A Woman's Heart Is Not Yours to Guess

The ground trembled faintly, and the streets continued to tilt.

The enormous Giant Construct was rising from the ground segment by segment. Every one of its jointed limbs was like a blade, gleaming with cold light. Its massive body resembled a precisely functioning city, every gear and rotating rod forming part of this intricate machine. From afar, it looked like a forest of machinery.

The Constructed Giant Worm shook its huge head. Colliding metal produced a deafening roar as four pairs of dark-red eyes converged upon the center, looking down at Fang Heng from the height of six or seven stories.

The warrior's mangled remains hung from its mandibles. One hand fell, shattering into pieces with a smack. Frozen, brittle fingers flew several meters away, coated in a thick layer of frost.

Fang Heng's back was drenched in cold sweat, but he forced himself to remain calm. He suddenly glanced at the wandering figure nearby, and an idea struck him. His lips moved. "Attack!"

The wanderer had indeed been watching this direction. Seeing Fang Heng's mouth form those words, he nearly lost his soul in fright and turned to flee without understanding what was happening.

"That's not his Dragon Knight! Don't move!" Kaka cried from the sky.

But it was too late.

The giant worm's four pairs of eyes swept backward with a creak, catching sight of the wanderer. It suddenly reared up and let out a piercing whistle. Its enormous body smashed down like a falling hammer.

The wanderer only felt a shadow cover his head. He turned back in despair to see a wall of bronze and iron crushing toward him. He only had time to let out a terrified scream before the ground shook and dust filled the air.

Only then did the Constructed Giant Worm slowly turn around in the dust, revealing the spinning gear discs and jets within its mandibles. The Clockwork Sprite in midair finally realized something was wrong. Its earlier cry had exposed its presence as well.

It shot upward, but a snow-white frost arrow flew from the mist and struck its brass shell. Frost shattered the Clockwork Sprite's three metal wings and casing, turning them into a spray of scattered parts.

"Ah—"

Kaka let out an annoyed groan, yanking up his goggles. His face was still pale.

He was still stunned when Jory grabbed him and dragged him aside. A flying rock rolled past where he had been standing. Only then did the boy notice that everything around them had changed. The ruins were shaking and collapsing, and the original streets had almost completely vanished.

"What happened?" Canghai Guzhou walked over and asked.

"San Wanli Sel is gone." Kaka sat on the ground, raking his fingers through his messy hair in extreme frustration. "Ah, I want to die!" Then he flopped onto the ground spread-eagled.

Canghai Guzhou was already used to this, though he still could not help rolling his eyes. "What about that guy?"

"He got away," the boy answered weakly from the ground. "But he ran into that thing, so he probably won't get away, right?"

Canghai Guzhou was full of doubt toward words like "probably."

"Should I go take a look?" Jory asked.

Canghai Guzhou glanced at him but shook his head. "Forget it. This isn't somewhere we should stay." He turned around. The distant ruins had become a scene from the end of the world: the earth shook, dust billowed, and sections of ground sank like waves, jagged and uneven. The entire ruin was collapsing inward, forming a funnel that dragged everything toward its center.

The sinking soon reached the lake. The shore collapsed, and lake water burst through, a sparkling silver thread beneath the moonlight. Then it merged into a broad sheet of shimmering water and poured back into the ruins.

The rushing lake water thundered deafeningly.

The cracked surface continued spreading outward. Soon, even this direction was becoming impossible to stand on. Canghai Guzhou grabbed Kaka from the ground and pulled him back.

"Move," he told the others. "Get out of here."

"What's going on?" Kaka asked curiously as Canghai Guzhou dragged him backward by the collar. He did not seem to care in the slightest.

"The Sea Witch entered the central area, causing the upper level of the ruins to collapse."

"What is that thing, then?"

The final word turned into a startled cry.

A constructed dragon suddenly rose from the sinking ruins. It was the giant worm Kaka had seen earlier—but that was only part of it. Because soon, amid another thunderous crash, a second constructed dragon rose.

"Two?" Kaka rubbed his eyes.

"No, one," Jory shook his head and told him.

Kaka turned back in confusion to look at the stiff-faced knight, but he quickly understood what Jory meant.

The two Constructed Giant Worms climbed atop the highest nearby ruins like two tentacles. Soon, more "tentacles" rose from beneath the ground, pulling an enormous constructed creature up from the sunken center.

It was a colossal head, octopus-like in shape, nearly a third the size of the entire ruins. Its huge glowing red pupils alone were as tall as a building.

It rose rumbling upward like a small mountain.

The roar drowned out everything, even Kaka's own voice. He saw flocks of birds erupt from the forest, blotting out the sky, while Canghai Guzhou and the others nearby moved their mouths as though performing a pantomime.

But at that point, no one had time to care about anything else. They ran for their lives.

"What the hell is that?" Kaka shouted.

No one could hear him. Only Jory read the question from his expression and replied, "A Giant Construct—the early form of a Dragon Knight."

"What did you say?" Kaka stared blankly at Jory's moving lips.

