Chapter 196: World of Protagonists (2)

“You are a protagonist?” I asked. But something is strange. Normally, when I meet a protagonist, I can see their level as well as their role in the story inside the tag above their head. But, in her tag, I couldn’t see anything. On top of it, I couldn’t feel the presence of the episode or the flow of the story. However, one thing was certain. That is, the power of ‘probability’ was surrounding her. That fact alone was enough to convince me she was indeed a protagonist.

Then, the question was, why did a protagonist suddenly come to Earth? And why did that woman carry the jumbled mess of Hell Gate all over her body?

The woman grinned at me.

“We are all protagonists of our own stories.” She said in a very playful tone. It was as if she was treating me like a child.

“What do you mean? What the hell are you?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Do humans not even have the intellectual capacity to figure out anything on their own? If so, that's disappointing. I thought the ‘Protagonist Hunter’ would be a little different.”

"WHAT!?!?" Goosebumps ran all over my body as soon as I heard her words. I had never told anyone except Aracelli that I was a Protagonist Hunter. And even to her, I only explained it vaguely. To Seol Jungyeon noonim and Taylor, I only told them that I was going to another world to fulfil a murder contract. In other words, the only being who knew that I was a Protagonist Hunter was the system.

‘System, don’t tell me there’s another person who knows about this aside from me and you…’ I questioned the system in my head.

<Perhaps… that is indeed the case…>

I swallowed my saliva at her words. That’s right. It was just like the saying, there are no secrets that time does not reveal. Moreover, I don't even know much about being a Protagonist Hunter, so I never thought that it was my secret. As soon as I thought like this, I was able to regain my calm.

“I come from the world you love so much, Hell Gate. You are already vaguely aware of it, aren’t you? Fufufu, what a cute human.”

That’s right. I had my suspicions. However, I had no idea that there would be a being with such a high intelligence inside the Hell Gate.

"Then… are you the ‘protagonist' of the Hell Gate?"

It was a premise that made absolutely zero sense. From what Aracelli and the system had told me, Hell Gate was a place where debris of all dimensions gathered. However, since Hell Gate is also a dimension… there’s a chance that a protagonist would also be born there, right?

“Think as you like. After all, even if you knew the answer, it would be meaningless for you.”

“And why is that?”

“Because, I will kill you here. You are a hindrance to our perfect world. I really have no idea why you are still allowed to live." 

Allowed to live? By who?

But my thoughts were cut short because the woman raised her hand and stretched it towards me.

There were a lot of people who were as strong as SS rank superhumans here. So, if a fight broke out, they would be able to deal some damage to her. But the question was, will their power be enough to kill someone who had the power of ‘probability’ on her side?

Rumble-!! 

The moment those thoughts flashed in my head, a thunderbolt suddenly fell from the clear sky above and struck the woman. It was not a common occurrence, but it's something that really happens to someone who had really, really, really bad luck.

Sizzle-!

Smoke rose from her body. Even a thunderbolt—a force of mother nature—couldn’t do any significant damage to her who had the power of probability.

However, if there’s something worth noting about the occurrence, it was,

‘At such an important moment, something unfortunate happened to the protagonist?’

It was ridiculous. Protagonists were those who received the blessings of the world. Everything they do, the world moves to lend them a hand. Therefore, in the current situation, it was more likely for such unlucky things to happen to me or those who stand against her. So how did something unlucky like this happen to her?

Unlike me, who is just purely confused, the woman’s complexion turned pale in an instant.

“Come on, wait… this isn’t it… Wait a minute, I'm really, it's all for our goal…"

Whooosshhh-!!

A cold wind suddenly blew. Even though I couldn’t feel anything from the surroundings, the woman kept speaking gibberish to no one in particular. Sometimes she looked at the sky, sometimes to the ground, sometimes to the clouds, sometimes to the mountains.

“This… This… This is not what it looks like… I’m doing it purely for our perfect world…” She said frantically.

“Did she go crazy?” 

A protagonist? All of a sudden went crazy?

While I was taken aback, Lacanthal swiftly took action by raising his hand. In his hand was a staff adorned with blue crystals on one end of the handle.

“Attack that woman!”

He was implicitly known as the leader of the otherworlders, so all the otherworlders immediately mustered their power and hurled magic in various colours towards the woman. Although most of them had lost their original power or were in a state which rendered them unable to fight, there were as many as five beings with power equivalent to an SS rank in the group. And their fighting senses were still sharp, so it wasn’t difficult to deal with the woman who was losing her mind.

‘Why don’t you fight back?’ The woman just stood there and looked at me. Her eyes, which were filled with murderous intent towards me a few moments ago, had now been replaced with despair. They were similar to those of a patriot who had lost all her will because she had lost her entire country. Her wings were torn, her grey skin cracked, her eyes ripped open, and her face was in the process of being ripped apart by the incoming magic.

‘Just why…'

After a while, she finally shed her tears while looking straight at me before slowly opening her torn lips.

“In our perfect world… There is no room for someone like you!"

"Because…." she uttered her last words with an enraged expression. “Because… it’s a world of protagonists.”

As soon as those words left her mouth, her neck fell off.

[Yo$@%^$!ur le!*^&!^vel had be@&*@(&$en ra@*$&(@$ised by 7.]

