Chapter 14 (1/2)

Blood trickled down the corners of my lips, but I paid no heed. The taste was so-so; appropriately b.l.o.o.d.y and disgusting. The texture was like chewing on rubber and each time I swallowed it stuck to the walls of my throat, as if it was coated in glue, but as long as it was something beneficial to my body I would readily chow down on even steel.

But it was…strange. Normally miracle elixirs like these, or no, perhaps this should be called a G.o.d elixir? At any rate, there was no particular change to my body even though I was consuming the heart of the first ever dragon in existence. Normally, the first mouthful should have sent a zap through my entire body, and a boiling sense of magic power should have welled up from within; the countless miracle elixirs I had consumed in the past was like this.

'No way it could be a fake could it?'

I swallowed the rest of the heart and stared at Al Araxar with a frown fixed on my forehead. Al Araxar was remaining still, posturing as ever, and looking at me. There was no sign of breathing from him, although he didn't need to breathe in the first place, but he was much too unusually still.

I immediately turned around. The gnolls were stuck in the middle of various movements. Even the waters of the lake didn't show a ripple of movement.

'…Time has stopped.'

Indeed, there was a change. It wasn't a change inside my body, but the world itself had stopped. I had never experienced something like this before. Even during the times when I drunk water mixed with the powdered horn of a unicorn or eaten the heart of a phoenix, the changes I had experienced was limited to my body only, and yet…to think time would stop.

No. Perhaps it was that I was merely standing in a separate timeline. If that was so, then perhaps it was correct to say that it was indeed a change that occured to myself only.

Moving in this state was dangerous. If my body was still in the midst of going through change then there was the risk of the magic power in me going out of control. Thus I decided to wait for now.

1 hour, 2 hours, a day, 2 days…

'How long do I have to wait?'

There was no change even after having waited a week. The world was as unmoving as ever. Even with my super human patience, I couldn't help feeling that something wasn't right.

Something was…wrong. Very wrong.

I tried poking Al Araxar but he didn't budge an inch. The gnolls as well stayed fixed in their spots. Everything in the world couldn't be influenced by me.

'This is a s.p.a.ce that's left the laws of physics. Or else it's that I've shedded my physical body.'

I thought up two hypothesis'. However, time itself had stopped; I couldn't always keep my thoughts constrained within the ordinary laws of nature. That being the case, I considered the second hypothesis. I had broken away from my body, my spirit alone separating!

I originally didn't believe in the existence of souls, but after having returned to the past, I did consider the notion of it. Although, I had never expected I would be in such a state.

'I see. So this is the world of spirits.'

It was a small realisation. The moment I realised I had left behind my physical body, I started separating from it. My body remained in frozen time while my consciousness rose up and floated away. And then six doors appeared in the vicinity of my soul.

'Six worlds.'

The Ancient One was showing me these worlds. The six doors were entrances that each lead to different 'worlds'.

That's right…those six worlds were the Six Realms, worlds reigned by chaos, inhabited by the dead and monsters. This was the Ancient One's power. It seemed that it was the 'guardian' as well as the 'Keeper' that managed the gates. It was preventing the beings of those six worlds from intruding in this world. But it had died, and so a connection formed between the abyss and human realm. The death of 'great beings' like the Ancient One must have been the beginning of why all kinds of monsters and Demon Lords had invaded us.

'The great beings that used to overseer the human realm. They all died. All of them killed by…someone.'

Fragments of the Ancient One's memory poured into my mind. Thanks to that I could naturally 'understand'. The history of the world, and the beginning of everything that had happened. There was no way of knowing the perpetrator behind it, however, I had a hunch. The Colossus. Great Star. It was either that, or some other related to it.

I observed the six worlds. Five of the six worlds already had owners. I picked one world, where sinners go after death; h.e.l.l realm!

Ururung!

Kwakwakwakw.a.n.g!

It was a world where black lightning fell endlessly. A dark as pitch world of monsters, different from the abyss. I discovered an unusual being in the center of the world. It raised its gigantic wings and stared at me, and at the same time, I was. .h.i.t by an impact that made me feel as if my soul would shatter. I knew that being. No, the Ancient One knew that great being.

”Scram. This is no place for a cub like you.”

Evil G.o.d, Randalf Bruxelles!

A true G.o.d that managed and supervised the h.e.l.l realm. The Demon Lord Andalton Bruxelles' patron…

He slightly twitched his finger and at the same time, I was blasted out through the dimension gate.

”Urrrghh!”

I dry heaved the moment I was blasted back into my world. Gripping my head, I rolled around on the ground, screaming b.l.o.o.d.y murder, and for about 30 days I couldn't do a thing. The slightest mistake and my soul would have just broken to pieces.

'I should…be careful.'

Barely recovered after 30 or so days, I shook my head. Just a twitch of a finger amounted to this much damage. But I was still lucky. Evil G.o.d though he may be, his intent didn't go beyond 'chasing' me out. He was a Keeper, so all he did was to send me back to where I belonged. But if he had harbored even the slightest of ill-will, I would have been disintegrated on the spot. Eliminated just like that.

I couldn't even muster the thought of directly going into other worlds now. Instead I looked from the entrances and observed.

The worlds of G.o.ds. Some worlds were ruled by an absolute being, like the h.e.l.l realm, while there were even cases of numerous G.o.ds ruling over a world as one. But the Keepers of the human realm were all dead. That was why the abyss had surfaced; the human realm became connected to all kinds of worlds, bringing catastrophe upon itself.

'Then what is the Colossus?

Was it a G.o.d that was born in place of the Keepers like the Ancient One?

I quietly clicked my tongue. There was nothing more dangerous than jumping to a hasty conclusion in my current state. I had to put together all the information and make an objective conclusion. That's how grave the situation was.

I then stared toward the empty gate. The human realm, where I was standing now.

'I'll take a look around.'

I was born and raised here, but there wasn't much I knew of this beautiful planet, because monsters roamed freely and everything was destroyed in the world I remembered. But before the invasion of all that, the world must surely s.h.i.+ne brightly.

I decided to take a look at this beautiful world for myself with my own two eyes.

..

..

A floating spirit.