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Chapter 20
Inside the subspace barrier stone.
Rozarin was facing a certain monster.
A monster resembling a gigantic beetle.
Its distinguishing feature was that its shell emitted a glow like mithril.
“…Haa. Haa.”
Rozarin’s condition was a mess.
As if her whole body had been shredded by the beetle’s horn, her clothes were torn into rags, and blood streamed down beneath the ripped fabric.
Fsssssssh!
With a terrifying buzz of wings, the mithril beetle charged toward Rozarin.
Rozarin raised a magic circle to cast a spell, then canceled it as if realizing that wouldn’t work, and jumped aside.
“Seriously, this is absurd. Where in the world did Lea even find a monster like you?”
Lea.
The name Yodala was currently using.
“Ah, seriously…!”
Just before crashing into the ground, Rozarin used magic to stabilize her center of gravity.
Then landed safely.
“Was this thing even born naturally in the first place? I’ve never heard of a monster completely immune to magic.”
As she muttered, Rozarin coated her body with mana.
With magic attacks clearly ineffective—
The only option left was hand-to-hand combat.
‘Body enhancement magic and close combat aren’t exactly my specialty…’
Rozarin took a fighting stance.
At the same time, the mithril beetle flew at her again.
Rozarin concentrated mana into her eyes, pushing her dynamic vision to the limit.
‘Usually, the weak point of insect-type monsters is the belly.’
Thanks to enhanced vision, its speed looked half as fast.
Watching the slowly approaching beetle, Rozarin lowered her center of gravity as much as possible and twisted her body.
‘Focus all my mana into my right hand…’
What surfaced in her mind was her final first-year lesson.
Back when Rozarin complained about why she even had to learn this, the self-defense instructor had said, “You never know,” and forced her to practice the motions anyway.
“Just die already!”
Her right hand, overflowing with mana, struck the beetle’s underside directly.
KWAAAAAANG!
A sound like a missile exploding echoed out.
The beetle’s body flew backward.
“…Are you insane? Not even a scratch after that?”
But the beetle was perfectly fine.
It had thrown itself backward merely to absorb the impact.
It hadn’t been blown away.
“You… you’re a chimera.”
Physical defense and magical defense.
No naturally existing monster possessed both to such an extent.
That monster was undoubtedly a chimera created by fusing several kinds of monsters.
BUUUUUUNG!
As if refusing to give Rozarin even a moment to think, the mithril beetle attacked again.
Rozarin moved to dodge—
‘My body…?!’
Unfortunately, after overexerting herself in the previous attack, her body wouldn’t respond properly.
‘At the very least… I have to stop myself from getting pierced by that horn…!’
Abandoning evasion, Rozarin poured all her mana into defense.
KWAAAAAAANG!
The beetle’s horn collided with the barrier she created, producing a deafening roar.
“Ghh…!”
But the barrier failed to completely block the attack.
The beetle’s horn shattered Rozarin’s defensive magic and sent her body flying.
“Ah… it… hurts…”
Was it because her spine had taken damage and her nerves were numbed?
Her body wouldn’t obey.
No matter how desperately she tried to stand, neither arms nor legs moved.
The impact must’ve caused temporary paralysis.
‘Am I… going to die? Here… this pointlessly…?’
Rozarin sensed death approaching.
“Seriously… this sucks…”
Listening to the beetle’s wings, Rozarin slowly closed her eyes.
KAAAANG!
A metallic collision rang out right then.
‘…Huh?’
Why wasn’t that the sound of flesh being pierced?
Feeling confused, Rozarin slowly opened her eyes.
“Senior! Are you alright?”
“…Jian?”
She saw Jian.
Standing before her as if protecting her.
In front of Jian’s outstretched right hand was a small but incredibly sturdy-looking barrier.
“You… how…?”
This was inside a subspace barrier.
The defining trait of subspace barriers was that no one could enter afterward.
How did Jian get inside?
“I’ll explain later—”
Without sparing Rozarin a glance, Jian stared only at the mithril beetle.
“—after I deal with that thing.”
Rozarin blankly stared at Jian’s back.
It was just an ordinary back.
