Light of Arad: The First to Walk - Chapter 197



Only Noblemtl

197

Jinseong concentrated his mind, looking at the cards in his hand.

Just that alone made me feel like a purple energy was slowly blooming.

‘The eyes are probably changing too. If I had a mirror, I would be able to see clearly.’

Now Jinseong himself knows.

When the Dark Knight in the game Dungeon & Fighter displays his power.

Every time he raised that energy and made it concrete, the most obvious change was in Jinseong’s own eyes.

‘The reverse eye is cool, but… … The reverse eye is the foundation to begin with. It would be nice if I could just stay in the reverse eye and use the power of the Dark Knight-.’

Imagine yourself in the station and take a moment to lick your lips with regret.

Jinseong remembered something again and relayed it to Vivi and Chili Shrimp.

Before using the Contamination Card as material to unleash the power of the Dark Knight, the first thing the two of them had to check was the code of conduct.

What to do when you can’t get in touch with your true self.

-There may be a time when I can’t contact you or something, but even in that case, we will proceed according to the method we decided in advance. Do you all remember?

Since Jinseong had already been to the ‘Castle of the Dead’ with Giselle from the Helix Institute, it wasn’t difficult to emphasize the danger to them both.

The two of them had also separated their timelines by choosing separate routes, so they could not allow even a small mistake to cause them to overlap, so they remembered Jinseong’s instructions perfectly.

-Yes! In some areas of the Castle of the Dead, you may not be able to whisper! In that case, proceed with the epic quest, and when you return to the village, wait from then on!

-If both of you are in the town or the quest gap is reduced to less than two, wait at the camp of the route you chose before choosing the route. Even if there was a problem before choosing the route, wait at the camp of the route faction you chose.

-Yeah, yeah! And then when all three of you are in perfect contact, let’s proceed again! Right, Jinsang?

-Okay. Then both of you, please continue.

Jinseong nodded with a satisfied expression.

In fact, it is easy to respond immediately when an emergency occurs… … .

‘I don’t know if I’ll use up all my power again and time will get messed up, just like the Epic Road incident last time.’

It could also be said that this was a countermeasure prepared because it was impossible to predict how the flow of time would change for Jinseong and the two people who flew into the dimensional gap due to the crack in space-time.

“Hoooooo……”

Jinseong now began to catch his breath.

A noticeable amount of energy was flowing out of his blackened hands.

When the energy that spread from Jinseong’s hands like a dark purple fog focused on Jinseong’s body, from his body to his face, and from his face to his eyes again.

“Haaaaaah…….”

Finally, Jinseong’s eyes became colored.

The light from his eyes, which had turned black, flashed.

[Anton (polluted) who eats unpolluted fire]

Jinseong crumpled up the card.

That was the moment.

────────────… … !!!!

A ray of light burst out from the card for a moment.

The light that spread outside the tent made even Hunter Pon, who was far away, flinch for a moment.

“Hey, Miss Meryl, something flashed in Mr. Jinseong’s tent. Can I go and take a look?”

“You little punk! What are you going to do? Don’t bother me and just stay still.”

“Kkiing, Miss Meryl is too much……”

The desert fox’s ears drooped.

But even if the Hunter phone had approached the tent, there would have been nothing special.

Jinseong, who had been staring blankly, must have just been gasping for breath.

* * *

“Ugh!”

Jinseong didn’t panic, even though he felt like everything around him was being erased with the feeling of falling.

Instead, he held his breath for a moment, concentrated his confused mind, and immediately grasped his condition.

‘It’s not like I’ve only seen it once or twice. More than anything, it’s something I expected to some extent.’

A similar feeling I always had whenever I met Nemer.

While checking to see if his own body was intact, Jinseong looked around the space that could be called a ‘dimensional gap’.

‘It’s black. It’s so dark, like a blackout curtain was drawn… … It’s really strange to see my arms and legs. Sometimes they only appear to be black, but the color always seems to be subtly different.’

Because it is an infinitely expansive space, there are many phenomena that seem familiar but are still unknown.

Could it be that the surroundings, which can be called the background, are different each time you enter or leave, whether intentionally or unintentionally, because of such characteristics?

