Saving My Favorite in a Doomed World Chapter 97

“Is this really what’s written?”

 

Hwashin asked, looking at the characters reflected in the window.

 

-Would I have excerpted characters that I couldn’t even see then?

 

True. Hwashin skimmed the window once again. It contained absolutely no coherent content. It was a complete mess. Even if sentences were written, they were obscured.

 

「Y#*@!@hwashin. Fomin Ignaty□ □□□□□. □□ able to □□□ep. ★g〇od □□, □□□□□」

 

-Hey! Young mage! Isn’t this disaster because you changed the development too much?! The book can’t withstand it when you change the development for not just one or two people, but several.

 

“Old man, are you saying this is all my fault?”

 

-That’s not what he means, but. Elric, it’s not that you’re without fault, either.

 

The voice of another dragon, gentle for the first time in a while, also chimed in. Seeing them chattering loudly, it seemed such occurrences were not uncommon among the dragons trapped in that rift.

 

-Anyway, this is not good, you brat! Originally, a book exists to convey that dimension! But what happens if it fails to fulfill that function! They all get discarded. It means there’s less for us to read.

 

“Does that happen to mean the same thing as destruction? That can’t happen.”

 

-Tsk, I wouldn’t go as far as… ahem…

 

-This old geezer doesn’t know much about that yet either, young mage.

 

It was the voice of the old woman who often argued with the old man.

 

-I don’t really know what you’re trying to achieve, but be careful. Destiny is, in the end, like a scale. No matter what you do, it is bound to find its balance.

 

Following the old woman’s voice, no more words were heard from the dragons. 

 

Up until now, whenever he changed the progression, a peculiar variation had occurred in the original work. Things like a new rift appearing, or the contents of a dungeon within a Gate changing.

 

Hwashin slowly stood up from his seat. The end of the countless horde of zombies was nowhere in sight. They swarmed in like a tsunami.

 

How was Cha Jaeha able to end this dungeon in the original work? All by himself. For how long? Enduring for how many days and nights?

 

Hwashin recalled an old memory.

 

-You try to do everything by yourself. It’s always like this.

 

-If you live like that, you will end up losing someone precious.

 

The Silver Hero had said that.

 

Hwashin slowly reached out his hand.

 

Snap,

 

A finger flicked silently. The air resonated throughout the entirety of it. 

 

Vwoooom. 

 

At the excruciating vibration ringing in their eardrums, the bodies of all the zombies tilted instantly. Due to the excessive shock, some could not raise their collapsed bodies.

 

Cha Jaeha’s fire engulfed them. The area was approximately 1 km in diameter. He was firing Purgatory Spheres consecutively, but Hwashin still couldn’t fully gauge his maximum power.

 

However, Cha Jaeha was feeling it.

 

‘It’s not that hard.’

 

He could physically feel how much power Yoo Hwashin was using. He couldn’t sense the minute flow of magic, but an S-Rank Awakened also had something called ‘intuition.’ An immense amount of magic was moving. The beginning of that flow was not himself, but that end over there. The man on the sand dune.

 

‘If he keeps that up, he’ll again…’

 

Cha Jaeha clenched his jaw tightly.

 

***

 

“Huff, huff. I, I think I’m going to throw up.”

 

Izawa Chisaki panted and looked ahead. She had fled to a place slightly away from the middle of the desert where the war was in full swing.

 

If it’s here, can I accomplish the task Mr. Yoo Hwashin asked of me?

 

‘This is something only Chisaki-san can do.’ 

 

Something only I can do.

 

I’ve only done such things my entire life. Why did only Mr. Yoo Hwashin’s words sound so warm? She was still searching for the reason.

 

-Chisaki, my Chisaki. Please take good care of us again today.

 

-Didn’t the Great Spirit descend today, Chisaki? Because you failed to deliver, several people were hurt again. 

 

-If you became a hero, you should have worked harder. Why are you so irresponsible.

 

-It’s only natural you’re criticized since you acted like that.

 

Everyone spoke as if it were a given that she should do ‘something.’ They called it a request, but it was an order. They said all faults originated from her. 

 

Therefore, they said it was natural for her, who committed the fault, to be criticized.

 

After becoming a hero and receiving an S-rank evaluation, Izawa Chisaki hid herself thoroughly. Wearing a cloak and a mask, she stood before the public. Without protecting herself to this degree, she didn’t have the courage to endure.

 

If it’s natural for me to be criticized, at least let me protect myself.

 

‘But Mr. Hwashin was different.’

 

-Even if you fail, I won’t blame you. I’m the one making an unreasonable request, and there’s no need for Chisaki-san to absolutely grant it.

 

-And don’t feel burdened, since that guy will take care of everything anyway.

 

-Instead. Just once. I’d like you to help me just this once. If we succeed, I’ll go out and buy you bubble tea. Do you know what bubble tea is? I just found out about it recently, and it’s delicious.

 

Izawa Chisaki stretched her fingers out into the empty air.

 

Haa.

 

Because her ability was special, unlike others, she had to cast a spell and complete an incantation formula.

 

“Like a fluttering willow leaf, I shall follow your path.”

 

Characters engraved in the empty air. The strokes of those characters gathered to form the shape of a butterfly. The butterfly, rising high into the sky, flew off somewhere just like that.

 

The Willow Leaf Incantation Formula.

 

This incantation formula was a skill to find the hidden dead. It was also one of the reasons she was called around for every ruin exploration. Because it could perform a role like finding the hidden corpses of great figures in tombs.

