Chapter 52
The dense vegetation, like a jungle, parted as I finally arrived at a place where a massive chaos loomed. It was a dark space where time and space ignored order, tangled and distorted in a chaotic mess.
“Ugh, ugh, a real Time Chaos Dungeon! W-We need to report this right away!”
I grabbed Matthew’s hand as he tried to press something he pulled from his pocket.
“Cadet Martin?”
“I’m going to conquer it.”
“What?! Alone, that’s impossible!”
Matthew jumped in protest, but I had already made up my mind. I hadn’t come this far to back down now. I would conquer it and claim the rewards, no matter what.
Like the Time Chaos Dungeon in the underground waterway, this one had never been conquered before, which only heightened my anticipation.
“Just in case, you stay here.”
“Wait a second! Cadet Martin!”
Ignoring Matthew’s cries, I plunged into the Time Chaos Dungeon. A nauseating sensation, as if time and space were warping and my body and mind were splitting apart, overwhelmed me before my vision finally cleared.
The first thing that greeted me was a searing heat enveloping my entire body.
Wild Instinct (Lv 2) warns you to take cover immediately!
Following the escape route pinpointed by Wild Instinct, I hurled myself forward. A moment later, a massive tree crashed down where I had been standing. The burning tree radiated intense heat around it.
‘This is… the ecological park?’
It was definitely the ecological park. But it was ablaze. The entire forest was burning so fiercely it was suffocating. The scorching heat felt like it would cook my flesh.
“Hound Mode.”
The black bracelet on my wrist enveloped my body like mist, transforming me into the form of a Black Knight. Only then could I barely withstand the heat.
[Everything! All of it! Burn to ashes!]
I held my breath, keeping my mouth shut and my eyes wide as I looked up. A gust of hot wind blew off a dark green hood, revealing a colossal monster casting a shadow over the burning forest. It resembled… the form of a child. Engulfed in flames, it was incinerating everything around it.
Know-It-All (Lv 2) analyzes the target and confirms it is a history distorted by the Time Chaos Dungeon.
Time Chaos Dungeons fundamentally reenact events from the past. However, due to some factor… a catastrophe is added, ranging from an individual to the entire world. That thing must be it.
Collecting the form of the flame monster, inputting comparison data. Matthew von Yulha Animas. Similarity rate with his form: 75%.
“Good heavens.”
A faint memory from daily life surfaced—fire. During a class testing the basic magic of the five elements, Cadet Matthew had failed to manifest even the basic fire magic.
In Matthew’s past, he accidentally set a forest ablaze. That past has been altered by the Time Chaos Dungeon.
Thanks to Know-It-All, I quickly grasped the situation. If I killed that thing resembling Matthew, the Time Chaos Dungeon would surely be conquered.
Not bringing Matthew along was a stroke of genius.
“Cadet Martin!”
The space collapsed, and Cadet Matthew appeared. I reflexively deactivated Hound Mode.
‘Damn it!’
Of all places, a burning tree was right beneath where Matthew had entered. I leaped like a predator snatching prey, barely catching Matthew as he fell toward the inferno.
“Cadet Matthew! I told you to stay put!”
“B-But! It’s dangerous! How could… ah…”
Matthew froze, as if his heart had stopped, unable to continue. He had seen the massive flame monster, visible from anywhere in the ecological park. And the fact that it bore a striking resemblance to him.
“Could this be…”
“Matthew! Snap out of it!”
No response. His blank expression told me his mind was collapsing.
In a rush, I grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously.
“Matthew!”
“C-Cadet Martin?”
I pulled him out before he could drown in his thoughts and emotions.
“That thing isn’t you! It’s just a false past shown by the Time Chaos Dungeon!”
“But, but I really did…”
“Shut up and use Animal Communion! Give orders to the animals that haven’t escaped!”
His wandering eyes slowly began to focus. Coming to his senses, Matthew finally looked around.
In the burning forest, birds and animals were still scurrying in terror.
They were likely the animals that perished in the great fire caused by Matthew’s childhood mistake.
“This time, you’re going to save them, Matthew!”
“Yes!”
Matthew, now regaining his composure, began using Animal Communion on a wide scale. This was it—the moment. Animal Communion was a skill that devoured mental energy like a hippo.
“Now’s the time!”
While Matthew wasn’t looking, I could shoot the Cosmos Empire’s Finest Holy Diamond Bullet and win! The moment I pulled the bullet, wrapped with the Rosary of Grace, from the ammo pouch—
Our eyes met. Red. The same color as the red arrows she fired.
“Argh!”
“Hot!”
“Eek!”
“Ugh?!”
“…?!”
Five people tumbled onto the burning tree in succession. Fortunately, Gilbert’s initial sword strike shattered the tree, scattering it.
“These idiots…”
I quickly hid the Holy Diamond Bullet I had drawn. It was unavoidable with the Count-rank Demon or Sir Dominic, but it was best not to reveal it if possible.
Elisha surveyed the surroundings and, upon spotting the flame giant, gasped in shock.
“What in the world! Martin, you really are!”
“What, does it look like I caused this?”
“No, I mean, how do you keep finding these things! Hidden dungeons even the Humanity Preservation Agency doesn’t know about!”
Gilbert, staring blankly at me, muttered.
“As expected, Martin. Are you a Peacemaker…?”
This guy was lost in his own delusions again. Ever since the Dr. Keren incident, Gilbert had been giving me strange looks, jumping to conclusions based on his own misunderstandings.
I glared at him and snapped.
“Stop with the delusions, Cadet Gilbert.”
“….”
Gilbert didn’t respond but asked instead.
“Cadet Martin, what should we do now?”
“What should you do? If you hadn’t come in, that would’ve been the best option.”
