◈ Episode 548. Beyond Reach (2)
They had entered the domain of the Anomaly.
The moment they set foot inside, they felt it. This was on an entirely different level from any growth they had experienced before. To the point that they understood why Hoyeol had said that levels were nothing more than numbers.
Thanks to that.
Jesse, Nam Taemin, Hisagi, and Leoni.
The four players who had entered the domain of the Anomaly thought.
If they honed the Anomaly from now on, perhaps one day they might be able to walk alongside Hoyeol……. No, even if walking as equals was impossible, at the very least they might not become a hindrance.
But.
“Hyung, can you guess how I feel right now?”
“……
I’m not sure.”
“I feel truly, utterly pathetic.”……
Clench.
His fist tightened unconsciously.
So hard that blood welled beneath his nails.
In the past, he might have thought vaguely.
“I would have thought that if I worked hard, I’d reach him someday.”
But only after stepping into the domain of the Anomaly did he finally see it.
“……
I was wrong.”
The distance between them was barely a few dozen steps.
“There’s a gap between me and Mr. Hoyeol that can never be narrowed.”
A difference in rank?
The phrase “beyond reach” was more fitting.
No, there weren’t enough words to express it.
“What is the matter with all of you?”
The one who spoke to the four players, who had lost their words, was Marcelo, the Tower Master who had been leading the Holy War Alliance in Hoyeol’s stead.
The mana that had been sensing on a national scale reacted.
Marcelo warned them.
“Enemy movement has been detected not far from Muon. It is likely the forces of the War God Cult led by the adventurer Gaiber.”
He had no choice but to urge those who had come to a halt.
“I feel no differently from all of you about being reunited with Sir. However, we must swiftly capture Muon. If we are attacked from both sides, the state of the war will become complicated…….”
“Um, Tower Master Marcelo……?”
“I am listening, Miss Jesse Heinness.”
Jesse answered with difficulty.
“……
That’s exactly why we have to stay still.”
“Stay still? What do you mean by that?”
“We’ll only get in the way.”
Hisagi, who always viewed the situation coolly.
“Mr. Hisagi?”
Because he was one of fewer than ten adventurers Marcelo acknowledged.
Marcelo did not dismiss his words.
Hisagi continued heavily.
“To the Commander-in-Chief, we are nothing but obstacles right now.”
He did not want to admit it, but there was no helping it.
“The well-trained soldiers of the Yusra Kingdom, the players prepared to die, we who have entered the domain of the Anomaly, and even all of the senior mages of the Magic Tower, including you, Tower Master Marcelo. There are no exceptions.”
“……!”
Marcelo did not think narrow-mindedly.
Meaning he did not get angry at Hisagi for underestimating the Magic Tower.
There had to be a reason Hisagi had said such a thing.
Nod.
Marcelo nodded.
“It seems there are things that can only be seen from within the domain of the Anomaly.”
“Thank you for understanding, Tower Master.”
“Then let me ask you all one thing.”……
What?
At Marcelo’s acknowledgement.
And his question, the four players turned their heads at once.
Marcelo’s eyes were glowing faintly.
“Do you truly expect that even if we do not step forward, Sir will be able to overcome this crisis alone? If so, this war will be able to bring about a perfect ‘reversal.’”
He had been looking farther ahead.
Though he did not possess insight into the Anomaly.
Marcelo thought one step further.
The world of adventurers was fracturing.
Conflicts and disputes, large and small, could arise at any time.
But the current fracture stemmed wholly from the Goddess Cult.
The alliance between the Goddess Cult and the adventurer guild Bohemian.
Because of it, the nations of Europe were harboring other schemes, and the AAU branches subordinate to those nations had also taken a step back to watch the war unfold. In that hair-trigger situation.‘If Sir achieves a complete victory.’The conflict would clearly vanish as if it had never happened.
Perhaps until the moment Sir remained alive…….
There might never be another fracture in this world.
And so Marcelo waited for their answer.
But the answer he heard was beyond his imagination.
One by one, they opened their mouths.
“Even if we don’t step forward, the Commander-in-Chief will win.”
“Without fail.”
“This isn’t the time to worry about that…….”
The last one to mutter was Leoni.
“……
We should be worrying about how badly they’ll be trampled.”
Berserker, the guild that had begun in Europe.‘Those stupid bastards, seriously.’At this moment, the faces of her former comrades who had transferred from Berserker to Bohemian flashed through Leoni’s mind. Their lives now depended solely on the judgment of a single man, Hoyeol.
Marcelo understood what she meant.
“I see. Understood.”
Only then did he realize the meaning behind their grave expressions.
They had not been doubting Sir’s victory.
They were genuinely concerned.
About what judgment Sir would pass upon them.
Marcelo opened his eyes with resolve.‘No matter what cruel judgment Sir delivers, I…….’He could understand that feeling. Considering the mercy he had shown until now, there might also be a need to wield the whip against those who had still failed to realize.
Amid those crossed gazes.
Slowly.
Hoyeol began to move.*
As expected, I was right.[Hexagram Brooch 5/6]
This isn’t an ordinary item.
I, Lee Hoyeol.
Literally.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I “sampled” Hell and came back.
I mean, the one-week preparation period almost ended up feeling a little meaningless.‘Because I never had a proper fight even once.’The vengeful spirits were busy clinging to me, weeping and wailing, and the imps that ran wild without knowing their place were hunted down by our Akshan seniors.
On top of that.‘I didn’t even encounter whatever it is Granfell is hiding.’In other words, the only things I gained from Hell were the three [Hexagram Brooches] the vengeful spirits offered to me.
