Chapter 137
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Opportunity
Closing the entrance to the first floor was far simpler than I'd imagined.
To begin with, that door hadn't opened of its own accord. It had merely been forcibly ripped open like a wound by some external force.
The spear that had pried the entrance open was easily retrieved, and the boundary of the authority I could wield through my connection to Mugan extended all the way to the first floor.
There was no need to draw up primal mana to painstakingly fill each and every crack.
It was more like returning a door that should have been closed all along to its proper place.
Before I knew it, I'd tidied up the entire area around Mugan's entrance. Of course, there were no prisoners left on the first floor anyway.
The fact that every prisoner on the first floor had escaped was surprising in its own way—not in terms of ability, but psychologically.
Wasn't the punishment on the first floor ultimately meant to induce utter lethargy?
Lethargy is something that's learned, and once it's deeply ingrained, the very notion of escape doesn't readily come to mind.
A penalty that grinds down the will, makes one abandon attempts, and over long years tames them so thoroughly that they never even think to flee.
Well... Transcendents were beings who had transcended even such frail mindsets, so it wasn't all that strange.
'...Could I reinforce it further?'
To the point where, even if such a situation arose again in the future, they couldn't even conceive of the attempt.
......Why am I even pondering this?
My goal wasn't mere patching.
The provision left for the Hero.
I expected it would appear once the first floor's entrance was sealed again.
And when the cracked earth, split by the rift, was fully mended.
I raised my primal mana. The primal mana stretched out thin as a thread, crossing through space.
That thread connected to Mugan's night sky. It touched precisely one among the countless stars embedded there.
In that instant.
The same realization that had come when my senses first linked to this space seeped in.
Ah.
So this is the provision.
The vessel changes.
Not that my own vessel was truly changing, but that I understood the nature of the provision.
The very structure for containing power was being newly reorganized.
The structure for containing power itself was being newly reorganized. A fundamental remake of the way one's existence accepted power.
Just like when I had transcended. The first opening alone had created a vessel capable of handling Dragon Rank prowess.
The abnormal capacity to instantly accommodate the realm of Magical Integration, which should normally be taken in step by step.
The exact same change, the exact same vessel, had been prepared for the Hero.
The moment that knowledge seeped into my consciousness, the first emotion that came was relief.
'This has nothing to do with the sword.'
Even if Rosellin hadn't drawn the sword yet, there was no issue.
If anything, the opposite. It would only make her stronger.
The problem was when and where to pass this power on.
Soon, the members of the chat room, including the Tower of Wisdom, would arrive here.
If I handed over this provision right in front of them, could I completely hide the hint that she was the Hero?
They now knew that Mugan was connected to the Sephirot.
'......Then let's see what that hint reveals.'
Come to think of it, it wasn't a bad idea. No, there couldn't be a more perfect opportunity than this.
Before the fact that she was the Hero was fully revealed.
To gauge the reaction of the members—especially the Tower of Wisdom.
The Tower of Wisdom had said it didn't matter much in words, but who knew what they'd do when it was right in front of them.
And being able to probe that hint in this place, which was essentially my domain, wasn't bad either.
'It's about time they showed up.'
I returned to the warden's seat and pulled my hat down low.
I'd already sensed it, but truly, the one who had been outside was no longer there.
Had they vanished somewhere for a moment?
As Ivan had predicted, Clifford's third apostle, Lukapus, was flustered.
According to the information he'd received, there should have been a hidden entrance. He'd even gotten the exact coordinates.
And he was certain he'd found it.
But then, in an instant, it vanished.
Literally. The twisted grain of space disappeared in a flash, as if such a gap had never existed to begin with.
'Did Mugan recover on its own?'
......No way.
Mugan had been left abandoned and unmanaged for hundreds of years.
It was strange to think management had suddenly started now.
But one thing was clear: something had changed.
'That Transcendent of No-Action who killed Asma?'
The being called the Demon King. King of the Heavenly Dragon Clan.
Had he intervened personally? Or had the faction he belonged to made a move?
Lukapus's mission here was to open all the remaining doors.
Originally, Asma should have handled this role. But now, he was in a position to focus on recovery, so the task had fallen to Lukapus.
