Antagonist Protection Service

Over the next few days, I travelled with the Gravetender across the world to all of the locations the Protagonist had previously explored, and thus had been marked as functional respawn points by his detestable Grave Crosses.

About it, there wasn't much to say.

Time-old consecrated land, space itself riddled with the holes of an ancient, nibbling beast, its eternal carcass to block out the sun for the rest of time.

"―Mesh Hallow."

SMASH--!!

An abandoned steampunk city overgrown with the corrupting crimson veins of a mysterious transcendental being, transforming it into a bloody hellhole flooded with infected denizens not permitted to ever die.

"―Gorha's Jungle."

SMASH--!!

Unfathomably deep underground, yet conversely higher up than anything else; a prison of flesh, rock and space, buried and sealed thoroughly within Draevan's looming moon.

"―Aviary of the Unbridled One."

SMASH-!!

SMASH...

SMA...

Parishioner's Nightmare, Gaol of the Fell, Leech Heap, Altar of Mothers, Profane Sanctuary... The list went on and on.

One after the other, the Gravetender announced our arrival at a brand new place, taking a moment to briefly educate me on its background with each generally turning out more disturbing and backwards than the last, to the extent that what I had witnessed until then couldn't even be called close to comparable.

Ensuing was a flurry of crushed Grave Crosses, eradicating all present within a location before swiftly moving onto the next.

Even though most of the places we visited were creepy as all hell, and definitely not something I would be happy about travelling by myself, the fact was that we weren't there for long, so it was bearable.

Honestly, things like that being brought from fiction into the real world was just too much.

It was by that point that I was beginning to feel infinitely more gratitude towards having the Gravetender helping me than anything else, because otherwise, I had a feeling I would've been stuck here for a long, long time.

Seriously. I mean, some of the locations were spread somewhere throughout the world and vaguely physically connected, but many of them could only be accessed through reaching some sort of special transporting point, I suppose similar to the altar used to travel between the World's End Chapel and Before World's End.

The main reason it feels like it took so long wasn't even because of the sheer amount of damn Grave Crosses we had to destroy, though that was irritating too. Rather, it was because the flow of time in so many of these places was so out of whack that I had no idea if our pace was slow, fast, or middling.

Needless to say, it wasn't just because of her help alone that I was thankful, but also simply because I wanted to be done with this place as soon as possible.

No matter how generously you put it, it's all just irredeemably awful.

Meanwhile, the Protagonist...

[You Died]

"Oh, he died again."

'Feels like he made it pretty far that time, though.'

While we were going around destroying his Grave Crosses, the Protagonist continued his own futile journey of trying to reach the end of the world.

Even if we didn't go out of our way to intercept him, he would eventually make a mistake and die anyway, whether that was to some random mobs or something else, and whenever he did, he would respawn even further back every time, losing more and more progress with each death.

Because of that, each attempt to make it there would take him that much longer, and he would need to focus that much more in order to make it through all the perils unscathed.

As things stood, that didn't seem likely by itself, but even if he somehow did make it, it really wouldn't make a difference.

After all, I checked with the Gravetender to make sure, and that altar leading to the World's End Chapel from the flower garden really was the only way of making it there.

Like I said. It was only a matter of time.

Even if we did nothing to hurt him directly, like this, we would soon win.

One might say I could just leave considering that he'll never kill the Antagonist like that, but I'm not just abandoning my World Stability at this point, and regardless, the Protagonist would still pose a danger by continuously siphoning that of the world.

So, even if the Antagonist couldn't be killed, it would still be a problematic situation.

[Streets of Young]

"Streets of Young. Is that the last place we have to go?"

Glancing to the Gravetender beside me, she nodded without returning a look.

"Indeed. Including the entirety of the Cradle, the Veiled Lamb has erected six total Memorials within the city."

"Right, well let's go then. From the top."

"Very well."

The plan was already set in stone, and there wasn't much discussion to be had. Simply, I grasped the Gravetender's smaller hand, and as the black fog enshrouded us as usual, my mind wandered.

'If I can even take on 5-Star Contracts like this, maybe that dragon isn't as dangerous as I thought.'

Ryokokyoro, who was probably still trying to find my location at this very moment. Back when I first met her, I was exceedingly weak, having only barely increased my physical ability beyond its base, and not even having achieved any form of body strengthening at all.

Naturally, I was more than just a little intimidated at that time.

'Aren't I a different person now?'

After this Contract, I'll most likely obtain more World Stability than ever before thanks to the Difficulty bonus.

Including that reward, I'm sure it'd be more than enough.

Besides, if I continued to keep running away forever, hiding away in other worlds as transient distractions...

"..."

"We have arrived."

Truncating my thoughts there, the Gravetender's voice pulled me back to the current reality, a gust of cold, subtly sharp wind blowing across my face to snap me out of it completely.

In front of us stood a city bathed in darkness, both of night and of something far more sinister; Draevan's Cradle.

Like a few of the locations we visited before, this was also a place with a heavy gothic theme, and although it was primarily quiet, with just the pale moon sitting high above, there were faint whistles of something beastly, between a ghastly mix of crying and howling, that permeated the air.

The Protagonist's final resting place.