As Celeste knelt in her brother's blood, a torrent of confusion washed over her. She couldn't process who these strange people were, what language they were speaking, or even how her brother was able to speak it. In fact, she simply couldn't comprehend anything that had just happened.

Ever since those people stepped into the cavern, Celeste had a really bad feeling and for some reason, the wicked voice in her head began screaming even louder at her to kill herself. She was too terrified of the figures in front of her to listen, especially as they began to arm themselves.

However, the moment she saw brother fall to the ground, her world shattered.

In only a matter of seconds, the overwhelming questions in her mind shifted from who these people were and why they wanted to kill them, to why she hadn't listened to the voice in her head and killed herself.

If she had listened, maybe… just maybe her brother would still be alive.

'Why? Why, why didn't I listen?!'

Suddenly, she was overcome with such rage that she felt like burning down this world that no longer had her brother in it.

She no longer cared about the attackers' grade or her own paralyzing fear of them.

All she could think about was how to kill them, or die trying.

As she yelled, she raised her knife to her chest ready to kill herself. But just as she was about to plunge it in, Lilith's voice echoed in her head:

'You hate having to kill yourself, yet this is the second time you want to do it out of your own free will. Are you sure you want to—'~~

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Celeste cut her off, then plunged the knife into her heart.

***

"What the—" Soo-Min blurted, staring at Celeste's lifeless body on the ground. She couldn't believe what she'd just witnessed. "She screams about killing us, then kills herself? Was this bitch crazy?"

Tae-hyun didn't reply as his gaze had returned to Cedric's corpse. Something was not adding up to him.

He took a step closer, then used his foot to flip the corpse over for a better look. His frown deepened instantly. The boy was clearly dead, so why was he receiving absolutely no experience points?

After a moment, he raised his longsword. Soo-min turned to him and asked curiously, "What are you doing?"

Without looking at her, he replied, "I'm going to cut off the head."

"What?"

"I told you, I haven't received any EXP yet. Something is definitely not right. I need to make sure he is really dead."

Soo-min fell silent then, swallowing hard as she stared. She watched, rigid, as Tae-hyun brought the longsword down and severed the boy's head from his body. A geyser of blackish-red blood erupted from the wound, misting the cavern stone and soaking the front of Tae-hyun's clothing. The head, now detached, rolled a few inches before settling.

Then Tae-hyun's eyes widened slightly as dread began to slowly creep in.

"...What is it?" Soo-min asked after seeing his expression.

Tae-hyun looked to her and replied, "I still haven't received any EXP. And my Search skill is still failing on him."

Soo-min looked from him to the corpse. At this point, she was also at a loss for words, and an expression of growing alarm began to creep across her face.

Then, right at that moment, the cavern began to grow unbearably hot as Celeste's body suddenly caught on fire and began to burn.

Both Tae-hyun and Soo-min immediately whipped their gaze to the burning body, which seemed to be growing larger and more horrific with every second. After a few beats, it was no longer the corpse of a girl, but a terrifying woman who looked like a creature forged in the deepest pits of hell.

Slowly, the figure lifted itself from the cavern floor. When it finally achieved its full height, it spread its arms wide and let out a terrifying roar. The sheer force of the sound shook the surrounding stone, and the ground directly beneath its feet scorched black, smoking from the intense, sudden heat.

"What the hell is that?" Soo-min muttered hoarsely as she took a cautious step back with her gaze fixed on Celeste.

Tae-hyun immediately swung his sword and vanished, appearing behind Celeste and in one brutal motion, he drove the longsword through her neck, severing the creature's head completely from its shoulders. The new, demonic head fell to the ground, trailing ribbons of fire and smoke.

He smiled as his gaze shifted to the head on the floor.

"Well, that was eas—" he did not finish because just then, the headless body violently spun and slammed a blazing fist into his face, sending him crashing into the cavern wall.

Before he could understand what had hit him, a massive hand grabbed his head, yanked it back, then slammed it against the wall, again and again and again.

While Celeste was smashing his head on the wall, her missing head began to rapidly regenerate in wisps of flame and blood, while the head on the ground burnt to ash.

Meanwhile, Soo-min leapt and drove her knee into Celeste's flank. The powerful impact shoved the flaming figure back, slamming it against the nearby wall. Without losing momentum, Soo-min instantly grabbed Celeste's leg and, with a sudden burst of impossible strength, hoisted the massive body overhead and smashed it onto the stone floor.

Before Celeste could recover, Soo-min, still holding her leg, spun and hurled the demonic figure back into the wall. The entire cavern shuddered from the impact, and stone and dust rained down from the ceiling.

Soo-min turned to Tae-hyun, who immediately muttered, "I didn't need your help."

He winced, rubbing the back of his head where a small wound was bleeding. He stared at the blood on his hand, then his gaze snapped to Celeste, who was already back on her feet.

"...By the way," he finally muttered, all arrogance gone. "What in the world is that thing?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.