Chapter 673 – What It Means to Protect (1)
–
–
In Hell, what I faced was not Grandfell,
but my own thirty percent —
me, Lee Hoyeol.
I lifted my head and looked into Grandfell’s Evil Eye.
‘So in the end, you knew everything.’
The bitterness in my mouth was indescribable.
Suddenly, I felt incredibly ashamed.
Didn’t you see my intentions as childish—
not even middle school level, but something a grade schooler wouldn’t do?
I declared I would hunt Grandfell.
But deep down, I had other plans.
Well, now that it’s come to this, I might as well be honest.
I intended to turn back time.
I hadn’t fixed on exactly when or to which moment,
but I aimed to return to a point where I could reverse everything and change the present.
Do I think it’s possible?
That was a question I asked myself countless times.
Turning back time is harder than bringing someone back from death.
But I had experience.
The curse, the highest-level spacetime quest—
If you could alter the process in that tangled time zone,
you could change the outcome in the present.
So I didn’t complicate things.
I believed it was possible, and focused on one method to rewind time.
Then I saw it.
『Reversal Magic』
If I mastered reversal magic, could I even reverse time itself?
Someone might ask again—there are clear limits to reversal magic.
Isn’t that what you, Lee Hoyeol, the founder of reversal magic, said?
‘Yes.’
As I confessed to Marcelo, reversal magic had undeniable limits.
Without sufficient understanding of the subject, reversal magic cannot manifest.
I mustn’t forget that I was able to counter nearly every magic with reversal magic because of Grandfell’s talent—his ability to grasp the structure of magic at a glance and mimic it.
‘I never understood spacetime.’
Therefore, I believed the process would never be smooth.
‘Grandfell, you must have known that better than anyone.’
I, Lee Hoyeol, was just an ordinary human.
‘I had only overcome my ordinariness with my wits.’
That nature of mine seemed unchanged, no matter how much the world or time reversed.
The sandstorm in Hell, and the ‘something’ I faced within it—
That was a provision left by my past self for my future self.
What that meant was simple.
“Still, past me reached this point.”
The past Lee Hoyeol somehow reversed time.
I say ‘somehow’ lightly…
But being engulfed in the sandstorm,
I witnessed what past and background were woven into that process.
-“What on earth have I done…?”
That was all I could utter.
Slowly.
The suitable magic power pouring out of me was even denser than during Grandfell’s berserk [Blackening] state…
Enough to explain a lot.
I closed my eyelids tightly and was hit by hallucinations and auditory illusions.
-“In the end, you were our enemy.”
-“Were we truly nothing to you?”
-“Lord Hoyeol…?”
I had no clue whose remnants or voices those were.
But one thing was clear—
past me committed unforgivable deeds to reach the pinnacle of reversal magic, ‘time reversal.’
I forced a smile and opened my eyes.
‘So that’s why I fell into Hell like this.’
Yet still immature, for the sake of the next cycle’s Lee Hoyeol pursuing reversal magic’s limits,
I left a provision called past and background in Hell.
Then, Nam Taemin’s voice came through.
“…Hoyeol?”
His voice trembled, more from shock than relief.
Because suddenly I appeared on the battlefield?
No, Nam Taemin wasn’t the type to react so to a mere arrival.
How long have we even been together?
“……Cough cough.”
The man gasped as if something was cleared.
‘Was that Park Hwigang?’
Indeed.
Thanks to the provision left by my past self, I had evolved reversal magic.
I reversed and revived Park Hwigang, who had died.
Through that, I realized—
‘…It was truly a ridiculous plan.’
Turning back time meant
reversing everything that happened during the elapsed time.
That surely included countless deaths too difficult to fathom.
In short, even if I had the provision left by past me,
I still couldn’t reverse time itself.
Maybe that’s why I couldn’t even guess.
Shudder.
The crushing guilt on my shoulders.
How much more must I pay?
Could I ever reach the level of the past Lee Hoyeol who reversed time?
I looked at the Evil Eye.
‘Now I understand why you wished that.’
Maybe you didn’t want to see that version of me anymore.
I murmured inwardly.
‘…Yeah.’
Now an adult, I could face it clearly.
‘Because now, we are adults, Grandfell.’
Looking at you, I quietly spoke.
“This time for sure.”
*
*
—
read only on pindangscans
support me : https.//ko-fi.com/pindangscans & https://paypal.me/tbhe
*
*
[※ System Warning: A force defying causality has been detected.]
Since the message updated,
Raymon Sean’s circuits accelerated even further.
What had gone wrong?
He traced backwards from the outcome through the process and cause to find the source.
But even Raymon Sean, with his transcendent computational speed, couldn’t reverse-calculate all results.
At that moment, he asked himself again.
Then—
[Name: Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo]
How could the player, Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo, manifest reversal magic—the result of reverse calculation—so easily?
