“I have no idea what the hell is going on, but… if I just kill them all, that should settle it.”
I didn’t care if there was a story I didn’t know about.
He was the enemy who killed Yeon-hee in my past life.
A being whose invasion of this world was almost guaranteed.
“They’re invading my space.”
The moment their clash occurred, my reaction was half a beat late, but eventually, I sprang into action.
[High-speed Flight]
[Manhwa Portal]
I jumped into the sky and wedged myself between the two who were locked in combat.
“Huh?!”
“You?!”
The sudden intrusion startled even those two powerful beings, but I activated my skill without a care.
[Blast of Madness]
I was reckless enough to release two high-level skills almost simultaneously in response to their counterattack, but luckily, my ability flowed like water.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In an instant, the malicious magic energy from the two engaged in a power struggle battered against my body as if to tear me into shreds, but physical attacks were ineffective against me, who was in [Invincible] state.
Still, the shadow of darkness wrapped around me, conveying a feeling of being crushed…
Yet, the flame within me burned more fiercely, using that as fuel.
The blood boiling in every bone trembled my skin, while an endless inferno of rage began to ignite in a corner of my heart.
Gooohhhhhh───
──────?!!
“Huh?!!”
“Gahhh?!!”
“Die!”
The Orc Legion Commander Por and Jiksructor, who had stabbed me at incredible speed, tried to distance themselves the moment I activated my skill, without a moment’s hesitation.
Jiksructor was ripping through dimensional rifts in a panic, while Por was shouting something at his minions with eyes wide in horror.
“Let’s die together…”
[Sanctuary of Vigilance]
I trapped them within the sanctuary so they couldn’t escape.
Of course, there was no way a first-level “Escape Prevention” ability, which even the Grim Reaper couldn’t block, would work.
─────?!!
Both of them jolted as the momentary, irresistible binding hit them.
It was a clear reaction of fear.
The word “death” must have definitely crossed their minds.
“There is no being in this world that can maintain their composure in the face of death…”
Now, their movements soon dwindled, and the world seemed to come to a stop.
But for some reason, this situation was different from when I activated my skills in my previous world.
“They’re still moving… they’re not completely frozen.”
Since the world wasn’t stopping completely and was moving slowly, I even felt a sense of crisis that they might slip away from me.
Zap—
Finally, the core was about to break through my head, and in a moment, a pillar of light was about to rise.
─────────
From below, the twelve orcs preparing for something burst forth with dazzling light.
Realizing that the light carried the will to forcefully expel me from this world, I could only scream.
“Ah—! No!! Damn it!! It was almost there!! Just a little more— 1 more second!!”
– The twelve chosen guardians activate an ancient secret art.
– They expel all external beings in the vicinity.
“Ah…”
In that moment, someone’s sorrowful sigh wafted through the space, seeping into my ears like a ghost.
The voice of the Goddess of Water, whom they called, made me realize two things.
The skill I was activating was being reversed by the power of the Twelve Guardians, and I could no longer remain in this space.
Swoosh—
The arms and legs of the Twelve Guardians, who had activated the secret art, were disintegrating into dust.
A self-sacrificing magic.
To have the power to pay such a deadly cost while holding the grand title of guardians. That’s something I couldn’t handle with my current self.
But what made me unbearably angry was…
“You bastard!! Por!! I will definitely kill you one day and soothe the vendetta of my benefactor!!”
I bared my teeth filled with malice towards the Orc Legion Commander.
The hatred and evil I had forgotten surged forth like a tidal wave and paralyzed my reason.
That guy’s legion had tormented countless numbers of people, in the tens of billions.
“?!”
He looked me in the eye, showing an expression of utter disbelief.
Was it so shocking to have a skeleton soldier gazing at him with murderous intent? Or was it fear that a being he had looked at like a bug was now on the brink of annihilating him?
“I will tear you apart next time!!”
– ……… Ah, wait. I need to take this—
* * *
My head felt like it was splitting.
I could have sworn I heard the goddess’s voice at the end, but my memory was hazy.
“What on earth happened?”
I opened my eyes in a place full of nothing but sticky mud, but my head was filled with thoughts of that incident.
Suddenly appearing before me was the blue-eyed follower, “Jiksructor.”
And the Orc Legion Commander “Por.”
The twelve orc sorcerers that he brought along.
“Are they sorcerers? Anyway, they had some mystical powers. Powers that can completely exile other beings from another dimension.”
Even considering their self-sacrifice, it was an absurd power.
To have even Por, who couldn’t handle it, easily banished by Jiksructor.
“I got overly excited for a moment. But it was unexpected for those two to be at odds.”
Even though I acted purely in anger in the last moment, thinking back, the orcs, including Por, were really there to drive Jiksructor out of Irmana’s world, weren’t they?
“In reality, they succeeded.”
I recalled the image of Jiksructor engulfed by the green light, disappearing in an instant.
He was glaring at me with a murderous intent until the very last moment. That bastard should’ve been dealt with this time. Damn it…
“……Today, I really have no idea what’s what. Por… what on earth are you?”
I’m not even sure if I should bother trying to understand.
One thing was clear: I was far from strong enough to protect Yeon-hee.
“I didn’t think the gap would still be this big…”
I thought I had grown at an overly fast rate.
