Chapter 537: Rainbow (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 537: Rainbow (4)
Kalheum, the City of Light, was one of the Rifts on the eighth floor, and in its boss lair sat its Guardian—the Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel. I had no clue why he'd spawned on a regular floor like this, but to keep things brief, his most unique trait was that he used a Numbered Item despite being a monster.
That, and the fact that the drop rate of the Verdurous Giant Spear is 3 percent.
Although he dropped other Numbered Items as well, he dropped the single-digit Verdurous Giant Spear at a pretty high rate. I had a ton of memories of killing this guy when I was testing out my Spear Barbarian build. That spear was the best one for spear users.
It didn't hurt that his essence was pretty good too.
Anyway, the real issue is why this guy is here, of all places.
As previously stated, we were guaranteed to get a reward if we managed to kill him. It would be incredible if he dropped an essence, and the spear would be amazing as well. However, the problem was in our current condition.
We can't kill him.
I came to this conclusion immediately. It wouldn't be impossible for us to defeat him with our current party comp, but as it stood, things were weighed heavily against us right now.
I need to consider that our priests are already spent up...
Not to mention, our main damage dealer, Erwen, was also out of commission.
No, that wasn't even all. Luckily for us, we hadn't had any casualties yet, but everyone was exhausted.
Woof! Woof! Bark!
Gruaaaaaah!
Honestly, with the monsters still prowling around us, we needed to worry more about survival and less about potential rewards.
"Yandel, what are we going to do?" Amelia asked, her expression grim as she looked out at Milayel.
It wasn't even up for debate. "We're going to charge toward the beach now."
"Beach...? Ah, so we're going to run—"
"We're going to charge toward the beach."
That was our only option at this point.
But before that, there's something we need to do.
Even if we were going to run away, I had to decide what to do with that. I couldn't just leave a rank-two essence behind on the ground.
There's no chance we're going to be able to get it in a magic vial.
My desire to bottle it away was strong, but it was too dangerous no matter how I looked at it. Getting an essence into a vial took too long. There was too much of a risk that something might go wrong in the meantime.
We needed to put it into someone's body, and then we needed to run.
But who do I feed it to?
This was a decision best made after careful thought, but we didn't have the luxury of time.
Bang!
I slotted myself in front of Milayel, blocked his spear with my shield, and shouted into the crowd behind me, "Myul Armin!"
Myul Armin—the captain of the Armin Adventurer Group, the leader of his clan, and an adventurer unique for his decision to go down the necromancer route, which specialized in debuffs and curses. To be honest, leaving such a precious essence to someone who was practically a stranger to me felt like a waste, but...
"You will take the Man-Faced Bird's essence."
This guy was the best fit for it. Since he also seemed to have leveled up recently, he should have an open essence slot as well.
There was a long, dazed pause. "...Pardon?" Myul Armin asked, apparently assuming he must have misheard me.
"Did you not hear me? Hurry up! We don't have time!"
"U-Understood!" He quickly gathered his wits again and ran forward. Amelia ran alongside him, protecting him to make sure he got there safely. "I-Is this really okay...?" he called. "I'm not even one of your clan members..."
Ah, what was this guy going on about? I was having a hard time paying attention to him on account of the monster in front of me trying to impale me with a spear.
"It doesn't matter! Hurry!" I barked.
"A-All right!"
At my command, Myul Armin reached forward and absorbed the essence.
All right, then we got everything we needed to...
After double-checking to make sure that the essence was absorbed, I shoved Milayel as hard as I could to put some distance between us, then turned to give a new order to the rest of the group. "What are you all doing?! Assume formation and get ready to move!"
There was no response.
"We're charging straight toward the beach right now!"
"What...?"
Seriously, were these fools asleep at the wheel?
"Run!" I commanded.
"Ah, yes—! Everyone, assume formation! We're getting out of here now!"
Tsk, some respect for this barbarian baron, please.
***
Huff, huff...
I let out hot puffs of air as I ran. Ah, of course, I wasn't at the front of the pack this time but rather at the very back. When you were being chased by something, the back was the most dangerous place to be.
"I will not let you go, mortal."
Just like in the game, this guy spoke like a real person. The issue was that he only said that one sentence and kept repeating it like a parrot.
