Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: A Mirror at the Edge of Hell 3
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CRASHHHHHH—!!
A black knight clad in jet-black armor, traversing hell at a tremendous speed.
“Hey, have we met before? Why do you feel so familiar?”
A sense of déjà vu, as if I’d seen that figure somewhere before, made me ask Lord if we had ever met.
“You and I are meeting for the very first time!”
Then why does it feel so familiar?
Ruminating on past memories, I was finally able to recall where I had seen it.
The countless parallel universes shown by the First Saint. The figure of the quarter werewolf I had glimpsed in the fragments of other worldlines, called routes, looked remarkably similar.
“You, did you try to kill the Demon King Ergothum in another worldline? I have a memory the First Saint showed me.”
“That’s right! At first, I also thought the mastermind trying to use the Grand Route my grandfather established was that guy!”
Despite the tremendous sound of tearing wind and the bone-chilling cold, Lord kept dashing forward, unfazed.
Since in hell, even if you sustain physical wounds, you only feel pain but don’t die or get injured, I had asked him to push his speed to the limit.
My priority was to find my comrades’ souls and get out of this hell as soon as possible.
“Grand Route?”
“It’s about unifying all the possibilities inherent in every worldline into one, integrating other parallel universes!”
Lord smiled brightly as he answered my question. Put into words, it seemed like a somewhat difficult concept.
Past choices accumulating to form new worldlines and influencing each other was a rather complicated matter.
“To put it simply, in my grandfather’s case, he erased all misfortune to save the person he loved….”
“…And in Demon King Ergothum’s case, he tried to unify all possibilities into one by annihilating every world?”
At that moment, a single thought flashed through my mind.
The reason why Demon King Ergothum annihilated other parallel universes and, like testing me, killed my comrades while making his proposal.
It was because he aimed for the ‘Grand Route’—to annihilate all other worldlines and unify the possibilities into one.
“Exactly! As expected of Sir Astal, you’re as smart as they say, a genius mage.”
At my statement, Lord raised his thumb and raised his voice. Though his face was hidden by the helmet and his expression unseen, I could feel he was somehow excited.
“…So, what’s the truth behind this dirty, despicable story? What does annihilating countless parallel universes achieve?”
I mixed a bit of irritation into my tone as I posed the most crucial question to Lord.
What are the gods hiding that even the Demon King and Thanatos treat me this way?
“Hmm, a good question. Sir Astal, are you aware of mirrors?”
“I know about them. Surely, they reflect left and right reversed….”
I carelessly voiced the knowledge I knew in response to Lord’s words. I had thought the mirrors I often saw in the Magic Tower showed the opposite image.
However,
“No, precisely, it’s front and back that are reversed. The reflected image itself is already flipped, which creates that illusion.”
Lord expressed a different view from mine.
The black knight said mirrors don’t reverse left and right but flip front and back.
“What does a mirror have to do with the secret the gods are hiding?”
The more I listened to Lord’s story, the less I understood. What’s the problem with a mirror that causes all this?
“Sir Astal, this place is a universe completely opposite to the one I originally came from. If you place a mirror in between, the Z-axis aligns perfectly.”
“……!!!”
With those words, Lord conjured a small three-dimensional magic circle on his palm.
It was similar to my Idea, but the difference was that smaller, spherical satellites orbited it.
⚙ VISUALIZATION ⚙ The blue represents the universe where I exist, with the Grand Route completed. The red represents Sir Astal's universe, currently split into numerous routes.
Looking at the miniature universe unfolding on his palm, I couldn’t help but be somewhat shocked.
I thought creating a three-dimensional magic circle like Idea required delicate control akin to the eyes that see mana.
Even if its power was greatly reduced, the fact that he could create something so small…
Creating multiple small Ideas and firing them at enemies seemed like a good idea.
“Then, perhaps what the Demon King aims for is…”
“Yes, if all possibilities in Sir Astal’s universe are steered toward ruin, it would become similar to the universe I’m in.”
"Like an image reflected in a mirror."
I recalled something significant I saw in the Holy Kingdom’s forbidden archives from that mirror-like, reversed appearance.
A mural depicting eleven gods fighting an existence like a shattered mirror fragment.
The overwhelming presence of that colossal being was still etched in my memory.
If only the conditions were met—I had an intuition that the mirror between them would shatter and that thing would burst forth immediately.
“…The Otherworldly God Mirageia. The god of the mirror world, the embodiment of chaos that annihilated countless universes. That’s what I call it.”
Lord finally nodded and began explaining the existence lurking behind the Demon King.
“The gods residing here seem to have sealed Mirageia in that gap using the power of the ‘Grand Route’ my grandfather established.”
