NOVEL NEXT Chapter 453
Adella rubbed her eyes and sat up.
In front of her were two older sisters.
Na-me, and Na-me’s game avatar.
Their icy expressions seemed capable of freezing her in place just by looking at them.
【Witch】
Only after seeing the red name above her head did Adella realize she was facing a hostile NPC.
“Why is Na-me Unni here?”
Quickly regaining her composure, Adella aimed her gun at her.
But Adella was outside the witch’s interests.
She was solely focused on examining the unconscious Hibris.
“Seven days until detachment… I expected a rampage beforehand, but it seems not.”
“Unni! Put Hibris down!”
“Stop being so noisy since earlier.”
[Cast: Glacis Lavina Nibis]
Zzzzzzzzzzz-
In the blink of an eye, a skillful quadruple casting occurred.
Four magic circles were summoned above Adella’s head, mercilessly pouring down a torrent of ice particles.
BAMMMM-!
At the crucial moment, Na-me stepped in front of Adella.
[Cast: Glacis Ion Trap]
A gigantic icy hand was summoned from the ground to block the attack.
A waterfall of cold air divided the sky, creating ice walls on both sides.
In a single exchange, the terrain around changed dramatically.
The grassy field heralding the arrival of spring was solidified into white.
The witch made a slightly surprised expression before returning to her usual blank stare.
That was about the time Hibris regained consciousness.
“Umm…”
“Do you remember me, little one?”
“Eek!”
The green-haired girl startled and flailed like a fish out of water.
As the witch released her grip, Hibris’s small body thudded onto the ice.
[Cast: Adhesive]
Bonk-!
Adella shot a spell at Hibris, attaching a sticky projectile to her body.
Pulling the string connected to the projectile, Hibris was dragged towards them.
It was an ice-cold surface where even standing was difficult.
Somehow, the witch stood there barefoot, unfazed by the cold.
The witch crossed her arms and said to her companions.
“I’ve come to collect the promised payment, Hibris.”
“Guh…”
“Take it. You’ve had your fun for five years, haven’t you?”
The witch tossed a small glass vial.
Adella received a bottle filled with a clear liquid on behalf of Hibris.
“What is this?”
“If I tell you, wouldn’t you know?”
“Stop joking around!”
“It’s pentobarbital, and downstairs it also contains potassium chloride refined from mana. If you gulp it down all at once, you’ll at least die painlessly.”
“Poison? Why would you do something so cruel, witch? Hibris is the child you saved! How can you order her to die like this?”
“Did I save her? Ha, this is why devourers… They wouldn’t hesitate to deceive even themselves for survival.”
The witch let out a hollow laugh.
Hibris turned her head, averting her gaze from the witch’s cold stare.
“Hibris is my creation. The ownership belongs to me.”
“Th-then… Witch…”
Hibris summoned her courage and spoke up.
“Hmm?”
“Are you my mother, perhaps?”
Silence.
The drop in the surrounding temperature couldn’t just be a figment of her imagination.
“What nonsense is this? Do I look that old? I can’t stand to hear this.”
The witch furrowed her brow and clenched her fists.
“Adella, feed that arrogant little brat that potion right now.”
At the same time, Na-me blinked with wide eyes.
“Whose side are you on, Na-me Unni?”
“Oh, sorry. I momentarily lost my senses.”
“I knew it. That witch, she’s definitely your reincarnation, right? Tell me what we need to do quickly!”
“Are you telling me to spoil the plot?”
“I don’t want to see a bad ending!”
“Sigh… Nothing will happen right now.”
“Why?”
“The witch cannot kill Hibris until seven days have passed.”
Na-me gazed blankly at her past self.
The witch, with her eyes half-lidded, questioned.
“How did you know, little one?”
“I wouldn’t have said such foolish things. But I guess this is the limitation of ASI.”
Then, it happened.
WooOOO-!
DUM DUM DUM-!
The sound of trumpets and drums filled the air.
The vibrations caused by the hooves of horses shattered the ice beneath them.
From all directions, an army launched to capture the witch.
The blonde woman glanced over the horizon before speaking.
“I have a mission for you.”
“Hmph, I have no intention of listening!”
