NOVGO.NET Chapter 394
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 394: What He Couldn’t Let Go (4)
In the past, under the Great Emperor, there had only been four counts.
Naturally, the highest title a demon weaker than them could receive was viscount.
As a result, even among viscounts, the disparity in strength was enormous.
‘Varkan of Pestilence……. This bastard didn’t measure up to the counts, but among viscounts, he was easily within the top three.’
He glared at the being that stood nearly two heads taller than himself.
Despite having caused a horrific massacre, his face was filled with lethargy, as though this were nothing more than another dull day.
As far as he remembered, this bastard had been at the late stages of Level 7 back then.
If he gained a single moment of enlightenment, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to become Level 8 on the spot.
‘Can I fight him with my current strength?’
The answer was NO.
Even being generous, the odds would probably be around 3 to 7.
Part of it was a matter of compatibility as well.
Though his own mana was close to infinite, this bastard’s demonic energy was on a comparable level.
“Ah, is that so? So there was still one of the white ones left.”
Varkan, who had been staring this way, slowly nodded.
The plague fog he spread could not reach him, whose entire body was wrapped in wind.
“But if ‘that guy’ isn’t here…… nothing changes.”
The moment Varkan muttered indifferently and tried to raise his hand—
Oscar suddenly let out a deep breath and withdrew his mana.
Naturally, the wind swirling around his body vanished, and the plague fog lurking across the battlefield began pouring into every opening of his body.
“……Suicide, huh.”
Varkan did not so much as blink.
Humans were weak creatures.
When faced with something overwhelmingly stronger than themselves, some colossal terror, they usually lost their reason.
He had seen countless humans kill themselves after facing him, so this scene felt nothing new.
‘But, what is this?’
Usually, the reactions of humans who chose suicide fell into two categories.
Either they were terrified out of their minds at the thought of dying soon.
Or they felt relieved that they would finally be at peace.
“…….”
The human before him fit neither category.
The flames within his eyes blazed fiercely, like a lit fuse.
No matter how one looked at them, those eyes did not suit the word “despair.”
Varkan knew.
He knew exactly how troublesome bastards with eyes like that could be.
‘Those eyes are similar to his…….’
Which was why he couldn’t understand it.
Why did someone who had chosen death himself have eyes like those?
“……3.2 seconds.”
Oscar’s lips moved faintly.
That was how long it took for Varkan’s plague to completely stain his body when he wasn’t wrapped in mana.
“Current time, AM 02:33.”
After checking the time one last time, Oscar stared directly at Varkan.
Cough!
Spitting out blackened dead blood, he smiled even as he collapsed.
[Completion Rate 0%]
[Conquest Failed]
[Returning to Starting Point.]
“…….”
Varkan stared at the human corpse for quite some time, his face deeply furrowed.
* * *
The Guide looked at the crystal orb.
“Oscar Crucian…….”
He had held rather high expectations for this young mage.
Among every mage he had ever seen, there had never been one with such skill at that age.
At first, he had suspected him of being a pawn of the demons, but repeated examinations had erased that possibility.
‘Which is precisely why I must teach him.’
Teach him how to let go when it was time to let go.
The Guide’s gaze deepened.
“……Talented people sometimes make enormous mistakes.”
They fall into the illusion that they can accomplish anything.
They drown themselves in the fantasy that they can save everyone in danger.
But the world was not so lenient.
“A perfectly one-sided exchange does not exist. If you gain something, you must lose something else.”
The Guide had only realized that truth after paying a terrible price.
Which was why he wanted to teach this young mage all the more.
So that one day, when standing before a more important choice, he would not make the same mistake as now.
“…….”
The Guide had been watching Oscar from the very moment he entered the door.
Together with the intruder, he boldly searched the entire village.
He figured out that the villagers could not see them, and even grasped that the space itself was vast.
Even the baron-class demon that appeared at dawn had failed to become his opponent.
‘His judgment, decisiveness, and skill are all excellent.’
But that was the end of it.
He would never perfectly conquer this dungeon.
There was only one reason he was this certain.
Because this route was impossible from the very beginning.
‘Even if a Level 9 mage came, it would be the same.’
It was not a matter of strength or weakness, nor of sharp or dull judgment.
It was simply physically impossible.
‘That village is invaded by demons at 2:32 AM.’
At 2:31 AM, Varkan appears on a battlefield nearly 600 miles away from that village.
In other words, even if one woke up in the village and sprinted toward the battlefield at full speed to stop Varkan—
it would still be impossible to return to the village and stop the massacre.
‘Which is why it is a choice.’
Several thousand soldiers and several hundred villagers.
Oscar would have to choose between those two crossroads.
Which lives were more valuable.
Which place had to be abandoned.
“…….”
He knew.
There was no correct answer to this problem.
Which was why, even if he abandoned one side, he intended to give him the Windless Zone.
However, in order to obtain it, he needed to understand what he himself had abandoned.
Only then would he not repeat the same mistake.
-……Let’s try a little more.
But just as expected, he did not leave the dungeon.
Even that resembled ‘him.’
‘Though it’s a meaningless action.’
In the end, this problem could only be solved once he acknowledged it himself.
It would only end when he accepted that he was not an omnipotent being.
The Guide watched his actions with a sorrowful gaze.
“Mm?”
At that moment, the Guide’s eyes trembled slightly.
Leaping to his feet, he tightly grabbed the crystal orb with both hands.
“Spatial…… magic? A portal?”
His widened eyes were glued to the orb.
He could not tear his gaze away from the spatial magic Oscar Crucian had unfolded.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Naturally.
Because it was once the power he himself had desperately longed for.
‘If only I had possessed spatial magic, or even magic that could manipulate time.’
