"Haah," I exhaled deeply, letting the icy sensation dissipate. As it faded completely, the sword in my hand disintegrated into a fine mist, vanishing into the atmosphere.
Finally, those slippery creatures were gone. Turns out their brains were actually in their abdons—how that works, I have no idea—but once I figured it out, it was just a matter of creating bullets and focusing on precision. One by one, I struck them down until none remained.
"Haah," I breathed again, staring at my palm. What was that feeling?
I couldn't quite place it… but there was another power stirring within , sothing I couldn't yet understand.
"Status."
Silence.
Nothing appeared.
"Well… I guess I should find sowhere to rest," I muttered, glancing around before starting to walk.
I still didn't know exactly where I was. This place… it was unfamiliar.
And those creatures.
Hmm.
I was certain I had seen them before. Sowhere…
Wait. That's right.
Those were the sa creatures from the ga.
But… weren't they from the fifth act?
Yes. The fifth act of the ga. That was during the Second Arten Raid.
But how?
This must be a Legacy World. That would explain my sudden appearance here. It was just like what happened in the ga during the Arten Raid—when the protagonist was forcefully pulled into another dinsion, cut off from his allies, and left to navigate the unknown world alone.
"But the First Arten Raid took place in a dungeon, didn't it?" I murmured, rubbing my chin as I kept walking.
Clank!
I paused and looked down to see a tallic object, faintly resembling an Earthly can, crushed under my foot. The sound echoed in the stillness. I kicked it aside and resud my steps.
"This doesn't make sense. The dungeon marked the first appearance of the Arten Raid. It was where two major characters obtained their Divine-grade relics."
Those two characters… one was a villainess, and the other an ally of the hero.
"lina," I whispered, my fingers brushing against a tree trunk adorned with a skeleton dangling from one of its blackened branches.
lina was one of the most ruthless villains in the ga. While Amael was undeniably evil and lived up to his title as a villain, lina surpassed him in ways that were downright disturbing. She harbored an intense hatred—toward everything and everyone, including her own people.
But there was one person she despised above all else, a hatred so irrational it bordered on obsession. That person was none other than Auston Tallen, the other benefactor of the Arten Raid.
Auston was a freak of nature, so overpowered he might as well have been a second hero. He was utterly broken—unstoppable. Yet, even his strength couldn't surpass lina's.
No, it was the opposite.
The relic she obtained during the raid was so powerful, it was closer to a celestial-grade artifact than a Divine-grade weapon.
Now that I think about it…
Both participated in the Arten Raid—could that have been where the feud between them began? Could sothing have happened during the raid that turned her into the villain she beca?
I'm not sure. But thinking more deeply, the second Arten Raid only began after the conclusion of the fourth act of the ga, the sa event where Amael disappeared from the Academy. A few months later, it was discovered that there might be a hidden passage in the previously explored dungeon. Strange energy leaks were detected emanating from the area. That discovery ca after the first-year final exams. Under those circumstances, the protagonist and so friends from the Lower Realm decided to investigate the dungeon.
There's definitely a connection. Why didn't the dungeon reappear until Amael went missing?
I thought a lot about that while playing the ga. To solidify my suspicions that these events were linked, there's also the fact that Amael was the one who inherited the Legacy's blessing. With the combined power of his bloodline and the blessing, he should have beco the strongest villain, rivaling even Liliana. But that didn't happen.
It was during that act that Amael t his end. Yet the way he died left more questions than answers. For example, why did he appear so worn out when the protagonist and his allies found him? It was as if soone had already beaten him half to death, leaving the protagonist and his group to finish the job. He did put up a fierce fight, but the ease with which they overpowered him made it clear sothing wasn't right.
But setting all of that aside—why now? Why is the Legacy manifesting now?
It must have sothing to do with my being here…
KRANK!
I stopped and looked down, spotting a squashed can beneath my foot.
"Huh?" I furrowed my brows, pondering the thought before shaking my head. It had to be a coincidence.
I kicked the can aside, just like the previous one. But as I moved forward, sothing caught my attention, and I froze completely.
Sothing was wrong.
That sa skeleton was hanging from the branch of a pitch-black tree. It was there again.
Sothing was definitely not right.
I looked forward, then slowly turned to glance behind .
"Hah," I exhaled calmly. Then, out of instinct, a coldness surged through as I manifested a lance the size of a sniper bullet, magnified a hundredfold.
PUM!
