The moment I created a back door in the magic circle underground, the world was engulfed in light.
Flaaaash!
The white light I had seen when entering memories and when returning to reality.
Now that I thought about it, this white light was similar to the light I saw during spatial movement.
‘Don’t tell me…….’
One thought came to mind when I saw the light, but I immediately shook my head. It was not time to be certain yet.
When the light vanished, I saw the mage mummy clapping its hands before my eyes.
I had returned to reality.
Seeing the mummy, Sopeu spoke again.
[I don’t know how you came back to life, but you are indeed the Lord of Prophecy.]
It seemed Sopeu remembered everything too.
“That can’t be your main body. You’re speaking through some ordinary corpse, aren’t you?”
[Most likely.]
“Then I have no business with that thing.”
My companions looked at me with puzzled expressions.
They had no choice but to find it strange.
I had just witnessed events from ten thousand years ago, but in real time, not even a moment had passed.
The mage mummy—the Lord of Prophecy—did not find my words strange either.
[Did you hear about me from Sopeu?]
Only, he had misunderstood.
The monster did not know that I could see the past.
[A prophet cannot peer into someone else’s head, after all.]
It was just as Sopeu said.
The only person who knew I could see the past was Sopeu.
And since Sopeu had not told anyone else, even if the prophetic monster saw the future, there was no way he would know that fact.
Not now, and not in the future.
Slice!
I stepped forward in a single stride and sent the mummy’s head flying.
The bandaged neck sailed through the air.
[Impatient as ever…….]
The monster’s voice, which had been echoing, cut off midway.
After stopping the mummy, I said to the team members,
“According to Sopeu, it seems the Lord of Prophecy that the Giant Lord mentioned is down below. That mummy mage was an undead controlled by that monster.”
As always, I used Sopeu as my excuse.
“The Lord of Prophecy, huh. If Mage Sopeu said it, then there’s no way it’s wrong.”
“Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.”
At my words, Sergeant Woo nodded, and Margreta let out a sigh.
“I knew there would be something besides the Demon King, but to think it would be something like the Giant Lord…….”
Tom also shook his head as he looked at the mummy whose head had been cut off.
This time, too, the Sopeu excuse worked well.
Since I had seen the monster while possessing his body, strictly speaking, it was not even an excuse.
[If the prophetic monster has come back to life, then I suppose it cannot be helped.]
This time, Sopeu did not scold me for using him as an excuse either.
The team members once again checked their weapons and the energy they possessed, and Margreta asked Hanna on their behalf.
“If it’s a monster that can prophesy……. Hanna! What do you think? It’ll be all right, won’t it?”
At Margreta’s question, Hanna shook her head with an apologetic expression.
“I’m sorry. I can’t see it at all. Ever since we entered the Sanctuary, my power to see the future has weakened a lot, but this is the first time I haven’t been able to see anything like this.”
I helped Hanna, who looked sorry.
“That’s probably because prophets are facing each other.”
At my words, Margreta grinned and asked me,
“When prophets fight each other, they can’t see the future? And how did you know that? Did Sopeu tell you that too?”
As expected, Margreta’s intuition was frighteningly sharp. She seemed to have noticed there was something hidden in my words.
Even so, I could not tell her the truth.
“Something like that.”
“Hmmm, I see.”
After hearing my vague reply, Margreta smiled oddly.
“Then it doesn’t seem like a disadvantage for us, does it?”
Then Tom brightened at my words, and Sergeant Woo also nodded, holding the relic sword and energy gun in both hands.
“That’s true. A Lord of Prophecy who cannot prophesy…… If it’s a monster that can’t live up to its name, then we have a chance.”
The grave expressions on the team members’ faces brightened, but it was not simply a good thing.
I warned them once again.
“Even if it can’t prophesy, it is still lord-class. Everyone, be as careful as possible. Stay inside the shield as much as you can.”
At my words, Hanna once again clasped her hands together and cast her magic.
The shield surrounding us grew even denser.
It was not as strong as Shamara’s shield that I had seen in Sopeu’s memory(?), but aside from Sopeu’s shield, hers was sturdier than anyone else’s.
Hanna’s shield was not the end. Over her shield, Sopeu layered another shield.
After preparing thoroughly like this, we returned to the original passage and headed downward.
The passage leading down did not continue for long before it ended.
At the end of the passage was the hall I had seen not long ago.
A vast underground plaza.
The place where Sopeu’s group and the prophetic monster had fought.
The corpse of the monster from ten thousand years ago was gone, but the underground plaza was no different from back then.
Only a little more dust was visible; the patterns on the walls and the stones of the floor remained as they had been.
That made it look even more desolate, but I paid it no mind and stepped inside.
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes?”
After giving such a warning, I entered the hall so carelessly that the team members looked puzzled.
Even so, they all followed me into the hall.
And when everyone had entered the hall, and Hanna was the last to cross the boundary—
Shwaaaak!
A magic circle appeared across the entire floor of the hall.
[Even if you had been cautious, it would have been useless, but to walk into a trap without the slightest vigilance……. I knew it already, but the savior from another star truly is foolish.]
The lord’s voice echoed inside my head.
A voice that seemed to be mocking me.
Rather than a monster, it felt more like a person.
“The shield disappeared!”
I immediately understood what trap the lord had mentioned.
Thud! Thud!
The magic circle on the floor wiped away Hanna’s shield and Sopeu’s shield in an instant.
