Chapter 314

In the Soul World, there are various bosses, and naturally, some of them only appear when specific conditions are met.

Among them, the first hidden boss you encounter is Ratatosk, a.k.a. Porori.

You have to venture deep into the Chaos Forest, walking all the way to Porori’s area.

After that, if you face a game over, you’ll need to meet different conditions to actually fight.

These hidden bosses are really tough, but most of them drop special materials and equipment.

However, there’s only one hidden boss that raises your “level,” and you don’t defeat it; instead, you engage in a duel.

“Now, now. Don’t cry. I’ll help you, so stop it.”

*“Wahhh…”*

“If a guy keeps crying, he won’t be popular with the ladies. Your name is… umm, I’m not sure, but got it?”

I wanted to cry even more. If you want to comfort me, then do it properly!

I’m curious how someone can speak like that. But it meant nothing to me at the moment.

All the sorrow, sadness, and despair just exploded at once, leaving me unable to control my emotions.

After all my hardships, I had finally grasped hope, only for it to shatter into pieces.

As if that wasn’t enough, someone took the bits and chewed them up.

“Ugh…”

“Right, right. Sorry about that, but how about a candy?”

“…Just one.”

“Okay. Okay. What a good kid.”

The mask reached out into the air and pulled out something round. One of those skills that ignores space limitations—null space.

This ability requires a high understanding of space, meaning you need to be at least at a bluish level.

I looked at the round orb the mask handed me. It was orange, so it should taste like orange.

“That’s right, it’s orange-flavored, so you can eat it.”

“Nom.”

With that, I put it right in my mouth when I heard the mask’s voice.

The signature tang of orange mixed with the sweetness of the candy filled my mouth.

As I chewed on the candy, I suddenly thought of Rod. He used to give me candies all the time.

Then I recalled getting them taken away whenever I caused trouble because of tooth decay.

“…Ugh.”

“Uh, uh? Don’t cry now, okay? If you cry, there won’t be any more candy?”

“Wahhhh…”

“Geez.”

As memories bubbled to the surface, tears started to well up in my eyes. The mask sighed.

At least I only shed a few tears, not bawling like before. I was just reminiscing about the past.

Anyway, thanks to the candy, my heart calmed down a bit, and I looked at the mask with a gloomy feeling.

‘But why are you here?’

Later, this mask would appear as a hidden boss and would boost Luna’s level even further.

At the same time, it was the “master” who taught Luna basic techniques.

“Why am I here, huh… All I can say is that Chaos led me here.”

“…”

“By chance, I found Sehon Ice Grass, not knowing it belonged to someone… Sorry about that.”

The mask seemed to read my mind, providing its own explanation. Indeed, the mask could pierce through people’s hearts.

It’s best not to harbor any vain thoughts in front of the mask. If I had a strange thought, it would be laid bare.

This wasn’t an empty statement; the mask was one of the “purple” individuals Rize had mentioned before.

Wandering the world at its leisure, this purple was a drifter.

‘And a rather peculiar sociopath.’

From the way it had just teased me, that much was clear. The mask had many offbeat traits.

“A sociopath, huh! I just read people’s hearts and reply accordingly. Who told you that?”

“…The Saint.”

“The Saint? You mean the one with balloon muscles I know?”

Balloon muscles. That nickname would make Rize fume if she heard it.

Even if those muscles were pumped up by divine power, her skills were genuine.

Conversely, that would mean the mask was stronger than Rize. Rize was strong against demons, but otherwise pretty average.

“Right, right. Just because we fought a bit back then doesn’t mean it’s still like that, does it?”

“Fought?”

“Yeah. We had quite a scrap. Thanks to someone.”

“…”

I might have a good idea of who that “someone” is—me or Luna, most likely.

Of course, I had no clue about the timing. Considering the vibes from False, it was highly probable that this world had already turned over once.

Even though the situation seemed tricky, I couldn’t just ask Rize directly, but I was at least half convinced of that.

“By the way, I want to ask something now. Why are you here? You shouldn’t be here at this time.”

“…Shouldn’t be here?”

“This should be when you got captured by the Gaia Church.”

“…”

Unlike others, this one was straightforward. I flinched at those words.

From the nuances of the mask, I gathered the world had rebooted.

What people often refer to as regression. But I had no idea why the time had turned back or who was responsible.

Knowing wouldn’t change anything. I sighed and quietly opened my mouth.

“…What were you doing there?”

“What I was doing there…”

[Faith is decreasing.]

Just as the mask began to say something, a message popped up. It was a somewhat negative message.

As I pondered that, the mask seemed to catch on to something, shrugging its shoulders.

“Sorry, but I think this is where it ends. If I could, I’d love to share everything.”