Yet strangely reassuring.
Long ago.
Before Rozarin’s parents became money-obsessed monsters.
It looked exactly like her father’s back when he used to carry her after she scraped her knees.
‘Somehow… I miss that.’
Those days were good.
Even without money, their hearts had been full.
She missed those times.
Rozarin bit her lip with tearful eyes.
BZZZZZZZT!
At that moment, the beetle’s wings buzzed loudly.
The sound snapped Rozarin back to reality.
‘Get ahold of yourself! Is this really the time for nostalgia?’
“Jian! Magic doesn’t work on that thing at all! Its physical defense is insane too! To defeat it, you have to find its weakness first!”
“There’s no need to worry that much.”
Jian interrupted her.
“I’ve already figured out its weak point.”
“…What?”
Already?
‘That’s possible?’
Jian had only just arrived.
Yet she’d already found its weakness?
BUUUUUUNG!
The giant beetle’s wings thundered.
After creating distance, it charged Jian again.
Far faster than before.
“Jian! Dodge! A barrier won’t stop that!”
Jian’s magic barrier closely resembled Rozarin’s.
That’s why she knew.
Jian’s barrier couldn’t stop that charge.
“No.”
But Rozarin’s expectation was utterly wrong.
An octagonal barrier formed before Jian’s outstretched hand.
“I can block it.”
KAAAAAAAAANG!
The shape and structure resembled Rozarin’s barrier perfectly.
Yet the density of mana composing it was on a completely different level.
‘What… is that barrier…? Don’t tell me she crossed sixteen mana axes at once?’
Just as Rozarin reeled from shock at the bizarre durability—
Jian slowly moved her remaining left hand.
“No! I told you! Magic doesn’t work on that thing—”
“No. It works. There’s a way to make it work.”
Centered around Jian’s right hand—
The magic circle she’d shown while lecturing Rozarin earlier that morning appeared again.
‘This thing’s weakness is…’
A chimera monster whose entire body was reinforced with mithril.
Jian knew its weakness.
The inevitable flaw created while covering its body in mithril.
‘Its right side. The gap in the mithril shell.’
PIIIIIIIING!
An instant-cast intermediate spell boasting overwhelming speed.
Rozarin’s original magic—
“Eraser”
—accurately pierced through the mithril beetle’s side.
“Y-you… how…?”
Rozarin’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.
“Phew…”
Jian took a deep breath and turned toward Rozarin.
“Are you alright?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah. I’m not seriously hurt…”
“That’s good… Ngh!”
Suddenly, Jian’s legs gave out and she collapsed.
“W-what’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did that horn stab you while fighting…?”
“…No. The problem didn’t happen during the fight.”
“Then?”
“I just pushed myself too hard breaking into this barrier…”
Jian ground her teeth.
‘That idiot Yodala. What was the point of not leaving a weakness in the barrier stone? Good thing I had dragon power and forced my way through. Otherwise what would’ve happened?’
Anger surged at Yodala’s ridiculous handling of things.
‘Just wait until I get out.’
She’d possess Jeiraon at 120% and tear Yodala apart verbally.
Meanwhile, outside the barrier—inside Rozarin’s laboratory.
The Reaper released his stealth and revealed himself.
“This… can’t… be…”
His eyes trembled in shock.
This shouldn’t be possible.
This couldn’t happen.
His expression said exactly that.
“See? I told you it wasn’t.”
Behind him, Yodala appeared.
As though the identity of Lea was no longer useful, she erased Lea’s identification badge in her hand using “Illusory Aura.”
The badge instantly corroded and scattered like dust.
After flicking the dust into the air, Yodala smiled at Reaper.
“Master is real.”
At those words, Reaper turned trembling eyes toward the barrier stone in the center of the lab.
Originally, there should have been a barrier stone with an artificial flaw.
But the one here had no modifications at all.
“If Master weren’t real… who could force open that barrier? Don’t you agree?”
Since there was no flaw, entering afterward should have been impossible.
Yet Jian broke through.
Made the impossible possible.
Only one being could do such a thing—
The supreme mage standing above the heavens through magic, Jeiraon.