[Talent and skill? What is that?@_@]

A message which always appeared once I finished killing a protagonist appeared before my eyes. However, I ignored it as I couldn't take my eyes off her body for a while. It was because, even after she—a protagonist—died, the phenomenon of ‘recovery of probability’, which should have appeared at that moment, was not happening.

‘Just what in the world is happening?’

That woman was definitely a protagonist. It was proven by the fact that the ‘probability’ inside her body was absorbed into me in the form of levels. However, the probability of her world which blessed her did not change at all. As if she was not even the protagonist in the first place.

‘Then, what the hell is that woman?’

* * *

After the ruckus ended, I went to visit Rahvar, who was, from the information I had been told, heavily injured.

While I was in front of the building where Rahvar was being treated, the reporters pointed the camera at me and started throwing a barrage of questions.

-Hunter Yoo Seodam! Do you have any reason to help an adversary?

It was a justified question. Iran was a country which did not interact with Korea at all after the Great War ended. However, despite this fact, I, one of the most famous hunters from Korea, had come to help Iran. So it was only natural that the reporters were fervent.

That’s not all. Throughout the whole ordeal caused by the unknown woman, the ‘otherworlders', which were scheduled to be revealed once all preparations from my part was completed, were revealed to the public abruptly. So the reporters also demanded that I shed some light regarding the matter. But I kept my silence. After all, something as big as that should only be done through a press conference.

Soon, I entered the building and arrived in front of Rahvar’s room which was big enough to put the aristocrats' room to shame. He looked like nothing more than a boy lying peacefully on top of a bed. With his eyes closed like that, he looked so pretty that he could be mistaken for a woman.

“Thanks to you, Iran was saved. Thank you.”

“Please say that in front of the camera.”

“Well, I should do that, shouldn’t I? The script for that time is currently being prepared.”

I glanced at Rahvar's ankles as he spoke playfully. It should be close to impossible to regrow body parts which had been completely cut off. Most likely, he wouldn’t be able to walk for the rest of his life.

“Are you bothered by it?”

"…it would be a lie if I said I wasn’t bothered by it."

This was only the second time I met Rahvar. It was safe to say that I had no special connection to him and I only came here for nothing more than business reasons. However, seeing him losing a part of his body during the battle made me feel very uncomfortable.

That's probably because I was aware that it could also happen to me since I am still living on the battlefield until this very day.

“To be honest, this works well. Really, this condition is quite welcomed”

"Pardon?"

When I was taken aback by Rahvar's outrageous words, a genuine smile, which I thought was something he couldn’t make, bloomed on his face.

“Now, I can go anywhere I want.”

“…” 

It was truly ironic. 

He finally gained his freedom to move anywhere he wanted only after losing both of his legs.

To defend Iran, Rahvar had dedicated his whole life to this land, sacrificing even his own freedom. It was because he thought that only by doing so would he be able to defend this land. However, as time went by, he found out that his power alone wasn’t enough. That’s why he tried to find someone, anyone, whether it was a S Rank superhuman, an otherworlder, or a mercenary, anyone would work as long as they could be hired with money to be his limbs. However, it did not work in the end. And the rest was history.

“Thanks to this incident, I realized that the most important thing is for a ruler to appear in front of the world and give his people a peace of mind. Thank you very much.”

…to sum up his words roughly, he’s going to throw away both his resentment and desire towards the otherworlders, and asked me to take care of them.

"Thank you." I bowed my head to him and left the hospital.

Journalists were still flocking in front of the building. The Association's hunters were blocking them, but it was impossible to stop them with only that. They weren’t called reporters for nothing. So, I decided to give them my statement.

"Yes. I helped Rahvar in Iran because he promised me something.”

Click! Click! Click!

Every time the reporter pressed the shutter, the illusion of a scorching sun seemed to appear before me. Their light was just that blinding.

“The existence of different races is also true. I discovered this fact by accident and now I will help them assimilate into Earth's society. Excessive stalking to the point of stressing them… will never be forgiven.”

Some of the reporters' faces hardened at my last words. They must have been reporters who secretly attached tracking superpowers to the otherworlders. And, then I added one last statement.

“From today on, my guild, Another League, will start preparing for the ‘Hell Gate’ expedition.”

* * *

In a far, far dimension where Cheongyeon Private Magic Academy exists, Aracelli Rinekal, a beautiful girl with a black hair as dark as night and blue eyes as crystalline as sea, was relaxing in her small hut in the countryside.

Whoosh-!!

Whenever the wind blows, the greenery which stretches endlessly to the horizon in front of her dances along. The scene was soothing and beautiful. She could proudly say it was one of her favourite moments so far. Of course, it couldn’t beat the moment when she met her Professor in the past or any moments she shared with him.

Aracelli smiled. She hoped that the Professor would soon start his journey again. Although she always arrived at the wrong time whenever she followed him, it was because of a badly twisted ‘time axis’. But that was fine. For her, if it meant she could see him again, she would happily face any obstacles in front of her. 

While thinking so with her eyes closed,

“…!!!” Aracelli suddenly jumped to her feet trembling as goosebumps assaulted her whole body.

‘Wha…what…?’

It was only momentary, but for those several moments, she couldn’t feel the Professor’s energy. No matter how far away he was, because of the tracking spell she put on him, she would always be able to feel his energy. For an Archmage like her, being wrong about something that's related to magic was something impossible. What happened just now meant that whatever happened to the Professor was something beyond her scope of understanding.

"Just what…”

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