Chapter 198: World (2)
I ran for a long time. It seemed like I had been running for over 10 hours but the sky was still the same. This place seemed to have no evening.
The strength of my body was still decent but I couldn’t run non-stop. A few hours later, I was able to achieve my goal.
‘Here.’
A place where the rabbit’s traces ended. It was a forest with a small wooden house in the centre.
I didn’t hesitate to enter the house.
"A crack in area 784 again!”
“Close area 227! Everybody take shelter!"
“Wahh! Where is Teacher?”
It seemed like a small wooden house. When I walked in, I saw a strange room with no end.
A giant rabbit was sitting in front of a screen that was a similar size.
It wasn’t the rabbit that I had first encountered.
My magic power might have been depleted but I could still smell it.
After a while, I was able to find the rabbit holding a notebook in a corner.
"Ah, what to do, I can’t do this alone without Teacher...”
“Hey.”
"The system is a complete mess. Why is this happening? Who has access to the administrator privileges? I don’t have access to it at all. There is no way to repair this. Euuuugh.”
"Look at me.”
Duk!
The rabbit’s legs thumped strongly.
"Huh?"
The rabbit looked at me strangely.
At the same time, the rabbit’s eyes expanded to twice their size.
“Eh eh... Why did the bug near area 666 come here? No, how did you come in?”
"I'm not a bug.”
The rabbit had said it on the beach but I didn’t like hearing it again. I frowned as the rabbit cocked his head.
"A bug just called himself a bug. I don’t know how he got here but a strong vaccine should work...”
“The other beings here can’t see me. Only you have acknowledged me. Tell me. Who are you and what is this place?”
"Vaccine!”
The rabbit turned his head and shouted loudly. He waited a while but nothing happened. The rabbit looked at me with very confused eyes.
“Why isn’t there a vaccine reaction? Wait, only I can see you?”
I folded my arms and watched the rabbit’s next movements. I judged that the rabbit didn’t have the power to threaten me. I was still weak because my magic power wasn’t entirely restored, but I could cope.
Then the rabbit’s eyes narrowed. He gazed closely at the top of my head.
“No ID...what are you if you’re not a bug?”
“Randalph Brigsiel. A demon.”
I waited as he panicked. Now I introduced myself first.
“Demon? Ahh! Teacher mentioned it a few times. But how did you travel here from the Demon World? Wasn’t Teacher the one who devised this program? Let's see."
He searched around his long white ears before grabbing some glasses. The rabbit put on the glasses and started to gesture in the air.
It seemed like he was dancing alone. He seemed like a crazy guy.
-Forced intrusion from the outside has been blocked.
‘Huh...?’
A message popped out in front of me. At the same time, smoke was emitted from the glasses worn by the rabbit.
The rabbit quickly took off his glasses.
"W-what the? This program? Isn’t it different? Moreover, the security level...it is over Teacher’s level! Unbelievable!”
Both eyes were shocked. His mouth dropped wide open and he looked at me with disbelief. The horror in his eyes changed to amazement.
"It would be very scary if you were a virus from outside. Disabling the vaccine and only recognizing me as a part administrator...maybe I might have already been infected.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
I really didn’t know. I had heard similar words from humans but that was all.
“You are called Randalph Brigsiel? Can I hear where you came from?”
The voice of the rabbit was desperate.
"There has to be some give and take. You know me but I have no idea who you are.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. My ID is 0001. I am the administrator of the Reverse World.”
"The Reverse World?"
The rabbit nodded and said.
“The moon! We call it the rear of the moon.”
After a brief introduction from 0001, I was guided into a small room. The room was filled with moonlight and a map of the universe.
"You came from Earth? I'm sorry. I really thought you were a program. Anyway, is this the Earth that you are referring to?”
0001 pointed to one area of the map of the universe. He tapped his index finger a few times, causing the map of the universe to expand and a blue planet to appear.
"It seems correct.”
“Really? Right here...ah, it is difficult.”
“Difficult?”
“This is a planet that the administrators can’t interfere with. It is a rule passed down from the top administrators. One...it has been five Earth years?”
A little over five years. It overlapped with the period when the demons came to Earth. I narrowed my eyes and asked.
"What administrator are you specifically talking about?”
“Gods!”
“Gods...”
I didn’t understand at first. 0001 referred to himself as an ‘administrator.’ He didn’t feel like a god at all.
"The gods also have ranks. In this case, Teacher, who manages this world is the middle administrator. I am only Teacher’s assistant. I’m not a god.”
I nodded and 0001 continued.
"At any rate, the middle administrators are assigned a world. They make sure that the rules of the world don’t collapse...in contrast, the top administrators don’t allow us to engage directly or indirectly with Earth.”
"What about the location of the devil Death Bringer?”
For me, the story of gods was like catching floating clouds. After I said the name of the devil, 0001 responded kindly.
"A devil would be one of the top administrators. Ah, that's right. It was a devil who forcibly removed Earth from our jurisdiction. The name was...yes, Death Bringer. There was some opposition but the low level administrators were forced to proceed.”
