Chapter 194 : Chapter 194
Chapter 194
Three men sought the ruins.
They were the remains of three cities that had become uninhabited since the ‘Night of Inversion’ 11 years ago.
After the beings of the Underworld had clawed their way through, it had become a land where the living could not live. To me, such eeriness was rather convenient.
I wandered about, clad in shadow.
It was the Mana Armor Valziart.
The way it trembled, more violently than usual, was unusual.
Valziart was originally a noble of the shadow dimension. It was reacting sensitively to the presence of the gate to the Underworld.
I stopped where the shadow quaked with particular intensity and smiled.
“Found it.”
The place where I stood, the place that made the shadow tremble, was the epicenter of the ‘Night of Inversion’.
It was also the location of the lock placed by the Hotus Eight Gods. Obro, seeing me retract Valziart, asked.
“…Here?”
He stirred the ground with the tip of his boot.
His face was one of doubt.
He had visited these ruins countless times over the past 11 years, which made him all the more puzzled.
“…The people of Hohopran Magul said the ‘Night of Inversion’ would have started beneath the city… not here…….”
“Those people must have been wrong.”
I cut Obro’s words short.
Hohopran Magul was the greatest collective of mages in the West.
But I was not a fool who blindly trusted authority. Seeing Valziart’s violent reaction, this place was certain.
“Are you ready, Amethus?”
“Yes.”
The jade-eyed man had already taken out and put on his mask.
The face left behind by the ancient god, the ‘Breath of Light’.
As he wore the mask, a jade-colored flame erupted.
As the spiritual flame shook the world, black smoke began to rise from the ground.
It was proof that this place was connected to the Underworld.
I snorted as if to say, ‘See?’
The black smoke momentarily obscured our vision.
Just as the jade flame began to spread its light, something started to appear layered beneath the ground.
A texture, inorganic and heavy gray, stretched from one side of our vision to the other.
It completely filled the space beneath their feet. Obro flinched and trembled in surprise.
The gray that filled the space below was not still.
It moved here and there, forming various shapes.
Every one of them was a face contorted in pain or a body writhing in struggle.
Grief, agony, screams……. Despairs that could not be expressed without attaching the character for sorrow.
That thing, filled with the forms of despair, was a gate.
A massive gate stretching from one side to the other, large enough to easily swallow tens of thousands of people, kept its maw shamelessly shut tight.
The jade-colored flame revealed the hidden gate.
It was the gate to the Underworld.
It was not a gate leading to the actual underworld, the true afterlife where people go when they die.
In the first place, I did not know where people went when they died, or if they went anywhere at all.
It was simply that there was no more fitting expression to describe this gate’s appearance than the gate to the Underworld.
“…….”
I lowered my posture and placed a hand on the gate.
Seven flames ignited within my eyes.
The Septem Arcana, the promise of the Seven Secrets.
As if in response, the gate to the Underworld twisted and changed its form.
Amidst the screaming faces and writhing bodies contorted in sorrow, ancient emblems were revealed.
There were eight of them.
They were inscribed in the ancient Hotus language, but I read them without difficulty.
[A monster that calls itself a god is trapped here.]
[The monster’s name is Black Light.]
There were no words of warning.
It was too secretive a gate to use archaic phrases like, ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.’
Anyone who could find this gate would have no need for such warnings.
[Eight gods, who were once human, imprisoned the monster for the sake of humanity.]
[The names of the eight gods are written here.]
Beneath the eight emblems, their names were written one by one.
Also in the ancient Hotus language.
Needless to say, these eight were undoubtedly the Hotus Eight Gods.
[The names of the high four]
[The Last Emperor]
[The Last General]
[The Last Minister]
[The Last Mage]
[The names of the low four][The Last Clown]
[The Last Slave]
[The Last Dancer]
[The Last Prisoner]
I swept my hand over the emblem of the Last Mage.
The flames of the Septem Arcana burned even stronger.
As I caressed my master’s name, the eight emblems vanished as if melting away.
I hadn't told Obro, but the gate to the Underworld could not be opened with the face of Light alone.
Valziart was needed to find it, and the face of Light and the Septem Arcana were needed to open it.
‘Seven years ago, right after regressing, I obtained Valziart for this very moment…….’
The Succession War had just begun, and I had acquired the treasure of the library.
It felt like an eternity ago.
If I hadn’t had Valziart, it would have taken a long time to find the gate to the Underworld.
The plan to bring Obro Denoebang here had existed since right after I regressed.
“It’s done.”
Having undone the seal of the Eight Gods, I raised my head.
“Finish it, Amethus.”
“Yes.”
Amethus, wearing the face of Light, stepped forward. He lifted his head and glared at the sky.
With jade suns in his two eyes, he shouted fiercely towards the sun in the sky.
The words came from his mouth, but it was not his voice.
[O, Sun-!]
The Breath of Light shouted, borrowing Amethus’s tongue.
He demanded his rightful due.
[Release my chariot-!!!]
The shout shook the heavens.
A shining dot shot out from the sun high in the sky.
The sound of clattering hooves could be heard.
It gradually drew closer.
It was the sound of hooves.
Headless deer galloped across the sky.
Each time they stepped on the air, a loud clatter echoed.
The deer were pulling a chariot.
On the chariot was a sphere of light.
An indescribable light and heat blazed.
[Puncture that filthy black gate-!!!]
Instead of boarding the chariot, Amethus commanded it to fall.
The deer pulling the sun chariot were faithful to their master's command.
They increased their speed.
More fiercely, more hotly, more brightly.
Like a single meteor.
The sun fell and struck the gate to the Underworld.
A bloodcurdling scream emanated from the gate.
A shrill screech, scraping the world with the wail of a specter.
