[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 435
Thinking about it, I had never really had a deep conversation with Luna about the Closed World.
I had tried to spare her the confusion by holding back as much information as possible.
But I wasn’t sure if that had been the right choice.
I couldn’t keep hiding it forever.
Co to think of it, I had never really explained Labyrinthos to Luna in detail either.
And Luna hadn’t pressed about that part.
So I told her.
What kind of existence I had been in the Closed World that Isna experienced, and with what intentions I had committed those acts.
Luna, who had looked quite surprised, stared at silently before pulling into an embrace.
“As expected. I knew Leon wouldn’t be like that. Leon isn’t cruel enough to suddenly kill every human in the world for no reason.”
She looked up at while hugging , as if she were strangely proud.
“Does Isna not know that?”
“For now. From Isna’s perspective, even if I tell her it’s okay, the mories from back then will probably keep holding her back.”
To remove the deep seed of doubt that had taken root inside her, the answer was essentially to tell her the truth.
In truth, there wasn’t anything that would cause a major problem even if I told her.
“Still, it might not be enough for her to escape the whispers of that monster just because of that.”
“I’ve thought about that too. First, we need to restore Isna properly. I also think we might be able to find the key to Heaven.”
I didn’t think everything could be solved with re wordplay.
So after leaving Elpiria with lissa for a mont, Luna and I called for Isna.
After the incident in the corridor, Isna had remained in Cascadia instead of returning to Mielephon.
But, just my luck—when it rains, it pours.
The only news we could hear from Rebecca was that she had suddenly left her post.
“By any chance… is she still doing Watcher activities these days?”
“Those who are certain still do it, but if possible we try not to interfere.”
Well.
From Isna’s perspective, it must have been awkward.
After all, her grandfather Osberg had discovered her true identity.
Osberg hadn’t dug into matters from the past, but he had subtly expressed that he hoped she wouldn’t continue her current actions for whatever reason.
So Isna had stopped carrying out reckless operations.
“Has there been anything strange about her lately?”
“She seed to be suffering from a lot of headaches. She also looked very exhausted… Oh, right. She’s been having nightmares often.”
It seed her condition was deteriorating faster than I had expected.
If I had known this would happen, I would have acted sooner.
Keeping my mouth shut out of concern that what I told her might beco a major variable in her ntal state had ironically caused side effects instead.
As expected.
I wasn’t used to this sort of thing.
In the end, Luna and I might have no choice but to search personally along the direction Isna had disappeared.
Just as I was thinking that—
I received a summons from lissa.
She looked extrely displeased, perhaps because she had been happy about finally monopolizing Elpiria for once and had been interrupted.
“Leon. Sorry to bring this up suddenly, but sothing complicated has happened.”
“What is it?”
“A bizarre Rift has appeared in the Demon Realm.”
She unfolded a map of the Demon Realm and pointed to a location.
It was essentially the outskirts of the Demon Realm, along the patrol routes of the knights who monitored it.
“A bizarre Rift?”
“Yeah. If it were a normal Rift, the forces inside could handle it themselves, but this one’s different. The amount of mana detected from the Rift isn’t normal. And…”
She continued.
At the center of the Rift, a gigantic hourglass-shaped figure had appeared, and sand was falling from it mont by mont.
“No one knows what will happen once all that sand runs out. We’re gathering information for now, but…”
From lissa’s perspective, she seed worried about what might happen to the Rift once the sand completely ran out.
“I’ll stop by after I find Isna.”
“I’d appreciate that. And if you need anything, tell . I’ll support you with everything.”
I felt a little sorry for her relief, but finding Isna ca first.
“But where did ryl Dyne go?”
Rebecca was here, but ryl Dyne was nowhere to be seen.
If it were her, she would know exactly where Isna had gone.
So when I went back to Rebecca to ask about ryl’s whereabouts—
I saw ryl unconscious and receiving treatnt for serious injuries.
“What happened here?”
“Just a mont ago… Senior ryl ca back injured… She said she had entered the Rift with Lady Isna…”
The problem was that Isna wasn’t here, and ryl had returned injured.
A chilling premonition crept over .
“Did she say anything about that Rift?”
“She said it was a Rift in the Demon Realm. She said it was a Rift she had never seen before, with the shape of an hourglass engraved at the center of the entrance…”
Talk about terrible timing.
It seed Isna had entered that place.
