Chapter 615 – The Stolen World (30)
—
– Miro
…
It felt like I had just woken from a long, endless dream—one without a clear beginning or end, simply a boundless nightmare.
An eternal prison.
Right before waking up, in a foggy vision, I saw another version of myself.
If there exists a substance to the soul or mind, then the Creepy Labyrinth had transformed into something akin to a slug—disjointed and slimy.
A wriggling mass without eyes, nose, mouth, or limbs.
No one told me, but I understood.
After all, I wasn’t entirely separate from the Creepy Labyrinth.
That other version of me had endured immense pain to protect me, and I knew it would take a long time before I could call her back again.
Just seeing that form made me sad and hurt so deeply that I hugged the quivering mass and cried endlessly.
Then, at some point, I woke up with a voice saying, “Go out and do your thing.”
“…”
When I opened my eyes, there was Ari right in front of me.
My only family, also worn down by the eons.
Ari was already dead.
Perhaps from such extreme suffering that she had gone brain dead?
Or maybe she used the ancient blood power to commit suicide.
If both the Creepy Labyrinth and Ari had ended up like this, then Holy Mother Aidiya must have been completely wrecked too…
Just as I was about to shed tears again and reach for Ari’s hand…
— Rumble!
A thunderclap boomed from the sky.
The Moon is out to kill me!
Feeling a breath-stopping fear, the first action I took was to summon Kain.
— Clang!
Songee said she wanted to spare time for Kain for an important moment, right?
Well, this is that moment!
As soon as Kain appeared, I shouted, “The Moon is coming to kill us!”
“What?”
“What do we do?”
“Hey, that’s a bit sudden!”
Seeing Kain’s expression as if to say, “What on earth is going on?” snapped me to my senses.
Right, no matter how cool he is, there’s no plan to be had when you suddenly declare you’re about to be killed by the Moon!
I have to do something!
That’s why Kain handed me that hourglass, right?
Just as I squinted and pulled out the hourglass—Kain grabbed my hand.
“Not yet, not yet.”
“What?”
His finger pointed at the air without saying anything.
“What do you—uh, the status window?”
“The Moon seems to be moving toward my side first from here.”
Before killing me, the Moon went to take Kain out first!
“W-What then?”
“I’ll buy some time.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Seems like there’s a method. As expected of me!”
Kain has a bit of a narcissistic streak.
“Let’s focus on our side.”
After that, Kain took a moment to assess the surroundings.
He seemed to read and write something massive in the status window. He also examined the details of Aidiya, who had collapsed in a daze.
— Kwang!
“Eek! Right, we should already—”
“Stay calm. Looks like we have some time.”
Time?
How is Kain managing to stretch time against the Moon like this?
I felt like my heart was going to explode, but the Kain in front of me seemed totally unfazed.
“Y-You’re not scared?”
“Scared, sure.”
“But—”
“Just keep it down.”
“…”
“It’s tough.”
“What is?”
“What you and I need to do from here.”
“…”
“One of the reasons I brought you here.”
One of the reasons Kain brought me here?
“Do you still have a wish?”
“Yeah.”
“Make a wish.”
“What kind of wish?”
“Wish to restore Aidiya’s mind.”
“Right now?!”
As soon as I knelt down and resolved to ‘use my dream!’ a pale mist-like ball of light appeared before me.
The ‘Dream’ reward I got for breaking through the second floor on my escape from the hotel!
“Aidiya’s mind is as good as dead right now.”
She had just died the moment we broke free from the eternal prison.
Given the suffering she endured, it wouldn’t be strange if she were brain dead too.
“She should have already died, but she’s clinging to life thanks to the tremendous vitality inherited from her legacy.”
The Cliffport Crystal.
Aidiya’s legacy grants the master nearly immortal vitality.
“I’ll make a wish! Please completely restore Aidiya’s shattered heart—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Kain touched my shoulder again.
“Not completely.”
“Wait, what?”
“Just restore her to a level where we can talk.”
“…”
“So we can persuade her.”
Not to completely heal the Holy Mother for our purpose.
I understood it with my head, but felt a chill from the ruthlessness of that judgment.
How did I end up liking someone like this?
“Uh… please just slightly restore Aidiya’s mind to a conversational level.”
The ninth dream began to shine.
