The rushing river completely scattered the three youths, carrying them farther and farther downstream amid the waves.

Surrounded entirely by the icy currents, Leon thought to himself that this was bad—he had underestimated the powerful force of the rapids.

The relentless waves battered his body with nowhere to gain leverage; everything around him became a blur. Tossed up and down amidst the turmoil, he soon couldn't avoid swallowing water, and the feeling of exhaustion preventing him from resurfacing became increasingly apparent.

No matter how he tried to stay calm, hold his breath, and maintain balance, his already dwindling strength was gradually exhausted. The raging torrent was like an unrelenting giant hand, dragging him deep into the water.

As the river completely engulfed him, his consciousness, along with his strength, slowly faded and blurred.

...How are Azerion and the others... Are they still in the water?

...Am I... going to die...

Pain, oppression, silence...

The river water flooding into his body slowly solidified Leon's remaining spirit amid suffocation. He began to think that perhaps this was his end.

A fleeting visitor from another time and space, about to drown at the bottom of this deep river—truly an abrupt and ironic conclusion.

No longer able to struggle, the youth's body sank deeper and deeper until he slowly settled onto the riverbed.

......

"Should I say you're fortunate... or unfortunate?"

"Leon" opened his eyes once more.

Only now, his originally black pupils glowed with a bright golden light in the deep darkness.

"I'll have to make this quick."

"Leon" deftly turned over and rose in the water. His hands skillfully swept through the river, tracing runes; an unknown power quickly isolated the surrounding water.

In the next instant, he shot out from the riverbed, his body swimming swiftly like a fish.

In the pitch-black water where one couldn't see one's hand, "Leon" seemed to ignore the rapid undercurrents beneath the surface.

"Found them." His golden eyes scanned the darkness. He turned, breaking through the water, and swiftly swam over.

Reaching out, "Leon" accurately grabbed Lohak by the back of his collar, then abruptly turned and sped toward another boy still struggling on the river's surface—

On the water's surface, Azerion was still desperately struggling against the rapids.

He had used all his strength, but no matter how good a swimmer he was, he couldn't resist the cruel reality of his endurance waning.

Suddenly, the boy felt a tremendous force hit him from below, and then he was propelled out of the raging water, flying upward.

—Boom!

The river's surface exploded with a roar. Amid the splashing waves, "Leon" soared into the air, holding Lohak in one hand and grasping Azerion's arm in the other. Leaping high from the river, he landed lightly on the rocky bank.

As soon as he steadied himself, "Leon" released Lohak and Azerion. His body swayed, and the golden gleam in his eyes suddenly faded.

"...Ugh!!—Ugh!..." Suddenly regaining consciousness, Leon collapsed painfully onto the ground, bending over and vomiting uncontrollably.

The river water gushed from his throat like an opened floodgate, pouring onto the ground. He felt as if he were vomiting out his stomach and lungs.

Azerion, still in shock, had a bewildered look in his eyes. His mind hadn't grasped the situation yet. Just a moment ago, he thought he was about to die; the next second, somehow, he was thrown onto the shore.

But soon, seeing that a companion had collapsed nearby and unsure if he was alive, Azerion snapped back to reality. He hurried over to Lohak, administering first aid. Frantically, he stripped off Lohak's chainmail and padding, poured out water, and performed chest compressions. After laboring for a long time, he finally heard Lohak's painful coughing as he awoke.

"Ugh~ cough cough... cough cough—" Lohak, feeling extremely unwell, spat out the river water from his stomach, turned his head, and vomited for quite a while before weakly opening his eyes.

"...Huff~... We're... saved...?" Lohak panted heavily, glancing at the chainmail his companion had removed. His helmet had been lost when he fell into the water, and failing to remove the chainmail in time caused him to sink first to the riverbed.

"It's a miracle you could pull me ashore... I'll never be stupid enough to go into the water wearing armor again..."

Azerion collapsed weakly onto the ground. Hearing Lohak's gratitude, he gave a wry smile and shook his head, pointing at Leon, who was even more disheveled nearby.

"I could barely save myself; how could I rescue you? I didn't even know where the river had swept you. It was Leon who pulled us up."

Azerion couldn't comprehend how Leon had brought both of them from the water to the shore but wisely chose not to delve into his companion's secrets.

Finally recovering, Leon raised his hand to wipe his face, collapsing wearily onto the ground. Having narrowly escaped death, he forced a weak chuckle in response.

Leon still remembered what he had just experienced in the water—the magical force that controlled his body as it moved through the river—all indicating that he had once again been saved by the unknown presence that had helped him before.

She's here; she's definitely been watching over me...

Unable to suppress his gratitude and curiosity any longer, Leon silently called out in his heart: "Are you still there?"

After waiting a while, there was still no response.

He couldn't help but wonder if he was being presumptuous; perhaps that presence couldn't communicate through thoughts?

This time, unlike when he was escorted by mercenaries and feared others might hear, Leon simply opened his mouth and loudly asked into the air:

"Hey!... Hey hey~? Are you still here?"

