Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: The Vanished Guardian
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Shwaaaak...!!
The pure white light faded, and Woojin arrived in the Fairy Forest. His face was filled with bewilderment.
The man standing before him.
"Khan."
Throb—.
The moment he called the name, Woojin felt his heart squeeze involuntarily.
"......Is that the person I know?"
He was confused.
In the game, Woojin had spoken casually with him, but now he couldn't bring himself to do so easily.
Thump... Thump...
"Is there also a me in that place?"
Understanding Woojin's anxious expression, Nissen replied with a faint smile.
"Ah......"
At his response, Woojin bit his lip slightly.
"I only heard the words."
He approached the spring.
Then he cupped his hands and scooped up a sip of water from it.
"That a stranger would come to this place."
Drip...
When he lowered his cupped hands, water trickled down beneath them.
Droplets fell onto the roots of the massive tree before him, and as if in response, the leaves rustled with a whoosh!
In that moment, Woojin realized what the spring beside him was.
It was the Fairy Spring.
He had drunk the fairy water there to heal his mana chaos and had been commanded by the Fairy Queen to manage the spring.
Even if this wasn't the Nissen he knew...
'The time Nissen has lived through matches the timeline in the game world where I am now.'
In other words, for 80 years.
He must have been guarding the spring all that time.
"A stranger...... Did you hear that from the Fairy Queen?"
"Yes."
"Then...... where is the Fairy Queen now......?"
At that moment, Setsuna placed her hand on Woojin's arm as if to stop him.
"It seems the child of the spirit fox with spiritual power has already noticed."
Nissen gave a wry smile as he looked at her action.
"......No way."
Even without Setsuna's ability, Woojin's sharp instincts allowed him to grasp the situation.
The massive tree right before his eyes.
This one tree, standing out amid the dense woods, was clearly special.
"Fifty years ago, when Vandarius's Tower collapsed and demons poured out, the Fairy Queen led the fairy army into battle."
Shwaaaaaak————!!!
"......!!!"
As Nissen finished speaking, the scenery shifted.
The lush forest vanished without a trace, leaving Woojin standing alone in a desolate sandy desert.
The only thing unchanged was the single tree Nissen had watered moments ago.
'The Fairy Spring......'
Woojin looked at the spring beside him.
The place that had held clear water just before was now filled with pale red liquid.
And the scars visible behind the sleeves of his robe.
There were more than one or two.
The mangled wounds, slashed repeatedly with a blade before they could even heal, were horrific.
"My apologies. I wanted to show a better appearance to my guests...... but with my meager mana, it's hard to maintain."
He scooped up more spring water with his hand.
Blood from the gash on his wrist stained the spring.
The spring grew a shade redder.
In that instant, Woojin understood.
How he had kept the Fairy Spring from drying up all this time.
"Please don't give me such sorrowful eyes. It's only natural for anything to perish once it loses its core. I'm merely defying the natural order, like a great branch."
80 years.
He had barely held this place together by wringing out his own blood.
"This is all I can offer you. You have a long journey ahead."
He plucked the last remaining leaf from the tree and placed it on a table made of sand.
An old teacup appeared, filled with steaming hot water.
"Please, wet your throat for a moment."
Had he squeezed out his mana just to brew a single cup of tea?
Breathing a little heavily, Nissen placed the freshly picked leaf into the cup and spoke.
"You were fortunate. Since you were wearing fairy garb, I could open the door."
Setsuna unconsciously gripped the dress she was wearing at his words.
The effect of the [Fairy Dress], which could open the door to the Fairy Forest from the village.
Nissen had opened the door to his Fairy Forest through her dress.
'......Good thing it was back in Baldoa.'
"I want to know about this world."
Woojin carefully accepted the teacup he offered and asked.
This was his third trip to another world, but he knew far less than he'd thought.
Moreover, it was now a full 30 years past the time he'd come from, so who knew how much had changed.
"Anything I know, I'll tell you...... but I doubt there's much to say. I've spent most of my life in the Fairy Forest."
Nissen formed a small droplet from the teacup and floated it in the air. Setsuna began sipping from the weightless droplet bit by bit.
"How the current world flows...... Truth be told, I don't know much about that either."
"It doesn't matter. What I'm actually curious about is the past. If possible...... events from 80 years ago."
The point in time matching his game world.
Learning about the major and minor events from that era was more important to him.
"80 years ago...... That must be your timeline. When I was young and inexperienced."
Nissen smiled faintly, lost in memories.
"You must have many questions...... but don't try to learn too much."
"What do you mean?"
"Everything follows equivalent exchange, and all events are bound by causality. For everything you gain here, something will be lost in your world."
He spoke in a low voice.
"For existence is but one."
Suddenly, Woojin recalled the [Wolf Ring] he'd received from Irurin.
'According to this world's history, Fenrir should have been hunted and Aswell would have obtained this ring.'
But instead, he shattered the wolf ring himself.
