NOVEL NEXT Chapter 57
But for a brief moment, I was swept away by a rage that was so intense it made my head throb.
Emotional outbursts usually yield worse outcomes than rational actions.
I had a memory of when Drakel went berserk, his eyes turning wild, almost sending me into the cold. Thus, I forced myself to suppress the boiling heat and continued to think calmly.
‘In this situation, even if I can see the contract, passing through this corridor is out of the question. It’s a contract that binds life and death. Just flying through the air won’t help me avoid it.’
As I examined the red letters written on different parts of the underground rail, I found that simply passing nearby could also activate the contract, not just direct contact.
Perhaps this was designed to account for attempts to pass while riding on a vehicle.
In this case, even if I didn’t step on the ground using telekinesis, the chances of being bound by the contract were incredibly high.
Moreover, if damaged, the letters would restore themselves, and if I didn’t have the Eye of Contract, I wouldn’t even know where any letters were inscribed.
It wasn’t for nothing that the police force maintaining order in Night Haven was at a loss against just a single demon.
Well, if a powerful magician capable of overpowering the rules of the contract or an android unaffected by contracts showed up, it would be a different story…
‘From my standpoint, if such a thing appears, I wouldn’t be able to intervene anymore. In other words, it’s just a matter of time.’
If the police came in, it would be game over.
Right now, with my legs bound, I had to find a way inside to resolve the situation.
To do so, I needed to think of an extraordinary method, possibly one that only I could execute.
But how on earth can I come up with that in such a short time!
As I furrowed my brow in contemplation, I suddenly noticed something strange about the letters.
‘Those letters… are they moving?’
I stared at the wall with my right eye, which still had the effect of the Eye of Contract.
There, the densely inscribed letters were subtly shifting.
Why are they moving?
For a moment, I tilted my head in confusion, then realized that their movement was directed from inside the underground rail toward the outside, and instantly understood the reason.
‘Ah, I was curious about how the letters were inscribed here. This was how it worked.’
When I thought it through, it made sense.
It was too much work for Anser to have inscribed each letter here by herself.
It was more reasonable to think that the letters had spread out in a reckless manner from the center toward the outside.
Of course, if you asked how that was possible, I had no way of answering.
‘Wait, so I can move the letters? That means…’
With a cautious hope, I extended my telekinesis and gently tapped one of the relatively harmless letters.
Then something amazing happened. Even though touching it should cause extreme ticklishness due to the contract, nothing happened to my body.
‘…Could it be that touching it with telekinesis doesn’t count as contact?’
As I pondered, I gathered all the clues I had accumulated so far.
The letters that moved like they were spreading out rather than being inscribed, the telekinesis that didn’t react to the demon’s contract, and the Eye of Contract that clearly displayed the contract contents.
Could it be that this was the solution?
I spread my telekinesis thinly like a piece of plastic wrap and brought it closer to the approaching letters.
Then, something amusing happened. The letters seemed to regard the telekinesis as part of the underground rail and began to squirm over it.
The contract, which should have restored itself if damaged, remained completely still while the letters freely roamed on top of my telekinesis.
Just as I had anticipated. I couldn’t help but grin.
‘I see. This is an automated form of magic, programmed to operate independently of the user’s will! That’s why it doesn’t react to telekinesis. This is a power unknown in both my world and this one!’
The forced contract that filled the underground rail was an incredibly tricky opponent even when thought about again.
First of all, without the Eye of Contract, I wouldn’t know what the contents were or where they were inscribed, and even with the Eye, contacting any of it would forcibly deal damage, making it hard to respond.
Moreover, if I attempted to damage it with magic, it would restore itself, and trying to create a new path was impossible as this was an underground area packed with buildings. It wasn’t a place where one could recklessly dig.
However, if there was one thing the person who devised this hadn’t anticipated… it was the existence of telekinesis, which belonged to a rule outside of both worlds.
Thinking that it didn’t even recognize telekinesis and treated it as part of the underground rail was essentially no different than an unlocked door for me.
‘Well, I’m quite grateful for that.’
Raising my concentration a bit more, I carefully tore the words I had caught with telekinesis apart by each word.
Then I brought the shredded letters before me and rearranged the words as I desired.