But the effects of just three items were anything but ordinary.
Of course, each individual effect was amazing.
But what was most shocking.
Was the incomplete set effect.[Currently applied set effect: 5/6][1. All basic stats increase by 2 points.][2. When attacking a boss monster, all damage dealt increases by 10 percent.][3. When hostile against multiple enemies, damage received decreases by 10 percent.][4. During combat, when maximum health reaches 70 percent, 50 percent, 30 percent, 10 percent, and 1 percent, you obtain the ‘Awakening’ effect.][5. Upon entering the ‘Awakening’ state, mana consumption becomes 0 for a certain period of time.]……
Does this even make sense?
Up to the third effect, I could let it slide.[One Who Awaits the Dawn]’s set effect also had quite considerable effects.
But the fourth and fifth effects.
No matter how I thought about it, this was a balance breaker.
Let’s put it bluntly.‘If my mana consumption becomes 0.’For me, that means I can fire off [『Anomaly』]
without restraint.
To put it simply, I’d be able to coat a highest-tier spell like 『Meteor Strike』 with the Anomaly, [『Absolute Zero』]
, the kind of thing that would have made the original me collapse from exhaustion the moment I manifested it—in other words, a so-called “mana bullshit” spree, right?‘Simply put.’A balance breaker.
I could be certain.[Hexagram Brooch]
was.
An item that players must never obtain.‘Beyond that, it’s on a level that shouldn’t even exist.’Thinking that, its absurd acquisition difficulty began to make sense.
One piece only if you were about the level of the Magic Tower’s chief mage, one piece by thoroughly combing through some dungeon in the vast Arcana Continent, and three pieces from Hell, where you had to die and fall.‘And I still don’t know where the last one is.’My conviction grew even stronger.
I will win.
Even without help from anyone in the Holy War Alliance, I will win.
Beyond Muon and the Bohemian Guild.
Even against the goddess and the Pantheon to which that goddess belongs.
From now on, this is the proof.
Slide.
As though straightening my clothes, I adjusted the angle of the slightly askew Hexagram Brooches. By the way, if I’m agonizing over it this much, shouldn’t you tell me, Granfell?‘About the true identity of these incredible brooches.’But Granfell gave no answer, and there was no more time to converse.
They must have noticed my presence.
Because paladins had begun pouring out of Muon.
Wow, they’re still as loud as ever.
“We have not been abandoned!!”
“The Goddess is with us!!”
“We shall die nobly and prove our faith!!”
Seeing as they still couldn’t grasp their place even in front of me.
They didn’t look much different from the imps of Hell.
Well, I suppose extremes do meet.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.《Then wouldn’t it be enough to hunt them the same way?》……
No, what did I just think?
Even if they overlapped in my eyes, hunting them……? It was the kind of stray thought that made me want to shake my head hard enough to fling it away, if only I could. But my self-reproach did not last long.
“Burn the witch. Then we shall be victorious!”
Because I heard that shout.‘Burn the witch…….’At those words, I could intuit it.
There was only one person in Muon who could be called a witch.
The Saintess, Freyja, was about to be branded a witch and hunted.
Flash.
As if to confirm the answer, a message flickered.[Hidden Quest: Witch Hunt]
The Saintess, Freyja, who can no longer hear the voice of the Goddess.
To the Goddess Cult, Freyja was no longer a Saintess, but a witch.
The sentence passed upon the fallen witch is burning at the stake.
Is she a Saintess, a witch, or if she is neither, who is she?
The choice is yours.
-Encounter Freyja. (In Progress)
Murmurs came from the Holy War Alliance.
“A-A hidden quest?”
“The analyst’s prediction was right! It really is internal strife!”
“A witch? Should I say it serves her right……?”
Serves her right.‘I suppose they could think that.’But not particularly.
I wasn’t happy that Freyja had been branded a witch.
Why, shouldn’t cause and effect be kept clear?‘The one who opposed me wasn’t the Saintess, but the Goddess.’Freyja had merely followed the revelation.‘Was that truly Freyja’s will?’It’s written clearly in the quest message too, isn’t it?
If Freyja is neither Saintess, nor witch, nor anything else, then what is she?
As if responding to my words, Granfell’s loose tongue spoke.
“To divide someone into Saintess and witch—how foolish.”……
Yeah, I was wondering why you hadn’t brought that up.
“What matters is whether one has pride.”
In any case, the objective was set.
I had to stop Freyja’s execution by fire while facing the forces of Muon pouring out.
And the cult led by Gaiber, who could strike me in the back at any moment. And in any case, I’d have to ask through Freyja, who could converse with the Goddess.‘Just what happened in the Pantheon.’Yes, whatever happened.[The legend, ‘One Who Blasphemes Even the Goddess,’ resounds through the Pantheon.]
I meant I had to confirm why a legend so embarrassing just to look at was continuing to resound……! If so, what I needed at this moment was speed.
“Advance!”
Madness rippled across the battlefield.
Considering that fanatical faith.
Freyja’s golden time would not have much left.‘They’ll want to burn the witch as quickly as possible.’And receive the Goddess’s voice again.
So.
Do not expect me to hold back.
.
The commander of the Goddess Cult’s paladins.
Tallim Eber.
He recited a verse from scripture.
“Before any enemy, the walls of Muon shall never fall…….”
As a result, the walls of Muon did not fall.
Yes.
Because they crumbled without leaving a trace.
Snap.
Everything.
Lee Hoyeol.
Happened because he flicked a single finger.
“……
Are you saying you have surpassed even scripture?”