The two youths beside him stared at Leon in confusion, not knowing whom he was talking to.

But a voice that only Leon could hear sounded in his heart:

"Yes~ I'm here, I'm here~ Why are you shouting so loudly..."

The ethereal girl's voice complained; only this time, her tone sounded even clearer and smoother.

Finally hearing the long-awaited response, Leon was overjoyed.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if I needed to speak louder for you to hear."

As he spoke, he scratched his wet hair, his heart filled with excitement—not only because he finally confirmed the suspicion that had troubled him since that day but also because he was thrilled that a friendly being with extraordinary powers resided within him.

If he were like those protagonists in the web novels he read in his previous life, could this be his sage-like old man... or a young lady companion?

But who exactly was she?

Was she the soul of a native of this world?

Or, like himself, was she a "transmigrator" from another time and space?

Countless speculations leaped into his mind.

"No need to shout; you don't have to speak aloud for me to hear your call. I just wasn't responding earlier," the pleasant voice answered somewhat lazily.

Her straightforward admission of ignoring him made Leon feel a bit awkward, but he bore no resentment. After all, she had saved his life twice.

"My apologies." Leon obediently closed his mouth, switching back to mental communication. "I just wanted to thank you for your help."

"Alright~ don't overthink it; I don't hold anything against you."

The girl's voice continued, "You have many questions; coincidentally, so do I. But I'm too weak. If we hadn't ended up in this place... I might not even be able to maintain this conversation now. Speaking of which, I didn't realize that day you..."

Before the mysterious consciousness could finish speaking, Leon heard Azerion's exclamation.

"Leon!... Leon!"

Interrupted from his mental exchange, Leon returned his attention to reality in confusion.

"What's wrong?" He quickly looked at his companions.

He saw that Lohak was staring blankly upward at the sky for some reason, while Azerion gestured around them.

Only then did Leon notice the strange surroundings.

Earlier, eager to communicate with the voice in his heart after narrowly escaping death, he hadn't paid attention. Now, regaining his focus and looking around, he found that the visibility was so clear that everything near and far was in full view!

If it were broad daylight, this wouldn't be strange.

But unless his brain had soaked up too much water, he remembered that it should be midnight under a crescent moon.

Whether it was the fierce battle with the Wild Gremlins not long ago or the desperate sprint to evade the Dread Mountain Bear afterward—even including the recent experience of falling into the water—these events were far from enough to advance time to dawn.

When they fell into the water, even after reaching sparsely wooded areas, they still couldn't clearly see the forest or the treacherous river under the moonlight.

But now... Leon swallowed, staggered up from the ground; the surroundings were neither like day nor night.

The forest was still the forest; the river before them was still the one that had nearly swallowed them.

But everything around them presented an extraordinarily indescribable, eerily clear appearance.

Not the bright visibility under daylight sunshine, but rather, all things appeared as eerie scenes overlaid with a faded filter; as far as the eye could see, everything seemed tinged with a hazy, uncanny hue.

Following Lohak's dumbfounded and shocked gaze, Leon raised his head and, like him, was stunned.

In the sky, there was no sun, no moon, nor stars...

The entire unreachable sky was an endless panorama of dark, variegated scenes. Murky shadows intertwined and surged across the horizon, like a vast black ocean made purely of crude oil.

"What... what is this place?"

Lohak's mind was on the verge of collapse; even the terrifying forest giant beast from before hadn't instilled as much fear as the scene before him.

He looked at his companions in confusion. "Could it be that we've actually drowned? Is this the world after death?"

Leon frowned deeply. "Calm down. Don't talk nonsense; we're definitely still alive."

Azerion seemed to have regained his composure. He suddenly spoke in a hesitant tone, "You... you've heard the stories about the Plains of Despair, right?"

Lohak's eyes widened. After repeatedly looking around, he confirmed, "You mean we've stumbled into the Cursed Land?!"

Memories surged in Leon's mind, and he immediately understood what Azerion meant. It was a bedtime story his parents had told him countless times since childhood.

Azerion's so-called Plains of Despair weren't some unknown rarity but rather a well-known folk legend in the Therrien Kingdom.

The legend described a Cursed Land existing in various remote corners of the continent.

Within it lay countless treasures and man-eating monsters.

Sometimes the Cursed Land was in the depths of vast forests; sometimes in desolate plains or deserts. But invariably, the common description was that in that Plains of Despair abandoned by the gods, there was no sky, no sun, moon, or stars, nor any boundaries. If one accidentally entered it, there was no chance of returning alive...

"...Cursed Land... that name is quite fitting."

"You know what this place is?" Hearing the girl's voice in his heart, Leon inexplicably felt a sense of relief.

He realized that instead of blindly guessing, the mysterious consciousness capable of using magic within him obviously knew more about the bizarre environment they were in.

"A pseudo-spiritual realm—that's the true name of this domain..." The girl's voice suddenly became somewhat low, her ethereal tone tinged with inexplicable sorrow.