Since it wasn’t damaged physically or magically, but merely the positions of the inscribed letters had changed, perhaps they wouldn’t show signs of returning to their original state.
[ This contract subject disregards all contracts proposed by the contractor Anser from now on. ]
The phrase formed in the air became that.
Since the letters themselves were created by the demon, this sentence had to hold power.
Confident in that, I firmly grasped the letters with my hand.
Then, just like when I tore the napkin earlier, I felt a momentary sensation of connecting with somewhere else.
Was that enough?
I quickly moved forward and reached out to a fitting letter on the wall.
And as expected, nothing happened to my body.
The contract created by my rearranged letters displayed its effects accurately.
‘Seems like security wasn’t a major concern after all.’
After confirming that the contract had no effect on me a couple more times, I firmly stepped on my telekinesis and dashed swiftly down the underground rail as if I were flying.
As I ventured deeper, the density of the contract letters increased, revealing a scene that almost looked like a painting rather than mere letters.
However, the pre-established contract seemed to be exerting strong force, allowing me to delve inward rapidly without any hindrance.
Just how far had I traversed these winding rails with trains passing through? At last, I arrived at a station where a train could stop.
This place seemed to have had everyone evacuated, as it was filled with a chilling silence with no sign of life whatsoever.
‘Here it is, Libra Station.’
Upon arriving at Libra Station, I couldn’t help but frown at the astonishing sight before me.
This place, which obviously appeared to be the center of the incident, was covered in excessively dense letters, making the floors, walls, and ceilings completely soaked in red.
Thinking that each one of these letters was made of magical energy, it was an astonishing sight created by an almost absurd amount of magical power.
‘There it is.’
Thanks to that, it wasn’t hard to find my way. I could reach the center by heading from the area where the letter density thinned to where it thickened.
Cautiously advancing while preparing for any unforeseen ambush, I quickly spotted Anser not too far away.
‘…This is too much.’
I could do nothing but gasp at the sight of her.
Standing alone on the tracks with her eyes closed as if in prayer, Anser was utterly still.
From her closed eyes, something that looked like red tears was flowing endlessly.
That which was spilling down her body and pooling on the floor was the very letters.
The red letters filling the underground rail were indeed coming from here.
I pushed through the letters flowing on the ground and approached Anser.
Up close, I noticed she looked as if she were dead, only shedding red tears without moving at all.
And within the gaping wound where her chest was laid bare, I could see a silvery object firmly embedded.
‘This is… a fragment, isn’t it? And it possesses far more power than the one Raven had last time.’
In the utterly horrific situation, I felt as though I had been struck on the head.
At the same time, I realized I had been gravely mistaken.
Clear the misunderstandings with the police? The Invader brainwashing her?
I’d been a fool to think that those intending to destroy the world would stop at something so lukewarm.
With the power contained within the Invader’s fragment, she was being forced to exert power beyond her limits and simply left as is.
It was no different than shoving firewood inside a person and setting their body ablaze to use as fuel.
…At this point, there was no way to save Anser anymore.
Right now, she was closer to a puppet executing the commands left in her appearance than anything resembling Anser.
Even if I poured healing magic powerful enough to restore her dismembered body, I doubted she would come back to life, having already suffered great harm to her soul.
“…”
I reached out and touched Anser’s face with my hand.
What I felt was just the pale temperature of a corpse.
It was a cruel tale, but it didn’t invoke deep sadness. To be precise, I had only just met her today.
Death was so frequent in Night Haven that if I were to grieve over each one, my tears would never dry.
But that didn’t mean I felt no emotion whatsoever.
It was just… simply too pitiable. At the very least, she didn’t deserve to be treated so cruelly.
Thus, I covered Anser’s hand and prayed for her.
I hoped that her soul would safely return. That was the best I could do for her at that moment.
‘Let’s put an end to the suffering here. That will also help her.’
I calmed my conflicted feelings and slowly reached toward the fragment embedded in Anser’s chest.
The only reason she could maintain this state was because of the immense energy flowing from that fragment. I intended to sever the connection with the fragment and bring this chaos to an end.
And at the moment my hand touched the fragment, an unexpected surge of electricity coursed back through me, carrying tremendous energy along with a host of memories that did not belong to me, flooding into my mind.
The memories belonged to none other than Anser.