Chapter 204
Chapter 204
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 204
>Chapter Title: What the Hell Is This Guy Saying...?
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Once the contract was complete, a brilliant light shone, and the wyvern took on the form of an immature wyvern, far from majestic.
Spirits often transform into the shape their contractor desires upon contracting, but in this case, the change was influenced by both the wyvern's will and mine.
‘...Well, it’s still just a half-grown wyvern, anyway.’
Leaving the wyvern flapping its adorable wings behind me, I turned my gaze to Gayerus.
Now came the truly important matter.
The Reverse Heaven fragment.
What the spirits called the “fragment of the cursed grimoire” was Baharmut’s final remaining task.
Gayerus, receiving my gaze, nodded slightly and looked toward Chenbi.
[Contractor, we’ll move separately from the Savior. Is that alright?]
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
[Thank you for understanding.]
After seeking Chenbi’s permission, Gayerus turned and walked away.
[Let’s go, Savior.]
Leaving Damian, Chenbi, and Senior Myselrn behind, I followed after Gayerus.
The dim passages of Baharmut were illuminated brilliantly by the lights of the countless spirits trailing behind us.
The wyvern was flapping its wings and following me as well. Leading an army of spirits like this brought tears to my eyes.
‘...Ten thousand spirits.’
It had become reality.
Anyway, swallowing my lingering regrets, I wondered how far we had walked.
[We’re here.]
Gayerus halted before a massive stone door.
‘This is...’
I paused for a moment and lifted my head to take in the sight ahead.
The stone door was enormous.
Baharmut’s facilities were generally massive, but this one stood out especially so.
Its vast surface was intricately carved with symbols representing elements like water, fire, wind, and earth—a grandeur that could make one mistake it for a temple dedicated to the gods.
It wasn’t long before the massive door began to open.
Rumble, ruuuumble—
The giant stone door slowly parting inward.
The spirits exerted physical force to open it, and soon, the vast interior revealed itself through the gap.
The inside was equally majestic.
There were no special decorations, but the twelve pillars lining both sides and the carvings etched into them were more ornate than any adornment.
Yet amid all that scenery, one thing uniquely caught my eye: a single altar.
The spot where a palace throne would sit.
An altar positioned there.
Atop it rested a fairly large crystal orb, and just as I took note of it, Gayerus began walking again.
Step, step.
My footsteps echoed off the walls of the grand hall.
In this space where even the air felt solemn, I suddenly felt as if I had stepped back thousands of years into the past.
Long ago... this place must have been filled with countless spiritists.
They would have gathered here like a king and his ministers, divining the fate of their nation.
And what must their power have been like?
It was hard to fathom.
As I gauged the glory and authority of thousands of years ago through the scenery, I couldn’t shake a vague sense of emptiness.
‘Thousands of years...’
A kingdom that once shook the continent had vanished without a trace.
And this wasn’t just the tale of the Ten Thousand Spirits era.
‘...Destroia.’
The madman who called himself the first emperor had become a being no one had ever heard of.
Closer to home, the future Blandoga family.
Even the Blandoga family, currently wielding brilliant prestige as a renowned magical house, would be easily forgotten after its downfall.
In the end, it was the ephemerality of time.
Realizing anew the fleeting nature of time, my thoughts naturally turned to the tower I sought to build.
‘Perhaps...’
The tower I would erect might also be something that time would eventually erase.
I had proclaimed myself a great sage, vowing to remain eternally in history, but wasn’t it all just an illusion that would ultimately fade into oblivion?
It was a foolish thought, but beholding this colossal civilization weathered away by time made it impossible to avoid.
But then.
[...Savior?]
I snapped to my senses at the faint voice whispering in my ear.
“Yeah? What?”
[Savior, what are you thinking? Go up. To the altar.]
“Ah, got it. Up to the altar.”
I gathered my thoughts and followed Gayerus’s instructions, ascending the steps to stand before the crystal orb.
My distorted face reflected on the orb’s curved surface.
Staring at that ridiculous expression somehow cleared my tangled thoughts.
‘Time my ass.’
Yeah, swept away by time or whatever—if you thought like that, nothing in the world held any meaning.
Struggling through life only led to death in the end, and scarfing down food out of hunger just meant you’d be hungry again by dinner.
Anyway, as I sorted out my thoughts, Gayerus’s voice rang out.
[We begin.]
“Alright.”
I replied curtly and straightened my posture.
The spirits moved right after.
[We’re going!]
[Freedom now!]
Exhilarated cries as they dove into the crystal orb.
Soon, the orb blazed dazzlingly with the spirits’ lights, and that was when Gayerus’s voice came again.
[Now, extracting the fragment.]
A change occurred simultaneously.
Zzzzz—
A surge of intense light in the air.
The light soon took form and then quieted.
What appeared was a single parchment. No, more precisely, a single page torn from some book.
The moment I saw that page, I was certain.