“This is bad! I can’t make the shield again!”
[Good heavens! It seems to have other functions too, but because of the magic circle, shields cannot be used at all! It is a magic circle at least several thousand years old, so I cannot dispel it quickly either!]
Once the shields were gone, Hanna and Sopeu tried to create them again, but their efforts came to nothing.
Of course they did.
This trap was not merely several thousand years old; it was a magic circle created ten thousand years ago.
A magic circle made by the prophetic monster in preparation for losing the black stone.
Instead of its own black stone, it made the contaminated energy flowing through the Sanctuary serve as its lifeline.
This magic circle could draw in not only contaminated energy, but other energies as well.
Even the magical energy used to create shields, and the energy possessed by the users themselves.
[I have waited ten thousand years. For you to enter this place. Inside this place, you will not be able to use any power.]
Along with the voice ringing in my head, the wall in front began to wriggle and protrude.
The stone wall took shape.
A head and arms, a body and legs.
Even tentacles and the body of a spider.
A monster and mummy, shattered into pieces, were carved into the stone wall.
Tentacles made of stone writhed, and a protruding bandaged head opened its mouth.
[It has been ten thousand years since I last took form. Still, if I am to greet you, we should face each other.]
The sculpture’s mouth moved, and the monster’s words could be heard.
Had it acquired human emotions and memories along with the power of prophecy?
As expected, this monster resembled a human.
[Welcome. The foolish final hope of the prophet from ten thousand years ago, and the prophet from another star. No, perhaps now you cannot even understand my words?]
The monster seemed certain of its victory.
It had no choice but to think that way.
The trap magic circle it had prepared for ten thousand years was not something even Sopeu could break easily.
Because of the clash of prophecies, we could not receive Hanna’s help either.
All the shields we had prepared were gone, and we had no way to block its attacks right away.
The greater problem was that, with the shields gone, every team member had come into contact with the contaminated mana.
“No, no. Dad, Mom! You can’t be on Earth! You have to run away quickly!”
Margreta reached her arms out into empty air,
“No. I’m telling you, I wasn’t trying to save only my family!”
Tom tore at his hair and shook his head.
“Don’t come closer. There’s a bomb on your body. If you come any closer, I’ll shoot!”
Sergeant Woo aimed his energy gun downward and stepped back.
Margreta, Tom, and Sergeant Woo were all trapped in illusions, spouting nonsense.
Their minds had all begun to be contaminated.
“What should we do? I can’t see anything. The shield won’t work either. Everyone, snap out of it!”
Hanna was fine, but she could not find a way to deal with it.
In such a situation, it was only natural for the monster to be certain of victory.
[Are you all right? You must come to your senses!]
When I stood there without a word, Sopeu seemed worried about me as well.
[I know this is thanks to the ten thousand years I waited here, but this is too easy. So easy that it hardly feels worth the wait.]
The monster mocked me once again.
At those words, I lifted my head.
“I wanted to check a little more, but because of my companions, this is as far as I can go.”
At my words, voices came from both sides.
[What?]
[You are all right?]
The monster’s startled voice and Sopeu’s delighted one.
[Come to think of it, your energy was not being taken.]
Sopeu, held in my hand, immediately realized what was going on.
I slung the spear in which Sopeu resided over my back.
When the spear, whose energy had been draining away, left my hand, the monster realized it too.
[What is going on? Why are you unharmed?]
Not even the slightest bit of my energy was being taken by the magic circle.
My companions, and even the spear containing Sopeu, were having their energy stolen by the magic circle, but I was different.
Perhaps shocked by the sight of me, the monster screamed in a shriek-like roar.
[This is not a magic circle that can be stopped! Even if you are a genius mage like the Demon King, this is a magic circle built up over ten thousand years! With the lifespan of a human, you cannot break this!]
The monster was right.
The magic circle drawn on the floor was not something that could be broken by analyzing it.
If that had been possible, Sopeu, a great mage, would have been able to undo it.
This magic circle was one built by layering up an absurd amount of time.
To break this magic circle, one would have to spend even more time than that.
Unless, from the moment it was made, an exception had been created.
Just like me.
The back door I had made in Sopeu’s memory—no, in the past ten thousand years ago—was working properly.
Back then, there had not been much time, and to avoid being noticed by the monster, I could not install a large back door in the magic circle.
So I left only simple instructions in that back door.
First, to treat me as an exception to the trap that stole energy.
That was why I was unharmed now.
And that back door had one more function.
I placed my gloved hand on the floor.
Energy flowed out of my hand and touched the magic circle.
My energy connected to the back door.
[You can connect to my magic circle? Unless you helped create the magic circle, that should be impossible!]
I kindly answered the monster’s words.
“I modified it before activation, so I did help create it.”
With those words, I activated the back door.
Clatter-clatter-clatter!
The back door opened, and the magic circle was dismantled in sequence.
Shwaaaak!
The magic circle that had filled the hall began to disappear.
Sopeu’s and Hanna’s shields returned, and the others came to their senses.
[This is impossible…….]
The monster still could not regain its composure.
It was understandable.
Even I, who had done it myself, found it difficult to understand.
But now, I felt as if I knew.
All this time, I had not been seeing Sopeu’s memories.
The white light I saw when entering Sopeu’s memories was the light of spatial movement.
The physicists had been right.
Time and space were not different things.
All this time, I had been spatially moving into the past.
Commemorative Video