Chapter 187
The contents of Franz’s meeting with everyone last night were as follows.
“Honestly speaking, there’s no particular method. We have no choice but to go near each spot and check one by one.”
According to Seri-ah’s testimony, Deliaspi Dyne’s hideout had concealment magic cast on it.
Even for Franz, seeing through the concealment magic of someone of that caliber from a distance was nearly impossible.
Even if it was a hassle, there was no choice but to go near each location one by one and check for the presence of concealment magic.
The only fortunate thing was that the scope was limited to the eastern part of the continent, and thanks to Mistilteinn, the detection range had widened quite a bit.
Returning to the present.
With a flash of light, Franz arrived at the eastern end of the continent. Beside him were three women: Yuna, Yusti-ah, and Hera.
Arian inevitably couldn’t join them due to her duties at the Magic Tower.
“Are you guys really confident you won’t get motion sickness?”
Franz asked in a worried tone.
From now on, he would be using Spatial Movement Magic in rapid succession, and those unaccustomed to magic would be likely to get motion sickness.
“I think I’ll be fine.”
“I don’t think I’ll have any particular problems either.”
“I-I’m fine too. Probably…”
Yusti-ah trailed off and subtly avoided his gaze.
It wasn’t exactly something to be prideful about, so why on earth was she acting like that?
With a short sigh and a shrug, Franz decided not to pay it any mind.
The results would show soon enough anyway, so there was no reason to worry in advance.
“Yusti-ah, please pray like you did last time.”
“Ah, yes.”
Yusti-ah brought her hands together and offered a prayer. Then, divine power began to flow from her body, soon settling into everyone.
The effect was an overall increase in physical abilities, so it would definitely help in enduring motion sickness.
“Then from now on, we’ll walk forward slowly. If it gets hard along the way, tell me immediately.”
Everyone, including Franz, took a step forward.
Tap-.
The moment their feet touched the ground, Spatial Movement Magic activated, instantly moving them a distance of several meters.
At the same time, he was checking the flow of mana felt in the surroundings through mana detection one by one.
“Oh, I’m perfectly fine!”
Yusti-ah said triumphantly.
Right, of course she was fine. They had only moved once so far.
Tap-, tap-, tap-.
Franz naturally walked forward.
Every time his foot touched the ground, he moved several meters, a sight that truly seemed to completely ignore the physical laws of the world.
Like that, ten steps.
“Still fine…”
A hundred steps.
“I think I might be a little dizzy…? But it’s bearable.”
Five thousand steps.
“W-wait a minute. U-uurgh…”
Yusti-ah reached her limit at exactly the five thousand and first step.
Franz’s expectation was that her limit would be around a thousand steps, so she had held out for quite a long time.
Franz patted her back with a sense of praise.
“You’ll feel better if you throw up.”
“D-don’t look… uurgh…!”
He had seen it all the time during their Hero’s Party days, so was there any point in telling him not to look now?
Even as Franz thought that, he passed the task of patting her back to Yuna and Hera.
“Anyway, it really is incredibly vast…”
He had walked over five thousand steps, yet it felt like he hadn’t even started.
The eastern part of the continent alone was larger than the landmass of many kingdoms, so it was only natural, but…
Thinking about the task ahead just made it feel daunting.
Anyway, this wasn’t the time to be standing around.
“Yuna, you and Hera keep an eye on Yusti-ah. I’ll go look around first.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry for not being much help.”
“It was something I had to do alone anyway. I’m just thankful you guys came all this way to help.”
With those words, Franz took a step forward.
Walking blankly, he took in the ever-changing scenery around him.
Rivers and fields, mountains and seas. The beautiful world paused like a painting, then disappeared.
Like that, ten thousand steps, twenty thousand steps…
He walked until he was exhausted and then some.
Naturally, there were times along the way when he got annoyed.
Falling into this damn world, what was he even doing?
Was it right to saddle him with the Demon God when subjugating the Demon Lord wasn’t enough?
He resented the gods, and he regretted playing that game back then.
Even so, his feet didn’t stop walking forward.
As he always had, he would look back, but he never stopped.
Like that, a day passed, two days passed, and three days passed.
Four days passed, five days passed, and six days passed.
