I had one last escape route left.
It was simple: staying here without seeing the ending.
No more entanglement with Draken or the Four Heavenly Kings, dodging the main heroines and living here for the rest of my life.
After all, Draken’s descent and the destruction would happen a thousand years later.
I thought it was something that wouldn’t happen in my lifetime.
“Ten years later…!”
But that escape route just got blocked.
I had even considered fleeing with Cornelia to live in some quiet countryside, but that option no longer exists.
Ten years later.
It’s not that Draken will come here.
‘This world’ will move to Draken.
Drawn by absurd power, the entire world will cross dimensions and arrive in the hidden world.
By then, there will really be no way to fight back.
If Draken descends here, I could at least resist to some extent, but in his home ground, the hidden world, I wouldn’t be able to defeat him by any means.
It’s like starting a fight in the boss mob’s invulnerable room in a game.
“There’s no answer.”
If I escape, this world will perish.
Because of that unrealistic number of a thousand years, I had thought it was a distant matter and felt at ease.
But now that destruction is approaching within a visible distance of ten years, I finally feel that responsibility.
I created this world.
By intervening, I hastened its destruction.
I brought the end to all living beings, breathing, moving, laughing, and chatting.
Thinking about that makes me gasp for breath and my head go blank.
This place is no longer just a game world.
There’s no regression to turn back.
I ask myself.
Did I live this last life meaningfully and without regrets?
Yes.
I can say so without a single hesitation.
The only regret is that I couldn’t convey my feelings to the main heroines due to the system’s wall.
Even though I remembered the regression, I couldn’t approach those who forgave me.
That’s all.
‘Perhaps my attempt to kill Draken is…’
Until now, I thought I was targeting Draken because I wanted to go back.
But since when did I stop thinking about what I would do if I returned?
It was stubbornness after a certain point.
Having come this far through regressions, the stubborn thought that if I couldn’t conquer, everything would turn into bubbles.
I didn’t want the hardships of the past to be for nothing; it was merely an intangible goal I was clinging to.
But now a goal has emerged.
There’s a reason to stay here and take out Draken.
I will correct my mistakes.
I will take responsibility for everything I’ve hurt through my regressions.
Without running away.
I will stay here proudly.
‘The path is starting to become clear.’
At that moment, the dark vision in front of my eyes begins to clear.
My body, which felt like it would freeze in one breath, is moving.
A warm something starts to be felt from deep within my chest.
I made it.
Yerina’s resentment-filled chill couldn’t stop me.
Crunch!
I crushed the dungeon core with my hands.
Suddenly, the inside of the dungeon darkens, and the chill disappears.
“This isn’t a crisis. It’s an opportunity.”
Even though a time limit of ten years has appeared, it’s really nothing much.
I was planning to have the final battle within two years anyway.
It’s just that the psychological pressure has increased a bit; it doesn’t interfere with my plans.
On the contrary, the gains from recovering Draken’s powers are greater.
General monsters don’t heavily rely on their powers, so the decrease in strength was minimal.
But what about the Four Heavenly Kings?
It’s clear that Belphegor and Luna would have taken a huge hit.
If I’m going to strike, it’s now.
No time to waste; I have to strike right away.
They must be quite puzzled.
Though they would try hard to hide it and act tough.
They wouldn’t even expect that I would notice the recovery of their powers.
Furthermore, the Four Heavenly Kings all have ways to communicate with Draken.
They can cross dimensions into the hidden world.
If I can strip them of that trait, there might be one more way to target Draken.
If I am going to attack the Four Heavenly Kings, it must be now.
Or it has to happen soon.
The problem is I don’t even know their locations, let alone how to get there…
“That shouldn’t be a problem.”
Now I have someone to ask.
Rummaging through my bag, I pulled out the black mana stone.
Kali’s dead soul.
In other words, Kali’s soul.
[Accumulation: 59,800/62,500]
The maximum accumulation is now just around the corner.
Now that it’s revealed to be a soul, what happens when the accumulation fills up is obvious.
“Uh…?”
Looking at the dead soul, the nameless little spider tilted its head.
I’ll need to borrow its body for a bit.
.
.
.
“Gah…!”
Flash!
The girl’s eyes opened, taking a deep breath and rising to her feet.
Kali.
It was the moment Great Druid Kali was resurrected.
“…?”
Kali immediately checked her body, feeling puzzled.
It’s a human body.
The body of a child with long blonde hair.
It somewhat resembles her childhood appearance, but if the magical power I feel from it is ridiculously low, then that doesn’t seem to be the case.
“What the hell…”
When I try to retrace my memory, my head starts ringing with a headache.
I can’t remember anything.
I can’t recall anything.
It’s as if someone put a seal on my memory.
“Have you come to your senses?”
“…?!”
Thud.
