530 The Power of Liberation

530 The Power of Liberation

Rene was not at all shaken even after seeing the three people unable to move an inch. It was as if she knew this situation would happen from the start.

Rene approached and touched the foreheads of the three people in turn. The sentences of death engraved on their heads gradually disappeared. The three people, freed from the shackles of the sentences, barely gasped for breath.

“Huuuh…”

“Are you all alright?”

With a look that said she couldn’t possibly be alright, Celina said.

“The Hero? Eldritch, what the hell happened to that damn geezer? Rene, you know something, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course, I intend to, Celina. The reason I came here, the reason I’ve been hiding my appearance until now. It’s all to prevent the world’s reset with your help.”

“The world’s reset? Saintess-nim, what are you talking about?”

“Your and the Hero’s adventure is not the first time. It’s just one of the countless hundreds of iterations that have been repeated so far. If Hero Elena’s adventure meets certain conditions, the one who rules this world returns everything to a New Game state. So that the Hero’s journey starts again from the beginning. The black Eldritch taking the Hero-nim’s body is for that task.”

“R-Rene-nim… You said the one who rules the world? What on earth… S-surely…”

“Yes, that’s right, Riel. It’s the goddess Yustea. No, to be precise, even the goddess Yustea doesn’t know all the details. All of this is done by the highest-level administrator who freely controls even the will of the goddess Yustea.”

“Wait, there are too many things I don’t understand… The goddess Yustea resets this world? And the Hero and our adventures have been repeated several times? How am I supposed to believe that?”

“Okay, Celina. Shall I explain it a little more slowly?”

Rene paused for a moment and quietly took a breath. Now was the moment of the long-awaited showdown for her as well.

“There are two triggers that cause the world’s reset. The subjugation of the Demon King Epsilon and the acquisition of the three jewels. The former means the Hero’s power, and the latter means the Hero’s influence in this world has reached a threatening level. In the end, the purpose of the world reset is to hinder the Hero-nim’s growth.”

The Hero’s companions were dizzy from the sudden flood of enormous stories. Before they could even escape the shock of the Hero being dragged away before their eyes, new shocks were bursting like celebratory fireworks one after another. If it weren’t for this situation, and if it weren’t Rene who said it, it would have been dismissed as a drunkard’s nonsense.

“Wait a minute, Saintess-nim. You’re saying that the culprit of all this is someone with such powerful authority that they can turn back the world? If so, they could have just killed the Hero a long time ago. Where is the inevitability that they have to choose the means of reset?”

“That’s a good question, Blade. That’s because this world is the ordeal given to the Hero-nim.”

“The world itself is an ordeal…?”

“Yes. That’s why they would rather have the Hero wander this world forever than end the ordeal with death. I still have difficulty knowing the enemy’s intentions exactly, but…”

The Hero was kidnapped right before their eyes. The seriousness of the situation was needless to say. But they were too busy organizing the sudden flood of information to be surprised.

“Hey, Rene, how do you know such a thing? Where have you been and what have you been doing until now? Are you really the Rene I know?”

“Celina…”

Rene smiled a little sadly.

“Yes. I am Rene, the Blue One, High Priestess, the Blue Saintess, the Regression Observer… I have many names, known and unknown. But none of them can be called my real name. I am not a human like you. I am the administrator who manages the Source Sanctuary, or in our words, the Space of Recollection.”

“Umm, Rene-nim.”

Riel was holding up her hand as if a question had come to mind during class. Rene also accepted the sign as if she had become a teacher.

“Yes, Riel?”

“What is an administrator?”

“Hmm, the word ‘god’ is the closest thing to it. Well, it would be difficult for a Yustea follower to accept, and above all, I’m far from omnipotent. Like Manatrakeis or Utranag you met, an existence created to rule a specific part of this world. That is an administrator.”

“Rene-nim is… a god…?”

