"Something very frightening... is about to arrive."

Ariel’s expression turned grave.

A premonition of death buzzed in her mind like a swarm of bees, shrill and relentless.

On the pale skin of her arms, every fine hair stood upright. Cold crept up her spine like a venomous snake, coiling at the crown of her head, hissing with its tongue flickering.

A terrifying, overwhelming sense of danger.

Even when she had faced Zagu, when she had been hunted by hordes of Flayers and pushed nearly to utter ruin, she had never felt anything like this.

So before she had even seen the enemy clearly, a bead of cold sweat slid from her smooth chin—freezing into a crystal before it reached the ground.

"Should we retreat first?"

Though a step slower than Ariel, Muen had also sensed that soul-piercing threat. He was about to pause his movements...

"No need."

But Ariel suddenly pressed down on his arm and shook her head lightly.

"Miss Muse, just keep going. I’ll stall for time."

"Isn’t that too risky?"

Muen’s tone was heavy.

Both he and Ariel had reached this point through relentless slaughter; the death-sense they had honed was extremely precise, and had never failed them.

So from instinct alone, they knew the thing approaching was absolutely not something they could defeat in their current state. Retreating first should have been the best option.

"Miss Muse, do you think this is coincidence? We arrive beneath this tower, and just happen to encounter an unprecedented monster?"

Ariel braced her hands and leapt lightly down from Muen’s back. Yet her gaze remained locked on a point within the mist ahead.

"No. Impossible. From my experience with so many ancient relics, this is absolutely not coincidence. If my guess is correct, what we’re about to face is something like the guardian of that tower. If we want to enter, we can’t avoid it."

"...Alright. I’ll leave it to you."

Muen only pondered for an instant before nodding.

It was both trust in Ariel’s judgment—and in her ability.

"Just don’t overdo it. Your injuries are still severe. If anything feels wrong, we withdraw first. Don’t force it."

Muen gave a rapid warning, not daring to waste even a second, his mind sinking fully into searching for the operating method of the Myriad-Age Cycle branch in his hand.

"Don’t worry. I am a bit hindered right now, but holding out for a mere minute or two is still doable."

Ariel rolled her injured thigh slightly. A wild, unrestrained smile curled at her lips again.

At a moment of crisis, a valiant knight risking life to protect a beautiful, brilliant princess—wasn’t that also a perfect chance to raise affection?

"Come."

Ariel faced forward.

"Let me see what kind of demon or monster this is this time."

At some point, the restless cold mist had frozen in place.

As if the entire space had solidified. The distant wandering phantoms seemed trapped in amber, reduced to tiny preserved remnants. No more stray noises remained.

Everything had become utterly still.

The air grew colder still—so cold breathing itself hurt, the white vapor of exhalation instantly scattering into ice crystals.

Then suddenly, the mist parted, revealing a narrow passage.

A figure staggered slowly forward.

It looked like a human.

Human height, human build, human outline.

From distant appearance alone, there was nothing that could be called “terrifying.”

But Ariel did not relax in the slightest. Since entering here, she had seen far too many “humanoid” monsters. Who knew what kind of “fresh and unconventional” face this thing might possess?

So the figure continued to approach. And at last, Ariel could see its true form.

"Hiss—"

Even with mental preparation, she still sucked in a sharp breath.

Not because the face was too horrifying.

But because...

"He" had no face.

The figure wore a tattered white robe, making the body appear especially gaunt. Yet following the robe upward, there was simply no region that could be called a face.

Above the neck, there was only dense, flickering... noise—like a malfunctioning projection magic device.

Countless black-and-white specks flashed where its face should be, making its very existence seem unreal. Yet the danger premonition in Ariel’s heart only intensified as it approached.

"Well now... Compared to the other Corruptors, you’re rather shy," Ariel muttered a poor joke under her breath, her hand already gripping the hilt of Skyfire tightly.

But she did not rush to attack.

This noise-man moved very slowly, its motions crooked and stiff like a corpse freshly crawled from a grave in a picture book. It showed no overt aggression.

And along the way, Ariel had witnessed Miss Muse’s alchemical-field-plus-illumination combination—stealth so effective it could probably spy on a women’s bathhouse without anyone noticing.