Or perhaps a Dragon—the origin of all magic.
“ I thought Master… no, Jian pretending to be Master… was the one who tampered with the confidential document. But it seems I was mistaken.”
Reaper had suspected Jian because crucial parts of the confidential document Jian brought back had been torn away.
“If Master were fake in the first place, could she even have opened that vault?”
“I believed Jian had allied with the principal. With the principal’s help, opening the vault would be trivial.”
If Jian and the principal were cooperating—
Everything made sense.
The torn section of the document.
Lionel appearing to suppress Yodala.
Even Jian moving at precisely the right timing.
Everything from beginning to end.
“I was convinced…”
But he’d been wrong.
The moment Jian broke into the subspace barrier, the discussion ended.
Only Jeiraon could do that.
The real Master.
Not an impostor.
“It seems I judged incorrectly. I became obsessed with Master’s changes… and situations I couldn’t understand.”
Reaper smiled bitterly.
“Even if everything else were questionable… opening that barrier through pure ability is something a fake could never do.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll report today’s barrier incident to Master personally. I’ll say it wasn’t your mistake, but mine.”
“Of course you should.”
Jeiraon would never spare someone who disrupted plans after doubting him.
If Reaper told the truth—
He’d be executed on the spot.
“Yodala. I’ll entrust my mission to you.”
“Look at you. Why are you dumping your work on me all of a sudden? Handle your own responsibilities. I’m busy too.”
Yodala scoffed.
“I’d love to finish it myself…”
But couldn’t.
At the earliest, Reaper would die today.
At latest, tomorrow.
“Ah, do you think Master will execute you? Don’t worry. Master won’t kill you.”
“That’s impossible. Master wouldn’t overlook this…”
“The current Master is different.”
Yodala stared dreamily into the air.
“The current Master is very kind. A mistake like yours will be forgiven. Didn’t Master even spare Clover after all that chaos?”
“…”
Reaper frowned.
Oddly, reassurance that he wouldn’t die only made him look worse.
“What’s with that expression? Don’t you like Master’s changes?”
“Yes. To be honest, I don’t. For Master, change can only mean degeneration.”
A perfect sphere changing could only become imperfect.
For perfect Jeiraon, change meant decline.
“So that’s how you see it. I think differently.”
Yodala disagreed.
“I think Master’s change is evolution.”
“…Why?”
“The reason is simple.”
Yodala answered as though the question itself was strange.
“Because Master would never accept change unless it was evolution.”
“…!”
Reaper’s eyes widened.
Jeiraon would never accept meaningless change.
“Haha… hahaha…!”
Reaper stared blankly—
Then burst into laughter.
“You’re right. Everything in this world exists under Master’s control. Which means… the changes in Master’s body were also chosen by Master.”
Yodala’s words struck him like enlightenment.
“Exactly. Whether influenced by Jian’s body or something else, accepting change was entirely Master’s choice. And if it was Master’s choice… there can be no mistake in it.”
“Yes. Correct. An undeniable truth.”
Jeiraon’s change was evolution.
Reaper smiled with complete relief.
“Yodala. Thank you. I’ve gained a great realization. It seems I unconsciously feared change.”
At that moment—
FLASH!
Light erupted around Reaper’s body.
“Light of enlightenment…? Reaper, you…”
Yodala’s eyes widened in genuine surprise.
The Light of Enlightenment.
A phenomenon occurring when one achieves profound realization and leaps forward dramatically.
“Incredible. I thought my growth had long since reached its limit…”
[Reaper]
[Harbinger of Absolute Death]
[LV.91 → LV.92]
“So my stagnation wasn’t caused by physical limits… but mental ones.”
A phenomenon usually accompanying level-ups.
Clenching his fist as if savoring overflowing power, Reaper spoke.
“It seems… I can still grow.”
For the sake of game balance, Reaper’s innate nature had capped his growth.
But in this unseen moment—
[Reaper’s growth limit has increased from LV.91 to LV.99.]
…surpassing the values ever depicted in the game.
[Causality Correction]
[Reaper obtains the seed of becoming the Final Boss.]
