188 – Collapse – 3

Chapter 36. Collapse – 3

―Cycle… So she turned back time inside the barrier with that power? After failing to use the contractor as a sacrifice, she ended up sacrificing her own subordinate in the end? Just why?

At this moment, the full details of what was happening inside the barrier were revealed.

While Gi-jun calmly awaited his reunion with Kurenai, Lucy grumbled incessantly, saying she could not understand.

―First of all, I don’t understand how such a colossal authority can manifest in a place out of the system’s control.

‘Lucy… I want to ask, is that actually possible?’

The first thing Gi-jun thought of after experiencing this was, of course, the ‘regression’ that had occurred in the tutorial channel.

However, strictly speaking, back then, time had not been wound back; instead, the power that the Earthlings had acquired over fifteen years—or ‘karma’ in Leta terms—was simply reset, and they were moved to another tutorial channel in their initial state.

Yet, right now, everyone except for Gi-jun and his contracted spirits had lost their memories of the past month.

It was the first time Gi-jun’s party had experienced it, but thinking that this might have been repeated over and over inside this barrier sent shivers down their spines.

―There’s nothing impossible about it, Contractor. If it were turning back the time of the entire universe—that would consume an absurd amount of resources and karma, of course—but if it’s restricted to the inside of a barrier carefully isolated from the outside, it’s possible even with a moderate sacrifice. Yes, if about one person is offered as a sacrifice per month.

When Gi-jun’s party first came to the barrier, the priestesses had been searching for a priestess named Sakura.

Perhaps she was the very sacrifice Kurenai had offered previously.

And this time, she had intended to sacrifice Gi-jun’s party who came from the outside instead of an insider, but—the moment Gi-jun pulled out the holy relic, Kurenai, sensing that something had gone wrong, hurriedly sacrificed Murasaki in his stead.

With that, the authority operated successfully, and a month of time was wound back.

―The reason those priestesses have distorted memories about Sakura… must be a correction effect caused by the sacrificial ritual of turning back time. To put it simply—Sakura wasn’t in this village for the past month. So, after this ‘regression’ took place, they came to think that ‘it’s only natural that Sakura isn’t inside the barrier.’

‘If that’s the case… then by the time the next ritual is held, Murasaki will end up like that too.’

It was probably a correction to reduce the burden of regression as much as possible, but thinking about how many people besides Sakura had been devoured by the barrier in this manner made it an absurdly horrific thing.

―Anyway, I’ve figured everything out with this. I thought it was rather contrived from the moment we ended up entering a barrier sealed this tightly due to something like an authority running wild, but this barrier was originally acting as a device to lure in outsiders as well.

‘To sacrifice clueless outsiders who got swept up in it? But since that isn’t enough, insiders ended up being consumed periodically.’

―Naturally. Even if they tried to lure people, it would only have been those caught in teleportation accidents. Since four people were caught at once, Kurenai must have been absolutely thrilled. Without knowing that our contractor is an out-of-spec monster.

‘Who is the real monster? Now, this place feels like some kind of spiderweb to me.’

Gi-jun replied with a look of disgust and raised his head.

He saw Kurenai walking over from beyond with a calm expression.

She was a beautiful woman with striking red hair that resembled a brilliantly blooming safflower.

When he first saw her, she had seemed to possess an aura that was not inferior to Gi-jun’s, but now that he knew she was committing outrageous tyranny with the power of the holy relic behind her, she appeared infinitely small and ugly.

“Please forgive my rudeness in not welcoming our guests warmly. My name is Kurenai.”

The same face, the same voice as a month ago.

However, her expression was slightly different from what Gi-jun remembered.

As expected, she possessed her previous memories.

“I am Jun.”

Gi-jun responded as similarly as possible to a month ago.

For reference, Renka, who had held a different conversation compared to a month ago, had already been pulled back long ago just in case.

“I heard that you came to this place after being caught in an unfortunate accident. I would like to host our distinguished guests at the shrine and speak with you once more. Would you care to join me?”

“Lady Kurenai!”

“How can you invite suspicious people to the shrine!”

“And Lady Murasaki isn’t even by your side right now!”

“Oh no, Lady Kurenai is going to get eaten by a handsome man…!”

Gi-jun agonized for an extremely brief moment.

He desperately wanted to smash her head in right this second, but with her not knowing that Gi-jun possessed the memories of the past month, throwing away that advantage to yield to his impulses would be foolish.

Gi-jun looked back at his companions, just as he had done a month ago.

Tilla and Lora, who realized he was harboring agony, seemed to have already designated Kurenai as a potential enemy; though ready to pounce on her at any moment, they somehow nodded their heads.

While Eun-shin…

“Priestess heaven…”

“Shin, I’m sorry, but you’re being a bit creepy right now.”

He decided to continue ignoring him.

* * *

―But it really is a mystery.

After entering the shrine with Kurenai and being assigned the exact same lodging as a month ago.

Lucy, who had swept the surroundings as usual to eliminate any chance of eavesdropping, tilted her head and spoke.

