episode_0086

“Honestly, Asel, there aren’t that many monsters suited to your level.”

Grace naturally joined the group. She tied her hair back tightly while sticking close to Asel. It was uncomfortable to move, but Asel, knowing Grace’s feelings, didn’t push her away.

“Well, since it’s a club, after all. There aren’t none, but if you only look at the ratio, there aren’t many. At most, maybe just ‘Crawling Youngster,’ ‘Thousand-Year-Old Strange Tree,’ and ‘The Awakened One’ are all there are?”

“……Their names are all unusual. Who decides the monster names?”

“A group called ‘The Library.’ Anyway, that’s not important, and I personally recommend The Awakened One. It has the characteristic of getting stronger according to the opponent’s level. Although it sometimes spouts strange things.”

“Hmm.”

Asel hummed as he read the information on ‘The Awakened One.’

Its appearance is similar to a human’s. A monster form wearing a black robe that covers its entire body, with a black shadow shimmering where its face should be. The danger level was checked from the very lowest to the very highest. This was likely assessed this way due to its characteristic of getting stronger depending on the opponent.

“I have a question. Does ‘gets stronger depending on the opponent’ literally mean it gets stronger? Or does its physical ability or magical ability increase?”

“If the opponent is a warrior, physical; if a mage, magical. It works like that.”

Asilra answered.

“It is a rather strange monster. A rare species not listed even in ancient monster encyclopedias. The elves captured a creature loitering near the World Tree, and the Dean brought it directly to investigate, but there was no information at all about this fellow. So, we are continuously researching it.”

“……Isn’t it dangerous?”

“It’s fine. And rather, leaving it here is better than at a professional research institute. Since it’s a monster that gets stronger the stronger the opponent is, it’s easier to control here where there are more students, than in the Imperial Capital where all sorts of monster-like personnel are lying around. Professional researchers also come for business trips regularly. Moreover, it’s a creature that doesn’t show aggression in the first place.”

“Is that so.”

Asel replied as such, and then engrossed himself in the information on The Awakened One.

It has no gender. Its voice seems like a composite of voices of all ages, and its physique is similar to that of an average adult male. The strange words it occasionally spouts were all recorded and written on one side.

[Tens of thousands of rebirths. Thousands of regressions. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure.]

[I offer, here, life, so please respond, I here, a tree, will plant.]

[I’m sorry. No. I’m sorry. I trust my disciple. I’m sorry. I love you. I’m sorry. Please, salvation. I’m sorry. Become a devil. I’m sorry. Teacher. I’m sorry. I’m betting on you. I’m sorry. Stand tall. I’m sorry. May our deaths please be valuable. I’m sorry.]

[I’m tired now.]

[There was no way I could have been a great person. It was a ridiculous thing from the start.]

[But if not me, who will do this? I can’t betray the people who died trusting me.]

[Cut the souls. Distribute them. And so open a new world.]

[For the sake of only one possibility, create countless possibilities. Open hell.]

“……”

A feast of countless sentences. The time it took for the monster to utter these sentences was sometimes just a few days, and sometimes several years. The longest time interval between sentences was 13 years.

Sentences that could be dismissed as simple nonsense at first glance. Mutterings of lunatics one might hear walking down the street. But the moment they were recorded one by one and listed together, the monster’s murmuring became extremely extensive evidence.

At least, it was for Asel. He narrowed his eyes and desperately wracked his brain.

‘Tens of thousands of rebirths. Thousands of regressions.’

Significant words written in Aleph.

‘For the sake of only one possibility, create countless possibilities.’

A sentence that seemed to indicate the Devil of Possibilities.

Just evidence that seemed to flow by. A feast of subtle words impossible to connect without thinking deeply. As Asel looked at them, he felt as though a puzzle was being assembled in his mind.

“……”

Monsters are fundamentally not naturally occurring life forms. They reproduce, but have no purpose in killing. It’s as if they were born just for that. They merely kill, kill, and kill. Their very foundation is different from other life forms that kill to survive.

Why did such a thing happen? The reason was simpler than expected.

Because monsters are the byproducts of devils. The vanguards scattered by devils tearing off their own flesh, simply to annihilate the intelligent beings existing on this land. That is what monsters are. Therefore, they do not eat, do not sleep, and merely crave blood and flesh.

Thus, some call monsters not monsters, but Geoi (怪異, strange/weird). This is because they possess bizarre and peculiar natures entirely different from native continental creatures.

The monster named The Awakened One was also the same. As long as its origin is a monster, there must be a foundational devil for it. Asel intuitively sensed that it was the Devil of Possibilities. There was no doubt once the word ‘possibility’ came from its mouth.

And a being derived from the Devil of Possibilities uttered the words written in Aleph. Over 10 years ago.

What does that mean?

‘……It was the Devil of Possibilities who left the words in Aleph.’

Asel’s eyes sank deep.

***

Devils cannot interfere with the present world unless they descend. This is because the gap between hell, where they reside, and reality is incredibly vast. They can attempt to descend by diminishing their very existence, but even if they appear that way, they can do nothing but breathe. The price for diminishing their existence is abilities less than that of an insect.

Therefore, he hadn’t expected it. That the one who left the words in Aleph could be a devil.

That thought hasn’t changed even now. However, the situation changes if the opponent isn’t in hell but residing in a different space.

‘The Sage said the Devil of Possibilities exists in imaginary space. Not in hell.’

Imaginary space is an unobserved world. It is the gap between reality and other realms, also called sub-space.

