Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Reunion
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The 7th floor of the massive ruin, a chamber on the lowest level.
The vast hall was desolate, containing nothing.
Cold gray walls, a gloomy light illuminating the chamber, and the shattered remains of a golem.
The hill-sized golem lay in pieces, all three of its cores destroyed and scattered across the floor.
Allen calmly assessed the situation.
He had anticipated something related to the Demon Lord would appear, but he hadn't expected it to unfold on such a massive scale.
Yes, that was all it was.
So, was there any need to panic?
*First, I'll deal with what's in front of me.*
He forced down his worries about his team members. Worrying now wouldn't change anything.
There was still time left.
Enough for Allen to survey his surroundings.
*First, is this space related to the tremors?*
He didn't know if the earthquake had started because they entered the chamber, or if the timing was just a coincidence.
However, judging by Alexius's reaction, who seemed to know something, it was right to assume the latter.
*That doesn't mean the former is entirely unrelated, though.*
There had to be a reason the white book had specifically told him to leave the chamber.
Allen pushed the thoughts aside and examined the chamber's walls and ceiling. Murals were carved there, alongside marks that looked as if something had been scratched out.
Unfortunately, he couldn't glean any information from the scraped-out sections.
Examining the remaining murals, Allen turned his head.
"Do you have any idea what this is?"
「Hmm… It's probably a monster from before the Great Collapse, from when I was alive.」
With no one else around, she immediately floated into the air. The end of her hilt swayed gently, as if she were happy to move after so long.
"Not from the ancient empire, but even before that?"
「Yes. And I have a good idea of… what it is.」
The drawings in the remaining murals were fairly easy to decipher.
A monster in the dungeons of a great fortress. Soldiers standing atop the fortress walls. A meteor shower falling from the sky.
And after that, the monster from the dungeons rampaging violently.
The depiction of the monster was rather grotesque.
As if to warn anyone against accidentally releasing it.
The other murals were too heavily damaged to be recognizable.
「Its name is…」
"Veðrfölnir."
She flew over, her blade trembling in surprise.
「Veðr—wait, you knew!?」
Wary of her reaction, Allen took a step back. He had no intention of revealing the secret of the white book yet, so he had to make an excuse.
"No, I remember reading about it in a book I looked at in the library."
「Oh… the library. Then… is there anything else you know about it?」
As he answered, he could feel the energy drain from her voice. Allen shook his head.
"No, only its name was mentioned, so I don't know much. I just said the name because you mentioned an ancient monster."
「I suppose… since we're close by, there might be some information available.」
As if she understood, she slowly floated up again. Her voice, seemingly calmed, returned to its usual tone.
「So, what are you going to do?」
"Well…"
There was still more time.
Had it been a little over ten minutes?
「I was so surprised when I heard that cry, you know? It nearly gave me a heart attack. It’s been ages since I last heard it.」
The ruin continued to vibrate, and occasional explosions could be heard from a distance.
But nothing approached the place where Allen stood.
「Anyway, how about we get out of here quickly? The tremors getting stronger doesn't seem like a good sign.」
"Of course, we should…"
Allen stopped mid-sentence.
He instantly lowered his stance and gripped Vestla tightly.
「Allen?」
Someone had stepped into the range of his extended perception.
*One person? No, two. A person, no, a humanoid? What's the other one?*
A powerful vitality coursed through his body, and a thread unspooled from his pounding heart.
Holding the sword properly for the first time in a while, his senses grew so sharp they felt alien.
A tingling sensation on his skin, so intense he had to consciously regulate the sensitivity of his perception.
*The opponent's mana is immense.*
Not comparable to his own, but several times that of an average academy student.
The opponent, as if sensing Allen's presence, began to speed up.
He wove the thread. A simple check to hold their attention for a moment would suffice. The thread instantly formed into verdigris blades that shot through the corridor.
In that instant, lightning flashed.
*CRACK!*
The blades that had pierced the darkness of the corridor were instantly pulverized.
A sword aura imbued with deep blue lightning scattered the fragments. The charge that had been shattering the hard floor began to lose its power.
*Lightning? Don't tell me…*
In any place that wasn't as special as this, an escape artifact would have activated. Unless that bastard had foreseen this situation, there was no way he'd be here.
For a moment, seeing that guy stick his nose in everywhere, Allen felt the urge to deny reality.
But the moment the opponent's figure came into view, he couldn't help but halt his forward charge.
"…Julius."
The other party also showed a momentary look of bewilderment before immediately lowering his sword.
"Brother!"
*Gyao!*
From below them, Dongdong cried out as if to say, "Don't forget about me!"
***
He observed Julius as he approached.
Over his academy uniform, he wore light gear and carried a large bag instead of a subspace artifact. The bag was bulging, as if packed with something.
"How did you… no, I won't ask. You must have your reasons."
It was obvious.
He had a quest related to this.
Allen stopped himself from frowning at the fact.
*…There was nothing about this in the black book.*
In the black book, the Julius of the first timeline was described as triumphing alone in a different ruin at this time.
Needless to say.
The future had changed, and Julius had received a quest that didn't exist in the first timeline.
*…It's become harder to predict Julius's movements now.*
Allen felt a sense of anxiety, or perhaps regret, at this realization.
He could make a rough guess as to what Julius was thinking and what his goals were, but a rough guess was different from knowing for certain.
Of course. The advantage of the information from the black book had given Allen a huge benefit.