‘It’s Reverse Heaven after all.’
Wooong—!
The resonance of the Fire Mark proved it.
The cursed grimoire was Reverse Heaven.
* * *
I cautiously reached out toward Reverse Heaven.
Maybe because it was the second one.
It wasn’t as emotional as the first.
The densely packed strange characters on both sides, the texture of unknown material, that mystical aura—all left me utterly indifferent.
But it didn’t take long for that sentiment to shatter. I tilted my head at a sudden odd sensation.
“...What is this?”
[What’s wrong?]
“No, hmm.”
It was definitely a Reverse Heaven fragment, yet there was no particular reaction from it.
In other words, unlike the first fragment that had been absorbed the instant it touched my hand, this second fragment remained rigidly in form within my grasp.
‘...Do I need to eat it?’
A ridiculous thought flitted through my mind, and right after, the spirits’ clamor erupted.
[Something’s off.]
[What is it? Scary.]
[Trapped! Can’t get out!]
Were they voicing the spirits’ anxiety? The crystal orb’s light flickered uneasily.
Gayerus’s initially puzzled face grew serious. His eyes soon turned to me.
[Savior, don’t tell me...]
“...? No, I don’t know either.”
[Of course, I trust you.]
No, he didn’t look like he trusted me.
It was a suspicious glare, as if I had somehow bound the spirits with the Reverse Heaven fragment. I felt utterly wronged.
The fragment not reacting was confusing enough, but now the spirits were throwing a fit, plunging everything into chaos.
‘What went wrong?’
I calmly sorted through the situation.
First, the fragment the spirits extracted was indeed Reverse Heaven’s. That much was clear from the throbbing resonance.
Yet, the fragment wasn’t absorbing, and the spirits were trapped inside the orb.
‘...Why on earth?’
No matter how I thought about it, I couldn’t pinpoint the cause.
So, standing there dumbfounded, racking my brain to grasp the situation...
[It’s strange.]
“What?”
I tilted my head at Gayerus’s voice.
What could be stranger than this?
[It seems... it wants to show the future.]
“...The future?”
Gayerus nodded.
In other words.
[The fragment is borrowing our power. And showing it to the Savior.]
The Reverse Heaven fragment was using the spirits’ power to show me the future.
Right then.
Flash—!
“...!”
A blinding light burst from the Reverse Heaven fragment.
My vision flickered.
...That was the extent of my consciousness.
* * *
How long had I been unconscious?
When I opened my eyes again, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment.
‘Where am I? Who am I?’
I was sitting in a massive library... or at least, I wasn’t sure if it was a library, but a space filled with books lining every wall.
Had the owner maintained it well?
The books on the shelves gleamed glossy, without even the musty smell of paper.
Right now, I was plopped down on the floor in the middle of that library, without so much as a chair. That was when I sensed a presence.
Step, step.
Footsteps approaching from behind.
I reflexively tried to turn my head, only to realize I had no control over my body.
‘...What the hell?’
I calmly reviewed the situation before losing consciousness.
Clearly, with Gayerus’s help, I had grasped the Reverse Heaven fragment. And... the spirits got trapped in the orb, I think?
And after that...
- It seems... it wants to show the future.
- The fragment is borrowing our power. And showing it to the Savior.
Right, that was it.
The Reverse Heaven fragment was borrowing the spirits’ power to show me the future.
‘Then, does that mean I’m seeing the future right now?’
If so, was this space...?
Realizing this, I took in the scenery again. Of course, since my vision had been fixed on it from the start, it was more like examining it closely.
But rendering that effort pointless, someone stepped into my view.
“You vile scum. Took me a while to find you.”
That guy...
I quietly took in the pitch-black knight standing before me.
Soon, his armor melted away into shadows with a ‘shhrrk.’ The revealed knight’s skin was strikingly pale, his eyes an eerily vivid red.
That face was one I knew well: Shine.
But calling him vile scum?
‘Then, does that mean this body is my future self?’
As that thought crossed my mind.
I suddenly sensed something off.
‘Why the hell is that guy so pissed?’
The Shine looking down at me right now was angrier than I’d ever seen him.
His face was coldly expressionless, but those eyes. The emotion clouding that red gaze was unmistakable fury. As I met that look for a moment.
Shine’s mouth opened.
“I came because I have questions for you.”
Even as he spoke, his eyes twitched faintly, as if struggling to suppress rising anger.
In contrast, my future self sat silently, gazing up at Shine—heartbeat steady, breathing even, utterly composed.
Had Shine gotten duped by some sucker again? As I wondered.
His voice rang in my ears.
“Word’s spreading across the continent. ‘The Tower Lord is joining hands with the Decullans.’ Is this rumor true?”
...What?
“Speak. Are you truly bowing to those snake-like bastards who ruined the Blandoga family and killed Parun, just to save your own skin?”
What the hell is this guy saying...?