Around that time, Dokgo Seong’s body was continuing its endless fall.
Ordinarily, when a person falls from a high cliff, their breath gives out before they ever strike the ground and are smashed to pieces. Excessive friction with the air, and the terror surging to its extreme, cause the heart to stop at once. But Dokgo Seong had not yet died. On the contrary, a smile filled the corners of his mouth. It was relief at being able to end his life by his own hand. A life lived until now according to arrangements and calculations laid out to the last detail—the fact that he could decide its final moment for himself was the meaning of the smile on Dokgo Seong’s lips.
“Ending a life so full of grudges like this isn’t so bad.”
His consciousness was gradually growing dim. He did not know what the afterworld was like, but the thought flashed through his mind that, at the very least, it could not be worse than this place. Looking back over the life he had lived, it did not seem possible that he would ever go to heaven.
“Hell, is it.”
Dokgo Seong gathered his fading consciousness with all his might. It was so he would not lose his senses in the final moment of his life. Just then, something entered his blurred vision.
“Huk.”
Dokgo Seong was so startled that his hair seemed to stand on end. Someone was clinging close beside him. In other words, someone was falling with him. For an instant, the thought that it might be Yeongho Myeong flashed through his mind.
“Y-you persistent bastard.”
But when he looked closely, that figure was not falling. The unknown being was flying through the air like a bird with wings. Even as his mind wandered in and out, Dokgo Seong examined the being’s identity from head to toe. First, there was the strange attire he had never seen in this place, and the face half-covered by a hood was by no means that of someone from the Central Plains. In other words, it was definitely not Yeongho Myeong. But for a person to fly through the air like a bird... Into Dokgo Seong’s incredulous ears came a shout that seemed to have been uttered by the flying man.
“Reverse Gravity.”
‘River... what? What does that mean?’
No sooner had the words fallen than the speed of Dokgo Seong’s plummeting body decreased drastically. When an object moving at great speed is suddenly brought to a halt, the shock is by no means slight. Dokgo Seong could not withstand the impact and lost consciousness. Even in the midst of that, he could clearly feel the sensation of someone gathering him into their arms.
‘An angel?’
With that thought as his last, Dokgo Seong’s consciousness sank into a deep abyss.
“Fortunately.”
The blue-eyed middle-aged man who had secured the target by a hair’s breadth let out a long sigh. Though the target was in such a wretched state that one might suspect he was a corpse, the man had more than enough ability to keep him alive. His name was Benitez. Such a thing was possible because he was recognized as a highest-ranking mage on a continent existing in another dimension, unimaginably far from this place.
“Healing.”
With a brief cry, dazzling light burst from his hand. The light, created by the healing magic that had never once been used in the Central Plains, wrapped once around the target’s dreadful form, then seeped into his body.
“I’ve administered first aid for now, so let’s hurry back to the magic circle.”
Benitez quickly began casting. His body, which had begun to fall little by little under the target’s weight, suddenly shot up into the sky.
“Ordinarily, it would be safer to cast teleportation magic, but the mana consumption is so severe that I have no room to do so...”
Flying through the sky like a bird, Benitez wondered if this matter truly was a stroke of heavenly luck.
The warriors of this place all possessed tremendous swordsmanship. Because of that, taking someone from here back to the world where he lived was by no means an easy task. First of all, their languages did not match, so there was no way to persuade them, and even if by some chance they managed to convey their intentions, it was unknown whether they would obediently follow their wishes. Moreover, anyone with that level of swordsmanship was surely receiving treatment worthy of it even here. To be honest, expecting such a person to follow them was difficult. In such circumstances, they had happened to witness an extraordinary swordsman unlike any they had ever seen before...
The man with the small frame in his arms was, even in the eyes of those from another dimension, an extremely ugly-looking fellow. A man being pursued by countless warriors, for what crime they did not know. But after seeing his feats, Benitez had been captivated at once by the man’s ability.
Sword Master. Ultimate martial artists who were not easy to find even in the place they came from existed here in great numbers. From the sight of the aura blades radiating brilliant light, Benitez did not doubt in the slightest that they were Sword Masters. In the world he came from, a Sword Master was treated well enough to enter the Royal Guard, and they were correspondingly rare. For that reason, lords with considerable power were desperate to bring Sword Masters under their command.
Yet in this place, such precious beings were everywhere. And as if that were not enough, the man now held in his arms had cut down those countless Sword Masters as easily as mowing down radishes. In Benitez’s eyes, the man was literally a god of war. If he came to Benitez’s world, there was no doubt he would become an absolute being in an instant—a terrifying master.
Strangely, the man did not use a sword. He used an oddly shaped weapon, like a gauntlet with long nails. But even Sword Masters could not resist his skill. Because of that, Benitez had no choice but to mark the man as a tentative choice.
“If he is being chased like that, he must have committed some grave crime here. In that case, there is plenty of room for us to win him over.”
From that moment on, Benitez pursued closely behind the man. Solely to look for an opening to speak to him. Whether translation magic would work was uncertain, but since there was no other method, Benitez continued doggedly following after the man. However, the chance to speak did not come easily. That was because the man was fighting one fierce battle after another without a moment to rest. Countless swordsmen fell beneath his weapon, spraying blood. Even so, there was no end to the swordsmen who rushed at him.
Then the final moment arrived.
The moment came when the man, who had been carrying out slaughter so ferocious it was difficult to see him as human, could no longer endure. Before the enemies who had surrounded him, the man tried to take his own life. When he threw himself from the cliff, Benitez realized that an opportunity that would never come again had arrived.
“If I miss this moment, there will be no chance.”