Man, how many times have I heard it at this point?
I ran a few tests by trying to talk to it as we fled, but I was never able to get it to say anything new. Honestly, I couldn't even tell if it had any intelligence or not.
The monsters in the chief's village definitely seemed like they were self-aware.
Once again, I found myself struck by how unique the chief's village was. Honestly, most monsters were like this one behind me, even the Vampire Duke Kealunus in the Bloody Citadel. The Knight of the End I encountered in the White Temple also spoke like a person, but it wasn't able to hold a conversation—
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
Excuse you, I was still thinking here.
When I heard that dangerous whooshing sound behind me, I whipped around to block the incoming attack with my shield.
Bang!
That damn spear. Every time I blocked it, I could feel my shield cracking in real-time, and since it was a single-digit Numbered Item with its unique skills, the force behind each thrust was deadly.
"You will take the Man-Faced Bird's essence."
This guy was the best fit for it. Since he also seemed to have leveled up recently, he should have an open essence slot as well.
There was a long, dazed pause. "...Pardon?" Myul Armin asked, apparently assuming he must have misheard me.
"Did you not hear me? Hurry up! We don't have time!"
"U-Understood!" He quickly gathered his wits again and ran forward. Amelia ran alongside him, protecting him to make sure he got there safely. "I-Is this really okay...?" he called. "I'm not even one of your clan members..."
Ah, what was this guy going on about? I was having a hard time paying attention to him on account of the monster in front of me trying to impale me with a spear.
"It doesn't matter! Hurry!" I barked.
"A-All right!"
At my command, Myul Armin reached forward and absorbed the essence.
All right, then we got everything we needed to...
After double-checking to make sure that the essence was absorbed, I shoved Milayel as hard as I could to put some distance between us, then turned to give a new order to the rest of the group. "What are you all doing?! Assume formation and get ready to move!"
There was no response.
"We're charging straight toward the beach right now!"
"What...?"
Seriously, were these fools asleep at the wheel?
"Run!" I commanded.
"Ah, yes—! Everyone, assume formation! We're getting out of here now!"
Tsk, some respect for this barbarian baron, please.
***
Huff, huff...
I let out hot puffs of air as I ran. Ah, of course, I wasn't at the front of the pack this time but rather at the very back. When you were being chased by something, the back was the most dangerous place to be.
"I will not let you go, mortal."
Just like in the game, this guy spoke like a real person. The issue was that he only said that one sentence and kept repeating it like a parrot.
Man, how many times have I heard it at this point?
I ran a few tests by trying to talk to it as we fled, but I was never able to get it to say anything new. Honestly, I couldn't even tell if it had any intelligence or not.
The monsters in the chief's village definitely seemed like they were self-aware.
Once again, I found myself struck by how unique the chief's village was. Honestly, most monsters were like this one behind me, even the Vampire Duke Kealunus in the Bloody Citadel. The Knight of the End I encountered in the White Temple also spoke like a person, but it wasn't able to hold a conversation—
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
Excuse you, I was still thinking here.
When I heard that dangerous whooshing sound behind me, I whipped around to block the incoming attack with my shield.
Bang!
That damn spear. Every time I blocked it, I could feel my shield cracking in real-time, and since it was a single-digit Numbered Item with its unique skills, the force behind each thrust was deadly.
Well, it's only using one skill at a time, so I guess things could be worse.
That was because Milayel had the Guardian role. Guardians of the Rift had a set pattern to their attacks as well as specific triggers to change patterns, such as taking damage or someone using equipment near them. As long as you didn't trigger one of those conditions, they'd repeat the same set of actions indefinitely.
If this were a regular Titanus, I wouldn't have even been able to run away like this.
That didn't mean that Milayel was an easier opponent, however. The skill it used in its first phase was nothing to scoff at.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
Return was a simple throwing skill that amplified the damage dealt by a projectile and guaranteed a hit with target lock-on. However, it also had a far more troublesome trait.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has retrieved the Verdurous Giant Spear.]
When you used this skill, no matter how far away the projectile ended up, it always returned right to the caster's hand.
[Until the end of combat, the strength of Return slightly increases.]
