Unexpected Journey

The moment I walked through the passage, I felt a strange sensation. It felt like something was stirring inside me. It wasn’t so much unpleasantness as it was excitement for enjoyment. It wasn’t that my adventurous spirit was stimulated by the unexpected journey. It was just an inexplicable, instinctive excitement.

As I took a step and passed through something like an invisible barrier, a vast expanse of pinkish universe suddenly appeared outside the previously empty passage. I involuntarily raised my head and let out a pure exclamation.

,Wow….

Even if you combined all the stars I’ve seen in my life, it wouldn’t be enough to fill it. It was a place I wanted to show Luna-yang, so beautiful that the expression ‘beautiful’ felt inadequate. I paused for a moment and looked around, but aside from the beauty, there wasn’t anything that particularly caught my eye. I didn’t feel the need to investigate anything or remember it as a clue.

As I continued to walk, I could feel myself passing through another intangible barrier. It felt like passing through a space filled with damp towels.

This time, a reddish universe appeared. Something was moving quickly like a comet, disappearing from view, and small explosions and vibrations continued. This place was also beautiful, but there wasn’t anything particularly worth investigating.

The moment I took another step, my body flew towards the passage connected above, as if the top and bottom had been reversed. I couldn’t get my balance at all due to the sudden reversal of gravity. Eventually, I hit my head on the passage, and only when my shoulders and limbs were bruised did I quickly pass through the blue universe and fall somewhere.

■■□

It was a moment of realizing that I had escaped from the passage and that I was falling from the sky at the same time.

Thud-!

Fortunately, I managed to twist my body in mid-air and fall on my back. The ground was hard dirt, so if I had fallen face-first, my nose would have been broken. I absorbed the impact with my muscles, but my back hurt because of the speed I had.

I endured the pain and raised my upper body to check my condition. I didn’t fall from a completely high place, so fortunately, no bones were broken or cracked. However, the runic letters on my left wrist turned red. Originally, it was green like the runic letters floating on my right wrist… I don’t know why the color changed.

I scratched my head and turned my head to look around. It was dark as if a hazy fog had settled. However, it wasn’t that the fog limited my vision; it was a strange environment. Still, although it was an unfamiliar place, it felt like I had returned to the original world. There was a wind here that made my bangs flutter, and in the sky…?

,What, what is that…?

What came into my eyes as I inadvertently raised my head to the sky was something I couldn’t easily understand. The sun and moon were mixed together as one against the backdrop of a sky that seemed to be split. I knew from the short scientific knowledge I learned in school that it was physically impossible, but that was the only way to express it. The sun and moon were really mixed together to form a circle.

A huge vortex was created around it, sucking everything in. Bricks, smoke, trees, leather shoes, fragments of statues, and all sorts of things floated up and were sucked into the center. The passage I had come out of was disappearing, leaving only a faint trace of its existence.

Did something strange happen while I was trapped in the dimension? One strange thing was that the vortex felt very unpleasant to me, but also familiar, as if I hadn’t seen it in a long time. Even though I was clearly seeing it for the first time.

Whatever the sky is like, the first thing to do is to check if there is a village nearby. If I grab anyone and ask, they will explain why the sky is like that.

I’ve never actually used it, but I had a good way to look around. It was to create a dimensional exit at the highest point where I could recognize spatial coordinates above my head. Then, I would stick my head into the entrance of the dimension and look around with my head sticking out of the exit.

There was a risk of getting my neck cut off and dying if the dimensional passage was cut off, but now I had enough magic power to maintain the dimensional passage, and there was nothing around to use as a landmark to just walk around, so I felt like I would lose my way in the middle.

The more I think about things like this, the more worried I get. I immediately connected the dimensional passage and put my head into the entrance of the dimension. My vision clears up. Strangely, there was nothing around. Not even common weeds or trees existed. Did they get sucked into the sky?

Still, with the hope that there might be something, I diligently turned my head to look around, and something came into my eyes.

The ground was shaking. It was far away in terms of distance, but something huge was overturning the ground. Could it be that giant moles live there? Then, it suddenly changed direction. It’s coming towards me. I hurriedly pulled my head out of the dimensional exit as it was approaching me at an incredible speed, overturning the ground.

,What the fuck…!

Did it feel my gaze? There wasn’t a single tree growing around, so there was nowhere to escape. Thinking that I had to get off the ground, I took out a cloud bean seed from the seed pouch I had around my waist. I used magic to rapidly grow the beanstalk and took refuge high in the sky. I had the hopeful thought that the bug might just pass by.

I could see it getting closer. It’s incredibly fast. The beanstalk I was holding onto started to shake from the vibration.

Kung―!