“Convince Hibris to take her own life within seven days. If not, thousands more will die because of that witch.”
“What if I refuse?”
The woman’s eyes glowed red, with her pupils almost invisible due to the brightness.
“In that case, you all won’t die easily.”
[7th Circle Cast: Dragonia Tenebra]
SHUUUAAAA—!
The witch’s shadow expanded in an instant.
The enormous shadow covered the entire area suddenly surged up from the ground.
The life born from that shadow spread its massive wings.
The mystical creature was enveloped in sturdy red scales.
Even the colors reflected by the sunlight seemed like a hot ball of fire.
“Dragon…!”
Hibris screamed.
A legendary creature said to roam dimensions.
The witch grabbed the dragon’s claw and soared into the sky.
“Capture her!”
“Don’t let her escape!”
“Mage units, assemble at your positions!”
The armored generals, glimmering in shining metal, drew their swords and shouted.
[
Warning: Survive the army’s bombardment.]
“Hibris! Quickly control the Roybhatch!”
Thousands of incendiary arrows rained down like a storm.
Hibris awakened her powers at Na-me’s urging.
The mole beast bore the three girls and dug deep into the ground.
“There’s witch remnants! Pursue them!”
Suddenly mistaken for being on the witch’s side, Hibris wept bitterly.
But there was no alternative; she had to endure as it was a matter of life and death.
“Guh, Mole! Go a little faster…!”
BA-DUMP BA-DUMP!
Until the ordinary daily life was shattered,
And until realizing how precious that daily life was,
One day was more than sufficient.
*
[Day 7]
The demon beast whose life had been extinguished disappeared into pure mana.
The same applied when a demon beast was overworked.
Roybhatch No.1 became the first demon beast in Earth’s history to be overworked by a human and die.
An endless desert stretched across the southern continent.
We crossed the port city of Rapavnk and entered the desert region of Mikasuela.
As one of the world’s four great wastelands, it was teeming with demon beasts.
One day, we repelled swarms of demon beasts attacking a merchant.
While Hibris controlled the strongest demon beasts, Adella and I cleaned up the smaller ones.
Level up, stats increased once again.
The merchants rewarded us with food and valuable information.
“Rumor has it that whoever collects all the cores of Devourers becomes immortal. Hence, the whole country is now blinded, ceaselessly searching for Devourers.”
“That’s a good thing then. If we can stop this calamity quickly, what does it matter if someone becomes immortal?”
“There are rumors that the eastern witch has already collected six.”
“Really? But what on earth could these Devourer cores be? Highly refined magic stones? Sacred artifacts? Or the cores of colossal demon beasts?”
The last remaining core of the Devourer was Hibris’s Aura Heart.
Adella had been uneasy, checking the game system for a while.
“This game is boring…”
The nights in the desert were chilly.
She grumbled while warming her hands by the cozy bonfire.
“That annoying witch… Is it even possible for us to win?”
We were growing stronger at an unprecedented rate.
Let’s take a look at Hibris, who only a few days ago was an ordinary person.
Now, she could effortlessly control at least three medium-sized demon beasts or one large demon beast.
When a large demon beast appeared, one could safely assume that a town would be obliterated.
With each passing day, Hibris’s inhuman abilities became more pronounced.
And she surely wasn’t oblivious to that fact.
With a sad expression, she whispered.
“I want to meet my father just once before I die…”
Adella stomped her foot, standing upright.
“Quickly, help me meet Dad, Na-me Unni. Is that a difficult request? Since it’s your past life, you must know everything!”
“Huh? What are you talking about, Adella?”
“Ugh, am I spilling everything? Hibris, you see this little girl here? In fact, she’s the reincarnation of the witch you saw earlier. We come from the future.”
“I don’t quite understand.”
“What good does it do talking to an NPC all day?”
“No? Until I clear the game, this world is not just a game to me. So you better cooperate quickly.”
Originally, the design prevented Hibris from reaching her father in one go.
And even without seeing her father, a happy ending could still be achieved.
“If that’s your sincere wish. Follow me.”
We retraced the desert path we had walked.
Whenever a sandstorm approached, I showcased new magic.
