Chapter 75: Who is that?
“Pytons, is it a great star?”
That’s right. If it feels that far away, it must be one of those guys.
Is it Hikkenkai? I have to meet it.
I had to go even if it wasn’t Hikkenkai. If it’s not Hikkenkai, it means it’s one of the stars sealed as a thought entity in the glass jar.
I need to confirm who it is before the feeling of power disappears.
“Morgan!”
Riche tightly embraced Ian.
Although it was a situation where she had no choice but to leave, she wanted to give Morgan some reassurance.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of person you are.”
“……!”
“I won’t hate you, ever.”
After tightening her arms around Morgan once more, Riche released her hold and ran away.
“Riche! But……!”
“Sorry, something urgent came up! See you later!”
Morgan looked at Riche’s retreating figure and then down at her own arms.
The arms that had just overlapped when Riche hugged her tightly.
Thump, thump. Her heartbeat was loud and rapid. With her flushed arms and face, Morgan felt her legs give way, and she sank down.
[Isn’t that the direction of the competition hall?]
Pytons peeked out from Riche’s pocket as she ran.
‘Yes.’
Riche answered, but her heart raced.
The competition hall. That’s the direction where Deon is.
What if the star she felt right now is the one that gives power to Roadwick?
“…….”
Riche recalled Deon’s cold gaze from six years ago.
If it’s that star, I won’t let Deon be used as a vessel.
Deon, who was covered in om, could not be left in the state she saw at 19 years old.
[Ah, it’s that stuck-up guard from last time.]
Pytons pointed out the guard standing in front of the entrance to the competition hall.
As Riche passed by and opened the door to enter, the guard stood stiffly at the entrance, completely unaware.
Thanks to the use of cognitive manipulation ability.
‘I can still feel the energy!’
At this rate, she might not miss it.
The feeling of power was growing stronger. It was toward Deon’s accommodation.
[Is there an earthquake or something?]
Pytons muttered, referring to the ground that continued to vibrate intermittently.
Boom.
A loud sound echoed from beyond the buildings of the competition hall.
Roars of monsters, the sound of swords scraping, and something collapsing and breaking.
I don’t know what’s happening, but the sound of swords was ominous.
Please, not Deon.
In Riche’s line of sight, a familiar back appeared as she ran.
“What’s going on? Can I jump in and fight too?”
“No.”
Kaishan’s excited voice sounded like she was just watching, while her vice-commander tried to stop her.
As Riche passed them and moved forward, the wide courtyard of the competition hall came into view.
Deon was standing on top of a broken fountain. His opponent was a beast-like monster as big as a three-story building beside him.
Deon was blocking the sharp claws that were larger than his own body with a sword.
It looked tough.
From the way the sword trembled slightly from the effort, it seemed like a difficult opponent for Deon as well.
[What’s that.]
Pytons and Riche let out startled sounds as they confirmed the opponent.
The energy wavering at the monster’s chest.
‘……Why is Zik here?’
She felt the power of a great star emanating from Zikbert, who had been transformed into a monster.
“Stop!”
The fight between the two ended with Riche’s intervention.
Seeing Riche, who had released the cognitive manipulation, Deon was the first to put his sword away.
“Looks like you still have that squirrel-like appearance that makes me want to hunt you.”
Kaishan, who discovered Pytons, left the courtyard in a monsterized state, while Keisley chased after her.
Just before that, people, including the chairman of Kreselpon, rushed in. Among them was Philip.
Only Deon and Riche remained at the scene. It was already too late to use cognitive manipulation to hide.
Riche quickly explained to the chairman of Kreselpon.
“I-I just stopped by for the weekly preliminary report and accidentally got involved!”
So Deon didn’t have any private conversations with the contestants.
While the chairman was in a daze from witnessing the monster, Riche repaired the fountain and the collapsed buildings and returned to her accommodation.
It seemed Deon was trying to follow Riche, but she desperately shook her head.
‘Don’t come!’
“…….”
Then she looked for Zikbert.
Since Kaishan was in control of Zikbert’s body, she could locate him through the star’s detection.
It seemed like she had managed to shake off Keisley, who had followed Kaishan, saying she would fight.
Now, with Kaishan occupying Zikbert’s body right in front of her.
‘God of beasts?’
[That’s right.]
In Riche’s accommodation.
Riche and Pytons were watching Kaishan, who was sitting in a chair.
Kaishan scanned the room once and then spoke to Pytons.
“Do you live in such a tiny room? The name of the god of war doesn’t suit it at all.”
