Chapter 75: Actually, We Are the Same (Patreon)

Rudeus's battle with the Dragon God Orsted had already ended some time ago.

But Hitogami (Human God), in this very moment, no longer wore that same joyful, delighted look he'd had at the start. His brows were knitted tight, and he watched Rudeus's every move, obsessively, endlessly, tracking everything, everything, everything!!!

Earlier... he hadn't quite understood some of the things Rudeus had been doing. He'd assumed they were just some little gadgets Rudeus had tinkered together. But after that last clash... Hitogami finally understood just what those "little gadgets" Rudeus had been secretly developing really were!!!

He'd just watched the strongest fighting power in the entire world, the Dragon God, get beaten into a broken wreck — reduced to giving up entirely and just waiting to be reincarnated!!! And Rudeus, in the end, hadn't taken so much as a scratch. Full health, and a one-hit kill!!!?????

What in the hell, what was going on!!!?? Why was this happening, it shouldn't be, it shouldn't be possible!!! Damn you, Rudeus — damn you, damn you!!!!

If a Rudeus like this actually joined forces with the Dragon God... then how was he supposed to keep playing his game!?? That was cheating, that was way too much cheating!!! Nobody plays like this, you can't play like this!!!

Having caught a glimpse of himself already sealed away, Hitogami's face crumpled and he pounded his fists against the white ground, weeping. He didn't want to be sealed, he didn't want that!!! But now... everything had, beyond any shadow of doubt, already veered straight toward that very future he wanted least of all!!!

No, no!!! Dragon God Orsted, you're a Dragon God with pride!! How could you lower yourself to serve under someone else's banner. Refuse him, refuse him, refuse him!!!!

On the Central Continent, atop the shattered Red Dragon Mountain Range, Rudeus looked at the Dragon God Orsted before him, who had fallen into hesitation.

"You think the two of us working together could take down Hitogami?" he asked with a grin.

Dragon God Orsted glanced at Rudeus and nodded. "We could."

"So what are you still hesitating for?" Rudeus said, smiling. "Join the Alliance of the Righteous!!!"

Dragon God Orsted shook his head. "Hitogami has grown tired of my endless reincarnations. Does he mean to just control me outright now?"

"Sounds like you've got no trust left for Hitogami at all," Rudeus said with a smile.

Dragon God Orsted glanced at him again and said nothing.

Seeing this, Rudeus simply used magic to snatch him up. Just as Orsted braced himself to be killed, Rudeus instead carried him along, moving swiftly toward Eris and the others.

Because Rudeus had kept tight control over the scale of the explosions, the damage they'd caused hadn't reached far enough to seriously harm the spot where Eris and the others were.

So, by the time he made it back, the cliff face above had already slid away. But the corner where Rudeus had left them — protected by a triangular spatial barrier — hadn't suffered much destruction at all.

Even so, it now sat right on the edge of that bottomless, pitch-black abyss.

Utterly powerless, Nanahoshi Shizuka crouched beside Eris, hugging her knees, curled into a small trembling ball.

When she saw the once-untouchable Dragon God Orsted being held captive by Rudeus, dread flooded through her.

Nanahoshi Shizuka felt something close to despair in that moment. She'd been dragged into this other world for no reason she understood, and only after a long struggle with fear had she finally come to accept Dragon God Orsted. Yet how much time had even passed since then? And already the once-invincible Dragon God Orsted had been defeated!!! This world was simply too dangerous!!!!

Watching the scene play out, Rudeus smiled and set Dragon God Orsted down beside Nanahoshi Shizuka.

"I just borrowed Orsted for a bit," he said with a grin. "Here, I'm giving him back to you, Nanahoshi Shizuka."

"!!??"

Eyes wide, Nanahoshi Shizuka stared at Rudeus in disbelief, utterly bewildered. "Why — why do you know my name??"

"I don't just know your name," Rudeus said, smiling. "I also know you're not from this world at all. You came here from a place called Blue Star, from the twenty-first century."

When Rudeus suddenly switched to speaking Japanese, Nanahoshi Shizuka's eyes went round with shock. "You—!!??"

[Author's Note: Requesting flower votes...]

"Because," Rudeus said in Japanese, "I'm from that world too."

Hearing that, Nanahoshi Shizuka's heart immediately swelled with joy. After all, in this other world, she hadn't had a single true companion. But faced with Rudeus, who came from Blue Star just like her, she felt an instinctive pull of kinship toward him. And on top of that — this senior was incredibly strong! The more she thought about it, the happier she became.

She hurried forward and grabbed his hand. "You're working to find a way home too, aren't you?? So — have you found the way back yet? I've been researching it this whole time."

Rudeus looked at the girl in front of him, practically glowing with excitement, but he didn't answer right away. Instead he turned his head to look at Dragon God Orsted beside him.

"Orsted," he said with a smile, "you're not the only one who's been fighting Hitogami through regression loops. I've been searching for a way to beat him through my own repeated regressions too."

"The reason I beat you half to death back there is because you killed me once, a long time ago!! Do you remember? I'd only just arrived in this other world, and I didn't understand a thing about it yet. Hitogami came to me, and I half-believed what he told me. That was when I met you here, for the first time. But the moment you heard Hitogami's name, you attacked me without a second thought."

"I know you're a pitiable man too. But the feeling of being killed — that's something I will never, ever forget. So I pushed myself to grow, worked to make myself stronger. All so that one day, I could finally crush you completely!!! And now, I've done it. So yeah, I feel great!!! And of course, if I could bring you into my group on top of that, I'd feel even better!!!"

Hearing all this from Rudeus, Dragon God Orsted had nothing to say. But he still couldn't decide whether to believe it. There was no helping it — he'd fallen into so many of Hitogami's traps before that, deep down, he genuinely no longer wanted to trust anything connected to Hitogami at all.