As a result, he formed a contract with Fenrir, but setting gains and losses aside, the near-duplicate [Wolf Ring] in the game world reverted to a single one as per the original settings.
"Not just items—everything you take from here will greatly shake your world. It could turn out for the better, or it could create the worst possible scenario."
"I don't care."
Nissen warned him, but Woojin's resolve was firm.
"One thing."
He held up a finger as he replied.
"As for your future—which is the past that occurred here—what I can tell you is one thing alone."
One question and answer.
Woojin carefully voiced the doubt he'd harbored all this time.
"Why did humanity perish? Was it because of the monsters pouring from the Labyrinth Tower?"
Not the method to conquer the tower, but the reason for failure.
That was what he needed to know.
"You're speaking of the day of the 60th floor."
Unlike the monster waves during tower assaults, monsters began spawning directly inside the tower starting from the day the 60th floor was cleared.
Raoul had said the world changed from then on.
"Indeed...... the monsters from the tower were horrific. But the fall of the five great kingdoms wasn't due to the monsters."
"Then......?"
"It was because of humans."
Woojin's face hardened.
What did that mean?
Praying it wasn't the worst possible implication, he carefully asked again.
"Self-destruction?"
"The words inscribed on the stele of the 60th floor."
"......'Conquer the 100th floor of the tower, and any wish, any miracle shall be granted.'"
Unconsciously, Woojin uttered the words.
"Seeing the inscription on the stele, humanity desperately pushed to conquer the tower. But amusingly, another stele's words led to their self-destruction."
"Another stele......?"
Nissen spoke with a bitter expression.
"When they conquered the 98th floor, they found the second stele."
Only one wish can be fulfilled.
They had united under the grand cause of conquering the tower, but not all shared the same wish.
Some desired power.
Some desired peace.
Some desired immortality.
"Just before opening the door to the 99th floor, in that complacent moment when they were certain the summit was within reach...... they turned their blades on one another."
Grip—.
Woojin clenched his fist without realizing it.
The raiders split into factions and slaughtered those with differing ideals.
"And so, over the 10 years stalled on the 98th floor, half of humanity vanished. Afterward, the final desperate squad conquered the 99th floor, but......"
Nissen pointed to the sky.
"The final floor floats in the heavens, and unable to find a way to reach it, we are perishing bit by bit."
"But......! Even without dragons, there are plenty of ways to fly. Magic, spirits...... they could have even built magitech airships......!"
Woojin pressed urgently, but Nissen shook his head.
"The past I can reveal is but one."
Swish...
"......!!"
It was then.
Nissen's body began crumbling away piece by piece.
"Do not struggle to save this world."
As he turned to dust, Nissen delivered his final words to Woojin.
"You...... need only use this world."
"Ni, Nissen......!!"
"And thus, may you be saved."
As he faded, Nissen slowly bowed to him in farewell.
"These are the Fairy Queen's dying words."
"No, don't......!! Stop!!!!"
Woojin hurriedly reached for Nissen, but his hand sliced through empty air.
"Nissen......!!!!!!"
His form vanished, and in an instant, the massive tree withered to a sickly yellow.
As if the dam barely holding back the flow of time had burst, the elven forest met its death.
-Master...... we have to leave. If we stay like this, we might get swept up in the collapse too.
Boom—!!!
Woojin slammed the ground.
On the wrist scarred from countless cuts...
If only he'd given him even the remaining potion...!
Knowing it was futile, Woojin's chest ached with the helplessness of having done nothing for Nissen.
Crack... Cracck...!!
Like a shattering screen, cracks began spreading across the barren landscape one by one.
Behind the falling fragments lay only pitch-black void.
-Master!!!
Light flowed from Setsuna's hand as she grabbed Woojin, turning his body into sparkling dust from head to toe.
-This isn't the time to grieve!!
Was it thanks to [Soul Guardian]?
Woojin steadied his shaken heart and looked at her.
"......Sorry."
-You should say thanks at a time like this.
Even as he tried to steel himself, he was just human in the end.
"......Thanks."
Woojin nodded toward Setsuna.
He was truly glad she was there.
Ruuuumble...!!
Was it the queen's final consideration?
As the withered tree slowly collapsed toward them, the rift within it engulfed them.
Woojin gazed at the spot where Nissen had stood.
Shwaaaak——!!!
Until the pure white light filled everything, Woojin kept his eyes open, refusing to forget that scene.
-......Looks like that monster's gone.
At Setsuna's words, Woojin scanned their surroundings.
Once out of the rift, they were back in Baldoa where they'd been before.
But quite some time had passed—it was now pitch-black night, and the pit with the corpses had been torn apart by the monster, left in ruins.
-What now?
"As planned. We head to Fenrir's nest."
Nissen's disappearance left a heavy emptiness in him, but Woojin resolved to heed the Fairy Queen's dying words to the letter.
The words to use this world.
'Equivalent exchange? Causality?'
Woojin gritted his teeth and started walking forward.
"Screw that."
No matter what it took from him...
He would take even more from this place.