Pytons snorted and asked Kaishan, “How did you get out?”
“I don’t know either. I briefly lost consciousness due to a strong impact inside the glass jar, and when I woke up, I was outside.”
“What about the others?”
“I don’t know. They might still be sleeping, or who knows?”
Six years ago, Hikkenkai said that he had hidden each glass jar in a place he knew when he went to the graves of the stars.
After coming out of the jar, Kaishan searched for Hikkenkai to release his thought entity state but said, “I couldn’t find him after searching for a long time. They’re all gone. Maybe they crossed over to the human realm. So, for now, I need to protect my original body, so I tried to cross over to the human realm.”
Kaishan grinned with Zikbert’s face.
“Just before that, I witnessed something important at the lake where you used to often sightsee with that guy.”
“That guy? T-.”
“Be quiet.”
Kaishan covered Pytons’ mouth.
His movements were as nimble as a beast.
“What are you going to do if that guy finds out our location?”
Kaishan spoke to Pytons as if trying to persuade him. If he mentioned the name of the great star, it would expose their location to that star.
It was a well-known fact, but Pytons found it ridiculous. Why is this guy acting like this?
Freeing himself from Kaishan’s hand, Pytons replied incredulously.
“It’s you guys who would be in trouble if your location was revealed. It doesn’t matter to me and the sucker if we know each other’s locations.”
“That guy refers to the star that created Rethiom, right?”
Riche asked Pytons.
“That’s right. The one I fought against wasn’t just him; it was the four great stars, including him.”
“Pytons, are you sure you can label the enemy like that? It seems like your thinking has shrunk since you turned into a squirrel.”
“What?”
Pytons glared at Kaishan in anger. The corners of his mouth curled up to reveal his fangs, as if he was looking forward to how Pytons would respond to his remark.
“Do you know what I saw at the lake?”
Pytons, fuming at the comment about being small, paused at Kaishan’s question.
What could he have seen to act so smug?
“If you’re going to say something, hurry up.”
“I saw a temple dedicated to the ancient god who governs time.”
Pytons deflated.
“What? That’s common. It seems you only deal with beasts and don’t know that humans frequently create gods related to time… Wait a moment, an ancient god?”
“……?”
Pytons’ expression hardened suddenly.
Riche was listening to their conversation without understanding.
“I’m telling you.”
Kaishan answered in a satisfied tone.
He was also a god who had lived for thousands of years. Most of the ancient gods Kaishan spoke of had become stars. The remaining six great stars managed the graves.
Among them, the star that governs time is—.
“Do you know the name of that order?”
Kaishan didn’t say it aloud but shaped the words with his lips to Pytons.
“(T), (I), (O).”
“……That sucker, has awakened?”
The star that created Rethiom has awakened?
Riche looked at Kaishan. He seemed to enjoy Pytons’ shocked expression and said with a beastly growl.
“It’s not us trying to break down the boundary between the human realm and the graves; it’s your friend, Pytons.”
And then Kaishan fell asleep.
“Is he an idiot?”
Pytons muttered, looking blankly at Zikbert.
Since he wasn’t there, it felt like he needed to vent to Zikbert, who contained his original body.
“He’s used up too much power as a thought entity, so he’s fallen asleep.”
The only good thing about the thought entity transformed by Hikkenkai’s ability was that it wasn’t affected by the human realm environment, so it wouldn’t become like a soaked cotton ball.
Aside from that, there were numerous downsides.
A thought entity cannot exert the power of the original body.
If it uses up a certain amount of power remaining in the thought entity, it will fall asleep.
To wake up, it must replenish the power in the thought entity through sleep. However, that power accumulates at an extremely slow rate.
This was possible because the soul remaining inside the original body was connected to the thought entity, but no stars other than Hikkenkai could explain the exact reason.
“Pytons, are you going to sleep for a long time again? I’m talking about the star that entered Zik’s body.”
“No. This time, it’s a temporary sleep, so I don’t know when it will come out again.”
Then that means I can’t relax.
Riche turned her gaze to Zikbert. When their eyes met, Zikbert smiled gently.
“Riche.”
“Have you been well? Zik.”
“Yeah.”
It was nice to see him. Riche exchanged pleasantries with Zikbert.
“Is Professor Rumblar…?”
Then she learned why Zikbert had come all the way here.
Robenhauf sent Zik to Deon.
Due to the risk of eavesdropping, Robenhauf’s plan was to explain the situation outside directly to Deon. However, Zik said he hadn’t managed to convey the situation to Deon.