I felt the brush of someone weeping for the sake of the Three Thousand Worlds approaching.
*
As Aidiya’s body began to stir, I gripped her hand and looked into her eyes.
Her mind was awkwardly stitched together.
Unimaginable memories of pain.
Kain spoke in a tone that was almost indifferent.
“Holy Mother, have you come to?”
“… Savior.”
“Now do you understand the fate waiting for souls devoured by the Moon?”
“…”
“Do you still believe in your prince’s promise? In salvation?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Your soul has already been pledged to the Moon.”
“…”
“If ever you die, or if the Moon feels it no longer needs you…”
“T-That won’t happen—”
“Are you sure?”
“…”
“The pain you experienced today was merely a rehearsal for the hell that awaits. Next time, it won’t just last ‘a mere’ five seconds.”
The fallen prince said to the Holy Mother.
What the god you serve promises to its adherents is nothing but hell.
You will be the one who falls deepest into that hell, being the highest of the order.
I saw the unhidden terror in Aidiya’s trembling eyes.
“What… should I do?”
Kain pointed at my ‘Time Borrowing Device.’
“Say it: ‘Miro, I’ll borrow you an hour.’”
*
Aidiya disappeared after lending me an hour.
I think this is the first time I’ve filled the time borrowing device with someone who isn’t my teammate.
“What do we do now?”
“Seems like we’ve done it all.”
“What?”
Kain pointed again at the status window.
“I’ve already gathered plenty of information. I figured I just needed to persuade the Holy Mother, but you pretty much did that, Miro.”
“Eh?”
“Good job. I’m so glad I brought you along.”
Did I even do that?
Songee, who got me this far.
Eunsol, who used the flute.
Me, who inflicted a crack with the Spear of Mortality and endured the pain of the Creepy Labyrinth.
Ari, who ended that pain.
And finally, there’s Kain who tidied things up at the end!
Isn’t it true that my teammates did all the work?
All I did was hold Songee’s hand, right?
Kain seemed to read my thoughts.
“The only thing that can gather people’s powers in one place is the Time Borrowing Device.”
“…Thanks.”
“…”
“So what do we do? Commit suicide? If we off ourselves inside the Moon, then our… souls will get eaten by it—”
Kain tilted his head in confusion.
“Two things seem odd.”
“Yeah?”
“First, why did you bring the hourglass or the camera if you were going to end it here?”
“…You told me to bring them.”
“I thought they might come in handy. Why would they be needed?”
“…”
“Second, how long has it been since you woke up, Miro?”
“About 5 minutes? I’m not exactly sure.”
“That means, somewhere, I’m keeping the Moon at bay for a whopping five minutes.”
“Uh?”
How on earth is Kain managing to keep the Moon occupied for this long in the lab?
*
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 242
Current Location: Searching…
Sage’s Advice: 0
– Han Kain
Position information of teammates:
Lee Eunsol: —
Kim Ari: —
For a moment, I was shocked by the deaths of the two, but soon realized something.
No matter how strong the Moon is, it can’t reach the teammates hiding in the ‘Absolute Safe Zone’ of the Pioneer Hotel!
Miro’s up to something?
In a pinch, she tried to summon Eunsol and Ari, only to have them die in an instant, but she’s still alive!
As soon as I reached that conclusion, suddenly, the lab vanished without a trace, and the sky began to split apart.
— Rumble!
The sheer force of destruction swept through the area in an instant.
This was the wrath of a mad god realizing that its precious weapon had been destroyed.
I dared not meet the gaze that looked down upon me.
There was no fondness for the “teacher” in those eyes.
Only the endless malice of a betrayed prince remained!
“I would have treated you well and given you invaluable information without reserve.”
Ah, seriously!
It was Miro who messed things up, why does it come back to me first?
I had an inkling.
The Moon probably thinks of me as the brains and Miro as the lackey.
It wants to take out the lackey first because it doesn’t know what I’ll do if the brains are gone!
“…”
Miro’s next target to summon must be me, right?
Since I’m still alive, that means ‘Summoned Kain’ is still alive too!
Frantically, I began to scribble down in the status window saying I’d buy some time.
— Crack!
“Gah!”
An unbearable pressure threatened to crush me immediately.
Damn, that’s too much!
“Remember your past kindness and merits. I’ll give you one chance.”
“…What do you mean by chance?”