Without delay, he performed teleportation. It was an extremely dangerous method carried out by rough estimation, as he did not know the exact coordinates. In other words, it could only be called a gamble, but perhaps by the grace of God, the gamble fortunately succeeded. Benitez was able to appear safely beside the falling man. After that, the essence of the high-level magic learned by the court mage Benitez was displayed without regret. Reducing the speed of the man’s fall with Reverse Gravity, then adjusting Aviation as he gathered the man into his arms, was a high-difficulty technique that an ordinary mage could not even dream of—something that could only be called acrobatics.
As he flew, Benitez quietly lowered his head and gazed at the man’s face. It was so ugly that his face twisted of its own accord, but to Benitez, he seemed more dependable than anyone else in the world.
“I only hope he grants our request.”
If they took him back to the place they lived while he was unconscious, then even he would have no further choice. Benitez increased his speed further and headed toward the place where his party was waiting.
A valley surrounded entirely by trees. There, three or four people had gathered and were murmuring among themselves. Each of them was wrapped head to toe in a black robe, and their intention not to reveal their identities was obvious. But the appearances glimpsed between their hoods were extremely foreign. Most had light brown or blue eyes, and judging from how completely different their facial features were, they were certainly not people of the Central Plains.
Strangely, they were stationed as if guarding a large, oddly shaped magic circle between them. Characters whose origin could not be discerned filled the magic circle. In particular, at the center of the magic circle lay a gem that emitted an extremely mysterious light. The gem, tinged red like fresh blood, shone brilliantly with an indescribable feeling. Then came the sound of someone swallowing.
“Gulp.”
Perhaps because they were very nervous, everyone’s complexion had gone stiff. One of them quietly looked up at the sky.
“This is serious. If we delay any longer, we will not be able to return.”
An aged voice rang out. Judging from the atmosphere he gave off and the robe embroidered with a flame pattern, the old man seemed to be a priest. They were currently waiting so anxiously for someone that their eyes were nearly falling out. If they exceeded the appointed time, all of them would have to bury their bones in this place, so their impatience was beyond words.
“Even if we are discovered by the swordsmen of this place, our fate will be the same. All we can do is pray that Benitez can rescue that swordsman and bring him here.”
As if troubled, the old man let out a long sigh. His name was Shrekheimer. He was someone who had come from a completely different place, one where space and time differed utterly from the Central Plains. The reason they had come here was to save their homeland from crisis. Their homeland, which even at this moment was likely waging a fierce war. In order to break through the increasingly unfavorable state of the war, they had risked death to attempt dimensional travel to another world.
Originally, dimensional travel was a magic that existed only in theory. In the long history of humanity, there had never once been a mage who had gone to another world through dimensional travel. Occasionally, a dimensional gate would open, and from time to time—very rarely—a person or monster from another world would appear. But that was all.
However, there was one object that had made them decide to attempt this dimensional travel. It was the existence known as a Dragon Heart. The heart of a dragon, storing an enormous amount of mana. With this, it should be possible to supply as much of the tremendous mana required for dimensional travel as needed.
An adventure attempted in a situation with no possibility at all. Perhaps Shrekheimer’s earnest wish had reached the heavens, for the supposedly difficult dimensional travel had somehow succeeded. But that was not the end of it... Originally, they had intended to stay in this place for a considerable period, persuade the powerful figures here, and request salvation. For that reason, they had brought a large number of mages and scholars well-versed in etiquette as members of the delegation. But that had been nothing more than a fleeting dream from the start.
The warriors of this place were more belligerent and cruel than expected. When the delegation revealed themselves for dialogue, they slaughtered them without the slightest hesitation. They were people who gave no room whatsoever to speak. Because of that, the members of the delegation had no choice but to continue hiding themselves and observing how the situation developed, and in the end, they had been forced to resort to kidnapping like this.
The mana required for dimensional travel was far more tremendous than expected. Not only had it consumed ten times more than the mages had calculated, but because an immense amount of mana had been released, the Dragon Heart itself had even begun to fracture. Even at this moment, the mana of the Dragon Heart must be continuing to disperse. In the worst case, they might never again be able to set foot on the land of their homeland. It was uncertain whether the Dragon Heart could supply the mana needed for them to return.
However, Shrekheimer forced himself to take comfort.
“Surely Lord Berhazel will watch over us. But what has become of the delegations that went elsewhere?”
They were not the only delegation that had gone to seek help through dimensional travel. A total of five delegations had moved through magic circles to different times. Of course, there was no guarantee anywhere that dimensional travel would succeed. In the worst case, if the coordinates deviated and they fell into the Demon Realm or the Spirit Realm, it was obvious that their lives would end the moment they arrived.
Inwardly, Shrekheimer thought the current situation was heavenly luck. Among the five delegations, the one to which he belonged had arrived in this place. In his opinion, this place was undoubtedly the destination they had aimed for. If there were so many master-class swordsmen capable of deploying aura blades scattered everywhere, it was almost certain. During the single day they had stayed here, Shrekheimer had been able to gain confidence in his belief.
“This must surely be the place where Emperor Crocen lived.”
At that moment, one mage shouted.
“Lord Benitez is coming!”
Shrekheimer’s head snapped around as if he had been slapped on the cheek. In his eyes appeared a black shadow approaching this place, flying through the air like a bird. A look of delight spread across Shrekheimer’s aged face.
“He succeeded? Truly, this is heavenly luck.”
His sharp vision, enhanced by divine magic, did not miss the black shadow held in Benitez’s arms. He hurriedly gave orders to the mages.
“Make haste and prepare to return. Every moment is urgent.”
“Understood.”
The mages began moving busily.