I couldn’t use Hound Mode or the Holy Diamond Bullet. What a mess.
“If you’ve got eyes, deal with the rampaging flame giant first.”
Gilbert seemed about to say something but gave up and prepared for battle. Bord, Mary, and Lina followed him.
“Hey, Cadet Martin.”
“What is it, Cadet Elisha?”
“…Never mind.”
Elisha started to say something but followed the others instead.
Wild Instinct (Lv 2) senses that Elisha knows something.
‘Could it be?’
Elisha was peculiar. She had shown an obsession with me, from assigning people to my residence to commissioning information guilds.
‘Did she figure out I’m Princess Adela’s Black Knight?’
Come to think of it, Elisha had witnessed the Holy Diamond Bullet twice—during the Count-rank Demon incident and the Dungeon Tournament.
‘Since no rumors have spread, she’s probably not certain.’
No, I shouldn’t think about this now.
“Heavy Rain!”
“Frontkeeper!”
The protagonist party had already engaged the flame giant. Torrential rain that could pierce muscle and shatter bone swept over the giant, while the world’s sturdiest mana giant clashed head-on.
Explosive red arrows struck the flame giant in volleys, and the future Sword Saint and Sword Queen swung their blades.
In the novel, the protagonist party grew stronger with each Chapter. They still couldn’t hold a candle to the Count-rank Demon, but it wasn’t an exaggeration to say they were at least twice as strong as before.
It must be hell for their opponents.
“Oh, to fight so well against a flame demon.”
A presence behind me made me turn around. Standing there was a figure in a tattered, worn robe. Though covered in soot and ash, the robe couldn’t hide its innate nobility.
‘Strange.’
I felt something before hearing the voice. Something familiar yet unfamiliar emanated from him.
“Who are you?”
“I’m a nameless revolutionary who’s been struggling for years to escape this world.”
As I scrutinized him, my eyes twitched. The original form of the soot-stained robe began to reveal itself.
“A castaway who became a resident of this eternally burning forest.”
The pattern seemed to depict a person cloaked in a robe.
“This world feels like it’s blocked by an invisible barrier, impossible to leave. For the first few years, I fought that flame demon over there, but no matter what, there was no resolution. It was as if the world itself was delaying our showdown. So we agreed not to interfere with each other. The demon burns this forest that only ever burns, and I’ve been observing it. Like a hamster on a wheel.”
“….”
It was clear. The pattern of a person in a robe holding two guns was unmistakably a Peacemaker.
“Are you a Peacemaker? A Star Child of the Cosmos?”
At my words, the nameless revolutionary pondered for about five seconds.
“…As expected, that person survived the catastrophe. I’m not them. I worked alongside them, but I could never reach even the hem of their cloak.”
If the catastrophe that destroyed the Cosmos Empire was at least a hundred years ago, and the fire incident involving Matthew was about ten years ago…
Were multiple events mixed together? Or was it due to some unknown object that served as the medium for this Time Chaos Dungeon? Likely something from the Cosmos Empire.
“Now, is it my turn to ask? How did you end up here?”
“We call this place a Time Chaos Dungeon. We entered through an entrance in the Petrak Kingdom’s Ecological Park.”
“….”
“It’s been about a hundred years since the Cosmos Empire fell to the Great Collapse.”
“…Ah, I see.”
He fell silent, as if steeped in regret.
“Then I’m already dead, merely a component of this dungeon.”
The Peacemaker member pulled out a folder and showed it to me.
“Please, deliver this to the Star Child.”
“I’ve only heard of them; I don’t know where they are. Besides, I can’t take items out of this place.”
“Many restrictions, huh. It would’ve been nice to meet the Star Child in person.”
He shook his head and moved to take back the folder. But my gut told me this was critical information. I couldn’t let it slip away.
“There’s one person you might know.”
“Hm?”
“Someone who, under their mentor’s orders, denied all the morals and beliefs they’d learned their entire life, acknowledging evil to barely escape a purge. They’re an acquaintance of mine, the head of the Cosmos Dimension Research Institute, Nerjin.”
He sighed deeply and pulled out the folder again.
“Then to them, at least. It’s a relief that young friend survived. I owed the institute’s director so much, and it weighs on me that I’m adding to that debt without even paying the interest, but there’s no helping it.”
I urged the bittersweet-looking revolutionary.
“The will of the dead is carried on by the living. Faith never falters.”
“True. Sorry for burdening you. Since you can’t take it out, it’d be good if you could at least memorize it. What’s your name, distant descendant?”
“Martin. Martin von Targon Ulvhadin.”
“Alright, Martin. There’s a manual compiling my martial arts and training methods in there, so try to learn it if you can. Its origins might be dubious, but it’ll surely help you, who has mastered Stellar Force.”
I flinched. Had he noticed the Stellar Force within me?
Then I realized. The familiar yet unfamiliar presence I felt when I first sensed him—it was Stellar Force.
“You don’t seem to know how to use Stellar Force, do you?”
“That’s right.”
Thanks to Know-It-All storing the skill, I could ‘use’ Flash (Blink), but I couldn’t wield Stellar Force like mana.
“Well, alright. Referencing that manual will be a good experience. Seeing a comrade after so long puts me in a good mood.”
Stellar Force, a peculiar power.
“While you handle that, I’ll… put an end to this endless cycle.”
The nameless revolutionary drew the twin swords from his waist. With a flash, he vanished—using the Cosmos Empire’s secret magic, Flash (Blink).
[Gaaah! My nemesis!]
“Let’s end this!”
The flame giant was already being subdued by the protagonist party. With him joining, it would end even faster.
‘Hurry.’
While they fought, I examined the folder. With Know-It-All’s Absolute Memory ability, I was confident I could memorize it with one look.
“…My God.”
The contents of the folder were…