Jin looked back at the window and came to a conclusion.

‘The path we were blindly following wasn’t wrong. Or maybe, to the Valeria of another world, the path itself doesn’t matter.’

Time. He thought of how much longer the curse on Temar’s arm would last. Though he hadn’t calculated precisely while desperately breaking through Keliak’s sea, roughly thirty minutes remained.

‘For now, I’ll do whatever I can.’

He didn’t know how long the other-world Valeria could keep time frozen.

‘If my guess is right—that Temar’s left arm is more important than the path to the legacy—then I need to confirm whether Laprarosa’s time has completely stopped.’

The other Valeria had the ability to stop time while excluding certain individuals. If she could designate multiple people, then Ameris and Lokia, who were currently breaking the curse, should be moving as well.

This was something Jin had to verify in person.

Before heading to the central battlefield, Jin turned and glared at Keliak. He swung his sword toward the man’s neck and heart. The sword’s energy struck precisely at those points.

But nothing happened. The sword’s energy halted the moment it touched Keliak’s body, then dissipated and vanished somewhere.

In other words, it was impossible to harm Keliak in this state.

He hadn’t expected much anyway. Even if he could tear Keliak’s flesh apart, the moment time resumed, Keliak would instantly regenerate. So far, even combined attacks from the Changsung, the Sun God’s selves, and the witch hadn’t been able to finish him off.

Jin then touched his comrades nearby. They, too, were completely frozen. Even pushing them with force didn’t cause the slightest movement.

There was nothing more to check.

Without hesitation, Jin strode toward Laprarosa. Time could start flowing again at any moment, so he had to move quickly. The thought of leaving behind his father, brothers, and comrades made him sick to his stomach, but there was no other way.

“Father, half-brother… If it weren’t for you two, I wouldn’t even dare try anything now. Please take care of Enya and Orgal.”

He glanced once at Enya, frozen as she had been holding his hand, and at Orgal lying beside her, then pressed on.

Even the blood-red sea that had surged and attacked so violently was frozen like a painting. It was as hard as steel beneath his feet.

He ran wildly, leaping over waves towering above his head, circling around and vaulting over massive walls of water blocking his path.

Unlike when searching for the entrance to the legacy, he had no trouble finding his direction. Far ahead, the central battlefield glowed sharply with the last light left before time stopped—Laprarosa, the Golden Fleet, and his comrades.

“Huff, huff.”

His breath came in ragged gasps.

He’d only run a few hundred steps, but his lungs burned. He’d just forgotten how much his body had been pushed to its limits.

“Damn it. I shouldn’t have checked if I could strike that bastard. Right, Valeria?”

He didn’t even know which Valeria he was speaking to. But if he didn’t say something, if he didn’t keep moving, his mind would collapse. He’d fought all this time suppressing his grief, and even now he forced himself to keep going—but he was only human.

Even as a Changseong, he couldn’t perfectly shut out the flood of emotions. Tears slipped before he could stop them; his jaw trembled as he clenched his teeth, and sometimes a sob escaped his lips.

That’s why, no matter how much it weighed him down, he couldn’t let go of Valeria in his arms. Even if she was just a burden, he couldn’t leave her behind.

“I won’t accept this ending. I can’t accept that the reason I turned back time was for this. I have to do something… damn it!”

As he ran through the blood-red sea, Jin thought of the cold bodies of his comrades lying somewhere beneath him. Their faces, expressions, and gestures flashed vividly before his eyes.

He gasped, spat blood, paused to catch his breath, then ran again.

Step by step, he neared the central battlefield. Frozen comrades and enemies came into view one by one, caught mid-fight.

“Luntia noona, Daytona hyung… hyung…”

Luntia stood frozen, sword Sharl extended. Next to her was Daytona, pierced through the chest by a beam of magical energy.

Behind them lay Mesa, and Mary bent over him, trying to hold him. Garmund was throwing himself in front of Mary like Linpa to protect her.

Yona gripped the corpse of Owl—who had only one arm left—like a sword, screaming in rage. Tasha, Alpen, and Balas had their swords drawn; Balas was missing about half his upper body.

At the center, Luna swung Krantel against a hail of enemy fire. The two kings, including Baba, supported her, but their numbers were dwindling.

The further he went, the more comrades he saw.

“Murakan… you bastard, how can you fall down at a time like this?”

Murakan lay collapsed, transformed into a human. Jin spoke with a hint of reproach, but it wasn’t sincere.

He felt sorry for him. After enduring a thousand years in the Storm Castle’s underground tomb, the only contractor he met was Jin himself—and in the end, Murakan couldn’t escape his past pain and collapsed.

“Sorry, Murakan.”

Tikan’s comrades, unable to give up on Murakan, struggled to raise their swords around him. If Sandra hadn’t ordered Hedo to protect Murakan at all costs, he would have been torn to pieces long ago.

Each time Jin passed them, his vision blurred. Wiping tears, his fists and face were stained with dark water.

Soon, he reached the area held by Kinzel’s forces. They had suffered near-total annihilation. Two Changseong sorcerers from the Demon God’s army were ravaging Zephyrin’s massive body, and among the troops fighting under her protection, none appeared unharmed.

Until recently, they had been enemies to be utterly destroyed. But now, like the Bamel Alliance, they seemed to be fighting as if clinging to each other.

Ranke, who had hated Ainas so much, guarded Bianca in her place. Berakt gritted his teeth, staring at Jo, who had just died. Bubar carried the fallen Badrey, rushing toward his comrades. Vishkel and Marziela were trying to escape the crashing ship Grnil.

“…Your commander is still alive. So hold on, all of you. Don’t die.”

Laprarosa drew closer.

Time was still frozen, and suddenly Jin felt a wave of unease. What if Ameris and Lokia were frozen like the others? What should he think then? Where should he move? No other ideas came to mind.

Then he saw Dante, Veradin, and Siris.

They formed the last line of defense right before Laprarosa. Lucy’s dragons scouted the front lines; Eltiot coordinated the battle based on their reports; Dante commanded the entire central battlefield, shouting fiercely.

Veradin stopped after casting a shield behind Siris, who struggled to rise, supported by Manbing.

Because they were his friends, Jin felt something warm spread through his chest.

It was strength—the kind that helped him shake off his anxiety, even if only briefly; the kind that let him face vague hope, if only for a moment.

“Everyone, pray that Ameris, Lokia, and that damn traitor are still moving inside Laprarosa.”

Jin lifted his head and looked up at Laprarosa. His heart pounded as if it would burst, and his body felt utterly drained. He doubted he could leap up there in one bound.

But thankfully, he still had plenty of magical energy left.

If he hadn’t learned magic directly from Valeria since his past life, his mana would have been completely depleted by now. There was no mage in the world who used magic more efficiently than her.

Slowly and carefully, Jin began to weave his magic, shaping a staircase that stretched up into the sky. Taking a deep breath, he started to climb, one step at a time.

“Hah… hah…”

Even just climbing the stairs was exhausting now. His breath came out rough and metallic, but halfway up, Jin sensed something.

Within Laprarosa, a surge of magic was stirring—restless, vibrant energy flowing through the air.

It was the presence of Ameris and Rokia.