Smack, smack.

Hmm.

What’s that?

My mind was foggy, and I wanted nothing more than to stay curled up, but the crisp sound ringing in my ears was quite bothersome.

Plus, my cheeks felt uncomfortably hot.

“Ugh….”

My brain kept insisting I lie down, but the sound kept quickening, and my cheeks stung more and more, forcing me to sit up.

That’s when I discovered the source of the sound.

The Outcast God was joyfully slapping my cheeks as if they were a drum, tears welling up in its eyes.

Ah.

Right.

I definitely got attacked by the Gardener….

“Aahh.”

As soon as my blood started circulating again, a tingling pain washed over my body.

It hurt so much that I felt compelled to check for any injuries, but there were no visible wounds.

Didn’t it feel like I had a hole in my stomach or something?

It was like the sensation you get when your HP in a game is significantly low—your character has no visible injuries until your HP is completely gone, and only then do you die.

At least I should have had a bruise or something, but not a single scratch was left, indicating that this might actually be how that mechanism works.

Hah, does the Super Coward Mode really censor things like this?

If that’s the case, I could say I was in a ‘nearly dead’ state in gaming terms.

Suffering this much damage from a Mob’s attack was enough to send chills down my spine.

If a lowly Mob could hurt this much, what would happen if the Watcher, a higher-ranking being, harbored ill intentions towards us…?

Just the thought of it made me shudder, so I quickly shook my head to forget about it.

But hey, at least I learned something.

Thanks to Super Coward Mode, I managed to overcome the mental fear, but the significant physical gap between my opponent and me is an undeniable fact.

I briefly lost consciousness from getting thumped, but at least now I had a clearer understanding of my situation.

A valuable experience… or something like that?

Smack, smack, smack.

“…I’m awake now. You can stop.”

As I restrained the Outcast God, who was still merrily hitting my cheeks with a pouty expression, I tried to calm it down.

Honestly, it felt like the spots where the Outcast God had hit me hurt more than where the Gardener had attacked.

If I looked in a mirror now, wouldn’t I find cute little handprints left by the Outcast God?

As if to say I wouldn’t have time to indulge in such delightful thoughts, those flower-like attackers from earlier were closing in on me.

Looking around, fortunately, there was still an escape route available.

“Hey, friend, which way do we escape?”

I asked, but the Outcast God just kept pointing at the Gardener.

What was it trying to convey by continuously pointing at her?

If the Outcast God had just slapped me awake instead of wishing for my death, it didn’t seem like it wanted me to perish.

“Alright, I get it.”

Whatever the meaning, one thing was clear—I couldn’t do this alone.

Maybe it was thanks to Super Coward Mode. Pain is just a fleeting experience. Since I wasn’t feeling any pain, I decided to run opposite to the direction the Outcast God was indicating.

But is Muyun really okay?

I started to feel a bit worried.

#

Chak, chak, chak.

An unpleasant sound like something being crushed resonated rhythmically.

At the center of the noise was Muyun, who was running without looking back.

The ground was littered with what were once knights, shriveled up as if drained by plants, and I was stepping over the corpses while running with my eyes shut tight to avoid seeing them.

“Sorry, sorry!”

Even in such a terrifying place, the kind-hearted demeanor he’d showed me flickered in front of my eyes as if he was genuinely trying to help me.

But why on earth was such a good person labeled a criminal?

Surely, something must have gotten tangled along the way.

“No, no!”

A criminal is still someone who has committed a wrongdoing, and that person even felt sexual desire towards that Outsider.

It was a sin that could never be forgiven by Rondan.

I absolutely had to keep thinking this way.
If I don’t…

Just as thoughts started to spiral, Muyun finally reached the main gate, a joyful expression lighting up their face as they sprinted towards it with all their might.

But no matter how hard she pushed, the door would not budge, making Muyun grow increasingly anxious.

“Open, open, please…! Why won’t it open?!”