If they have built a nest in such a place, interfering with the present world, even if somewhat forced, might not be impossible. Immediately, spatial mages also manifest spells through sub-space, so it would be wrong to just assume it’s impossible for devils. There are always exceptions.

‘If a devil really delivered a message to me……’

What on earth is its intention?

“Asel, look over there. A scarecrow is fighting.”

Devils are incomprehensible beings. They deceive, devour, infest, and corrupt humans. A series of messages sent by such a being. The Sage said the Devil of Possibilities wants the salvation of humanity, but would the ‘salvation’ a devil speaks of be the same as conventional salvation?

“Asel?”

Failed transcendents are trapped in their own worlds. Unable to bear the collapse of the concepts and images they pioneered, they create a world and transform into devils. Could such a being truly want the salvation of humanity?

“Hey!”

The moment he thought, Celine punched Asel’s side. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Asel let out a gasp and stumbled.

“Ah, damn it……”

“Oing.”

“……What are you doing?”

Asel was surprised, Celine was surprised, and Grace was angry.

“Why did you hit Asel? Who do you think you are?”

“No, I didn’t expect him to get hit either! He always nullifies all my attacks with his shield!”

“Is that an excuse?”

“It’s fine, I’m okay, so stop.”

Groan.

Asel exhaled, holding his aching side with his hand.

The pain was worse than he expected, perhaps because she put magic into the punch. If it had been an attack with murderous intent, he could have blocked it unconsciously, but since it wasn’t, he couldn’t react. His liver, accurately hit, was screaming……

“S-Sorry.”

Celine offered an apology with a slightly flustered and apologetic expression. Asel gave a small smile and straightened his body.

“It’s fine. I hit you a lot usually anyway.”

“……Even so……”

“If you’re really sorry, roll forward once here, roll sideways three times, and then do a somersault to apologize. Then I’ll accept it.”

“Want to die?”

“No.”

Asel lightly brushed off Celine’s threat and stroked Grace’s hair. Grace instinctively rubbed her head against his touch.

“Thanks for worrying. But this much is nothing, so you can just laugh it off.”

“Okay……”

Grace trailed off her words and closed her eyes. Asel continued to work his hand until she was satisfied, then turned his head towards the scarecrow Celine had mentioned.

A scarecrow made of straw. However, in appearance, it was closer to a doll than a scarecrow. A straw doll with no face, but possessing hands, legs, and all its joints.

In its hand was a heavy wooden sword, and across from it stood a man with light purple hair. Holding a dagger in his left hand and an iron sword in his right, he let out a long breath. Drops of sweat fell from his sweat-soaked hair.

“That’s Hamon Yankov.”

Asilra explained. She laughed lightly and straightened her bent back once. A creaking sound resounded clearly.

“He’s been visiting here every day for the past few days. It was probably from the moment the match bracket was announced. He’s likely doing that because he doesn’t want to lose to you.”

“……”

“People call him a genius. Yes, he really is a genius. But he’s a genius who works hard. When he loses a fight against you, he must be working that hard because he doesn’t want to make excuses like ‘I would have won if I had trained regularly,’ ‘I was unlucky,’ or ‘I would have won if I had gone all out.’”

Training because he doesn’t want to lose, and at the same time training so he won’t be ashamed of himself when he loses. Isn’t it ironic?

Asilra added that and turned her body. Asel watched Hamon for a moment longer before turning his head. In that brief instant, Hamon and Asel’s eyes met.

It was Hamon who first offered a greeting. He deflected the scarecrow’s slash and showed a faint smile towards Asel. Asel also gave a small bow in response and followed Asilra, moving his steps.

Their proper first meeting happened only for that short time.

‘Later.’

There would be a proper meeting before the sparring begins. Asel thought that and walked down the corridor with the three people.

“I’ll step out here for a bit. Star Caller? It seems like it’s nearby. I’ll go take a look! If I finish early, wait outside the club building!”

Celine left the group halfway. Asel saw her off and moved deeper inside.

And soon after, they reached the end of the corridor. Asilra kept Asel and Grace behind and pressed the button hanging alone on the wall. Then, just like before, one side of the wall opened, revealing a isolation room made of tempered glass.

“……”

A dirt floor. Walls and ceiling filled with all sorts of isolation magic.

Below that.

-…….

A man wearing a black robe pulled over his head was planting something in the floor. As soon as his hand touched the floor, black seedlings grew in the dark soil. None had grown large. Like weeds, seedlings were everywhere.

The dirt floor was so dense with seedlings that there was no more space to plant. But he continued to plant seedlings in the smallest gaps, as if there was a reason he had to plant trees here.

Would it be a mistake to see those seedlings as resembling black lightning?

-All creation. To shape the world with hundreds, thousands of seedlings. Truly, it is arrogance.

The monster suddenly opened its mouth.

-Then what is arrogance? If one says they can do what they can do, is that arrogance?

-Then you are an arrogant one. You took over a hundred million seeds of life to plant a single tree, grew it to bear fruit, mocked the world and collapsed the timeline. That was possible for you. Thus you achieved it. You are truly no less than an arrogant one.

The next moment.

-Then what about you?

The monster sharply turned its head and gazed at Asel and Grace. Coming close to the glass in the blink of an eye, it looked down at the two with its shimmering shadow and spoke.

-You who inherited the ancient being. And you who, after crossing thousands of times, sealed yourself for the sake of others.

It was a tone as if mocking.

-Has the misfortune you created been rewarded? Have your numerous sacrifices and devotion not been in vain?

One derived from a devil.

Monster.

Geoi.

And.

-Has the world been saved?

The Awakened One, so asked the question.