Fildagreen Kingdom.

“Whew-”

Rine Groph had, as of late, been endlessly delving into Sin.

...Honestly, if it were like the very beginning, it could’ve been a pleasant tea time with a side of pursuing knowledge—more precisely, it would’ve been time to increase the hours spent escorting Godfather.

But unfortunately.

Because someone had broken the badge someone had gifted to Godfather, there was far less work to do.

Anyway, thanks to that, lately Rine had been pouring a lot of time into research.

Even after hundreds of years had passed, there was still an absurd amount of knowledge she didn’t know, hadn’t grasped, couldn’t pin down immediately.

And today.

For the first time, she was able to get her hands on meaningful information about Sin.

Of course, it wasn’t something that let her know the essence of Sin.

But in one respect, it was information that could explain why the “previous Sin” had been dealt with so futilely.

‘...So even depending on what it manifests into, there can be a difference in capability.’

Of course, she already knew that Sin’s apostles existed, and that they themselves chose the body Sin would manifest into.

But she’d only understood it as looking for an existence that could synchronize well with Sin.

She hadn’t known until now that its ability changed depending on what it manifested into.

“.......”

She replayed the knowledge she’d been reading for a while.

The more she did, the more new questions surfaced.

Because while it was clearly written that “Sin’s power changes wildly depending on what it manifests into,” she couldn’t find anything beyond that again.

So naturally, the thought arose.

‘...Then why is it looking at suitability as the target of manifestation, instead of someone strong?’

Of course, since she still hadn’t fully pored through all the knowledge, she couldn’t know the exact reason.

It probably wasn’t written in the “book” she’d found right now, either.

After chewing on the question for a while, Rine decided that for now she would be faithful to reading the book she’d been given, and closed her eyes again.

And instantly, like a lie, in the vividly drawn scenery of the library in her head, she turned the pages of the book she’d been reading, one by one.

And after some time passed, once she had finished reading the entire book in her head—

“.......”

She opened her eyes with a somewhat stiff expression.

As expected, she couldn’t find an answer to her question.

But she had once again clearly confirmed the difference in power when Sin manifested into a strong existence, so—

“.......”

Staring at the tea that had gone cold, she sank back into thought to resolve the question herself.

The battle began.

The three powerhouses trying to move toward Alon in the sky—

Kwaaaaang-!

And Seollang, Radan, and Elivan’s battle, thoroughly obstructing that goal and moving to decisively deal with them, went beyond that.

The situation was overwhelming.

Golden light flashed before Alon’s eyes as Seollang’s figure repeatedly appeared and vanished.

If he couldn’t use Reverse Heavens, it was speed so fast he probably couldn’t even properly confirm even that brief moment.

Repeating that movement, Seollang was literally playing with Dragon-Strike Spear.

With a bang, Dragon-Strike Spear was driven into the ground, and into the cliff.

Then if you blinked, it was floating in midair.

The next moment, it was slammed into the ground as if it would grind up the entire black territory.

The enemy’s body, endlessly repeating destruction and regeneration.

But as if the regeneration had reached some kind of limit, you could visibly see the speed slowing.

Cliff Sword was the same.

Countless relics falling from the sky.

Not only was movement restricted by that, the Cliff Sword Hidden person, already moving without being able to pull out several relics embedded in the back, couldn’t properly respond to Radan.

And when it came to Thousand-Year Ice—

Kkwajik-!

It couldn’t even oppose them at all.

The moment Thousand-Year Ice tried to do something, Elivan’s sword moved.

And right after that, Thousand-Year Ice’s limbs were severed.

Thousand-Year Ice immediately regenerated the limbs and moved the body to respond in any way possible, but still couldn’t evade Elivan’s sword.

A truly overwhelming gap.

‘Was that... even possible?’

Alon, who had finished “preparing the plan” on the ship and come down, tilted his head for a moment as he watched Elivan.

No matter how close Elivan was to max level in the game—he hadn’t expected this level of strength against a powerhouse, and against a powerhouse of Sin whose mana was overflowing infinitely because of Sin.

But in the end, it was also true that because Elivan had that kind of ability at this point, the balance of power could be maintained.

“Whew-”

Alon grabbed his dizzy head from the repeated use of Reverse Heavens.

He forced himself to raise his eyes and look around at the situation.

The fight unfolding over the black territory was like a war.

Basiliora crushed and erased the black things trying to regenerate infinitely.

The soldiers were butchering the lumps of meat that were constantly swarming toward the walls and the area around them.

A perfect balance.

‘If we keep this up just a little longer—’

The moment Alon thought that.

Tuk-!

Movement stopped.

The powerhouses who had been moving just a moment ago stopped like a lie.

The hunks of flesh that had been charging at the soldiers collapsed on the spot as if their strings had been cut.

Hudeudeudeuk-!

The hunks of flesh that had been writhing and regenerating beneath Basiliora, who had taken off Blackie’s armor at some point, scattered powerlessly.

And instead of that.

It appeared.

“Ah-”

A low voice.

A very small, faint exclamation.

Yet with that alone, everyone here’s gaze gathered toward one place.

To a single human who had appeared in this black territory at some point.

No—it wasn’t human.

It clearly had a humanoid body, but—everyone here could recognize it.

That is not human.

“Mm-”

White hair.

Rather than an adult, it was closer to a boy, staring blankly ahead.

Inside the two eyes, two pupils floated in each, bizarrely.

Surrounded by something as pitch-black as the black territory, it blankly looked around.

Everyone there could read its emotions.

It looked unmotivated.

It looked bored.

It looked lethargic.

It looked like it had nothing to do.

It looked drowsy.

It looked—simply, slothful.

