Chapter 53

Eris Orwell?

Hmm. Feels like a familiar name…

Then Belva quietly approached and grabbed my arm tightly.

At that moment, like a bolt of lightning, the past vividly flashed through my mind.

‘Oh, Mom and Dad ate the pig! It was soft!’

Damn it.

“You, you little bastard, you’re in trouble now.”

“…What?”

Since Belva was holding my arm, it was impossible to shake her off and run away.

That wouldn’t be polite.

After a moment of hesitation, I took a step forward and swung the arm Belva was holding towards the guy.

Belva’s durability is pretty solid.

With the racial traits of a Watcher and enhanced by my Divine Power, she’s probably tougher than most metals.

“Die!”

Belva’s floating body and the translucent purple barrier around Orwell collided with a bang.

Amid the shattered fragments of the barrier, I took another step.

*

“…I didn’t expect someone to read my diary.”

“Then why did you post it?”

“I wanted to get rid of it, even if it was for a low price. It’s a past I want to forget.”

Orwell’s voice sounded a bit sorrowful.

She looked at me through the visor of her gas mask and whispered softly.

“Can you let go of my hand now? My joints hurt, maybe because I’m getting old.”

“Just answer a few questions.”

I have a lot of questions.

From what I know, this person has been researching and using Dimension Power for a very long time.

The level of information she possesses is worth looking forward to.

“First, how did you get in here?”

When I asked, Orwell answered without hesitation, as if she had been waiting.

“I’m a Dimension Hunter, usually hunting Beastmen across various dimensions. That day was no different. But something was off. The Beastmen were all trying to flee somewhere, like dogs sensing an earthquake.”

And the next moment, the core of the world shattered, and she was instantly sucked into some dimension.

The core of the world?

Another unfamiliar term popped up.

When I turned to look, Belva explained that a world shattered by a cataclysm cannot maintain its form on its own, so a core is embedded at its center to stabilize it.

The core usually holds immense energy, and its appearance varies from world to world.

It’s true, a lump does get in the way when vacuuming.

Eris Orwell let out a hollow laugh at my analogy.

“You could put it that way.”

“It’s accurate.”

“Well, anyway… I was sucked into some dark, massive passageway without a chance to escape. It’s already been three years.”

“Three years?”

That’s longer than I thought.

But it wasn’t unbelievable.

I nodded and helped Eris Orwell up.

“Let’s go.”

We can talk more on the way.

First, let’s meet the survivors.

*

“So, you’re saying you use that Relic to gather and use the Dimension Power around you?”

“Exactly. Normally, I hunt Beastmen to accumulate Dimension Power in advance. But here, Dimension Power is overflowing. Judging by the color, it’s not ordinary Dimension Power.”

I looked at the purple, cube-shaped gem hanging from Orwell’s neck.

Tiny characters were engraved inside the small cube.

So, that thing absorbed the Dimension Power here?

Interesting.

Not that I want it, though.

Anyway, I figured out how Orwell, who isn’t a Beastman, could handle Dimension Power.

While discussing some related topics, Orwell suddenly asked me.

Her tone was light, almost casual.

“You can handle Dimension Power too, huh? What method do you use?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing special. I guess I’m a Beastman.”

“……”

Boom-

As soon as I finished speaking, Orwell tapped her wrist, and a small explosion occurred.

Through the smoke, a dagger came flying at me.

Whoa, that scared me.

I swung my hand and shattered it, then twisted the arm holding it.

Crunch, the sound of bones twisting echoed clearly.

“What the hell, out of nowhere.”

Even pinned to the ground by me, Orwell’s eyes were still fierce.

But they seemed to be looking at something far away, not at me.

She shouted at me.

“You, you deceived me, you!”

“What did I deceive?”

“Shut up! You took everything from me, and you still want more?”

At the same time, the dagger rushed towards my throat.

An attack from an angle no human could attempt.

Her flexibility is beyond normal.

I dodged it easily and kicked off the gas mask-like thing covering her face.

Long ears.

Flawless skin.

And facial features too perfect to be human.

“An elf, huh?”

What an interesting twist.

I chuckled and kicked her side.

Orwell coughed up blood and rolled away.

I can roughly guess.

Something bad must have happened to her involving Beastmen in the past.

Maybe she lost family or a lover.

Something so significant that she spent her whole life hunting Beastmen.