0001 closed his mouth. He stared at my face blankly like he was worried about something.
"And you came from Earth. Is this related to Teacher’s disappearance?”
"Who is this teacher you are referring to?”
"The Reverse World’s top administrator. Two months ago he suddenly disappeared. As soon as Teacher disappeared, someone else got administrative permissions and this world became a complete mess. We can’t do anything because of it.”
0001 had a grim expression on his face.
I touched my jaw.
0001 said that this was a world behind the moon.
The moon. And the administrator disappeared. The time and place oddly coincided. Above all, there was a smell similar to the magician of the moon coming from 0001.
"I might have met the one you call Teacher.”
“What...?”
"He used the power of the moon. He always had night around him and despite destroying his body hundreds of times, it was regenerated instantaneously. Then he sucked all of the night inside him.”
"That...that’s right! Teacher! When Teacher is in a bad mood, he will suck the night in. There is no night here now that Teacher isn’t present. He took it all. By the way, Teacher’s body was destroyed?”
Even with some information missing, 0001 was convinced.
Then was the magician of the moon a god?
Ha! It wasn’t easy to believe.
I couldn’t understand why a god would be wandering around in such a manner. What was Upa doing?
However, if he was a god then his nonsensical regenerative power would make sense.
"He was being manipulated by another demon. He was a doll that lost all sense of self and just followed orders. I fought him because he was hostile and tried to destroy him, but failed. After the last confrontation, I woke up on the beach.”
"Being able to fight evenly with a god...what a great guy! If you collect his divine essence than won’t you be able to become a god? Envious...not! Wait. What? Teacher was being manipulated?”
0001 showed signs of confusion.
"He was being manipulated by another demon.”
"An immortal being controlled by a mortal? No way! It goes against the rules of the world! The gods wouldn’t allow it!”
I recalled the time when I returned to the past.
All the gods of Earth were sealed. The devil Death Bringer used this. He created dungeons in the places where the gods were sealed and invited demons there.
All the gods were sealed so there was no one maintaining the rules of Earth. Except for the devil Death Bringer.
However, there were no sanctions against him.
The devil wasn’t bound by the rules. I had no idea what Death Bringer was hoping for.
“Uhh...what to do? I have to find Teacher.”
"Return me to Earth. Then I will kill the demon controlling him."
I would remove both Arend and Upa. It would benefit me to kill both of them.
However, 0001 shook his head.
"It's not that simple. It has infiltrated this world and contaminated Teacher. It won’t be enough. A mortal...how is it possible? Ahh, I wonder if the crack was the problem...”
“The crack?”
"About two years ago, the program made a mistake and opened the crack. It was a chance for the world to be exposed for 100 years. After a second...I dealt with it. I searched through all the systems. There were no problems but maybe something happened during that one second...no, does that make sense?”
0001’s body trembled.
His shoulders became heavier at the thought that it was his fault his teacher was being manipulated.
The rabbit bit his fingers.
"No, it was connected to the nothingness. There was only access to the nothingness for one second! It isn’t possible that a mortal from Earth used that one second. The existence of nothingness isn’t really known in the first place...”
Approximately two years ago!
And nothingness.
It was somehow familiar. I was very familiar with it.
It was the period when Contegonom was summoned and eliminated.
A being from the nothingness that I had never heard of had been summoned to Earth.
“The probability isn’t zero at all.”
"I guess...it can’t be helped. I need to stop Teacher first.”
The rabbit went to a corner of the room and pulled out an arrow from a drawer.
“It is a request. This vaccine can save Teacher. Otherwise the world will be finished."
It was a seemingly normal arrow.
I was suddenly curious and used Mind’s Eye.
-Interpreting the program.
Interpretation is complete.
-Name: Moon Arrow (Legend)
Description: An arrow formed from the strong condensation of the moon’s aura. Contains the gods’ blessing and grace. It is enough to call it the clone of the gods of the moon.
*All stats +2 when held, can pierce through all boundaries.
** There is a completely different effect depending on the opponent that is pierced.
Legend!
It was the first time I got my hands on something with that rating. I had seen it a few times but never touched it.
I encountered it in a totally unexpected place.
“I’ll make the passage. The passage will go from the Demon World to Earth.”
"Passage from the Demon World?”
I wondered if that was really necessary. 0001 saw my expression and explained.
"I get the code for the passage from your body. Aren’t you originally from the Demon World? You won’t be able to go straight through. If my thoughts are correct...certain conditions are needed before you can move to Earth. If you go from the Demon World then those conditions aren’t necessary. It makes sense since that is your original region.”
0001 took out another pair of glasses.
After putting them on, he moved his fingers and spoke.
"Please wait a few days. It shouldn’t take that long.”
TL Note: The Korean word for the ‘devil’ when used in regards to Death Bringer is different from the word used for Randalph’s goal. I’ve translated them both as devil, but if I could go back, then I would probably make Randalph’s goal as ‘demon king’ rather than ‘devil’ just to make the distinction more clear.