That, and it was a sort of stackable skill in a way, becoming stronger and stronger the more the caster used it.
Clang!
Because of that, my shield, which had even been able to block the chief's sword, was starting to look like Swiss cheese.
Hah, and it'd be tough to mend it down here.
I spared a quick moment to sigh while looking at my messed-up shield, then checked on how the front of the pack was doing. Although I was following from the very back, thanks to Giantization, I could easily see over everyone's heads.
They're doing a good job.
It wasn't like I'd expected them to break formation or have problems clearing the way just because I wasn't out in front. Rather, I'd expected them to handle themselves fine, and they were.
So why was I feeling a little dejected about it?
Whatever...I need to focus on my own job.
Stoically doing your duty with or without the praise of others was the way of the warrior. And so, I continued to keep Milayel in check as he continued to hammer us from behind.
"It's the ocean!"
From between the dense trees, the cliffside appeared, and as we sprinted down it, we saw the beach we dropped anchor on when we first got to the island.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
This guy wasn't giving up. The spear embedded itself into my shield and immediately disappeared into particles of light, then flew right back at me at a frightening speed.
Stab!
For some reason, however, I felt a surge of pain from my shoulder this time around. I thought I had raised my shield enough to block it...
"Agh—!"
But it turned out the shield already had so many holes that it had just flown straight through one of them.
"B-Bjorn!"
"Yandel! Are you all right?"
Missha and Amelia, who had been out in front, rushed back to me in shock. Versyl also tagged in for the priest who had bottomed out on divine power and pulled out a potion.
Well, it's only using one skill at a time, so I guess things could be worse.
That was because Milayel had the Guardian role. Guardians of the Rift had a set pattern to their attacks as well as specific triggers to change patterns, such as taking damage or someone using equipment near them. As long as you didn't trigger one of those conditions, they'd repeat the same set of actions indefinitely.
If this were a regular Titanus, I wouldn't have even been able to run away like this.
That didn't mean that Milayel was an easier opponent, however. The skill it used in its first phase was nothing to scoff at.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
Return was a simple throwing skill that amplified the damage dealt by a projectile and guaranteed a hit with target lock-on. However, it also had a far more troublesome trait.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has retrieved the Verdurous Giant Spear.]
When you used this skill, no matter how far away the projectile ended up, it always returned right to the caster's hand.
[Until the end of combat, the strength of Return slightly increases.]
That, and it was a sort of stackable skill in a way, becoming stronger and stronger the more the caster used it.
Clang!
Because of that, my shield, which had even been able to block the chief's sword, was starting to look like Swiss cheese.
Hah, and it'd be tough to mend it down here.
I spared a quick moment to sigh while looking at my messed-up shield, then checked on how the front of the pack was doing. Although I was following from the very back, thanks to Giantization, I could easily see over everyone's heads.
They're doing a good job.
It wasn't like I'd expected them to break formation or have problems clearing the way just because I wasn't out in front. Rather, I'd expected them to handle themselves fine, and they were.
So why was I feeling a little dejected about it?
Whatever...I need to focus on my own job.
Stoically doing your duty with or without the praise of others was the way of the warrior. And so, I continued to keep Milayel in check as he continued to hammer us from behind.
"It's the ocean!"
From between the dense trees, the cliffside appeared, and as we sprinted down it, we saw the beach we dropped anchor on when we first got to the island.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
This guy wasn't giving up. The spear embedded itself into my shield and immediately disappeared into particles of light, then flew right back at me at a frightening speed.
Stab!
For some reason, however, I felt a surge of pain from my shoulder this time around. I thought I had raised my shield enough to block it...
"Agh—!"
But it turned out the shield already had so many holes that it had just flown straight through one of them.
"B-Bjorn!"
"Yandel! Are you all right?"
Missha and Amelia, who had been out in front, rushed back to me in shock. Versyl also tagged in for the priest who had bottomed out on divine power and pulled out a potion.
I brushed them all off. "Later. We need to get the boat onto the water first."
"But..."
We still had some time before the spear got back to Milayel, so I rushed through the crowd and onto the beach before they could argue.
"Uh..."
"Ummm..."
"Are you... okay?"
