386 383. year 2018.txt (1/2)

Beyond that purple door, a different world of pure white awaited me.

First of all, I shrank back from the too strong cold wind and squinted my eyes. However, there is no strain on my body that much. It was because the heavy pressure of the 'curse' of the example had disappeared more than the effect of the 《Level Up》.

Fearfully, I stepped through the soft white earth-like substance with my shoes, bathed in the white powder that was falling lazily.

It was very quiet. All I could hear was the soft footsteps of me and Lady Legacy.

Slowly, my narrowed eyes widen, and the world that was originally called the World of Stone is projected into my vision.

The stone towers that were linked together like a mountain range around them were all frozen. Stone roads were also laid underfoot, but they were all frozen. Perhaps because they were covered with pure white frost instead of transparent ice, I felt as if I had wandered into a pure white, colorless painting cloth.

'What is this ......?'

Even his own breath was frozen, and he was surprised to see white smoke coming out of his mouth.

It really was all white.

What was whiter than anything else was the clouds that covered the heavens.

The color of that counterpart to the dark clouds of our world made me nearly fall over, dazzled.

Next I turn both palms up to the heavens and try to pick up the falling white powder-like substance.

But the moment I pick it up, it loses its shape and becomes water. At first I thought it was the 'Rain of Magic Power (Tear Ray)', but it turns out to be something else entirely.

”Snow, apparently. Didn't you see it in the 'Northern League'?

'I haven't seen ....... I turned back around around the Vyisian country, so ......

I know about snow and snowfields from literature.

But I didn't expect it to be this white. The temperature of the blood inside me rises at the fresh sight I see for the first time. But the out-of-place excitement is soon tempered by the otherworldly cold air.

I found a cluster of white 'threads' that swayed like wolf smoke on the other side of the crisp snowfall.

I understand that this is also a battlefield, and I re-gather information about my surroundings.

The swarm of ice statues in the surrounding towers really stand out.

I just described them as towers, but they were very different in construction from the ones in Hoozeyer's. They were not cylinders, but square columns. They were all shaped like square columns instead of cylinders, and the material they were made of could not simply be lumped in with stone. It was only because I had recently dabbled in blacksmithing that I knew it was a different thing, similar to stone.

The ice sculptures in that unknown tower are just too many.

The towers are as dense as Hoozeyards Castle, sometimes in a row, sometimes built high in the sky.

'Um, Lady Legacy ....... Is this the site of some castle ......?

No, it's not a rare part of town in our world. That's a 'building' and where we're standing now is a 'motorway', apparently. ...... but you don't have to remember that. What's important right now is that way.

Lady Legacy stepped over the snow field - or rather, over the snow-covered 'motorway' - and approached the small ice statue.

I followed behind it to see what was inside.

It contained a boy clad in a strange outfit I hadn't seen before.

Somehow, I understand that this boy is also a 'gentile', as his clothes are similar to the clothes he wore when I first met my master.

Then I don't just focus on the large ice statue, but also on the smaller ice statues scattered around.

There were some oddly shaped iron blocks among them, but most of them were human ice statues.

A lot of 'gentiles', both young and old, were frozen. If you look closely, you can see that there is always a single white 'thread' extending from the ice statue with the person in it to the sky.

As you can see. Before we left for this world, Yangtaki froze all the creatures.''

...... It's Sister Yotaki's 'Ice Power'.

”To be precise, the Lord says it's not frozen, but 'still'. Everything in this world, including the worldly laws of time, is 'still' by Yangtaki.

I thought it was a joke.

However, the mere mention of the person's name, Sister Yotaki, did not elicit any rebuttal from me. I was closer to that evil sign than anyone else, so I nodded back lightly, ''I see,'' and quickly confirmed the next piece of information.

''There's a 'thread' of Sister Yotaki coming out of the ice statue. That's the sky over there--

As I followed the wavering ”threads” with my eyes, I found a huge hole floating on the distant horizon. All the white 'threads' were gathered there, so it was like a white vortex in the sky.

'Ah. That's the 'slit' you know so well.

The question was answered immediately.

But I couldn't nod my head easily at the answer.

I had always felt a gaze in the 'slice' I knew so well.

The owner of that gaze I tentatively called the ”world”: ...... There is no sign of that at the end of the whirlpool I'm looking at now. But although I don't feel the 'world', that doesn't mean there is no one there.

I see. In other words, that 'break' is--

The smell is familiar.

The owner of that smell is no doubt--

Yeah. That's leading to 'Aikawa Yotaki'. In other words, you could say it's connected to our world now.

............

He answered immediately again.

I puff out my cheeks a little.

Although I don't have the pleasure of answering him compared to sister Youtaki, I will continue to listen to him seriously now.

''First, 'Apostle' Diprakra diagnosed Youtaki as having a 'constitution that draws too much magic power' when he saw her. But that wasn't accurate. The main reason for the illness is that the entire time he was in our world, he was sucking the magical power of this other world's creatures. I guess one of the reasons is that I was using that gained magical power to mass produce even more white 'threads'.

This is another thing I wanted to answer, but Lady Legacy would go ahead and explain one after another.

It was a bit unsatisfying, as if she was telling me spoilers for the book I was reading.

''There's one reason why Yotaki has more white 'threads'. I suppose it's to make our world look the same as it does here. However, next time, he should connect the 'thread' to Vortex Wave, not himself. I'm going to make my brother eat one of the worlds just like me to make him an 'equal' - thanks to what you've told me. The Lord was terribly grateful to you.

Hi. ......