‘Or maybe my eyes are turning red and glowing, or something like that… I don’t know, but that’s not the point.’

Jinseong opened his eyes wide.

I don’t know what happened here.

Since the important thing was ‘what can be done’ here, Jinseong first looked around, expecting Nemer’s appearance.

“Nemer! Nemer! Lady of Light! Final Guide! Primal Wisdom!”

But as time passed, there was no change.

Nemer, who had always appeared with a dazzling brilliance, was nowhere to be seen.

“……Huh……?”

It was a truly embarrassing experience.

Wasn’t it clearly because of the reaction of the [Uncontaminated Fire-Eater Anton (Contamination)] card that he entered the dimensional rift?

‘The power to tear apart space-time… … It was definitely the Dark Knight’s power that came into this dimensional rift – but he didn’t do that to empty space in the first place. I definitely focused my power on the card, and I felt like the card was reacting.’

In other words, it is a correct guess that you fell into a dimensional gap close to infinity, at least at a point or timeline related to the ‘card’.

And yet there’s nothing around, not even Nemer?

[Keep on going, are you going to become a missing person in another dimension and go meet another me?]

“Wh, what- absolutely not!”

The voice of Heukgu rang in Jinseong’s head as he became more anxious.

It was a sound that brought eerie images to Jinseong.

Even though you’ve become friends with Heukgu, you still want to meet Direji, who is completely torn apart somewhere in the rift of this dimension, crushed, and regenerated over and over again due to his own characteristics, unable to die and suffering pain greater than death?

[But remember, Jinseong. I am another power that separated from me to ‘track’ you… … What it means for me to be in the same space as you. Hehehe… … .]

What good would it do if Jinseong himself hated it so much that it made him shudder?

In the first place, you could think of the black ball as a kind of bio-GPS attached to the true body by the black disease deregistrator.

A power granted directly by the Apostle Diregie to monitor and track the true nature.

The self that sprouted from that power.

In other words, if you are in a rift of the same dimension, doesn’t that mean that it is possible for Direji to find or even approach his true self?

“Ah…? What the-. Shit, no! Anyway, Nemer-. Hmm?”

Jinseong tried to escape somehow, even if it meant struggling.

First, I had to meet Nemer. If Nemer couldn’t come out, I had to go back to reality.

But then, there was a light at the end of Jinseong’s gaze.

‘It’s not the usual golden glow… …but it’s definitely light.’

Jinseong moved his body towards it, struggling.

His body barely managed to move forward, even if it was a bit ridiculous, by shaking his body as best he could, as if he was floating in space.

‘It’s purple. It’s similar to the color of the dimension you usually see when you pass through the time gate.’

The light source was small and seemed far away, but at some point the purple light seemed to flutter and grow larger, making it difficult to gauge the distance.

If there was one silver lining, it was that compared to the surrounding area, which was completely dark, there was definitely a purple aura there.

When he entered the dimensional gap related to the first awakening with Direji, he remembered standing in a space with that kind of background, so Jinseong approached without hesitation… … .

‘Huh? Huh?!’

I had to stop by waving my arms with all my might.

Jinseong swallowed dry saliva, feeling as if he was floating in the air.

This is because I realized that the space that had felt so far away until just a moment ago had suddenly become closer.

Now it was clearly perceived by Jinseong’s eyes and ears.

Jinseong recognized their appearance, their gathered silhouettes.

The Last Mehmet.

Garrincha of Regret.

Baston of the past.

Current Andres.

Message from Cheongsan.

‘… …Time Lord. Oh, crazy!’

Because they were the Time Lords who protected the dimension of Plain: Arad.

* * *

‘I have to go back. As soon as possible-.’

There was only one thought that came straight to Jinseong’s mind.

It’s not just because I got Nemer’s attention.

Isn’t Jinseong himself confident?

The scene where the possessed Ranger showed incomprehensible movements while still a user, I am certain that it was because he received a penalty from the Time Lords.

Because it was a decisive debuff, the Ranger user was ultimately unable to avoid the Heavenly Dragon of the Sacred Cloud, and met his end.