On the seventh day of walking blankly, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
What if Seri-ah had actually known something wrong -
If it weren’t the eastern part of the continent but the west, or the north, or the south, wouldn’t all this effort and time be in vain -
As he paused for a moment, a voice came suddenly from beside him.
“Franz, I believe in you, whatever choice you make, even if it leads to failure. Honestly, I’m an idiot so I don’t really know about those things.”
Yuna said that and subtly held his hand.
“W-what is this?! Why are you the only one holding hands? Did you think I wouldn’t notice just because I have motion sickness?”
Yusti-ah came running over hastily and grabbed his other hand.
“I-I have nothing to hold… T-then, you hold this…!”
Hera pulled out a collar from somewhere, put it around her neck, and handed him the long leash.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“W-what?! The fault lies with you! Cutting in line like that!”
As the silence dragged on for quite a while, Hera blushed and voiced her complaint.
Staring blankly at her, Franz burst out laughing with a 'pfft'.
Yusti-ah and Yuna, who were beside him, likewise burst into laughter.
A week after starting the search for Deliaspi Dyne, Franz laughed for the first time.
“Guys, I get it, so back off a bit.”
Franz shook them off with a flap, like a wet puppy shaking the water from its fur.
Thanks to that, he felt refreshed, but he couldn’t stay like that forever.
Now that he had gathered his resolve, he had to move immediately.
Like that, the seventh day passed, then the eighth, then the ninth.
It was exactly the ninth day since the operation began.
“The cult leader Deliaspi Dyne is proceeding with the Demon God’s resurrection ritual!”
Thwart his plan within the time limit!
Time Limit 9: 47: 32
Success Reward - Battle with the incomplete Demon God
If you fail, the world will be destroyed!”
The 240 hours they had were suddenly down to about 10 hours.
If they couldn’t find Deliaspi Dyne within the remaining time, the world would head straight for ruin.
Naturally, Franz’s shoulders felt heavy.
He was the one who learned of the world’s destruction, and he was the one holding the most important key.
But he didn’t give up or despair. As always, he would just do his best with what he could do.
Don’t they say he who wears the crown must bear its weight?
If it were so heavy that his neck felt like it would snap, he shouldn’t give up, but rather work out.
Until his muscles grew and grew so he could play with the crown.
The problem was that this wasn’t even a crown, but the fate of the world was at stake.
Anyway, his task for today was the same. He just had to walk endlessly and find that damn bishop bastard.
Tap-.
Franz took his first step.
An hour passed, then two… As the world’s time flowed, ruin only drew closer.
It was when there were about three hours left.
“Huh? Where are you going?!”
Suddenly, behemoth jumped down from Yuna’s arms and scratched at the ground with its front paws as if there was something there.
“Behemoth, I’m sorry, but I really don’t have time to play with you today. The world is going to end at this rate, you know?”
Yuna said that and picked behemoth up again.
It was then.
Staring blankly at the ground, Franz let out a hollow laugh.
“Found it…”
The exact same mana he had felt on the 5th Basement Floor of the Magic Tower was being felt beneath his feet.
Which meant that Deliaspi Dyne, whom he had searched so desperately for, was right down here.
'Let’s see that smug face of yours.'
Franz immediately snapped his fingers, blasting a massive hole.
There was a solid mana barrier along with the concealment magic, but it was impossible to block the magic of a thoroughly pissed-off Franz.
“Franz, this is…”
Looking down into the hole, Yusti-ah muttered in surprise.
Beyond the hole, Deliaspi Dyne’s hideout looked like a massive city.
However, that sight was exceptionally familiar to Franz, so to speak. It felt similar to Ester, which had developed around the Magic Tower.
Perhaps the guy was still living, buried in his past glory.
But that wasn’t what was important right now…
“Let’s go.”
Franz headed straight for the underground city to stop Deliaspi Dyne’s plan.
And as he moved following the guy’s faint mana, he arrived in front of a massive building like the Magic Tower.
“The completion of my plan was so close, but it’s a shame, but it can’t be helped.”
When he raised his head at the voice suddenly coming from above, the guy was slowly descending from the sky.
Someone was holding a golden chalice endlessly overflowing with a liquid as red as blood.