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The God of Death was bored.
What is the God of Death’s favorite thing to do when bored, you may ask? Talk about his favorite mortal, of course! Sadly, Cale had not yet done anything particularly noteworthy at this point in the timeline.
No worries, though! The God of Time owed him a small favor, just enough to peek into the future for a limited amount of time and share the “prophecy” with some other people. Now this will be fun.
In a blank white space, with no boundaries that would qualify it as a room, a dozen or so people popped into existence.
“Wha- what is happening?!”
“Stick close to me, dear.”
An old woman and her grandson eyed the foreign people around them while calming their pounding hearts from the sudden transfer. The void was filled with confused voices.
“I could have sworn I was just on the mountain. Did I get drunk or something? You.”
An old man dressed as a hunter pointed at a lost-looking youth who seemed to be from the Eastern Continent.
The old man squinted harder after noticing that fact.
“…Are you a hallucination?”
The young man, a beginning adventurer, flinched.
“Uh, I don’t think so, Mr.…”
“Bobe. Hunter Bobe.”
Hunter Bobe offered a handshake and the adventurer blinked at the change in attitude before accepting the handshake with “Bob. I’m a beginner adventurer. I’m going to make it big someday!”
The veteran hunter looked the boy up and down, nodding with approval. If he’s going to be stuck in a weird dream, he might as well make a friend in it.
“I like you; our names are even similar. Here, let this senior teach you a thing or two.”
Similar greetings, with varying degrees of cordiality, were happening around the room.
The (future) elementalist Sully, his grandmother, Hunter Bobe, adventurer Bob, Litana’s right-hand man Bin, the dark elf Ben, the elf Jeet, and other characters who were barely important enough to have mentioned names if the world were hypothetically a novel, were gathered here.
What, did you expect the God of Death to gather Cale and his friends or otherwise important and relevant people? Think of how much Cale would hate him for that! Not to mention it would be disastrous for the integrity of the timeline.
[GREETINGS, MORTALS. I AM THE GOD OF DEATH.]
Everyone in the room startled at the divine voice that seemed to echo from everywhere and nowhere at once.
With the voice, the room underwent a change. One of the directions became a wall with a huge blank screen on it, though it was hard to tell the difference between the blank screen and the blank void around it. Couches with nearby snacks appeared for the god’s guests to use once the fun began.
[I HAVE CALLED YOU HERE FOR A VERY SPECIAL PURPOSE.]
The mortals tensed, wondering what a god could possibly want with them, turned towards the screen, not daring to sit down or show disrespect to such a great being. They did not know the God of Death very well yet.
[I AM BORED, AND I WANT TO SHOW SOMEONE HOW COOL MY FAVORITE MORTAL IS!]
“…”
No one in the room could quite form a response to that. Some had the distinct feeling of their awe being shattered.
[WORRY NOT, FOR TIME IS PAUSED IN YOUR WORLD FOR THE DURATION OF THE SHOWING.]
“Showing?”
The dark elf Ben was the first to speak up, not having had the greatest regard for the divine in the first place. Even Tasha was more intimidating than this.
[AHEM, YES. HE HAS NOT DONE ANYTHING COOL YET, SEEING AS HE JUST ARRIVED A FEW DAYS AGO, BUT CHRONOS OWES ME A FAVOR AND THIS SEEMED LIKE A GOOD WAY TO USE IT.]
Sully was relaxing enough to send his grandmother a confused look. The old woman, for her part, was pinching the bridge of her nose as if to ward off a headache. Jeet at least still looked a bit respectful.
[SO WE'RE GOING TO BE WATCHING A PIECE OF THE FUTURE! NOT EVEN I CAN SEE MY CHILD'S FUTURE BY MY OWN POWER, SO WE'LL HAVE TO JUMP IN SOMEWHERE RANDOM.]
Even Jeet’s expression turned odd when the sound of dice being rolled echoed through the space.
[HMM, 496? I GUESS THAT'S AS GOOD A NUMBER AS ANY..]
Adventurer Bob got distracted and sat down to try the popcorn and various snacks he had never seen before, and the rest soon followed his lead.
[SO SIT BACK AND– OH, YOU ALREADY… WELL. LET'S SEE HOW THIS GOES!]
The brilliant blankness of the air dimmed, and the screen was covered with words.
