Slumped on the ground, Ren was overwhelmed with frustration. Not only could he not ask for help, but now he couldn't even touch anything.
“This is so dumb,” he muttered, irritated by his situation. “What’s the point of this skill if I can’t even handle things essential for survival?”
His energy was low, but Ren knew he couldn’t just sit around and complain. He reluctantly stood up and took one last look at the supplies before leaving the tent.
“Goodbye, my paradise,” Ren said with teary eyes, forced to part with the abundance of food and water.
With a heavy heart, he stepped out of the tent, deciding to leave the battlefield behind. He’d had enough of the stench and the smoke.
Ren stumbled away from the battlefield, the horrors he had witnessed still gnawing at him. His mind raced as he tried to make sense of it all—the blood, the chaos, the fact that no one could see him. It was too surreal, like a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.
The path ahead was narrow, winding through trees as it led him away from the battlefield. Ren moved as quickly as he could, the sounds of battle growing fainter with each step. He needed a place to gather his thoughts, somewhere to make sense of what he had just experienced.
“The sun’s almost setting,” Ren murmured as he walked down the path. “I need to find some shelter, like a cave or something.”
As he pushed through a dense thicket, he emerged into a small clearing where the forest opened up to reveal a stream running gently through the landscape. The peaceful sound of water flowing over rocks was a stark contrast to the chaos he had just left behind, and for a moment, Ren felt a flicker of relief.
“After all that blood and smoke, to think something as beautiful as this was so close to that bloody battlefield,” Ren said sorrowfully. He was glad the place was undisturbed, but he couldn’t ignore the irony.
But his relief was short-lived. Ren was startled by movement on the opposite side of the stream. A shadow moved silently through the trees.
When Ren finally saw the figure clearly, he froze. It was a very familiar appearance, one he knew all too well from the game, and it made his blood run cold.
A woman, tall and graceful, with long black hair flowing like a river of darkness down her back, stood there. She wore a sleek, black outfit that blended with the shadows, her every movement exuding deadly elegance. Her eyes, sharp and cold, scanned the area with a predator’s precision.
“No… why is she here?” Ren murmured, instinctively trying to hide. But it was too late—the woman was already looking in his direction.
Ren’s heart skipped a beat as he recognized her. This was no ordinary woman—this was Velara, one of the most feared antagonists in Illustria Chronicles. She was known as the Shadow Ripper, a master assassin who could strike fear into even the most seasoned players. In the game, she was a major boss character, one that players avoided unless they were well-prepared for a fight.
Ren’s body froze. He knew that ordinary people and soldiers couldn’t see him, but the woman in front of him was a different story. Her perceptive skills and senses were far beyond those of ordinary people.
If this were the game, he might have been thrilled to see a beautiful woman in such a beautiful setting. But this wasn’t the game. This was real, and she was here in front of him, in the flesh.
Ren’s heart pounded so rapidly he could hear it. This could be it—the moment he died, right at the beginning of his journey.
He closed his eyes, relenting to fate.
But after a while, nothing happened. He didn’t hear anything other than the sounds of the forest, and nothing touched him.
“What’s going o—” he started to say as he opened his eyes, only to be interrupted as Velara passed right through him. She simply walked through him, completely ignoring his presence.
Ren turned to look at Velara but saw no sign that she had noticed him.
“That means the skill still works,” Ren said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Oh, I almost had a heart attack.”
Velara kept walking to the edge of the forest, her gaze fixed in the direction of the battlefield.
Ren, still curious, cautiously moved closer to her. He knew the skill would prevent her from seeing him, but he was still careful.
“Wow, I can’t believe I’m seeing her this close and in the flesh!” Ren whispered excitedly.
Velara was one of the main antagonists of the game. She was part of the secret organization known as SIN. She was skilled enough to take her place as the 4th council member out of twelve, all of whom were among the strongest members in the organization.
