The trigger that led him to suspect Kreutzwald was simple.
After suspicions piled upon suspicions and he thought it over again and again, he realized it.
First.
Why had Kreutzwald not stepped forward in the continent’s hour of crisis?
He had summoned Hio to protect the continent from the Abyss and had begun teaching him personally, so why did he not intend to resolve it himself?
He had explained that it was to remain in the Abyss, study its energy, hold back the aberrations here, and manage the Tower of the Abyss at the same time, but that was not enough.
The research was already finished, and far from holding back the aberrations, Hio had never once seen him go out to hunt them personally. The same went for managing the tower.
Second.
Why would he not tell him in detail about anything related to Tetradia?
From what Kreutzwald had said, the most important place was clearly Tetradia.
If he could only enter the Magic Tower there, he would be able to leave the end of the world and head for the continent.
And yet Kreutzwald avoided talking about Tetradia to a bizarre degree.
He had brushed it off again and again with nothing more than, “You will know once you arrive.”
Third.
Abelard Pavlenko, the great mage from a thousand years ago whom he had seen on the Floor of Breakthrough.
For what reason had those memories been shown to him, and had Kreutzwald truly been the one to show them?
He had once asked about that as well, subtly probing.
Did he remember Abelard Pavlenko?
Why had he shown him those memories?
But the answer that came back was that Abelard was dead and there was no need to concern himself with him.
He explained that it had merely been done as a means to summon Hio.
Again, it was an explanation far from sufficient.
Of course, Hio had to pretend to accept it and move on.
He could not let his suspicions show.
Pretending to be dull-witted.
Pretending to be an enthusiastic disciple who considered meeting Kreutzwald a good opportunity.
That was how he had to live.
And the fourth and final reason.
He did not like that cackling laugh.
Those questions piled up and became suspicion, and as that suspicion persisted, he began searching for a reason.
While training in magic, while strengthening the undead, while learning new spells.
Whenever even the slightest gap opened in his thoughts, he thought of Kreutzwald. And thanks to those thoughts, bordering on obsession, he was able to recall it.
Kreutzwald’s voice.
The true nature of that voice that had somehow felt familiar.
At first, he had thought it was the voice that had saved him and Daphne in the labyrinth.
At the time, he had believed that person to be Kreutzwald, which was why, when he first met Kreutzwald, he had thought the voice was one he had heard somewhere before.
But that was not it.
No matter how much he thought about it, the voice from back then and the Kreutzwald of now belonged to different people.
Then why was Kreutzwald’s voice familiar?
Where had he heard it before?
It did not take long to find the answer.
—Light shall sink, and darkness shall rise.
That time.
The being that had appeared by tearing through the space within Abelard’s memories on the Floor of Breakthrough.
The gloomy voice he had heard then.
—At that time, you shall be the Abyss.
It had been Kreutzwald’s voice.
* * *
The ruined continent.
There were many things one had to be careful of when moving through the end of the world, but if he had to choose the most important, the answer was easy.
Stop moving when it became “night.”
The time when aberrations were active was night.
It was not night because the sun had set and darkness had fallen.
It was night because the aberrations were active.
There was no clock to consult in order to tell whether night had come.
One simply had to think, “Ah, it’s night,” when the presence of aberrations began to be felt, and refrain from moving.
“…It’s night.”
Just like now.
Presences began to rise from every direction.
A truly aberrant presence, unlike anything he had ever experienced on the continent.
Now that he had sensed it, today’s travel had to stop here.
If he were discovered even once and a battle broke out, he would have to fight to the death until “day” came.
Recalling the battle that had taken place several nights ago, Hio shuddered slightly and sat down on the ground.
Because of that, the ash that had piled up to his ankles scattered into the air, but what could he do?
He could only endure it.
In this place where one could not see even an inch ahead, the aberrations had naturally developed other senses in place of sight to an exceptional degree.
For example, the ability to detect energies other than the Abyss.
So if he used magic carelessly, he would draw the attention of every aberration nearby.
Hio grimaced as the ash clung to his mouth and nose, then rummaged through his subspace pouch and took out a palm-sized sheet of paper.
It was a very simple artifact that showed the direction to Tetradia and the remaining distance.
“There’s still a long way to go.”
Muttering as if sighing, Hio folded the paper again and put it back into his pouch.
The road ahead was long, and he could not let down his guard for even a moment.
Just as Kreutzwald had said, the farther he got from the safe zone and the closer he drew to Tetradia, the more dramatically the aberrations’ strength increased.
The aberrations near the safe zone, like Gegek or Ttuntuni, at least had a certain charm after he had seen them for so long.
The ones he met now were simply dreadful and irritating.
It was only fortunate that Hio, too, had achieved tremendous magical growth over the past year.
Otherwise, he would have died several nights ago, surrounded by a swarm of aberrations.
Like that, he sat on the ground and stared into the darkness.
At a glance, he looked dazed, but that was not the case in reality.
He was sitting there while releasing the energy of the Abyss stored within his body in tiny, steady amounts.
It was a kind of camouflage that deceived the senses of the aberrations.
The aberrations, which called to mind all sorts of animals, insects, plants, and the like, had eyes, but those eyes were no different from ornaments.
That was because they had been created by imitating the beings of the continent.
They envied and resented the light, yet longed for it as well, and so they were beings made in imitation of it.
Shadows of light.
For that very reason, they felt instinctive rage toward the living beings of the continent.
They possessed outstanding abilities when it came to detecting the presence of living creatures and hunting them down.
But even those aberrations likely never imagined that a living creature of the continent would be able to handle the Abyss, which was their exclusive domain.
That was why they could not detect Hio’s presence as he deliberately let the Abyss flow from him.
