his mana was almost depleted.
“At the end there. The collapsed part under the rocky mountain. Can you see it?”
“Yes.”
“It’s an illusion magic. There’s a cave when you get close.”
“Ah, thank you!”
He couldn’t find it because it was hidden by illusion magic.
Although he didn’t know why he couldn’t detect it, that wasn’t important right now.
He needed to et Sara Dunphy quickly.
Just as he was about to run straight there.
Hemis’s voice, tinged with laughter, ca from behind.
“You’d better hurry. If you’re any later, you won’t even be able to say goodbye.”
“What? What do you an…?”
Choi Hyun-seok turned around with a confused expression.
What did she an by not being able to say goodbye?
However, Hemis had already disappeared.
With an ominous feeling washing over him, Choi Hyun-seok hurriedly kicked off the ground and ran.
***
“This demonic energy…”
Choi Hyun-seok, who entered the cave, was startled.
The entire cave was filled with thick demonic energy.
Clearly, when he was at the entrance, he couldn’t feel anything.
But as soon as he entered, an unimaginable amount of demonic energy rushed at him.
If it was enough to make Choi Hyun-seok feel uncomfortable, an ordinary person’s life would be in danger just by entering.
“Miss Sara! Where are you!?”
Choi Hyun-seok shouted while moving through the cave.
He couldn’t get his bearings due to the colorful magic circles filling the interior and the thick demonic energy.
Even trying to sense by feeling, the search itself was impossible because demonic energy was everywhere.
Just as his steps were quickening in frustration.
“You finally ca.”
Sara Dunphy’s voice was heard.
Choi Hyun-seok imdiately ran toward the direction of the voice.
“Miss Sara!”
Choi Hyun-seok finally faced Sara Dunphy.
His eyes widened.
“That appearance…!”
Sara Dunphy’s body was crumbling.
It seed to be scattering like ash, breaking into tiny pieces.
Although her outward form looked fine, Choi Hyun-seok knew.
That her physical body didn’t have much ti left.
What he saw now was just an illusion-created appearance.
Most of her body had already shattered into ash, and even standing must be difficult.
Choi Hyun-seok bit his lip hard.
“… What happened?”
“I’m just returning to where I should be. Following the natural order.”
“Isn’t that just dying?”
Sara Dunphy shook her head.
“I was already a dead body.”
She raised her arm.
The accumulated ash scattered all at once.
Watching this quietly, Sara Dunphy said.
“Does this look like a human death to you?”
Choi Hyun-seok lowered his head.
He didn’t want to give up.
He wanted to save Sara Dunphy sohow.
But there was no way.
Sara Dunphy is dying.
No, she is disappearing.
If she had been an ordinary undead, she would have turned to ash and disappeared long ago.
It was only because she was Sara Dunphy that she could endure this long.
“I prepared a small gift. I made arrangents so you can absorb my demonic energy. Although you’ll have to endure pain for a long ti, you’ll be able to do it.”
“This isn’t what I wanted… Why on earth did you…!”
Choi Hyun-seok, who was shouting, closed his mouth.
He couldn’t speak anymore.
Because Sara Dunphy was smiling so brightly.
Why did she fight Gatren alone?
Why didn’t she ask him for help?
He wanted to press her and ask.
But sohow, facing her smile, he couldn’t open his mouth.
“Thank you for everything, Choi Hyun-seok. Thanks to you, I can leave with good mories.”
She spoke while still wearing a happy smile.
“It’s about ti. I must go now.”
“… There’s one last thing I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“When we first t… Why did you spare and my companions? If you had wanted to, you could have killed us all.”
Sara Dunphy’s eyes widened.
Then she started laughing loudly.
“Hahaha! I thought you didn’t know, but you did.”
“Actually, I realized it just before arriving here.”
“Hmm, why did I spare you? The reason is…”
Suddenly Sara Dunphy embraced Choi Hyun-seok.
“Huh!?”
As Choi Hyun-seok drew in a surprised breath.
Sara Dunphy’s whisper reached his ear.
“You were….”
A very small whisper.
Choi Hyun-seok’s pupils dilated.
Then Sara Dunphy’s body completely turned to ash and scattered.
“…”
Choi Hyun-seok blankly looked down at his feet.
As if the whispering voice from just monts ago had been a lie.
There was no one there.
Only the scattering ash indicated that Sara Dunphy had been here.
“… I felt the sa way.”
Choi Hyun-seok raised his head.
A bright smile had already appeared on his face.
“Miss Sara… Even changed my ideal type from blonde hair and fair skin… You were my type too.”
***
An era more than a thousand years after death.
Sara Dunphy once again made the continent stir with her na.
Gatren searched for Sara Dunphy with all their might but ultimately couldn’t find her.
Perhaps they used too much power, afterward, Gatren withdrew as if catching their breath.
The investigation into the Mariette Kingdom also fizzled out.
Ti continued to flow like that.
A week passed.
A month passed.
By the ti half a year had passed, even the na Sara Dunphy had almost disappeared from people’s minds.
Instead, a new nightmare arose.
Park Hyun-a.
Once called God’s adversary, and one of Gatren’s most notable enemies in history.
She beca active again and made Gatren stir.
“Hah, that rat bitch. She’s really annoying.”
Gatren’s legend Kinley Fusel let out a deep sigh.
It had already been 3 months since she started chasing Park Hyun-a.
For so reason, Park Hyun-a’s power had beco much stronger than before, and unless one was legendary-level, even buying ti was impossible.
If they could draw her into a prepared battlefield there might be a chance to kill her, but even that wasn’t easy.
Park Hyun-a maintained hit-and-run guerrilla warfare while steadily accumulating damage to the empire.
“Where did she learn such things…”
Gatren had to focus all their efforts on defending major cities while pursuing Park Hyun-a.
Astronomical costs went into putting defensive magic around entire cities, but it couldn’t be helped.
Without doing this, they didn’t know when a city might be blown away.
Because she was throwing magic capable of completely destroying an entire city, by the ti a battle started and defensive magic was used, it was already too late.
“The Pope’s pressure is getting stronger too… I really need to show so results now.”
Currently, Kinley is overseeing the pursuit team.
Because her power, position, and influence were so extraordinary.
Even the Pope initially trusted her, saying he would give her full authority.
However, as ti passed, his attitude was changing.
Especially in their last conversation, the Pope openly showed his anger.
“Lady Kinley Fusel. I dislike incompetent people.”
Even the Pope couldn’t treat Kinley and her companions carelessly.
They had already outlived more than 10 Popes.
Even for a Pope, she would have been angry if he disrespected her, but Kinley couldn’t say anything.
‘What exactly is his identity…?’
The overwhelming presence that montarily burst from the Pope.
Though brief, Kinley had been overwheld by the Pope’s presence.
“Hah, the more I think about it, the more annoying it gets.”
Kinley roughly ssed up her hair.
She is soone who has never experienced failure in her hundreds of years of life.
But in this generation, she had already failed twice.
Sara Dunphy and Park Hyun-a.
With consecutive failures, Kinley’s nerves grew sharper by the day.
“Are you Kinley?”
Just then, an unfamiliar man’s voice ca from behind.
Kinley turned around in surprise.
How long had he been there?
A man with a peculiar appearance was grinning.
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