The adventurers who had been clearing the way looked surprised by my gaping wound. Well, it'd be weirder watching a barbarian with a huge spear in his shoulder running past them, so they could deal with a hole or two.
Splash!
After summoning the boat, I kept up Giantization long enough to scoop people up and onto the deck. Then, once everyone was on board, I snapped back to my normal size to get on myself, and we dumped a bunch of mana stones into the mana propulsion system so we could get the hell out of there.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
The spear flew in a final time and struck me right in the gut.
"M-Mr. Yandel...!"
"Baron!"
Ouch, what the—
Even as I doubled over, clutching my stomach, I lifted my head enough to glare up at the guy standing on the beach.
Yeah, I'll remember your face...
"I'll see you later."
A barbarian never let go of a grudge.
***
Swoosh!
We sliced through the silver waves. The boat was cramped with so many people onboard, but no one complained. Just being able to sit down and take a break was an incredible relief right now, and we were all happy to plop down wherever there was space. However, I noticed a few of us had dark shadows on our faces.
"One death..."
During our escape from the island, one of the warriors from the Hektz Clan died.
I sighed. Warriors were always the ones who died at times like these. As a fellow warrior myself, I couldn't help the bitter taste in my mouth at the news.
"This isn't appropriate to say, I know... but it's a miracle. It's genuinely miraculous that only one person died."
"Yeah, that's true," I conceded. "What was the name of the person who died?"
"Shellyan Emerton."
I remembered her face as soon as I heard her name. Although I hadn't talked with her much outside of battle, she caught my eye since warrior women were a bit of a rarity.
She had always had a bright smile on her face.
"And her body?"
"We were able to retrieve it."
"That's good to hear..."
With that, I gathered the others and held a funeral for the dead warrior. Although everyone was exhausted, no one argued.
Fwoosh!
Of course, since this was a funeral inside the labyrinth, and on a boat no less, we had to keep things simple. We laid her body on a fireproof cloth and burned her. We then put her ashes in an urn.
Boom! Crunch! Thud!
Throughout the funeral, monsters continued to fall periodically from the sky. Well, since we had a barrier around the boat, they just slid off and fell into the ocean.
I brushed them all off. "Later. We need to get the boat onto the water first."
"But..."
We still had some time before the spear got back to Milayel, so I rushed through the crowd and onto the beach before they could argue.
"Uh..."
"Ummm..."
"Are you... okay?"
The adventurers who had been clearing the way looked surprised by my gaping wound. Well, it'd be weirder watching a barbarian with a huge spear in his shoulder running past them, so they could deal with a hole or two.
Splash!
After summoning the boat, I kept up Giantization long enough to scoop people up and onto the deck. Then, once everyone was on board, I snapped back to my normal size to get on myself, and we dumped a bunch of mana stones into the mana propulsion system so we could get the hell out of there.
[The Spearman of the Heavens, Milayel, has cast Return.]
The spear flew in a final time and struck me right in the gut.
"M-Mr. Yandel...!"
"Baron!"
Ouch, what the—
Even as I doubled over, clutching my stomach, I lifted my head enough to glare up at the guy standing on the beach.
Yeah, I'll remember your face...
"I'll see you later."
A barbarian never let go of a grudge.
***
Swoosh!
We sliced through the silver waves. The boat was cramped with so many people onboard, but no one complained. Just being able to sit down and take a break was an incredible relief right now, and we were all happy to plop down wherever there was space. However, I noticed a few of us had dark shadows on our faces.
"One death..."
During our escape from the island, one of the warriors from the Hektz Clan died.
I sighed. Warriors were always the ones who died at times like these. As a fellow warrior myself, I couldn't help the bitter taste in my mouth at the news.
"This isn't appropriate to say, I know... but it's a miracle. It's genuinely miraculous that only one person died."
"Yeah, that's true," I conceded. "What was the name of the person who died?"
"Shellyan Emerton."
I remembered her face as soon as I heard her name. Although I hadn't talked with her much outside of battle, she caught my eye since warrior women were a bit of a rarity.
She had always had a bright smile on her face.
"And her body?"
"We were able to retrieve it."
"That's good to hear..."
