Chapter 226: Magic Kingdom (1)
Chapter 226: Magic Kingdom (1)
Had it been about seven or eight days?
Thanks to leaving the Reality Anchor embedded in the Demon Train, our progress had become agonizingly slow.
Of course, I didn't regret doing it.
But that was one thing, and being bored and irritated was quite another.
I was so bored that when a worm the size of a skyscraper tried to eat us, I felt a genuine sense of catharsis the moment I crushed its skull with my hammer.
To make matters worse, witnessing a truly unsettling sight did nothing for my deteriorating mental health.
"Gaaaaah! It feels like my soul is being draaaaained!"
Slurp. Slurp.
In the end, Al’shel, having run out of mana, had grabbed Un-ho and started sucking it out of him.
I told him I could just transfer it, but he insisted on this method to ensure "maximum efficiency for emergencies."
It was bad enough watching Al’shel suck on anything, but the fact that the target was Un-ho—and that he wasn't even unconscious, just letting out those bizarre screams?
An indescribable, horrific apocalypse had descended upon this tiny, cramped space.
What sin did I commit by remodeling the Demon Train that I had to endure this living hell?
Regardless of those terrible times...
I was so bored that I had begun to follow the example of Un-ho—who had become a dried-up husk from being drained of mana multiple times—and sought salvation in sleeping as if I were dead. That was until...
"Stop playing corpse and wake up."
"Huh? What? Did another worm show up?"
Why wake a person up? Just doing nothing and sleeping is surprisingly hard work, you know.
"...First, please wipe the dried drool from the corner of your mouth."
"Who cares? It's not like anyone's watching."
If nothing's happening, I'm just going to fall back asleep and end up looking the same anyway.
Just as I thought that and prepared to let my slightly awakened consciousness crumble again...
"Someone is going to see you, so wipe it."
At those words from Al’shel, I snapped wide awake.
"Wait, are we almost there?"
"Yes. I've confirmed the coordinates, and fortunately, there's a hole nearby that we can fit through."
I immediately wiped my mouth and pressed myself against the surface of the bubble.
"How stable is The Hole?"
"The composition is a bit unstable, but it should hold up without any major issues. It looks like a hole that was formed quite recently."
Fortunately, it seemed we could avoid the hassle of having to tear a hole open ourselves.
I had even practiced coordinating with Al’shel for that very purpose, but it looked like that effort was for naught.
However, the joy of not having to perform a dangerous Spatial Destruction and the fact that this boredom was finally ending was far greater than any regret over wasted effort.
"Un-ho. Wake up. It's your hometown."
I shook the native of the world we were about to visit, trying to wake him up.
Flop. Flop.
Un-ho, shriveled down to nothing but skin and bone, just flopped back and forth like a sausage in my grip.
"...Is he going to be okay?"
"...I'm sure he'll be fine?"
Even Al’shel looked away, avoiding the sight of Un-ho’s pathetic state.
It was thanks to Un-ho’s hard work that we had made it this far safely, but now the very person who was supposed to guide us through the Magic Kingdom looked like that. Is it really okay for us to just waltz in?
"...Shall we go in?"
Perhaps thinking the same thing, Al’shel looked back and forth between the shriveled snack in my hand and the empty void before asking.
I briefly considered waiting until Un-ho recovered, but...
There was no telling how long that hole would stay open, nor how long it would take for Un-ho to bounce back.
"Let's just go in."
"Are you sure? Entering another world is generally a high-risk endeavor. When I first arrived on Earth, I was placed under surveillance immediately."
No, that was your own fault. Who else in the world tries to incinerate people and drop a star just because they're being watched?
Ugh, thinking about it makes me want to punch him again. Right. Patience.
I'm the bigger person here. I'll endure. Haah...
"I'm technically an invited guest, so it'll work out somehow. Surely they wouldn't invite someone and not prepare for their arrival."
Besides, isn't she a Queen?
The absolute monarch of an entire world.
According to Un-ho, if The Queen says something, it becomes the absolute truth and law without question.
They wouldn't treat the guest of such a being poorly.
"So, let's go."
As I said that and pointed forward, Al’shel nodded.
"Then, we shall begin our entry."
Al’shel quietly manipulated the Magic Circle.
The black bubble we were riding in moved in a direction that was completely different from where I was pointing.
"...."
Feeling a sudden surge of embarrassment, I kept my hand extended as if I hadn't been pointing at our destination at all, then slowly turned my head toward our actual path.
Ahead, I could see nothing but the empty void.
Of course, it wasn't just that spot.
Almost everywhere in the Otherworld was that same black void.
However, Al’shel seemed to see something different as he moved forward without hesitation.
At some point, the "will" that had always been scattered around me vanished.
The sensation akin to omnipotence, which I couldn't quite put into words, disappeared, and at the same time...
My senses were dyed black.
* * *
The blacking out of my senses didn't last long.
It was likely only for a split second.
And then, a flood of sensations rushed toward me.
Things I had forgotten while traveling through the infinite void.
The warmth of the sun beating down. The soft flow of the rushing atmosphere. The faint white noise present everywhere. The vivid, multi-colored entities piercing my eyes.
Everything I had lost while staring into the black silence came rushing back at once.
They say a person who has been blind their whole life gets a headache the first time they see the world.
I don't know if that's true or just a myth.
But I learned that if your senses have been distorted by a long stay in the Otherworld, you experience something very similar.
