Chapter 720 – Rays of Light (2)
Wait a second. I feel like I just heard something outrageous. A light that burns everything?
“Th-that’s not serious, right?”
“Well, it is Lee Hoyeol. He says stuff like that all the time.”
“But how can he appear simultaneously like this?”
Reality, the Arcana Continent, the Demon Realm… Wherever the imitation incarnations—Hoyeol’s rays of light—had appeared, the questions wouldn’t fade. Most people assumed this, too, was some kind of event. At the Magic Tower, groups of senior mages murmured among themselves.
“Could it be a clone magic? Not content with reversal magic?”
“Lynne, there’s no such magic—”
“For anyone else maybe, but this is the Chief we’re talking about!”
Right. Because it was none other than Hoyeol.
“Well, since his sphere of activity has expanded all the way to the Demon Realm, it makes sense that the range he has to cover has grown too. Maybe he even researched magic like this to solve the complaint that even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough?”
“Come on, no matter what, that’s ridiculous.”
“I know. Apart from the real body, the rest might just be sleight of hand. Still, just the appearance of Lee Hoyeol’s shadow is enough to flip the atmosphere, isn’t it?”
Jellin nodded vigorously.
‘Even if it’s just Lee Hoyeol’s shadow, wouldn’t he at least give us some kind of hint?’
The progress of the Myth-grade quest had been blocked by a shattered system window. But now, with not only Lox but even Lee Hoyeol appearing, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Jellin.
And because of that, he didn’t hear it properly.
“…Drop it!”
At the same instant as that threadlike shout, a ray of light shot toward Jellin. His vision spun wildly—because he’d been knocked to the ground.
Crash.
“H-huh?!”
“Are you insane?!”
“S-Schreig?!”
When he came to his senses, Schreig was glaring at him fiercely. He snatched the straw doll Jellin had been holding and spoke clearly.
“I’ve been shouting at you to put it down!”
“Y-you were? I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“You didn’t hear me? Unbelievable.”
Wait a second. Standing there, Jellin felt a surge of unfairness.
‘Put it down? This is a quest item I acquired!’
A Myth-grade quest item, no less!
‘Lox did say something, but honestly…’
What would someone like me even know?
He hadn’t properly understood what Lox had said. And even if he had, he’d had no intention of handing the doll over to him. Jellin pouted.
‘He looks like he’s already found way more than me anyway.’
But Jellin’s misunderstanding didn’t last long. Schreig pulled him to his feet. To wake up from a delusion, you had to face reality.
“Ugh, spit—dust.”
As Jellin brushed the dirt from his lips, a changed landscape came into view through the dust. Like a crater. Or a sinkhole.
“W-what is this?”
Had a meteor suddenly fallen? Had the ground collapsed? How could such a massive scar have formed?
A scene flashed through Jellin’s stunned mind. That’s right—a single ray of light.
Swallowing hard, Jellin spoke.
“D-does ‘burning everything’ mean this?”
The answer was written all over Lox.
Whoosh.
The straw dolls Lox had been holding were burning up in flames. They must have been caught in that intense light. Lox wiped away the blood running down, and Schreig tossed Jellin’s doll into the blazing fire.
That’s when Jellin realized.
‘Lee Hoyeol wasn’t attacking us.’
He had only attacked the traces left behind by the Great Sages—the straw dolls. It was just that the light had been far too bright. To an unreasonable degree. Bright enough to burn everything.
As everyone stood speechless, Lox thought,
‘If their prophecy is being fulfilled…’
He turned one of the prophecies over in his mind.
“…The light will blind our eyes.”
Our eyes.
“Where does ‘we’ end, and where does it not?”
Are we included in that, Commander?
Swipe.
Lox wiped the blood from his mouth.
“No matter what, we might need to keep our eyes closed for a while.”
*
*
The Romantic Explorer.
“Hahaha.”
Lorenzik let out a hollow laugh.
“One Eureka a day should be plenty.”
The vast, endless Demon Realm.
It would’ve been surprising enough that Fabian, the Explorer’s Federation President, he’d dismissed as a greenhorn, had tracked his footsteps. Lorenzik’s gaze shifted toward the halo.
“To think even you would come looking for me.”
Fabian Delong swallowed dryly.
“C-Commander…?”
Had his vision been obscured? Was he hallucinating? Forgetting for a moment that this was the Demon Realm, Fabian removed the 『Helmet of Silence』 that had been protecting him.
But Fabian was seeing clearly.
For some reason, Lorenzik stood facing Hoyeol as if in opposition.
“Commander—no, Claudi. No, that won’t do anymore. I suppose I should call you Lee Hoyeol now. Claudi isn’t you—he’s that Evil Eye floating up in the sky.”
What was he suddenly talking about?! Had he been consumed by the madness of the Demon Realm? Without realizing it, Fabian interjected.
“Sir Lorenzik, have you lost your mind?”
“I wish I had.”
“No, I already knew you were a madman, but—!”
Lorenzik turned his head toward the babbling Fabian.
“Regrettably, I’m perfectly serious, Fabian.”
He had changed.
The once boyish face of Lorenzik had visibly aged. The implication was obvious. Don’t tell me—had Sir Lorenzik made his decision?
“Is… is this your final expedition?”
That made it all the more incomprehensible.