I shot it forward, but in the next instant, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Without hesitation, I summoned my frost sword, turning swiftly and slashing vertically. My blade t sothing solid—a projectile hurtling toward .
KANK!
The projectile shattered, scattering shards around . I took a closer look and froze.
"…" I stared silently, then frowned.
It was the ice bullet I had just fired forward.
This is bad.
Very bad.
It seems I've fallen into a loop. Of course, such things don't just appear on their own. Sothing is manipulating it—sothing created this loop in the first place. But what?
Closing my eyes, I channeled a trendous amount of ether to them. The next instant, an intense wave of pain nearly brought to my knees. However, I steadied myself.
"This isn't an illusion," I muttered.
That was one of the known ways to escape an illusion: by channeling an overwhelming amount of mana—or ether, in my case—to the eyes, effectively erasing any veils clouding the mind. Though I don't fully understand the chanics, I know beyond doubt that the thod works; I've read it in the ga's guide and used it successfully several tis before.
But since it didn't work this ti, that ans one of two things: either the caster is so powerful that my trick couldn't break the illusion, or...
...this isn't an illusion at all.
Perhaps it's a domain.
If that's the case, this wasn't the work of a mana beast but a person. From what I know, creating a domain requires a certain level of intelligence and mastery over rune inscriptions and mana circles—knowledge that most mana beasts wouldn't possess.
Still, I can't entirely rule out the possibility of a high-tier evolved beast, perhaps one at the sixth tier or beyond, being responsible. If so, this situation is far more problematic than I initially thought.
"What to do," I murmured, scanning my surroundings.
If my guess is correct, this domain extends in a 360-degree radius, covering every direction around . Moving forward or backward wouldn't matter—it's all the sa.
I glanced upward, then decided to test sothing.
Whoosh!
I froze the skeletal hand hanging from a branch. With a swing of my sword, it shattered into bits. I then grabbed the can, which seed tied to the loop, and began moving forward. If my hunch is correct, when I return to the starting point, everything will reset. But now that I've destroyed the skeleton and taken the can, what will happen?
I don't know, but I'm about to find out.
Thwack!
Huh?
Looking down, I realized I had stepped on a twig. Wait—don't tell …
I kept walking, and soon sothing else appeared: a woman.
A vampire?
I couldn't tell for certain, but she was dangling from a tree branch.
This is... going to be problematic.
In a normal situation, destroying the main objects of the loop should have ended the domain. But this ti, instead of collapsing, it replaced the objects. That could only an one thing: those weren't the true anchors of the loop.
So, what is?
I scanned my surroundings again, searching for sothing I might have overlooked—sothing I'd been encountering repeatedly without realizing.
"Can, skeleton, twig, corpse..."
Could there be a pattern?
No. I don't see one.
Then how about I try sothing drastic?
I infused my frosted sword with ether and swung it at the tree itself.
SHIIIIIIINK!
The blade sliced cleanly through the trunk.
CRRRRRRRRRRCK!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The tree toppled, rolling off another and collapsing in front of .
"All right, let's see what happens this ti."
Leaping over the fallen tree, I walked forward, keeping my gaze sharp and attentive.
Thwack!
I looked down again. Sure enough, it was the twig.
Walking further, I spotted sothing else.
"This confirms it," I muttered, squinting.
The broken tree remained, but the corpse—previously crushed beneath it—was now leaning against the trunk, its face tilted downward.
It's clear now.
The object of the loop isn't just an item—it's the creature itself. It disguises its form to deceive the eyes but remains a constant within the loop, forcing to encounter it repeatedly without realizing it.
Before cutting down the tree, I left a small mark near the trunk—a faint line, barely noticeable. I suspected the domain's chanics might dismiss it as an error. But it wasn't a mistake.
Now, the mark is gone, yet the tree I slashed remains. This can only an one thing: the tree is no ordinary tree. And thinking back, its presence was always central. The corpse, skeleton, and twig were rely distractions to draw my attention toward the tree.
The tree itself is the true anchor.
And it didn't reset because the domain's rules likely don't apply to itself.
"Got you," I said, dashing forward, my sword glowing with ether.
The tree trembled visibly. It seed caught in its own trap—the domain's double-edged nature. Its conditions prevented it from assuming its true form, but that didn't matter.
SHINK!
I cleaved the tree in half, freezing it entirely. With a snap of my fingers, it shattered into nothingness.
I hate illusion creatures.
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