 

‘This ability…. is useless if you don’t know the identity of the person you need to find.’

 

Even so, Yoo Hwashin asked her to use that incantation formula. In a place as stable as possible. So that the incantation formula could stretch out as high into the sky as possible.

 

Izawa did just that. She watched the receding butterfly. Flutter flutter. Flapping its fragile wings, the butterfly was flying away.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

“Oh, looks like it succeeded.”

 

He thought it would be difficult to even run away. Did she also have a skill among hers that increased speed? Hwashin blew a breath of air toward the butterfly that had lost its way high up in the sky. 

 

The butterfly flew towards Hwashin as if intoxicated by drugs.

 

The Willow Leaf Incantation Formula. 

 

It was one of the skills Izawa Chisaki showed in the original work.

 

If it’s this skill, it would probably be quite helpful in this dungeon.

 

‘Even though it’s a gamble.’

 

Hwashin smiled brightly and wrote something on the butterfly’s wings. Word Command using karma could be activated not only by speaking directly but also through written text.

 

“…Find the path where the dead connect. To specify the person…. right. The one with the thickest scent of death among them will do.” 

 

Hoo.

 

The butterfly began to fly through the sky once again.

 

「The Abandoned Wasteland」. The one who created a grand army of zombies using the dead.

 

Cha Jaeha was unable to reveal who this person was until the very end. Because from the beginning, such an ability did not exist in the world he was in. There probably was no one who could even be suspected.

 

‘But it existed in the place where I used to live. People who used the exact same ability as this guy.’

 

A time when magic overflowed. A world where there were times when the advancement of magic was more important than human lives. Elric, Yoo Hwashin, was a magician from that place.

 

Among the magicians living in that world, those who resurrected the dead and subjugated them to themselves were called this:

 

‘Necromancers.’

 

I didn’t expect one to be here of all places.

 

‘It makes sense since dungeons inside gates connect to other dimensions in the first place. It seems necromancers exist in this dimension.’

 

What should I do if I find him?

 

Should I leave it to Cha Jaeha? No, if it’s a mage, it’s better for a mage to handle it. I also want to see the necromancer’s face once. Could it possibly be one of the black magicians I beat up in the past?

 

While he was pondering, the thread attached to the flying butterfly no longer stretched. The butterfly had stopped in one place.

 

Then shall we head over there now?

 

“「Open.」”

 

A rectangular line of light shone before him. As he opened the door and stepped inside, Hwashin stood in a completely different space.

 

Beyond the black sand desert. Hwashin was in a place where an oasis existed.

 

In front of it, a skeleton was staring at the lake.

 

“…No way.”

 

Hwashin stood behind the skeleton’s back. Reflected in the lake was the skeleton, whose flesh had already rotted away, leaving only bones, and Hwashin’s face.

 

The necromancer was already dead. However, only the curse remained on that body.

 

The butterfly alighted softly on the skeleton’s skull. A familiar hologram window floated before Hwashin’s eyes.

 

「 The curse maintained his world. He hated the world. He wished for this world to end. But at the same time, he prayed for all the souls he had enslaved to be liberated. To liberate the souls, the liberation incantation formula of the contracted necromancer was needed. However, the power to do so no longer existed within him. 」

 

「 I will bring someone who will liberate you in my stead. He told his army that. He engraved the curse into his body, his bones, his heart. An army that never dies. Even if his own body rots and decays, this army will be maintained. And if a human who will release this someday comes here, they will all resurrect and seek him out. 」

 

「 Forgive selfish me, unknown people. This is all for a peaceful death. 」

 

「 However, if there is any last conscience left in me. My army will not attack you. 」

 

“Hey, mage. Your incantation formula completely failed, didn’t it.”

 

Hwashin grabbed the skeleton’s skull with one hand. Looking into the empty eyes, he said.

 

“These guys were attacking us, you know?”

 

But it’s strange. Hwashin hooked a finger on his chin.

 

A mage capable of casting this kind of formula would be quite something even in the original world. A mage of that caliber would have made the curse engraved on his body quite sophisticated as well. 

 

For such a person to make a mistake? 

 

…If not,

 

‘Did someone mess with it?’

 

It was then that a familiar voice was heard from behind Hwashin.

 

“Hello.”

 

A voice he had heard somewhere before.

 

Hwashin turned around, holding the skull in his hand.

 

The cause that turned the hall into a mess, and

 

The leader of the illegal Awakened group.

 

Yoo Hwashin’s choice for the current number one person closest to destruction. 

 

The man who fell upside down from a hole in the air landed softly on the sand. Just like the butterfly Izawa Chisaki had sent flying. With his hands behind his back, the man leisurely looked around and then looked back at Hwashin.

 

‘He’s using his abilities quite freely. Was he this skilled back then too?’

 

“Hwashin-ssi, it’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?”

 

It feels like the fine hairs all over his body are standing up for the first time in a while.

 

Responding to the voice, Hwashin placed the skull back onto the neck bones.

 

“It has been a while since it’s the first time since the basement. And no, I’m not well.”

 

As if satisfied with the sarcastic reply, the man covered his mouth and laughed.

 

“Is that so? Still, I’ll say I’m well. Because I’m glad to see you, Yoo Hwashin.”

 

Green eyes symbolizing peace and brown hair providing a sense of stability. The one who dropped lightly from the sky with a soft smile was…

 

The leader of Freak, Han Jeyu. He gently opened his mouth.

 

“Shall we have a little chat?”