Chapter 34

I’ve never regretted my actions for even a moment. Even if I lost everything before making the choice.

Lately, Belva has been acting strange.

She had her dull moments, but not to this extent.

Now, she just sits in a corner all day with a blank face, doing nothing.

The kids have also calmed down a bit, sensing the mood.

What’s going on?

As I got closer, I soon found out the reason.

“The pattern has faded a lot.”

“……”

“So there was a penalty for crossing over here.”

The eye pattern near her shoulder had almost disappeared.

I have a feeling I know why this happened.

Belva nodded with a gloomy expression at my words.

That’s unfortunate.

“How much exactly have you lost?”

If she lost all her power, I might have to invest a lot of effort to save her.

This world is endlessly harsh to the weak.

However, the amount of magic power I feel is almost the same as before.

But its nature has changed.

It’s like an Oreo without the cream.

“What’s that?”

“It means something essential is gone.”

“…That’s right. I’ve lost most of my powers as a Watcher. All that’s left is the power I gained separately as a mage.”

Sigh.

Belva let out a long, deep sigh that seemed to pierce the floor.

I could empathize with her feelings.

It was a sufficiently frustrating situation.

I left Belva, who looked emotionally conflicted, and organized my thoughts.

Logically, Belva losing her powers as a Watcher affects me too.

First, searching for intelligent beings.

That’s fine.

I haven’t been doing it much lately anyway.

I had already half given up on it.

Opening the shop window.

This… might be a bit disappointing.

But in this world, where anything can happen at any moment, I spend almost all my coins on buying armor and equipment as needed.

I didn’t have many coins on hand right now.

And recently, a trading network called Ogre has emerged.

To be honest, as my growth has accelerated recently, the parts where Belva is needed have gradually diminished.

Except for Belva’s magical achievements and the knowledge she possesses.

But from Belva’s perspective, it would be different.

Belva was of the Watcher race.

A mysterious race that was granted power by someone to observe all dimensions.

Losing that power would be like a human losing the function of a limb.

Maybe even more.

It must be very uncomfortable and frustrating.

Looking at Belva’s pained and somewhat depressed expression.

I put the choker back on the table.

*

Since my body’s control isn’t sufficient, the spear I used in the past is better than the sword that requires instant techniques.

I threw the spear at the Raptor that started rampaging as soon as it saw me.

“…Ugh.”

A sharp sensation runs through me.

The connecting movements from my ankle to my core, shoulder, and arm were inconsistent.

Being used to my power without the Sealing Orb, there was a mismatch between perception and actual ability.

Naturally, the spear missed and fell.

The Raptor charged at me.

Huh. This is ridiculous.

Am I being underestimated?

Even with the Sealing Orb on, I’m not weak enough to be defeated by a Raptor.

Even if I were to go back to the beginning, I could easily hunt Raptors.

I rotated my front foot half a turn to stabilize my stance, then twisted my waist with all my might to match the approaching speed.

Swoosh-

The Raptor’s head turned from a clean side swipe.

The staggering creature shook its head a couple of times, then looked at me again.

With that one hit, I knew.

I’m weaker than I expected.

I intended to knock it out. Ugh.

The pain spread through my ankle and instep.

It hurts.

Frowning, I drew up magic power inside.

My weakened body couldn’t easily withstand the awakening effect of the magic power.

My vision narrowed, and my heart raced.

Ah, it’s been a while.

Feeling a strange nostalgia, I rushed at the Raptor.

As the sharp claws flew towards me, I leaned my upper body diagonally, and the claws passed through the air.

“Kaaah!”

The Raptor staggered with a panicked expression.

Of course, it missed.

There’s a world of difference between that Raptor and me.

The movement of muscles. The intent in its gaze. Minor habits. The angle of its central axis.

I could see it all clearly.

Things I couldn’t see at all in the past.

As I delved deeper, its weak point was exposed.

I swung my magic-filled fist at the Raptor’s lower jaw.

Just as my fist was about to connect.

Squelch-

The Raptor’s head split open on its own, and a black, hook-like mass wriggled out from inside.

With immense magic power.

My judgment was quick.

I stopped my extended fist and used my other hand to undo the choker.

At the same time, I drew a sword from the Void Space and swung it directly at the creature.

Kwaaaang!

The white aura rippling along the blade tore through the creature’s massive magic power.

*

“Belva.”

“…Yes?”

“Take a look at this.”

Belva dragged her slumped body and trudged outside.

Then she screamed.

“What, what is this? What is this?!”

It’s the corpse of a strange creature killed by my aura.

It looks like thousands of hooks tangled together, with black spots densely covering its white body.

Moreover, its jelly-like, squishy appearance is just unpleasant.

Simply disgusting.

From Belva’s reaction, it seems this is not a natural creature.

I knew it.

Something like that can’t just appear.

“It must be a monster from another dimension.”

Belva nodded.

Ugh. Seriously.

