Chapter 52
The dense vegetation, like a jungle, parted as I finally arrived at a place where a massive chaos lood. It was a dark space where ti and space ignored order, tangled and distorted in a chaotic ss.
“Ugh, ugh, a real Ti Chaos Dungeon! W-We need to report this right away!”
I grabbed Matthew’s hand as he tried to press sothing he pulled from his pocket.
“Cadet Martin?”
“I’m going to conquer it.”
“What?! Alone, that’s impossible!”
Matthew jumped in protest, but I had already made up my mind. I hadn’t co this far to back down now. I would conquer it and claim the rewards, no matter what.
Like the Ti Chaos Dungeon in the underground waterway, this one had never been conquered before, which only heightened my anticipation.
“Just in case, you stay here.”
“Wait a second! Cadet Martin!”
Ignoring Matthew’s cries, I plunged into the Ti Chaos Dungeon. A nauseating sensation, as if ti and space were warping and my body and mind were splitting apart, overwheld before my vision finally cleared.
The first thing that greeted was a searing heat enveloping my entire body.
Wild Instinct (Lv 2) warns you to take cover imdiately!
Following the escape route pinpointed by Wild Instinct, I hurled myself forward. A mont later, a massive tree crashed down where I had been standing. The burning tree radiated intense heat around it.
‘This is… the ecological park?’
It was definitely the ecological park. But it was ablaze. The entire forest was burning so fiercely it was suffocating. The scorching heat felt like it would cook my flesh.
“Hound Mode.”
The black bracelet on my wrist enveloped my body like mist, transforming into the form of a Black Knight. Only then could I barely withstand the heat.
[Everything! All of it! Burn to ashes!]
I held my breath, keeping my mouth shut and my eyes wide as I looked up. A gust of hot wind blew off a dark green hood, revealing a colossal monster casting a shadow over the burning forest. It resembled… the form of a child. Engulfed in flas, it was incinerating everything around it.
Know-It-All (Lv 2) analyzes the target and confirms it is a history distorted by the Ti Chaos Dungeon.
Ti Chaos Dungeons fundantally reenact events from the past. However, due to so factor… a catastrophe is added, ranging from an individual to the entire world. That thing must be it.
Collecting the form of the fla monster, inputting comparison data. Matthew von Yulha Animas. Similarity rate with his form: 75%.
“Good heavens.”
A faint mory from daily life surfaced—fire. During a class testing the basic magic of the five elents, Cadet Matthew had failed to manifest even the basic fire magic.
In Matthew’s past, he accidentally set a forest ablaze. That past has been altered by the Ti Chaos Dungeon.
Thanks to Know-It-All, I quickly grasped the situation. If I killed that thing resembling Matthew, the Ti Chaos Dungeon would surely be conquered.
Not bringing Matthew along was a stroke of genius.
“Cadet Martin!”
The space collapsed, and Cadet Matthew appeared. I reflexively deactivated Hound Mode.
‘Damn it!’
Of all places, a burning tree was right beneath where Matthew had entered. I leaped like a predator snatching prey, barely catching Matthew as he fell toward the inferno.
“Cadet Matthew! I told you to stay put!”
“B-But! It’s dangerous! How could… ah…”
Matthew froze, as if his heart had stopped, unable to continue. He had seen the massive fla monster, visible from anywhere in the ecological park. And the fact that it bore a striking resemblance to him.
“Could this be…”
“Matthew! Snap out of it!”
No response. His blank expression told his mind was collapsing.
In a rush, I grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously.
“Matthew!”
“C-Cadet Martin?”
I pulled him out before he could drown in his thoughts and emotions.
“That thing isn’t you! It’s just a false past shown by the Ti Chaos Dungeon!”
“But, but I really did…”
“Shut up and use Animal Communion! Give orders to the animals that haven’t escaped!”
His wandering eyes slowly began to focus. Coming to his senses, Matthew finally looked around.
In the burning forest, birds and animals were still scurrying in terror.
They were likely the animals that perished in the great fire caused by Matthew’s childhood mistake.
“This ti, you’re going to save them, Matthew!”
“Yes!”
Matthew, now regaining his composure, began using Animal Communion on a wide scale. This was it—the mont. Animal Communion was a skill that devoured ntal energy like a hippo.
“Now’s the ti!”
While Matthew wasn’t looking, I could shoot the Cosmos Empire’s Finest Holy Diamond Bullet and win! The mont I pulled the bullet, wrapped with the Rosary of Grace, from the ammo pouch—
Our eyes t. Red. The sa color as the red arrows she fired.
“Argh!”
“Hot!”
“Eek!”
“Ugh?!”
“…?!”
Five people tumbled onto the burning tree in succession. Fortunately, Gilbert’s initial sword strike shattered the tree, scattering it.
“These idiots…”
I quickly hid the Holy Diamond Bullet I had drawn. It was unavoidable with the Count-rank Demon or Sir Dominic, but it was best not to reveal it if possible.
Elisha surveyed the surroundings and, upon spotting the fla giant, gasped in shock.
“What in the world! Martin, you really are!”
“What, does it look like I caused this?”
“No, I an, how do you keep finding these things! Hidden dungeons even the Humanity Preservation Agency doesn’t know about!”
Gilbert, staring blankly at , muttered.
“As expected, Martin. Are you a Peacemaker…?”
This guy was lost in his own delusions again. Ever since the Dr. Keren incident, Gilbert had been giving strange looks, jumping to conclusions based on his own misunderstandings.
I glared at him and snapped.
“Stop with the delusions, Cadet Gilbert.”
“….”
Gilbert didn’t respond but asked instead.
“Cadet Martin, what should we do now?”
“What should you do? If you hadn’t co in, that would’ve been the best option.”
