Ever since I heard about the shattered goddess’s timeline, I had a hunch, but it turned out to be the very world I experienced in response to Irmana’s call.
‘The density and flow of magic feel subtly different… Is this a different timeline from the first and second times I came here? No… It’s not just a matter of time being different… It’s as if something feels off-balance.’
So they say it’s a broken timeline, and it truly seems like a chaotic mess has been mixed together.
Isn’t it possible that Goddess Irmana isn’t able to act properly because she’s entangled in this?
‘I don’t know how powerful Goddess Irmana originally was, but to be pressed this hard by a divine being… What kind of monster has that Blue-eyed reached?’
Azraelon’s words flash through my mind again, leaving me with a dizzying sensation.
“Hah— Focus on the present, focus. Where to go next?”
Step by step—
No matter which way I went, the environment was similar, so I just pushed against the ground with my feet.
Whew—
With each step, a refreshing and invigorating scent washed over my body.
“It’s just nice to walk. I should put this place at the top of the list of travel destinations with Yeon-hee.”
As I took in the sights around me and moved for a while, the [Mimicry] wore off.
Suddenly—
Cute little beings began to emerge one by one from the surface of the water, all gazing at me.
I had already sensed them, but for some reason, I didn’t want to scare the frightened Fibryn, so I pretended not to notice.
“Fib—…”
“Fib fib…?”
They clustered together, glancing at me and whispering, obviously wary, while following closely behind.
Then at a fork in the road, when I chose one direction, they jumped and shrieked in fright, and when I turned to the opposite direction, they sighed in relief, repeating the cycle.
‘I guess it would be easier if they just took the lead. For now, let’s follow the Fibryn…’
– ······.
And along with the tightly clustered Fibryn.
I could also feel the gentle gaze of a gigantic being watching me, but there was no need to seek out an entity that was trying to hide itself.
*
So, the tedious march continued for more than a day.
Honestly, I’m not sure if the concept of a day even applies here. I was merely guessing based on the sun rising to a height similar to when I first arrived yesterday.
‘Finally emerged. If it wasn’t for the guide, I would have been wandering around for a long time. It makes sense that those who entered couldn’t get out.’
Though time was dragging on, I could be anxious about Yeon-hee, but from my experience, time here differs greatly from time on Earth, so I wasn’t too worried.
Of course, I couldn’t be entirely sure of that, so after navigating the maze, I had no choice but to speed up.
‘How are you keeping up so well?’
Even while running alongside the lake, the army of Fibryn, now numbering in the hundreds, followed me without losing track.
Just as I was starting to get a little tired of the utterly beautiful scenery.
Swoosh—
I abruptly pushed off the ground and stopped.
‘I can sense a foul aura.’
– You detect the energy of the Evil God “Blue-eyed” follower “Jiksructor”!
– You have discovered “Jiksructor’s” Dark Beast Legion!
‘Followers of the Blue-eyed? Damn it… These aren’t the Plague Soldiers I met last time, are they?’
What on earth is it about Goddess Irmana that keeps attracting these Blue-eyed followers to invade?
[Clack clack clack—]
‘What now…?’
Shortly thereafter, I discovered some filthy creatures that were clearly minions of this Jiksructor.
Disgusting four-legged beasts began to emerge in large numbers, their forms reminiscent of twisted and contorted scorpions, with writhing horns on their foreheads and six blood-red eyes that blazed with primal instinct.
They crawled mindlessly forward, but the bubbles covering their bodies burst, oozing gross slime that smeared the brightly beautiful world.
‘Urgh— That’s disgusting. Are all of the Blue-eyed’s followers like that?’
Despite their lowly appearance, they seemed to possess far greater combat power than the Plague Soldiers that Malachias had.
At that moment, a quest message popped up in my mind, but I knew its content without needing to read it.
‘Anyone who defiles such a beautiful place deserves no mercy, even without a quest.’
– Drive away “Jiksructor’s” beast legion alongside the water fairies!
– “Jiksructor’s” beasts are weak to fire!
– This is a special environmental world. The power of fire attribute skills is reduced by 20%!
‘Oh… Last time I couldn’t use it at all, but at least I can use fire this time?’
Perhaps it’s because this time I didn’t enter due to Goddess Irmana’s guidance, so the restrictions have lifted.
‘A weakness to fire is still a bonus, so even if it’s weaker, pushing forward with fire seems advantageous.’
This was yet another task with no particular rewards.
But succeeding at this might bring me closer to the highest tier water magic, “Aquakanum.”
‘Fibryn, you all stay put for now!’
“Fibuu?!!”
Even though the system told me to fight alongside the Fibryn, that would inevitably lead to the sacrifice of those cute little beings.
‘Seeing you die last time really haunted me for a while. I’ll handle it alone for now.’
“Fibuuu…??”
Whether they understood my words or not, their eyes quickly became moist as they made pitiful whimpering sounds.
I found their expressions so adorable that I wanted to stay longer with them, but I shook off that desire and rushed toward the narrow canyon that led to the next lake.
– Fibuuu!!
Leaving behind the Fibryn who called out to me with longing, I confronted the looming “Jiksructor’s” beast legion before me.
‘There are a lot of them— really a lot!’
There seemed to be thousands— the number would easily reach tens of thousands based on how many were continually streaming into my detection range.
In contrast, the number of Fibryn trying to hide by gathering around the nearby lake was only in the thousands.