Chapter 496 – You stupid idiots! (2)
Jopis smiled as beautifully as a painting at Cale’s statement.
“Talk about starting in the middle.”
Sully’s grandmother settled in to snark while trying some small brown things that turned out to be very sweet.
Click.
“That’s right. One of the four meeting areas is certain to have a meeting right now.”
Cale and Jopis had aimed for this moment on purpose.
“Who are these people?”
Everyone in the room shrugged at Bin’s question, though Bob looked a bit thoughtful.
“I think I’ve heard the name Jopis somewhere… maybe she’s important?”
Cale started to speak.
“Based on the information from the Mercenaries Guild, the administrative executives should be having an early meeting here today. They also said that the military executives will not have a meeting for a while.”
Bobe nodded sagely.
“Very important. They’re doing government-y military things, it looks like.”
There were mercenaries all around the continent. They had a network that could reach everywhere.
That was why it was easy for one of them to connect with a palace attendant.
“More hints! Something to do with a royal family!”
It was also easy to hear about the palace meeting schedule from that attendant. This was because the Molden Kingdom had attendants cleaning up after high-ranking individuals instead of royal servants.
“Oh, the Molden Kingdom!” Bob snapped his fingers in realization. “Now I remember, she was a princess or something. I feel like something happened to her.”
Cale and Jopis were able to come up with a plan with all of the information they gathered.
“Administrative executives and no military.”
Tasha mumbled before starting to smile.
Ben jolted. Tasha? Tasha as in Tasha? No. He shook his head. It was probably a different Tasha. He’d never even heard of the Molden Kingdom, so it was probably on the Eastern continent. Why would Tasha be over there?
Lots of people would be inside and outside if there was a meeting going on.
That meant it was the perfect time to gather attention or cause a ruckus.
And if the military side was not present…
Her gaze headed toward Cale who was pushing a square plate up with Jopis.
“Does anyone have a guess for who the God of Death’s ‘child’ is?”
“Probably this Cale person.” The rest turned to look at Bin when he said this confidently. Bin shrugged.
“The God of Death said ‘he’, and the other two people who have appeared are women.”
The hypothesis was generally accepted.
“It’s perfect to cause a ruckus?”
“Yes.”
Cale answered before motioning to Choi Han with his chin. Choi Han squeezed through some people to push the plate up in Cale’s place.
Cale brushed the dirt off his hands as he started to speak.
“Another candidate has appeared!”
The old innkeeper chuckled as she sent a sly glance at the slightly annoyed Southerner. Sully tilted his head.
“Is Choi Han a man? I’ve never heard a name like that, so how can we be sure?”
This earned Sully a pat on the head from his grandmother, whose ears reddened at the fact that she treated him like a child in front of so many strangers.
“That is why… As soon as this opens, just do as I told you to do and go where I told you to go.”
– I understand, human!
Raon answered in his mind while the others answered with their gazes. It could not be helped.
And here was the reveal of another character, one powerful enough to use telepathy and who was evidently not human.
“…Maybe we should wait until more characters are introduced.”
An innkeeper from the Tolz territory suggested diplomatically, prompting the old woman to reluctantly stop teasing Bin.
“I still think I’m right, though.” Bin muttered to himself. This Cale did seem to be the one giving out the orders.
Screeeech-
The square plate was lifted with a quiet noise.
The Dark Elves had their Fire Elementals disappear. Sunlight started to enter through the tiny crack. The group looked outside the crack.
“Dark elves…?”
A few people threw cautious glances at Ben, who had gone as pale as his Dark Elf complexion allowed. Apparently it was Tasha as in Tasha.
Cale whispered as everybody kept completely quiet.
“Open it.”
His voice made everyone tense as if they had heard thunder.
Choi Han put more strength into his hands.
Clunk!
The square plate disappeared with a loud noise and an opening big enough for two or three adults to fit through appeared.
The loud noise made everyone flinch. The (now-confirmed) man Choi Han sounded strong.
“Raon, Choi Han. Go!”
Cale shouted as he exited the path.
The sun shined in his eyes as he quickly located the central plaza and the four palaces.
Only the palace he expected was the administrative executives’ palace was busy and full of people.
‘It’s going as planned.’
“What are they trying to do again?”
