Chapter 36: An Uninvited Guest in the Void

Night had fallen, so the captain ordered the troops to set up their tents in a spot with few trees, so that everyone could pitch camp in one place.

But how did they even know it was night? When not even sunlight could get in during the day?

Elias figured they’d use some kind of special method, but in reality, the captain just told one of the soldiers to climb a tree and look up at the sky.

It was beyond Elias’s expectations, but he really liked the thinking. If there’s an easy way, why take the hard one?

Once the tents were up, the horses were also rested near the fire and fed.

The captain also drew up a patrol schedule of three rounds, fifteen minutes each. As a precaution, he ordered that every patrol had to be at least two people.

Night was when monsters grew more active in search of food, taking advantage of the dark to make their hunt easier.

So having patrols was a great idea in case a monster suddenly attacked. Besides, a light that bright in the middle of a terrifying forest like this was bound to attract attention.

After keeping Evelyn and Elysia company and making sure they were asleep, Elias left their tent and went back to his own.

He sat down on his cot and opened the system screen that popped up right in front of his face.

[New Quest]

[The Marquis’s wife is in critical condition and her life can be counted in days! Find the cause and cure the Marquis’s wife!]

Reward: 1000 Exp, 10 Stat points, 50 Grade B Mana Stones, and the trust of the Marquis.

Penalty for failure: Death.

Time limit: 5 Days.

Seeing that penalty again made Elias sigh in resignation. Two days ago, he hadn’t cared much about the penalty, since the time limit had been seven days anyway.

Now it had turned into five days because of the travel time.

And because of that last reward, Elias hadn’t cared about the penalty at all. He’d thought that searching for a flower in a forest like this wouldn’t be too hard.

But it was too late for regrets.

"No use crying over spilled milk."

Elias closed the system screen and stared at his right palm.

"My mana has fully recovered now, so its capacity might’ve grown too."

He focused his mana into his palm before aiming it at the space in front of him.

"Can I make it wider?"

*Crack...

Suddenly, the space in front of him split open and a Space Arcana appeared again. Elias was a little startled to realize it was bigger than he’d expected. What used to be about the size of a head was now about the size of a child’s body, even though he’d only used half of his mana.

"Maybe it’s because of Elysia’s sword energy back then that made the Space Arcana wider."

Elias studied the Space Arcana opened before him with a serious expression. From the outside, the inside looked like a pitch-black empty void. But looking closer, countless tiny lights were scattered within it, resembling stars adorning the night sky.

Elias tilted his head slightly as he observed the lights. He tried to feel the flow of mana inside the Space Arcana, but the longer he looked, the harder it became to understand what actually lay behind that darkness.

When people are curious about something, they’ll surely go looking for the answer. Though there are also those who’d rather not care at all...

And right now, Elias was one of those curious people who wanted to find out.

"What if I go inside? Would I go mad not knowing which way is up or down?

Ah... That’s a vacuum, not a space like this."

Elias did hesitate about going in, but if he didn’t, he felt he’d die of curiosity.

He put the upper half of his body in first, and since the opening was only as wide as a child’s body, Elias had to work pretty hard to get through.

"Ugh! My stomach hurts! Do I have extra fat here?"

After a while of trying to push his whole body in, Elias finally made it past the hole. But because he’d been pushing so hard, the moment his bulkiest part got through, his body shot forward until he lost his balance and fell.

*Thud!

"Ouch!"

Elias quickly got up, clutching his aching head.

"I need to cut down on sweets starting now."

Elias lifted his gaze and froze at the sight around him. Darkness stretched on endlessly, filled with countless glittering specks of light in every direction. No matter how far he looked, the lights seemed to never end, leaving Elias spellbound by the vastness of the space.

He began to walk forward slowly, his eyes still marveling at everything around him.

Since he was so absorbed in the space around him, Elias suddenly felt like he was falling downward, fast.

"What’s happening?!"

Elias couldn’t process what was going on. But when he looked up, all he could see was his space crack growing farther away, or rather, higher up.

"I-I’m falling?!"

Realizing he was falling, Elias immediately drew his sword and steered it upward with the mana thread tied to its hilt.

He planned to stab it into, or push it through to, the outside world so he could haul himself ’up’.

He lowered his head but couldn’t find the bottom. Because of that, Elias panicked even more, cold sweat breaking out on his face as his heartbeat quickened.

Elias kept aiming the sword at the crack of his Arcana, but the mana thread connecting them suddenly snapped.

His sword lost control and began drifting away, while Elias’s body went limp as his mana nearly ran out.

"Wait... Seriously?"

Elias tried to move his hand, but he no longer had enough strength to do anything. All he could do was watch the crack grow farther away before finally giving up and closing his eyes.

’Shit... Am I going to die a stupid death again like last time?’

*Thump!

