I Don't Need To Log Out-Chapter 318: Asef (1)

Everything was black.

Again.

Arlon didn't know why it always started like this.

Why, every time something happened, something beyond understanding, he was left staring into a colorless void?

No sounds. No movement. Just a vacuum pressing against his senses.

This wasn't unconsciousness.

He was aware.

That much, at least, he could tell.

But beyond that… he didn't know anything.

Didn't I die?

That should've been the next step. Die in Trion, wake up in his Zeno on Earth. That was the system. That was the rule.

No matter how regretful it was, if you died, you died.

And yet, he hadn't woken up.

Well, he knew he wouldn't die.

These thoughts weren't fear. Or panic. Or some last desperate attempt at rationalizing death.

They were certain.

I didn't die.

He was sure of it.

Because of that.

The final lock on his title—Unfair Regressor—had opened.

It had been waiting. Dormant. Inaccessible.

Until then.

When everyone on the leaderboard received their one-year rewards, Arlon had received one more thing.

It wasn't just a reward. It was a trigger.

The last hidden piece of the title had activated, finally completing the thing that had defined him since the beginning.

His title.

***

Unfair Regressor

"The one who regressed and doesn't need to follow the fair play rules of Zeno.

Endless Ascent: The longer you stay logged in, the stronger you become!

Fuse: A new ability can be created by fusing two abilities from different classes. The new ability will incorporate features of both fused abilities.

Awakened Instincts: Your body's senses increase, and your reflexes get better. Note: This feature will be slowly adapted to the body so that the player doesn't get shocked.

Another Chance: When you are on the verge of death, your HP bar will stop at one instead of going down to zero, and it will be filled up, giving you another chance. Make it count!"

***

Even though he'd already been logged in for more than a year, the leaderboard had opened a bit after the game was released, not on the first day.

Still, whatever was keeping it sealed only activated the moment the system registered the one-year mark of the leaderboard.

On the same day the rewards had gone out.

This was big.

Arlon, though willingly, stayed in Trion when everyone went back to Earth for more than a year.

And he unlocked every locked perk of Endless Ascent.

This new effect wasn't a revival.

Not really.

It was something… different.

Like a thread being pulled right before the end unraveled.

From what Arlon understood, it granted him another chance, not by turning back time or restoring a saved point, but by holding the thread of life itself from snapping.

His HP wouldn't go down after reaching one.

Instead, his title would cling to that final point and reinforce it with something unshakable…

He also felt like his health would be filled up after that.

A temporary shield. A reset of his health. A safeguard.

But the strange part—the part he couldn't explain—was that he hadn't felt it happen.

No notification.

No sensation of recovery.

No feedback at all.

Just blackness.

So what happened?

He didn't even know what killed him.

What was Asef's trump card?

He had warned Arlon right before it happened, but there had been no spellcasting or mana surge. Just a declaration and then—

Boom.

An eruption that tore through the battlefield and flung Arlon backward like a leaf in a storm.

Arlon had prepared for all kinds of possibilities.

But whatever that was, it hadn't been on the list.

Could it have been something strong enough to overpower his title and Zeno? Strong enough to bypass the system's shield?

This was the reason he didn't want to trust the system. It could be breached.

If so, then this blackness would be death.

And he'd be waking up in his Zeno right now.

But he wasn't.

And that made things even stranger.

If he hadn't died… if the title had activated…

Then why was he here?

Why couldn't he feel anything?

Before he could spiral any further into questions, something changed.

A glimmer appeared.

Tiny. Barely noticeable at first.

But then it expanded—quickly, then steadily—like a ripple in space becoming a doorway.

A light.

It swelled outward in all directions, swallowing the black.

And then the light shifted.

Took shape.

Turned solid.

Turned real.

And a moment later—

He saw it.

A landscape.

Familiar. Too familiar.

This place…

He had been here before.

More than once.

Its shape. Its sky. The faint, pulsing hum in the air.

A realm that didn't belong to Trion.

Not really.

But not entirely separate either.

A realm between.

Arlon's feet found ground again.

His body remembered itself.

And he stared ahead, eyes adjusting as the space fully constructed itself around him.

He was back.

But not on Trion.

---

The air around them sizzled as June's second fireball flew forward—hotter, brighter, and twice the size of the first.

But Carla didn't dodge.

She cut.

Just like before, her blade cleaved through flame like it was nothing more than a curtain of smoke. Sparks scattered across her fur-lined coat, the edges blackening, but she didn't flinch.

June narrowed her eyes.

So that was how it was going to be.

Fine.

She switched to ice.

A flick of her wrist, a surge of magic—and the temperature dropped in a heartbeat. The air around her shimmered with condensed moisture as a spiral of ice needles formed midair and shot toward Carla in a tight, whirling storm.

This time, Carla dodged.

She leapt to the left, flipping midair, the icy spikes trailing just behind her.

June didn't wait.

She raised her staff and launched a second barrage, fire and ice this time, twisting together in a spinning helix.

It wasn't raw power she was using, it was disruption. Patterns that no normal warrior could predict.

But Carla wasn't a normal warrior.

She moved like she had seen it before. Like she was dancing with it.

And in one moment of flickering movement, she was there.

In front of June.

Too close.

June barely raised her arm before the sword struck.

A searing pain tore across her side as the blade grazed her ribs. The world tilted, her breath caught, and her feet stumbled back into soft earth.

Her mana flared instinctively to shield her from the follow-up blow, but Carla didn't hesitate.

The next strike came low. Aimed for the neck.

Too fast.

Too close.

June's eyes widened.

She was going to die.

Blink.

Her body vanished in a shimmer of white light, reappearing five meters away behind a tree, heart pounding like a war drum.

Carla's blade sliced through empty air where her throat had been.

June dropped to one knee, gasping.

That was too close.

Much too close.

Thankfully, she had learned space magic from Agema during the week she had been waiting for Arlon.

She still wasn't that good with it. She couldn't predict where she would appear.

But it was enough when her life was in danger.