Episode 26 – Reversing Time by 10,000 Years (1)
‘What on earth is happening right now!?’
An incomprehensible event had occurred. While the goblin extermination squad was gathering from all directions, an unidentified girl had come to this place alone.
At first, it seemed like a trivial interference due to coincidence, but it was not. The intense hostility that surged from within, without her realizing it, was directed straight at her.
Just as humans instinctively fear the dark, Kai felt an innate threat and attempted to eliminate her immediately. However, he froze right after.
All of his goblin subordinates, who had been charging at her with a single gesture, were swept away. The existence of such magic that could shake and overturn the ground with a single moment’s motion was something that even his considerable experience had never encountered.
“Who on earth are you?”
At this point, he couldn’t help but ask about her identity. She appeared to be a harmless girl, yet he was already convinced she was no ordinary being.
Her aura and appearance were anything but ordinary. If she had been a regular adventurer, it was clear the curse would not have targeted her.
“If you still have your senses, don’t be swayed by the curse and speak your true intentions. What do you desire?”
Irilia stepped closer to the hesitating Kai. Contrary to her thoughts, Kai was not completely consumed by the curse; he was still in control, not completely rampaging like a werewolf.
She needed to understand the truth as she had intended to save him, believing him to be an innocent victim.
“True intentions…? This is my true intention. A judgment upon you all!”
Hearing those words, Kai erupted in anger. Simultaneously, a murky energy burst forth from his body. It was a kind of power he should not have possessed.
Irilia, startled by the dark wave, leapt up by stepping on a rising stone pillar, performing a backflip with her light body, and right after, the pillar she had stepped on was instantly destroyed.
“—!”
“Yeah, that’s the power you’re talking about. As expected, we must purify, no matter the circumstances.”
Seeing the earth spirit popping up in a fluster, she bit her lip. The power that this land had warned her about was exactly that.
The source existed inside the cave blocked by Kai.
“You probably thought you could win against just a few hundred goblins, right? But with this power, the story is different.”
Kai grinned as he saw the power roaring from his body and blade. As he had said, the disaster wrought by the curse did not dwell only within him.
“W-what is this?!”
“AAAAAH!”
Some goblins fighting against the extermination squad also found this power awakened within them and, in an instant, put the previously leisurely battling squad in crisis.
“Today, we will win this battle! Those who do not deserve to live will be judged!”
‘Regardless of the backstory, we must subdue them first.’
Irilia furrowed her brow at Kai’s increasingly reinforcing power and activated the strength of the earth again.
Certainly, the rampaging Kai had become faster and stronger than in his prime, but feeling the very ground itself twist and oppose him was something she had never experienced before.
“How, how is this…”
As Irilia’s eyes glinted, he could barely run and stumbled due to the violently shaking earth.
Only Irilia, blessed by the earth, could stand calmly on the roaring ground.
*
“—!”
“Get back!”
One of the goblins wielding a sword staggered and screamed before going wild with darkened eyes. The sheer force of his strike changed entirely, and the adventurer party faced with him shrank back in terror, but it was too late.
With a single slash, the goblin cut down the adventurer’s sword and then swiftly severed his body.
“The goblins are going wild!”
The goblins fighting against the guards were no different. The soldiers of the guard, flustered by the goblins that seemed to have transformed beyond their very race, began to fall one by one.
In the face of a berserker’s assault, as if they had forgotten death and pain, the guards were being overrun.
“P-professor! This is so embarrassing…!”
“I can tell at a glance! Stay still so you don’t get hurt!”
Renia and her party, who had been testing out their newly created detection devices alongside the guards, were suddenly drawn into the chaotic situation.
Hearing the alarming beeping from every direction and seeing her pale student, Renia clicked her tongue and raised her staff, casting magic to knock down the goblins assaulting the guards.
‘Each and every one of them is going berserk. What in the world is happening?!’
She herself was in a state of shock, fully aware of the strange phenomenon that even a genius researcher who had studied such matters all her life could not comprehend.
“I don’t know what it is, but the damage is too great. I have no choice but to use this.”
The captain of the guard, Rakum, who had been fiddling with his sword, grabbed something other than his sword as if he couldn’t just stand by and watch, taking aim at the goblins.
The target he focused on was a particularly strong goblin that was about to overpower and kill the junior knight who had rushed forward to protect the soldiers.
Holding his breath, Rakum took aim with the rifle at the goblin that was mercilessly attempting to stab the fallen knight.
“Ugh?!”
A tremendous noise erupted, piercing the eardrums of everyone nearby as the swiftly fired bullet passed through and shattered the goblin’s body in an instant.
Though there was enough mana swirling around that goblin’s body to knock down even a knight, the bullet completely ignored that and pierced through the flesh in an instant.
The ancient power that perfectly disregarded the might of the present era was no wonder that this artifact of the mythical era was treated as a decisive weapon.
“They’re coming in greater numbers!”
Yet, taking down just one goblin did not mean the end. Goblins continued to swarm from all directions, and the once bold guards found themselves merely trying to defend, unlike at the start.
“Professor!?”
“This is definitely not a natural phenomenon. It must be something that cannot be explained by any theory published or researched until now. The root cause is right in front of us; we must eliminate it before more damage occurs.”
Rakum panicked and grabbed Renia’s arm as she tried to go somewhere alone. But she shook her head resolutely.
It was not just curiosity as a scholar; it was also for the sake of taking the most efficient action to minimize the current damage.
“Using stealth magic, I can evade the senses of the agitated ones and infiltrate. Rather, their stronghold is likely empty; we should use this chance to investigate there.”
“But going alone is too dangerous!”
She wore a determined expression, but Rakum could not allow her to go alone. Even if he had no obligation to protect her, ultimately, it was also his responsibility that she wanted to charge ahead alone due to their own helplessness in stopping the raging goblins.
“In that case… please lend me that weapon.”
Seeing the desperate eyes of Rakum holding onto her arm, Renia shook her head as if she had no other choice. Instead, she cast a glance at the rifle he held.
“Do you know how to use it?”
After a brief hesitation, Rakum handed the rifle to her, as it seemed there was no other option.
Having doubts about whether she could actually use it, Renia received the rifle, deftly removing the magazine, checking the remaining bullets, and inspecting the chamber.
“I’ve used it often back in my homeland.”
She chuckled at Rakum, who was left dumbfounded, and grasped the rifle in one hand and her staff in the other, swiftly departing from the group. By now, Rakum and the rest of her companions had no choice but to watch her.
‘Something stinks. It’s an incredibly suspicious smell.’
As Renia, oblivious to the goblins charging at the guards, started to slip past them, she ran through the forest while sniffing the air.
Her conviction grew stronger that something was out there that had sent the goblins into a frenzy and turned them into nonsensical monsters.
“Ugh!?”
Just then, she stumbled and nearly fell from the strong vibration as she approached a valley where no goblin presence could be felt.
Thanks to her beastkin reflexes, she didn’t fall, but as the wind blew, she felt a strong wave of power and bit her lip.
‘To have a watchtower, barricades, and traps. These are certainly not ordinary goblins.’
As she got closer to their stronghold, she began to spot the facilities one by one, prompting her to augment her stealth magic and conceal her presence as she carefully approached.
The strong vibration she’d felt moments ago was indeed emanating from the goblins’ nest ahead.
“What on earth is that…?”
Seeing the sight before her, she widened her eyes and gasped without realizing it.
Massive stone pillars had risen from the ground, ensnaring something tightly and rendering it unable to move.