SIN was a shadowy group, shrouded in mystery and feared by all. It was said that they pulled the strings behind the scenes, manipulating events to their advantage.
Ren watched as Velara observed the battlefield from a distance, her expression unreadable. She seemed to be analyzing the chaos, taking in every detail with cold detachment. Ren realized that she wasn’t just here by chance—she was observing, studying the battle like it was part of a larger plan.
This wasn’t a random skirmish; it was something much more sinister, and Velara was here to see it unfold.
“But something doesn’t make sense,” Ren murmured, thinking about the situation. “SIN liked to pull the strings behind the scenes, but they never orchestrated a battle this big, not even in the game.”
SIN would never make a move that could compromise their operation so openly. They didn’t create big scenes that would draw the attention of entire nations.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“SIN’s top members are all monsters, but even they wouldn’t want to fight a whole nation’s army,” Ren murmured. “It wouldn’t do them any good.”
Velara’s gaze shifted slightly, and for a brief moment, it felt as though she might have sensed something. Ren held his breath, his heart pounding. But she didn’t react, simply turning away from the battlefield and disappearing back into the forest, leaving him alone once more.
Of course, Ren was curious about what SIN had ordered her to do here. Was she sent just to observe the battlefield, or was there something else?
“I should follow her for now,” Ren murmured, cautiously trailing behind Velara. “Maybe she’ll give me a clue about what she’s doing here.”
But before he could act, something unexpected happened.
The ground beneath him suddenly shifted. Ren’s eyes widened in shock as he felt a surge of energy ripple through the air. Before he could react, a powerful force pulled him off his feet, dragging him through the fabric of reality itself.
The world around him blurred, twisting and warping in a disorienting cascade of colors and shapes.
A teleportation spell.
“Shit, I need to get ou—” Ren began, but it was too late—the spell activated.
For a moment, all was dark but then.
Ren found himself standing in a dimly lit room, the air humming with strange energy. His heart still pounding, he quickly took in his surroundings. The walls were sleek and metallic, embedded with complex circuitry that pulsed with a faint blue light. The floor was polished, reflecting the cold, sterile environment that felt more like a high-tech facility than the medieval world he had seen so far.
“Where am I?” Ren muttered, scratching his head. “This place feels familiar, though.”
Before him stood a large, circular table made of dark metal, around which sat twelve figures, each cloaked in shadow. Ren recognized the symbols etched into the backs of their chairs—they were the insignias of SIN, the organization’s mark of power. These were the council members, the most feared individuals in the organization and possibly, in this world.
And Ren was standing right in front of them.
His breath caught in his throat as he realized the gravity of the situation. He had been teleported directly into a SIN meeting—a gathering of the most dangerous beings in existence. He could hardly believe his eyes. It was a scenario that any player in the game would consider a death sentence.
“Ha ha… just when I thought my luck was turning around,” Ren chuckled, overwhelmed by how bad his luck had turned.
He could see twelve seats around the massive circular table, each symbolizing one of the twelve council members of SIN. But it seemed that only five members were present, including Velara, who had just arrived and taken her seat.
“I should be happy it’s only five, but these are the worst five members of them all,” Ren murmured as he recognized the others besides Velara.
Out of the twelve members who could have been there, only the top five council members of SIN were present. They were the most dangerous and vicious among them all.
But as Ren stood there, expecting to be noticed, something strange happened—something he should have already expected since it had happened so many times before.
The council members continued their discussion, completely unaware of his presence. None of them saw him or even sensed him.
Ren’s mind reeled. This shouldn’t have been possible. In the game, SIN’s members had heightened senses, capable of detecting the slightest disturbance in their surroundings. Yet here he was, standing in their midst, and not a single one of them seemed to know he was there.
It was then that Ren truly grasped the extent of his new skill—Unexistence.
“Ha ha, other than the obvious health issues, this skill is completely broken,” Ren said, realizing just how powerful his mysterious skill was.
