Regression of Cause and Effect

Thanks to the help of Lykan, whom I met after a long time, I quickly pulled myself away and asked.

“How did you get here….”

I knew Lykan was joining, but I had never heard that Messiah members had entered the labyrinth. Unable to hide my embarrassment, I looked at Lacar and Kane, whom I was meeting after a long time, and turned my head toward the gaze that seemed to kill me.

“…Lily!”

Aria was about to swing her staff at me without hesitation. But Kane stood in front of the staff, and Lacar blocked Aria’s arm. Feeling betrayed by her friends who were stopping her, Aria got angry and stomped her foot on the floor.

“Get out of the way!”

“Aria. Calm down! We need to work together now….”

Kane approached Aria with both hands raised, but Aria stabbed Kane’s chest with the end of her staff and shouted as if warning him.

“Work together with the enemy who killed my parents? The reason I came into the labyrinth is to kill that bastard, not to help him!”

Aria’s eyes were fixed only on me, pouring out a thick curse, and I could feel that she would kill me without hesitation if she had the chance. I unknowingly gave a bitter smile. It felt like cause and effect had finally come to pierce my heart.

“Ross, leave Aria to her friends and let’s focus on the cult leader.”

Lykan’s words brought me back to my senses, and I belatedly remembered Ellie, who was injured trying to save me, and quickly turned my head. Fortunately, the Marmot seemed to have rushed to help Ellie. Ellie, whose arm had exploded, stopped the bleeding with magic, but her bones and muscles were exposed, so she looked very painful.

Ellie’s eyes met mine for a moment, and they were filled with tears. At first, I thought it was because of the pain, but when she sighed and smiled in relief, I realized that she was actually worried about me. Feeling that clearly conveyed emotion, I once again inadvertently turned my head away.

The cult leader had failed to kill me, but he didn’t seem particularly disappointed. Rather, he lowered his chakram and carefully observed us, as if he found it interesting.

,Lykan is Roel’s teacher and a professor at Transcendence Academy, so I understand… but frankly, I don’t understand being with those extras behind you. What kind of sense of accomplishment does it give you to be with vermin that don’t exist in the novel.」

I couldn’t ignore the cult leader’s words, who was barely evaluating my precious members in such a way.

“…Sorry, I don’t have any weird fetishes like you. They are all precious friends to me.”

The cult leader stroked his chin and shrugged.

,That’s strange. From what I’ve heard, you seem to have brutally killed the parents of that precious friend.」

“….”

,If you made precious connections to ‘lose’ your friendship with your friend for the sake of becoming stronger, then I completely agree with your method―」

My body reacted before thoughts came to my head. Using both Formless Breath and Dimensional Leap at the same time, I rushed in like a flash of light and cut through everything in a straight line.

The cult leader’s body exploded as it was, and shattered flesh and blood splattered everywhere. But it was an elaborate fake. The cult leader, who revealed himself in the blood mist created by the flesh and blood, swung his chakram at my nape.

Kang-!

The lips under the mask are smiling. The cult leader, having confirmed what I was sensitive to, turned his eyes to the members as if to have them watch his actions.

Before I could stop him, the cult leader threw a chakram to tie my ankles and flew toward the members, emitting an aura of chaos. Kane, who was desperately blocking while hugging Aria, was defenseless with his back turned. Lacar, who discovered the cult leader approaching, quickly raised his twin swords.

Kang-!

However, it was not the twin swords that blocked the chakram, but the gauntlet that Lykan was wearing. He caught up with the cult leader’s speed. No, it felt even faster. Lykan is the strongest physical fighter in the worldview who can move like a flash of light with pure physical strength alone.

“Hey, hey, don’t you dare touch my students.”

,Just a light greeting.」

The cult leader, who reached back and retrieved the chakram he had thrown at me, swung the chakram as if chopping down an axe.

Kwang-! Kwang-!

At the same time as the flashes, the bodies of the cult leader and Lykan were pushed back from each other. Aiming for the gap, I threw a spear of shadows, but the cult leader lightly blocked it with the aura of chaos, floated his body in the air, overlapped two chakrams into one, and attached it to his back, enlarging it to a size larger than himself.

“That is….”

A huge golden eye appeared inside the circle of the huge chakram that the cult leader had attached to his back. Strangely, that large eye didn’t feel unfamiliar. I definitely felt like I had seen it somewhere.

Yes, that’s….

The cult leader, noticing that I had realized it, crossed his arms in front of his chest in an X shape, emitted an aura of chaos in all directions, revealed an intense presence, and said.