“Oops, originally, this is a magic that you’d have to retrieve painfully in a horror game in the desert dungeon. But I’ll show you since you’re special, so pay attention.”
[7th Circle Spell: Ventus Raoul Asephite]
I compressed the magic circle into a projectile.
With the adjusting lever aimed at the oncoming sandstorm, I fired repeatedly.
Each projectile formed a geometric star-shaped magic circle based on its landing positions.
SHUWA-!
A volcanic eruption illuminated the dark night sky, creating a small sun in mid-air.
The sun rotated by itself, devouring the sandstorm.
The desert became calm, and a towering mountain range appeared before our eyes.
I pointed at the summit of the mountain.
“Mr. Brooks is located at that caldera. There’s a beautiful lake at the top.”
“Eek! When are we going to climb that? It’s incredibly high! Alright, there’s no time; let’s hurry!”
Adella packed her things eagerly and set off.
“Looks like Adella plans to walk up herself. Hibris, let’s comfortably ride a demon beast.”
“No! Bring me along too!”
“Is there no late-night taxi, or rather late-night wyvern? Finding a three-seater’s hard to come by.”
In a past life, I would’ve spread out the Aura detection to scout for demon beasts.
But I mustn’t forget that this wasn’t the real world, but an open world.
Meaning the spawn of demon beasts is random.
After about 20 minutes of waiting, flying demon beasts flocked to us.
Demon beasts that met Hibris’s gaze landed gracefully.
“Hibris, have you ever flown in the sky?”
I asked her indirectly.
Hibris shook her head.
“It’ll be fun.”
Hibris smiled for the first time in a while.
The saddles we could make for the demon beasts were from five demon skins and one thread from a spider beast.
I wasn’t sure of the principle, but I memorized it since it was a unique system of Resonance.
However, the saddle was only good for two passengers.
I held the reins while Hibris sat behind me, making it full.
“Where do I sit then?”
Adella asked with a pout.
I pointed to the wyvern’s front legs.
“Hmm?”
“Normally, if there’s no space in a car, one must ride in the trunk.”
“Wait, you’re kidding, right? No way…”
FLAP-
Caw! Caw!
The wyvern beast grabbed Adella tightly with powerful flaps of its wings.
“Aaaah! Adella, help me! Aaaah!”
I could barely tell which shriek came from the wyvern.
It soared past the clouds that had been blocking the moonlight.
“Adella, are you alright?”
Kind-hearted Hibris peeked out and looked below.
“Ugh, not alright… Ugh!”
“If that position is uncomfortable, I’ll ask the wyvern to hold you sideways!”
“No, please don’t! Just hurry Aaaah!”
The wyvern threw Adella off from 2000 meters in the sky.
Twisting with its silver tail, it snatched her back again.
“Ugh…”
Having a phobia of heights, the cat now seemed utterly deranged.
“Hey, Adella, are you alright?”
“Hibris, don’t just look below, look up.”
“Huh? Wow…!”
Stars were embedded in Hibris’s jade-like eyes.
Under the gentle moonlight, the constellations seemed to be holding a festival as if attending a divine banquet.
In both past and future, both the most noble and the most humble must have found solace gazing at those stars.
“Someone once said: The Earth we live on is a lonely point in the vast darkness of that enormous universe. In this vast stadium we call the universe, the Earth is merely a tiny stage.”
“You’re saying the world outside our world is the universe. I never knew that.”
“Yeah. But interestingly, we humans stand on a single point called Earth and look at galaxies hundreds of billions of light-years away. Isn’t that amazing? Saying it might sound arrogant, but… I like it. It feels like raising human potential.”
“I think both are good remarks. It seems like we need to balance tightrope walking between arrogance and humility.”
“You’re smart, Hibris. Is that your thought, or ASI’s words…?”
“Huh?”
“Just forget it. I should have talked to you well in my past life.”
Before long, the wyvern descended onto the mountaintop.
At the end of the caldera lake, a figure appeared as a tiny dot.
It was Brooks, Hibris’s father.
Caw! Caw!
CRACK!
“Huh?”
“Adella!”
The wyvern beast accidentally let Adella fall.
“I swear I’ll get revenge on NoName!”
She yelled her dying scream as she plunged into the lake at the mountain’s peak.