“I believe Cale’s exact words were ‘cause a ruckus.’”
Cale’s eyes sparkled.
It was at that moment.
“I, intruders!”
“Sound the alarm!”
“Hurry over to the Knights Brigade!”
Cale could see the guards and knights who were protecting the plaza entrance and the four palaces become shocked after noticing them.
“…”
“Did…did they just break into a palace?”
Hunter Bobe turned to look at the confused youth next to him.
“I thought you said that Jopis person was a princess?”
“She is… I think?”
Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii- piiiiiiiiiiiiiii-
One of the knights quickly blew into a flute to sound the alarm.
Cale felt people continuing to come out of the path behind him and pointed to a location.
“Target.”
He started with the first task.
– Aim completed!
Cale started to speak after hearing Raon’s voice.
The guards were chaotic after seeing them suddenly appear… The knights who were quickly running toward them…
Click, click.
“What’s going on?”
“Why is there so much chaos during a meeting?”
Bin shook his head. As a warrior and as the right-hand man to his queen, he would like to know what these people were doing as well.
The secretaries of the high-ranking administrators frowning while looking out the window…
The annoyed high-ranking administrators peeking out the window…
Cale’s loud voice echoed in all of their ears.
“Explode!”
Everybody stiffened up in shock.
Everybody in the white void stiffened up in shock too. What are they doing here, again? Why does the God of Death want them to watch Dark Elves, a princess, and a madman committing terrorism?
“Dang it!”
“It’s a terrorist with a bomb!”
They all then quickly covered their heads or flattened down on the ground to avoid the explosion.
They then looked toward where Cale was pointing.
“No!”
“…My goodness!”
They finally realized where Cale was pointing.
“Where…?”
– I’m going!
Cale heard Raon’s voice and soon saw a large ball of mana shooting up into the sky.
Baaaaaaaaaang-!
Jeet’s mouth opened at seeing such a display of force. To be able to wield such destructive, pure mana so easily, who was this mage who only spoke in Cale’s mind?
It exploded in the sky.
It was extremely large for an explosion that instantly happened. It gave everybody who was looking at it the chills.
“Hmm?”
“…What the…?”
It also made the shocked individuals flinch.
The explosion happened in the sky and not where they were expecting. It happened in the sky where it did not harm them at all.
However, they subconsciously looked toward it because the explosion was so large.
The people at the palace were not the only ones looking at the explosion.
“Get started.”
Ron gave the order to his assassins…
“And now we have another name. Maybe he’s important? Assassins?”
“Everybody remember the Mercenary King’s words?”
The innkeeper from the Tolz territory was trying to ward off a headache. How many forces did this make? A princess, Cale and his subordinates, Tasha, Dark Elves, assassins, mercenaries…
“Ruff, ruff!”
“Aigoo, these puppies are so smart. But why did they call so many of their friends over?”
…and puppies. For some reason. The innkeeper absentmindedly scanned the table for signs of anything with alcohol in it.
The one hundred mercenaries started to move.
And finally…
“Let’s go.”
“Time for war.”
Outside the castle… The hidden warriors started to head toward the castle.
However, the Molden palace knights who had been anxious after seeing the explosion quickly snapped out of it and calmed down. They quickly figured out the situation.
“Intruders, intruders have appeared!”
“Grab those b******s!”
“?”
Did someone censor the swear words out of this story? The old woman peeked at her grandson out of the corner of her eyes before nodding. Children need to be protected. Ignore the fact that he’s legally an adult by now, Sully is her grandbaby.
They didn’t know why the intruders caused an explosion in the sky, but they first needed to capture the intruders.
The robed Jopis appeared next to Cale at that moment.
Cale turned his head and Cale and Jopis made eye contact in that short moment. Jopis smiled.
“Do it. I’m sure my ancestors would understand.”
“If that isn’t ominous, then I don’t know what is.”
Hunter Bobe caught eyes with the tired innkeeper across the room and raised his glass full of alcohol he’d found in a mock toast. The other man smiled and downed an entire cup.
She then pulled the hood off her head and walked forward.
“Everybody stop!”
She shouted and the guard knight captain, as well as everybody looking out the window, all had wide eyes as they froze in shock.
“H, how is Princess Jopis-!”
“I was right!”
