"So this is… the Land of Shadow?"
Melina gazed at the scene before her, a hint of astonishment in her voice.
This place was completely different from the Lands Between. It possessed a kind of stark, somber grandeur all its own.
It was unfamiliar.
And yet… strangely familiar.
"I feel like I've been here before," she murmured. "There's something about it that I recognize."
Lucian turned to look at her.
Moments ago, Melina had also passed through the withered arm and entered the Land of Shadow.
Surprisingly, the shadow that clung to Lucian had not appeared on her at all. Her strength showed no signs of being suppressed.
Leda and the others would arrive later, so for now, it was just the two of them.
A thought suddenly crossed Lucian's mind.
Would Melina be affected by Miquella's influence?
It was still unclear whether Miquella had targeted only him, or if the withered arm itself had been rigged as a kind of trap.
Better to test it… just in case.
Lucian looked at her.
"Melina, I want to check if you've been affected by Miquella."
Melina nodded. She had her own concerns about that as well.
"Alright. Go ahead."
"What do you think of Miquella?"
"Given the situation… he can be considered our enemy, right?"
Lucian nodded.
Based on his earlier experience, anyone under the charm wouldn't even consider opposing Miquella.
Then, on a whim, a playful thought crossed his mind.
"So… who do you like the most?"
Melina blinked, a faint blush rising to her ears.
"That's part of the test?"
"Of course."
"…You."
"Couldn't quite hear that."
Melina took a slow breath, then raised her head and met his gaze.
The shyness from before vanished. Step by step, she moved closer until she was right in front of him.
"I like you the most."
"I like sitting beside Sites of Grace with you during our journey, watching the light rise."
"I like hearing you talk about what you gained after every battle."
"I like seeing you fight bravely, growing stronger with each step."
"But what made me happiest…"
"…was walking with you through Stormveil Castle after I regained my body."
"I've always known Stormveil well. But that was the first time I walked those streets with someone I truly cared about."
"So… does that answer your question?"
As she drew closer, Lucian felt his heartbeat quicken.
"…Yeah."
Melina stepped in, rising slightly onto her toes, and kissed him.
It was light, fleeting—gone in an instant, like a dragonfly touching water.
Faced with such a direct confession, Lucian found himself completely overwhelmed.
Seeing her "strategy" succeed, a faint smile tugged at Melina's lips, though she deliberately pouted.
"Hmph. With tricks like that, you thought you could tease me?"
Today's exchange—
Melina's victory.
—
Lucian summoned Torrent, and the two rode across the plain toward the largest cluster of ruins below.
Near those ruins stood a towering spiral structure that stretched high into the sky, drawing Lucian's attention.
Along the way, countless stone structures shaped like doorframes were scattered across the land.
Judging by their design, Lucian guessed they were related to burial sites.
But why they were spread so densely and haphazardly across the plains remained unclear.
As they passed one of the stone frames, Lucian suddenly felt something and glanced upward.
There—
Perched atop it was a hunched, humanoid figure.
At the same moment Lucian noticed it, the creature spotted them as well and leapt down.
It was… human. Probably.
It wore a golden mask. Beneath long white hair, twisted and jagged horns protruded wildly.
Its body was gaunt, its skin darkened and shriveled.
Aside from a tattered cloth at its waist and simple bindings around its hands and feet, it was nearly naked.
A Hornsent… perhaps.
The creature landed and immediately charged at them in a grotesquely contorted posture.
The twin circular blades in its hands gleamed with a cold light. Clearly, it had no friendly intentions.
Lucian watched it approach, puzzled by the sheer oddity of its movements.
Its sprint was unnerving.
Its upper body bent sharply forward, almost like a bow, its head hanging even lower than its waist.
Yet somehow, its neck twisted upward unnaturally, forcing its gaze forward.
It vaguely resembled a shinobi run, but far more distorted, almost unnatural to look at.
As it ran, its arms twisted behind its back, forming an awkward M-shape while gripping the blades.
…That posture was just wrong.
Lucian had never seen anything like it in the Lands Between.
Unlike creatures such as the Bloodhound Knights, whose bodies had evolved to accommodate their movements, this thing still had a mostly human frame.
Which made it all the more disturbing.
In the blink of an eye, the creature closed the distance.
It exhaled a thick, dark mist, obscuring the space between them.
Lucian summoned a gust of wind, dispersing it instantly.
Only to see the creature already flipping forward, launching a flying kick straight at him.
Lucian casually drew a dagger and thrust it into the sole of its foot.
Another one who doesn't wear shoes.
The blade pierced through, bursting out from the top of the foot as blood sprayed.
The creature reacted instantly, pushing off with its other leg and vaulting over Lucian's head.
