Chapter 86: Dejected Hitogami (Patreon)

Looking at everyone's curious gazes, Rudeus said with a smile, "Orsted, you should already know what I mean. Back when the two of us fought — the thing I threw at you, the one that caused that massive explosion. The very same thing that shattered the Red Wyrm Mountains into pieces before, and even tore open a massive rift across the continent."

"And an attack like that... as long as I combine the teleportation array's function with the Elemental Sprites, it doesn't matter where in the world I happen to be — I can strike any single point across the entire planet, with zero time lag and zero distance lag!!!"

"Hisss!!!"

Hearing those words, the crowd sucked in a sharp breath. Even though what they'd felt before had already seemed impressive, hearing Rudeus lay out the plain truth of it now was something else entirely — it had completely surpassed anything they could have imagined.

In this world... who else could possibly withstand a strike from Rudeus!? If word of this ever got out, there would only be two possible outcomes: either Rudeus became everyone's sworn enemy, or Rudeus became everyone's object of worship. Thinking it over, the second possibility seemed by far the more likely.

Dragon God Orsted closed his eyes, then opened them again, staring straight at Rudeus. "This might be a somewhat impolite question," he asked seriously, "but could you tell me — just how many times have you regressed, Rudeus?"

It was, admittedly, another question that piqued everyone's curiosity. The Rudeus standing before them now had unmistakably mastered a power that sounded utterly despair-inducing just to hear described. So then — just how much had he paid for power like that?

Facing everyone's curious stares, Rudeus said with a smile, "There's nothing about that I can't tell you. As for the exact number of times, I honestly haven't kept count. But as for how much time I've spent in this world — counting from my birth, plus all the time from the many regressions added together — it's probably close to thirty years now!"

"Actually, Eris already knows this — I brought her along through the regressions with me. And of course, Sylphiette came along too."

Hearing this, Eris nodded with a smile. "That's right. Otherwise, my own strength wouldn't have reached Emperor-rank so quickly."

Nodding, Rudeus said with a smile, "Since I've already mastered a way to guard my mind against Hitogami's prying, that's finally what let me dare bring Eris and Sylphiette along through the regressions with me."

Nobody there was a fool — they could all easily hear the pride in Rudeus's words. But unlike the others, Dragon God Orsted himself didn't even know how many times he'd regressed. From the Asura Kingdom's Armored Dragon Calendar year 330 all the way to year 580 — as long as he failed to kill his target, whether he died himself or simply ran out of time, the regression magic bound to him would forcibly trigger and send him straight back to Armored Dragon Calendar year 330.

By this point he'd grown so numb to it that he'd long since stopped counting the regressions. Compared to Rudeus, it was certainly many, many times over. And yet Rudeus, using barely thirty years, had broken straight through Hitogami's blockade and completely turned the tide.

Orsted, meanwhile, hadn't found so much as a sliver of a path to victory in all those years. Every single time, he'd burned with furious hatred, wanting to kill Hitogami. Every single time, he'd been helplessly toyed with until death. Every single time, it had been utterly humiliating — and every single time, the moment things looked bad, he'd simply given up and let himself rot.

The more he thought about it, the tighter Dragon God Orsted's fists clenched. He truly was nothing at all.

Sitting in the seat of honor, Rudeus watched Orsted's expression grow steadily more serious nearby, and smiled. "Orsted, whatever happened before, it's all in the past now, starting from this moment. What we need isn't to dwell on the mistakes we made — what we need to decide is how to handle things from here on. How do we get our revenge on Hitogami, and do it properly!"

Looking at that confident smile of Rudeus's — the one that had never once wavered since they'd met — Dragon God Orsted nodded seriously. Having confirmed just how remarkable Rudeus truly was, he had to admit that, although Rudeus hadn't lived nearly as long as he had, the man was his senior in every other respect.

In that moment, Dragon God Orsted fully accepted that he stood a head shorter. Because Rudeus, who had utterly shattered Hitogami's blockade, had earned the right to make even him, Orsted, bow his head.

Seeing the acknowledgment in Orsted's eyes, Rudeus felt quite pleased. An Orsted who'd finally pulled himself together would make a formidable ally.

Meanwhile, within the Void World, Hitogami slammed his fists against the ground again and again, his face twisted with fury.

"Why — why is this happening!!?"

"Why can't I see anything anymore!"

"Rudeus, what exactly are you up to??"

"Damn it!!!"

"I'm sorry, Nether King. It's my fault you died."

"It's all that damned, cunning Rudeus's fault. I thought that weapon, even though it blanketed the entire planet — but! But..."

"To actually use it as a real attack, he'd still need to be right next to me — but, but... Rudeus hid it from me, using it only for close-range strikes, so I had no idea that light-based attack of his could actually hit anywhere on the globe."

"Damn it, damn it!!!"

"That cunning Rudeus — why didn't he use it before!?"

"I finally managed to place the Nether King as my pawn, and now it's all wasted — all of it, wasted!!!"

"I just don't know whether Rudeus is even aware of my other Apostles."

"He probably isn't, most likely. Otherwise, someone wielding an attack like that would never have held back from settling the score the moment he had the upper hand."

"So... what do I do next!?"

"The plan I laid earlier — using his family to keep Rudeus in check — that's failed now."

"Going forward... I definitely can't keep doing it that way."

"That cunning Rudeus, using his own family as a trap, trying to pick off everything I've set up, one scheme at a time. Well, I won't let him have them!!!"

"What next, what next... but what exactly should I do next!?"