The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 435

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Chapter 435

Thinking about it, I had never really had a deep conversation with Luna about the Closed World.

I had tried to spare her the confusion by holding back as much information as possible.

But I wasn’t sure if that had been the right choice.

I couldn’t keep hiding it forever.

Come to think of it, I had never really explained Labyrinthos to Luna in detail either.

And Luna hadn’t pressed me about that part.

So I told her.

What kind of existence I had been in the Closed World that Isna experienced, and with what intentions I had committed those acts.

Luna, who had looked quite surprised, stared at me silently before pulling me into an embrace.

“As expected. I knew Leon wouldn’t be like that. Leon isn’t cruel enough to suddenly kill every human in the world for no reason.”

She looked up at me while hugging me, as if she were strangely proud.

“Does Isna not know that?”

“For now. From Isna’s perspective, even if I tell her it’s okay, the memories from back then will probably keep holding her back.”

To remove the deep seed of doubt that had taken root inside her, the answer was essentially to tell her the truth.

In truth, there wasn’t anything that would cause a major problem even if I told her.

“Still, it might not be enough for her to escape the whispers of that monster just because of that.”

“I’ve thought about that too. First, we need to restore Isna properly. I also think we might be able to find the key to Heaven.”

I didn’t think everything could be solved with mere wordplay.

So after leaving Elpiria with Melissa for a moment, Luna and I called for Isna.

After the incident in the corridor, Isna had remained in Cascadia instead of returning to Mielephon.

But, just my luck—when it rains, it pours.

The only news we could hear from Rebecca was that she had suddenly left her post.

“By any chance… is she still doing Watcher activities these days?”

“Those who are certain still do it, but if possible we try not to interfere.”

Well.

From Isna’s perspective, it must have been awkward.

After all, her grandfather Osberg had discovered her true identity.

Osberg hadn’t dug into matters from the past, but he had subtly expressed that he hoped she wouldn’t continue her current actions for whatever reason.

So Isna had stopped carrying out reckless operations.

“Has there been anything strange about her lately?”

“She seemed to be suffering from a lot of headaches. She also looked very exhausted… Oh, right. She’s been having nightmares often.”

It seemed her condition was deteriorating faster than I had expected.

If I had known this would happen, I would have acted sooner.

Keeping my mouth shut out of concern that what I told her might become a major variable in her mental state had ironically caused side effects instead.

As expected.

I wasn’t used to this sort of thing.

In the end, Luna and I might have no choice but to search personally along the direction Isna had disappeared.

Just as I was thinking that—

I received a summons from Melissa.

She looked extremely displeased, perhaps because she had been happy about finally monopolizing Elpiria for once and had been interrupted.

“Leon. Sorry to bring this up suddenly, but something complicated has happened.”

“What is it?”

“A bizarre Rift has appeared in the Demon Realm.”

She unfolded a map of the Demon Realm and pointed to a location.

It was essentially the outskirts of the Demon Realm, along the patrol routes of the knights who monitored it.

“A bizarre Rift?”

“Yeah. If it were a normal Rift, the forces inside could handle it themselves, but this one’s different. The amount of mana detected from the Rift isn’t normal. And…”

She continued.

At the center of the Rift, a gigantic hourglass-shaped figure had appeared, and sand was falling from it moment by moment.

“No one knows what will happen once all that sand runs out. We’re gathering information for now, but…”

From Melissa’s perspective, she seemed worried about what might happen to the Rift once the sand completely ran out.

“I’ll stop by after I find Isna.”

“I’d appreciate that. And if you need anything, tell me. I’ll support you with everything.”

I felt a little sorry for her relief, but finding Isna came first.

“But where did Meryl Dyne go?”

Rebecca was here, but Meryl Dyne was nowhere to be seen.

If it were her, she would know exactly where Isna had gone.

So when I went back to Rebecca to ask about Meryl’s whereabouts—

I saw Meryl unconscious and receiving treatment for serious injuries.

“What happened here?”

“Just a moment ago… Senior Meryl came back injured… She said she had entered the Rift with Lady Isna…”

The problem was that Isna wasn’t here, and Meryl had returned injured.

A chilling premonition crept over me.

“Did she say anything about that Rift?”

“She said it was a Rift in the Demon Realm. She said it was a Rift she had never seen before, with the shape of an hourglass engraved at the center of the entrance…”

Talk about terrible timing.

