A mountain range stretched into the horizon in all directions. The sun peeked over the sharp summits of the rocky mountains, announcing the dawn of a new day with an all-encompassing light, accompanied by a cry from a rooster in a hastily built yet functional barn.

At this sound, a pair of green eyes burst open, and a man lurched upright on his bed, soaked with a six-foot-tall outline of sweat. Panting, he looked to his right, and upon seeing a girl of doll-like beauty with shoddily cut short brown hair and eyes, he sighed in relief while hanging his head.

"It was just a dream. A dream."

At the soft reassurance he gave himself, he felt a pat on his head. Elara was used to Evan's sleepless nights haunted by nightmares by now, and she had learned to wake up whenever she heard that phrase. Evan knew this and felt bad about waking her up, yet he could not help but utter it.

"Sleep well?"

"...yes."

The dark circles under his eyes gave away his lie, and the numerous times they had repeated this short exchange meant that both of them knew it.

After their desperate escape from the Eldorian pursuers, they dug a cliff on the side of a mountain and built a small barn and farm, where they hoped to eventually be self-sufficient. For now, every day of the past few weeks has been the same. At this point, Evan had mentally healed enough to function well enough in daily life. After the same routine every morning, he would hunt some game from the small forest nearby for their meals, and Elara would maintain the place with her magic. Around the time the sun had just crossed its zenith in the sky, they would while the rest of the day away, either making their home for the foreseeable future more comfortable or having casual conversation.

This kind of life had done immense good for Evan's recovery, with no small part thanks to his proximity to Elara, and they were content with it. Not her, though.

"Revolting."

Evan, who had cast his head down, and Elara, whose eyes had still been half closed, did not see the woman leaning against the door to the small room. The sound of the voice felt like a dozen trucks had been thrown onto them, instantly paralyzing the two of them. The woman did not give them any time to wonder about her identity or whether she was friend or foe, either. In just one step, she vanished and reappeared in front of Evan, then slashed a dagger diagonally across his face. Next, she grabbed Elara's face and slammed her against the bed onto the other side of the wall of the bedroom, where she slid off the wall and dropped onto the floor, seemingly lifeless. A few words attempted to escape Evan's throat.

"E-Ela-"

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A punch silenced him. Followed by another. Followed by another. The woman gave him no time to think twice. She grabbed his hair and threw him against the wall. Croaks left his throat, but the woman did not relent. As he slid down the wall and his upper body drooped to the side, she followed up with a kick. He bounced against the wall behind him, and she kicked his rebounding head again. About to deliver a punch from her standing position above his head down to it, she bent, but stopped right as she did.

"Hmm. That pathetic king really did not need to do all that begging to get me to do this. A regular archmage would have been plenty. This fucker's already knocked out. Well, I'm motivated now, though, so I'll go through with it. Actually, no. I think I can have some fun with this inste…"

Evan did not hear anymore. His lights were out.

Noah opened his eyes to see a worried Ariel leaning over to look at him in a familiar scene.

"You're awake? I couldn't find anything wrong with your body. Are you okay? Do you feel anything off?

"...No. I don't—what happened?"

Ariel recounted how he had mysteriously fallen over and how she had brought him here. It seemed that he had woken up just minutes after he collapsed, and she was just about to leave to fetch a healing mage.

As she spoke, she did not catch how Noah's fists were slowly clenching. Slowly shutting his eyes while turning his head back around to face the ceiling, he cut her off through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, Ariel, could you just give me some time to think? Thanks for taking care of me again, by the way."

A short pause followed, but she uttered a short hum of agreement with a slightly confused face, then left.

As the door shut, he tried to get up, only to find that he couldn't, feeling what felt like an insurmountable weight on his chest. He let himself fall back down, then slowly clenched this jaw. He spoke again after draping an arm over his eyes.

"More weakness. Why? Fucking why? Why…?!"

His voice turned quite close to a growl at the end of his sentence, and the knuckles of his fists turned white. He was furious at himself. After promising to see the view from the peak again to never have to fall victim to an inferiority complex, he sought out one of the most dangerous beasts on the continent, one speculated to even be a divine beast, and he thought he gained power after a painful struggle. Yet, here he was, collapsing then being paralysed like he was now due to, what, no reason? It definitely wasn't a health issue; his unicorn form would have healed that a dozen times over if that were the case. So why?

It happened then.

'Ninth Circle - Isolation!'

Three people in flowy robes blinked into existence before Noah, who perked up with a hint of frustrated anger still in his eyes as he noticed the use of magic around him.

"Finally. It took three months for you to lower your guard or become vulnerable. I'm fairly sure we would not have been given this mission if Elowyn knew that you could single-handedly slay a leviathan now. Or maybe she had heard the rumors but decided that they were false. It makes sense, considering that if you could attain SSS-ranked strength so easily, you would have done it easier. Imagine our surprise when our observations over the past three months reveal you really had become that strong? It's not like we could go back and claim it was too hard for us. So, we waited until you lowered your guard. It was incredibly humiliating for great archmages like us to have to wait like lowly assassins, but the wait is finally over."

He paused, as if thinking of his next words. The man then spoke again, with an expression that made it seem like he was just clocking in for another day of work.

"The point is, Noah, if you hadn't figured it out, you can't call for help, and you're weakened right now. Today, you will indubitably perish."