Chapter 96 : Breakthrough

Chapter 96: Breakthrough

The entirety of body and spirit.

That was the only way to describe Urgulak’s axe swings.

Each strike was an attack that wagered everything.

Even when a stretched-out tentacle pierced through his body, even when sudden fangs tore at his shoulder, Urgulak did not stop.

Was that truly the martial resolve of a warrior who had already suffered damage to his spirit and internal injuries?

I couldn’t help but ask out of sheer disbelief.

“You’ll die like that, Urgulak.”

The bastard laughed heartily.

“Are humans stupid?”

Ah, right. He said he wasn’t afraid of dying....

Right now, Urgulak must have been smiling with his white, saw-blade-like teeth glinting.

He didn’t look like he had the slightest intention of yielding the vanguard to me.

Heave-ho!

Straining with all his might, Urgulak once again tore through the wave of monsters and pushed forward.

“Even without your help, I could have broken through on my own.”

“Then save that strength...! Khaha!”

Well.

It was better to save it.

Because we had no idea what awaited further ahead.

500m, 300m, finally 100m.

The moment I followed Urgulak up the hill, I finally saw it.

The cultists’ horde and their altar.

So it really did exist!

But Urgulak’s advance was stopped here at last.

“Cough...!”

With a thunderous cough, thick black blood spattered down at his feet.

He could go no further, barely managing to stand his ground.

He had long since exceeded his limits.

“Ea.”

[Yes. Transmitting Heal!]

Urgulak’s wounds closed rapidly. But this alone was not enough. The real problem was the internal injuries and the damage to his spirit.

Internal injuries meant the rampaging aura inside his body continued to batter him from within. Damage to the spirit meant that the very source of strength, the spiritual power itself, had been harmed.

Urgulak was on the verge of death.

Even with the technology of the Age of Magic, he would need at least ten years of proper convalescence to even have a chance at recovery.

Unless he consumed an Elixir.

Which meant...

“Thank you.”

Thanks to him, I had truly conserved my strength.

“Khuh... Go. It’s your turn now.”

Yes. It was my turn.

There, the cultists praying before the altar.

They were nothing short of grotesque.

Their forms were bizarre. They might once have been human,

but they had long since lost the shapes of humanity.

One was scattering away in glimmers of light and shadow,

another’s fingers, toes, tongue, and even eyeballs were transforming into octopus-like tentacles,

and yet another, swollen like a toad, pounded its bloated belly like a drum.

They emitted light, groped about in all directions, and uttered sounds as they sank into ecstasy.

* Too late. Too late.

* Ah, transcendence. This is....

* To shed our husk and become our true selves....

The cultists’ rapture tickled my ears.

What on earth was it?

This thing called a cult.

Why was it so hideous, so revolting, so ominous?

Especially that altar.

What floated above it was far too dreadful.

At first, I thought it was just a severed, massive octopus tentacle.

For a brief moment, it truly looked that way.

But soon I realized.

It wasn’t that.

That thing was—

something that could not exist,

something that must not exist,

something beyond imagination,

something that, if one dared to glimpse it carelessly, would forever leave them unable to return.

Only chills, horror, disgust, and dread came flooding in.

‘It must be destroyed.’

The thought seized me like a spasm.

That thing must be destroyed.

Destroyed.

Paaaang!

I stomped the ground.

With the strength I had saved, I tore through the last 100 meters in a single rush.

When I broke through the final swarm of monsters, the cultists themselves blocked my path.

The flickering ones, the groping ones, the shrieking ones...

Those beings, twisted beyond recognition, long since bereft of humanity’s original form...

They poured their curses into my eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin—

and into my very soul!

All at once.

The entire world warped, and nausea overtook me.

Ah... So the curses I had endured up until now were just child’s play.

This was the real curse....

Wooooong—!

Had Banroa not roared madly to steady my soul, I would have already collapsed.

Step, step.

One step. Another step.

I couldn’t even tell how I walked.

If not for the unity of sword and self, already touching the destination through sheer intent,

I would never have been able to move even a single step.

As I walked, I barely gathered enough strength to move my lips.

“E...a....”

[Yes. <Ea> is on standby.]

“Sanctuary....”

[Understood. Dissolving the Chimri Phenomenon within the radius centered on the user.]

Swaaaah—!

A power transferred from somewhere drenched my body in radiant brilliance.

Within that light, the warped vision, sluggish senses, and muffled ears gradually cleared.

Still, the dizziness, as if drunk, refused to vanish.

Even after casting Sanctuary, this was the extent of it. Truly a vicious curse.

But with the last handful of strength I could muster, I swung Banroa.

[Shield]

[Awakening of the Sword Spirit]

[Storm Blade]

With no strength left, I simply depended on the Magical Armor’s skills and swung wildly.

For the first time,

I even unleashed [Storm Blade], the most powerful skill of the Magical Armor.

Kwaaaaang—!

It felt like being dragged back from death.

A sudden gale swept away the chaos, like wind blowing smoke clear—suddenly, my senses snapped free!

‘So this is [Storm Blade].’

I saw it—winds and blades of sword energy and aura, not just sweeping across everything, but plowing it up entirely.

Within it, the cultists shattered to pieces.

Kagagagagak!

Everything was scoured away.

The dozens of cultists.

And the altar.

But that unknown, octopus-like tentacle floating above still did not budge.

No matter how the Storm Blade clawed at it, it only warped briefly—like slicing at the moon’s reflection on water—and never disappeared.

From behind me came Urgulak’s voice.

“Kh... This will drive me mad.”

Perhaps thanks to the cultists being shredded apart, the monsters that had been swarming nearby had now dispersed like smoke.