It seemed Isna had entered that place.

If it had been the usual Isna, I would have simply thought she’d handle the Rift on her own and come back out.

In fact, whenever Isna stayed briefly in R'lyeh, she would often say she was stretching her body and quickly resolve small Rifts appearing in the Demon Realm.

But this Rift felt different.

And she had entered it with Isna, yet only Meryl had escaped injured?

An ominous feeling crept up.

So I immediately called Melissa and informed her that I would enter the Rift.

“You’re going in right away? Didn’t you have something else to do?”

“It seems Isna went inside. Meryl came back injured alone.”

“What?”

Melissa wore a bewildered expression, clearly thinking the same thing I was.

“No way. She went in with that person and came out injured? Then what about Sister Isna?”

“I don’t know. Meryl’s the only one who came back. I didn’t hear the details.”

“Could she be trapped inside?”

“She’s not that weak.”

Meryl had only explained the entrance conditions of the Rift before losing consciousness.

Even with Luna’s healing and Lispa’s mental restoration layered together, Meryl couldn’t wake up easily.

“Ha… why do things like this keep happening…”

“Don’t worry for now. Just wait. I’ll check it out right away.”

“What should I do to help?”

“Pull as many people away from the Rift as possible.”

If it affected the outside world as well, it would be impossible to estimate the damage.

Melissa slammed her trembling fist down with a bang, her body shaking with frustration at her own helplessness.

Then she took a short breath.

“Alright. Be careful. Big brother.”

* * *

Three people would enter the Rift.

Myself, Luna, and Lispa.

With two former archangels accompanying me, it felt unlikely anything would go terribly wrong—but the fact that Isna hadn’t been able to fully protect Meryl bothered me.

When Isna fought seriously, her combat strength could practically be considered the strongest among humans.

Her power was that immense, and I knew that well.

Arriving at the Rift entrance, I narrowed my eyes at a type of Rift I had never seen before in my life.

The Rift resembled a gigantic spiral galaxy.

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And at the edges of each surface of the Rift, strange streaks of light flickered like solar flares, rising before being sucked back in again.

The most bizarre part was the center.

At the center of the Rift, a giant hourglass-shaped light was drawn, and the sand inside was visibly falling moment by moment.

There was still a lot of sand left for now, but it clearly looked like some sort of time attack had been set.

“How strange.”

“It’s a form I’ve never seen before.”

“You’re right. Even since creation, I’ve never seen something like this.”

If two archangels didn’t know it, would Lucifer know?

Of course, that bastard probably wouldn’t answer.

I slowly reached out and sensed the mana flowing from the Rift.

And my eyes widened.

“What is this?”

At my reaction, Luna and Lispa also placed their hands on the entrance of the Rift and flinched.

“This amount of mana leaking out is clearly abnormal.”

“It’s emitting dozens of times more mana than even the highest-grade Rift.”

At the unsettling mana reaction, I turned my head.

“Luna. Wait here—”

“Going together. This feels really bad.”

“I should go too. That woman can do whatever she wants, but I’m worried about you.”

Neither Lispa nor Luna showed any intention of backing down.

I sighed, then nodded and placed my hand directly onto the hourglass.

Immediately, a brilliant light flashed and the surrounding scenery changed.

And the sight revealed afterward exceeded my expectations.

Murmur murmur.

“I heard they found a huge treasure over there! Let’s go!”

“Good heavens. A Rift like this being discovered—how fascinating.”

“Judging by your looks, you seem to be from the Western Continent. How about it? Would you like to explore together?”

“Well. Sure.”

Astonishingly, inside the Rift were an enormous number of knights, adventurers, and many others.

* * *

The surrounding scenery looked like the interior of a gigantic stone building.

It was large enough to easily accommodate hundreds of people, and even at this moment, people were entering through cracks of newly opened Rifts scattered throughout.

And opposite the entrance we had come through, a massive Rift rotated brilliantly as if declaring that entering there was the real beginning.

Where did all these people come from?

“Unless Melissa has gone mad, she wouldn’t just leave additional humans entering like this.”

“No one has even entered the Demon Realm to begin with. These people must all be entering from somewhere else.”

“You’re right. There are multiple Rifts. The one we entered has closed, but since other Rifts keep opening… it seems the same Rift gate has opened across the continent.”

Lispa’s deduction seemed the most plausible.