“Tell me why I should spare your life.”
A sudden chance without killing me?
What is this, some cliché villain moment seen in cartoons?
The Moon’s got a soft spot now!
It thinks I might have picked up some intel about the Stage Three Evolution!
“…I was planning to be more organized and report it—”
“Get to the point.”
“Ugh…!”
Every time I tried to elongate my answer even slightly, the pressure intensified.
It wanted me to spit out my results right away and not play around.
“…”
Geez, what a prick!
How could I have any results found on a matter that the Moon has researched for thousands upon thousands of years?!
If I could do that, I’d be a genius of the universe, or it’s just slow on the uptake.
The new information appearing in the status window caught my attention.
According to Summoned Kain, the Moon was ‘purifying’ devoured souls.
I had to concoct something.
Mix in the metaphor about paint that the Owl once used, and a decent enough line could emerge.
“The essence of the soul encapsulation is like a sea formed by countless drops of water. You, the prince, meticulously purify the devoured souls, cleansing those drops—”
“I already know this content.”
The pressure threatened to crush my limbs again.
I realized I was being attacked now!
“I—h-t-hat’s why I’m saying!—”
“In the end, it leads to the purification of the sea. Through this, you try to unify the sea with the color of ‘transparency.’ But that wasn’t enough.”
“It’s not enough. It was insufficient…”
Why isn’t it enough?
The answer flowed out naturally as if I was a true master of this profound truth.
It felt strange; I spoke like someone who legitimately understood such grand principles.
“If the souls coalesce beyond a certain limit, a new consciousness naturally awakens. Even if each individual soul remains purified.”
Right now, the Moon contained several Class One encapsulated souls that were awakening within!
“How will you overcome this problem?”
I knew that answer too.
“It’s impossible. When souls amalgamate, a great will arises, resembling the universal principle. The prince can’t overcome it unless you cause a Big Bang.”
With a life-threatening crisis, my wisdom shone brighter than normal.
What I was saying exceeded the level of my lab materials.
How did I know this?
“Indeed… when souls coalesce, high-dimensional will awakens; it’s a universal principle. There’s no way to escape.”
Even this much was already something the Moon had realized over eons of study.
The Moon did not know the next step.
“Will I never reach Stage Three?”
“…”
“You have transcended what you saw in the hotel. There is a way to transcend as well.”
Suddenly, I felt the shattering pressure ease off.
I felt like I was no longer obstructed by such “petty” forces.
Suddenly, the strongest intuition struck me.
The wall that the Moon faced, the Moon’s doubts.
The memory of a great being who had long surpassed this process.
Soon, words flowed out that I never would have imagined I’d say before.
“What a formidable fool you are. With so many souls gathered, and after an eternity of time, yet you haven’t reached nirvana?”
The sentences were laced with mockery.
Strangely, the Moon didn’t seem angry.
“I hear the voice of the ancients. Are you a remnant of the greatness left in your legacy? Or the traces of a scholar engulfed in illusion?”
“Ha! Prince! Your talent can never attain nirvana even after a million years. Yet here you are, fortunate to have a crown—an opportunity to become a god.”
The voice’s master deemed the prince unworthy of truly elevation.
The prince replied without a hint of wavering.
“I may lack in qualities compared to you, but the opportunity is mine, not yours, confined to that wretched tool.”
He just casually dropped the mention of the crown, and yet there was no significant response.
He was too burdened by the pain of yearning for Stage Three growth to even feel stung by such ridicule.
“Speak. If you reveal the profound truth, I won’t block your master’s escape.”
A tome opened in my hands.
In the end, there was empty space at the bottom of the book.
First sentence: Accept that an unchanging self does not exist.
Second sentence: If another’s can be yours, why can’t you be another?
As I spoke these words, I realized something amusing.
The very being that initially conceived the grimoire itself couldn’t fully digest this domain and moved to the realm of ‘sacrifice.’
A bizarre situation where the shadow of one who hasn’t been born is bluffing the Moon using realizations that even they couldn’t completely handle.
The third sentence.
“Know that under heaven, you are the only one.”
Just like the one who has not been born, I too could not fully understand this wording.
And yet, I knew it.
For I possess the divine sunlight that the one who never was didn’t have, and the wisdom that the hotel grants me.
In this universe, there is only me.
That alone is the truth.
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