Chapter 392

Encounter with the Nova

The gap closed up, just as quietly as it had opened. And for a moment, we stood in silence.

“…Was that the Nova?”

Manager was the first to speak.

“He looks similar to the other Karmas. The pale skin and platinum hair. They are designed to look like the ancient elves.”

“So it really is then…”

“The Nova…”

Haah. I let out a deep sigh. Damn it, that was our chance. If I had only struck…

No, there was no point in regretting it now. At least now we knew what our target looked like. And once we killed it, the war would be over and our purpose would be completed.

“Let’s go. It must be up ahead.”

I took off my jacket and stored it in the hollow bracelet. There was always a chill when we went underground, and my bare skin allowed for my body to cool off.

I stared up ahead, where a long, straight path stretched out.

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And so we walked down the passage. There wasn’t even a single branching path. At first, we moved slowly, as we were cautious of traps. But there were no traps or enemies. Just a long, long road. It was almost annoying how long it was.

“Can you not see anything?”

“Give me a second.”

Daniela asked, and so I activated Eyes of the God Wolf. I had only used it briefly earlier, as I feared an ambush, but it seemed safe enough now. However, Manager and the others still moved closer, just in case.

While looking ahead, I switched my vision in order to look farther on. The passage continued on in the same way for a while, but after following it more, a plain door suddenly appeared in front of me.

“There’s a door.”

I could sense the others reacting to this. I stretched my vision even farther and saw that there was a great hall on the other side, and beyond that, the man with platinum hair was waving his arms as if mad.

Surprisingly, he was hitting something that looked a lot like a keyboard. It was amazing to see something so modern looking in this world. Though, it was likely a magic tool that was left here by the ancient elves. There were even screens that looked like monitors on the walls, and one of them was showing us.

“Damn it…so he can see us…!”

Without thinking, my face had moved towards the direction where the camera should be. At the same time, the man raised his head and looked at the screen.

“Shit!”

I quickly deactivated the skill and unsheathed my sword.

“What is it?”

“He’s on the other side of the door up ahead. And he has magic tools that allow him to see us. He’s been watching us all along!”

I pointed, but there was nothing visible there. However, Manager threw one of her shadow knives, and it hit something that wasn’t the wall. There were some sparks as an invisible object fell to the floor.

After a few seconds, the thing became visible. As I suspected, it seemed to be a camera of some sort, and its lens was directed at us.

“This is what he uses…”

“What should we do?”

“There is only one thing we can do. We have to keep going.”

Still, now that he knew that we knew, there would be some kind of reaction. But who knew what that would be? In any case, it was best to make our way to him as soon as possible.

“There’s no time to talk. Let’s fly there all at once.”

“I do not think…”

“It’s possible. Jack of all Trades, Master of None says it is.”

I could see the video playing in my brain. Legs of the God Wolf could carry all four of us at once. And I understood how to do it.

“All three of you, come closer.”

They obeyed, and stood close to me. And then I activated Legs of the God Wolf. The wind, or typhoon, spread out and enveloped them. Then we were slowly picked up off of the ground and carried away by the platinum and jade wind.

“You’ll fall off if you move, so stay still. Just like you wouldn’t stick your head or arm out of a car.”

“Says the guy who doesn’t even have a driver’s license.”

“It’s an emergency, so you’ll have to bear with me. Sorry!”

I said as I dashed forward. Just as the skill had told me, the three were able to accompany me without falling off. As long as it was within a certain range, I could run while keeping the wind spread out. This hadn’t been possible before.

“Asagi, you…”

“Don’t worry. It’s because of these clothes.”

“…”

Daniela seemed to know the truth. I blamed it on the clothes, but it was also proof that my evolution into a monster was advancing. Now that I was closer to a God Wolf, I was able to do things that I couldn’t before. Even though Gleipnir helped slow it down, it didn’t stop it completely. And using this power would probably accelerate things.

Still, this long corridor was nothing when you could become the fastest creature in the world. And so we arrived at the door in the blink of an eye.