If it had been the usual Isna, I would have simply thought she’d handle the Rift on her own and co back out.
In fact, whenever Isna stayed briefly in R'lyeh, she would often say she was stretching her body and quickly resolve small Rifts appearing in the Demon Realm.
But this Rift felt different.
And she had entered it with Isna, yet only ryl had escaped injured?
An ominous feeling crept up.
So I imdiately called lissa and inford her that I would enter the Rift.
“You’re going in right away? Didn’t you have sothing else to do?”
“It seems Isna went inside. ryl ca back injured alone.”
“What?”
lissa wore a bewildered expression, clearly thinking the sa thing I was.
“No way. She went in with that person and ca out injured? Then what about Sister Isna?”
“I don’t know. ryl’s the only one who ca back. I didn’t hear the details.”
“Could she be trapped inside?”
“She’s not that weak.”
ryl had only explained the entrance conditions of the Rift before losing consciousness.
Even with Luna’s healing and Lispa’s ntal restoration layered together, ryl couldn’t wake up easily.
“Ha… why do things like this keep happening…”
“Don’t worry for now. Just wait. I’ll check it out right away.”
“What should I do to help?”
“Pull as many people away from the Rift as possible.”
If it affected the outside world as well, it would be impossible to estimate the damage.
lissa slamd her trembling fist down with a bang, her body shaking with frustration at her own helplessness.
Then she took a short breath.
“Alright. Be careful. Big brother.”
* * *
Three people would enter the Rift.
Myself, Luna, and Lispa.
With two forr archangels accompanying , it felt unlikely anything would go terribly wrong—but the fact that Isna hadn’t been able to fully protect ryl bothered .
When Isna fought seriously, her combat strength could practically be considered the strongest among humans.
Her power was that imnse, and I knew that well.
Arriving at the Rift entrance, I narrowed my eyes at a type of Rift I had never seen before in my life.
The Rift resembled a gigantic spiral galaxy.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
And at the edges of each surface of the Rift, strange streaks of light flickered like solar flares, rising before being sucked back in again.
The most bizarre part was the center.
At the center of the Rift, a giant hourglass-shaped light was drawn, and the sand inside was visibly falling mont by mont.
There was still a lot of sand left for now, but it clearly looked like so sort of ti attack had been set.
“How strange.”
“It’s a form I’ve never seen before.”
“You’re right. Even since creation, I’ve never seen sothing like this.”
If two archangels didn’t know it, would Lucifer know?
Of course, that bastard probably wouldn’t answer.
I slowly reached out and sensed the mana flowing from the Rift.
And my eyes widened.
“What is this?”
At my reaction, Luna and Lispa also placed their hands on the entrance of the Rift and flinched.
“This amount of mana leaking out is clearly abnormal.”
“It’s emitting dozens of tis more mana than even the highest-grade Rift.”
At the unsettling mana reaction, I turned my head.
“Luna. Wait here—”
“Going together. This feels really bad.”
“I should go too. That woman can do whatever she wants, but I’m worried about you.”
Neither Lispa nor Luna showed any intention of backing down.
I sighed, then nodded and placed my hand directly onto the hourglass.
Imdiately, a brilliant light flashed and the surrounding scenery changed.
And the sight revealed afterward exceeded my expectations.
Murmur murmur.
“I heard they found a huge treasure over there! Let’s go!”
“Good heavens. A Rift like this being discovered—how fascinating.”
“Judging by your looks, you seem to be from the Western Continent. How about it? Would you like to explore together?”
“Well. Sure.”
Astonishingly, inside the Rift were an enormous number of knights, adventurers, and many others.
* * *
The surrounding scenery looked like the interior of a gigantic stone building.
It was large enough to easily accommodate hundreds of people, and even at this mont, people were entering through cracks of newly opened Rifts scattered throughout.
And opposite the entrance we had co through, a massive Rift rotated brilliantly as if declaring that entering there was the real beginning.
Where did all these people co from?
“Unless lissa has gone mad, she wouldn’t just leave additional humans entering like this.”
“No one has even entered the Demon Realm to begin with. These people must all be entering from sowhere else.”
“You’re right. There are multiple Rifts. The one we entered has closed, but since other Rifts keep opening… it seems the sa Rift gate has opened across the continent.”
Lispa’s deduction seed the most plausible.
If that were the case, then the chances of Isna being in danger inside here seed low.