The shout inches from his face almost made Bobe spill his drink. Everyone looked at Bob, who shrank under the heated attention.
“I… uh… she is a princess.”
Thankfully the written scene on screen was chaotic enough that he didn’t have to endure it for very long.
In the short moment that someone’s shocked voice echoed through the area…
That was the opening for Cale.
“Second target!”
Clang-
Choi Han walked past Cale and pulled out his sword.
Tap.
He kicked off the ground as soon as he walked past Cale.
Cale started to speak at the same time.
“Explode!”
“What is it with this guy and explosions?”
– I’m destroying it!
Choi Han swung his sword.
The eyes of the people who noticed where Choi Han was aiming opened wide.
“O, over there-”
“No!”
Choi Han was swinging toward the direction Cale had pointed at earlier and shocked everyone.
Knights charged forward to stop him and some administrators tried to climb out the window but failed.
Choi Han’s sword slashed from top to bottom.
And then…
“…T, the statue-”
“The statue has been split in half!”
The statue of the first king was cut in half.
Bobe clicked his tongue. Somehow he’d expected something more drastic from that foreshadowing.
“Let’s go!”
“Ruff!”
Jopis and Fluffy started to run. Cale was next to them with the others surrounding them to protect them.
“Because of course a puppy is included in this terrorist operation.”
How dare they corrupt an innocent puppy like that? The old woman turned to her grandson and gently warned him.
“Don’t go off and join anything shady like that, even if someone offers you candy, okay?”
…Did she think he was five?
Neither of them knew that Sully was there, off screen, helping the Dark Elves with his own fire elemental.
The statue that had been split in half then fell to the side.
Boooom!
The statue that used to be one created arcs on both sides as the now two halves fell.
Baaaaaang!
Baaaaang-!
Two large fire arrows hit the two parts of the statue and caused an explosion.
It was Raon’s magic.
Cale lifted his head.
He could see knights charging toward them through the fire caused by the statue.
“Get them!”
“No! We must stop them! Kill them if it is too hard to capture them!”
“We must at least capture former Princess Jopis! This is a rebellion! A revolt!”
“Former princess?”
Perhaps she was a traitor, and that was why she was aiding these people in destroying the palace of her own family.
He then heard guards and knights running toward them and shouting behind him as well.
Cale lowered his head.
He could see Jopis’s hands shaking as she moved the device to open the door to the maze.
“Maze?”
“Please feel free to take your time. It is fine.”
“There’s no need.”
She shook her head at Cale’s statement and removed her hands.
“I’m already done.”
Booboobooooooom-
A small path appeared underneath the platform the cut statue had been on.
Then a staircase appeared.
“…Maze.”
“Go in!”
Cale gave the order and quickly entered the stairs. Jopis and Fluffy were already running in front of him.
“Choi Han!”
“Cale-nim, everybody is inside!”
“Raon!”
Cale confirmed everybody was inside before calling Raon as planned.
“Third target!”
– Alright!
Large black mana spears shot out toward the open path.
They then crashed into the ceiling of the path.
Baaaaaaaaaang-!
There was yet another large explosion.
“No! The entrance is destroyed!”
“Inform her majesty! Sound the Grade-1 alarm!”
“I can’t tell, are we supposed to be rooting for the people breaking into the palace?”
“This does seem to be from their point of view.”
“Maybe they have a good reason?”
The God of Death’s reliability as a judge of character continued to plummet in the minds of the extras gathered here. Cale would be pleased.
The knights were shouting. However, their voices were drowned out by the explosion.
Jopis started to shout as well.
“The ceiling of the stairs will break soon! Move faster if you don’t want your f*cking heads hit by rocks!”
“Such coarse language!”
“Grandma, I can’t see.”
The ceiling of the stairs was crumbling starting from the entrance.
“Tasha!”
“Yes, sir!”
Tasha picked Jopis up after hearing Cale call her.
“I think we can all agree by now that Cale is in charge, right?”
“Thank you very much.”
“Ruff!”
Jopis elegantly thanked her while the puppy somehow knew to jump into Choi Han’s arms. Choi Han easily held Fluffy in his arms as Cale activated the Sound of the Wind and started to speak.
