episode_0002

1. Return (2)

I thought I shouldn’t have come back, but at the same time, I thought about my family and friends who are now in my faded memories.

I was afraid that he might have died while I was away, but that only lasted a moment.

Suddenly, I felt my body getting warmer, and the negative thoughts and fears, terror, and anxiety that filled my head disappeared.

Perhaps this was the protection of courage that Patruna had spoken of.

It was nice to know that the guard was working normally though

Rather, if we are forced to overcome it like this,

I thought it would be hard to get used to it because there was still a gap between the sensation I had felt until just now and the sensation that had become cold due to protection.

” Hoo ”

Repeat the process of taking deep breaths in and out, and think about these side effects later.

I decided to think about the current situation with a clear head thanks to the protection of courage.

” Okay. So to sum it up, while I was in another world, Gaia, the Earth’s god, died from old age or something, right? ”

” So that’s how the system for rebuilding the world called Top was created?

But that god called Gaia gave people the power to overcome it, and gods from other dimensions are helping like Patruna…”

Unfortunately, since I just got back, there isn’t much information.

All I could see was that the area around the tower was desolate like a desert, with buildings crumbling.

In another place, on the contrary, there were ruins that had been transformed into a sight that blended in with nature.

I still don’t know what the difference is, but I can only guess that some other force is at work.

*****

I got up from the terrace, went back into the room, and then lay down on the bed because of a sudden feeling of weakness.

” Ah, I don’t know. I wish there was something I could look up, but I don’t have a computer or smartphone, and I don’t even have internet access ”

As I was mumbling to myself like that, before I knew it, I saw the smartwatch on my left arm.

Well, I don’t know the exact name, but I just think of it as a watch and call it that.

” Wait? If this works, then something else can work too?! ”

After raising my body with a ‘pop’, I pressed the watch on my left arm here and there, and the window that seemed to show my ID like before disappeared and a loading screen passed by.

The screen that appeared afterward had a design that seemed like something I had seen several times before.

” This… looks like an internet search window? ”

The screen looked like a search engine window from a company called Google.

I don’t know why it’s still there, but I think it must have been somehow created by the power of other gods like Patruna or Thoth.

I looked up things like the end of the world and the tower.

The content I found was so full of stories that I wondered, “Is this really how it is?”

First of all, in 2020, when I went to another world, other people disappeared besides me, and most of them were said to have been dragged to another world.

” There were other people who went there besides me? Was there some kind of other-worldly transport truck driving around? ”

*****

If you look at the articles organized simply by year,

2022

The towers that suddenly appeared began to appear sequentially around the world over the next two years.

It is said that there were no major problems other than damage to the buildings above it as the tower began to rise from the ground.

Each country tried to destroy the tower that suddenly appeared.

It is said that the destruction operation failed because there was a boundary that seemed to be blocked by something, and that they tried to investigate, but were unable to do so because of the boundary.

Looking at the picture of the tower that suddenly appeared with the text and the damaged building, I was reminded of what I had seen in ‘Maderona’.

” I guess there was a boundary or a curtain. ”

2024

It is said that the boundary on the tower disappeared and an entrance appeared.

So the government sent investigation teams sequentially to investigate, but

It is said that they were only able to go up to the third floor and could not go beyond that.

All they found through investigation was a wall made of materials that appeared to be thousands of years old and with unique characters.

It was quite interesting to see a photo of a wall covered in unique patterns.

” It looks like a wall that you would see in a movie about exploring ruins. But has there been no research on what this is about yet? ”

If that’s the case, then it’s clear that there will be a lot more trouble investigating the tower than I thought.

It is clear that Gaia gave them the power to overcome, and that there were people who returned from another world, but the details were not known, as there are still no documents or people who can find out.

Because the tower has a level of difficulty that makes it difficult to properly investigate.

2025

The closed floor was opened, and each country was concerned about the danger and sent armed investigation teams through the military.

It is said that the investigation was a failure as all personnel were wiped out by strange monsters that suddenly appeared.

After the mysterious disappearance of the investigation team, people began to express various opinions about the tower.

Some people began to fall into fear, while others even began to worship the tower.

But strangely enough, it was written that the monsters only existed in the tower and never came out.

(Attached is a photo showing the monsters only coming out to the entrance of the tower and not coming out.)

” Are there still people who worship the tower or something like that? If there are, it must be quite annoying. ”

Every time there was a conflict with people who worshiped gods other than Patruna, like Maderona, it would get worse to the point where it would be mentally debilitating.

2027

It is said that after a large clock-shaped icon appeared on the tower, the surrounding area became covered in incomprehensible devastation as time passed.

I think the desert-like area we saw earlier was probably this case.

” A clock-shaped icon suddenly appeared… Is there really a time limit for investigating or conquering the tower? Ugh… ”

If I were to investigate the tower in the future and then conquer it, I would try to do it leisurely, but if there was a time limit, it would be a big problem.

Fortunately, there was additional information attached to this part. The clock-shaped icon moved 12 times, and each time it moved, a month passed.

” Then I don’t know if there are 12 chances or if it takes 12 months to conquer it. I’ll have to see for myself. ”

As I read the text with that thought in mind, I came across an attached sentence.

The part where the environment in a certain range would rapidly become devastated every time the clock-shaped icon moved.

” Does this mean that the devastation has progressed 12 times and the area has expanded? If I just found out about this story, I guess I understand why the Earth was destroyed so quickly. ”

Even in the areas where devastation began, it is said that monsters began to appear outside the tower and roam around hunting the people of the area.

In an attempt to prevent such damage, the country attempted to suppress it by force, but was unable to cause any damage and instead simply erected no-trespassing signs and barriers to block the area.

Of course, there seem to have been many cases where fools who tried to prove their courage went in and ended up causing more damage.

2029

In 2020, there was an incident where people who had gone missing returned, and this was called the return, and along with these returnees,

It is said that Awakened people were created who awakened the power to overcome ‘this ability’ through Gaia.

” Did the other gods learn of the situation from this point on? Then Patruna must have known too? That’s why I kept asking if I had to keep returning… ”

The governments of each country are too busy trying to resolve this situation to pay attention to the tower.

It is said that they were busy with the procedures for returning people, registering the Awakened people, and dealing with various crimes caused by their abilities.

In this regard, the Awakened ones were seen flying around the city.

(Just like something you would see in a superhero comic or movie)

Since people with superpowers suddenly started appearing, there must have been many changes in society as well.

There must have been people who did whatever they wanted without taking responsibility for the power they had.

Even if you try to stop it, you probably thought, who would stop it?

” Hmm, considering the time limit on the tower earlier, this probably made us rush towards destruction even more. The tower probably wasn’t the problem. ”

2030

From this point on, the clock-shaped icon on the tower began to move, and the area of devastation around the tower began to increase.

The story was that the damage was so great that they were unable to properly block the chaos in the society caused by the returnees and the awakened.

” Ah, so that’s when the icon started moving. I was a little confused because of the content that was added first. ”

It is said that the year that followed was a chaotic one with many problems occurring.

However, compared to what was to come, the atmosphere so far has been peaceful.

2031

A returnee named ‘Ryan O’Connell’ has appeared in the United States. He claims to have been possessed by a game that has ushered in a zombie apocalypse.

However, due to various events, the society was in turmoil and the returnee procedures were being handled haphazardly, so he was sent back without being properly investigated, which caused a major problem.

‘Ryan’ He was a carrier of the zombie virus that existed in the world he had visited.