With that, I gathered the others and held a funeral for the dead warrior. Although everyone was exhausted, no one argued.
Fwoosh!
Of course, since this was a funeral inside the labyrinth, and on a boat no less, we had to keep things simple. We laid her body on a fireproof cloth and burned her. We then put her ashes in an urn.
Boom! Crunch! Thud!
Throughout the funeral, monsters continued to fall periodically from the sky. Well, since we had a barrier around the boat, they just slid off and fell into the ocean.
Drip.
Like a window on a rainy day, the blood on the barrier pooled into droplets and dripped down the sides.
"Rest easy."
"Haha, don't mope too much. There's no telling when we'll follow her."
"Tsk, haven't you ever heard the phrase 'don't tempt fate'?"
Even in the most solemn of moments, adventurers could always make light of dark situations. We were people who lived our lives on the razor's edge of death, after all. As such, no one chastised the ones joking around.
We all knew that people coped with loss in different ways.
"That's it," I said. "Take a break. And good work, everyone."
Once the funeral was over, everyone went back to rest.
Well, the wizards weren't able to relax completely since they had to maintain the barrier, but it was much easier than when they had to maintain it on the island. After we got out onto open waters, they were able to rig the boat's mana propulsion system to connect to their mana circuits too.
We have enough mana stones now, and fewer monsters are falling from the sky than expected. If nothing goes terribly wrong, I think we can hold out pretty well until the rainy season ends...
Could I finally relax?
Even as I asked myself that, waves of interweaving thoughts continued to push and pull at my attention. In the end, I just leaned up against the wall, rooted through my sub-space for a temporary shield, and took it out. As a grade-three shield, it was naturally much worse than the shield I had been using. Back when I got it, I had limited funds, and I honestly doubted a day would ever come when I would need to use it.
But it seems today's the day.
I was giving the shield a wry smile when someone approached me.
"Lord Baron," greeted Myul, the captain of the Armin Adventurer Group.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you resting?"
"I apologize for interrupting your rest. But... I wish to ask you something."
"Go on."
Even after receiving my permission, Myul hesitated for a moment. "Why did you do that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... the Man-Faced Bird's essence. Why did you give it to me?"
Ah, so that was what he was losing sleep over, huh? The answer was actually pretty simple.
First of all, Ainar, Amelia, Erwen, and Missha weren't even in the running for that essence. The essences they would absorb in the future had already been decided. Versyl, meanwhile, couldn't absorb it in the first place since she was a wizard.
I guess Auyen could've been an option...
But it honestly wasn't an essence that suited Auyen either. He could have used Mimicry to copy the skills of the monsters we were fighting and change up the battlefield, but that was pretty much it. Giving it to him would have been the equivalent of wasting the passive that formed the crowning jewel of the Man-Faced Bird's essence.
And so, in the end, I decided to go with Myul.
"Of everyone here, you're the one who can use that essence to its fullest potential."
"Is that... Is that all?"
In truth, that wasn't all.
According to our agreement, the Armin Adventurer Group had a certain claim over the loot. Since they had taken a rank-two essence now, I could use that to strong-arm them next time we got our hands on one later.
But there's no need to admit that out loud.
So I shrugged. "Yeah, that's all."
"But! We're strangers you just met—"
"How are we still strangers? We're already comrades."
"We're... We're comrades...?"
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"
Myul Armin didn't answer my innocent question for a long while.
"Lord Baron, you..." When he finally spoke, his voice was faint. He seemed like he had something to say, but after another beat, he shook his head. "No. I'll be going now. Please rest."
It was hard to tell for sure, but he looked like he had come to some sort of decision.
***
It had been six days since the start of the rainy season. After escaping from the island, our voyage had been pretty smooth.
Monsters were still falling from the sky, and we had to kill the ones that kept trying to climb up onto our ship from the ocean, but compared to what we had to go through to escape that island, this was nothing.
In any case, now that I had some peace and quiet, I finally had the time to regroup and rework our plan.
All right, I've decided.
I took out the pendant I had stored in my sub-space for safekeeping, and Missha, who was next to me, immediately perked up with sparkling eyes.
"Uh, Bjorn? That's... Are you... giving that back to m-me...?"