But instead of falling endlessly, Elias’s body suddenly slammed into something soft.

"Ugh!"

Elias’s eyes flew open and he found himself lying on a black surface dotted with specks of light. He touched the surface a few times, then pressed it with his palm. The texture was so soft, almost like a pillow.

"...What now?"

Elias sat up, staring at the strange surface beneath him. He’d come across far too many nonsensical things since entering this space, and now he didn’t even know what had just saved him.

He then looked up, trying to find his Arcana crack. But the crack looked so far away that Elias began to doubt whether he could still reach it.

"I’m starting to regret my actions one by one..."

"Who are you?"

A man’s voice suddenly echoed through the whole space, startling Elias. But it wasn’t only the voice that thundered. The pressure that came with it made Elias’s body stiffen at once.

His chest felt tight, his breathing turned ragged, and both legs started to shake. Elias tried to move, but his body felt so heavy, as though something were pressing down on him from every direction. Cold sweat began to soak his face while his heartbeat quickened.

Elias slowly turned around to see where the voice was coming from. But the moment he saw the figure standing there, his eyes widened and his face instantly paled.

The figure was so huge that Elias felt like nothing more than an ant compared to it. Its entire body was pitch black, dotted with countless specks of light resembling stars. No nose or mouth could be seen, as though both had merged into its body. Only a pair of red eyes and long blue hair were clearly visible.

Elias tried to back away, but his legs wouldn’t move at all. The pressure the figure gave off made it hard for him even to stand properly. He didn’t know who the creature before him was, but one thing was clear: this was not something he could face.

’What... What the fuck is this?’

His mind began to go haywire. Elias wanted to escape right away, but in this state, he wasn’t even sure he could take a single step.

The pressure from the man grew stronger, and Elias’s legs finally gave out. He sank down, propping himself up on both hands.

"What is a brat like you doing in a place like this?"

Once again, the man’s voice resounded through the space. Elias dropped to his knees at once, both hands pressing against the surface beneath him to hold up his trembling body. He wanted to answer, but his throat felt so choked that not a single word came out.

"You’re not answering me?"

The moment the voice sounded again, the pressure slamming into Elias’s body grew even stronger. His arms began to tremble violently, while his head slowly sank until he was forced to bow down, both hands bracing him.

"I-I..."

Elias tried to lift his head, but before he could look forward, something froze his whole body.

One enormous red eye was now right in front of him.

"Ugh?!"

Elias flinched so hard he nearly lost his balance. He hadn’t even noticed when the creature moved closer.

*Gulp.

His heart felt like it stopped for a moment. Cold sweat ran down his temple, while his mouth hung slightly open, unable to make a sound as he made eye contact with the creature.

But when Elias blinked, the red eye was no longer in front of him. The creature had returned to where it had stood, as though it had never moved an inch.

"Hmm... You’re an interesting brat. So you’ve lived in another world before."

’W-what? He knows I’m a transmigrator?’

Elias was shocked by the creature’s words. He had never told his secret to anyone, yet the creature before him revealed it so easily.

’How does he know?’

Elias wanted to ask something, but the creature’s gaze made him drop the idea.

"Well... Whoever the hell you really are, a little brat like you isn’t supposed to come here. You’ll just add to my workload."

The creature fell silent for a moment. It then picked up one of the tiny dust-like lights between its fingers and simply let it drop.

"Down ’below’ here lies something terrifying. A tiny being like you, if you were to fall there, would suffer something far more painful than death, even more terrifying than the destruction of a ’World’.

Lucky for you, you landed right on my chair."

Elias’s mind grew even more tangled hearing that. He didn’t truly understand what the creature was talking about, although somehow he felt he could grasp its meaning.

As if something were blocking him from truly understanding, something he couldn’t even explain in words.

"Alright, that’s enough. I don’t know what brought you here, but one thing’s certain: this place is extremely dangerous."

The creature raised its hand and watched Elias from a distance.

"However, with my friend’s ’Fragment’ inside you, you should be able to explore this place within the next few years. You might even be able to see my true self."

His index finger slowly rose, pointing right at Elias.

"For now, I’ll send you out. Until you’re strong enough to return, don’t do anything troublesome for me."

Elias hadn’t even managed to ask anything when the finger moved slightly.

And in an instant, Elias was back in his tent.

He was still down on his hands and knees with both palms pressed to the ground, but this time the terrifying pressure was gone. Elias slowly lifted his head and looked around in confusion.

"...Huh? I’m back?"

He stayed silent for a few moments, trying to grasp what had just happened. But the more he remembered that creature, the paler his face grew.

"Ugh!"

Elias scrambled up and ran out of the tent. As soon as he got near a tree, he doubled over and threw up.

Cold sweat soaked his face while he panted for breath, both hands shaking.

"What the hell... was that thing..."

* * *