Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Revelations from Tellus
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I had no intention of resorting to brute physical torture from the outset, so I planned to ask questions and detect lies by monitoring his heart rate and expressions.
But this was the first time I'd seen someone maintain such perfect composure. Whether from special training or not, his expression and pulse showed no change no matter what I asked.
With no choice, I inflicted physical pain, but his iron will rendered it useless.
"Can I give it a try?"
As I emerged from the basement with a dark expression, Nayoung asked.
"You have the Nightmare skill, right? Might it work?"
Shaking the mind of someone with such strong mental fortitude seemed like a solid approach. When I'd experienced it myself, it had been excruciating. In my previous life, it forced me to relive the memory of being stabbed to death by a Death Knight infinitely—even knowing it was an illusion, it induced genuine, paralyzing terror.
Even I, with my resistance to mental attacks, had suffered that much. I was curious how this guy would hold up.
"I'll try."
Nayoung raised her wand and pointed it at him.
The skill activated, black energy enveloping his head.
The restrained man glared at us before his eyes clouded over as if filled with black mist. His face drained of color, sweat pouring from him.
"Ah.... No! This can't happen! No! Begone! Destroyer God!"
The man who hadn't screamed even when I snapped his fingers bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Aaack!! Aaack!!"
He convulsed wildly, thrashing like someone being devoured alive by a monster.
"Nayoung!"
Nayoung cut off the skill.
"No.... I used even less power than when I did it on you, oppa...."
Nayoung was genuinely shocked by the reaction from her first new target.
"It's incredibly effective."
I slapped Paul's cheek to rouse him.
"Sleep well?"
"Gah.... What did you do?"
"Want to dream again? Or talk? Fair warning—this time, no stopping it."
He clamped his mouth shut. But his eyes were trembling.
"Nayoung, again."
Nightmare descended once more, and his seizure resumed.
* * *
After hours of unrelenting Nightmare, he was completely broken. The sheer terror and stress had caused clumps of hair to fall out, his face turning ashen. In mere hours, he looked decades older. I had to admire the willpower it took to endure until this state.
"You call this the Bridge Gate, right? You opened it with this item, so it should close it too?"
"Infuse mana into the control unit and activate it to seal the opened bridge."
Drained of any will to resist, he answered meekly.
"Did you cross via the Bridge as well? No more on the way?"
"Lady Helen created this item. Use it on a Gate from Earth's side, and the bridge opens, sending monsters to Earth. But travel between Earth and Tellus requires Lady Helen. You need a master of spatial transfer magic."
"Master?"
"A master is someone who has perfected that domain. Even across the entire empire, there are only a handful. Lady Helen might not excel in combat, but in spatial magic, she's unrivaled on Tellus. She discovered this place called Earth. No one else can open Gates."
It seemed multiple nations existed on Tellus, much like Earth.
"A master must be on par with an S-Rank Hunter, then."
"At the very least. Masters surpass S-Rank Hunters."
He let out a smirk. Pride in his world must have suddenly surged.
"If you've got so many talented people, why send monsters our way?"
"We deal with monsters emerging from Gates too. The difference is we lack your numbers in combat-ready personnel. Our finest warriors and mages fight on, but Tellus's will was crumbling under the relentless invasion."
"Tellus is the star's name? What's this about its will?"
"Earthlings truly know nothing of the Destroyer God...."
"Destroyer God?"
"The Destroyer God devours stars. The monsters spilling from Gates serve it. Gates it creates link directly to its domain. Yet the planet's will forms a buffer zone within, limiting what can pass through. Without it, every Gate would be in perpetual break state."
"Huh...."
"Ever wonder why Gates appear near crowded areas?"
"We figured monsters craved more human kills."
"Wrong. The star's will compels it to impede the Destroyer God. Once a Gate massacres locals, it vanishes and respawns in another populated spot."
It lined up with Gates disappearing in North Korea while surging in Korea and China. I'd assumed they faded after conquest ended.
"A planet's power is finite. Earth, being relatively young, brims with it—enough to birth ability users like you. Tellus, after eons of resistance, has withered. More Gates, more breaks accelerate the decline in a vicious cycle."
"So you offloaded them onto our world? That's just buying time."
"....We sought other solutions in the interim."
"Ah, and what sparked your arrival now? Helen invent something new to find Earth?"
I wondered why they'd come sooner than in my previous life. Couldn't ask outright about the early timing versus years later, so I circled around it.