As it landed, it planted both hands on the ground, then snapped its legs forward, launching a pair of throwing knives in rapid succession.
Lucian found himself intrigued.
After knocking the projectiles aside, he dismounted, deciding to see what else it could do.
He stood still, making no move to attack, simply waiting.
The creature circled him briefly, then lunged again.
Balancing on one foot, it spun its body, both blades carving through the air in a relentless flurry.
Lucian met every strike with ease, parrying them one-handed with his dagger.
Not bad.
The creature's strength was around the level of a seasoned warrior—strong, even among that tier.
Yet it didn't feel like a true boss.
More like an elite enemy.
A faint shadow clung to its body, similar to the one Lucian had experienced earlier.
When that shadow had covered him, it had weakened him.
But on this creature, it seemed to have the opposite effect.
It was enhancing it.
Was this unique to this being… or common across all creatures in the Land of Shadow?
Lucian continued to block effortlessly, lost in thought.
If this was all it had, it was getting dull.
Perhaps sensing his lack of interest, the creature leapt into the air once more, spinning wildly as its blades whirled in a dense storm of strikes.
Still, blocked.
But then—
Mid-motion, it shifted, flipping downward into a handstand.
Its powerful legs clamped tightly around Lucian's arm and shoulder.
With a sudden burst of force, it attempted to throw him.
A hint of triumph flickered beneath its mask.
At this range, its legs could easily crush and kill.
But—
In the next instant, Lucian moved faster.
Following the momentum of the throw, he reversed it entirely and slammed the creature into the ground.
Against a spinning technique like that…
All you had to do was spin faster.
The creature hit the ground hard.
Without hesitation, Lucian flicked his dagger.
The blade pierced straight through its neck, severing the spine and pinning it in place.
The creature dropped its weapons and instinctively reached for the dagger.
The moment it pulled it free, its head separated from its body.
It twitched briefly… then went still.
Lucian stepped forward and picked up the twin circular blades.
A line of text appeared before him:
[Curseblade's Cirque]
The weapons were meant to be wielded in reverse grip—unusual, but interesting.
At first glance, they seemed like simple rings.
But on closer inspection, they weren't fully connected circles.
Sharp protruding blades lined the outer edge, capable of tearing irregular wounds and causing severe bleeding.
A unique weapon, imbued with its own skill.
Lucian gave it a try.
Channeling energy into it, he executed the weapon skill.
His body spun and leapt just like the creature's, flowing through a series of aerial, rotating strikes before finishing with a powerful downward kick.
He lowered the weapon.
Flashy… but effective.
The movements almost resembled a dance.
Maybe these so-called "Curseblades" served as some kind of ritual performers.
With the enemy dealt with, Lucian and Melina continued along the main road toward the ruins.
And by the roadside, Lucian spotted a familiar sight.
A stone stele.
Lucian quickly urged Torrent forward, heading straight for the stone stele to check for a map.
As they approached, he spotted a small box placed neatly on the wide base of the monument.
Opening it, he found three rolled parchment maps tied together.
He casually took one and unfurled it.
As expected, it was a map.
Melina opened another. The contents matched exactly.
Though there were slight differences between the three, they were clearly drawn by the same hand, depicting the surrounding region in careful detail.
After scanning it, Melina spoke.
"It seems this was left behind by Leda's companions in the Land of Shadow."
"The coverage is limited, just the nearby area, but it should be enough for now."
Lucian nodded.
"Let's take one. The three of them can manage with the other two."
Melina agreed, raising the one in her hand.
Lucian put his copy back into the box, leaving it behind.
Melina spread the map open between them.
In addition to terrain and ruins, locations were clearly labeled.
The area they currently stood in was marked as the Gravesite Plain, a fitting name.
As for the large ruined settlement ahead, along with the scattered remains of smaller villages nearby, they were collectively labeled as the Scorched Ruins.
Melina examined the map with approval.
"It's very well drawn. Whoever made this is meticulous… and reliable."
Lucian shrugged. He couldn't tell much from craftsmanship alone.
Instead, he pointed at a peculiar marking.
A road ran north to south through the Scorched Ruins, intersecting another path further ahead.
At that junction was a distinct symbol:
A golden cross, with a crescent shape hanging to one side.
Clearly, it carried some special meaning, perhaps a point they were meant to visit.
Still, neither of them intended to head there just yet.
First, they wanted to explore the ruins themselves.
—
Following the road beside the stele, they continued forward.
Before long, the path became lined with crumbling brick walls, and the charred remains of buildings came into view.
At the roadside, a pale spirit knelt before the ruins, staring blankly ahead.
