Shhk!
The sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed as a pitch-black monster let out a pained roar before collapsing. A knight's sword, gleaming white with a lapis-lazuli-like hilt, was lodged firmly in its forehead.
"Alright, another one down."
With the same ease as a stroll, Aesc walked over and pulled the sword free, watching as the monster dissolved into ash.
She returned the sword to its concealed place within her staff and continued forward alone until a solid wall blocked her path.
"Another dead end…"
This was the ruin Aesc and the others had discovered earlier.
Himmel once said, "If an unexplored ruin appears before you, there's no reason not to take a look."
The promise of unclaimed magic tools and grimoires was enough to intrigue Frieren, so the group decided to delve deeper into the ruin.
For Aesc and Frieren, exploring ruins was second nature. Both had joined Himmel in countless expeditions to sites just like this one.
Since this was an untouched ruin, it wasn't long before they found several valuable items. Frieren, unsurprisingly, also fell victim to a mimic chest.
And now, due to one of the ruin's traps, the group had been separated. By the time Aesc realized what had happened, the others were nowhere to be seen.
"This is exhausting… Three kids have gone missing, and now I, the responsible adult, have to track them down one by one," Aesc muttered with a sigh, continuing down the narrow corridor.
As she turned a corner, her expression shifted. Raising her staff, she pointed it at the source of an unseen threat.
At the same moment, another figure appeared and leveled their own staff at her. Their wary gazes met in midair.
When they recognized each other, both froze.
"Fern?"
"Lady Aesc?"
The figure before her was Fern, with her waist-length dark purple hair and calm, almost emotionless face.
Lowering her staff, Aesc asked, "You're alone? What about Frieren and Stark?"
"…I'm sorry, Lady Aesc. I don't know where they are," Fern replied, her head dropping slightly, her gaze dim.
"I see."
Aesc tilted her head slightly, her expression as calm as still water. "Then let's go find them. Don't worry—they can take care of themselves."
With that, Aesc and Fern continued their search for the others, exploring the ruin as they went. Despite the complete lack of information, Aesc showed no signs of concern for Frieren or Stark's safety.
The walls of the ruin, weathered and yellowed by time, bore scars of erosion, making it easy to worry that the structure might collapse at the slightest disturbance.
Time was immeasurable inside the ruin. Neither Aesc nor Fern knew how long they had been wandering when they reached yet another dead end.
But this time, the path ended in a grand hall. A towering stone golem, more than ten meters tall, stood in the center. Behind it loomed an ancient, imposing door.
"Based on my experience, that door either leads to a treasure vault or the stairs to the next floor. And this stone golem is probably the guardian of this level," Aesc said matter-of-factly.
Humans often instinctively fear massive creatures. Some say this fear is ingrained in our blood, a survival instinct from ancient times when giant beasts dominated the food chain. But as she faced the stone golem, Aesc's expression remained tranquil.
Even without Stark as a frontliner, Aesc and Fern worked together to defeat the golem.
As the giant crumbled into smaller and smaller pieces of stone, eventually disintegrating into dust, Aesc remained unperturbed.
Fern suddenly spoke up from behind. "That wasn't a monster."
Without turning, Aesc replied, "It was a magical construct—likely created to guard this door."
Her gaze shifted to the ancient door, now fully visible.
With the golem destroyed, the door opened on its own, revealing a staircase that descended into unlit depths.
"Looks like it's the stairs to the next floor."
"Didn't I already say so?"
"…Why do you sound so smug about it, Lady Aesc?"
The staircase stretched downward into darkness, an ominous abyss that seemed to hide some unseen predator, waiting for its next arrogant intruder.
Aesc glanced at the darkness briefly before turning away, her interest already fading.
"You're not going down?" Fern asked, tilting her head. "Frieren and Stark might already be down there."
"Of course not. I haven't cleared this floor yet. There's still a big chunk of the map I haven't uncovered. No way I'm leaving for the next area with unexplored corners behind. I have standards, you know."
Aesc turned to Fern with a playful smile. "Don't worry. If Frieren's already been here, she would've done the same thing."
Fern stared at Aesc for a long moment before sighing and following her.
Returning to a previous fork in the path, Aesc chose another unexplored direction.
Move forward. Defeat monsters. Avoid traps. Repeat.
"This seems like another dead end," Fern said, staring at the weathered stone wall ahead.
"…No, not this time," Aesc replied, stepping closer.
After some searching, Aesc found and triggered a hidden switch. The wall shifted and opened like a door, revealing a small, cramped chamber with an old, slightly battered treasure chest at its center.
"See? Told you so," Aesc said smugly, striding toward the chest with a spring in her step.
Her fixation on treasure chests was eerily similar to Frieren's.
The difference, however, was that Aesc could distinguish between real chests and mimics.
Kneeling before the chest, Aesc rubbed her hands together in anticipation before opening it. Behind her, Fern watched in silence, her gaze fixed on Aesc's defenseless back.
"Hey! Fern, look at this! It's a super rare grimoire! If Frieren were here, she'd be over the moon!"
Aesc turned, holding the grimoire aloft with a beaming, childlike smile. Her pure joy sparkled in her teal eyes like stars.
But in that instant, a piercing beam of concentrated magical energy struck her, consuming half of her body.
Her right side—heart included—was completely obliterated. Shreds of her pristine white cloak fluttered in the air like blood-soaked butterflies.
The wound was unquestionably fatal.
Aesc's once vibrant teal eyes were now filled with confusion and shock, reflecting Fern's cold, expressionless face.
Her life force drained rapidly, like water spilling from an overturned jug. The golden-haired elf collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.
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T/N: WHATTTTTTTTTTTTT???????????????