After struggling for a while, Muyun glanced at the area where the gate met the iron fence, and her face fell in despair.

“Oh no….”

Around the area Muyn was looking, thick vines were coiling tightly, as if intent on thwarting any escape.

She had never learned or heard that the Gardener restrained people like this.

The most plausible scenario that flashed through Muyun’s mind was the brutal image of Leydan Tanton, bound by the Outsider’s attack, slowly dying in agony.

Fear engulfed her.

The thought that once Tanton suffered such a fate, she would be next took over.

“I don’t want to, I don’t want to!”

Death didn’t scare her.

What terrified her was the process of dying.

To end up here, pitifully dying without even overcoming her fear…

She curled up, shutting out everything they didn’t want to face.

Then it happened.

Suddenly, a sensation wrapped around Muyun’s ankle.

Overcome with fear, her mind was running on a tightrope, ready to snap.

Her eyes darted wildly, and her body quaked uncontrollably.

The clash between her rational desire to avoid looking and instinct to confirm the danger forced Muyun to slowly turn her head back.

“Oh no, no. Don’t move!”

No matter how much she mentally begged, her body had its own agenda.

It felt as if a colossal force was forcing her head around.

Finally, her gaze spun around to confirm the situation behind her, and at that moment…

“KYAAAAAAAH!”

A blood-curdling scream erupted from Muyun’s throat.

The corpses that surrounded her began to stir, moving toward Muyun all at once, wearing twisted grins while they approached, the footprints of those they had trampled still visible on the ground.

One of the cadavers had a hold on Muyun’s foot.

In a panic, Muyun tried to kick the corpse away with her free foot, but even as its head flew off, the hand that gripped her wouldn’t relent.

In fact, it laughed mockingly while bracing itself with both hands, refusing to let go.

And just as Muyun was desperately trying to shake off the other foot, another corpse crawled up, grabbing it as if to freeze her in place.

Fear wrapped around her like ice.

“No, don’t come, I don’t want this….”

Desperately glancing at the corpses that were clinging to their legs, Muyun shook her head in horror, pleading in vain, but there was no one to listen.

“HAH! In the end, you meet this kind of demise!”

Suddenly, a voice echoed from nowhere.

As Muyun frantically looked around, she realized the voice was coming from the corpse gripping her legs.

The figure then morphed into what resembled a knight, dead yet somehow animated.

“Is the mere Outsider frightening you so much that you would let a sinner who helped you die?”

“N-No… I was just….”

“HAH! Look at you making excuses—what kind of knight are you?!”

Kekekek!

The skeletons rattled their jaws, guffawing with skeletal hands.

Breathless laughter only intensified Muyun’s horror, as they felt like they were suffocating.

“Your father, who died on the Snow Mountain expedition, must be weeping in hell!”

“Aah, father…”

“Is it not shameful that you, born of such blood, do not hunt Outsiders in glorious vengeance, but rather engage in disgraceful acts? What are you doing, child?!”

This was a mental assault.

She couldn’t dwell on it.

Yet, human nature makes it impossible to ignore words that stab at one’s pride.

Even as Muyun blocked her ears, the cadaver’s words gnawed ever deeper into her mind.

“Your father….”

“The name of your father, one of the mightiest knights, now tarnished by…”

“You’re just a powerless little brat….”

“A coward who cowers at such things…”

The various voices of the corpses began to swirl around Muyun’s mind.

Now, she was at the point where she could faintly hear those voices, her body drenched in cold sweat as she struggled to hold onto her emotions.

Her breathing grew shallow, while the corpses continued to tug at her legs relentlessly.

Then, as if to punctuate the moment, one corpse’s voice rang out like a final nail in the coffin.

“You’re not even worth a hair on your father’s head! A dimwitted little wimp!”

“AAAAAH!”

At that, Muyun clutched her head with both hands and let her stress out in a flurry of frustration.

Was that the reason why?

CRACK!