Like the wandering white phantoms often seen across the Lands Between, it repeated its lingering obsession in a hollow, mechanical voice.
Lucian stepped closer and listened.
"Ev'ryone...burned to cinders.. burned away."
"Put to the torch... by Messmer... and his lot."
"What did we do to deserve such a fate? We merely lived our lives... We lived in peace..."
Lucian looked at the spirit in surprise.
Clearly, it was one of the Hornsent, one of those who had been slaughtered and burned.
Looking closer, he noticed three small, irregular horns protruding from beneath the cloth wrapped around its head, one above the left ear, and two at the back.
So this was what an ordinary Hornsent civilian looked like.
At a glance, they weren't that different from the people of the Lands Between.
But there were subtle distinctions.
They seemed taller, thinner… their frames more drawn and elongated.
Compared to this spirit, the earlier Curseblade he had fought was larger, and bore far more horns.
Recalling what the Ancient King had told him, the Hornsent were a deeply hierarchical and brutal society, one that revered horns and the power of the Crucible.
It seemed that hierarchy wasn't just social.
It extended to physical form, and strength.
Lucian and Melina pressed deeper into the ruins.
Only then did he notice something strange.
There were still figures wandering among the ruins.
Survivors?
That seemed unlikely.
Curious, Lucian moved closer, hoping to find someone he could speak to.
But as they approached, something felt off.
In the Land of Shadow, it was normal for things to carry a trace of darkness.
But these…
These Hornsent looked like shadows pulled up from the ground itself.
Their forms were pitch-black, like living silhouettes, more like graveyard shades than living beings.
The earlier Curseblade had clearly possessed a physical body.
These did not.
The moment they noticed Lucian, the shadowy Hornsent surged toward him in a frenzy.
He watched them rush in, as if driven by some deep, irreconcilable hatred.
"…Ah."
A familiar feeling washed over him.
Right. This again.
That sensation of even the roadside strays wanting to take a bite out of you.
Now this felt like home.
"Well then…"
If they were coming at him, he wasn't going to hold back.
"Why is it always like this, everyone wants me dead?!"
Lucian threw a punch forward.
A violent storm erupted, tearing through the already ruined structures and shredding the shadowy Hornsent into nothingness.
Standing at the edge of the deep trench he had just carved, Lucian thought back to what he'd seen.
There had been over a dozen of them.
And there were probably more still wandering the ruins.
"…The numbers don't add up."
"That's… strange."
He rubbed his chin.
He wasn't someone prone to extremes.
But if this was truly called a massacre…
Why hadn't they been wiped out completely?
The Land of Shadow had been sealed away entirely, cut off from the outside world.
He had assumed that meant absolute extermination.
Yet not only had some remained.
They had been transformed.
And more importantly…
Why were they reacting to him with such hostility?
He hadn't done anything.
Just a passing Tarnished.
Unless…
Lucian glanced at Melina.
If her brother truly was the one who had led the burning and slaughter, Messmer the Impaler.
Then perhaps their hatred wasn't aimed at him specifically.
Though in the end, it didn't really matter.
The outcome was the same.
Lucian continued exploring the ruins for a while.
Eventually, he found something of interest, a peculiar dagger.
Its blade was narrow, stained with dried blood, and heavily damaged.
It was no longer fit to be used as a weapon.
And yet, it carried a strange, ominous aura.
That lingering energy had transformed it into something else entirely.
A talisman.
A line of text appeared before him:
[Blade of Mercy]
Lucian weighed it briefly in his hand, then tossed it into his storage.
There wasn't much else worth noting in the ruins.
Though… something did come to mind.
Among the Hornsent that had rushed out earlier, one of them had been wearing a jar over its head.
After it died, a peculiar fragment had fallen from it.
Lucian could sense its nature.
If absorbed into the body, it could reduce the suppression imposed by the Land of Shadow.
With enough of them…
It might even allow one to draw power from the shadows instead.
Lucian had already removed his own debuffs, and Melina didn't seem affected at all.
Still, he didn't use it immediately.
Instead, he stored it away for later study.
Better to understand it fully before taking any risks.
—
[T/N: ]
Curseblade's Cirque (Weapon Skill: Deadly Dance)
Weapon of the masked Curseblades. Circular backhand blade with wave-like cutting edges, sharpened into points that incite blood loss. Long ago, this was employed by the ascetics who strove to become tutelary deities as a ritualistic object in their self-flagellating dances.
Blade of Mercy
A thin, blood-stained dagger. No longer fit for use. Raises attack power after each critical hit.
Hornsent employed this to honorably end the suffering of a compatriot.
After claiming numerous lives, the dagger is now broken, but has acquired a spectral aura.