Even so, it still didn’t make sense that ryl, who entered with Isna, had returned injured.
Just then—
“Oh my. I didn’t expect to find such a beautiful lady among explorers.”
When I turned my head, a man wearing flamboyant armor approached us, accompanied by several n and won.
“Judging by the looks of it, is this your first ti in a Unified Rift?”
“Unified Rift?”
“What, you ca in without even knowing that? My my. How will you protect such beautiful ladies like that?”
At that mont, the bald man behind him chuckled.
“He looks weak as a twig. Maybe the young master just wanted to show off in front of the ladies, eh?”
It was obvious they didn’t have good intentions and had approached us with so kind of purpose.
“Now, now. Don’t say that. It’s not like a Rift has an owner. There could be plenty of people chasing a once-in-a-lifeti fortune.”
The man laughed heartily and patted my shoulder.
“You look like a novice explorer. How about it? If you’re worried, why not join us?”
As he said that, he blatantly stared at Luna and Lispa.
“Is she inside? Let’s hurry in and bring her out.”
Investigating the Rift could co afterward.
The sand in the hourglass was decreasing, but surely that had a reason.
Right now everything seed fine, but this was a place where anything could happen.
Especially since the mana felt inside wasn’t ordinary.
Ignoring those who had spoken to us, I started walking away, and I could see their expressions twist in irritation.
“Young master. Should we drag them back?”
“Leave it. Too many eyes watching.”
“Then… we’re just letting them go?”
“Let them. Once they go in without knowing anything, they’ll regret it. Look. They didn’t even prepare counterasures.”
Ignoring their cold voices as they turned away, I stepped into the Rift leading inward.
At the sa ti—
The already stifling air beca even heavier.
What unfolded before my eyes looked like the interior of an ancient structure.
And the ones that appeared the mont we stepped inside were none other than skeletons.
And then—
“Luna?”
Luna and Lispa were nowhere to be seen.
—Ahahahaha!! It was a wide-area random teleportation array, puhahah.
At Lucifer’s mocking laughter, I finally realized what the man earlier had ant.
This was a Rift where, upon entering, you were randomly teleported.
And unless you had made specific preparations…
Even companions would be scattered in all directions.
Just then, a strangely unpleasant wind blew toward .
It wasn’t a musty sll.
Just as I was about to take a step forward—
Suddenly, a mory flooded into my mind.
—I will never forgive you!! Do you hear ?! If I ever get the chance, I will definitely kill you!!
Soone’s desperate scream.
The scream was directed toward the darkness.
And within that darkness, only a sky-colored, cold gleaming gaze flickered.
—Don’t forget. Even after I die, I will curse you again and again.
Even while hearing that cry filled with unimaginable resentnt, the sky-colored gaze never responded.
That mory wasn’t mine.
But I knew.
That just now…
…was Isna’s mory.
A mory from the Closed World she possessed.
The mory faded again like a hallucination, but one thing was different from what I knew.
As if her emotions had synchronized, they montarily surged into , and I felt anger and killing intent directed toward that blue-eyed presence in the darkness.
As if Isna had shared emotions she had hidden with soone else.
I had to find Isna before it was too late.
Just as I was thinking that—
KWAANG!!
With a loud crash, the wall shattered.
Do people normally move through dungeons by smashing through walls like this?
When I turned my head, Luna was standing there, staring at with wide eyes after smashing through the wall with her bare white hands.
“Leon. Glad you’re safe.”
“Uh… yeah.”
With a slightly awkward expression, I asked Luna,
“Uh… how did you find ?”
“I just ca toward the direction that slled like Leon.”
Looking behind her, I saw Lispa following with a pale face.
And behind them stretched a seemingly endless corridor of broken walls.
Also, in one of Luna’s hands, sothing that looked like a wraith was screaming as it was grabbed by the hair.
—Please… please let go. I’ll never co near you again! Please! Please forgive !
Whoa.
That’s a bit much.
I slowly reached out and placed my hand on the solid wall.
This… isn’t just a normal wall.
Even a Sword Master wouldn’t easily break it.
Watching her smash through it without a care, I thought to myself—
If a marital fight ever happens, I’d better just bow my head first.
“Leon? Why are you trembling like that?”
“Ah—no. No, it’s nothing. I’m just glad you’re safe.”
Cold sweat ran down my back.
[Translator - Night]
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