Chapter 86
“Run!”
“What???”
Sharon, who didn’t understand what was going on, asked in a flustered voice.
But there was no time to explain.
I already knew.
That thing was not something to be confronted.
I dragged Sharon with me and ran toward the arena wall.
“Sage! What on earth...!”
Just then.
I felt a strange sensation, as if something were slipping out of my body.
“Huh?”
When I turned my head, a thin wisp of faint black smoke was rising from my body.
The smoke was being sucked into the nose and mouth of the magic-cutting middle-aged man.
‘What is this?’
The magic-cutting middle-aged man’s movement froze for an instant.
His eyes lost focus for a moment and wandered the empty air.
The dazed magic-cutting middle-aged man stood frozen.
Whatever it was, this was our chance.
We’d bought ourselves even a little time.
“Sage, the entrance we came in through is gone!”
Sharon shouted, panting for breath.
Just as she said.
There was no sign of the exit we had come through.
“Do you know of any other exits?”
“Uh, uh, uh. There! That way!”
I moved the ground with magic and rushed toward the direction Sharon pointed.
At a speed at least twice that of a person running.
“It doesn’t seem like running will solve this... Damn, but fighting makes even less sense.”
In my view, the claim that other hunters fought that thing and won was nonsense.
If that were possible, there must have been some enormous restriction in place.
But I was on EXTREME difficulty.
Judging by his transcendent display so far, there was definitely no such restriction.
While we were scrambling to find an exit.
The magic-cutting middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes.
His gaze had clearly changed.
A gaze that had shifted from simple curiosity to possessiveness.
The magic-cutting middle-aged man’s gaze pierced straight through me.
“... It seems we need to have a deep conversation, outsider of time.”
A chilling voice.
The magic-cutting middle-aged man slowly reached out toward us.
At that moment, two shadows stepped in front of him, regardless of my will.
Sandworm erupted from the ground with a massive cloud of sand and dust.
And Chohogi, nimbly charging out with its spear leveled.
My two summons had stepped forward on their own to protect their master.
“Hey, what are you doing? I told you, you can’t stop him!”
I shouted in panic.
That wasn’t something you could face with strength.
But my summons did not back down.
The magic-cutting middle-aged man swept his eyes over the two beings blocking his path with interest.
“A remnant of a fallen god and a newly born earth spirit... Quite an interesting combination.”
He snapped his fingers lightly.
Snap.
That was all.
Sandworm’s massive body froze solid in midair.
Chohogi as well.
It froze there without the slightest movement, still in the exact motion of thrusting its spear.
It happened in an instant.
My strongest summons had been neutralized without even getting the chance to resist.
“Sage!”
Just then, Sharon, who had shaken off my hand, suddenly turned around.
She drew the bow slung across her back and pulled the string without hesitation.
Twang!
The mana-infused arrow flew toward the magic-cutting middle-aged man.
“No, what the hell is wrong with you guys? I told you to just run!”
“Even if we run, it feels like we’d just get caught right away!”
“That’s true!”
The result was as expected.
The arrow stopped in midair right before the magic-cutting middle-aged man’s nose, as if it had struck an invisible wall.
The old magic-cutting man turned his head to look at Sharon.
Another intriguing light flashed in his eyes.
“The World Key that understands every language? It’s been a while.”
He gestured toward Sharon.
Sharon’s body also froze in midair, still in the exact posture of having released the arrow.
My three companions had become living statues.
“Shit... this won’t do.”
I grabbed the belt at my waist.
I clenched my teeth.
Escaping like this was impossible anyway.
I placed my hand on the magic battery at my waist.
“Magic Cancel!”
At the very least, it should be able to undo the spell binding those three.
A brilliant light burst from the belt.
A powerful aura of magic dispelling spread in all directions.
Starting with Sharon, who was closest to me, they seemed to be gradually loosening from their stiffness one by one, but...
“Did you meet a dwarf?”
The magic-cutting middle-aged man spread his palm.
All the light and mana bursting from the belt were sucked into his palm.
“Shit... what kind of broken cheat is that...”
I muttered in utter despair.
To think even my last trump card had been rendered useless so futilely.
The magic-cutting middle-aged man closed his eyes as if savoring the magic he had just absorbed.
A satisfied smile formed at the corners of his mouth.
“To think you even have the legacy of an extinct race. My guess was right after all.”
He nodded to himself, muttering under his breath.
I gave up on everything then.
Resistance was meaningless.
There was no way to win by force.
Then there was only one option left.
“Sir... wouldn’t you want to settle this with a civilized conversation?”
At my proposal, the magic-cutting middle-aged man lifted the corners of his mouth as if amused.
“Conversation? I had that intention from the very beginning.”
“Huh? Really?”
I asked back in a dazed voice.
Since you even brought up the robe, I naturally thought you were going to catch me and do all sorts of things.