“Then, if a Grand Route is created here too…”
“A perfectly reversed, symmetrical universe would form, allowing Mirageia, sealed within the mirror, to regain its power.”
Something even the gods, the Demon King, the god of the underworld—another worldline—and even I hadn’t spoken of, he revealed so easily.
“…But you know. If someone had informed us of this fact earlier, wouldn’t things have gone smoother?”
Even so, the lingering doubt in my mind remained unresolved.
Why then did Demon King Ergothum test me as he did, and why did he stop his attacks when we arrived in the demon realm after trying to annihilate the continent?
Moreover, why couldn’t the gods use their power directly, and why didn’t they even hint at this fact to the heroes and saints they chose? It didn’t make sense.
“That wouldn’t have been possible. Unless it’s a hidden side that cannot be reflected by a mirror, like the underworld we’re in now.”
“…Hidden side?”
“Yes. Like a secret place where lovers share passionate intimacy… or a posthumous world where deceased souls gather.”
“…….”
“The moment the gods use their power or mention information about Mirageia, it can break the seal and influence this world.”
“Because that’s what a mirror inherently is.”
So, was that why Heavenly God Lumina said before that she could fix the side effects of the miracle if Victoria and I did something lewd?
Certainly, that scene would have been very embarrassing if anyone else saw it.
“Then, you deliberately hid in the underworld?”
It felt like the missing puzzle pieces were finally falling into place, so I couldn’t help but continue questioning Lord.
“Yes. My grandfather would have surely done that. So, risking danger, I waited here for the right moment.”
“Your grandfather must be quite a famous person. If you want to become that… Pure Love Black Knight or whatever.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at Lord’s words. I didn’t know the exact meaning, but it sounded like an incredibly cringeworthy term.
Besides, if he possessed enough power to seal away an existence even the gods of this world couldn’t handle, he must have been an incredibly strong person.
A grandson who admired his grandfather and wanted to become something… it even reminded me of the child that might come between Victoria and me, which I found cute.
“Yes! He’s truly an amazing person! He endlessly repeated regression for the person he loved and ultimately found a Grand Route where everyone could be happy!”
Unsurprisingly, as soon as I praised his grandfather a little, Lord’s speech sped up.
He seemed like a very easy-to-understand man.
Pure and kind, and thus a fool who could easily risk his life to save others.
Precisely because he was such a fool, he came to the depths of this hell to rescue me and my comrades.
“So that’s why you came to save me and Victoria?”
“Correct. Sir Astal, I also want to protect others’ love like my grandfather did someday and find my own partner.”
Fortunately, Lord’s goal wasn’t to annihilate the world like Demon King Ergothum, but simply to help others’ love in order to find his own lover.
“But Lord, how on earth did you find me? Seeing how we’re traversing hell now, it’s an incredibly vast place.”
A massive mountain range began appearing before my eyes. Seeing that rugged terrain, another question arose.
“I have a pretty good nose. Sir Astal smells exactly like my grandfather, so I could locate you immediately.”
“…What?”
Thump.
Upon hearing that I smelled exactly like his grandfather, my face flushed with shock.
Even though I hadn’t been able to wash for a few days while fighting the Demon King repeatedly…
“Do I… smell that bad…?”
“No, it’s not that. Sir Astal, you could be considered the complete opposite of my grandfather.”
Lord shook his head side to side, telling me I wasn’t dirty.
“I’m like your grandfather…?”
“Yes. Unlike Sir Astal, my grandfather couldn’t use magic at all and came from outside this world… but he had a tragic past of losing his parents in a fire.”
“…….”
“There must be some similarities. Because a mirror cannot perfectly reflect an image.”
How on earth did he know?
Seeing Lord, who seemed to know quite a bit about my past, a strange sensation washed over me.
“You, by any chance, have you met me in other universes?”
He shouldn’t know this unless I told him directly.
“Well, I’ve met many similar people and fought alongside the Demon King… but you’re the first one who ended up with Miss Victoria.”
With those words, Lord stopped his steps, and a familiar figure came into view before my eyes.
“Here we are. Actually, Miss Victoria also smelled exactly like my grandmother, so she was easy to find.”
“Grandmother?! Even if I’m dead, what nonsense are you spouting to me, a Saint…! Wha, wha…?”
Victoria, unable to continue speaking upon seeing me. Her eyes immediately reddened, and she even began shedding tears.
“…Sir Astal?”
The moment Victoria ran toward me.
I spotted the Succubus Queen, cowering beside Victoria, holding food and water as if she were her attendant.
Velamora, what are you doing here?