R4STWH - Chapter 107

Chapter 107

First, I stimulated the mana circulating quietly within my body, making it swirl rapidly. As I felt vitality surging throughout my body, I loosened up a bit and adjusted my distance from the magic circle.

'This should be about right.'

The reason for targeting the most complex-looking part was simple. If even one strand there was broken, there was a high chance it wouldn't function properly.

Having decided on my target, there was no reason to hesitate any longer.

After pushing the raging mana into my legs, I kicked with all my might.

BOOM-!

With an explosive sound, the magic circle shook violently. However, it didn't break immediately.

'Hmm... that didn't work.'

Perhaps due to my strength being fixed at 300, the feeling under my foot wasn't particularly satisfying. However, I had no intention of using the restriction release that was limited to 30 seconds per day.

If I miscalculated the force, the entire underground area might be blown away.

'If it doesn't work in one hit, I'll just keep hitting it.'

If I keep kicking it, it's bound to break eventually.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

After a few more kicks, fragments of mana comprising the magic circle began scattering into the air.

'Good, it's working.'

As I was happily delivering kicks to this worthy opponent I'd encountered after so long, at some point—

CRACK!

Finally, part of the magic circle broke!

I quickly absorbed the mana that was leaking from the magic circle. Since it was Zero's mana, which had abilities similar to my own, the compatibility was quite good.

After gorging myself on high-quality mana after so long, my body felt light enough to float.

'Any more?'

I looked around the area some more, but there wasn't anything else that needed attention besides what I'd just destroyed.

Well, he probably didn't have enough time to create more magic circles of this caliber.

With that, I threw open the door without hesitation.

As I had been certain, inside was imprisoned our world's nemesis who had brought about its destruction.

"Ugh...!"

When our eyes met, he hurriedly turned his head away to avoid my gaze.

"Ermitar."

Planning to start with a beating, I walked up to him but felt something odd.

'Something seems... rather weak about him...?'

As I stared at him intently, Ermitar shrunk his shoulders more and more.

"Hey."

"...What?"

"Why are you weaker than before? Is some kind of ability restriction applied?"

I saw him flinch.

"That can't be right. You're originally from this world."

Come to think of it, when I first entered this world, my level was adjusted due to the gap with the highest-ranking races being above a certain threshold.

If Ermitar's power was originally only this much...

'There are probably two possibilities. Either he leveled up a lot after coming to our world, or...'

Perhaps due to my gaze becoming increasingly murderous, he finally spoke up after just watching my reactions.

"It's because of the different time period. The me you know would be from much later than now."

Quest 'Proof of Qualification (1)' has been cleared.

Your influence in world E-17ACEM has increased by 1 stage. (Current: 4/10 stages)

Once per day, ability restrictions will be lifted for 40 seconds.

When Ermitar revealed the truth, the quest to talk with him was immediately cleared.

But I had no time to pay attention to the transparent window with its written messages.

"Different time period? What do you mean?"

It was too unexpected a statement.

"Before that, let me ask one thing. Why did you break the magic circle installed here? Did you have a fight with your companion?"

I caught a glimpse of hope in his face as he asked. He was hoping that Zero and I weren't on the same page.

"While I might not know about other things, my desire to kill you is no different from my companions, so you'd better not think about using me."

"That's... I expected as much. I'm just curious whether you also wish for this world's destruction."

"Why should I answer that?"

To avoid being manipulated, you should hide your true thoughts and frustrate the other party like this. It was Yumi's advice for when I needed to converse with an enemy.

As I crossed my arms and looked at him sideways, sure enough, Ermitar started rambling with an anxious expression.

"Do you know where these 'quests' originate from?"

And the story that began was about something so high-dimensional that I'd never even considered it.

'So... some terrifying being that wanders between dimensions challenges worlds to fights?'

When the Gluttonous Monarch, also known as the God of Bets and the Fallen Wanderer, finds a world to their liking, that's when the calamity begins.

The Gluttonous Monarch starts spreading malicious quests, and the god who originally governed that world also sends out 'protective quests' to counter them.

However, compared to them, who had devoured countless worlds and guardian deities while traveling across all dimensions, the gods' power is inevitably lacking, so their quest rewards are meager and few in number.

Given such circumstances, some worlds' gods occasionally use their final measure of turning themselves into item form to be given as rewards.

For example, Baeksa's Holy Sword was exactly that.

'My god, our world's deity was in there...?'

No wonder it was the only SS-grade item.

'And I used it as a club...'

Anyway, it seemed this world's god was also busy conducting defensive operations for the same reason, unable to communicate with the Saintess.

'I guess the quests I received probably came from this world's god.'

They must have judged that I would want to protect this world because of Elias, and planned for me to meet Ermitar and hear the truth beyond the quests.

"Actually, our world... failed once. It was because of someone who sided with the 'Gluttonous Monarch' and sought to destroy this world. But for some reason, that person didn't kill me, and at what I thought was the final moment, I suddenly received a quest."

Ermitar believed their world's god had helped him escape.

However, when he actually arrived in world E-20FUg, our world, the chain quest he received was completely different from anything about protection or preservation.

"At first, I tried to ignore it. But... as the number of times I refused or postponed quests increased, I suddenly started losing my mind and going berserk. When I came to my senses, everything around me had turned to ashes."

The more I listened to Ermitar's story, the more complicated my thoughts became.

'Is all this really true? Isn't he lying?'

It seemed like he was asking for leniency regarding his actions, saying the Gluttonous Monarch had used him as a tool... but given his current disadvantageous position, I couldn't tell if his words were true or false.

"Even when I tried to refuse, the situation only got worse, and after I'd already become your world's public enemy, I couldn't reject the quests anymore."

"What was the reward?"

"Huh...?"

"What was the quest completion reward? That's what you really wanted, right?"

I could sense his perturbation at my question.

"Turning back time in this world."

He rubbed his eyes and moved his lips.

"As a reward for destroying our world, you're now living here perfectly fine. Right?"

"..."

Ermitar fell silent, unable to answer.

Things that had been hazy were now becoming clear.

Zero and Yumi wanted to become this world's 'final boss' in the same way as Ermitar to turn back time in our world.

Back to when everything hadn't been destroyed yet, when there were still things that could be reversed.

Back to when there were still ways to prevent the destruction.

'Zero and Yumi must have many happy memories, and many precious people they can no longer see.'

Putting myself in their shoes, it was completely understandable. Especially Yumi... who had lost even her child.

By this point, I could somewhat understand why Zero had been spouting nonsense at me.

'That Zero... he must have thought I would go along with everything he said if he mentioned being my Pair.'

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