Book 2: Chapter 430
“Huh. Is your conversation already over?”
Pale spoke in her characteristic amused voice. Lukas stared at her very deeply for a moment as if he was trying to understand her intentions.
She, who had been silent and cautious this entire time, had now taken a gentle att.i.tude once again. Naturally, this made him feel more anxiety instead of relief.
Of course, he didn’t show any signs of it.
“I don’t think it was short enough to say ‘already’.”
“Then I guess I must have s.p.a.ced out for longer than I thought.”
Pale spoke with a smile as if she was in a good mood. Her brooding att.i.tude was nowhere in sight.
“What did you talk about?”
In truth, this was the question Lukas had wanted her to ask all this time.
“We talked about this world.”
“Heh.”
“The Lord is an intellectual with a wide range of knowledge. Thanks to him, I was able to broaden my horizons.”
“Hmph.”
Pale made an unexpected sound. He wasn’t sure if she was only half-listening or if she was genuinely surprised.
“Then what are you going to do now?”
“…first.”
Lukas eyes turned to look at somewhere far away.
“I’m going to leave this place.”
* * *
They left the underground city before Schweiser came and headed directly to the new destination. It didn’t take long. Lukas was now able to find the ‘path’ more accurately and quickly. In fact, if he hadn’t had to hide the power of void, he wouldn’t need to go through all of this trouble.
Lukas had a complete understanding of the concept of s.p.a.ce. Because of this, he was able to quickly move to any location as long as he’d been there before. This counted even for places that he’d visited in a previous life.
For example, if he put his mind to it, he would be able to go to Flower Mountain or the Dump Site in an instant.
‘…no. The Dump Site is a bit more delicate.”
His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he thought about it.
In the first place, the Dump Site was by no means ordinary. To enter it, you needed to go into the jaws of a monster that lived in the Northern Region. He now knew that the monster was called a ‘Cleaner’. They were creatures who swam in the shallow waters of the vast Northern Region and collected corpses.
Beings who had given up their egos but not their lives used the Northern Region as a graveyard. They threw themselves into the Dump Site and waited there as half-corpses. Until another ‘them’ came to succeed ‘them’.
-In any case, the Dump Site was an independent s.p.a.ce, so it wouldn’t be easy for Lukas to come and go as he pleased. Even if it was possible, it would be impossible for him to avoid being detected by the Corpse Ghost.
Jacob. To be honest, meeting him was the easiest method to join the Magic Planet, but it was not easy to adopt.
In fact, from a certain point of view, the Flower Mountain was the same. With Yang In-hyun’s developed senses, it would be impossible for him to not notice Lukas’ infiltration.
He wanted to avoid b.u.mping into any of the Twelve Void Lords as much as possible. To be precise, until he was confident that he was definitely stronger than them.
With that in mind, Lukas looked into the large crater in the desert. There, he could see a woman unconscious and b.l.o.o.d.y.
“She’s dying.”
Without responding, he slid into the crater.
Then, he observed the face of Lesha, who was breathing heavily.
…Did she resemble him? He honestly didn’t know. Even after staring at her from such a close distance, he didn’t really feel like they were related by blood.
Lukas couldn’t tell if it was because he didn’t have much emotion left, or if it was because they were siblings who didn’t have much in common from the beginning.
There was only one similarity, their hair colour. The dark blonde hair specked with hints of blood was familiar to the point where he wondered why he hadn’t noticed it before.
This wasn’t the time for this.
Lukas took out a piece of jerky from his pocket. He had obtained it from the miglins before coming here. They had gladly accepted Lukas’ request. He was grateful for those guys. Because he now knew just how precious the jerky was.
He put it roughly in Lesha’s mouth. The jerky was quickly absorbed into her body, and her wounds slowly began to regenerate.
“You’re such a good person.”
Pale muttered. She’d said something similar before. Of course, he hadn’t understood the remark at the time, but now, he almost couldn’t stop himself from snorting.