At that moment, feeling someone’s presence, Kali hurriedly pulled the blanket over her.
She searched for something that could become a weapon, but there was nothing like that.
Kali could only wait helplessly at the bed’s edge until the presence approached.
Finally, the door opened.
And an unfamiliar man appeared.
“That eye. You’re Kali, huh? The soul transplant must have been successful.”
“Child… Do you know me?”
“Don’t you remember me?”
“…”
Kali shook her head.
Yoo Jin sighed in disbelief.
For now, a simple spell was placed on the nameless’s head, blocking access to memories of what he had seen and heard.
So, what Kali could remember were only the memories carved in the mana stone.
But for some reason, Kali’s memories were not complete.
‘Did the processing of the mana stone cause some loss?’
Through Tay, unnecessary parts were trimmed away, transforming it into the most efficient form, which is Kali’s dead soul.
Thanks to that, there was no significant difficulty in implanting it into the nameless’s body, but it seemed that some of those ‘unnecessary parts’ contained certain memories.
That was only expected.
Pure souls do not contain ‘memories.’
“I am…”
How should I explain this?
While Yoo Jin pondered silently, Kali spoke up.
“You’re my comrade! You became a new comrade while I was dead. The fact that I now have this body means that I died and was resurrected. You brought me back, right? Am I right?”
“Yeah. Just as you said. I am one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Necromancer Mi Jeong.”
“…”
After getting a hint from Kali’s response, Yoo Jin instantly revised his plan.
Originally, he intended to threaten the weakened Kali to extract information.
But now, since she mistook him for a comrade, there was no need for that.
Though he received a look of disbelief from Mi Jeong for the habitual theft of a name, Yoo Jin ignored it and continued the conversation.
“What about my body?”
“It was lost and only parts remained, so the current form is created from what was salvaged.”
“I see… So, you’re quite the skilled necromancer. To think you managed to resurrect me with only parts of my body.”
“…”
Necromancer?
Yoo Jin had no clue about that whatsoever.
After all, the nameless’s body was a resurrected being created by Luna’s Resurrection.
Yoo Jin simply put Kali’s soul into that resurrected body; it was a straightforward task.
But Kali had no way of knowing that.
And Yoo Jin decided to keep up the act of being a competent necromancer and a comrade of the Four Heavenly Kings.
After all, the dull senses of the nameless made it impossible to discern whether this lie was true or not.
“Drink this. It’s hot chocolate. Since you’ve turned into an ordinary human body, you’ll need to intake a lot of calories.”
“Uh…”
Yoo Jin handed her the hot chocolate he had brewed for himself.
Receiving it carefully, Kali pulled the blanket up to her neck and began sipping the hot chocolate.
Seeing her, Yoo Jin rejoiced inwardly.
The difficulty level had dropped significantly.
If I continue acting as her comrade, I might be able to extract more information.
Sola was merely a candidate for the Four Heavenly Kings, and the interrogation results hadn’t been very satisfactory.
But this time, it was a chance to uncover critical secrets regarding the Four Heavenly Kings or Draken’s weaknesses.
“Do you really remember nothing? Just tell me whatever you can recall.”
“My name… And that I was a Great Druid. And that I served ‘that person,’ and my comrades were Belphegor and Luna… Ah! The last member was you, replacing someone.”
“That’s right.”
“Other than that… I vaguely remember trying to do something with the World Tree, but.. ugh…”
There’s no sign of her lying.
She truly seems to have lost her memory and doesn’t know who I am.
Yoo Jin made that judgment and held Kali’s hand as she gripped her head in distress.
“It’s okay. Now that you’re resurrected, you can take your time regaining your strength. I’ll help you with that.”
“How…?”
“Your body is currently scattered and being researched all over the world. From now on, I’ll collect those pieces and put them back together. Of course, I can identify the locations of your body fragments with my ‘eyes,’ so don’t worry.”
“Oh…!”
“Don’t think about contacting the other Four Heavenly Kings recklessly. There are impostors pretending to be Belphegor and Luna. With an ordinary human’s senses, you won’t be able to discern their true identities, so don’t even consider approaching the Four Heavenly Kings alone. Just trust me, and I’ll ensure you get to meet the Four Heavenly Kings.”
Yoo Jin quickly spun an elaborate lie.
If there was a chance she’d encounter Belphegor, things would get very complicated, so he advised her not to meet them.
He made sure Kali would have no choice but to rely on him.
He planned to turn her back into a mana stone right after extracting enough information, so he didn’t have to worry about any aftermath.
But there was one thing Yoo Jin hadn’t accounted for.
“Child…”
“Call me Mi Jeong.”
“Mi Jeong… I have one question. Can I ask it?”
“Anything.”
“Were we lovers in the past…?”
Kali’s delusion had reached an uncontrollable extent.
