Chapter 179
Chapter 179
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 179
Chapter Title: Unexpected Reunion (4)
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Melissa had left for somewhere, leaving her spot empty. A damp silence hung over the Hall of Eternal Dreams.
Kadim quickly slipped out of there with Duncan. When he asked how he'd found him, Duncan explained everything from the beginning.
It had seemed strange that Nayuri still wasn't recovering no matter how much time passed, so he'd peeked inside the hall. Luckily, the grand archmage was absent, allowing him to sneak in. He'd spotted Nayuri inside the massive orb at the center and touched its surface...
"...and suddenly ripples spread out like water, and hic, that's how Nayuri emerged from there..."
"I see. Well done, Duncan. You've done me a huge favor this time. Beyond forging weapons for you later, I'll make sure to give you a grand reward."
"Phew, y-yes... Th-thank you, sir... Hic."
But Duncan was too rattled to even show proper joy. When Kadim asked why, he trembled on shaky legs and said pitifully,
"S-Sir... Did I... just see a hallucination?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Somehow... I think... Hic, I-I saw 'hell'."
"...What?"
"Y-Yes, it's hard to believe, but... F-Following your orders, hic, I climbed to the end of the World Tree's roots. I barely survived death countless times to reach the tip, and then..."
A massive rift stretching to the world's end, plugged by the World Tree's roots—that alone was overwhelming enough to crush body and soul. But the true demonic realm, which burned the spirit like kindling, lay beyond the rift.
His senses plunged into abyss-like darkness, and when his vision barely cleared, Duncan saw it.
"Those who refused entry spewed worms from every orifice... Mothers skinned alive carried their legless children on their backs as they crawled... A monster made of teeth and entrails devoured human heads like pebbles... Humans dumped into sulfur-reeking pits of fire burst like pus-filled blister sacks..."
His gruesome testimony poured out like a flood. The more he spoke, the hazier his mind grew. His pupils lost focus as extreme terror rose, eroding his sanity.
"Demons swarmed there—grotesque demons! Like grains of sand in the wilderness, like starving ant hordes, countless demons beyond numbering! And that wasn't the end... Beyond the mountains of burning corpses, the hills of fire pits that evaporated blood into red vapor in an instant..."
A stinging slap cut off the trance-like testimony.
Slap!
"...Gah!"
The shock of his jaw turning snapped him back to reality. Duncan clutched his swollen cheek. When Kadim raised his hand as if to strike again, he flinched in terror.
"Eek! Wh-Why, sir?!"
"...Feeling better? I couldn't let you keep talking."
"Huh? Wh-What did I just say?"
"You were babbling nonsense like someone possessed by demons. Best not to dwell on that place anymore."
"Gasp, haah, y-yes..."
Thanks to inheriting Kadim's blood, granting some resistance to demonic energy, he'd only ended up like this. A normal person would've gone mad or possessed the instant they saw it.
His reaction made it impossible not to believe what he'd just heard. A fierce wave surged in Kadim's heart.
What the merchant had witnessed wasn't mere gruesome scenery.
'The reason demons ravage the continent, Hydra's claim that one of my old comrades is the culprit, the nature of the grand spell that drained all the world's mana, the reason the heavenly gods who ignored even the great demons' rampage descended to this land...'
It was the decisive clue tying together the countless mysteries from his second playthrough.
And the conclusion it led to... was only one.
His heart felt like it had plummeted with a lead weight. No matter how he steeled himself, he couldn't keep his lips from tightening. Duncan, trembling anxiously, asked,
"S-Sir... But the World Tree's roots were already half torn off... What if the rift collapses and all those demons pour into this world?"
"We have to stop it somehow before then. Or..."
"..."
"...slaughter every last one of those demon bastards."
Duncan could only blink in stunned silence.
Kadim then briefly recounted what had happened with Melissa. Realizing the grand archmage's mind was truly fractured, Duncan's pallor turned from deathly pale to corpse-like.
Even so, they had no time to delay. The two decided to aim for escaping the World Tree first. Whether devising countermeasures, negotiating, or fighting, it was wisest to do so outside the grand archmage's domain.
They ran into an obstacle right away on the way down the passage.
Clank, clank—
"Wha, sir...? It won't open, this thing?"
