“Y-you can fly? We can fly away from here!” Mira said, running up to Kars. The woman looked pale, having just witnessed the massacre firsthand.

  “That is, if you can master Gravity Style.” Kars approached Mira. She stopped not far from him.

  “So that means we can get out of here? And you were hiding it from me.” Mira looked over Kars' shoulder; the remnants of the battle still felt fresh.

  “If only I could fly that far.” Kars sighed, locking his gaze on Mira so that she would clearly follow his explanation. “Flying isn’t that simple. Just like Singus and Lisp, there are consequences and risks.”

  “What kind of consequences?”

  Kars walked away, with Mira following him from behind. “Manipulating gravity goes against the main concept of this world. When gravity is reduced or reversed, blood is no longer drawn to your feet. Blood will rush to your head. The effect? Your organs won’t function properly, and your head could explode if it can’t handle it.

  “The ground and sky look the same, which can sometimes make the user forget how to land or even fall upwards. Additionally, the bones will become compressed; if the body isn’t trained, bones could break or crack.” Kars explained as he kept walking. He had to find that monster before the day changed.

  “Sounds better than the other two.” Mira rubbed her chin, her eyes occasionally glancing upward. “Being a Stealix isn’t bad either. We can have three options for moving around quickly.”

  "But with risks that are no joke. I can't fly for long because I still value my life. Flying for just ten minutes can damage one of your organs. I also don't want to use Singus. That's a gamble that's not worth it. As for Lisp, I still use it often, but I can't bring you along."

  "So it will take me a long time to master one of the three?"

  "Just start by understanding the basics of star magic, find your initial style, and then learn the more expert stuff."

  "Aye, sir." Mira looked around. The longer she stayed in this forest, the more she felt like she was being watched. Unlike the tropical forests she was used to, this taiga forest looked gloomier, more depressing. There were almost no animal sounds at all.

  "So where are we going?" Mira asked.

  "We’re going to look for the scorpion monster. The seed is there."

  "Monster?"

  "Yes, a monster."

  ***

  "I think we've arrived. What do you feel?" Kars paused for a moment. He observed the air vibrating around him. Kars closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and caught the scent of wet earth and pine resin. Yet, beneath that aroma, there was something else. Something sweet yet rotten. Like a lily placed on meat that had been rotting for a week.

  "There's… a smell of incense." Mira noticed it too. She said it in a low voice, almost a whisper. "And… rusty metal."

  "That's corrupted magic. Ancient necromancy." No doubt, this was the smell of a monster. "Remember, if you catch this scent, it means there's a monster nearby."

  Mira swallowed hard, her body shivering at Kars' words.

  Kars started walking again, this time at a slower pace. His hand brushed aside the withered bushes, revealing an ancient footpath with shattered stones.

  "There was a civilization here," Mira whispered, her voice sounding more like a question.

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  "Two hundred years ago," Kars began to tell the story, his tone like he was lazily reading a fairy tale. "According to legend, a legion of the kingdom's soldiers tried to cross this forest to ambush the enemy from behind. They got lost, starved. Then, a plague struck. Their commander, refusing to let his troops die, performed a forbidden ritual."

  "What ritual?" Mira asked, momentarily forgetting the cold.

  "He tried to bind the souls of his soldiers to keep them alive in their bones. He wanted to create an immortal army. But souls need a vessel, and the vessels were damaged. The ritual failed. The souls did not return to their bodies. They… merged. Becoming a single entity that hated life."

  Mira didn't give any response, just imagining it was horrifying to her.

  They arrived at a field that looked like a land clearing. The scene in front of them made Mira hold her breath.

  This is not just a forest. This is a mass grave. The soil here is pitch black and greasy. No trees were growing within a radius of a hundred meters, only dead wood stumps that were bent like people's hands asking for help.

  In the middle of the land, there was a mound of bones—thousands, maybe tens of thousands. The femurs, ribs, and skulls were all piled up irreverently, forming a terrible little hill. At the top of the bone hill, there was a war flag that had been destroyed, the fabric only a dull red fragment.

  "We're here," said Kars.

  Mira stepped back, her instincts screaming to run.

  "You’re going to help me fight it."

  "Cra-crazy." Mira laughed bitterly. She’d rather watch from afar like before than be here.

  "The best training is training for survival."

  A cracking sound was heard. It was soft, but clear in the silence of the forest. Like dry twigs being stepped on.

  The sound grew louder. It wasn’t coming from the forest, but from the bone hill in front of them. The mound began to move. Bones fell, rolling down.

  The ground shook.

  Then, the bone hill exploded.

  The white dust of limestone and black soil was scattered into the air. From behind the dust curtain, a silhouette appeared that made Mira's knees limp instantly.

  It was a scorpion. But the size is as big as a small house. Its eight legs are not like insect legs. Each leg is a series of compacted human ribs and femurs, forcibly connected with rusty black iron hinges that creak with each move. The tips of his feet were not claws, but broken swords stuck to the ground, leaving a very deep hole.

  That main body... Mira closed her mouth, holding back her vomit. It is not a shell. It was a giant granite stone sarcophagus that was cracked. Covering the entire surface of the sarcophagus are hundreds of human skulls and other races clinging like oysters to the coral of the sea. The jaws of the skull were not still. They open and close randomly, producing loud, painful noises in the ears.

  A pair of giant pincers stretched forward. The pincers were made from the ribcage of a warhorse combined with a dented iron shield. Between the ribs of the pincers, remnants of rotting flesh still hung.

  But the most terrifying part was its tail.

  The tail curved long above its body, made from a giant spine that was probably from a dragon or giant serpent, with each vertebra seemingly fitted with iron spikes. At the end of the tail, there was no stinger.

  Instead, there was a stone statue of an adult-sized angel. The statue was headless, one wing broken, and its hands held a rusty spear, whose tip dripped thick black liquid. Black smoke wafted from the liquid, smelling of sulfur and carrying a sense of despair.

  "Get ready," Kars said, glancing at Mira, who widened her eyes.

  The monster twisted its body. It had no eyes on its face, only dark cavities at the front of its sarcophagus. Yet, he knew they were there.

  Suddenly, hundreds of skulls on its body stopped moving. Their jaws opened wide simultaneously.

  It wasn’t the sound of a physical scream. It was a psychic scream. The cry of thousands of soldiers’ souls who had died in betrayal and despair. The wave of sound hit Mira like an invisible sledgehammer.

  "Argh!" Mira fell to her knees, covering her ears. But the sound didn’t enter through her ears; it pierced straight into her brain. Her vision blurred. The world spun. She saw shadowy soldiers stained with blood walking toward her, accusing her of being a murderer.

  "Focus!"

  Kars' voice cut through the illusion. Sharp and clear.

  Mira jerked back to reality. She saw Kars still standing tall, his cloak fluttering slightly as it resisted the wave of sound.

  “He goes after the weak first,” Kars said calmly. “Mira, watch out!”

  The warning came a second too late.

  The monster moved with a speed that was impossible for its size. Its bony legs pounded rapidly, creating a hunting sound. Its death angel tail shot forward, aiming at Mira, who was still kneeling.

  Stardust Style: Nebula Shield!

  Kars stretched his right hand toward Mira. A dim blue light formed a thin wall in front of the woman.

  The tip of the scorpion's tail spear struck Mira's shield.

  The shield shattered like a windowpane hit by a brick. The force of the impact threw Mira five meters away. She rolled on the rough ground, her back slamming hard against a pine tree trunk.

  Mira spat out a little blood. It felt like being hit by a horse; her ribs ached intensely.

  Mira's vision blurred. She struggled to breathe.