Good person? Lukas was saving this woman purely for personal reasons. There was a complete absence of compa.s.sion, consideration, or pity towards the other person. If it was looked at from his perspective, he wouldn’t be called a good person, and this wouldn’t be a good deed.
That was it.
He didn’t have any emotion towards Lesha Trowman despite knowing she was his younger sister. He was still perfectly calm. This indifference would not waver even if Lesha opened her eyes and they began to talk directly.
All he wanted was a way to get to the Magic Planet. When he achieved his goal, he would take her back to the Underground City, and he wouldn’t feel any regrets at their parting.
Soon, Flower Mountain’s forces would attack and the city would face a crisis, but this time, he didn’t intend to stop it.
[Lesha… Lesha Trowman.]
[My poor little sister.]
[This child has lived a hard life too. How pitiful.]
Of course, that wasn’t the same for the other ‘Lukases’. The ‘Lukases’ who had a direct relationship with Lesha as their sister and who taught her, began to grumble in gloomy voices.
Ignoring them, he continued to carry Lesha. He was taking her to another place. Of course, it was to avoid meeting the members of Flower Mountain.
He could take her back to the Underground City right away, but he didn’t. Instead, he stopped halfway between the place he’d found Lesha and the Underground City.
‘It’s stifling.’
If he could use the power of void, he could restore Lesha’s consciousness in an instant. But of course, he couldn’t act recklessly because Pale was beside him with a bright smile.
So Lukas waited patiently for Lesha to open her eyes.
Perhaps the jerky given to him by the miglings was particularly effective. Lesha opened her eyes earlier this time.
“Mm…”
Her eyelids trembled slightly before she finally opened them.
“Where…”
“You’re awake.”
“…!”
Lesha jumped up when she heard the unfamiliar voice. She quickly looked around and grasped the situation. Lukas didn’t stop her. He realised at that moment that it wasn’t just her hair but also her eyes that were exactly the same colour.
…Now that he was seeing her again, he felt that she did look a bit like him.
“Who are you?”
“The one who saved you. You were badly hurt, weren’t you?”
“…”
“Michael asked me directly. I understand that you might be suspicious and wary, but don’t be hostile. We could have killed you hundreds of times while you were unconscious.”
“Or maybe you just want something else from me.”
Lesha didn’t seem to readily believe Lukas’ words. Of course, Lukas didn’t think he could win her trust in such a short time. Perhaps if he really considered her his younger sister, he would have tried to.
‘…a feeling of ident.i.ty?’
Or was it familial affection?
Lukas was overcome by this new emotion. An emotion that came from the other ‘Lukases’ as well. As if he felt as though he’d be swept away if he let his guard down, his expression hardened and his voice lowered.
“I do want something. There is something I want to ask you.”
“What do you want to ask?”
“How to enter Magic Planet.”
“…”
Lesha seemed confused for a moment.
“That… who… Ah, Michael. Did he tell you that?”
“Right.”
“…he’s the only one in the Underground City that knows that. So I suppose it’s not a lie that you met Michael.”
“Is it true? That you went to the Magic Planet?”
Lukas wanted to finish this conversation as soon as possible, so he asked again.
Lesha nodded without any attempt to hide it.
“Yeah.”
“Then I would like to ask. The location of the Magic Planet… and how to get there.”
“…I certainly did visit the Magic Planet. However, the method I used wasn’t the norm.”
What he could tell from those words was that there were at least two ways to get into the Magic Planet.
“I received help from someone. But that method was only used because it coincided with a special case. Even if you tried to approach it the same way, the chances of success are slim.”
“Who did you receive help from?”
“Although I can’t answer that, I can tell you where he is.”
After saying that, Lesha retrieved something from her pocket. Lukas’ expression became a bit strange. It was a tool known as a Dowsing Rod. However, it wasn’t a pair and the colour was faint.
“This will serve as your guide tool. The tool will point to where he is. You just have to go in whatever direction it is pointing. If you show this tool at the ‘entrance’, you will be allowed to meet him without any issues.”
It seemed that Lesha had no intention of accompanying him.
Of course, Lukas preferred that as well.
“Can I take this?”