Wind? Ben tilted his head. Is this human an elementalist? Or… the name of the power resembled an ancient power. What a lucky human. It is said that one needs a divine level of luck to acquire one of those. Maybe this is why the God of Death favors him?
“We are increasing our speed.”
The rest of the group all sped up as well.
The ceiling of the stairs started to crumble even faster.
Booooooooooo-m!
Once everybody in the group made it out of the stairs…
Boooom!
The crumbling ceiling stopped at the end of the stairs. Jopis looked at this and started to speak.
She still looked elegant while being carried over Tasha’s shoulder.
“Ah, to be as effortlessly elegant as a noble!”
The old innkeeper was well and truly drunk by now.
“The ceiling of the stairs and the ceiling of the maze were created differently. The ceiling of the maze will not break because of something like this.”
She then got down and pointed forward.
“It’s over here.”
Cale could see a maze so large that he could not see the other end in an area with a high ceiling.
Jopis looked at the group and continued to speak.
“This maze has thousands of paths. People who don’t know the way will get lost and die.”
“Why is there a giant maze underneath the palace?”
This was answered by Bin.
“It is customary for the homes of any high ranking people to have at least one secret passage, especially royalty. They are often used as emergency escape routes.”
Ben added, “and the best place to hide something is underground. People rarely pay attention to what is right beneath their noses, or in this case, their feet.”
Cale made eye contact with her.
“This place has the item you are looking for. But it is easy to die here.”
“What item is he looking for?”
“Should we even bother asking at this point?”
“Why is it easy to die here?”
An elegant smile appeared on Jopis’s face.
“There are odd monsters throughout the maze and the path is very complicated and difficult to memorize. I’m also certain Elisneh’s subordinates are hiding somewhere in this large maze in order to prepare for intruders.”
“Now we know the name of whoever they’re fighting against. Bob?”
“I think Elisneh is the queen.”
“Is anyone going to ask about the monsters living under the palace?”
She was not done.
“Furthermore, the large walls that make up the maze…”
The walls that were at least three times Cale’s height and were also as thick as two or three people standing side to side.
“It is not easy to break those walls, but even if you manage to do so, there is dead mana liquid inside the walls. It is easy to die from being poisoned by the dead mana that blasts out when you break the wall. That is why you need someone who knows the path to guide you….Commander-nim?”
“Dead mana!?”
Everyone except for Ben had some degree of fear in their eyes at the mention of the deadly poison. Ben merely noted the new title attached to Cale.
Jopis stopped talking and looked toward the snickering Cale. She then flinched as if she realized something.
“Heh.”
Cale chuckled and walked over to two people wearing robes and put his hand on their shoulders.
One of the people took off the robe to reveal a smiling Tasha underneath.
The other person was Mary.
Now Ben was as shocked as the rest of the group. Mary? What was she doing outside the city of life? Why was she collaborating with terrorists? Why was Tasha collaborating with terrorists, for that matter?
The other Dark Elves in the group stepped forward as well. The others opened up a path for them.
Cale looked at them and started to speak.
“Now then, we will only charge forward.”
Cale pointed toward the maze.
Whether the walls were thick or the path was complicated and difficult to get through…
Regardless of whether there were enemies or monsters here and there…
“Destroy everything.”
The more timid people in the room flinched at the cold, merciless order.
None of it mattered if they just destroyed everything as they charged forward.
The fake World Tree was said to be at the center of the maze.
World Tree? A fake one, at that? This caught the attention of the elf Jeet, who leaned forward in his seat and hoped to learn more.
It was faster to charge straight forward than to go through this winding maze when the enemies may come at any moment.
“Son of a……”
Cale turned his head after hearing the elegant swearing. Jopis smiled as if she had never swore and gracefully started to speak.
“She doesn’t seem very princess-like, does she?”
Bob shrugged. It wasn’t like he had met her in person, how was he supposed to know that the (former?) princess of the Molden Kingdom was this unhinged?
“It’s for the best. I welcome such crazy actions.”
Mary started to speak at the same time.
“It is easy to charge forward. It is easy to destroy everything.”
Ben sighed. What did this lunatic do to their sweet, innocent Mary?
– We’ll pierce through! I’ll pierce through everything in a straight line!
Cale found this six-years-old Dragon’s shout and the GPS-like voice very reliable.
“…”
“DRAGON!?”