So I consoled myself that it was natural for me to be stagnant.
But that was a foolish thought. Wasn’t it a mindset that closed off my potential?
“My desire for power… it seems to have been lacking recently.”
After tightening my tension for a while, it felt like I had gotten too complacent after striving to grow over the last few days.
I was training daily and improving.
“It was only a few days, but there shouldn’t have been any room for complacency…”
I pounded the innocent pile of mud with my fist, suppressing the anger building inside me.
Then I started to notice messages slowly coming up.
– You have encountered the being known as the “King of the Red Orc.”
– An impossible relationship has formed, and the “King of the Red Orc” is at a new crossroads.
“……Is the King of the Red Orc referencing Por?”
It seemed that my encounter had brought about a significant change for him as well.
But what kind of outcome it would bring, I couldn’t know.
At that moment, a whistle began signaling from space.
Woooooo—
“This is the communication item that Inessa gave me…”
After creating space with [Sanctuary of Vigilance] and pushing away the mud pile, I activated the facsimile.
Squash- Squash-
The first sound I heard after connecting with her was the sound of nails being chewed.
“What’s going on?”
[That… did you not feel anything?!]
“……”
Inessa’s timely question, the seer.
This must be related to what happened in the dungeon.
“I need to respond well…”
I could pretend I didn’t know here, but that was quite distant from the bluffing statements I had shown her.
“… The changes of the intruder?”
[Haha?! Y-You felt it too?! I wasn’t wrong!!]
“… Don’t get so worked up. Haven’t you always seen such things?”
[The figure of that monster changed hazily and shimmered… Such a thing is rare!!]
“Hazed changes. That monster? Are you referring to Por…?”
If that were the case, then it meant there were changes in the future when the Orc Legion Commander would invade, perhaps he wouldn’t invade at all?
However, quite contrary to my assumption, her reply was different.
[In my experience, beings who exhibit such changes generally ascend in rank or have significant changes in disposition… A monster invading another world isn’t going to suddenly turn nice. Their destructive tendencies will likely increase. This would be troublesome!]
Now, without even needing to ask, Inessa started unraveling the details.
It felt like her trust in me had grown without us communicating often. I couldn’t discern the reason.
“… I hadn’t even considered the possibility of ascending.”
“Well, there could be scenarios where the invasion timing gets pushed back…”
I really hoped that would be the case.
[If you say so, that might be possible. But logically, if they’re ascending in rank, they wouldn’t have any reason to delay the invasion, right?]
“……”
She seemed convinced that Por was ascending in rank.
But I knew through the messages that he had reached a crossroads.
That meant he had encountered a critical fork in the road during his journey, not just that he got stronger.
“Inessa isn’t interpreting everything perfectly. This time, I feel my thoughts might be right.”
I had to take her opinion into account but also not get too bogged down by it.
[There’s no point in dwelling on what has already happened!! Anyway, it’s next week!!]
“Next week… is that the one where I was told to cross to China?”
[Yes! Surely, you haven’t forgotten, right?]
“Of course. But are you all set?”
[Of course! …. Well, actually, something has gone a bit askew but it will be fine!]
“Just tell me straight. What went wrong?”
It seemed there was some nuance that something wasn’t going as planned regarding opening a passage where something was sleeping.
[You don’t need to know! Just show up on the day I tell you!!]
“Huh… I get it for now. I think I need to hang up as I’m a bit busy.”
[… What the hell are you so busy with!! Hmph!! Do as you please!!]
───
The connection was cut off.
Considering her somewhat agitated voice, something genuinely seemed to be off.
“Has a variable arisen that even Inessa couldn’t foresee…?”
It couldn’t be due to the changes I had undergone after visiting the dungeon, nor was it likely that some threatening entity had shown up in China to threaten her.
“If there’s someone threatening Inessa, it can only be him… Yeon-su told me he was passing through China as well. Tch…”
I felt a tad anxious, but since it was something I couldn’t control, I quickly dismissed it.
There were still a few unread messages left, so I continued reading down the list.
– You have achieved remarkable feats with the nature guardians in the ‘Broken Goddess’ worldline!
– Significant changes will occur in the ‘Broken Goddess’ worldline.
– The Goddess of Water “Irmana” is greatly pleased with your feats.
– Your affinity for water attributes has increased significantly.
“At least I’ve gained something. No, it might be a remarkable harvest.”
The Goddess of Water, who had been quietly observing, showed her first intense reaction.
Thanks to that, my affinity increased significantly, and on top of that, I gained skills.
– [Gaze of Water] [Sicklerin] [Water Weapon] will be abolished.
“What? Suddenly eliminating three abilities?”
– Your achievement has surpassed a certain threshold. The achievement [Irmana’s Little Follower] has been elevated to [Irmana’s Little Incarnation].
[Irmana’s Little Incarnation]
– Your resistance to all water attribute magic greatly increases.
– You gain the potential to use all water attribute magic.
– The restrictions on attack forms using water have disappeared.
– You gain near premonition-like evasion ability in water.
– You can create weapons and armor using water and distribute them to companions. The usage time varies based on your water attribute affinity.
“Phew… The abilities that were abolished have fully strengthened. But… am I now the incarnation of Goddess Irmana?”
While “little” was a modifier, this was truly remarkable.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