,Hehe, Bella of the first world gave me a very good gift.」

So it was Bella’s eye.

,Well then, now that the main characters to finish the stage have finally gathered in one place, shall we end the story of the extras here?」

As if everything up until now was a joke, a tremendous amount of chaos began to flow out of the cult leader’s body like a waterfall.

,Do not be afraid.」

At the same time as the cult leader, who was floating in the air, descended from the sky, the ground around him collapsed.

Kwareureureung―――!

Flames are soaring from the collapsing floor, and the aura of chaos is overflowing on the road surface. In the meantime, the cult leader, boasting a presence that overwhelms everyone, took a step forward and continued his last words.

,For I am your demise.」

Kudeudeudeu―――!

As if he was planning to eliminate all the places we could step on, the aura emitted by the cult leader began to overturn the entire ground. At that time, Laelan, who had rushed to us, grabbed my shoulder and whispered.

“…At this rate, we’ll be annihilated. Lykan and I will buy as much time as possible, so abandon us and go up with Ellie. If you can only use space magic, escaping will be easy. For now, running away without confronting the cult leader is the best option you can take.”

Of course, I could understand that Laelan’s words were correct. But I’m the type of person who prioritizes emotions even if I understand with my head. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have carried out the near-impossible plan to go to the 10th floor of the labyrinth to revive Luna.

“I can’t abandon my members here.”

Laelan sighed at my answer and replied irritably.

“Wasn’t your goal to revive Luna? You can’t have both. Anyway, your friend hasn’t even reached the realm of transcendence, so she’ll only hold you back in the labyrinth. You have to give what you can to achieve your goal.”

“If what I have to give is my precious people, then that means it’s the wrong method.”

Laelan burst out a curse, but shut his mouth when the aura emitted by the cult leader reached nearby.

“Haha, my disciple takes after me and is quite stubborn in these areas.”

“Yeah, he’s exactly like you in doing stupid things like choosing to die here.”

With those words, Laelan raised his magic power along with Lykan and pushed back the aura emitted by the cult leader. Laelan, who had protected the ground, sent me a look and rejoined Ellie and Marmot, who were starting to get pushed back.

“Certainly, Laelan’s words are an obvious fact. The more time passes, the more overwhelmingly disadvantageous we become. I can feel the chaos devouring everything around us. We have to kill the cult leader in one go. That’s the only way we can win.”

There was only one way for me to kill the cult leader. That is to use the World Tree’s Spear. If the attack works on the cult leader just once, we can win.

“…Can you help me land a blow on the cult leader?”

Instead of answering, Lykan patted my shoulder and immediately emitted magic power and rushed toward the cult leader like a flash of light. As soon as I confirmed that, I released the spear’s manifestation and took out the World Tree’s Spear from the space warehouse.

Kwaaaaaaaang―――!

Lykan was determined to keep his attention fixed on himself, so he fought the cult leader with all his might from the start. Every time the gauntlet was swung, the air exploded and huge roars overlapped and echoed, and even the overflowing aura of chaos around the cult leader was temporarily pushed back by the pure white flash.

,Do you think you, who are only playing the role of Roel’s temporary teacher, can stop me, the final mastermind?」

An invisible, heavy aura tried to press down on Lykan, but he blocked it with his magic-infused gauntlet and tremendous strength, and as they confronted each other, I realized that an opportunity had come.

The World Tree’s Spear draws up power. Emitting a dark light of destruction, the spearhead moves toward the cult leader.

The golden eye that existed on the back of the cult leader, who was confronting Lykan, turned toward me for a moment. The cult leader turned his head to me and moved one arm.

A huge aura of chaos gathers at the cult leader’s fingertips. But I had already obtained the position and opportunity to stab the cult leader’s heart.

At the moment I was sure of victory, the cult leader gave a bitter smile.

The fingertips that were aiming at me moved to my rear.

“…!”

At the same time as the black flash was fired from the cult leader’s fingertips, I reflexively retrieved the World Tree’s Spear that was heading towards the cult leader’s heart and used Formless Breath again.

Kwaaaaaaaang―――!

The black flash that was rushing towards the members was barely blocked by using the power of the World Tree’s Spear. My heart felt like it was about to explode because I used Formless Breath in succession, and all the bones in my body creaked, and my arm was twisted by the impact of countering the flash, tearing my muscles and blood vessels.

But that wasn’t the end of the price.

“Aria, no!”

The moment Kane’s urgent voice reached my ears,

Aria’s magic pierced my chest.