If that were the case, then the chances of Isna being in danger inside here seemed low.

Even so, it still didn’t make sense that Meryl, who entered with Isna, had returned injured.

Just then—

“Oh my. I didn’t expect to find such a beautiful lady among explorers.”

When I turned my head, a man wearing flamboyant armor approached us, accompanied by several men and women.

“Judging by the looks of it, is this your first time in a Unified Rift?”

“Unified Rift?”

“What, you came in without even knowing that? My my. How will you protect such beautiful ladies like that?”

At that moment, the bald man behind him chuckled.

“He looks weak as a twig. Maybe the young master just wanted to show off in front of the ladies, eh?”

It was obvious they didn’t have good intentions and had approached us with some kind of purpose.

“Now, now. Don’t say that. It’s not like a Rift has an owner. There could be plenty of people chasing a once-in-a-lifetime fortune.”

The man laughed heartily and patted my shoulder.

“You look like a novice explorer. How about it? If you’re worried, why not join us?”

As he said that, he blatantly stared at Luna and Lispa.

“Is she inside? Let’s hurry in and bring her out.”

Investigating the Rift could come afterward.

The sand in the hourglass was decreasing, but surely that had a reason.

Right now everything seemed fine, but this was a place where anything could happen.

Especially since the mana felt inside wasn’t ordinary.

Ignoring those who had spoken to us, I started walking away, and I could see their expressions twist in irritation.

“Young master. Should we drag them back?”

“Leave it. Too many eyes watching.”

“Then… we’re just letting them go?”

“Let them. Once they go in without knowing anything, they’ll regret it. Look. They didn’t even prepare countermeasures.”

Ignoring their cold voices as they turned away, I stepped into the Rift leading inward.

At the same time—

The already stifling air became even heavier.

What unfolded before my eyes looked like the interior of an ancient structure.

And the ones that appeared the moment we stepped inside were none other than skeletons.

And then—

“Luna?”

Luna and Lispa were nowhere to be seen.

—Ahahahaha!! It was a wide-area random teleportation array, puhahah.

At Lucifer’s mocking laughter, I finally realized what the man earlier had meant.

This was a Rift where, upon entering, you were randomly teleported.

And unless you had made specific preparations…

Even companions would be scattered in all directions.

Just then, a strangely unpleasant wind blew toward me.

It wasn’t a musty smell.

Just as I was about to take a step forward—

Suddenly, a memory flooded into my mind.

—I will never forgive you!! Do you hear me?! If I ever get the chance, I will definitely kill you!!

Someone’s desperate scream.

The scream was directed toward the darkness.

And within that darkness, only a sky-colored, cold gleaming gaze flickered.

—Don’t forget. Even after I die, I will curse you again and again.

Even while hearing that cry filled with unimaginable resentment, the sky-colored gaze never responded.

That memory wasn’t mine.

But I knew.

That just now…

…was Isna’s memory.

A memory from the Closed World she possessed.

The memory faded again like a hallucination, but one thing was different from what I knew.

As if her emotions had synchronized, they momentarily surged into me, and I felt anger and killing intent directed toward that blue-eyed presence in the darkness.

As if Isna had shared emotions she had hidden with someone else.

I had to find Isna before it was too late.

Just as I was thinking that—

KWAANG!!

With a loud crash, the wall shattered.

Do people normally move through dungeons by smashing through walls like this?

When I turned my head, Luna was standing there, staring at me with wide eyes after smashing through the wall with her bare white hands.

“Leon. Glad you’re safe.”

“Uh… yeah.”

With a slightly awkward expression, I asked Luna,

“Uh… how did you find me?”

“I just came toward the direction that smelled like Leon.”

Looking behind her, I saw Lispa following with a pale face.

And behind them stretched a seemingly endless corridor of broken walls.

Also, in one of Luna’s hands, something that looked like a wraith was screaming as it was grabbed by the hair.

—Please… please let me go. I’ll never come near you again! Please! Please forgive me!

Whoa.

That’s a bit much.

I slowly reached out and placed my hand on the solid wall.

This… isn’t just a normal wall.

Even a Sword Master wouldn’t easily break it.

Watching her smash through it without a care, I thought to myself—

If a marital fight ever happens, I’d better just bow my head first.

“Leon? Why are you trembling like that?”

“Ah—no. No, it’s nothing. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

Cold sweat ran down my back.

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