“Uh, uh-oh…”

The protective charm she had brought crumbled into pieces and fell to the ground.

It couldn’t withstand the mental assault, having managed just one last stand before losing its power.

Then, to Muyun’s shock, the advance of the crawling corpses suddenly halted.

As she lifted her face towards the direction of the corpses, she gasped, forgetting to breathe.

The corpses stared blankly at the shredded charm, then turned to gaze at Muyun with blank expressions.

“…It’s torn.”

“It’s really torn.”

“So torn…”

One of the corpses crawled onto Muyun’s leg and grabbed her chin with one skeletal hand.

“Now that it’s gone…”

Finally, we can be one.

With that remark, Muyun’s legs were yanked with an unprecedented force compared to before.

“So sturdy! Your mind is utterly feeble, yet your body is blessed with resilience!”

At that, Muyun started to lose her balance and was pulled backward.

“No, nooooo!”

“Gwahaha!”

As Muyun found herself in the midst of a sea of corpses, they lunged at her en masse, beginning to grope her entire body.

The only part of her not covered was her face, which was visibly breaking from fear.

“Stop it! Noooooo!”

As if that wasn’t enough, Muyun suddenly felt a sharp pain in her thigh.

“…Huh?”

“If your mind doesn’t break, we can’t even covet that body of yours. But… since you lost to us, you have to offer that body, don’t you?”

As Muyun struggled to comprehend those words, the corpses echoed together.

“Let’s become flowers.”

“Become beautiful flowers like us.”

“Yeah, come join us!”

Ah.

So this is how it ends.

“What kind of flower would a coward’s flower be?”

Her sanity was slipping away.

The corpses began to appear as flowers.

The mental corruption felt as if it were ripping apart each and every brain cell.

Gradually, their whispering voices became disjointed, condensing into one single language.

“҉͈͖͇͖͉͔̭͙̱̯͍̏̍̔̀̆́̓̏̇͑̍̈̾͒͗́””к҈͚̟̗͙̯͚̲̱͔̠̳͗̓̆̑͗͒̄͋̇р҈̩͔̬̣͎̜̬̤͕͙̬͉̎̓̈́͊̒͌̈́̃а̷̳͈͈̰̥͙̗̰͇͚̩̙͌̎̒̉͗͛͑̂̂͌͑͛͂ͅͅс҈͉͚͕͙̦̲̘̯̱͖̱̭͔̣͖̾̋́͌̌̍͊͑͐̀͗̆͆и҉̮͉̣̤̩̖̪͉̫̀̈́̃͆̓̀́́̋͌̔̈́ͅв̸̣̗͈̖̟̞̰̳̳̄̇̿͆̿͊̇̎͌̉̒̆͂̓ы̵̭̗̥͎̳̘̲̠̝̪͖̲̐͋̍̍͆̑͊̓̔̐̆̆̄ͅͅͅе̸͍̰̣̫͚͉̟́́̓̀̎̈̆̀̿͗̈́̓̚ͅ ц̴̠̰̙̤͖̳͓͈͓̘͈̝͔͂̋̌͌̓̈͋̒͒̈́̿́̇̉в҈̝͖̤̯͈͎̗̭̤͕̫̘͓͈̃̐̉̽́̾͒͛͂̈̑̐ͅе̴̫͈̯̤͙̜͖̳̦̲̬͂̾͗͑͐̉̏̃̊́̌̓͑т̴͓͎̯̱͕̫͕̭͈̈́̾̇̓͋͌̆̾̋̚ы̷̭͙̬̜̰̲̞̲͎̂̓̓̌̎̌̂̄͑̌̉̆̇̚”””

The flowers have bloomed beautifully.

The flower has bloomed.

The flower blooms.

The blood of the flower.

Blood.

Amidst the fading consciousness, Muyun found herself contemplating whether such an end might suit her well.

This was her destiny.

Thus, it would be right to accept it humbly, she thought, just around the time when…

“…Pull yourself together, Muyun!”