Not that it’s any of my business.

Her ribs must be broken; Orwell quickly drank a Potion, breathing heavily.

I scratched my head.

I don’t understand or empathize with her actions.

Should I just kill her?

“What do you think?”

“Just kill her.”

“Right?”

“Se, senpai… Taking lives so carelessly…”

At Noah’s plea, Belva retorted with a firm tone.

“Killing leaves no aftermath. Who knows what could happen if we let them live. On the surface, maybe, but in an unknown place, we need to minimize variables to survive.”

Hmm. Truly a judgment befitting a first-generation jungle survivalist.

Lucky me.

I was leaning that way too.

I picked up the half-broken dagger.

It won’t last long in that state anyway.

The wave-like energy permeating this entire space.

It contains various negative curses, including mental confusion.

Probably, Orwell’s gas mask not only blocked toxins but also such waves.

It would be fun to endure like this, but…

“Ah, right.”

A sudden thought made me put the dagger down.

Right. There’s still more to hear.

Moreover, being this close to the dragon’s corpse, this place might be under the survivors’ watch.

By now, reinforcements might be on their way.

Thinking about it, that seems more reasonable.

No matter how crazy, a hunter like Orwell wouldn’t pick a fight without a reason.

If I kill Orwell here, I might not meet the survivors.

Let’s hold off for now.

It’s not too late to kill after getting the information.

Having made my decision, I picked up the fallen gas mask and threw it towards Orwell.

“…I won’t be fooled.”

“Just wear it. If you don’t, that already bad head of yours will really go nuts.”

Orwell, who had been staring at the fallen gas mask, swiftly grabbed it and put it on in less than a second.

A movement honed in real combat.

Pretty cool, huh?

“If you’ve put it on, now think. Do I look like an ordinary beastman to you? Have you ever seen a beastman who communicates this well?”

As I spoke, Orwell muttered in a lower tone.

His voice was thick with regret.

“…There was one before. A beastman like that. And that bastard ate my son and daughter. Mocking me, leaving just one limb each.”

“Uh, um…”

“When I first saw him, he looked like a starving child. I shouldn’t have been fooled by that. I, I was so stupid…!”

Behind the gas mask, a faint trembling breath.

Definitely more vivid than reading a diary.

By the way, didn’t your husband die too? Was it also a beastman who killed him?

“No, it was humans.”

“Then hey, you should hate humans too.”

“I do. I loathe them intensely. A despicable and cruel breed.”

Hmm. The conversation isn’t flowing well.

“Just kill him?”

Belva whispered in my ear.

No. We need to hear how he crossed dimensions before killing him.

“Torture will do, right?”

“Ah.”

Maybe her head’s a bit messed up, she keeps blurting out strange things.

Do you think torture is easy?

From experience, guys like him have at least double-digit suicide methods.

The moment they realize they’re completely subdued, they’ll end their lives in some unexpected way.

Grabbing Belva’s head, I looked closely into her eyes.

In the bright yellow light, a deep purple swirl.

The will of the world.

…So that’s what it was.

It wasn’t serious.

That level can’t take over reason.

Probably just a tiny nudge.

That’s all.

But the fact that it slipped out means Belva was thinking similarly.

She grew up dangerously as a child, it’s very believable.

“Still…”

“Just wait a bit. I think a way will come soon.”

I watched the approaching group of dozens of survivors while hiding my body.

And as if to hide it, a fluffy dwarf ran up and spoke to Orwell in a theatrical tone.

“Uh, boss! What’s going on?”

“…Dramel? No, you, you guys, coming out like this…!”

“Boss. No sense? If you call them ‘you guys’─”

“I told you not to come out!”

Orwell shouted in panic.

I calmly watched the scene.

The massive dome-shaped barrier around the dragon’s corpse.

A powerful barrier powered by a dragon heart.

That’s what you call a stronghold.

There must be many enemies here.

“These idiots, even if I explain…!”

Suddenly, they all looked up.

There, something with an enigmatic red glow, like a jellyfish bathed in evening light, floated softly in the air, with tens of thousands of thread-like bodies hanging beneath it.

More mystifying than grotesque, everyone was staring at it when.

One of the threads twitched, contracting and relaxing.

Zzzzzz-

Suddenly, a high-temperature red beam shot out from its end.

The fluffy dwarf was split in half.