And he'd already left the spear there.
'Someone probably retrieved that too.'
There were no special restrictions on using that weapon.
'Idiot......'
A curse rose instinctively, but what was done was done.
As for the hidden entrance, he could just find it again. Detecting concealed spaces by inverting the grain wasn't all that difficult.
However, something was afoot.
He didn't want to think it, but this change felt like the intervention of something far grander than the Lord had anticipated.
For it to be completely hidden like this... what did that mean?
No, was it even possible to begin with?
No matter how much a Transcendent of No-Action existed, Mugan was a space directly handled by a Great Being.
A place intertwined with order, punishment, and a fragment of fate.
Could someone patch it up and seal it like it was their personal territory?
As mentioned, this was no longer something to judge on-site.
An unforeseeable incident had occurred.
'......Better to report back than dig deeper.'
The moment he turned to leave.
Someone appeared before him.
The air grew heavy.
And his eyes caught the figure floating idly in front of him.
Massive black wings spread behind its back.
Human in form. Yet enormous black wings unfurled from its back, and below the waist extended a long, slender tail.
Lukapus recognized him at once.
'It's that guy.'
The Demon King who had reached the realm of No-Action.
This was a disaster... or something like it.
As Lukapus's mind raced with calculations and wariness, the other spoke with excessive calm.
"I didn't understand why you sent only me here......"
He paused for a moment, then added as if to himself.
"Is this why you told me to come?"
A nuance that he'd come seeking him on someone's orders.
That single phrase tightened Lukapus's tension even further.
This was a Transcendent of No-Action, after all.
Lukapus knew well what it meant that he hadn't sensed even a hint of presence until the man appeared right before him.
The reason Asma had barely escaped alive?
Of course, Asma did possess exceptional abilities. But the decisive factor was that the place was Mugan.
There, even a Transcendent of No-Action wouldn't have been completely free.
Now was different.
Completely outside Mugan.
It wasn't as if he'd sense instant defeat without resistance...
But neither was it a situation where he could gauge his odds of victory.
The realm of No-Action was, by its nature, not something easily measured.
Within one's allotted lifespan, reaching that realm was exceedingly rare.
Becoming a Great Being rendered lifespan limits meaningless, but No-Action was just below that.
A boundary tantalizingly close yet impossible to cross easily.
No-Action was the realm at that boundary.
Even if a living Transcendent of No-Action existed now, they'd likely be confined deep in Mugan's prison.
Deep within Mugan.
'Fighting is impossible.'
Lukapus quickly made his decision.
If he poured everything into it, escape seemed feasible.
'...I need to gather information.'
He'd already planned to report back rather than investigate further.
"......Who are you?"
Lukapus feigned ignorance, but the man's gaze was already slowly scanning the black orb in Lukapus's hand.
Then, in a tone that suggested he knew full well, he asked.
"Are you one of Evil's apostles or something like that?"
Lukapus immediately countered.
"......And you? Whose apostle are you?"
"Hm......"
A brief silence.
Even that silence felt dominated by the other.
The gray-haired man, the Demon King, replied indifferently.
"How would you know if I'm an apostle?"
Lukapus shook his head in disbelief.
"There's no way you did all this alone."
"What 'this'?"
"Are you asking because you don't know? There's no way adjusting Mugan like this could be done with one's own power alone."
"Adjusting Mugan......"
The Demon King fell into solitary contemplation, as if hearing the story for the first time.
The sight was perplexing enough to make even Lukapus doubt.
'......No way he really didn't know?'
But that couldn't be.
He was the one who had slain Asma's true body in Mugan in a single blow.
"Adjusting...... adjusting."
After pondering briefly, the Demon King glanced around and muttered lowly.
"Now that you mention it, it does feel a lot more stable."
"......You really knew nothing?"
It was a question that couldn't hide his suspicion.
He shrugged and said,
"That's how it's usually been."
That's how it's usually been......
Neither confirmation nor denial.
At that ambiguous attitude, a possibility surfaced in Lukapus's mind.
'......If he really doesn't know.'
This could be an opportunity.
"Are you moving around in ignorance? Someone with power like yours?"