‘Will this even be a fight? The “Administrator of Balance” should be active in a place like this.’
I felt the urge to capture the “Administrator of Balance,” who wasn’t doing much help in our world, and stick him here.
‘The power difference is too vast. I can’t fathom how I’ve survived until now; I just need to hold out as long as I can.’
I donned two Runes of Absorption, which help me recover magic power whenever I defeat an enemy, to increase my magical endurance.
Then, I summoned all my minions to block the path and moved above the approaching beast legion along the canyon’s inner walls.
“Giiiiix!!”
The revolting beasts that spotted me suddenly craned their necks and let out unrecognizable cries.
Chill—
I had no trouble taking on a single entity, which had mid-level B-class combat power, but the crazed and hollow eyes of these beasts sent shivers down my spine.
‘How dare they make me flinch!’
[Rage Roar]
[Kiliiriririri?!]
But that was only a moment.
The beasts, put into a state of chaos by my roar, quickly hardened into stone, creating a bottleneck in the canyon.
The beasts began to pile up in thick black masses in the path.
Then, an additional message indicating that an achievement had been activated popped up in my mind.
– Achievement [Small Madness] has been activated.
‘Oo…? Finally?’
An ability that activates when facing more than 500 enemies single-handedly.
The minions I summoned were shackled to me, perceived as a single entity.
– Your body is engulfed by an unbearable madness borne from the unreasonable battle in which you find yourself!
– Your attack range doubles.
– Your attack power increases by 30%.
– The magic needed to unleash skills and traits increases by 20%.
– All physical abilities rise by 15%.
– You fall into an uncontrollable rampage state for a certain duration.
“Clap clap clap!!”
‘Urrgh… My mind feels like it’s gone blank!’
In an instant, I felt an overwhelming rise in my stats and couldn’t contain my uncontrollable rage, necessitating immediate release of my energy.
‘Just blow it all up!!’
[Skeleton Bomb]
Boom boom boom boom boom—
‘…?! Wasting bombs—!!’
While my reason protested, my body was recklessly hurling bombs brought from the space.
Then, I began to wildly unleash fire and lightning magic in all directions, continuing for dozens of minutes.
During that time, my previously well-contained destructive urges exploded uncontrollably.
“Haha! This little madness or whatever feels great!!”
Whoosh—
Boom boom boom—
*Crackle crackle!!*
‘…… Hah—’
If there were a hell, it would be right here, engulfed in flames.
My magic dropped to the floor, filled back up, and only after it sank below 200 did I finally come to my senses.
‘Hah— hah— Damn… the side effects are insane!’
The stat increase was vast, but the blackout that followed was an incredibly severe penalty for me.
[Calm]
[Calm]
[Calm]
What lifted me from the madness was, of course, the trait [Calm].
It had grown to a resistance of 55% against mental state abnormalities, a trait that was truly invaluable to me.
‘But strangely, my head feels clearer?’
Perhaps because I released all the trapped desires, a lot of the dark fog clouding my mind had lifted.
Regaining my composure, I now read the kill messages that popped up.
– You have massacred a large number of Dark Beasts “Fallens!”
– The timeline of the goddess that “Fallens” had stained has visibly been purified!
Those messages piled up in my mind.
‘Fallens…’
Even those lowly beings had a proper name.
“Fallens,” it’s a pretty fitting name, isn’t it?
‘If it’s visibly purified… this time something immediate is happening?’
Whether it’s because of the different timeline or something else, I felt more motivated.
Thanks to the tremendously boosted power of the explosive bombs and my enhanced fire magic, the area was set ablaze with thousands of beast corpses.
*Splattering sounds—*
As the bodies disintegrated into fragments, “Fallens” piled up like a truckload all around.
*Drip drip—*
*Boom—*
Every time they exploded, filthy ooze splattered everywhere.
‘Urgh— That’s truly disgusting. I’d rather be covered in feces.’
It was incredibly painful to watch the once bright space, like a pristine white canvas, being tainted black.
‘I feel a guilty conscience. If this continues, my hard-earned purification might just go to waste.’
I worried that I might be the one defiling this world instead, but the messages continued to encourage my purification efforts.
– ······!!
‘Don’t you come any closer!’
Before I knew it, the mass of Fibryn had followed me all the way to the lake near the canyon, and they struggled to climb onto the land, staring at me fighting with wide-open mouths.
Their bodies were trembling, clearly terrified after witnessing my rampaging state.
‘No wonder the achievement wasn’t applying.’
I had seen that when Fibryn came to land, they couldn’t fight properly, so even in this tough situation, I had no choice but to take the lead more actively.
The second round began again.
No, more like a slaughter for my venting frustrations.
*Boom boom boom boom!!*
‘DIE!!’
*Whoosh—!!*
‘Burn to death!!’
*Crackle crackle—*
*Gurgle!!*
‘Cutting with an area infused with lightning is actually quite useful!’
As I poured all my abilities into subjugating the beasts, before I knew it, their corpses had stacked high, forming a barricade in the canyon.
The strategically advantageous terrain was created, so I didn’t even bother clearing it.
“Growl— Krrr!!”
“Meow…!”
The beasts that had been fixated on me started to back away slowly, as if realizing it was futile.
Then, more and more of them began to turn, trying to escape the canyon.
It seemed they judged that ignoring me and heading towards the lake was a more efficient course of action.
‘Are their intentions to defile the lake…?’
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