“Think of it as a reward for saving me.”
After hearing that, Lukas accepted the guide tool without any hesitation.
“It’s about time I say goodbye. Thanks for saving me. Then, see you later.”
Believing that there was nothing more to do, she turned around and prepared to leave.
“Wait.”
Lukas stopped her almost reflexively.
“Yes?”
She turned her head to look at him. The moment he saw her questioning expression, he forgot what he wanted to say. Why did he stop Lesha? Did one of the ‘Lukases’ wishes burst out of his mouth?
After hesitating for a while, Lukas spoke.
“Be careful.”
“…? Yes. Thank you.”
After saying those words, Lesha left for real.
Lukas felt a hint of deep sense of regret in a corner of his mind. He wished they had talked a bit longer. That’s what he thought.
* * *
Using the dowsing rod as a guide, they continued walking. Even Lukas, who had gained a lot of knowledge at this point, couldn’t pinpoint the exact principle that the tool was pointing toward.
Pale had returned to her chatty persona. She seemed to have a knack for talking about trivial topics for hours. For example, the correlation between the colour of the sky and the monsters that appeared.
“I’m pretty sure it’s a rule.”
At first, Lukas listened to her. After all, it was none other than the deductions of the Blue Knight of Famine, so he thought she might reveal the truth of the world to some extent.
She didn’t.
Pale just said whatever came to her mind. This thought became certain when the words she mentioned conflicted with what she said before. From then on, he let Pale’s ramblings in through one ear and out the other.
“…”
When they crossed a dune, Lukas’ eyes narrowed.
He saw a monster. That fact alone didn’t surprise him much, but two things were strange.
Firstly, it seemed to be much more gentle than any monster he’d seen before. Clearly it had noticed Lukas’ presence, but it didn’t seem to have any interest.
And secondly,
Lukas knew this monster. Not just its appearance, but also its name.
It had six legs, a degenerated pair of wings on its back, and instead of eyes, two constantly moving noses protruded from its head.
-Leave it. Two Noses are harmless.
“…”
They continued to cross the dunes.
Although the scenery of the desert was the same no matter where they went, this scenery felt familiar.
And the monsters that roamed around…
A bed with hands and feet, a monster with a huge body that looked like a tongue and was covered in tentacles, and a giant whose face was in the middle of his chest.
He walked past them as if possessed. At some point, Lukas stopped looking at the dowsing rod. This wasn’t because he was able to calculate the s.p.a.ce, he was simply walking according to his instincts. Nevertheless, he was confident that he was going in the right direction.
It wasn’t long before a cave came into sight.
The appearance of the cave standing in the middle of the desert was easily noticeable.
Lukas knew what this cave was. It was the place where he’d first entered this world.
It was the cave Kasajin had been in…
There was a cool aura surrounding the cave. Crossing her arms as she looked at the cave, Pale muttered.
“…this place seems a bit different.”
“Do you know where this is?”
“No~ don’t you know?”
She told lies that even a fool wouldn’t believe. Lukas was about to argue, but he closed his mouth and turned his gaze to the cave.
He could feel a presence.
Thud!
He heard the sound of heavy footsteps. Someone was walking out of the seemingly endless cave.
[Who are you?]
What appeared with a beastly voice was a demon so large its shoulders touched the ceiling of the cave. It had bright red skin, wings, black horns, and fangs that jutted from its lower jaw.
[I asked who you are.]
Instead of answering, Lukas showed it the dowsing rod.
[A Devil Sensor?…A guest of the Lord. Please excuse me.]
The demon’s eyes narrowed slightly.
[Welcome to Demonsio.]
Demonsio.
Lukas’ expression hardened.
He knew where this was. It was the territory of the [0th Demon] one of the Twelve Void Lords. In other words, it was the place called ‘the pit’.
[Follow me. I’ll guide you to the Lord.]
When he heard those words, Lukas thought of Haspin, the demon from the pit that he’d met in the Dump Site.
He’d told him that there was a new Void Lord ruling the pit now.
‘…’
This… wasn’t good.