I need to seriously think about this.

Honestly, until now, I hadn’t given much thought to the oversaturation of Dimension Power.

The Great Cataclysm is a future event, and with my growth rate, I thought I could absorb all the Dimension Power before then.

I thought it would be there.

But if these monsters keep appearing, it’s going to be a problem.

I recalled the Magic Power the monster showed at the last moment.

It was so immense that I had to pour all my strength into it just to barely break through.

Moreover, its abilities are extremely dangerous.

It was pure coincidence that I found it.

I hadn’t noticed the monster parasitizing the Raptor’s body at all.

What if that state wasn’t its adult form, but its growth stage?

Or what if it could reproduce in that form?

Just imagining it is terrifying.

After killing it, I inspected every living being nearby.

Fortunately, nothing happened, but I still can’t relax.

This world is extremely vast.

The places I’ve checked don’t even make up a tenth of it.

I have no idea what’s happening where.

To make matters worse, Belva has lost her abilities, and in the worst-case scenario, I might have to wage war against an endless horde of monsters.

There are two ways to handle this.

Either quickly deal with the Dimension Power scattered across this dimension.

Or kill all the invading monsters.

In the end, both options require me to become very, very strong.

It seems like every time I ponder, the conclusion always leads to this.

Belva, along with the kids who came out of curiosity, observed the parasitic monster thoroughly before setting it on fire to completely burn it.

Whether it was because it was already dead or fire is its weakness, it burned well, thankfully.

Then we dug up the soil and buried it inside.

The monster was only about the size of a bowling ball, so it wasn’t too difficult.

Surely, it won’t come back to life, right?

It’s unnerving.

A day passed like that.

“Huh?”

Pfft-

The soil where it was buried twitched a bit, and the parasitic monster came alive and jumped out.

“Oh, damn.”

It’s really terrifying. Seriously.

What if it’s alive?

But it’s barely twitching, having lost almost all its strength.

I think if I cut it again, it will definitely die.

Hmm…

A weakened Dimension Monster species.

Since it’s come to this, why not experiment a bit?

I picked up the parasitic monster.

Chwararak.

As soon as it touched my arm, it spread its hooks wide and latched onto my skin.

Then it sent some substance inside.

I focused my mind to analyze it.

“Oh.”

This is…

It’s similar to poison, but different.

It’s a kind of substance that completely takes over the brain of the affected.

It’s the kind of ability you’d see in HxH.

Of course, it’s not enough to penetrate me.

After a moment of thought, I tore off one of its hooks and chewed it.

Munch, munch.

It tastes like ink.

The sticky mucus is quite unpleasant.

It doesn’t seem to have any special abilities, nor does it contain poison.

Perhaps startled by my actions, it convulsed for a moment before quietly falling off my arm.

I picked it up again and pried open its hooks.

What’s inside?

There doesn’t seem to be a core, so I wonder what controls these numerous hooks.

Forcing my way through the creature that tried to block my hand, I rummaged inside for a while.

Then, at its center, I spread Dimension Power.

The spreading Dimension Power resonated, delivering information from another dimension.

At that moment, my vision went black, and a nosebleed started.

The massive amount of information caused my brain to go blank with pain.

The information of countless monsters the creature had parasitized and passed through flooded into my mind unfiltered.

It’s within the expected range.

I stood up again and examined the information that had entered my head.

“Strange.”

The creature couldn’t withstand the resonance with me and collapsed dead.

I tossed it on the ground and shook my head.

I feel a bit off.

I tried to recall the humans on Earth, friends, family, relatives, and people from my memories.

And then I recalled the Dimension Monsters and the monsters from another dimension it had shown me.

Hmm…

What should I call this?

This is a bit… no, very strange.

“Belva.”

I called Belva, who was reading a book she got from the Ogre while enjoying the breeze.

She turned to me and tilted her head.

“Yes?”

“Can your perception of a species change?”

I recalled family, relatives, friends, and everyone else I had connections with.

All sorts of emotions are attached to them.

However, I don’t feel like they’re my kind.

Only the emotions remain.

Is this possible?

I definitely think of myself as human.

Of course, my body has changed, but my mind is still that of a human.

But, the difference between the humans and monsters in my mind has become hard to distinguish.

If two unrelated species were to pass by.

And if I had to save only one.

What choice would I make?

In response to my question, Belva nodded slightly.

“Me too.”

She added that she no longer feels any emotions towards the Watcher species.

“How peculiar.”

“Indeed.”

What are we becoming?

With a faint smile, I tore the monster into pieces and buried it in the ground.

[Ah- Aah…]

Then, a voice echoed from the sky.

[Hello… I, I am Noah, who has been assigned to this dimension…]

[Well, you see, this place suddenly became a blank dimension…]

[This is my first assignment… so I might be a bit… clumsy. But I’ll do my best, my best! I’ll do my best…]

Wait, does this mean replacements are a thing?