Longinus’ Spear.
Originally, it’s a magical tool that pierces the boundaries of dimensions to create a passage to the otherworld.
Of course, right now, it’s incomplete.
That’s because the core piece, a navigator to specify coordinates, is missing.
Without that part, no one knows where it will land.
It could be in the middle of a vast ocean.
Or on a deserted island.
But none of that matters anymore.
Thanks to the idiot Belphegor, the entire Basel is covered in a perfect barrier.
The inside and outside of Basel are completely cut off, becoming a different world.
In other words, if we use Longinus’ Spear now, it definitely means we will fall inside Basel.
Rumble!
Noticing something amiss with Longinus’ Spear, the entire land shakes violently.
Walls rise up from all directions, closing in on us as if to crush us.
We can’t delay any longer.
“We’re going back. We’re going back to reality.”
Before it’s too late, we activate Longinus’ Spear.
Tick, tick, tick—the gears begin to move.
At first, the gears turn slowly, but soon they spin furiously like a top.
The heat makes my hands warm, almost hot.
But suddenly, at one moment, the spinning slows down.
“We’re low on mana! You put in some too! Whatever it takes!”
“……Okay.”
I pass Longinus’ Spear to Mi Jeong.
As Mi Jeong adds her mana, the gears start spinning at maximum speed again.
At a tremendous cost of mana.
A spell not allowed in this era is realized right here.
Phew.
Just a moment ago, I couldn’t even muster the strength to lift my head.
Now my waist straightens, and strength fills my body.
The powerlessness that filled me is gone, replaced with courage.
With my head held high, I look up.
The eye sockets of the skull gradually glow red, and a blinding light pours down all around.
|What happened? What did I do?|
The soft touch of soil under my hand.
Fresh air filling my lungs.
Tránsilvia notices that the oppressive pressure is gone.
‘Did we come back?’
I couldn’t believe the scene unfolding before my eyes.
Just a moment ago, I was in front of that hellish Draken.
Now, as I come to my senses, I find myself in the mountains beside a human village.
|Wh-What have you done! How did you manage to come back?!|
Belphegor screams in shock.
On the other side, humans are catching their breath and starting to stand.
They release the grip on the Blood Ghoul girl’s hand.
Instead, they grab their swords.
|What trick did you use?!|
“Huff…”
Without any answer, the human silently raises his sword, steps forward, and breathes in to control the flow of mana.
I can see Belphegor hesitating.
The Great Demon, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, is flustered by a mere human.
Tránsilvia also wanted to ask the Great Demon the same question.
How on earth were they standing?
How could they stand against such a being?
Tránsilvia couldn’t understand it at all.
‘No matter how I look at it, he’s not insane. He’s sane enough to make such a judgment… but how?’
Once a member of the Four Heavenly Kings, Tránsilvia took pride in that position.
Back then, she looked down on all humans, thinking they deserved to be ruled by monsters.
Though she had never seen Draken’s face, she thought they shared a similar goal.
However, on the day she was suddenly dragged before Draken, Tránsilvia realized.
She would never understand Draken’s purpose, no matter how long she lived.
Even after returning, the memories of that day haunted her like a ghost, torturing her.
Eventually, she couldn’t take it anymore and fled.
She gave up her position as a Heavenly King and returned to the midst of humans.
Originally, she felt a greater sense of security and kinship among monsters.
Now, she felt closer to humans.
Once, she had killed and harvested blood without hesitation, but now she hesitated.
She wanted to stand with the humans.
She didn’t want that incomprehensible, fearful being to consume this world.
But resisting them was another matter.
She didn’t want to die.
So she remained silent and lived.
Quietly, going with the flow.
Without siding with either side.
As long as she could live until the day Draken came to destroy this world, she would be satisfied.
Or so she thought, until meeting that human.
“What trick did you use?”
|Ah, no! You don’t have to answer that!|
Boom!
The human’s sword lunged upward, slicing through the wind.
But all that remained in Belphegor’s place was a swirl of dark smoke.
The Great Demon had already fled far away.
The barrier covering the city began to crumble.
The sun shone brightly again.
Light poured in.
When the Great Demon had fled so far that even the scent vanished, the human dropped his sword and collapsed.
His trembling limbs revealed clear signs of mana exhaustion.
He was in no condition to fight, yet he had actually frightened away the Great Demon.
‘Dakia-style Swordsmanship. Zero-level stance…’
It was a brief, fleeting posture, but Tránsilvia recognized the swordsmanship immediately.
A technique that had been lost for centuries.
That human was wielding a long-lost sword technique.
‘He’s definitely not an ordinary guy!’
What kind of human is he?
Or is he even a human in the first place?
As those thoughts crossed her mind, Tránsilvia felt goosebumps.
“…The magical tool. It’s broken.”
“That much power was bound to break it. It can be made again.”
“W-Wait! Are you seriously planning to go after Draken again?!”
The human casually talks about “again.”
And Tránsilvia exploded with frustration.
She simply couldn’t understand.
“Why? Are you scared?”
“Scared? Of course! You saw it! The powerlessness that came over us! The fear that was driven into our heads! How can we resist an entity who could overpower us with just a glance?!”
“We have to catch him.”
“Of course, I know! I understand that Draken will absolutely end this world!”
“Well then, we need to stop him. What else are we doing?”
“……”
She was dumbfounded.
At first, she thought he was just a crazy person.
But he wasn’t just crazy; he was utterly insane.
How could he not be broken even when facing Draken?
How could he still think about fighting?
“I was worried about whether he was a god or a ghost. But he was a living being after all?”
“What good does that do?! Even if he swings the secrets of martial arts at us or fires off high-level spells, it will only scratch us!”
“A scratch? That means we can deal damage, right? That means we can catch him?”
“Wha…?”
Tránsilvia couldn’t follow the flow of conversation at all.
Damage means they could capture him?
Even if they went to the same place, what the human saw was completely different.
While Tránsilvia faced overwhelming despair and fear, the human caught a glimpse of possibility.
For Tránsilvia, it was a traumatic replay, but for the human, it was a successful reconnaissance.
‘He wasn’t crazy after all. He’s genuinely serious about hunting Draken!’
The look in the human’s eyes was solid.
It wasn’t the gaze of someone who had lost their mind.
Nor was it the gaze of someone blinded by vengeance or anger, foolishly throwing themselves against the impossible.
It was simply rational.
Taking a step into the seemingly impossible realm.
Just an ordinary human’s gaze.
Hahaha!
The moment she realized this, uncontrollable laughter erupted.
She forgot all the fear and pressure that had been weighing down on her just moments ago.
It was simply a feeling of emptiness.
“Struggling to stop an end that isn’t even of your own generation, against an enemy no one acknowledges and no one knows! You’re crazy!”
This was the first time she encountered a human like this.
Having lived for hundreds of years, she thought she had met every type of human.
She thought she had seen it all.
But this human sparked a feeling of awe in the centuries-old Blood Ghoul.
Tránsilvia vowed.
“And I really like crazy people! I like you!”
She wanted to see this man’s end.
Whether he breaks and falls somewhere.
Or whether he finally achieves his goal.
She wanted to witness that final moment.