But Jory did not answer again.

Because answering would have been pointless—

Flocks of birds filled the sky as they flew out of the basin, creating a magnificent sight. Yet Fang Heng did not even have time to spare it a glance. He climbed upward desperately as two Constructed Giant Worms rampaged behind him, smashing through buildings in pursuit.

Their piercing whistles still rang in his ears. Before one could charge him, Fang Heng threw himself aside with all his strength. The Constructed Giant Worm crashed past where he had been standing like a roaring mechanical dragon.

Fang Heng landed against the outer wall of an elven building, rolled several times, then climbed to his feet covered in dust.

At this point, the streets were no longer merely tilted. They had risen toward the center at an angle of forty or fifty degrees. The side walls of the ruined buildings had become three-dimensional platforms that people could stand upon.

But these platforms were unstable, often breaking apart under their own weight and falling down the slope.

Fang Heng did not dare linger. He continued climbing. He only looked back once, but the red-glowing gaze of that enormous thing in the center of the "funnel" seemed to settle upon him. Several Constructed Giant Worms immediately crashed toward him.

Fang Heng could not put his misery into words. Only now did he understand what the woman from Silver Veil meant when she said, "It's not as small as you think." But he would rather never have understood.

The straightened Constructed Giant Worms plunged down like pillars. Fang Heng scrambled desperately as buildings collapsed behind him one after another. Flying rubble cut a gash across his brow ridge, and blood immediately poured down his face.

Half his vision was blurred by blood. No matter how much he wiped it, he could not clean it away. He panted heavily, feeling as though he had nearly reached his limit.

At that moment, the first Constructed Giant Worm had turned back from ahead. Four pairs of dark-red eyes spotted him across a block. Fang Heng felt cold all over. The nearest building was seven or eight meters away. There was no way he could jump that far.

The giant worm coiled back its body and swept toward him with a piercing whistle. Fang Heng screamed as well, somehow finding the courage to leap forward. He reached out with all his strength, but his hand still grasped nothing.

He fell five or six meters and slammed hard into the outer wall of another building. His entire body felt as though it had fallen apart, and he could no longer climb up.

Fang Heng felt that his left hand was probably broken, along with several ribs. He could not yet tell what condition the rest of his body was in, but the good news was that his legs still seemed usable.

But the bad news was that the Constructed Giant Worms had finally cornered him.

Five or six giant worms swayed their huge bodies as if watching a spectacle. Countless dark-red eyes stared at him as he lay flat against the outer wall of the building.

Despair surged through Fang Heng. This time, I'm really done for. He had even bragged to Miss Scarpe, only to get slapped in the face so soon. But it truly was not because he had failed to try his best. A Life Profession was simply too weak in an environment like this.

He had found himself an excuse, but his face still burned a little.

Yet he relaxed inwardly. Fine, Fang Heng thought. If I die, I die. At least I can go with everyone else. Miss Scarpe might laugh at me a little longer, but her smile is pretty nice anyway.

Besides, he was not even an official Chosen. What was there to say about losing to a monster like this?

The only thing Fang Heng regretted now was that he could not see the "monster" at the center of the ruins from this angle.

That thing was truly enormous. He had never seen anything so awe-inspiring with his own eyes. It was just like the Floating Island Whales in Second World on television, perhaps only a little smaller than a Giant Kun.

It was taller than a small mountain. That dark-red eye socket must have been over ten meters across, almost like two enormous caves. As he recalled its appearance bit by bit, he could not help marveling at how ancient alchemists had created such a masterpiece.

A shadow fell over him.

Two Constructed Giant Worms pressed down from before and behind. Amid their piercing whistles, they came crashing down with the force of an avalanche, filling his vision with dense blackness. Fang Heng turned his head and faced them without fear—but at that very moment, he heard a series of cracking sounds from beneath him.

A miracle happened. The building finally gave way beneath its own weight and collapsed.

Fang Heng felt the ground beneath him sink, and he fell with it.

The immediate result was that the two Constructed Giant Worms struck empty air, crashing down one after the other not far behind him. Amid the spreading dust, stones fell like rain, clattering against his body.

But instead of feeling pain, Fang Heng burst out laughing. He even laughed until tears came out. He had never imagined that he would encounter something so dramatic.

The entire ruin zone was cracking and sinking, gradually revealing the underground section below. Block after block crumbled apart. Trees were ripped out by their roots and swallowed beneath the earth. Fang Heng saw all sorts of debris falling alongside him.

He even saw the Gunslinger from the Jefflitte Redcoats.

That man was far more nimble than Fang Heng, leaping upward between several still-intact buildings. But it was meaningless. With a deep cracking sound, the buildings and the entire street split apart and plunged downward.

A flying rock struck the man, snapping his neck. His head drooped strangely to one side, and he fell like a rag doll.

Only after witnessing that did Fang Heng come to his senses. He silently rejoiced that his luck was just a tiny bit better than the other man's. With difficulty, he reached behind himself for the lever on his Magic Furnace. It took all his strength to adjust his position before pushing the lever down.