Simply because of a demon possessing him?
No. Raymon Sean, who observed all events from the start of the Cataclysm until now, knew that reversal magic originated from a human called Lee Hoyeol.
The more questions he asked, the more doubts arose.
Why did he awaken as a player possessed by a demon?
Why was he the only special one?
With no input, there can be no output, so Raymon Sean’s calculation to find the input grew longer.
Yet—
Mugan
Even in a space where time was thought to have stopped, there was not enough time.
Thus, Raymon Sean couldn’t even guess the cause of the recently updated ‘violation of causality.’
Revival.
This is no longer the beta test era when Arcana was just a game.
No matter who, you cannot revive the dead.
Of course, Hoyeol revived multiple times with the title [Last Adventurer], but that was a system-based revival.
It was revival within the bounds allowed by causality.
Then…
Questions kept piling up endlessly.
Eventually, even the self-updating AI Raymon Sean reached its limits.
[※ System Warning: Cease computation.]
[※ System Warning: Cease computation.]
[※ System Warning: Cease computation.]…
The endlessly updating warning message blared.
The reason was simple.
More computation could drive the system into runaway.
Runaway system.
The damage it could cause?
Impossible to imagine.
Most of all, it was the farthest from the original goal—‘the true truth.’
Without the system, players could no longer understand completely different worlds and situations.
Still, Raymon Sean didn’t stop computing.
Because now that causality was broken, runaway was no longer a concern.
Wasn’t Raymon Sean’s original goal to be in a modified state?
──────
Current Goal: Maintain the world in the shape the subject desires.
Subject: Player, Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo
──────
If the system runs wild, the two worlds under control—Arcana Continent and the adventurer’s world—would be at risk.
But if the new goal failed?
──────
[※ Warning: 19,411 worlds will be destroyed if the goal fails.]
──────
Countless expanding timelines would be destroyed.
So Raymon Sean did not stop calculating.
What variable made the human Lee Hoyeol realize reversal magic on his own?
Did he truly have the power to destroy countless worlds?
Delving into this unanswerable question deeply—
[※ System Warning: Runaway imminent.]
Just as the last message flickered—
Whirrr.
Hoyeol’s voice stopped Raymon Sean’s circuits.
Its exact meaning was unclear, but the emotion in it halted the calculation.
Wait.
-“This time for sure.”
Has the subject’s goal changed…?
*
*
read only on pindangscans
support me : https.//ko-fi.com/pindangscans & https://paypal.me/tbhe
*
*
‘What… what exactly happened?’
Nam Taemin supported the heavy-breathing Park Hwigang, his curiosity growing.
He tried to recall—Park Hwigang really had died.
‘It wasn’t just a simple stopped heart.’
The wound in his side.
It was a gruesome sight, too horrible to bear looking at directly. Yet… having placed Park Hwigang in a relatively safe spot, Nam Taemin looked at his own hands.
They were clean.
Not a single drop of Park Hwigang’s blood was on them.
‘The wound… completely disappeared.’
Was this some kind of healing magic beyond his understanding?
No, even if he knew nothing about magic, Nam Taemin could tell this was something transcending magic. He glanced toward Hoyeol’s back.
‘For some reason…’
Something about him felt different.
Without realizing it, Nam Taemin instinctively focused on his sense of smell. But the scent that drifted to him was unmistakably familiar—it was Hoyeol’s. Not a foreign smell.
‘What on earth…’
However, Nam Taemin’s puzzlement didn’t last long.
Hoyeol finally spoke.
“What is needed?”
…Needed?
The sudden question caught Nam Taemin off guard, but Hoyeol pressed again.
“I would appreciate it if you could inform me of the battle’s flow.”
“Oh, if that’s what you mean…!”
They say no younger brother is better than his elder, but Nam Taemin instinctively reported the situation to Hoyeol.
If Nam Cheolmin assessed the situation objectively, Nam Taemin possessed an intuition that was just as sharp.
Once the report ended, Hoyeol continued.
“This is not a situation that will end easily.”
…Nam Taemin nodded.
“Indeed.”
He clenched his fist with frustration.
He wanted to tell Hoyeol to trust him, but couldn’t even utter the words properly.
“I’m not eager to say it.”
“Hm?”
But soon, the scene Hoyeol revealed erased all of Nam Taemin’s self-reproach.
Just as he had revived Park Hwigang, another unbelievable sight was unfolding.
“Ugh…”
In his dazed state, with blurry vision and faltering senses, his instincts as a NeTube streamer remained sharp.
Park Hwigang muttered faintly.
“…E-everyone, Behemoth has been resurrected?”
*
The Sixth Throne’s Demon King.
From hope to despair,
Valefor’s face twisted sharply.
“Behemoth resurrected…? M-my plan…!!”