So there remained the best possibility.

"It" hadn’t discovered them.

"It" was merely passing by.

Its duty might be guarding the inverted tower. It was only patrolling here, nothing more...

"%&%..."

Ariel suddenly heard a strange sound.

"%&*..."

It sounded like murmuring.

"￥%&..."

Ancient language?

Ariel frowned.

Under her teacher’s strict tutelage, she had begun learning ancient tongues very early. The widely spread Common Ancient Language, and many obscure ones—she had studied them all. That was one reason she could traverse so many ancient ruins.

So once she recognized it as an ancient language, she instinctively began translating.

What "it" was saying meant—

【Base, filthy, sinful warrior—die!】

Ariel’s pupils shrank violently.

The buzzing death-sense spiked, like a sword stabbing into her nerves.

But she had already moved.

The Skyfire greatsword in her hands became a perfect arc of [N O V E L I G H T] flame, carrying long-gathered surging sword intent, cleaving toward the noise-man’s neck.

"Skyfire—unsheathe!"

But in that instant, the noise-man’s reaction was faster than Ariel had imagined.

At the very moment her greatsword moved, vast magic power erupted from that gaunt body.

"A mage?"

The thought flashed through Ariel’s mind, and she felt a surge of joy.

If it was a mage, things were easier. At this distance, unless it was a Truth-rank archmage, it shouldn’t have time to fully construct magic before her strike landed—

【Congeal】.

Ariel heard the word, spoken in ancient tongue.

This was not chanting—no chant was this short.

Nor was it a spell. There was no such thing as “powerful incantations” in this world.

It was more like a simple... command.

Yet what it contained was infinitely more complex than a mere order.

If it had to be described—

Unlike modern magic release, where spells were built brick by brick from nothing, this was like snapping together pieces already engraved in advance... an activation condition.

This was—

Ancient magic!

"Not good!"

Ariel felt immediate danger. Her descending sword began to slow long before touching the enemy.

As if cutting into water, mud, swamp... even cement.

Heavy force pressed from all directions, squeezing the blade. The surging power on Skyfire was gradually annihilated under invisible compression.

At the same time, Ariel’s breath halted.

Because even the air she inhaled seemed to turn into viscous molten iron, crushing and ravaging her lungs. The taste of blood filled her nose. Intense pain and mounting suffocation made her feel submerged in the deep sea.

Only now did Ariel understand why those distant phantoms had been frozen like insects in amber. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Because they truly were trapped in amber.

Amber that had congealed from nothing.

Careless.

No—not careless. From the start she had not underestimated this enemy that made her hair stand on end.

Store power, wait for the moment, strike to kill.

Against any terrifying opponent, that was always the safest choice—especially when the opponent was a physically fragile mage.

But in this clash, she had relied too much on past experience.

So much that she had overlooked... how could a mage speaking ancient tongue follow modern magical rules?

The opponent needed no chant, no construction time. The speed of its release exceeded even that of a warrior like Ariel.

She, who knew the terror of ancient magic—and even bore several ancient spells herself—had still made such a basic error?

Indeed... the earlier battles had drained too much strength. She was too weakened, too blood-lost. Even her thinking had dulled...

But—

"I haven’t conceded yet."

After a flash of thought, Ariel bared her teeth, her expression turning ferocious.

There was no knight in this world who would surrender before a beautiful princess.

Ariel gripped Skyfire and shook it violently. Blazing fire erupted around her, burning outward in a roaring surge.

The surrounding air was rapidly consumed. Ariel swung horizontally again, unleashing all stored force!

Still Skyfire Unsheathed.

But this time, the target was not the noise-man before her.

It was... to cleave the sea.

As if some invisible substance were split apart, Ariel’s body suddenly lightened. At the same time the flames expanded outward, briefly forming a cavity free from magical influence.

Ariel coughed up a mouthful of thick blood. Her face grew even paler. The wound in her leg, under the previous pressure, had long burst into heavy bleeding.

Yet her movements did not slow in the slightest.

Within that cavity she stepped forward, closing in on the noise-man—

And swung again!