Knowing what someone would do in advance meant he could act one step ahead of them.
He had realized his dependence on the black book and gained the opportunity to revisit his memories from before his regression, from the first timeline, to prevent it, yet Allen now understood he was still unconsciously relying on it.
"Ah, that… Yes. That's right, Brother."
Julius, his prepared excuse rendered useless by Allen's consideration, hastily nodded his head.
There was no need for a clumsy excuse if the other person understood his situation.
"Then what brings you here, Brother?"
"I was making my way to the 7th floor, aiming for the fastest clear, when something unusual happened."
Allen didn't hide what had happened here.
It was a lie that would be exposed anyway once he met Alexius and Milled.
"The ruin started shaking, and at the same time, the precursor to a spatial transfer suddenly occurred. The artifacts didn't activate either. Only a few managed to escape in that state. I don't know if my other team members are alive. As for me… as you can see, I resisted."
Julius, having some grasp of Allen's abilities, didn't doubt his words.
"Then what will you do?"
"Escape, of course. There's no reason to stay here feeling these tremors."
The ruin's vibrations were growing more intense with each passing moment.
*Ruuuumble—*
"Then how…"
Allen, with a troubled expression, couldn't answer.
His escape artifact had stopped working after nearly being subjected to the forced spatial transfer.
That was the problem.
It had taken dozens of hours to get here from the surface.
But now, only about ten minutes remained.
That was just a rough estimate; in truth, he had no idea exactly how much time was left.
"Julius, do you have an escape artifact?"
Julius shook his head. He had only been thinking of dealing with the boss when it appeared, and at the same time, using the chaos to grab the hidden piece.
His artifact was probably lying on his bed back on the surface.
But he couldn't just say that outright.
"My artifact isn't working either… haha."
"In that case…"
Should he break through the ruin's floors?
Allen compared the immense strength boiling within his body to the hardness of the floor he had felt earlier.
The ruin's walls and ceiling, though not perfect, were strong enough to withstand even Allen's giant-like strength.
Thousands of years had not been enough to weather the ruin.
*Of course, with imperfect time magic and an all-out attack, it might be possible, but…*
Did he really have to go that far?
Uncontrollable power would put Julius on guard, and there was a chance his attitude would change from what it had been so far.
It would create a hair-thin crack in his relationship with Allen, which was the last thing Allen wanted.
*A relationship without even a hint of suspicion.*
Utterly idealistic, altruistic, and artificial.
Brothers like those in a fairy tale, who would split a single bean in half.
That was the impression Allen wanted to build with Julius, the image he would show at the academy.
"Brother, if there's no other way, how about we break through the ceiling and climb up? If we just stay here and the ruin collapses…"
Julius shook his head, as if he didn't even want to imagine it.
"That's true, but it's too dangerous. Wouldn't it be better to find another path and look for a way out?"
"Hmm, still…"
"For example, was there nothing in the corridor you came from?"
Julius glanced absentmindedly in the direction he had come from, then his expression suddenly changed as if he remembered something, and he quickly shook his head.
With an awkward look, he pointed to the corridor Allen had come from.
"The way I came is blocked, with monsters and ruin guardians all mixed up. It would be better to go the way you came, Brother."
Finding his behavior strange, Allen briefly extended his perception to scan the direction Julius had come from. Julius watched him with a nervous expression.
There were rough tracks left behind by other monsters and ruin guardians that had gone up that way.
*…It doesn't seem like he was lying.*
But what's with that reaction?
Allen soon shook his head and focused on the current situation.
"Still, if the ruin collapses, we'll be trapped either way."
"I still think it's best to break through the ceiling and escape."
"Are you confident you can do it?"
"Well, we'll have to try…"
In response to Allen's question, Julius needlessly stroked Dongdong. Dongdong calmly enjoyed the touch.
Allen was internally conflicted.
*Is it right to reveal more of my cards? Or is there a way to use the trap to my advantage, like when I first got here? Why didn't I prepare for this?*
It was because he had trusted the academy too much.
With two of the Eight Strongest and hundreds of years of history, Allen had been complacent, assuming the safety measures provided by the academy would be foolproof, even in a real-world exercise.
*Even after the incident where we were hit by the Cycle Cult.*
It was in the past, but something like that had almost happened. Besides that, the number of incidents and accidents that occurred at the academy each year was not insignificant.
It was just that they were always handled by the academy's swift response and appropriate compensation.
Allen agonized for a moment before starting to formulate a plan.
*There's no choice. I'll reveal my imperfect time magic.*
*I'll adjust my physical abilities down to the level of a knight. Even that is incredible, but it won't seem like a big deal to Julius.*
*His perspective is based on the original novel, after all.*
Just as Allen made his decision and was about to speak, dozens of footsteps sounded, as if they had been waiting for this very moment. The timing was straight out of a novel.
"Allen, are you there?"
"Hey! Julius!"
Allen's head turned at the familiar voices. Julius also muttered in a bewildered tone.
"Rachel…?"
"Huh? Abelin?"
As if sensing the difficult situation, a solution presented itself in an instant.
As if by fate, it followed them, no.
*Julius.*
Luck followed Julius. Just like in a novel.
Julius simply beamed at this amazing coincidence and waved his hand.
"Oh… Abelin, you're here?"
"You jerk! Why are you here!"
Allen just watched the scene silently.
Like a hunter stalking its prey.