“But that aside, why say something so absurd? You know as well as I do that the source of all evil is a demon. What you said earlier sounded as if—!”
As if the Commander were on equal footing with a demon…!
“Impressive, Lorenzik.”
“!”
“Once again, your words are correct.”
What?
Fabian’s head turned stiffly. Had he really heard the Commander’s voice? To be sure, he shifted his gaze.
Silver hair. A straight posture.
You—Hoyeol—continued speaking.
“I am the protagonist of forgotten history.”
Declaring himself the protagonist.
That, too, was no different from the Commander he’d always known. And yet Fabian could only gape in shock. Forgotten history—wasn’t that exactly the ‘unofficial histories’ Lorenzik had been searching for?
‘Then it makes sense.’
Why was Sir Lorenzik reacting like this?
‘It’s written in the unofficial histories you were searching for.’
‘Something’ related to the Supreme Commander.
Gulp.
In that moment of involuntary tension—
“Heheh, I knew it!”
Lorenzik’s voice rang out, brimming with self-satisfaction.
“No matter how I look at it, the only man who could pull something like this off is you, Commander. You’ve done something truly outrageous!”
“…Pardon?”
“What is it, Fabian? Didn’t I tell you?”
Tell him what, exactly? Lorenzik had vanished without a word, carrying off the Federation’s treasures. As if he’d ever properly explained anything about unofficial histories.
Yet Lorenzik shamelessly went on.
“The unofficial histories of the Arcana Continent I was desperately searching for—perhaps all of them were written by my past self. You don’t get what nonsense I’m spouting, do you?”
“……”
Fabian pressed his lips together.
Lorenzik looked irritated, and Fabian didn’t want to answer. Still, he couldn’t understand it. History was history.
‘No matter how long you’ve lived, Sir Lorenzik, it’s impossible for you to have written those unofficial histories. And besides, unofficial histories are just that—unofficial. They’re practically fiction.’
Fabian himself was a great explorer, having served as President. Even if they weren’t grand epics, he’d encountered unofficial histories many times.
Why were unofficial histories deemed not to be history?
‘They don’t even match up with the established timelines of confirmed history.’
Because they contradicted the official records of the Arcana Continent. And yet, how could Lorenzik have written all those unofficial histories when their times of authorship differed?
Seeing Fabian’s bewilderment, Lorenzik whispered.
“From now on, remember this, Fabian.”
“?”
“In truth, this world repeats.”
“R-repeats…?”
“You don’t understand, even after hearing it. I know.”
Lorenzik curled his lips upward.
“I only realized it myself just now.”
Thinking back, it was strange.
“Just like always.”
How had I been able to interpret unofficial histories so easily? Calling it an explorer’s intuition didn’t quite cut it. As I said, they were written in different languages, in different eras.
‘It’s because I wrote them before the repetition.’
That was why I could interpret them, believing it to be an innate talent. Lorenzik knew that the Hoyeol standing before him wasn’t the original body. There had been a line like this in one of the unofficial histories he’d once glimpsed.
“When the rays of light rise, the beginning of the finale will be at hand… Then the ‘final chapter’ has begun. May I ask? This time, have you finally steeled yourself?”
Lorenzik was a man broken by purity. But because he had lost that purity, he could now ask such a serious question.
Whether the world repeated or not didn’t really matter to him… Lorenzik looked at Hoyeol’s rays of light. For some reason, your eyes were utterly hollow.
“Are you prepared to bring everything to an end?”
They were eyes more pitiful than anyone’s.
Lorenzik knew.
The reason he could remain so detached was because he didn’t remember. He could guess that someone who remembered everything could never be detached.
‘Even fragments are this painful.’
Enough to make me mature in an instant.
“Yes.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
“I’m sorry, but what on earth are you two talking about?!”
Fabian couldn’t understand a single word. And he never received an answer. From anyone.
Sway.
Fabian’s face twisted.
“S-Sir Lorenzik!!”
Lorenzik closed his eyes and collapsed.
From boy to youth.
From youth to middle age.
From middle age to an old man whose breath had stopped.
At the very end—the very end—having received an answer to his final curiosity, Lorenzik closed his eyes with a peaceful expression.
Supporting Lorenzik, Fabian still couldn’t understand. Even a riddle shouldn’t be this devoid of clues. In the end, Fabian clenched his teeth.
“Commander, I have something I want to ask. The one thing I understand is that this world repeats, and that the cause is connected to you and the Silver Evil Eye. Repetition, unofficial histories—I know nothing about any of that. But…!!”
He wanted an answer from you.
“Do I need to become your enemy?”
To oppose Hoyeol—of course, Fabian had no such intention. He just wanted a bit more certainty.
‘If you’d just nod your head…’
But Fabian didn’t get the answer he wanted.
“I am not one who gives answers.”
The moment a ray of light rose behind Hoyeol—
“!!!”
The curse-flesh that had been fixated on the Silver Evil Eye all turned their gazes toward Hoyeol at once. Fabian stared in shock as the curse-flesh horde surged toward Hoyeol, ignoring him entirely.
‘Have you really made a decision?‘
That the Commander was more dangerous than the Silver Evil Eye…?
*
*
…So dazzling.
The world brightened. Since when had my eyes been closed?
Grandfell opened his eyes.
And then he saw it.
“Hello.”
Light poured down brilliantly.
“It’s been a while, Grandfell.”