And so, while they could not sense Hio’s presence—or even if they did, they passed over it without recognizing him as a living being—Hio could sense the presence of the aberrations with perfect clarity.
Whether or not the Abyss blinded his eyes, even without using the skill “Insight” inherent in the Staff of the Dark Authority, he could see the presences around him clearly.
Part of it was because he had reached the 6th Circle, the entrance to the realm of superhumans, and his body had evolved another step, but on top of that, the trait “Genius of Mana Sensitivity” had been combined with “Everything Is Doubled,” giving him senses so keen that an ordinary person could not even imagine them.
And after meeting Kreutzwald, he had learned how to use those senses not only for mana but in other ways as well.
To compare it to something… it felt as though he had opened a third eye.
‘…Kreutzwald.’
Whenever his thoughts flowed this way, the place they always arrived at in the end was Kreutzwald.
Just what was he?
Why was he making Hio undergo all sorts of training, magic included, and how much of what he had said was true?
It might be a lie with some measure of truth mixed in, or everything he had said might be false, but one thing was certain: he sincerely wanted Hio to become stronger.
‘…So why?’
What benefit did Kreutzwald gain from Hio becoming stronger?
He would not go out to the continent, yet he was raising Hio in order to prevent the continent’s destruction?
How could a story be so contradictory?
Hio did not know how much he should believe, or in what way, but the reason he was nevertheless following Kreutzwald’s words and heading for Tetradia was because there was no other way.
When he compared Abelard’s memories with Kreutzwald’s explanation, at least the fact that Tetradia existed here seemed to be true.
Then did he not have to go?
If he went, he would know.
Why Kreutzwald had refused to give a detailed explanation.
What his intention was, and for what purpose he had taught him.
What he had to keep in mind was not to let down his guard until the very end, and when Kreutzwald revealed his true intentions, to have at least some means prepared to escape from his grasp.
He did not know whether that would be possible, but it was something he had to keep thinking about.
What broke him out of thoughts that had been sinking as deep as sleep was a single emotional thread connected to Hio.
Teordo, who had been crouching beside Hio in the same posture, had conveyed his will through the thread connected to Hio.
“Why?”
When Hio looked at him, Teordo raised his head and looked up at the sky.
Following him, Hio shifted his senses upward.
“…Damn it.”
He felt a gigantic presence filling the sky.
It was covered by the Abyss and could not be seen, but the sense of crisis could be felt with his whole body.
“It’s a Watcher.”
A Watcher.
An aberration in the form of a giant eyeball floating in the sky.
It was the same thing Hio had seen once in the labyrinth, and again on the Floor of Breakthrough.
“…Should we move a little?”
At Hio’s words, Teordo nodded as if in agreement.
The eyes of the Watcher were the eyes of all aberrations.
Unlike most aberrations, whose eyes had degenerated, that thing was capable of piercing through this terrible darkness and looking down on everything.
They had to leave this place quickly, but move naturally enough that the other aberrations would not notice anything strange.
It was absurdly difficult, but they had to do it.
If they were discovered by the Watcher’s eye, information would reach “that being” of the Abyss, the one even Kreutzwald avoided.
‘Let the energy flow.’
Understanding Hio’s will, Teordo began to release the energy of the Abyss he had stored.
By gradually increasing the amount he released, he was showing them: I can handle a vast amount of the Abyss. Move aside on your own.
This was possible because they had grasped the habits of aberrations to some extent.
Aberrations below a certain level would realize from that alone that something was unusual and avoid them.
But at the same time, it was also a gamble.
Most would not try to approach, but there were cases where those that were not merely “most” would instead grow curious and come closer.
The night several days ago had been one such case, and once a battle broke out like that, they had no choice but to fight an endless, hellish battle until day came.
‘Please, anything but that…’
Once was enough for such an experience.
Even while fighting, they had to flee from the Watcher, and because of that, even more aberrations gathered.
They fought and fought and fought.
Then, after fighting all night, when day finally came, they moved immediately without even time to rest.
Because they had to get out to the continent even a day sooner.
‘Let’s pick up the pace a little more.’
Since he could feel the distance between them and the Watcher continuing to narrow, Hio and Teordo quickened their steps a little more.
They had to make a wide circle like this and return to the place where the Watcher had first appeared.
After all, the Watcher did not look back along the path it had already taken.
However…
‘…Damn it.’
He felt an aberration standing firm in their path, not budging an inch.
While the others were slowly moving aside under the pressure Hio and Teordo emitted, this one did not move at all.
It was the situation he had feared most.
A powerful aberration nearby, one born with an especially large amount of the Abyss’s energy.
Still, it had not come looking for them out of curiosity; it just happened to be in the path Hio was taking. So if they increased their speed a little and made a detour, could they not pass it by?
He conveyed that thought to Teordo as well, and the two of them changed direction at the same time.
If they did this, the distance to the Watcher would become precarious again, but if all went according to plan, they would be able to avoid the aberration blocking their path and pass by without falling under the Watcher’s eye.
…If all went according to plan.
‘That rotten bastard.’
Apparently, the aberration that had been standing in front of them was not only powerful but also brimming with curiosity.
As soon as Hio changed direction, it moved as if it had been waiting and began traveling in the same direction.
In that case, there was only one option.
Break through the front as stealthily and quickly as possible.
That was better than being caught by the Watcher.
To do that, they had to deal with that thing right away and as fast as possible.
Hio and Teordo, having made their decision, exchanged glances and were about to begin the battle—
When they suddenly stopped moving altogether.
“…What is this…?”
The aberration blocking their path, of course.
The presences of every aberration nearby, including the Watcher, had vanished.
No, to be precise, all of those beings were racing toward one place.