“Then tell me.”

“ Nope. As much as I love to talk, I have to keep some things to myself.”

So it knows its own mouth runs too much. I wondered if Luna would end up like that too when she grew up.

For a moment, I pondered useless thoughts and then shared everything that had happened so far with the mask.

As planned, the academy’s collapse had almost happened, but a suitable measure had prevented it.

But Rod was gradually returning to the past due to False’s curse affecting his soul.

The mask listened with its arms crossed, nodding as I spoke.

“So you came to find Sehon Ice Grass? To cleanse the soul.”

“…Yeah.”

Saying cleanse sounded odd, but it was probably the most fitting term.

“Hey, you know this already, but Sehon Ice Grass only cleanses the soul, it can’t turn back time.”

“…”

“Uh, uh? Don’t cry? Didn’t I tell you not to cry?”

You’re the one making me feel upset! I wiped the tears gathering in the corners of my eyes.

I know that. Sehon Ice Grass only cleans the soul, full recovery is impossible.

To fully recover, I need to find another way. First, I wanted to put out this urgent fire.

“Ugh. Is that why you led me here? Seriously…”

“…”

“Eating the Sehon Ice Grass was really rude of me. I’ll cure the curse for you.”

“Really?”

The mask announced some good news. It seemed eating the Sehon Ice Grass had weighed on it.

I was surprised because the mask wasn’t like this. It was always the type to think that one should receive something before giving.

“Okay. But! I’ll heal the curse, and after that, you have to take care of the rest. That’s as far as I can go.”

“…Can’t do more?”

“I can help, but why would I?”

Look at that. The mask has a personality just like that. It hates to take losses.

It’s so extreme that Rize called it a sociopath. But at least it’s better than the purple in the East.

If the purple in the East dislikes losing, it wants to hoard everything that piques its interest.

Just helping Rod with the curse would be enough, yet human greed knows no bounds.

“Can’t do it?”

“It’s not that I can’t; I just don’t see the reason to.”

“Spirit of service?”

“When the world called me a hero, that was true, but not anymore.”

Ah, right. This dude was originally a hero, the one who sealed the Demon King.

I had forgotten about that due to his big mouth and annoying behavior.

Well, by strength alone, he could still be called a hero. It’s just his words that are strange.

‘By the way, both this guy and Luna are pretty oddball heroes.’

When you think about it, Luna was born with the qualities of a hero. The mask in front of me was originally a hero too.

They say masters and disciples are alike. Both have quite the impressive way of speaking.

“What are you talking about? I never taught that kid like that.”

“They’re similar.”

“Hmm… I guess they do share some resemblance. I’m her ancestor, after all.”

“…?”

Is it okay to just blurt things like that? No, I didn’t mean to say it like that. I stared at the Former Hero.

With such a loose tongue, I was starting to feel suspicious. This was information that didn’t even exist in the Soul World.

Oh, it’s not the Soul World anymore. Should I call it knowledge of the future?

In any case, it felt so unbelievable that everything sounded like a lie.

‘This guy seems to lie more than he tells the truth, right?’

The mask, the Former Hero, seemed to read my thoughts.

“I’m telling the truth, you know. I’m the type who always speaks only the truth. If you don’t believe me, would you like me to prove it?”

“How?”

“Like this.”

-Swoosh

The mask raised its mask resembling a smiling hero. To my astonishment, a face strikingly similar to Luna’s was revealed.

The only difference was the eye color. With their realm, the blue and purple eyes were notably striking.

The facial features were also a bit more rugged since it was male, but still, it possessed a beauty not lesser than any woman.

There was also a more striking detail—one of the hero’s eyes was unnaturally shut.

As if it didn’t have an eyeball at all.

“Oh, by the way, my other eye is in the Academy. I’ll need it later.”

“Why do you wear a mask?”

“Because it’s cool.”

It sounded ridiculous, yet I could understand.

A veteran who’s achieved everything usually ends up behaving in such a way.

The hero was the kind of weirdo who focused on wandering the world regardless of its collapse.

“Are you really blood-related to Luna?”

“Indeed. Though, I can’t tell you how closely related we are.”

“…?”

“I haven’t mingled with reason and body for nearly a century, but that’s how it is.”

So you’re saying you could indeed be quite closely related. I blinked at this astonishing truth.

Can someone of such a high status just indulge without consequences? Or is it just because they’re purple?

As I was trying to wrap my head around this incomprehensible mindset, the hero chimed in.

“Why do you look at me like that?”

“Um… Trash?”

“Trash?!”

The hero put on a wounded expression and put the mask back on.

“I don’t block anyone from coming.”

Honestly, I really can’t tell if I can trust this person or not.

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