And as its gaze calmly, simply turned its head and swept around—at last it stopped in one place.

Where Alon was.

Those four strangely engraved pupils looked at Alon.

And Alon, too, looking at that Sloth, felt a sense of strangeness.

‘...What is this?’

Alon knew the Sin of Sloth.

Meaning, he also knew the Sin of Sloth’s appearance.

Its hair had clearly turned white, but otherwise it was just as Alon knew it.

But what made Alon feel strange was that reaction.

The Sin of Sloth Alon knew had been so full of rage it was almost far from the title “Sloth.”

But the being before him wasn’t.

It was, simply, the word itself made into a being.

There wasn’t even any momentum to be felt.

It just looked at him, without motivation.

At that bizarre discrepancy, the moment Alon’s questions grew—

Thud-

Sloth sat down.

Sitting cross-legged, propping its chin on a knee raised on one side, Sloth stared at Alon.

A posture that didn’t look like it had any will to fight at all.

Yet no one here could easily move at Sloth’s attitude.

No—not only could they not move.

“...Kkh-”

“Kk-”

One by one, they began gagging as if they couldn’t breathe properly.

Sloth did nothing.

It didn’t scatter mana, it didn’t create oppressive pressure.

It sat in place and showed no will to fight.

And yet the pressure that existence itself gave off was enough to make the soldiers, who were only watching from afar, pass out on the spot.

Soldiers falling one by one.

A chill formed along Selaim and Parkline’s spines.

Seollang and Radan, and Elivan’s expressions grew stiffer and stiffer.

Yet even in that situation, he, who had only revealed lethargy while looking at Alon—

“You’re planning to fight, right?”

slowly opened his mouth.

“.......”

For a moment they wore blank expressions at the sight of it trying to speak rationally, unlike the Sins so far.

After thinking, Alon answered.

“...Yeah.”

“There’s no way not to fight, is there?”

“Wasn’t it your side that started the fight first?”

At that, for a moment the Sin stared at Alon, then—

“...Because I want to protect it.”

It murmured, with a somewhat wistful gaze within its slothfulness.

“What...?”

Alon asked back without realizing it.

He couldn’t understand it at all.

Why that thing had appeared before him with that kind of personality.

Why it was saying that.

At the very least, the Sloth Alon knew was a being that simply butchered every human it saw.

But at Alon’s reflexive question, Sloth didn’t answer any further.

Instead.

Still sitting in place, Sloth let out a sigh right there and looked at him for a while, then—

“One minute.”

Like that.

“For one minute from now, I won’t move from here.”

It spoke dully.

“What... did you say?”

“No matter what attacks you use, I’ll take them all. So you can be satisfied.”

So you won’t be resentful.

So dying to me can feel like something that was only natural.

After muttering that, Sloth—

“Alright, then start.”

quietly called out.

After a very brief silence passed, the first to move was—

Kwaaaaang-!!

Seollang.

With a clear smile at the corner of the mouth, Seollang rushed in, appeared before Sloth faster than anyone could perceive, faster than anyone else— 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Kwajijijijik-!!!

Then, in front of it, Seollang compressed the body to the extreme—

─────────────-!!!!

and kicked the Sin up.

Sloth’s body shot up as the air exploded.

Along with that, Elivan and Hidan, who had only been blankly staring at Sloth until just a moment ago, began moving as well.

And that wasn’t all.

“This—looks like we need to prepare.”

“Everyone, get ready—”

Selaim and Parkline, and the mages as well, who had been silently watching the situation, realized their magic as if they’d been waiting.

50 seconds.

Sloth’s body that had been launched into the sky by Seollang

was slashed by Elivan’s blade that had appeared at some point, then driven into the ground.

Above it, Radan’s great sword fell.

Blood burst from Sloth’s mouth.

And at that moment.

It was only a split second, but—Alon saw it.

On Sloth’s mouth, which had been nothing but lethargic—a tiny smile.

...A faint sense of expectation, flickering.

40 seconds.

“Rangchangrangchang-”

Lightning ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) gathered into Seollang’s body as it swam through the sky.

The ground and the sky were connected by golden lightning—

─────────────!!!!

and the lightning fired downward covered everyone there’s vision.

And right after that, beneath it, Radan’s great sword that fell from the sky tore the air and smashed the ground.

30 seconds.

The mages’ spells rained down all at once onto the ground choked with dust.

Magic that rose into the sky all at once like the Milky Way of the night sky, then plunged straight down, ground the earth away.

And as if to put the finishing touch on it—a gigantic pillar of fire rose, like it would swallow this entire world.

20 seconds.

As the pillar of fire cleared, Selaim’s magic realized, and a massive lump of ice formed in the shattered ground, piercing up as it surged.

Like a gigantic ice palace rising, and in that huge place like amethyst, Sloth was pulled out, frozen.

10 seconds.

With a hardened will to deliver the end on the face, Elivan gripped the sword’s hilt, then—suuu—at a bizarre sound, drew the blade at a speed you couldn’t even see.

The rising ice burst, settling the dust.

And in the ice that shattered like that, the moment Radan plunged the trident being held into Sloth on the ground—0 seconds.

Radan realized.

That the spear hadn’t reached Sloth’s heart.

Once all the dust cleared.

Everyone gathered there witnessed it.

“Ah.”

Sloth looked wretched.

Blood flowed from the mouth.

All over the body were big and small cuts.

You could clearly say the attacks landed, that damage had been dealt.

But.

“...Ah.”

Even in that state, Sloth’s expression was simply dull.

No.

It wasn’t.

That wasn’t a dull expression.

That was—

...that was—

“...We didn’t kill it.”

Regret.

The emotion on Sloth’s face was sorrow.