“That doesn’t mean you have to treat me too coldly. I would be happy if you just thought of me as a friend like before, Celina. Thanks to the Hero-nim, my ego as Rene is stronger than as an administrator now.”

“Thanks to the Hero-nim…? What does that mean?”

“Hmm, this is a phenomenon that I don’t know how it’s possible yet… For some reason, the residents of this world who come into contact with the Hero-nim can somewhat escape the influence of the administrator. You’ve probably all experienced similar phenomena during your adventures.”

Rene looked at Rene, Celina, and Blade in turn and said.

“Riel, the fact that you, who should have become a demon a long time ago, still have the heart of Riel.”

“Blade, the fact that your burning desire for revenge against the Hero disappeared like snow melting in an instant.”

“Celina, the fact that you, who were an evil magician, repented and your brainwashing was immediately undone in the Bertri Forest.”

“It’s all thanks to the Hero-nim’s unknown power of liberation. Of course, that goes for me too.”

Listening to Rene’s words, everyone had a hunch. Perhaps it was related to the power of Overdrive, which解除 all status ailments. They had dismissed it as ‘the Hero’s specialness’.

“You have maintained close and sticky contact with the Hero-nim over a long period of time. You are the only people in this world who are free from the administrator’s surveillance and control. That’s why you are the only ones who can save the Hero-nim.”

“Can we save him? The Hero-nim…!”

Riel was the first to speak, but the other two felt the same way. To meet the Hero again. They felt like they could pay any price for that.

“Yes, Riel. The world’s reset, which returns everything to the initial point, is no easy task. All the resources of this world that the highest-level administrator has will be投入 for that. The time we have is exactly one week. That is the only chance to save the Hero-nim and stop the world’s reset.”

“I’ll do it. I’ll do anything to save the Hero. What should I do, Rene?”

The three people looked at Rene with earnest eyes. They really felt like they could do anything.

“Hmm, first of all… we need to become much, much stronger than we are now. The highest-level administrator’s power will be stopped for 7 days, but those who follow him will try to interfere with us. Like the black Eldritch, for example. We must have enough power to at least stand up to him.”

“Get stronger… more than we are now…”

Their determination to do everything they could to save the Hero remained unchanged. But the Hero’s companions had already reached a level far beyond what could be reached with ordinary effort and talent in their respective fields. There was no obvious way to get stronger from here.

Rene said to those three people.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t been hiding without any meaning during that time either. I have prepared a plan to strengthen you.”

“R-really?”

“Yes, but Riel. In your case, you may have to abandon everything you have believed in and followed until now. You must no longer use your power as a priest. That’s the same as telling the goddess Yustea and her subordinates our location. In other words…”

“Become a complete demon. Is that what you’re saying?”

If Riel gives up her power as a High Priestess, the only way for her to become stronger is the path of a demon. Perhaps she will have to give up her entire soul. Riel trembled slightly.

“Yes… Now that the Hero-nim has been dragged to a place other than this world, it is unknown whether your fully demonized ego can be maintained. The moment you give up being human, you who have become a demon may turn against us as our enemy…”

“No, it’s okay. It’ll definitely be okay.”

Riel clenched her small fist and said. The moment she thought of the Hero-nim’s smiling face, her body no longer trembled.

“If it were the Hero-nim, he would definitely not run away and would fight back. I will believe in the miracle that the Hero-nim left in us. I won’t give in to my demonic self. I will remain the Hero-nim’s Riel no matter what, so that I can welcome the Hero-nim back.”

“Yeah. I feel the same way. Rene, then what should I do?”

“Hmm, Celina, in your case…”

The days spent with the Hero so far are protecting them. Thinking so, they didn’t feel any sense of despair at all. Doing their best in what they have to do to save the Hero. That was the only thought.

Looking at the shining eyes of the Hero’s companions, Rene was also feeling it. The light of hope that she had been waiting for for a long, long time, truly an immemorial age.