Thick wooden barriers layered to block the path. Even using the bloodwood key like before didn't work. Melissa must have sealed it completely.
Bursting through multiple layers of World Tree wood was impossible. Still, they found a way through easily enough. Kadim tapped the floor with his toe in spots until he found the one that echoed most hollowly, then drew Judgment of Atala.
"[God of Struggle and Wilderness, Atala. Look upon your great warrior, raise the torch and guide me to the battlefield... ]"
⟨ Judgment of Atala ⟩
―――――― Kaboom-crack!
The ax blade surged with yellow afterimages, shattering the shallow floor into a deep pit. Kadim hoisted Duncan and leaped in without hesitation.
Unexpectedly, they didn't land in a passage.
A vast cavern with a domed ceiling.
Their landing spot had low clearance, but the center soared over twenty meters high. And there, impossible to ignore, sat a massive sphere.
Gurgle, gurrgle, gurgle...
Fibrous, translucent surface sloshed with brimming liquid. The cornea-stinging red hue and familiar fishy stench revealed its nature clearly.
"Gasp, sir...! Th-That's all blood, isn't it?!"
"..."
Blood—enough to squeeze from tens of thousands.
Up close, it resembled a Blood Spirit fruit filled with blood. But its size was incomparably enormous.
Kadim's expression darkened faintly. Another piece of the puzzle clicked in his mind.
From the circumstances, it seemed a stockpile of the elves' offered blood. But it didn't appear to nourish the World Tree. Its roots were drying and withering while plugging the rift, after all.
'Then its purpose must be...'
No need to ponder further.
The root of all this had appeared.
"...You've slipped out already, Kadim."
"Hiiik!!"
"I turned back on the way because something felt off, and good thing I did."
A reddish glow flickered from a dark corner. A chilling gaze fixed on the frozen Duncan.
"Right, I forgot you were there. Must've been nice? I just touched the 'World Tree's Dream' without much thought, and suddenly I'm the savior who rescued Atala's great warrior..."
"Gasp..."
"But that was so I wouldn't miss news of Kadim if you poked around—not for a rat like you to let someone escape."
"Eek, hiiik..."
Her tone seemed playfully teasing at first glance, but Melissa's voice carried a bone-chilling killing intent. Kadim hurriedly shoved Duncan behind him and hardened his expression like a copper mask.
"Don't touch this one, Melissa. More importantly, what is this giant blood sack?"
"..."
Melissa paused briefly, then replied with a twisted sneer.
"Simple question, Kadim. As you know, there are three ways for humans to live beyond their allotted lifespan, right?"
He knew them well. Contracting with demons, receiving a god's blessing, or drinking elven blood.
"So a mage who despises demons like insects, believes in gods not one iota, and must wait endlessly for someone—how should she extend her life?"
"..."
Her attitude was as if it were an inevitable necessity, without a hint of hesitation. Kadim's brow furrowed darkly.
"Is that why the elves' lifespans have all shortened? You drained that much blood from them?"
"Yeah, an unexpected discovery. Who knew the source of elves' long lives was this blood. If I had my research logs from the Magic Tower, I'd have recorded it without fail."
"...No guilt at all, Melissa? What you've done is no different from those filthy demon bastards' atrocities."
Her drowsy eyes snapped wide.
"No!! It's different!!!"
Whoosh!
The near-scream echoed. Crimson flames erupted above her hair, her crazed eyes shaking unstably.
"I'm different from demons... Anyway, anyway... That blood was useless to those pointy-eared freaks... No matter how much lifespan they had, they couldn't enjoy it anyway... Better to give it all to me and rot in the 'World Tree's Dream' sooner—that's good for them too..."
"How do you know elves won't live full lives?"
The atmosphere shifted again at his words.
Melissa mulled her silence, then floated a shattered smile like cremated ashes. Slowly, very slowly, she peeled her charred, pus-oozing tongue and declared, each syllable stained with soot-like conviction.
"This world is doomed soon, Kadim."
"..."
"..."
A heavy silence descended.
The air grew thick and oppressive like the depths of an abyss. Crushing pressure pinned his chest, making it impossible to inflate his lungs.
This wasn't baseless doomsaying. Not vague scripture or ambiguous prophecy. Kadim already knew the basis of her declaration.