Faced with such a massive influx of information, my brain began to whirl frantically, as if Cognitive Acceleration had been triggered.
"Augh! My head!"
"Ah, I forgot to mention. You should block your senses and then gradually release them."
Beside me, I heard Al’shel’s nonchalant voice over the sound of the wind.
Normally, I would have been angry, but the headache was so severe that I forgot my rage and followed his advice.
As soon as I dulled my senses, the headache began to subside.
"...Whew."
"Are you feeling better?"
"...This didn't happen the last time I came back."
Back then, there was only a sense of loss and confusion regarding my existence, knowledge, and common sense.
I didn't experience this kind of sensory overload.
"That's because Seini was maintaining a Reality Anchor back then. Naturally, it felt like the environment of Earth, so the side effects were minimal. Plus, your stay was much shorter."
Ah, is that so?
I turned my head to look around.
A blue sky and a sprawling city.
Since the world was called the Magic Kingdom, I had expected something more "fantasy," but...
Looking down from above, the city looked remarkably similar to a modern city in our world.
Soaring skyscrapers, uniform rectangular buildings.
Long roads stretching between the structures.
...No, no matter how I looked at it, this was just Earth.
The sky was blue, there were clouds, and the sunlight was bright.
Even the colors were the same as our world.
The roads were white or gray, which was a slight difference, but I'm sure somewhere on Earth has roads like that.
"...This isn't Earth, right?"
"No, it is not Earth. As for whether it's the Magic Kingdom... I'm not sure. I simply followed the coordinates provided by Un-ho."
If we went through all this trouble only to end up in the wrong world, I was seriously going to leave Un-ho behind in the Otherworld next time.
However, there was a more pressing issue.
Feeling the wind whipping past my ears, I raised my voice.
"Why are we plummeting from the sky?"
"What do you expect? That's where The Hole was. We didn't drill it ourselves, and you can't tell where a pre-existing hole leads just by looking at it."
Wait, Otherworld travel has risks like that?
Then Al’shel, who survived all that, must be a real specialist with a lot of luck.
At least we were high up in the air.
If we were unlucky, we could have come through The Hole and landed right in the middle of a meeting of S-Rank Heroes.
Let's try to stop for a second.
With that thought, I tried to manifest my will to create a platform in mid-air.
"...!?!?"
Spin.
My body simply did a somersault in the air.
No platform appeared beneath my feet.
Instead, my skirt flipped up halfway and covered my face.
"Mmph?! Mmf?!"
"It seems you were trying to create a platform, but this isn't the Otherworld, so naturally, Willpower Manifestation won't work. You look quite pathetic, by the way."
That damn octopus.
I wanted to hurl insults at him, but my mana-reinforced Magical Girl outfit was busy smothering my mouth.
Only after twisting my entire body was I able to regain my freedom.
"This is so damn inconvenient!"
"Everyone says that when they return from the Otherworld."
Yeah, that Reality Manipulation through will... it really was convenient.
I didn't realize it while I was in the Otherworld, but I certainly do now that it's gone.
It's not like I was there for hundreds of years; excluding the time I was unconscious, I was only there for about two months.
And yet, I had become so accustomed to using my will as naturally as my own limbs.
"Is there any way to use that in our world?"
Seriously.
If I could just make platforms, I could probably beat the crap out of most O-Ranks.
The energy wasted on worrying about footing is no joke, and there are many times I can't put full power into an attack during aerial combat, but in the Otherworld, my will covered all of that.
"Either use Otherworld Erosion or learn magic."
I hate both of those options.
Sigh.
Nothing for it.
I let out a sigh and tossed a question to the octopus.
"You have a way to land, right?"
Clank. Clank.
As I asked, I channeled mana into my hammer to create a booster.
"Of course I do. You should worry about yourself, Ha-ram. Try not to cause collateral damage because you can't control your strength..."
Al’shel joked with a smirk, but he didn't get to finish his sentence.
Because we both felt it.
A massive surge of mana.
Our gazes immediately snapped toward the same spot.
In less than two seconds, we observed a massive fireball flying toward us.
"...Dammit."
It wasn't an incredibly powerful spell.
But its size and range were far too wide.
And unfortunately, I was weak in aerial combat.
I was caught in the explosion and began to plummet toward the ground.
Al’shel also seemed to have run into trouble; unlike me, he managed to block the explosion itself, but he couldn't withstand the shockwave. He began to fall toward the ground along with me.
"...Mana field interference. Mana severance. Incantation interruption. Forced code insertion. Individually, they are nothing, but they can break through when pushed with sheer numbers."
Al’shel started making excuses, even though no one had asked.
The pathetic fall didn't last long. Perhaps that fireball had been woven with spells to increase falling speed or pull us down.
In less than ten seconds...
Thud.
The two of us hit the ground with a sound that was surprisingly quiet.
After falling from such a height, I forced my aching body to stand up and looked around.
What entered my vision were numerous beings surrounding us.
Their appearances were similar to Un-ho’s—quite cute by normal standards.
"Raise your hands and surrender, invaders. If you go quietly, this will end with simple expulsion."
But the words they spoke were anything but cute.
Numerous animal-like beings and winged fairy-like beings were pointing their hands and Magic Circles at us, issuing threats.
"Ha-ram?"
"What?"
The two of us quietly raised our hands and whispered to each other.
"Didn't you say you were a guest?"
"...I did."
"Then what is this?"
"How should I know?"
Un-ho, save me.