“That thing... I cannot cut it either. Right now... I lack the strength. If struck wrongly, it will only—”

In the eyes of the one who had claimed he feared not death, there now lingered shock and terror.

Squelch, squirm.

The cultists’ bodies, torn apart by the Storm Blade, knit themselves back together.

The voices of those I thought dead buzzed in my ears.

* That is but a fragment left behind by Him.

* How could you ever reach it, inferior being.

* As long as it cannot be cut, we too cannot die....

Urgulak let out a long sigh.

“Was it too late...? Was cultism... truly this mighty...?”

“No. It’s not too late.”

Step.

Confidently, I walked toward that thing.

So—

What you mean is that it cannot be cut because it’s on too high a plane?

Like an Apostle.

To cut it, one would need the power and will of a dragon, wouldn’t they?

Perhaps that was why the Book of Fate had predicted this mission would take three days.

Because it could not be cut, perhaps it meant we were only to endure until its power ran dry.

But.

But think about it.

‘If it is merely a remnant, doesn’t that mean it is dead now?’

Just as one would never call a severed finger a living being.

Wooong—

I reached into the Subspace Necklace.

What happened to a dead Apostle?

What could be done to a dead Monstrous Anomaly?

Somehow, I felt certain.

This would work.

Parararak!

I pulled out the Book of Fate from the necklace and thrust it forward.

With a voice cracked and parched like a desert, I barely whispered:

“Devour it.”

Kududuk!

The response came at once.

Kuduk! Kududuk!

It began to dent and crumple, collapsing in on itself.

That vaunted “fragment of Him” shrank smaller and smaller, pitifully crushed.

* Impossible...!

* How could a mere magic book...!

* Transcendence! It was right before us...!

The cultists, who had been crawling back to life, scattered once more, screaming.

Not that it mattered.

Kwaduduk!

At last, compressed into the size of a small bead,

Gulp!

It was swallowed between the gaping pages of the Book of Fate, which opened like a mouth.

[Absorbing a large volume of Twisted Timelines.]

With that impersonal voice, four more of the rods drawn on the Book of Fate’s cover turned black.

Now there were eight black rods, and two white.

Soon, I would reach Level 3.

That was all.

....

....

....

Suddenly, everything became quiet.

As if nothing had happened, a serene peace settled over the hill.

The cultists, the unidentifiable octopus-like limb, and even the monsters that had raged across the battlefield—all had vanished, leaving not a single sound.

Only a silent hill remained.

“Hoo....”

When I turned around, I saw Urgulak’s dumbfounded face.

This was a little satisfying.

That boastful orc looked utterly shocked, didn’t he?

I summoned <Ea> and healed him as I asked:

“So? How does it feel, protecting what you wanted to protect?”

Urgulak stared blankly down at me for a moment, then regained his usual expression.

He bared his blood-soaked, saw-toothed fangs in a grin.

But it wasn’t the bright smile I had expected—it was a sneer.

“Humans always do this. ‘How does it feel,’ you say? What on earth does that even mean?”

“...We just won a hard-fought battle. Surely you feel something?”

“Saint, such feelings are for the moment of death. As long as I live—or even in death—I will protect this land. So what feeling is there to speak of? There is no such thing as victory. Only endless struggle.”

Urgulak mocked me with all his heart.

...Honestly, it did sting a bit.

But still, it was admirable.

There is no victory, only endless struggle.

“Fine, good for you. Live long, then.”

To such a warrior, I gladly tossed him a precious Peak Recovery Potion.

“Drink it well.”

The orc, knowing nothing of restraint, gulped it down immediately.

And then...

‘Ah, now I feel it.’

It was time to return.

The mission was complete.

But this time, it felt a little different.

Rather than being pulled back suddenly, I sensed the authority to delay my return just slightly—only slightly.

‘Is this because of the update too?’

Either way, it worked out well.

“Ea.”

[Yes. <Ea> is on standby.]

“Scan. Target: Sheneril.”

[Projecting scan results onto the user’s retina.]

Her image appeared before my eyes.

Sheneril was jumping up and down, perhaps because she had heard of our victory.

Seeing that pure, unblemished smile...

Only now could I truly relax.

I had promised to grant her anything she asked for—surely this much meant I had kept my word?

With a small laugh, I called Ea once more.

“Scan. One more. This time, Iodin Serom.”

The scene shifted.

There she was—eyes wide, glancing around in shock at the sudden disappearance of the monsters.

Iodin was alive and well.

At last, I was completely at ease.

But according to Seah’s words, if I changed the past, the future would also change.... Then what would happen to the Iodin of the future I had met?

We had already met here. Wasn’t history going to get a little tangled?

‘I don’t know.’

...Time was nothing but a headache, so I just shook my head hard.

It wasn’t important anyway.

Just before I was flung out beyond the timeline,

I left one last farewell for Iodin, though she could not hear it.

“See you again, senior. It was nice meeting you.”

Truly.

Thunk!

“Huh? What the—? Where did you go...?”

Tick, tick, tick, tick—

Urgulak’s bewildered voice grew distant.

Once again, I was swept away by the river of time.

When I opened my eyes, I would surely be back on the deserted island of Rundna.

And yet, for some reason, I simply drifted into sleep.

In that dream, I heard the voice of a woman that I had now grown quite familiar with.

[Far sooner than expected, you have accomplished a perfect alteration of history.]

[Unused fragments of causality are strengthening the Epilogue. 「Epilogue 1/1」 has become 「Epilogue 2/2」.]

[Anomalous phenomenon detected!]

[A miracle left behind by the Prologue! Riding upon fragments of causality, distant memories of time flow into you.]

And then I dreamed.

A girl appeared.

She had hair nearly white, but tinged with the faintest shade of pink.