What was she talking about? Had she been pining after it all this time?
Noticing the hunger in her eyes, I quickly put the pendant back into the sub-space before she could get her hands on it.
No. 7777: Garphas's Necklace.
It was about time to get some use out of it.
Drip.
Like a window on a rainy day, the blood on the barrier pooled into droplets and dripped down the sides.
"Rest easy."
"Haha, don't mope too much. There's no telling when we'll follow her."
"Tsk, haven't you ever heard the phrase 'don't tempt fate'?"
Even in the most solemn of moments, adventurers could always make light of dark situations. We were people who lived our lives on the razor's edge of death, after all. As such, no one chastised the ones joking around.
We all knew that people coped with loss in different ways.
"That's it," I said. "Take a break. And good work, everyone."
Once the funeral was over, everyone went back to rest.
Well, the wizards weren't able to relax completely since they had to maintain the barrier, but it was much easier than when they had to maintain it on the island. After we got out onto open waters, they were able to rig the boat's mana propulsion system to connect to their mana circuits too.
We have enough mana stones now, and fewer monsters are falling from the sky than expected. If nothing goes terribly wrong, I think we can hold out pretty well until the rainy season ends...
Could I finally relax?
Even as I asked myself that, waves of interweaving thoughts continued to push and pull at my attention. In the end, I just leaned up against the wall, rooted through my sub-space for a temporary shield, and took it out. As a grade-three shield, it was naturally much worse than the shield I had been using. Back when I got it, I had limited funds, and I honestly doubted a day would ever come when I would need to use it.
But it seems today's the day.
I was giving the shield a wry smile when someone approached me.
"Lord Baron," greeted Myul, the captain of the Armin Adventurer Group.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you resting?"
"I apologize for interrupting your rest. But... I wish to ask you something."
"Go on."
Even after receiving my permission, Myul hesitated for a moment. "Why did you do that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean... the Man-Faced Bird's essence. Why did you give it to me?"
Ah, so that was what he was losing sleep over, huh? The answer was actually pretty simple.
First of all, Ainar, Amelia, Erwen, and Missha weren't even in the running for that essence. The essences they would absorb in the future had already been decided. Versyl, meanwhile, couldn't absorb it in the first place since she was a wizard.
I guess Auyen could've been an option...
But it honestly wasn't an essence that suited Auyen either. He could have used Mimicry to copy the skills of the monsters we were fighting and change up the battlefield, but that was pretty much it. Giving it to him would have been the equivalent of wasting the passive that formed the crowning jewel of the Man-Faced Bird's essence.
And so, in the end, I decided to go with Myul.
"Of everyone here, you're the one who can use that essence to its fullest potential."
"Is that... Is that all?"
In truth, that wasn't all.
According to our agreement, the Armin Adventurer Group had a certain claim over the loot. Since they had taken a rank-two essence now, I could use that to strong-arm them next time we got our hands on one later.
But there's no need to admit that out loud.
So I shrugged. "Yeah, that's all."
"But! We're strangers you just met—"
"How are we still strangers? We're already comrades."
"We're... We're comrades...?"
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"
Myul Armin didn't answer my innocent question for a long while.
"Lord Baron, you..." When he finally spoke, his voice was faint. He seemed like he had something to say, but after another beat, he shook his head. "No. I'll be going now. Please rest."
It was hard to tell for sure, but he looked like he had come to some sort of decision.
***
It had been six days since the start of the rainy season. After escaping from the island, our voyage had been pretty smooth.
Monsters were still falling from the sky, and we had to kill the ones that kept trying to climb up onto our ship from the ocean, but compared to what we had to go through to escape that island, this was nothing.
In any case, now that I had some peace and quiet, I finally had the time to regroup and rework our plan.
All right, I've decided.
I took out the pendant I had stored in my sub-space for safekeeping, and Missha, who was next to me, immediately perked up with sparkling eyes.
"Uh, Bjorn? That's... Are you... giving that back to m-me...?"
What was she talking about? Had she been pining after it all this time?
Noticing the hunger in her eyes, I quickly put the pendant back into the sub-space before she could get her hands on it.
No. 7777: Garphas's Necklace.
It was about time to get some use out of it.