Would the outcome of that day have changed?
Could he have protected everyone?
Even knowing it was a meaningless fantasy, it was an ability he had dreamed about dozens, hundreds of times.
And that mage possessed it.
“Perhaps…… no, even so, it won’t work.”
The Guide shook his head.
No matter how skilled he was with spatial magic, it was impossible.
The village invasion and Varkan’s appearance occurred almost simultaneously.
The moment he tried to resolve one side, the other would fail by design.
The Guide slowly sat back down.
‘It may actually become even more painful.’
Being able to use spatial magic meant he would fail by the narrowest of margins.
Success would flicker right before his eyes, yet remain just out of reach.
That bait called possibility and hope would drag the young man deeper into the swamp.
“…….”
The Guide bit his lip tightly as he focused on the crystal orb.
* * *
“Let’s save the village. And then let’s leave this place.”
Tesila spoke with utmost seriousness.
At that, Oscar slowly lifted his head.
The place they were currently sitting was a bench in the village.
Watching the children peacefully playing around, Oscar spoke.
“If we fail to save either the village or the battlefield, it counts as a failed conquest.”
“Right. So let’s just save the village and get out. The battlefield…… honestly, I don’t think it can be saved. Even if, by some miracle, you defeat Varkan and save the soldiers there, the villagers will die in exchange. It’s physically impossible to clear this.”
“I think it might be possible.”
Oscar said as he touched his own body.
“It didn’t particularly hurt when I died. I was a little annoyed that I couldn’t save the people, though. I feel like if we try a few more times, we might see a path.”
“The plague is strong. Saving people is one thing, but I wouldn’t even guarantee winning one-on-one.”
“…….”
“I understand that it bothers you. But these people…… you know, right? They aren’t real people.”
Tesila’s words had merit.
No, generally speaking, she was right.
This place was nothing more than something created by illusion magic, and there was no need to save everyone here.
Of course, it didn’t feel that way to him, whose mind was still branded by the deaths of these villagers.
“I know.”
“Then why…….”
“Have you ever lost someone precious?”
Oscar asked plainly while looking at the villagers.
“Of course I have. It’s nothing to brag about, but plenty. I’ve gone through most situations an adventurer can experience.”
“Then have you ever experienced leading precious people to their deaths because of your own mistakes?”
“Well, of course I…….”
The mouth that was about to answer shut tightly.
“I…… have lost far more than one or two people that way.”
Within Oscar’s eyes and expression was a sorrow and detachment utterly unsuited for someone his age.
The moment she saw it, she no longer knew what to say.
How could someone younger than herself carry emotions like those?
As Tesila swallowed hard, words one of her subordinates had once said flashed through her mind.
-Oscar Crucian, you don’t know? They say a massive fire broke out in his family, and everyone in the household died. Apparently he was the only survivor.
Well, if not for that, there was no way he could have experienced losing someone precious.
It became difficult to say anything.
Even she had never experienced losing her family and all those she relied on overnight.
‘But why does he think it was his fault?’
She desperately wanted to ask, but the words would not come out.
She had at least that much tact.
Still, Oscar seemed utterly convinced that the great fire had happened because of him.
“What matters to me isn’t whether these people are real or fake.”
“……Whether you’ve grown from the past. That’s what matters, right?”
“Yes. Ever since that day, I made a vow. That never again would precious people die because of my wrong choices.”
Tesila felt like she understood what he meant.
Although the illusions he met in this dungeon could not possibly be his precious people, he wanted some kind of proof.
‘Have I grown from that young age? Or am I still trapped in those days?’
She gave a powerless smile.
Because she realized this was not a choice she had any place interfering with.
Paang!
“……?”
Instead, she smacked Oscar on the back with her palm.
“If that’s what this was about, you should’ve said so earlier. Psychological matters are important at our level from the start, aren’t they?”
A psychologically incomplete being could never rise to the higher levels.
And for Oscar, who would inevitably aim for Level 8 in the future, this was more important than anything.
“Fine. Until Young Master Oscar feels satisfied, or until you obtain what you want, I’ll stay here with you. Well, even if I didn’t want to, we’d probably have no choice but to stay together anyway?”
“……Thank you.”
She understands this.
As Oscar nodded, Tesila asked:
“But I really meant it when I said there doesn’t seem to be any way. I understand that you want to save both sides, but I seriously can’t think of any method.”
“As for that, there’s one method I’d like to experiment with.”
Tesila’s eyes widened after hearing Oscar’s plan.
“Huh?”
If it went well… this might actually work?
* * *
AM 2:31.
‘The fog should be starting to spread across the battlefield about now.’
Sitting on the bench, Oscar checked the time.
‘In this dungeon, the villagers and soldiers— in other words, people who could potentially become friendly toward us— cannot perceive our existence at all.’
Most likely, it was a setting put in place to prevent them from persuading people somehow and clearing the dungeon that way.
However, even that had a definite loophole.
Tick!
As the second hand pointed at twelve, the minute hand advanced.
AM 2:32.
Kuuuuung!
“Pure white robes? A mage of the White Tower, I see.”
The moment the demon landed on the ground with a thunderous roar and opened his mouth—
Chwaaaaaak!
Space tore apart instantly and swallowed the demon whole.
“Demons.”
They could “perceive” their existence and could even fight them normally.
That was information learned through one half-success and one failure.
In that case, it should also be possible for them to swallow the demons using spatial magic.
“Let’s go.”
The spatial magic he had spent the entire afternoon improving, 『Heavenly Net of Earthly Snares』.
After trapping the demon inside a triple-layered subspace, the two instantly moved to the battlefield.
And the coordinates set as their destination were naturally—
“……Hm?”
Directly above the head of Pestilence, Varkan.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]