Feeling a bit grumpy, I return the words curtly. Legacie-sama looks dubious, but she quickly resolidifies her expression and starts walking again.

'Come here. It's easier to talk in the basement.'

He then led me to a gate, which appeared to be a doorway leading to the basement.

There was a hole in the ground just barely big enough for one cart to pass through, and there was a neatly maintained underground staircase.

There was a little snow on the ground, but it wasn't frozen over. If we were careful with our feet, we would be able to go down inside.

I glanced at the sign attached to the top of the gate before I followed Lady Legacy down the stairs. It was written in what appeared to be the Japanese language, but I couldn't read it because it was white with frost.

I followed Lady Legacy ahead of me down the stairs, trying not to slip.

A few minutes later, what awaited me at the end of the stairs was a huge underground space that defied my expectations.

It was so vast yet complex that it seemed as if the castle had been built upside down with the ground as its boundary.

I looked around the underground space with my eyes shining.

It wasn't just big, but everything I saw was fresh. I was just a little disappointed that all of them were white with frost.

He busily moved his gaze around to see if there was anything that wasn't frozen somehow.

Along the way, he felt uncomfortable with the ice statues of people scattered all over the place. It's no surprise that it's not snowing underground, but there was one other difference from the ground.

...... Huh?　I don't see a ”string”?　I mean, this place is--

'It's one of the few weaknesses of The Thread. Under a continent, the 'thread' can't hold its shape. The reason for this is because of the ...... different dimensions.

After a sufficient pause in the middle, Lady Legacy spoke the words she had once heard.

He sensed the omission of explanation there and furrowed his brow.

'...... Another dimension, right? Isn't that word too convenient?

Don't tell me. It's just a message from the Lord.

Lady Legacy says the problem is not with her, but with the Lord, who entrusts her with a message.

I don't think he's lying. His face was serious - he just looked somewhat dumbfounded. When I try to read the circumstances behind it, Legacy-sama starts walking again.

I follow behind him, making several turns in the road, passing by several frosty pillars and descending further underground stairs.

It was too quiet on the road, so I threw in a few topics of conversation.

'It's like a maze, isn't it? There are many blind spots to hide soldiers. Are they thinking of defending this place from the outside world?

'Maybe. A bit like Daryl's Labyrinthine Castle in the Northern League, which prevented numerous invasions from the south.

...... Surprisingly, you've been to a lot of places. I have yet to visit the city of Darryl.

'I've been traveling as much as you have, so I've been traveling as much as you have: ....... I love to travel. I haven't dazzled you with my whereabouts too many times in Datu.

The conversation is more lively than I expected.

As I've felt before, Lady Legacy and I are somewhat like each other.

Just because we love to travel, we can talk and laugh in our own way.

However, although we were supposed to be talking about our hobbies, Legacy-sama's face was not good. The reason can be read from his monologue before he was brought here.

If the reason for his love of travel was set up for the convenience of his spawn, 'Since Apostle Legacy is an insurance policy, he should be outside of the story,' then the entire banter would be empty.

Realizing this, I stopped the conversation and continued to walk behind Lady Legacy in silence. Finally, after a few minutes of moving, he stopped.

''Is it enough for you to come this far?''

He seems to be quite wary of his Yangtaki sister's 'thread', and after looking around several times, he took out the magical stone from his pocket again.

I realized that another unknown 'spell' was going to be activated and I braced myself. Then Legacy-sama tells me the details of the power ahead of time.

”From now on, I'll make you see one past that was in this other world. There is no danger.

Can you see past?　How on earth did you manage to get to ......?

It's ...... simply put, it's about seeing a different dimension.

Again?　You just flipped the 'different dimension' earlier.

I finally revealed my irritation at the appropriate explanation that followed.

After a generous pause, Lady Legacy heard my complaint and shook her head in dismay.

'............. The ...... Lord is frightened. Take it from me. I hope you'll let him off the hook for his poor explanations of the Lord.

'What ......?　Yeah. ......

I groaned at the surrender of the explanation, which I didn't expect.

In other words, it seems that the reason I kept repeating ”different dimensions” over and over again was just because the Lord was not a good talker.

The image I had always held of a higher being who had managed the 'world' for thousands of years was falling apart. It's not exactly the spawn of the three 'apostles' who are unfamiliar with her feelings, it seems.

''Anyway, let's begin. We will now 'see past' the reason why Yangtaki is immortal.

However, I can't stay upset about the collapse of that image forever.

I regain my composure in the face of the main purpose of moving to this other world.

And little by little, the brilliance of the stone Legacy-sama's possession increases.

In tandem with that, the landscape of the snowfield on the ground where we were just a moment ago overlaps with the vision I'm seeing now.

If it's as Legacie-sama said, it's the landscape of the 'past'.

The events that happened in this other world before Yotaki sister did to our world are now reflected in my eyes.

''............?!''

When I saw that scene, I gasped for breath.

The reason is that what I am seeing now is the figure of Yotaki's sister lying on the snowfield, bleeding.

Moreover, the right half of her head was blown off by some kind of attack. Nearby, there was a person who was clothed in a kind of black armor all over her body, holding a heavy black iron lump in both hands.

--Is this the moment Aikawa Yotaki died from the enemy's attack?

However, the scene that followed overturned the speculation.

Sister Yotaki stood up unperturbed with her head missing the right half of her head.

At her feet, the 'thread' of the example continued to swirl around. Naturally, the person in black armor who was confronting her screamed - in the next moment, her entire body was covered in white frost, and she turned into an ice statue.