Chapter 164: System Error

< Chapter 164: System Error (3) >

Upon waking up, the first thing I saw was Lust’s face.

“Are you awake?”

While wiping the dust and scabs off my face with a handkerchief, she smiled refreshingly.

“...Where is this?”

I raised my upper body. Sitting up, I looked around. It was just an ordinary forest. Just a while ago, we were in the heart of the dragon’s resting place, inside a cave.

What on earth is going on?

“I’m not sure either. But it seems certain that we are in Korea...”

Lust smiled awkwardly, pointing in one direction. Through the countless leaves, a gigantic tree, the World Tree, stood tall. The presence of the World Tree implied that this place was Korea.

But why were we here? No, there was something more important.

“What about the others? Did you find anyone?”

Unknown, Hermit, Maiden. What happened to those three?

“No. I checked with a skill, but there was no one nearby.”

“No one?”

“Yes.”

“I see...”

The mystery deepened. I recalled the last situation before losing consciousness.

‘While space was collapsing, Unknown rushed to devour me as a last resort...’

At the end of the fierce battle, Unknown succeeded in placing a hand on my head. The devour skill was activated.

‘Right after that, the system message started to update anew.’

At the same time, Hermit severed Unknown’s arms, and Lust rescued me.

‘And finally...’

My eyes slowly widened. I remembered.

[Expelling the ‘impurity’.]

‘Yes, they definitely said they were expelling me.’

Expulsion. Does that mean that I was expelled from the dragon’s lair to Korea?

I tried to stand up, putting strength into my muscles.

“Ugh!”

“Seo-yul!”

But my body wouldn’t obey. Trying to get up, I staggered and fell.

“Don’t overdo it. Your physical condition is not good.”

Lust, who caught my falling body, looked at me with a worried expression. I couldn’t muster any strength in my body. It was a feeling of powerlessness I had never experienced before.

“You’re drained of both physical strength and mana... Even your life force and vital energy are faint like a dying lamp. You need to rest.”

“...Is it that bad?”

“Yes. It’s serious.”

It seemed I had indeed overexerted myself. It was bearable to have low mana, but being drained of physical strength was another matter.

It was my first time experiencing this since acquiring ‘Boiling Pure Blood’.

“Then I’m sorry, but can you support me?”

I wanted to heal the wounds with holy power, but whether due to lack of mana or something else, I couldn’t manifest the holy power.

“Yes! Of course!”

The child lifted my arm over her shoulder.

“Thank you.”

The height difference made it a bit uncomfortable, but I felt like I could walk at this pace.

“Let’s move first. We can’t stay here forever, and Maiden or Hermit might be nearby.”

“Yes. Gathering information.”

As Lust took a step, she suddenly shook her shoulder.

“Ah, right. Shouldn’t we take this with us?”

Lust looked down at the ground. I followed her gaze.

“Ah. Cheonbyeon.”

During the fight with Unknown, after using up all the usage limit of the ancient relic, I had drawn Cheonbyeon as a last resort.

Probably after being ‘expelled’ to this place, I lost strength and dropped Cheonbyeon.

“I tried to keep it, but I couldn’t grab it because the wear restriction was too high... I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? If you hadn’t told me, I would have left it behind. Thanks, actually.”

With Lust’s help, I picked up Cheonbyeon. It changed from its dagger form to its original longsword form.

“Shape-shifting weapon... So that’s why it’s called Cheonbyeon.”

“Right. It means a thousand changes.”

I changed the shape of Cheonbyeon into several forms afterward.

“Wow. It’s an amazing weapon.”

“It’s an excellent weapon, to the point of not suiting me.”

Fortunately, it looked fine. It didn’t seem to be damaged. It was a relief.

If there had been a problem with Cheonbyeon in this situation, it would have been quite a headache.

“Are you going to carry it in that state? Wouldn’t it be better to change it to a dagger or a smaller form?”

Lust asked, looking at Cheonbyeon, which had transformed into its original form, a longsword.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll put it in my subspace.”

“Subspace?”

Lust opened her eyes wide.

“You even have such a skill?”

“Somehow.”

I put Cheonbyeon into the subspace.

“Huh?”

No, I tried to.

“...Seo-yul, what on earth are you talking about?”

Lust asked me.

“Wait a moment. I’ll explain everything at once later. Please be quiet for now.”

“Ah... okay.”

I quieted Lust and pondered.

That woman said this place was Alfheim.

And Alfheim is the land of the elves.

That means, in other words...

—Looking at your expression, it seems like you really didn’t know.

The woman, whose voice became a bit softer, took a few steps forward and took off the hood she was wearing.

—Let’s start with my introduction first.

Bright golden hair and green eyes.

A face that seemed to have all the beauties of this world packed into it.

And long ears that harmonized perfectly with her appearance.

A woman who resembled Jia smiled faintly.

—My name is Illyna Alfheim.

—Il...lyna?

Moreover, if her surname is Alfheim...

—The queen of Alfheim...?

—Yes.

Looking at my astonished face, Illyna smiled gently.

A smile that was soft, yet carried a peculiar pressure.

—Ah.

That’s a smile waiting for my introduction.

—I’m sorry for the late introduction. My name is Kang Seo-yul. My surname is Kang, and my first name is Seo-yul.

—Kang...Seo-yul? It’s a difficult name to pronounce.

Illyna kept murmuring my name with my inexperienced pronunciation.

It seems very difficult to pronounce my name in Elvish.

As I watched Illyna continuously murmuring my name, I lost myself in thought.

‘The place I’m in right now most likely represents the world from ten thousand years ago.’

Perhaps it’s what they call time slip.

It feels like such a phenomenon might have occurred.

The elf queen standing before me, Illyna Alfheim, was the evidence.

‘Could it be that the expulsion meant being banished to the past?’

It doesn’t seem to be such a big penalty given the fuss the system made.

‘No, it can’t be.’

Why would the system banish me to the past?

There would be no reason to send me to the past if they wanted to banish me permanently.

‘Then what is it?’

Why has this happened?

Time slip.

Time travel.

This means...

‘...Regression?’

A luster flowed from my eyes.

‘That’s right! The penalty of the Time Dragon’s Essence!’

An ancient relic created from the stone of creation.

It allows the user to harness a powerful regression ability that manipulates time backward but incurs a penalty as a consequence.

‘Temporal dislocation.’

The penalty is called temporal dislocation, which has the effect of warping the user’s timeline abnormally.

I was planning to deal with the unknown first and then solve the penalty...

‘What if that penalty and the system’s banishment somehow intertwined?’

Being banished in a state of time dislocation. Then traveling back to the past wouldn’t be impossible.

It was then.

―Seo-yul.

At Illyina’s words, I snapped out of my deep thoughts.

―How is it? Is the pronunciation a bit better now? Seo-yul. Seo-yul.

―Yes. It’s perfect.

In the meantime, her pronunciation had improved significantly.

―I’m glad.

Illyina smiled faintly.

“So, why did you come all the way here, Seo-yul? Seeing that you came without knowing about Alfheim, it seems like you ran away in a hurry...

Illyina examined various parts of my body. Seeing my body full of wounds, it seems she judged that I was a fugitive.

―Yes. Before I realized it, I found myself here.

―I see.

Illyina wore a serious expression and fell into deep thought for about 10 seconds.

―Hmm. How about taking a short break in Alfheim? You can heal your wounds and take some rest.

―Would that be alright?

It was an unexpected proposal, but I wondered if it would be okay.

―Of course. Our Alfheim is not a heartless nation that neglects those in distress.

< Chapter 164: System Error (3) > End