Unedited*

"In short, we’re going to rob the corpses..." Edward chuckled to himself.

He didn’t know how to feel about it. But he didn’t have time to think either.

He took two steps back to dodge an attack coming from the darkness ahead of him and fixed his gaze on that spot.

He gripped his sword and charged toward it at full speed, lunging fiercely and slashing in one fluid motion. The slash shattered several fragments that flew out of the darkness and ended up striking a spirit that shot off to the right and crashed into the debris.

Suddenly, gray dust covered the surroundings, and a swarm of headless spirits appeared behind Edward.

All of them wore metal armor, covering them from head to toe. Since they had no heads, it was difficult to find a weak spot. But the swords in their hands were covered in cursed energy.

About five strange beasts rose up before him. They appeared to be female spirits, but their mouths were sealed as if sewn shut with a spiritual thread. Their source of energy came from the other spirits, who shared the same spirituality and power.

Something peculiar about them was that they emitted a strange, wailing screech that echoed throughout the surroundings and made him tremble.

That wail was unusual and even recognizable. A wail could be heard in the distance, drawing closer with every passing second and ending up in your ears, rumbling with a deafening roar.

’If I’m not careful, that wail could stun me and prevent me from moving.’

Fortunately, it wasn’t hard to avoid since it was approaching slowly. If you heard the shriek, you could be prepared for the moment it arrived.

So Edward prepared himself for a battle against various types of mass spirits. However, at that very moment, a third group appeared.

Although this was a single spirit, it emerged from the depths of the darkness with a spell ready to be cast.

Edward recognized it immediately: a ritualist.

And it had already completed its ritual!

’When did that happen?’ Though he tried to avoid it, the completed ritual glowed beneath his feet.

Suddenly, all his body movements and thoughts slowed down. It felt as if time had stopped.

Taking a single step could take a full minute.

Thinking of a single sentence would take more than 30 seconds.

’This is...’ His mind and his body’s entire ability to react were severely impaired.

However, his eyes continued to scan at high speed. Even faster than before.

He saw everything clearly.

The movement of the headless spirits behind him. The moment when a wailing roar erupted from the chest of the female spirit in front of him, and the ritual was activated in all its phases.

Edward saw it all.

Yet he couldn’t defend himself.

He was the only one moving slowly.

He quickly looked for Malakor, who was on the other side, trying to move. He seemed surprised; his eyes reflected fear. Perhaps it was the first time he had seen something like this.

His body was also moving as slowly as it could... it wasn’t just Edward.

It was a combined attack on both of them.

Edward gripped his sword and clenched his teeth. He tried with all his might to move and shake himself free, attempting to break free from this control. However, he was unable to do so.

He witnessed the spirit soldiers closing in behind him and the female spirit’s wailing piercing his ears, without him even raising a shred of his mental barrier to protect himself.

The spirits’ rusty swords struck his body. At the same time, the ritual, which had only seemed to be slowing down, activated and roared like a great tiger from the ground up, and a powerful dark energy surged from it, ready to swallow Edward’s body whole.

It happened so quickly that Edward had no time to react. His body was pierced by the swords as his mind froze from the impact of the mental power unleashed by the female spirit.

From his back, the swords pierced through to his chest and stomach. They embedded themselves in his bones, shattering them, and also tore apart several of his organs.

The pain engulfed him like a torrent...

Or so he thought.

But that wasn’t what happened.

He felt no pain. He didn’t feel even the slightest discomfort, even though he could see the swords piercing through him. His body... felt whole.

His eyes watched this with a strange curiosity, but he had already noticed it.

Suddenly, his right hand, gripping his sword, resumed its movement with astonishing speed and sliced several of the spirits in half in a single stroke.

Even as blood poured from his body, he leaped forward and decapitated the spirit who had cast the ritual, and in the same motion shattered the female spirit’s head, preventing her from attacking again. However, the blood gushing from his body made him pale.

Suddenly, he froze again.

His body fell to its knees on the ground. It was strange. He felt no pain or discomfort. Yet he was dying.

The only thing he felt was a strange chill spreading through the Mark of the Dead he had received just minutes before the battle.

That mark was glowing faintly but steadily.

His eyes stared at the mark on his chest... puzzled.

But those same eyes began to dim.

"W-what do I do?" he thought, trying to save himself. But nothing came to mind.

He tried to pull out a healing potion—or several of them—but he couldn’t.

The ring didn’t recognize him as its owner.

’Huh?’

Suddenly, he fell to the ground. His eyes remained open, but with a vacant expression. His body grew cold, and all his wounds began to be slowly corroded by that rampant energy that gave no respite.

The world around him... went dark.

-

"Edward Lux? Are you okay?" Malakor shook him suddenly.

Edward opened his eyes immediately... or rather, his vision cleared. "Huh? W-what happened?" He looked around in all directions, puzzled.

Just a moment ago...

"What happened?" Malakor repeated his question, even more confused. "That’s exactly what I’m asking you. I was telling you that we came here to look for fragments of death, and suddenly you froze and looked like you were in a nightmare."

Edward immediately remembered what had happened a moment ago... His body felt cold with fear, but he stared at Malakor. "Were we attacked?" he asked.

He didn’t reveal anything because he was puzzled.

"Yes. Some spirits attacked right after that." He pointed to several areas marked by the struggle. "We killed them very easily; without even answering me, you made a move and split them in half. Kid, you’re more amazing than I thought."

Edward frowned again. ’I didn’t die? Then that was...’ He immediately looked at the mark on his chest.

It glowed faintly, but steadily.

"An illusion..." Edward recalled what the system had told him.

[The Mark of the Dead will lead you to experience a series of unprecedented dangers or deaths. Remember who you are, and you will be able to avoid them.]

"Remember who you are..." He immediately realized that he had been trapped in a deadly illusion that made him experience death.

And the way he had escaped it...

’Malakor said I didn’t respond to him, but I performed a series of movements and split them in half. It’s just like what I did in that illusion... Did killing them all at the last moment break the illusion? Although I remember falling down dead...’

Edward found it difficult to understand what had happened.

However, he thought of something.

When this began, the first unusual thing he noticed was that he could clearly see the fragments of death flying toward him, and that made sense. His title, *Beginner Killer of the End*, in the "Vision of the End" section, told him that he could see those fragments of death.

Although it explicitly mentioned fragments of true death, and he himself had previously proven that they weren’t really "fragments" but rather "historical moments from the dying person’s life," at this moment he could most likely see those fragments clearly from any angle, because they were something similar.

What indicated this most clearly was that if he looked to his left or right, he could perceive various fragments of death from the nearby corpses and see them as if he were face to face with them, even though he was actually quite far away.

"Is that the trap the system is talking about—remembering who I am to avoid these illusions?" he thought.

His mind slowly began to clear. Although nothing was confirmed, at least he had a strong clue.

His title, Beginner Killer of the End, was the key to figuring it out. Perhaps he just needed to use his title and nothing else to pass this test.

The problem is... that the previous death certainly traumatized him.

For a brief moment, everything went black. Unable to think, to process, to dream, to do anything...

Edward swallowed hard. A drop of sweat trickled down his cheeks until it fell to the ground.

’Was it really an illusion?’ He clenched his fists.

Just then, something entered his field of vision.

[You have killed a Headless Wandering Spirit]

[You have received 1,000 Experience Points.]

[You have killed a Weeping Wandering Spirit]

[You have received 1,000 Experience Points.]

[You have...]