He heard a soft hiss, like something inflating, and the metal box on his back suddenly opened.

It was the Slow Fall Component Miss Scarpe had given him. He had not expected it to come in useful again now.

But when he thought of how the person who had given it to him was no longer in Aethelria, Fang Heng felt a renewed sense of loss. Still, he vaguely felt that Miss Scarpe and the others were protecting him from the shadows, just like the pair of magical wings behind him. It filled him with warmth and safety.

But that was a heavy burden too—

Fang Heng cautiously adjusted his posture to avoid the boulders and debris falling around him. His luck was truly good, because the rolling rocks somehow avoided him. The only thing that still worried Fang Heng was the Constructed Giant Worms. Once he realized that those "giant worms" were actually parts of that "Constructed Octopus," he understood that they did not need the ground to move.

Thinking of that, he could not help looking up.

He would have been better off not looking. The moment he did, he wanted to slap himself.

Because he saw a shadow pressing down toward him.

It was not the wreckage of a building.

It was those two Constructed Giant Worms—

At that instant, Fang Heng had never understood so clearly that he really did have a cursed tongue.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a sinkhole.

The night sky above was gradually fading layer by layer. A pale strip of dawn appeared in the east, dotted with sparse stars. A faint lavender hue remained, but it was slowly becoming transparent.

The cliffs around him were at least a hundred meters high. Lake water poured down from the cliffs, forming a bright waterfall that roared nearby.

The ruins on the surface had completely collapsed, which meant that such a cavity had existed beneath them all along. It was even possible that this had been the underground portion of the ruins themselves. Fang Heng suddenly realized this. But what surprised him more was that he was somehow still alive—

He tried to move, but could not. Other than blinking, breathing, hearing, and seeing, he could not move even his little finger.

Fang Heng could not figure out what state he was supposed to be in now. Or was this simply what happened after people died in Aethelria? Until they chose to revive or return to the real world?

A tremendous panic suddenly rose within him.

He was not afraid of death.

Rather, he thought about how, if everyone was like this, Miss Scarpe must have watched him cry like an idiot back then, talking to himself and wallowing in self-pity. Gods of Aethelria, if that possibility was real, Fang Heng felt like his brain was exploding—was this not a public execution?

He desperately wished he could turn back time and do it all over again—

But suddenly, a streak of deep azure light entered Fang Heng's vision, stunning him. He soon realized that the light had been there all along. He had merely ignored it subconsciously while lost in his wild thoughts. He tried hard to lower his gaze and finally found its source.

The light was actually radiating from his heart.

Fang Heng's mouth fell open. Then he discovered something even more unbelievable: the light was repairing his body. Whether it was the fractures from before or the earliest wound on his hand, all were slowly healing beneath its glow.

"...Is that Miya's dagger?"

The bluish-green light reminded him of something similar.

Fang Heng only remembered seeing the same light on that Star Dagger. Before it vanished, it had even left a strange mark on his forehead. Miss Scarpe and that female wanderer from Silver Veil should have seen it as well.

Only that could explain what was happening to him now. Fang Heng even vaguely felt that the light was not actually healing his wounds.

It was reviving him.

He had never seen such powerful healing in Aethelria. The main abilities of healers in this world were not healing and resurrection, but stabilizing injuries, restoring stamina, and recharging shields. It was absolutely impossible for them to make someone on the verge of death lively and vigorous again.

He waited quietly for a while. Sure enough, the light gradually weakened. He regained control of his body, rolled to his feet, and tore off the cloth wrapped around his hand to look—his skin was pale and fresh as newborn skin, without the slightest trace of a wound.

At that point, Fang Heng had basically confirmed what it was, though he still cautiously stretched his body. Sure enough, there was no discomfort anywhere. Only the spot where his left hand had been broken felt slightly numb and itchy, as though the bone had not completely healed yet.

He sucked in a cold breath.

Revival—was that not the legendary ultimate ability possessed only by Dragon Knights?

It was said that before dying, a Dragon Knight could consume the vessel of a Dragon Soul—a Holy Crystal—to revive once. And this resurrection would consume no Star Radiance at all. But in Aethelria, this had always remained nothing more than hearsay. No one had ever truly seen it.

Because this ability was actually rather useless.

Any Dragon Knight would rather lose Star Radiance than consume a Holy Crystal. Every vessel of a Dragon Soul was incomparably precious. It might be a person's only chance to become a Dragon Knight. Fang Heng knew exactly how many Dragon Knights the ten Major Guilds had.

That was why, as he looked at his own hand, he was stunned for a long while.

What exactly had Miya given him?

And had she deliberately handed that dagger to him?

Fang Heng took a soft breath to calm himself. Then he looked around in confusion, only to freeze.

The sinkhole was filled with the wreckage of buildings. Nearby, the waterfall descended in a vertical white curtain. Beneath its bright sheen, he saw a mountain-sized colossal object hidden behind it.

That was the Giant Construct from before.