Did I run off for no reason because I felt guilty?
“Then will you free them too?”
I pointed at Sharon, Sandworm, and Chohogi, frozen in midair like stuffed specimens.
“If you wish, I will. But only after our conversation is over.”
He said, never taking his eyes off me.
“I want to have a quiet conversation just between the two of us. Ah, of course, they are sufficiently interesting specimens too. A very rare combination.”
The magic-cutting middle-aged man swept his gaze over my companions as if admiring museum exhibits.
“But not as much as you.”
His gaze returned to me.
So intense.
“Me?”
“Well, believe me. Nothing in this world, no one in this world, has ever fascinated me as much as you.”
“You really aren’t going to hurt me?”
“Why would I kill you?”
He said, looking at me meaningfully.
“Because you took my robe?”
‘... Shit, so he really did know.’
I had hoped maybe not, but the magic-cutting middle-aged man clearly remembered it.
I felt goosebumps rise all over my body.
But he burst into hearty laughter, shattering my expectations.
“Hahaha! There’s no way I’d do that over something as small as a robe, is there?”
He shook his head and continued.
“Because you are my very precious... milestone.”
“Huh? Milestone?”
Before I could even make sense of what he meant.
The magic-cutting middle-aged man snapped his fingers lightly.
Snap.
Particles of light gathered in the air and, in an instant, formed a splendid table and two plush-looking chairs.
On the table sat a steaming teapot and teacups, perfectly laid out.
“Now then, have a cup.”
He said, offering me the chair.
I hesitated for a moment.
There was no telling what he might have done to that tea.
‘No, there’d be no need for such a move.’
He and I were separated by an overwhelming gulf in power.
He probably wouldn’t need to resort to such petty tricks.
I carefully sat in the chair and took the cup he poured for me.
A pleasant aroma rose from the clear golden tea.
Screw it.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a sip of the tea.
…!
The moment I drank it, warm vitality spread through my whole body.
My body’s fatigue melted away like snow, and my mind cleared.
Not only did the mana I’d just spent in the fight recover instantly, but it even felt as if my total mana pool had increased slightly.
Tea that increases your mana just by drinking it?
“This tea...”
“How is it? It’s a gift from the forest fairies.”
“It’s delicious. It seems to increase mana too...”
“Just one drink increases your lifespan by ten years. I like the aroma, so I drink it often.”
The magic-cutting middle-aged man said casually.
So it really was something good.
I downed the remaining tea in one gulp.
“One more, please.”
“Heh, of course. As much as you like.”
At my shameless request, the magic-cutting middle-aged man laughed as if amused and poured me more tea.
“So, what do you want from me?”
“What I want, you say...”
At my question, the magic-cutting middle-aged man lifted his teacup and savored the aroma for a moment.
He seemed lost in deep thought.
A moment later, he opened his mouth.
“You are freely swimming through time and space.”
The first thing he said was utterly out of the blue.
“What?”
I asked again.
Do I have an ability like that?
Ah, if you’re describing going up and down the tower like that, then it’s not wrong, is it?
He nodded as if he had read my thoughts.
“Of course, you yourself don’t have any technique that lets you cross time and space. I understand what kind of situation this is.”
The magic-cutting middle-aged man set down his teacup and rested his elbows on the table.
“Honestly, I thought I was the traveler myself.”
....
“At least, that’s what I thought until just a moment ago, before I received that from you.”
He must have been talking about the black smoke from earlier.
“But it seems the real traveler is you. And I was nothing more than a native bound to this time period.”
His voice carried a bitter, self-mocking tone.
I couldn’t understand any of it.
“About that black smoke from earlier—what exactly was it?”
The mysterious smoke that left my body and was absorbed by him.
Right after he absorbed it, his attitude had subtly changed.
“A spell that transfers memories.”
“Memories? My memories?”
“No, my memories.”
He answered calmly.
“It’s a sort of insurance spell designed to automatically transmit my memories when I meet another ‘me’ from a different timeline. A spell I made myself when I was young.”
He murmured softly, staring down at the empty teacup.
“I had long thought that someday, a day like this might come. There was no way I alone in this vast world would be the only one with such power... Surely there would be someone else who had escaped time’s shackles, just like me.”
His voice sank lower.
“And I thought someone might meet their future or past self and then return to the present, just like you have.”
He stared at me intently.
“Now that I’ve actually experienced it, I’m feeling conflicted.”
“What memory did you receive?”
I had met the person before me twice in total.
On the 5th floor, as an old man.
And on the 15th floor, as a young man.
Which memory was it?
The magic-cutting middle-aged man answered.
“I received the memories from my youth. Back then, while researching your magic, I suddenly realized that this was magic from my future self...”
He paused for a moment and stared at me intently.
“In other words, the being before me was someone who traveled through time—the very kind of person I had always imagined...”