[Translator - Night]

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Chapter 340

After a moment of silence, I covered my forehead with one hand.

“What now?”

“…I’ll figure something out. Looking at him now, Leon’s kind of a ditz, huh?”

Her snickering laugh was annoying, but since this mess was technically our fault, I had nothing to say.

“Well, at least the time limit’s gone. We just need to find a safe way out.”

Even if there was more breathing room, the situation wasn’t exactly ideal.

That was inevitable, this place was the boundary between the outer dimension and the world of Lazarus.

Meaning, prolonged exposure here meant prolonged exposure to outer-dimensional energy.

It looked fine for now, but if we stayed too long, that red mist could become a real problem.

Worse still, aside from Tintel Ramos, we still hadn’t found the real defector.

He couldn’t act freely while his consciousness was sealed, but if left alone, he’d eventually cause another disaster.

That was when—

KWOOM!!!

A deafening roar shook the air, followed by a wave of something dreadful and unseen that pressed down on us like a tide.

Though it had no form, the instant it touched, you could feel it, a wave of corruption that eroded the mind and soul.

And within that wave came twisted, grotesque creatures.

Individually they weren’t that strong, even the students and instructors from Kona Academy could handle them —

but there were far too many.

Just as Luna stretched out her hand to manifest the power of the Archangel—

CRACK… CRAAACK!!

The sky split open, rifts tearing through the red haze, and then, beams of pure blue light cascaded downward.

THOOM… THOOM-THOOM!

Each pillar of light struck the ground with tangible weight, and within them, armored figures began to appear, forming perfect ranks.

Their numbers multiplied rapidly until an entire army stood before us.

SHRING… CLANK!

The lead knight drew his sword with precision, and the rest followed, hundreds, thousands, unsheathing their blades in flawless unison.

Then, all at once, they knelt.

Their heads bowed toward our direction, but not to us.

No, it was clear they awaited someone else’s arrival.

CRACK! CRACK!!

Moments later, a far larger column of light descended from the sky with a thunderous boom,

and out of it stepped a tall figure clad in full plate armor.

I knew him.

I’d fought him once before.

Right, he, too, was from the outer dimension.

The mad king of a fallen nation.

Sullivan.

The man who called himself Emperor in the depths of the abyss.

I hadn’t killed him back then… and now, here he was again.

“Well. Makes sense. The bastard wouldn’t sit still after losing last time.”

He began to move, his voice low and commanding.

“My proud army. Destroy the enemy.”

At his command, the knights turned, not toward us, but toward the oncoming swarm of monsters —

and charged like a storm of steel.

“…Why are they fighting each other?”

The knights crashed into the horde, utterly fearless, ignorant of pain, death, or fear.

They tore through the abominations like war machines, a tide of shining armor and holy light shredding the nightmare apart.

The battle was one-sided, brutal, and strangely beautiful.

Luna and I stood there, silently watching.

“So… what do we do?”

“Just enjoy the show. Popcorn would be nice.”

Whatever their reason, if they were fighting for us, I wasn’t going to complain.

After obliterating the monster wave, Sullivan, still encased in that dark blue armor, approached us.

His sheer presence made even the instructors from Kona and Baltosma stiffen in fear.

“…Didn’t expect to meet here.”

“What the— why do you look so sane now?”

He raised his visor slowly.

The face beneath was the same as before, but the madness that once burned in his eyes was gone.

“Thanks to you, I am freed from the pit of lunacy.”

His gaze fell on Luna.

She blinked, surprised.

“Me?”

Apparently, something about her healing magic had purged the curse that drove him mad.

“The vile presence that devoured my mind is gone, because of you,”

He said, bowing his head slightly.

“You have my gratitude. Because of your aid, my people can once again see who their true enemy is.”

An outer-dimensional being, and yet, an ally.

Once a mad tyrant I’d fought to the death, Sullivan now stood before us… changed.

“As long as it’s settled, that’s fine. So… you came to help us?”

“This is the boundary between worlds. Normally, neither your kind nor invaders should be able to enter. But if you’ve crossed over, then I can assist.”

Once, he called me a heretic and a usurper.

Now, his tone was calm, human.

Even Luna seemed to sense the shift in his essence.

“Do you require my aid?”

I hesitated.

His power was immense, but power wasn’t what we needed most right now.

Luna spoke for me.

“Do you understand the situation?”