This skill was beyond broken. It was an anomaly, a glitch in the world’s very code.
As Ren stood there, deep in thought about his skill, something else caught his attention.
he heard a faint rumbling sound from above. His eyes shot upward as a section of the ceiling opened, revealing a darkened chamber. Slowly, an altar began to descend, as if lowered by an invisible mechanism, its surface adorned with intricate symbols that seemed to pulse with a faint, ominous glow.
“What now?” Ren whispered, a sense of dread creeping over him as he realized this was no ordinary occurrence.
The altar descended like an elevator, and as it neared the ground, Ren's heart pounded in his chest. Standing atop the altar was a figure draped in shadows, her presence so imposing that even the council members seemed unnerved. Ren's body stiffened, an overwhelming fear gripping him. He didn’t need to see her face to know who she was.
“No… anyone but her,” Ren murmured, his voice trembling.
The altar touched the ground near the table, and the figure stepped off it with a fluid grace that belied her power. As she approached the table, every single council member stood up from their seats, a gesture of respect that sent chills down Ren's spine.
This was it—the one person in the entire world he didn’t want to attract attention to.
She was a woman with long, silver hair that cascaded like moonlight, shimmering in the dim light of the chamber. Her black robe, resembling that of a priestess, billowed slightly as she moved, and a dark, shimmering veil covered her face, absorbing any light that touched it. The veil made it impossible to discern her features, adding to the aura of mystery that surrounded her.
But Ren knew exactly who she was.
“The leader of SIN…” Ren muttered under his breath, his body frozen in fear. “The one who pulls all the strings.”
She was known as the Fallen Priestess, the mastermind behind the organization SIN, and the one who had recruited each of the council members. Her true name was never revealed, even when Ren last played the game.
She was a figure shrouded in mystery, her identity hidden beneath layers upon layers of darkness.
Back in the day, Ren had spent countless hours on game forums, speculating with other players about her true identity. There was one theory that seemed the most plausible, but the developers never officially confirmed it.
It was a topic that had fueled endless discussions, but now, standing in front of her in this world, those theories seemed trivial compared to the reality of her presence.
The Priestess walked with an elegance and power that defied her seemingly frail appearance. Even though she appeared delicate, the pressure she exuded was unlike anything Ren had ever felt. If Velara’s presence was like a blade, sharp and deadly, the Priestess’s presence was something entirely different.
It was as if her very existence denied the logic and rules of this world, bending reality around her.
But to Ren's surprise, even she did not acknowledge him. The most powerful and enigmatic figure in the entire game, the one whose very existence seemed to defy reason, could not see him. She didn’t even glance in his direction as she moved toward the table.
“This is it,” Ren thought, his heart racing. “The ultimate test for this skill. If even she can’t sense me…”
The Priestess reached the table, and with a soft, almost ethereal voice, she spoke. “Sit.”
Her voice was like a melody, gentle yet commanding, leaving no room for disobedience. The council members obeyed immediately, sitting down as though her words alone compelled them.
Ren couldn’t believe it. He was standing in the midst of the most dangerous people in this world, and none of them could see him. Not even the Fallen Priestess, the main antagonist of the game's story so far, was aware of his presence.
“This skill is completely broken,” Ren whispered, a mix of awe and relief washing over him. “Now I just have to figure out how to use it properly.”
The Priestess glanced around the table, her expression hidden beneath the veil. “It seems a lot of the others did not make it, but nevertheless, let’s begin the meeting,” she said, her voice carrying a weight that silenced the room.
Ren remained still, his heart pounding in his chest. This was it—the meeting of the most dangerous individuals in the world, and he was right in the middle of it, an unseen observer. He knew he had to stay calm, listen, and learn.
This was a rare opportunity, one that could give him invaluable insight into the workings of SIN and, perhaps, a chance to survive in this twisted world.
The meeting was about to begin, and Ren was ready to absorb every detail.