Chapter 167 : Chapter 167
Chapter 167 : The Revealed Sky (2)
“……I can't believe it. To think such a thing is possible. I didn't know that my friend the Supreme King had made these preparations.”
Newbie Hunter Ballak innocently laid out his impressions of what he was seeing.
“Didn't you know?”
“……It is true that I have seen glimpses beyond the sky, but it being revealed like this is a completely different story. One of the world's greatest secrets has just been leaked.”
The Newbie Hunter looked at me with strange eyes.
“More than that, seeing that you are not surprised at all even after seeing that sight, you must have already known what lies beyond the sky.”
“Yeah. I knew.”
“……That's surprising.”
The Newbie Hunter could not hide that he was genuinely surprised.
“Well, since you made that friend the Supreme King end up like that in the first place, it wouldn't be strange. I felt it before, but what on earth is your true identity?”
“Well. I don't think my identity or anything like that is important in the current situation.”
“Hmm…… That's not wrong.”
The Newbie Hunter didn't ask persistently about me.
“Did you know the Supreme King?”
“We were close friends, once.”
The Newbie Hunter's gaze headed towards a distant place as if looking at the far-off past.
Whatever he was looking at, the Supreme King and the Newbie Hunter back then probably weren't like they are now.
“Close friends, huh. Yet you managed to answer my call despite that.”
“Stopping an old friend from going down the wrong path is also the duty of someone who was once a friend. Well…… it seems it's already too late now, though.”
“Is that so?”
“But I'm not sure if this was truly what that friend the Supreme King wished for. If the magic the Supreme King prepared had been fully activated, the door would have already opened.”
The Newbie Hunter smiled bitterly while looking at the sight unfolding in the sky.
“But what can be done? The magic has already been activated, albeit incompletely, and the curtain of truth has been revealed. No one can stop this massive flow.”
The Newbie Hunter recited in a low voice.
“Chaos will arise, very massive chaos.”
“I suppose so.”
It wouldn't be a commotion just to the extent of thinking something strange appeared in the sky.
Starting right away with what happened to the Eastern Union cities where the magic circles installed by the Supreme King were activated, to the matter of Earth beyond the sky.
It would literally be sufficient to be called great chaos.
“Is that the reason you've been wary of the existence of the fragments?”
“If we only look at the result, you could see it that way. Though it has become meaningless now.”
The scenery of Earth revealed beyond the sky would instill countless thoughts in the natives of this world as well as the players.
When they see with their own two eyes the scenery of their hometown that they had only been thinking about vaguely until now, what thoughts would the players possibly have?
“Eventually, everyone will be forced to reach one of two conclusions.”
The Newbie Hunter stated the conclusion regarding what he had been concerned about until now.
“Whether to open the door beyond the sky.”
That was the same as what I heard from Great Sage Akiro in Akiro's Labyrinth someday.
“Or to close it.”
The door.
That referred to the door to cross the sky and return to Earth.
In addition to that, the Newbie Hunter added a few words.
“Whether to return to our hometown.”
The Newbie Hunter tapped the ground with his foot.
“Or to remain here.”
Upon hearing that far, I had no choice but to ask the Newbie Hunter one thing.
“Which side are you on?”
“……Haha, I didn't know you would ask that. Honestly speaking, I'm a little flustered.”
“Is it difficult to answer?”
“Although I was flustered, the time has come when we all must answer that now.”
The Newbie Hunter said.
“If I had to choose, I want the side where the door doesn't open.”
“As expected.”
“Did you expect it?”
“From the fact that you tried to eliminate the fragments, it seemed like you wanted to maintain the status quo.”
The Newbie Hunter nodded his head slightly as if accepting it.
“It's not exactly wrong. I want this world to remain in this state. If the door opens…… real chaos that I dare not even imagine will arise.”
“Are you saying you know what will happen if the door opens?”
Great Sage Akiro said.
That one side of the door is already open.
If that direction was from Earth to this world, what would happen if the door were opened from here?
“The two worlds would be connected.”
The Newbie Hunter spoke calmly, but the meaning contained within was far too huge.
Enough that if Luna were here, she would have screamed.
“As expected.”
The two worlds connect.
There were truly many meanings contained in those words.
Earth and the Lagna Continent.
If those two worlds, which are different, far too different, were artificially connected, what on earth would happen?
I don't know for sure, but there was a high possibility that more bad things than good would happen.
Two completely different worlds coming into contact meant such a thing.
“It seems I should get going now.”
The Newbie Hunter, who couldn't take his eyes off the sky beyond for a while, lowered his gaze.
“I don't know what choice you will make but…… I hope you make a choice you won't regret.”
“Sounds like you're asking me to take your side.”
“Haha, caught me.”
The Newbie Hunter joked.
“Now, many people will make a choice. They will each consider their own choice to be right. I don't want to say who among them is wrong. Nor can I say. But I can say this much.”
The Newbie Hunter's gaze looked at me.
“Whatever result comes out, many things will change.”
“We can't just stay stopped forever.”
