episode_0108

“Ack!! You were alive too?! Oh… ha… haha… damn it.” In a mechanical, high-tech, iron-clad base in space, Estur, who was receiving a grand welcome from old comrades, let out a hollow laugh as he saw his old comrades running towards him with tears streaming down their faces. Estur was then buried by his rushing comrades, and a green-haired man watching from afar let out a hollow laugh and said,

“Hahaha… well… I understand how they feel… but I wonder if someone’s going to pass out like that.” “…If you know, please help out, Captain Jelly-nim…” “Alright~ alright~” Upon being asked by his subordinate to help if he was worried, Jelly smiled and, along with his subordinate, began to go and stop Estur’s old comrades who were wildly welcoming Estur.

Meanwhile, in a room with a view of space, a red-haired man, sighing with his head buried in his desk, spoke to a one-armed man in front of him. “Haaaaah… Mr. Estur is alive… That’s truly… truly a relief… *sobbing*…” “Hey… isn’t that a report? It’s getting drenched in tears and snot, why don’t you stop crying…” The one-armed man began to worry about the report getting soaked in tears and snot as the red-haired man wept with his head on the desk. The red-haired man then wiped away his tears with his hand and sighed deeply before speaking.

“To think that Mr. Estur was recuperating in the dimension where Lu-nim received our request…” “Indeed… I never imagined he’d be in the Elume Dimension.” “Hmm… then perhaps Estur met Akada-nim?!” “Akada? Who’s that? Have you ever visited there?” Lu, who had no idea who Akada was, tilted his head and asked the red-haired man if he had ever visited the place. The red-haired man, Revo, then stood up, looked at the space visible through the window behind him, recalled his past living with Akada, and said with a smile,

“Yes… I made a new connection there. But the Elume Dimension… it’s a peculiar case where the entrance can’t be found and its location changes constantly… so I haven’t been able to go there since. More than anything, whenever its location is pinpointed, I always have to be dispatched…” “Ah, now that you mention it, you were temporarily dispatched to another dimension as a substitute this time, weren’t you? Estur probably knows that dimension’s story well, so ask him a lot about it later.” “Yes… Ah, so… how was that dimension? Do you think we should go?” Revo, after being told to hear the story from Estur, who had recuperated in the Elume Dimension for several years, nodded and then asked Lu about the Elume Dimension… now called Krentid World. Lu thought deeply, then remembered something and grinned as he spoke.

“Well… some idiots seem to be plotting something.” “…!! Hmph… For now, I accepted the request of the person who had business there and sent them to that dimension… When the time comes, we should also go…” “No, it’s fine. There’s a woman there who seems capable of defeating even Kaju. As long as she’s there… the idiots threatening that dimension can be left to her.” “….Pardon?” When Lu said there was someone in that dimension who could defeat even Kaju, Revo, not understanding, looked bewildered and questioned Lu. At that moment, someone slowly entered the room, panting.

“Ah… goodness me… what a fervent welcome…” “It’s because no one knew if you were alive, Estur. No matter how much we searched, we couldn’t find you. Who would have thought you’d be in that dimension?” “Hmph… I never imagined the place I fell to was the Elume Dimension either. By the way, I didn’t know you’d create a new organization like this. R.S… H.S.A was short for Hidden Space Agents, so what does R.S stand for?” “It stands for Restart & Station. They say it was named that because of the recursion of H.S.A and joining with the people and robots of the Station. Anyway…”

After finishing his explanation of the R.S name, Revo turned around and looked at Estur. He then chuckled, approached Estur, and embraced him, smiling joyfully as he said, “Thank you so much for being alive, Estur… Truly…” “Hahaha… I’m also very happy that Revo-nim is alive. By the way, Captain Revo-nim. In that dimension, I met an explorer and a Saintess…” “….?! Don’t tell me you met Zeke and Aria?!” “….Huh?” The moment Estur mentioned meeting an explorer and a Saintess in the Elume Dimension, Lu was startled and asked Estur if he had met Zeke and Aria. Estur, greatly flustered that Lu also knew them, stared blankly at Lu. About three minutes passed, and Estur and Lu recounted their story of meeting Zeke and Aria to Revo. Revo then exclaimed in surprise,

“Indeed…!! In that case, even if our friend didn’t go there, that dimension might be safe.” “Still, a little help will be needed. The moment I blocked Aria’s staff, I felt that Aria still couldn’t fully unleash her abilities.” “I feel the same way, Estur. I almost fought a Saintess once before… how should I put it… it felt like she was using someone else’s energy instead of her own? I felt she couldn’t use her own energy.” “Hmm… so she has latent abilities that even she doesn’t know about. Indeed… I understand. But do you think she can truly awaken her latent abilities?” “Well… that depends on the Saintess’s heart. Or… that explorer might be able to awaken her.”

