Chapter 10.
There was at least one condition that worked in our favor.
At the very least, the beasts couldn’t climb up onto the islands.
That was the only rule of this trial.
As long as we managed to get onto an island, we were safe—at least from the beasts.
Put a little differently, it meant we weren’t safe from the people on the island with us.
To move upstream and cross to the next island, using someone else as bait was a perfectly reasonable tactic—sacrificing the few for the sake of the many.
Thinking back on it now, if I hadn’t been abandoned on the third floor, maybe they would have abandoned me here instead.
‘Can just three of us really get through this?’
Anxious, I forced myself to stay calm and popped a bean into my mouth.
At that, the spirit, who had been walking ahead guiding the way without looking back, turned to look at me.
Its expression seemed… almost pitying.
Was I imagining things?
Feeling unsettled, I was about to call out to the spirit when Isael asked,
“Why are you trembling?”
“It’s just a bit cold.”
And truthfully, it was cold.
I glanced back to check on Felix—his lips were turning bluish-purple.
So it wasn’t just me.
But I didn’t feel even the slightest urge to give him my clothes.
‘This is your karma.’
Deal with it.
Be grateful I didn’t strip you naked.
I coldly looked away from short-sleeved Felix.
“Here.”
Isael took off the coat he had taken from Felix earlier and offered it to me.
Wear a coat on top of another coat? I shook my head.
“You’re cold too.”
“I’m strong. I’m fine.”
“……”
“Just wear it. Don’t start wheezing later.”
Honestly, I didn’t want to refuse.
But I wasn’t heartless enough to take more from him.
“No. Really, I’m fine. You already gave me your coat. That’s enough.”
“Just take it.”
“The truth is, I don’t want to wear anything that belonged to Felix.”
“……”
“You wear it.”
Only after I used Felix as an excuse did Isael reluctantly step back.
At least I avoided the shameless act of stripping Isael again.
Just as I was thinking that, Felix cut in.
“Um… if it’s okay, could I wear it…?”
“You think that’s gonna happen?”
I glared at Felix hard enough to shoot fire from my eyes.
Then I urged Isael to put the coat back on quickly.
Isael must not have wanted to yield to Felix either; he hurried to put it on.
Meanwhile, the roars and screeches of beasts fighting echoed loudly, pounding our eardrums.
The farther down the stairs we went, the clearer and louder the noise became.
As we got close enough, we were able to see the situation below.
Isael saw it. I saw it.
Even clueless Felix saw it—and all of us froze.
“Are we supposed to fight those?”
At Isael’s question, I nodded.
“See that island closest to us? We need to reach it no matter what.”
Isael seemed to understand once he noticed that not a single beast stood atop the islands.
“So they really can’t climb up there.”
“Yep.”
A small but effective shelter.
We would have to rest at each of the six shelters and make our way to the door on the seventh and final island.
“At least the river doesn’t look deep. That’s something.”
He said that after noticing the water only reached the knee of a humanoid beast.
I nodded and took three beans out of my pocket.
“Hmm…”
Honestly, I didn’t want to give even one bean to Felix.
But dealing with him slowing us down later would be more costly. Better to think of it as throwing away a bean now to avoid trouble.
Fine. Wasteful or not, I had no choice.
I put one bean into my own mouth first.
Then I slowly turned to Isael.
“……”
Sensing something, Isael’s face hardened.
I said firmly,
“You have to eat it.”
To my surprise, Isael obediently held out his hand.
Had he decided that fighting over this on the staircase would put us both in danger?
I quickly placed a bean into his palm.
“Haa…”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then tossed the bean into his mouth.
I watched his throat move as he swallowed, then casually threw the last bean to Felix.
Felix, who knew very well the effects of these beans, snatched it eagerly and ate it.
Disgusting.
“Felix, you go in front.”
“H-huh?”
“If we leave you behind us, you might stab us in the back. So you go first.”
Saying that, I pulled one of the daggers I had confiscated from him out of my bag.
Not as good as my original one, but still decent.
“It’ll be in your best interest not to try anything stupid.”
I warned him sternly and handed him the dagger.
Felix nodded, terrified but obediently taking the lead.
And so, we stepped onto the final stair.
I controlled the spirit while conserving the beans as much as possible.
Ahead and behind me, Felix and Isael were slashing at the beasts rushing at us.
‘Why aren’t we making any progress?’
Even worse, the river water didn’t feel like normal water.
Standing in it too long made my stamina drain rapidly.
And Felix’s dagger skills were terrible.
Instead of advancing toward the island, we were barely holding off the endless waves of beasts.
This wasn’t going to work.
“Isael!”
I shouted.
With a sickening screech, a beast collapsed with a thud—killed by Isael.
He stepped closer to me, meeting my eyes.
I told him,
“I’ll handle things back here somehow, so you go up front and clear the path!”
“What? No. That’s too dangerous.”
“Just do it!”
I used the spirit to block the beast lunging at Isael.
Isael frowned and looked at me.
Only for a moment—he sighed, then rushed forward to join Felix.
Slash—!
Hot beast blood splattered as he swung his dagger.
Without time to wipe it off, I kept attacking and directing the spirit to deal with approaching monsters.
“Huff… haah…”
I attacked the beast in front of me with my dagger, and the spirit dealt with others.
My stamina and mana were both draining quickly.
I was exhausted to death, but I couldn’t rest for even a second with the beasts swarming endlessly.
I couldn’t afford to lose focus—not even for a heartbeat.
Honestly, it was overwhelming.
How long could we keep this up?
How much longer until we collapsed?
Pushing away the despair threatening to consume me, I swung my dagger like a madwoman.
How much time passed?
“Rosette!”
A strong grip seized my wrist and yanked me forward.
Through my sweat-soaked hair—maybe mixed with beast blood—I saw Isael, his face unexpectedly desperate.
“Pull together! One, two!”
Felix grabbed my other arm, and the two of them hauled me up onto the island.
I let myself be dragged, and the moment my body reached the top—
My consciousness faded.
We had finally gotten onto the first island.
That was all.
And yet, we had nearly exhausted ourselves to do even that.
“Hah… haah… thank goodness. Everyone’s safe…”
“What’s there to be thankful for?”
“…Pardon?”
“We’ve only made it onto one island.”
Six more islands to go.
The road ahead was long.
They had only just reached the starting point.
Isael spat the words coldly, then looked at the unconscious Rosette.
Felix said something beside him, but Isael ignored it.
Even unconscious, Rosette clutched her bag tightly, as if it were her lifeline.
A strange woman.
From the moment he met her, she had made him think that countless times.
Isael gazed at Rosette, expression unusually subdued.
What would they have done without her help?
And more importantly—Rosette was the only person who knew where his sister, Beatrice, was.
To Isael, she had become someone he absolutely could not lose.