―Since she has a holy relic harboring that much authority, why on earth is she cooped up in a barrier like this, just turning back time?

“Isn’t it because she’ll get attacked if she goes outside?”

―Well, if she had a holy relic of that level, wouldn’t she be able to create a different kind of safe barrier instead of one that requires such sacrifices?

Having faced the Pomegranate of the Underworld, Lucy admitted the fact that she had secretly looked down on this place.

No matter how many conditions were attached to it, the holy relic, which possessed the authority to drag targets into the underworld, indeed contained a truly immense amount of power.

―But I don’t know the reason she’s hiding like this. Just why is that?

“Ask Kurenai that. A normal person like me can’t possibly understand such a psycho.”

―Hmph. Anyway, from now on, we have to use the power of that holy relic to drag the evil spirit out.

“Has that fellow really been dragged into the underworld?”

―It was a spiritual body that wasn’t even properly connected to the contractor. Considering that this barrier was made with Kore’s power in the first place, it’s the perfect setup for the evil spirit to be dragged into the underworld.

Gi-jun let out a deep sigh.

The fact that they had to approach the holy relic was clear. However, he had absolutely no clue what they should do after that.

“I’m weak at this sort of thing. Help me, Lucy.”

―Of course. Since I’ve already seen it once, I can bring that evil spirit back the next time the passage to the underworld opens. What the contractor needs to do is control Kurenai’s actions so that the passage stays open for as long as possible.

“Then… if we spend the exact same month as before, the opportunity will come.”

To be honest, it was not something he felt very keen on.

To make his party members, who had already lost the month they spent here, repeat the exact same month felt like he was using them as puppets to put on a puppet show.

―No, Contractor. Something has changed.

The words Lucy added to that increased his agony.

―Kurenai will likely target the Fragment of Unique Territory you possess. Since she must have realized that the ritual fails if that is present.

“…Indeed.”

Recalling the somewhat searching gaze Kurenai had sent his way, he couldn’t help but nod.

“Still, it makes no sense to just hand this over willingly.”

―Of course. If I were in that woman’s shoes, I would lie in order to somehow take it from the contractor. And the lie that would work best in this situation is, without a doubt…

She did not even need to say the rest.

Perhaps she was in a hurry, for without even waiting long, Kurenai sought out Gi-jun that very day and carefully brought up the topic.

“There might be a way for me to let you out of the barrier.”

“What is that method?”

“That is… repairing the holy relic that serves as the core of the barrier.”

Hearing Kurenai’s words, Gi-jun felt like slapping his own forehead.

To tell such a bold lie when he still remembered the momentum of the holy relic that emitted an eerie aura right up to the moment of the ritual.

However, since Gi-jun, who was already being watched with caution for possessing the Fragment of Unique Territory, could not afford to act as if he remembered the past, he mobilized even his Adamant skill to control his facial muscles and forced a serious expression.

“A holy relic…”

“You must have already realized that this barrier is no ordinary thing. Unfortunately, however, the holy relic was severely damaged because it consumed too much energy to form the barrier. If only we could restore it, we might be able to let you out, but…”

Whether she intended to use her feminine wiles, Kurenai wore a deeply sorrowful expression as she narrowed the distance to Gi-jun.

Of course, she did not say anything like, ‘If you have a holy relic, we might be able to repair our holy relic.’

She merely listed a series of methods that seemed capable of repairing the holy relic but were absolutely impossible to put into practice under the current circumstances, and then carefully added at the end, ‘Perhaps we could supplement it with the power of another holy relic.’

Gi-jun, who had been desperately suppressing the urge to snap her neck from the moment Kurenai approached closely, forced a look of surprise the moment the words ‘another holy relic’ spilled from her mouth.

―You shouldn’t act, Contractor. It’s a relief the other party is also desperately acting.

‘Be quiet, Lucy, you’re breaking my concentration.’

Perhaps Kurenai did not think he would hand over the holy relic right away either, for she withdrew for the day, satisfied with his reaction.

―In my opinion, that woman is only wary of the contractor’s holy relic, not the contractor himself.

“That’s probably because Kurenai herself is nothing special without the holy relic.”

―An accurate point. In other words, if Kurenai only succeeds in separating the holy relic from the contractor, she will resume the ritual without any hesitation.

Having said up to that point, Lucy wore a devious expression as she made a suggestion to him.

―Let’s just give her the holy relic. Of course, while pretending to struggle immensely, and obtaining as much as we can in return.

“Of course, you don’t mean we can just lose the holy relic for good, do you?”

―On the contrary, we should steal their holy relic too.

Gi-jun couldn’t help but give a bitter smile at those words.

“Then the barrier will be completely ruined.”

―There’s no reason to keep maintaining a barrier like this anyway, is there? Even if we leave it like this, the priestesses trapped inside will only wither and die one by one.

“Yeah, I suppose so…”

Gi-jun nodded in agreement with her words.

However, in the midst of that, there was still something he could not understand.

Since it was clear that it would eventually lead to destruction.

Why was Kurenai struggling so hard to maintain this barrier?

The answer to that was obtained before long.