Amethus paid it no mind and commanded the sun chariot with a gesture.
The sun chariot struck the gate several times, finally creating a small crack.
“…….”
Seeing the small crack, Amethus reached for his double-edged sword.
A jade flame ignited on it as well.
Wielding this flame felt strangely familiar.
Each time he wore the face of Light, it felt as though he was gradually transforming into something other than himself.
But it was not an unpleasant feeling.
He thrust his sword forward with force.
The jade flame split the world.
The gate to the Underworld could not endure any longer and flung its maw wide open.
“…Oh…….”
Obro Denoebang let out a moan.
The ground split open, creating a pit.
It was a passage leading to an unknown abyss, to an utterly eerie and terrifying other dimension.
He caught a glimpse of that place he had searched for so desperately but had never found.
“…Ugh, uuuuh…….”
Only then did Obro weep.
Tears he thought had long since dried up welled up in sorrow.
Looking at the pit leading to the depths, I spoke.
“This is it. The people who disappeared back then are beyond there.”
I swallowed the words, ‘though I don’t know how many are still alive.’
I didn't want to needlessly inflict more wounds on Obro before a fight.
“Let’s jump in.”
“…….”
In my words, Obro did not move.
He only glanced down into the pit.
Wasn't this the moment he had so eagerly awaited? Puzzled, I asked.
“Is something wrong, Mr. Obro?”
“……Well…….”
Obro Denoebang awkwardly stroked his beard.
He looked somewhat anxious and fearful, and at the same time, his face was one of extreme embarrassment.
“……It’s really a bit much to say this…….”
“Speak freely.”
“……Um…….”
The bearded man slowly moved his lips.
“It’s just that, trying to get sober is scary… If I could just quickly buy a bottle of liquor…….”
“……Push him in, Amethus.”
“J-j-just one bottle! I said I’ll be right back……!”
He couldn't finish his sentence as he was pushed and fell into the gate to the Underworld.
A long scream of, ‘Aaargh,’ followed. Amethus and I sighed and threw ourselves in after him.
The gate to the Underworld swallowed the three men.
Soon, it became quiet.
***
“What if you could go back to the past?”
Obro Denoebang was drinking even then.
“That’s not going to happen, Shion. Let’s just focus on tomorrow’s battle. You heard, didn’t you? The vanguard tomorrow will probably be Amethus… that damn diviner. What a troublesome bastard!”
But what if.
If you could live life one more time.
“You’re being unusually persistent for someone like you. If it were me……”
No, you can’t go back.
Only I can go back.
“What kind of question is this? Damn it, I need a drink.”
Stop drinking. People will be disappointed if the noble White Lord is a drunkard.
“Ha! I was always a drunkard. And far from noble. Let people misunderstand.”
Just answer the question.
“Ask again, so it’s easy to understand.”
What if, Obro.
Let’s say that I, Shion Pollinglight, could go back to the past.
“Alright. Let’s say you, Shion of Merion, go back to the past and live another life. Not that it would ever happen.”
Then what could I do for you?
“…….”
Obro Denoebang was silent for a long time.
It was a question that forced him to look back on the hardship and pain of his life, and since the pain of his life was so deep and long as to be incomparable to others, an unavoidable silence continued for a long while.
He emptied half a bottle of hard liquor before opening his mouth again.
“……That idiot Obro, you see, was holed up in a corner village for a long time. It’s a place called Raenit, where they make, hmm, a very tasty fruit wine.”
I’ve heard of it.
“The tavern owner there was a Cordis spy… but that’s not important. Anyway, for over ten years, I lived like a mouse, just drinking.”
You’re still drinking now.
“You’re nagging a lot today, Shion!”
Sorry, go on.
“…Right. There’s something that the idiotic Obro of that time absolutely needs to know.”
He had contorted his face into a shape so sorrowful that no one in the world could imitate it.
It was a memory from over ten years ago, yet it was a miserable sight that I couldn't forget even after regressing.
I couldn't help but respect Obro Denoebang, who had overcome such misery and sorrow to pick up his sword again.
“……They… were alive…….”
…….
“……In that ground, in that damn place called the Underworld…… not all of them, but certainly many… they were alive for almost ten years, w-waiting for this Obro…….”
…Obro…….
“……Even that child, Mariet…….”
Agony.
“If I, if I had been just a little faster……. If I had been just a little less of an idiot……. If I had gotten back up and taken my sword to find them in three years… no, even just one year sooner…….”
Tears.
“……I could have saved them.”
…You can stop talking, Obro.
I understand enough.
“…If you go back to the past, be sure to tell me. And if circumstances allow, help me save them.”
People can’t go back to the past, Obro.
“Then why did you ask such a question?”
I thought I’d try to ease the tension before the battle.
“Hmph. Anyway, remember this clearly. If you go to the past, you promised to help.”
Alright, I get it.
“But getting me of that time to move… Well, it will be more troublesome and tiring than you can imagine. I was a really annoying idiot.”
I can’t imagine it.
“My beard was this long, and I’d just whine while drunk… Ah, let’s stop, let’s stop!”
Yeah, let’s stop.
I’ve remembered everything you said.
“Get at least a little sleep. Tomorrow’s battle will be fierce. Especially since they said the Diviner Amethus… one of the Empire’s Great Generals, is coming out.”
***
Obro Denoebang lost his life the day after that conversation.
The Cordis side had a staggering four of the Ten Great Generals, and the West suffered devastating losses.
If Obro Denoebang hadn’t taken those four Great Generals with him, Shion Pollinglight would have met the end of his life there as well.
That is why I remember.
I could recall the conversation from over a decade ago as if every single letter was engraved on my heart.
As I had said, I returned to the past.
Which meant it was time for the Regressor Prince to keep his promise.