“Haa…ha…”

However, it was still exhausting carrying three other people with me. I knew that there would likely be a tough fight ahead of us, but the longer we took, the more time he would have to prepare. We couldn’t waste any more time.

“Haa…now, let’s go…!”

The others unsheathed their weapons and nodded. Then I opened the door.

It was the same sight I had seen through Eyes of the God Wolf. The only difference was that there were now four Automatas with him.

“If you are not a god, I have no need of you.”

The Nova’s voice rang.

“But we have business here. What you’ve been doing has affected people from other worlds!”

“Failures are just a part of experimenting. I care not for a few casualties.”

He did not sound like a madman anymore. His voice was calm and confident. However, there was nothing in his words that I could agree with.

“People’s lives have been ruined while others were brought back from eternal rest. There’s no end to the problems!”

“Why do you want to summon a god?”

As I barked at him, Daniela questioned the Nova. The reason for these Reincarnations. We didn’t know. Why did he want to connect to the world of the gods?

“…Because I was left behind.”

“What…?”

“I was left behind by the elves. They all returned to the world of the gods. And so I must go too.”

The ancient elves returned to the world of the gods? That was the reason why there were no more ancient elves here? That didn’t make any sense. The ancient elves were supposed to have angered the gods, and the result was that they had their power taken away. The current elves were their descendants. But then again, that was just what Yamato had told me.

“You do not know of it. When in the past, we elves connected to the world of the gods, the elves crossed over into that world. They went, and left me here!”

Emotion suddenly filled his voice as he slammed his fist over the keyboard. It was a lot of emotion for someone who was a machine.

“We were told that the gods were angry at the elves for their experiments, and that most of them were wiped out?”

“They were not wiped out. They crossed over. To the other side.”

“Then what are we? The elves that remain?”

“Unchosen ones. The spawn of those who were too weak to bear the power of gods.”

Was that the truth… The elves who were seen as unfit to enter that special world had then mixed with other races to create the current elves.

“I see. So my ancestors were lacking.”

“Child of worthless failures. Be gone. Do not disturb me.”

“You will be defeated by this failure. This experiment ends now!”

Daniela shouted. I was seething myself. Daniela, a failure? Impossible. There wasn’t a more brilliant woman in the world. She was more noble and beautiful than anyone. A failure?

“I’m going to destroy you…count on it. You said something that you shouldn’t have.”

“Hmph… Boast if you must. It will not happen.”

The Nova finally turned towards us and waved its arm. Then the four Automatas moved. These ones looked quite strange. One doll was very tall and wore armor, another wielded a sword that unleashed magic, one had numerous arms and weapons, and the last one looked like a dragon.

“If you can survive these, you might gain my attention. I have some time before the next experiment.”

He said in a bored voice, then he turned back to the monitor. And then the dolls moved towards us.

What a joke. Yes, we would kill him last then. I grabbed the Glampanzer at my waist and glared at the four dolls.

“So, which do you guys want?”

“I’ll take the armored one.”

“Then I’ll have the one with the magic sword.”

“So I’ll do the dragon and…”

“No, the dragon is mine.”

But Daniela hated dragons. And while she had recovered from her trauma to a degree, this did not seem like the place to take such risks.

“It is mine. Alright?”

“…Fine. Then I’ll take the one with the arms.”

Daniela’s expression had such a strong resolve. She knew that she would not lose.

In that case, there should be no problem. Besides, I was probably the right one to fight the thing with numerous arms.

“Well then. Don’t any of you dare die on us!”

“I do not need to be told that by the likes of you.”

“Yeah, you’re the one who should be careful.”

“Uh…right…”

Matsumoto had just meant to get them psyched, but Daniela and Manager were having none of it.

“Don’t worry. We’re all going to leave this place alive.”

“Mister Asagi… Yes! Alright!”

Matsumoto took the lead as he dashed forward. And then we all ran towards the target of our choice. We had to get this over with as quickly as possible. Like that, the clean up of the magic tools began.