Becoming a Shadow in the New World

Claire was actually a little guilty when she said those words, because she knew that if it weren't for the witch in front of her, she would have died several times over, but she still stubbornly insisted on saying it out of pride.

"ha?

Yes, I'll be paying for your room if you live inside my body. If your injuries were truly from fighting an enemy, I'll of course help you recover.

But isn't the reason you're suffering from these injuries the result of your own actions?

If you hadn't been so eager to take that red-haired guy down with you the moment you saw him, causing your body to break down due to excessive exertion, I wouldn't have had to stay up for three days straight to repair your body.

"I really don't know what you were thinking, making such a stupid move. How could such a powerful opponent be someone you could kill with a single blow? It's a good thing you didn't throw that attack, otherwise you wouldn't even have needed to lift a finger; your body would have collapsed and you would have died on the spot after that attack."

Claire couldn't stand it when the witch questioned her original thoughts.

“Aurora, let me tell you, if I had to do it all over again, I would still make the same choice in the same situation.”

As long as he can't swear an oath during my charge-up time, I will definitely unleash that attack. I can't let someone who witnessed me killing my teammate leave alive. Who knows if he can keep his mouth shut? You know, if this gets out, it could implicate Sid.

And who told you I couldn't take him down with me? I know, even if I didn't break down because of your strength, I still couldn't beat him, let alone just one strike.

However, I believe that if an SSS-level monster were to unleash a full-force attack, even if a player ranked in the top 15 of the world survived, he would be severely injured. And a severely injured player ranked in the top 15 of the world would undoubtedly be the primary target of those beasts. The SSS-level otherworldly monsters that were comparable to him would instinctively rush to kill him immediately, and he would be doomed.

And even if he really has some trump cards, enough to survive against otherworldly monsters of the same level as him, would he dare to come back?

A heavily injured SSS-rank character who's played all their cards is worth far more than my life, a mere grunt. Who knows, one of the world's top fifteen might be interested in them.

After a precise analysis, Claire thought she could at least make Aurora realize that she wasn't stupid and stop looking at her like she was an idiot. But Aurora just covered her mouth with her hand and looked at her with a strange expression.

"'It will implicate Sid,' pfft, pfft, hahaha..."

"No, Aurora, what are you laughing at again? Is there anything wrong with thinking about your younger brother?"

Hearing this, Aurora stopped laughing and looked Claire up and down.

"A brother-obsessed idiot."

"call out!"

A silver light flashed across Aurora's body, and another sofa was split in two.

Chapter Sixty-Two Claire

That's why I said you're stupid.

Aurora looked at Claire with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot.

"They attacked you first, but because of what you did, it's become like you ambushed them. This kind of thing can be easily explained."

Upon hearing this, Claire paused, staring at Aurora in astonishment. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then stopped, finally giving Aurora a speechless expression.

"Hey! What's with that look? Did I say something wrong?"

Miss Aurora was furious at being stared at like that by Claire, as if her own pet husky was looking down at her with an idiot's gaze.

"No, you're absolutely right. I was just wondering where you got that aristocratic air about you. You look like a young lady from a wealthy family, yet you can say such 'wise' things."

He said he thought Aurora was right, but his words were full of sarcasm and irony.

"Well then, could you please ask the beautiful and intelligent Miss Claire to share her advanced insights?"

"I wouldn't presume to offer profound insights, but I do have some understanding of it."

"Hmph!" X2

The two snorted coldly at the same time, and Claire was too lazy to continue her sarcastic pretense.

"I think you've been a ghost for too long. Where do you get the confidence that they'll believe what I say?"

"Eh?"

Miss Ghost expressed her confusion.

"Who would believe that they started it? That guy from Sas saw me kill my teammate, but he didn't see those guys sneaking up on me while I was fighting."

On-site evidence collection is impossible; this is a battlefield around the world, where the terrain can be altered in just over ten minutes.

"Um...this."

Aurora's gaze drifted. She had spent most of her life as a lab rat in a laboratory. After gaining power and destroying the laboratory, she could do whatever she wanted outside. She hadn't really thought much about the dirty tricks of politics, since human dirty tricks were insignificant to her who possessed absolute power.

“…Aurora, you didn’t actually guess right, did you?”

Claire cast a suspicious glance at Aurora. Could this ghost-like guy in front of her have really been a ghost for too long and gone crazy?

"Let's continue talking about your brother."

After thinking about it for a moment, Claire also chose to skip the topic, since she was actually a little guilty about it.