I couldn’t use Hound Mode or the Holy Diamond Bullet. What a ss.
“If you’ve got eyes, deal with the rampaging fla giant first.”
Gilbert seed about to say sothing but gave up and prepared for battle. Bord, Mary, and Lina followed him.
“Hey, Cadet Martin.”
“What is it, Cadet Elisha?”
“…Never mind.”
Elisha started to say sothing but followed the others instead.
Wild Instinct (Lv 2) senses that Elisha knows sothing.
‘Could it be?’
Elisha was peculiar. She had shown an obsession with , from assigning people to my residence to commissioning information guilds.
‘Did she figure out I’m Princess Adela’s Black Knight?’
Co to think of it, Elisha had witnessed the Holy Diamond Bullet twice—during the Count-rank Demon incident and the Dungeon Tournant.
‘Since no rumors have spread, she’s probably not certain.’
No, I shouldn’t think about this now.
“Heavy Rain!”
“Frontkeeper!”
The protagonist party had already engaged the fla giant. Torrential rain that could pierce muscle and shatter bone swept over the giant, while the world’s sturdiest mana giant clashed head-on.
Explosive red arrows struck the fla giant in volleys, and the future Sword Saint and Sword Queen swung their blades.
In the novel, the protagonist party grew stronger with each Chapter. They still couldn’t hold a candle to the Count-rank Demon, but it wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were at least twice as strong as before.
It must be hell for their opponents.
“Oh, to fight so well against a fla demon.”
A presence behind made turn around. Standing there was a figure in a tattered, worn robe. Though covered in soot and ash, the robe couldn’t hide its innate nobility.
‘Strange.’
I felt sothing before hearing the voice. Sothing familiar yet unfamiliar emanated from him.
“Who are you?”
“I’m a naless revolutionary who’s been struggling for years to escape this world.”
As I scrutinized him, my eyes twitched. The original form of the soot-stained robe began to reveal itself.
“A castaway who beca a resident of this eternally burning forest.”
The pattern seed to depict a person cloaked in a robe.
“This world feels like it’s blocked by an invisible barrier, impossible to leave. For the first few years, I fought that fla demon over there, but no matter what, there was no resolution. It was as if the world itself was delaying our showdown. So we agreed not to interfere with each other. The demon burns this forest that only ever burns, and I’ve been observing it. Like a hamster on a wheel.”
“….”
It was clear. The pattern of a person in a robe holding two guns was unmistakably a Peacemaker.
“Are you a Peacemaker? A Star Child of the Cosmos?”
At my words, the naless revolutionary pondered for about five seconds.
“…As expected, that person survived the catastrophe. I’m not them. I worked alongside them, but I could never reach even the hem of their cloak.”
If the catastrophe that destroyed the Cosmos Empire was at least a hundred years ago, and the fire incident involving Matthew was about ten years ago…
Were multiple events mixed together? Or was it due to so unknown object that served as the dium for this Ti Chaos Dungeon? Likely sothing from the Cosmos Empire.
“Now, is it my turn to ask? How did you end up here?”
“We call this place a Ti Chaos Dungeon. We entered through an entrance in the Petrak Kingdom’s Ecological Park.”
“….”
“It’s been about a hundred years since the Cosmos Empire fell to the Great Collapse.”
“…Ah, I see.”
He fell silent, as if steeped in regret.
“Then I’m already dead, rely a component of this dungeon.”
The Peacemaker mber pulled out a folder and showed it to .
“Please, deliver this to the Star Child.”
“I’ve only heard of them; I don’t know where they are. Besides, I can’t take items out of this place.”
“Many restrictions, huh. It would’ve been nice to et the Star Child in person.”
He shook his head and moved to take back the folder. But my gut told this was critical information. I couldn’t let it slip away.
“There’s one person you might know.”
“Hm?”
“Soone who, under their ntor’s orders, denied all the morals and beliefs they’d learned their entire life, acknowledging evil to barely escape a purge. They’re an acquaintance of mine, the head of the Cosmos Dinsion Research Institute, Nerjin.”
He sighed deeply and pulled out the folder again.
“Then to them, at least. It’s a relief that young friend survived. I owed the institute’s director so much, and it weighs on that I’m adding to that debt without even paying the interest, but there’s no helping it.”
I urged the bittersweet-looking revolutionary.
“The will of the dead is carried on by the living. Faith never falters.”
“True. Sorry for burdening you. Since you can’t take it out, it’d be good if you could at least morize it. What’s your na, distant descendant?”
“Martin. Martin von Targon Ulvhadin.”
“Alright, Martin. There’s a manual compiling my martial arts and training thods in there, so try to learn it if you can. Its origins might be dubious, but it’ll surely help you, who has mastered Stellar Force.”
I flinched. Had he noticed the Stellar Force within ?
Then I realized. The familiar yet unfamiliar presence I felt when I first sensed him—it was Stellar Force.
“You don’t seem to know how to use Stellar Force, do you?”
“That’s right.”
Thanks to Know-It-All storing the skill, I could ‘use’ Flash (Blink), but I couldn’t wield Stellar Force like mana.
“Well, alright. Referencing that manual will be a good experience. Seeing a comrade after so long puts in a good mood.”
Stellar Force, a peculiar power.
“While you handle that, I’ll… put an end to this endless cycle.”
The naless revolutionary drew the twin swords from his waist. With a flash, he vanished—using the Cosmos Empire’s secret magic, Flash (Blink).
[Gaaah! My nesis!]
“Let’s end this!”
The fla giant was already being subdued by the protagonist party. With him joining, it would end even faster.
‘Hurry.’
While they fought, I examined the folder. With Know-It-All’s Absolute mory ability, I was confident I could morize it with one look.
“…My God.”
The contents of the folder were…
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