‘-Of course I… I didn’t do anything wrong! Ah… right? I didn’t do anything in particular!’

One thing is certain.

Even if he were to encounter the Time Lords, there would be virtually no benefit to Jinseong himself.

This can also be seen through another Time Lord, Clipa, whom we met shortly after correcting the corruption of the cold dragon Skasa on the continent of Arad.

It was Clippa who warned Jinseong not to create any more distortions or cracks.

At least it was Clipa, an NPC related to the Epic Road and one of the Time Lords whose mission is still unclear, so it was a good thing. What if the Time Lords in front of me right now look down on Jinseong!?

‘I’ll go back first. I’ll think about what happened later.’

Jinseong concentrated.

Why did he come here? Why are they gathered here?

I have many questions, but now is not the time to think about them.

If there’s one thing I have to do, it’s to quickly bring back the Dark Knight’s original power.

Even while being careful not to be caught by them if he sneezed even once, Jinseong concentrated and gathered his strength.

Energy began to slowly rise again from the blackened arm.

‘At least going back always felt the same. Focus. To where I was going. To that time.’

If it was the same when the dimension was split in the castle of the dead, it will be no different now.

You just have to concentrate.

It will become clear.

“You still haven’t found it, Garrincha?”

“…the atrocities and regrets are clearly felt…but they are impossible to detect.”

“Is that possible? Is it possible that there is an entity in this dimension that cannot be detected even by our power?”

But the conversation he was hearing was disturbing Jinseong’s concentration.

‘Huh? What did you say?’

Garrincha, remorseful, responded to Mehmet’s final remark.

It is undetectable.

It was Baston of the past who flinched in surprise at Garrincha’s declaration-like words.

Although they looked similar at first glance, Jinseong knew that their colors and the props that symbolized them were subtly different, and since he knew how to distinguish ‘all the differences’, it was information he could recognize.

‘My story… … ?’

For a brief moment, Jinseong thought the story was about him.

It was Jinseong himself who corrected the distortion that was almost caused by Apostle Anton’s breath, but wasn’t it true that in the first place, it was Apostle Anton’s brain, the omnipotent Mateka, who read his thoughts that caused that situation to happen?

Just as I was thinking that this might be a story about atrocities and regret, emotions that even Jinseong himself didn’t think deeply about, another Time Lord spoke.

“Because the time of the crack’s creation is unclear… my chains are also wavering.”

“If you don’t detect it, you can’t punish it. If you don’t chain it, you can’t erase the traces.”

“I cannot understand how it causes distortion and cracks when it is impossible to change the twisted fate.”

Andres in the present, who is tracking down a being that escaped from the present to another time zone.

And the message of the clearing that completely erases the traces of those who disrupted time.

Jinseong became tense at their fierce conversation.

And then I soon realized.

“It’s different from the being that far surpasses the power of space and time. It’s not a being that’s trying to intervene in our dimension, but one that has already jumped into the middle of our dimension and is exercising its power… We must find it. Urgently.”

The last story of Mehmet.

Judging by the weight of those words, the person they are referring to is not someone like Jinseong himself.

‘What the Time Lords are looking for right now is-.’

I’m not simply talking about the possessed beings who are wandering around Plain: Arad, or the adventurers who have broken the Time Lords’ rules by force and been possessed here.

Moreover, it does not mean that he himself is a scapegoat.

‘-?’

Are the Time Lords finally coming forward?

Gulp.

Jinseong swallowed dry saliva.

“……human being.”

At that moment, a voice was heard from Jinseong’s own ear.

It was the voice of the Time Lord, Clipa, who was smaller than Jinseong’s own head, but Jinseong couldn’t pay attention to him.

Ten eyes now turned towards Jinseong himself.

Because all the Time Lords’ eyes were fixed on Jinseong.

Even though they were mechanical beings whose expressions could not be judged, the feelings Jinseong felt towards himself were by no means friendly.

“Ah… Hello? Hey, yeah! As you know, we’re the ‘Children of Time’! The Creator, me, and the Dark Knight. Mehmet, you know me, right?”

The most Jinseong could say was this.