In response to Revo’s question, Lu thought of Zeke and believed that Zeke might be able to awaken Aria’s latent abilities. Meanwhile, in a certain plain in Elume… Krentid World, Yuria was swiftly dodging a barrage of light orbs by leaping backward.

“Ugh… I never thought something like this would happen in the outside world…!!” “Snow Woman… if you had continued living in that snowy mountain, you wouldn’t have been attacked like this… You’ve hastened your own demise. You’re the one who killed our priests and saintesses, aren’t you?” A Saintess, who was showering Yuria on the ground with light orbs from the air, spoke, watching Yuria with glowing yellow eyes. Yuria then gathered cold energy in both hands and swung her arms forward. Instantly, the cold energy gathered in Yuria’s hands burst forth, creating an ice wall, which began to block all of the Saintess’s light orbs.

“So what do you want? You’re just guys who try to erect strange statues on other people’s land…” “Strange statue? How dare you insult our goddess? Unacceptable… I will not let you go unpunished for your blasphemy…!” “You weren’t going to let me go unpunished anyway, so why are you saying that now…!!” Yuria was dumbfounded by the Saintess’s words, who said she wouldn’t let her go unpunished for blasphemy. As the Saintess began to shoot light orbs again, Yuria spread her arms, projecting blue-eyed crystal-shaped magic circles to her sides and above her. She then pointed at the Saintess with both hands, and an enormous number of icicles began to shoot out from the magic circles, intercepting the Saintess’s light orbs.

“Is all you can do shoot light orbs from your hands? This works out even better.” “Don’t say such foolish things. Do you think this is all there is? You obstruct our actions for the great cause, you long-lived beings.” “Wow… that’s really disappointing. Zeke accepted me as a human… and yet there are still fools who treat me as less than human just because I’ve lived long…!!” When the Saintess didn’t treat her as a fellow human, Yuria felt disappointed, recalling Zeke, then immediately placed both hands on the ground. The plain, where not a single blade of grass grew, instantly began to freeze over, and the Saintess, seeing the ground freeze, continued to fire yellow light orbs from her hand towards Yuria as she spoke.

“You froze the ground? But I’m flying with the power of the Goddess. Such petty tricks won’t work on me.” “I didn’t freeze the ground to use it on you. I froze it for myself.” “What…?!” When Yuria made that cryptic remark about freezing the ground for herself, the Saintess tilted her head. At that moment, the Saintess felt something happening on the frozen ground and looked down urgently. Seeing all the cold energy spread across the frozen ground begin to flow towards Yuria, she realized Yuria’s objective.

“….!! Is it to strengthen her own power…!!” “I am the Snow Woman, strange Saintess. Wherever there is cold, that place becomes my battlefield and my world. Welcome. Welcome to my world.” “…..I see. It could certainly be dangerous. Perhaps I was a bit arrogant.” “Yes. Then… I’ll freeze you to death just like them.”

Having absorbed a certain amount of cold energy that flowed to her, Yuria’s hair began to glow, and she immediately put her hands together. At that moment, a blizzard began to rage, and the Saintess’s face began to contort as her vision became obscured by the snowstorm.

‘Ugh… because of the blizzard…!! I can’t see where the Snow Woman is…!!’ “Don’t move your hand. Otherwise, you’ll be pierced by an icicle…?” The moment Yuria leisurely offered advice to the Saintess, something pierced through the ice wall and grazed past Yuria. Yuria saw the hole in the ice wall and realized the identity of what had just grazed her, greatly astonished.

‘…!!! Th-this… is this a laser beam?!’ “No choice… this is all for the great cause… I have no option but to indiscriminately bombard…!!” As the situation grew unfavorable due to Yuria’s blizzard and icicles, the Saintess began to fire beams and light orbs indiscriminately. As the Saintess poured attacks onto various places without aiming at anyone in particular, the frozen ground began to shatter under her light orbs and beams. Furthermore, the blizzard also seemed to be overwhelmed by the Saintess’s power, gradually weakening. Seeing this, Yuria surrounded herself with ice to block the attacks.

‘….!! What incredible power…!! Not as much as that Black Saintess, but still, this level of power…!!’ “If you keep defending, you’ll be in big trouble. Did you forget that my beam just pierced your ice wall?” “….!!” In the dust created by the immense bombardment, the Saintess reminded Yuria that her beam had just pierced the ice wall, causing Yuria to panic greatly. And at that moment, a beam grazed past Yuria’s ice. The Saintess then swung her arm to clear the dust and stared at Yuria, saying,

“Found you, Snow Woman.” ‘…..I guess my preparation was inadequate… I lived so long trapped in the snowy mountains that I forgot how to fight…’ As the Saintess stretched out her hand towards her, about to fire a light orb from it, Yuria closed her eyes and began to regret having forgotten how sluggish she had become. The moment the light orb was fired from the Saintess’s hand, a powerful flame suddenly appeared from the side and pushed the orb away, greatly startling both Yuria and the Saintess.