"...Why did you open a rift to 'hell' here, Melissa?"
A warped distortion surfaced over her blank expression.
Her answer was curt compared to the scale of her crime.
"Just because."
"..."
"Just... I opened it. Wondering if you might've gone there. If you're not in this world, maybe the next—just opened it."
Kadim didn't believe her.
He could tell. It couldn't be that simple. Beyond that distortion and blankness lay a story festering, too rotten to confess to anyone.
But Melissa had locked her heart tight, refusing to yield this final truth. No matter how he pressed, she only repeated self-destructive confessions—that it was all intentional, that she didn't care about the rift's consequences.
Kadim futilely changed the subject, asking if there was a way to close the rift. The answer was as expected.
"No. Opening it took only my power, but closing it was impossible even with a god's. See? The elves' god descended as the World Tree and could only plug the rift's center."
"..."
The heavenly gods ignored even the great demons' rampage but descended because of the rift to hell. If hell fully connected to the mortal world, doom would've come without chance to react.
The demons ravaging the continent had slipped through the rift before it could be fully sealed. No matter how vast the World Tree, perfectly blocking to the world's end was impossible.
At least the most dangerous center was tightly bound by roots...
"...But even that's reaching its limit now. Impressive it held this long with a damaged body and divinity from descent. Once the roots fully give way and the center opens... 'The Great Outpouring' happens. All hell's demons flood in. Demons slain here just return to hell, so killing them then would be pointless."
"..."
"So this world's end is certain, Kadim. Hiding that servant like that is ultimately meaningless."
Duncan, sneaking out of the cavern, froze. Kadim urged him on without looking back, and he scurried away. Melissa paid him no further mind.
"But the 'World Tree's Dream' is different. Even if this world ends, I can protect that. With stockpiled elven blood, no lifespan worries. So Kadim, you must stay there with me."
"What about the other comrades left in this world?"
Her crimson irises flickered, but the ripples settled. Kadim repeated sternly,
"What about Cyril, Gordon, and Gale?"
"...If you want, I'll recreate them exactly, memories and all. No, even better. Even if they're dead here, I can revive them in the World Tree's Dream."
Her words drove a wedge into Kadim's heart.
He shot a cold glare and ground out,
"You're not Melissa."
"...What?"
"The Melissa I knew was a girl who grumbled prickliness but cherished her comrades more than anyone deep down. Who etched 'I want to quit' on every page of her records yet never gave up and saved the world to the end. Not a coward who flees the catastrophe she caused and swaps her comrades for phantoms."
"..."
A bitter smile spread over her withered face, followed by a parched reply.
"Yeah, that girl died. Three hundred years ago, the moment the man she endured horrific trials for left without a word."
"..."
"But the woman left behind clung to survival viciously for three centuries... and gained the power to toy with that man upon his return."
Hummm————
Vast distortion swallowed the background, sealing the domed hideout without a speck of dust escaping.
―――――――― Roar!
Heat boiled across the cavern. A storm of raging flames, fireballs rising like suns. Countless magic circles manifested, summoning inferno to burn even midnight darkness to ash.
"I won't care about your will anymore, Kadim. If you won't listen... I'll rip it out of you by force and make you live in the 'World Tree's Dream' forever."
Kadim gripped Judgment of Atala unyieldingly.
"That girl isn't dead."
"...?"
"She's buried under mountains of pain and despair, twisted and corrupted. One good axing will shave off the rot and restore her a bit."
Her blazing gaze twitched in spasm.
"Put down that ax, Kadim. Even outside the dream, you have no chance. You can't oppose me with your power alone."
"Of course, with my 'current' power, it'd be tough."
"...?"
"But what about the 'that time' you remember well?"
As Melissa eyed him suspiciously,
Kadim activated the Pebilatus Tattoo.
Pingrrrr—
Gripping the blue pocket watch and shaking it upside down summoned the descent of ruinous divinity. His muscles swelled like jagged boulders. A chilling pressure crushed the rampant heat. The one-sided battle balance rang alarm bells in an instant.
The berserker from the first playthrough delivered an impersonal greeting of reunion.
"...I'll split your skull if that's what it takes to snap you out of it, Melissa."
"..."
――――― Kaboom!
Melissa unleashed a barrage of spells, her soul aflame with explosive rage and twisted love.