"Lady Helen mentioned Gate clears create spatial fissures. No idea how, myself. Random tests, and one hit paydirt."
My Gate clears had shifted timings from my past life, rippling into their experiments.
"Oppa.... Shouldn't we tell others about this?"
"Yeah, we should."
The intel's value was astronomical. The entire world needed it.
"Let's seal one Bridge Gate first, then call the Director."
I'd kidnapped and tortured what amounted to foreign nobility—verifying this info was key to staying out of cuffs.
"Up."
I shoved the hands-bound Paul into the car.
He'd lost all fight, head drooped low.
Sangheon took the wheel; I rode in back with him.
"You said masters outclass S-Rank Hunters? Ever consider striking the Destroyer God directly?"
"Hah.... Why haven't we? Ages ago, nations allied, dispatching masters backed by hundreds of warriors and mages—multiple attempts."
"Your group showing up means failure, huh."
"Indeed. Precious masters squandered."
"What's the Destroyer God's deal? Actual god? Beatable?"
"We know no more than I've said. No survivors."
Centuries ahead in mana and magic, they held vast knowledge. Unlike us, fumbling with skills unknown in essence despite Earth's will awakening us just two decades back.
Yet even they grasped only that it was a force mighty enough to meddle with stellar wills, gleaned from endless study.
The car fell silent. Tons of info today, scant hope. Earth's will fading would hasten invasion. With few S-Rank Hunters, odds of succeeding where Tellus failed looked abysmal.
Lost in thought, we reached the Gate. My clear meant access stayed mine till reset.
Entered with him, positioned before the Bridge Gate.
"Jaein-ssi, do it."
Jaein manipulated as Paul instructed.
"How do I infuse mana...?"
"That much mana, and you can't handle basics?"
Our skill-based power made it alien.
"Can't sense and direct mana flow? Items won't budge."
"Like this?"
I pulsed life force from my palm.
"That's aura. Flexing? It'll pulverize the item. Mana, I said. How is this eluding you?"
Suddenly, I was the student.
"Like this?"
Violet-black energy rippled at Nayoung's wand tip.
"Hmph.... Ominous hue of mana. But yes."
In the end, magically gifted Nayoung handled it. Jaein might manage post-training.
Paul detailed the controls for her.
"You'd best pray it works right."
Under my pressure, he nodded faintly. Total surrender.
"Here goes."
Nayoung sat before the device and began.
"Shouldn't have dragged the pest here."
The moment Nayoung started, a woman's voice from behind made me whirl. Helen and the dwarf Adam stood there.
"Our error, placing faith in your kind."
Adam shook his head, echoing Helen.
"L-La.... Lady Helen, Lord Adam. I...."
Helen spotted Paul and slashed her hand through empty air.
My honed senses screamed; I booted Paul backward.
Space warped right where his head had been.
Overkicked in haste—he slammed into me, knocked out cold.
Paul had swung his dagger, yet Helen merely swept her hand like a conductor, twisting reality.
"Same technique as Paul?"
"Same? I taught him. Lacks my custom dagger, he can barely ape it. Your race universally lacks talent. But.... why save him?"
"Still questions left. Can't let him die."
"Fool. You see a tomorrow?"
"Find out."
Words done, I charged Adam—the weaker link. Fell him first, then Helen.
Adam reflexively hoisted his axe, but I outsped him.
Barrier bloomed just shy of my hand pulping his skull. Right arm sucked in, wrenched from fingers to below shoulder like mangled laundry. Worlds beyond Paul's power.
Axe swept horizontal as my arm locked.
Right twisted, left parried axe; right leg hammered his flank.
Adam hurtled back, tumbling across floor to a halt.
Crunching from his side—at least ribs snapped. Down for the count.
"Arm intact is shock enough, yet no pain? Countering like that...."
Forcing motion wrenched my shoulder too.
"Impressive. But merely so."
Helen flicked her hand; senses blared anew.
Shrick.
"Right. Won't kill me."
Life force surged into hand-blade, severing the trapped right arm.
"Oppa!!"
"Hyung!"
They rushed toward me.
"Stay back! You can't track the attacks. Grab Paul, get out of the Gate."
Couldn't shield fully. Proximity just hampered.
"Think I'll allow escape?"
Helen raised hand at them; I snatched Adam's axe, hurled it. It crumpled against her barrier.
"Insolent...."
Her face contorted. But eyes snapped to me.