“Huh…? That flame…?” “….?! Wh-what is that flame?! I didn’t feel anything…” “….Oh?” Yuria was greatly surprised when she saw something next to the Saintess. It was a red-haired man who had appeared beside the Saintess at some point. The Saintess realized someone had leapt to her side, but it was already too late. Before the Saintess could react, the man punched her in the back, knocking her to the ground. The Saintess immediately got up and shouted at the man beside her.

“How dare you… how dare you… I don’t know who you are, but how dare you obstruct our great cause…!!!” “Great cause, my foot. You lunatics.” “….!! How dare you insult us… I’ll never forgive you!!” The Saintess, enraged by the red-haired man calling her a lunatic, immediately fired a beam at him. The red-haired man then inserted a strange black gem into the metal rod attached to his arm, extended his arm towards the Saintess, and…

“Black Orb.” “…..?!” Then, black flames erupted from the tip of the metal rod. The Saintess’s beam, upon contact with the black flames, instantly vanished, and the flames engulfed the Saintess. The Saintess then began to scream within the flames.

“Aaaaaaaah!! Wh-what is thissss…!!” The Saintess, struggling within the flames, eventually turned to ash and vanished. Once the Saintess died, the red-haired man slowly walked towards Yuria. He then extended his hand to Yuria and spoke.

“Are you alright?” “…..Uh… uh…” When the suddenly appearing red-haired man completely overwhelmed the Saintess, Yuria, still dumbfounded, answered his question. Meanwhile, on a ship docked in a certain harbor, Kols let out a hollow laugh upon seeing someone.

“Oh dear… Your friend was desperately looking for you… he probably doesn’t know you’d be in the Herlos region, does he?” “Ah… I came here secretly from Hyung-nim. Anyway, thank you for the snacks. I’ll enjoy them, clumsy Hyung-nim.” Kols was giving snacks to Jid Looprian, who had come to his ship. Jid put the received snacks inside his clothes and smiled, expressing his gratitude. Kols then sighed deeply and spoke to Jid.

“But aren’t you going back? Everyone misses you.” “Ah… I have something to do, you see. There are some idiotic guys who plan to obstruct Zeke’s journey.” “Zeke… Ah, by any chance, did you meet Zeke?” “Yes. He was healthy. He’s in the Herlos region right now.” “…!! Ah… Ahahaha!! So the kid is doing well!! That’s very good news!!”

Upon hearing news of Zeke from Jid, Kols began to laugh joyfully. Jid chuckled at the sight, then turned around and headed towards the door, speaking to Kols.

“Kols Hyung-nim. Danger is approaching the world now. Some idiots… are doing strange things. So you should be careful too, Hyung-nim.” “Well… alright, I understand. I’ll talk to your brother well for you… Do what you want, Jid.” “….Thank you, Hyung-nim.” When Kols told him to do what he wanted, Jid grinned and expressed his gratitude to Kols. He then exited the room and closed the door.

Meanwhile, in the forest, I, who was tearing into grilled ribs Aria had made for a snack, unfolded my map and was looking for the next destination. “Hmm… there are no villages nearby here. They say there are a total of five villages at the end?” “Five? Hmm… that’s fewer than I thought. So where do you plan to go next?” “Let’s see… if I go straight down this road… what… what?! A Dragon’s Nest?!” I was greatly astonished to learn that going straight down this road would lead to a Dragon’s Nest.

BONUS: Part 2 Afterword

Hello, this is Author Photon.

Part 2 has finally concluded!

Part 2 contained the growth of Zeke and Aria, and it was a story that introduced other worlds/dimensions, which are the core themes of Dimensions.

Also, priests and saintesses active in Krentid World were frequently mentioned.

Well… I won’t be sharing various asides this time.

However, as of today, I have continuously published 272 chapters of the Dimensions novel without a hiatus.

So, I’m quite exhausted.

So, what am I writing this to announce…?

I still have no intention of taking a hiatus, so Part 3 will begin serialization next week hahaha

Although The Black Saintess still has a long way to go until completion, I sincerely thank the readers who have continuously followed it.

Oh, and I finished one of the tasks I was working on, so I had a bit of free time and was generating some illustrations with NovelAI.

And if I have more time, I’ll be serializing a side story.

Anyway… that’s all I wanted to say.

See you again next week with Part 3!