“Not in detail, but if you are here, then the dimensional fabric has been disturbed. You seek a way back, yes?”

“Correct.”

“Then listen. I do not know the path you speak of, but I know a way to send you back to Lazarus.”

At his signal, the spectral soldiers moved again.

“I shall guide you. Troops, escort them safely out of this realm.”

“You’re going this far for us?”

He met my gaze.

“Before you freed me, I committed unforgivable sins against my people. If this is my chance to atone, I will not waste it.”

As he spoke, the red mist parted, and knights riding dragon-like wyverns emerged, forming an escort formation around us.

* * *

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Unexpectedly, with Sullivan’s help, we began our journey out of the borderland.

He summoned strange, massive carriages, clearly built for beings far larger than humans.

Well, he was a king in another world, so it wasn’t surprising.

Luna stepped forward and asked,

“Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“That ring, the one that escaped your subspace last time. Do you remember it?”

He fell silent, then shook his head.

“My apologies. It was never mine to begin with.”

A shame, but we’d long given up finding that ring easily.

Fortunately, Luna had also begun to let go of her obsession with it.

The ring had once been her reason to live, but she’d since found new ones.

“…The thing you’re fighting, it’s an Outer God, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Our purpose is to destroy that corrupted destroyer.”

“That won’t be easy.”

This was the outer dimension, the stronghold of the red moon itself.

But of course, nothing was truly omnipotent.

“If it were, you and I would not be standing here, the invader is incomplete, its power sealed by the aftermath of an ancient war.”

“I see.”

“My people are all dead,”

He continued quietly.

“All but me are mere remnants, memories and instinct given form.”

So the army that fought earlier, they were ghosts.

Countless souls clinging to purpose, following their king even after death.

“They stand with me still, for vengeance. Until the destroyer falls.”

A tragic resolve, but his choice nonetheless.

“By the way, you mentioned a defector.”

Right, I’d told him about that.

We’d captured the corrupted Tintel, but not the willing traitor, the one who’d betrayed humanity for the outer gods.

Sullivan handed me a pendant.

“What’s this?”

“A token linked to me. If you ever face that destroyer, break it, and I will come.”

A lifeline.

Or rather, a pact born of vengeance.

He continued,

“It is also infused with my realm’s energy. If it reacts near someone… that person may already be tainted.”

A detector?

Now that was useful.

I waved it experimentally, and, purely by chance, pointed it at someone nearby.

Those around me looked puzzled.

Then—

BWOOOOOM!

“Huh?”

Luna’s eyes widened.

“The pendant reacts to those saturated with this world’s power,”

Sullivan explained, then stopped, frowning.

“Wait… that means—”

“Hold on. Seriously?”

I turned to the one I’d just tested.

“Talion Fedmore. You’re the defector?”

Silence.

His face went blank.

“…What nonsense are you spouting? You think I would consort with filth like them?”

He was arrogant, prideful, the last person I’d have expected to kneel to anyone.

“Any chance that thing gave a false reading?”

“None,”

Sullivan said flatly.

“That pendant was forged during our war against the destroyer, to expose the corrupted among us. Our biology may differ, but the essence it detects is the same.”

So there it was.

The truth.

“What the hell were you lacking that you’d side with monsters like that?”

A defector was worse than a possessed one.

Possession was tragedy.

Betrayal was choice.

“Talion Fedmore… you really…?”

Katya’s voice trembled.

“You had everything. Power, position, recognition, why throw it all away?”

Even those who barely understood the outer dimension grasped how serious this was —

how dangerous the being he’d tried to summon must be.

“….”

Talion said nothing.

His behavior till now hadn’t hinted at betrayal, which only made it harder to believe.

Even the professors from Kona, who’d always been critical of me, looked stunned.

“Talion. Is this true?”

“Why… would you—”

“Ha.”

He chuckled coldly, the same man, yet a completely different face.

“I’ve kept my promise. Now, fulfill yours, friend.”

He said it as if being exposed didn’t matter.

But—

“Nothing’s happening.”

To his surprise, nothing occurred.

And before he could react, Luna smacked the back of his head, knocking him down, then kicked him twice for good measure.

“What ‘promise’? What ‘favor’? You trying to die or something?”

THUD! THUD!

“Guh—! Gahk!”

And that was how the proud Talion Fedmore got beaten into the dirt by Luna, the very person he’d just tried to manipulate.

[Translator - Night]

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