A huge impact shook the beanstalk, whether it collided with the beanstalk that had rooted deep in the ground. As I desperately clung to the beanstalk to avoid falling, I suddenly heard a howl from below.

Kueeeee―――!

It was a howl full of madness. A giant bug broke through the ground and revealed its appearance.

,What, what the fuck is that…!

What popped out was part of its head. Then how big is the bug? This wasn’t even a discarded setting. I had never imagined a bug that was so ridiculously big even once. In the first place, isn’t that too out of the blue? In a fantasy, there are trolls and ogres, but why a giant bug that seems like it would appear in a sci-fi movie.

While I was having dissatisfied thoughts, the bug opened its huge maw. And like a lie, it swallowed the ground where the beanstalk had grown. The beanstalk, which had been cut off with a tuk- sound, fell towards the road at a terrifying speed. Thanks to creating a dimensional passage connected from the air to the ground, I rolled on the ground, but I avoided falling to my death.

But the bug remained the same. As if it recognized my existence, the thing that had been swallowing the ground where the beanstalk had grown suddenly twisted its body.

The entire ground I was standing on rose high into the sky. Just before my body floated up, I threw another bean seed on the ground and soared high into the sky.

Kwajijik―――!

The rapidly growing beanstalk was smashed by the bug, which had already opened its maw again. As if not to miss this time, the bug pulled its body out and approached me.

I was thinking of pulling my body out again with space magic, but a fatal problem occurred. All the spatial coordinates around me had disappeared. Floating in the air, I had no way to escape.

Just before the giant bug’s maw swallowed me along with the beanstalk―

A flame pierced the bug’s head like an arrow. The bug, which was about to swallow me, twisted its body in pain as its head was pierced. As the bug moved away, the spatial coordinates that had suddenly disappeared began to reappear. Just before falling, I barely managed to create a dimensional passage.

How many times is this that I’ve rolled on the ground today? As I got up in annoyance, I heard someone approaching. Since they saved my life, I can give them as much thanks as they want. With that in mind, I turned my head towards the sound of footsteps, but I could only stare blankly.

There was a girl. A lovely girl with beautiful silver hair and a small frame. There was no way I, the author, wouldn’t know who the girl holding the black greatsword engulfed in flames was. What author would forget the heroine who is most popular with readers.

The Grand Duchess of the North, Ilia van Praks.

It was none other than Ilia who killed the giant bug. But it wasn’t the Ilia I knew. Her body, which should have been as clean as pure white snow, had runic letters engraved on it like tattoos, and she was wearing a heart-shaped eyepatch on one eye. Even the long hair that Roel liked the most was cut short.

Because I was flustered, I opened my mouth in a higher voice tone than usual.

,Ilia…? No, you’re Ilia-senpai, right?

Ilia, who was approaching with a leisurely gait, stopped walking at my voice and met my gaze. A very brief moment of silence.

And Ilia swung her greatsword with the intent to kill me as if it were natural.

Kang-!

,What, what are you doing!

As I urgently blocked the greatsword with a shadow spear I had created, Ilia shone her only remaining red eye and muttered softly.

,…Demon.

,W-wait a minute…! What bullshit―!

Kang-!

Sparks flew again. It was such an incredible attack speed that I almost missed the trajectory of the greatsword in my vision. I stepped back with the intention of clearing up the misunderstanding, but Ilia only approached me with a fierce momentum and swung her greatsword.

This is no joke. She was really emitting a fierce killing intent that made my flesh crawl with the intention of killing me. I might get killed before I can clear up the misunderstanding. I had no choice but to use space magic.

I pretended to stab with the spear and created a dimensional entrance where the tip of the spear touched. Ilia skillfully twisted her body to avoid the attack even from the attack that suddenly appeared from behind.

And then she suddenly threw her greatsword at me. I adjusted the dimensional passage and sent the greatsword flying far away with tremendous momentum, but before I knew it, Ilia’s beautiful face was approaching under my chin.

At the same time as I felt a dull pain under my chin, my body floated up. The thought crossed my mind that I was rolling around and flying around a lot today.

She grabbed me as I floated in the air and slammed me into the ground, and indiscriminate punches continued as if she was going to crush my head. My nose was bleeding and it felt like my cheekbones were going to cave in.

The moment Ilia put magic power into her fist and tried to slam it into my face once again. Someone’s hand blocked Ilia’s fist.

,Stop, Ilia.

,…But he’s a demon.

,He’s not a demon. I don’t know why… but it’s definitely Ross.

At those words, Ilia lowered her fist. I felt like I was about to lose consciousness at any moment, but I raised my head and said to the benefactor who saved me.

,Th-thank you, hyung. But it would have been better if you had stopped her a little sooner….

With those words, I lost consciousness as it was.