"The matter ended with my brother needing a few days to absorb the demon pieces, and using that as a reason, he refused to participate in the ranking game a few days later. There's not much more to say about that."

"Take a few days to absorb it...? Hmph."

Aurora narrowed her eyes, noticed this crucial information, and let out a smug laugh.

Knowing Sid as she did, she was certain that this timeframe was deliberately created to stall for time. After all, it was him; even if he had been tricked by his own sister, he would surely be able to find a way to resolve the situation in the shortest amount of time.

Claire noticed Aurora's soft chuckle and, wondering what Aurora was up to, suddenly remembered that Aurora had said she came out because she sensed "his" presence. She immediately asked a question.

“Aurora, you just said you came out to check because you sensed ‘his’ presence. Is ‘him’ the person you’ve been talking about protecting me? Who exactly is he? Why is he protecting me?”

"I'm sorry, but he doesn't seem to want you to know about this. Since he doesn't want you to, I absolutely won't tell you either."

Aurora's attitude toward this topic remains the same as before.

"Okay, let me ask you another question. Is he also on this island? Is he protecting my brother while protecting me? Is he related to my brother?"

"Hey... I said I can't say, and that's final. No matter how much you ask, it'll be the same. I won't reveal a single thing. I'm going back to your body."

A series of questions caused Aurora, who was floating in the air, to look surprised and be a little slow to react. She didn't know how Claire had guessed that the person protecting her was related to Sid.

Knowing that too much talk leads to mistakes, and to avoid being tricked into revealing information by Claire, Aurora left a message and quickly disappeared.

"Hey! Aurora! Aurora! Come out here! You dare to speak, but not to answer...?"

Claire panicked at Aurora's disappearance, frantically calling out Aurora's name into her own body.

After her calls went unanswered and she realized Aurora was determined to remain silent, Claire hardened her heart, pointed her mithril sword at her heart, and screamed.

"Aurora, if you still don't come out, I'll do what you just said and stab my heart through. I don't believe you won't come out."

As he spoke, he was about to stab himself in the heart with the sword in his hand.

Go ahead and poke it, I can fix it for you anyway.

A voice appeared in Claire's mind, causing her to stop what she was doing, but unfortunately, the information the voice conveyed was not very satisfactory.

He sheathed the mithril sword in his left hand and slammed his right hand heavily onto the sofa beside him, making a sound that declared half of the sofa completely destroyed.

Sitting on the other half of the sofa, Claire's face darkened.

Having spent a year together, she knew her friend all too well. Since Aurora said she wouldn't die, she definitely wouldn't die. Moreover, judging from Aurora's reaction, Sid was most likely being targeted by the person Aurora mentioned who had been protecting her.

She had been away from the world battlefield for a week, but Aurora asked what had happened in the past four days, focusing on today and three days ago. So we can infer that Aurora sensed that person's aura three days ago.

Three days ago, on the day she came to this island and met Sid, but the aura of "him" on Sid should have been very faint, so Aurora took it as an illusion three days ago.

Today, because Sid spent the entire afternoon with her, Aurora clearly sensed it and came out to inquire.

As for why Sid has "his" aura on him?

What else could it be? Of course, it was because of her that Sid was targeted by that person.

"I don't know who you are, but if you really have ill intentions towards me, I hope you will put all your schemes and tricks on me and not hurt Sid."

"If you dare to hurt Sid, I will absolutely kill you and make sure you die a horrible death..."

Claire gripped the scabbard tighter and went to the balcony, looking at the moon in the sky and muttering to herself.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Ding ding ding ding——"

"Hmm? Who's calling?"

In a luxurious bedroom, a girl with long curry-colored hair and a single ponytail lies on the bed. From the sea view outside the window, it can be seen that the bedroom is on a cruise ship.

The girl looked at her phone with a puzzled expression, noticing that she didn't recognize the number displayed on the screen, and couldn't help but feel confused.

Theoretically, only people in the Lion King organization should know her phone number, but this number doesn't belong to her superior either.

Despite her doubts, the girl answered the phone.

"Sayaka."

"Master, Master!"

A cold voice came from the phone, but the girl was as if she had been electrocuted, and instantly sat up in bed, holding the phone with both hands.

Why are you calling? Did my boss say something to you?

Puzzled that her mentor would personally call her, Sayaka immediately thought of her current boss and suspected that he might have complained to her mentor.

"..."

There was a moment of silence on the phone.