“That's not wrong. But I am very afraid of that change.”
The Newbie Hunter frankly stated the emotions he was feeling.
“There were too many useless words. I should get going now. It seems I'll become busy.”
“Right.”
“If our fates connect, let us meet again. I pray that the meeting won't be the last.”
“I also don't really want to be hostile to a man of your caliber.”
“Recognition from the person who defeated the Supreme King, this is valuable.”
The Newbie Hunter turned around.
“Then, farewell.”
And the Newbie Hunter suddenly disappeared into a rift created by Space Magic.
And I, left alone on the roof in a daze, blankly looked down below the roof.
Here, it's quite high.
High enough that if I fell in my current physical condition, I might really die.
“…….”
It seemed I would have to wait a bit until my body recovered.
***
“Haa, haa…….”
Alicia exhaled rough breaths while covered in blood.
It was not an easy fight.
But the 4th Special Task Force eventually won the fight against the Arkendale Imperial Knights, and although covered in blood, they stood their ground until the end.
“Phew…… almost died.”
“You look like you're already almost dying, Big guy.”
“Look who's talking.”
Conlan and Albino giggled while looking at each other's state.
Although none of the special task force members were unscathed, none of them had suffered injuries severe enough to immediately threaten their lives either.
The fact that they only suffered that much injury even after finishing a fight against an equal number of Arkendale Imperial Knights meant that the special task force members had become incomparably stronger than before.
“Still, we survived thanks to you, White hair.”
“……Hmph. I won't take on this kind of risk next time. It's fortunate that the price was small this time…… thinking that I might suffer that again is terrible.”
The one who played the biggest role in this fight was, as expected, Albino.
Despite his past trauma not yet being fully overcome, Albino made a contract with a demon this time and used magic.
Thanks to that, the crisis became an opportunity, and the special task force members were able to subdue all the Arkendale Imperial Knights.
“Ugh, anyway, since it's quiet inside, is that guy Vell even alive?”
“……Shouldn't we go in and check?”
Conlan and Albino's gaze turned to Alicia.
“……Let's go in.”
Since Alicia was also quite bothered by this unpleasant silence, the special task force members carefully opened the palace doors.
Creaaak…….
Finally, the huge gate opened, and soon Alicia's eyes widened at the revealed scenery.
“……A corpse?”
The moment she first saw the corpse with a split chest, Alicia felt her heart sink, but soon confirmed that the corpse was not Vell Blackwood and let out a sigh of relief.
“……Is this person the Supreme King?”
“It seems so. But where did Vell go?”
“Hmm? Wait, there's a hole up there.”
The hole pierced in the ceiling.
The expressions of the special task force members who moved their gazes there gradually hardened stiffly.
“……Wait, what is that?”
“What is it?”
Not only Conlan, but both Albino and Alicia looked at the sight revealed in the sky and could not hide their shock.
“A blue light's…… star?”
“What is this…….”
“……This is absurd. What am I looking at right now?”
Something is happening.
Everyone here felt that fact.
***
Bellerophon has been fighting an invisible war for a long time.
The Hall of Subjugation, Demonic persons, and various other guilds, etc…….
The justification was simple.
Bellerophon had always warned of the danger of the Demonic energy contained in the fragments, and actually collected the fragments.
On the other hand, the Hall of Subjugation and the Demonic person side considered the secret possessed by the fragments to be the biggest clue to return to Earth.
It was inevitable in a way that two groups with different ideologies and thoughts would clash.
It was the same for Luna participating in that invisible war.
The reason Luna suddenly left Vell Blackwood's side was also because of that war.
Because as the conflict between the Empire and the Eastern Union deepened and war approached, the atmosphere between Bellerophon and the Hall of Subjugation also became unusual.
“Phew…….”
In the local skirmishes between Bellerophon and the Hall of Subjugation that had become frequent recently, Luna stood on the side of the Hall of Subjugation and waged war against Bellerophon.
It wasn't exactly that she belonged to the Hall of Subjugation, but because the interests between Luna and the Hall of Subjugation aligned.
Luna wished to obtain the fragments, and therefore she had no choice but to cause friction with Bellerophon, who eliminated the fragments and siphoned them off somewhere.
And now.
Luna, who seized victory in the all-out war between Bellerophon and the Hall of Subjugation that began to occur recently, held a blood-stained fragment in her hand.
She didn't know if this mere fragment was worth staining with this much blood, but nevertheless, Luna did not hesitate.
It was during that moment.
That the abnormality occurred in the sky.
Light flashed, and the sky split.
Soon, the scenery began to be revealed beyond the sky.
Luna looked at the appearance of the blue star revealed in the sky with trembling eyes.
Luna knew that star.
No, there would be no one among the players who didn't know the name of that star.
“……Ah.”
Luna's shoulders shook slightly.
Because it seemed that what she had longed for so much would finally be realized.
Luna wanted to return to her hometown.
To that place where her family and friends were.
Luna will definitely return.
Even if she had to pay any sacrifice.