It was a monster no matter who looked.
Perfect, leaving no room for doubt, no way for any differing opinion.
“······ Aren’t you human right now.”
“You’re a picky one.”
Gulp!
I swallowed the core again.
Then bones and flesh layered over my whole body, and feathers sprouted.
Seeing me become the King of Corpse Crows in an instant, Dramut flinched.
“H, how? How can a human take on a monster’s form?”
“One of the abilities I have, caw.”
“An ability that can become both human and monster exists······!”
It wasn’t some simple disguise level, I just became the monster itself.
Even if an ancient dragon used polymorph, it couldn’t become a perfect human.
Likewise, no matter how great a magician was, they couldn’t become a perfect monster.
They could only imitate.
If you didn’t know from the start, you might be fooled, but if you knew and then watched them change, you’d have no choice but to notice that subtle foreignness.
But, you couldn’t tell. Not a speck of foreignness existed.
The man before my eyes had shattered something like the laws of the world.
“Dramut, caw. Spill everything you know, caw.”
“······ Don’t give orders while cawing.”
Better to be human.
Rather than watch a corpse crow cawing while it ordered you around, even if it was annoying, speaking in human form was less humiliating.
***
Dramut spat out everything he knew.
Why the star guardians had gathered in Kramdel.
That reason really was about the thirty-third star.
But the change in Kramdel had existed since a year ago, and the reason the star guardians only came here now was because there was an entirely different reason.
“The star here is a star completely different from the thirty-two stars that existed on the original continent.”
“Isn’t it that the corpse of the goddess became a star? There can’t be a ‘completely different star,’ can there?”
It was a natural doubt.
In the first place, they only called the dead goddess’s corpse a star.
Then couldn’t something that wasn’t the goddess’s body not become a star?
“The goddess who became the thirty-two stars is Goddess Rhea. But she had a twin younger sister, Pina.”
“Sounds like a setting I’ve seen somewhere.”
“Setting?”
“No. Keep going.”
I wasn’t that interested in the setting related to Pangaenia’s primordial era.
I’d skimmed it, but I did feel like I’d seen something similar.
Dramut tilted his head, then opened his mouth again.
“······ Goddess Rhea made the earth, and Goddess Pina made the sky. But in the primordial war against the ‘ruin,’ Rhea died. However, before she died, Goddess Rhea divided her body into thirty-two pieces and scattered them across the continent.”
Those were the thirty-two stars.
Indispensable for humans to reach transcendence.
Gamers, players, had competed over those thirty-two stars.
Even if you had the qualifications, if you couldn’t find a star, or if there were no stars left, you couldn’t transcend.
But if someone who transcended with a star died, the star fell back to the continent.
That was why “transcendent hunts” happened so often. Unless you had overwhelming force like Wilhelm, a middling transcendent would become prey for huge powers.
‘That’s why, the higher the ranker, the more important a faction was.’
One reason gamers allied and banded together was to protect their stars.
Since I played solo, I had no choice but to clash with those alliances often.
In fact, some characters who had transcended were killed by them.
Dramut continued.
“Before the entire continent was eaten by the abyss, Pina lifted the remaining continents up. The lands that weren’t consumed were severed from one another, but could be connected by ‘warp.’ It’s all thanks to Goddess Pina.”
Why the continents were split apart.
It was the world setting where you had to use warp whenever you moved between cities.
In reality, the continents now didn’t exist on the ground.
They all floated in the sky.
On the original ground, the abyss sat.
And if you went further down below that, that place was the Demon Realm.
He was saying that without the twin goddess Pina, all the continents would have perished to ruin.
“So, putting it together, are you saying that thankful Goddess Pina might even be dead?”
“······I don’t know. That’s why the star guardians gathered in a hurry.”
“Then why are they still dawdling here?”
“A powerful, peerlessly strong veil of ‘mystery’ is spread around the star.”
The White King had said the same.
That a unique-grade mystery was spread out.
So he couldn’t check the inside.
“Do we just need to remove that mystery?”
“I don’t know how one would remove mystery, but even if you could, you must be cautious. If mystery has been spread, it means some being is near the star.”
Mystery is proof.
A pebble you kick on the roadside can’t have mystery.
Something living.
Only those who try to prove their own existence are granted mystery.
If a unique-grade mystery is spread, it also means there’s a being that strong inside.
I quietly rubbed my chin.
“If something spreads that level of mystery near a star, it could be a star guardian.”
“······The possibility is small.”
I got the gist.
The star guardians themselves were at a loss, blocked by the unique-grade mystery sealing off the star.
And no one knew what sort of being was inside.
‘You don’t know much.’
At this rate, he is no different from me.
But there was something I clearly had over the star guardians.
“Dramut. I can destroy that ‘mystery.’”
“Haha! Mystery is like truth itself. How could you destroy that?”
As if to say don’t joke too far, Dramut laughed loudly.
It was obvious disregard.
“On top of that, it’s a unique-grade mystery. The White King who rules Kramdel, and even the strongest star guardian, gave up. You, of all people?”
“Didn’t you hear that I erased Imoogi’s mystery in front of Mystery Hall?”
“It was pretty noisy. ······Wait. That was you?”
In a moment, Dramut’s eyes widened.
No matter how uninterested the star guardians were in Kramdel’s affairs, there was no way they hadn’t heard about the commotion at Mystery Hall.
“That some corpse crow pinned an Imoogi down, and went to meet the White King together with the Four Great Masters······.”
“That was me.”
“······.”
Dramut was speechless.
Come to think of it, the protagonist of that disturbance really had been a corpse crow.
He had also heard the story that Imoogi’s legendary-grade mystery had been destroyed.
But all the star guardians treated it like a joke.
Because they believed something like that was impossible.
Yet the person in question was right in front of him.
The owner of the star he guarded, Randolph.
That bastard had pretended to be a corpse crow, entered Mystery Hall, and turned Kramdel upside down.
Not only that, he was also interested in the thirty-third star.
“······ Can you really erase it?”
“Of course.”
An immediate answer.
Dramut’s head started spinning.
He had always been a strange, unknowable guy. A strange guy, but thinking back, even when he first took a star, he passed without any trial and wasn’t he chosen by the goddess?
If someone unqualified touched a star, their whole body would burn, but Randolph simply touched it and became the star’s owner.
If, by some chance, Randolph could really remove that veil, this was a huge incident.
‘My standing will rise too.’
Among the star guardians, his cold-rice status would naturally shoot up.
He would be the one to lead and finish what even the strongest star guardian couldn’t do.
The problem was the risk if they failed.
“If you approach the veil, the star guardians will notice. Sneaking up is impossible.”
“Then?”
“You must do it before all the star guardians. But······ the moment you fail, you have to be prepared to die.”
The star guardians are dead serious about everything tied to the goddess and the stars.
There was no way they’d sit still if someone without permission approached a star.
Even if they allowed it, if he failed, they would demand his life as collateral.
“No big deal.”
When I shrugged and said that, Dramut answered in an even heavier voice.
“All I can do is bring you to the front of the veil. I can’t protect your life too.”
“That’s enough.”
Finding Dramut really was the right call.
If I’d gone on my own, I might have died on the spot to the swarming star guardians.
And since even the White King couldn’t sneak close, secretly approaching the star seemed impossible.
“Good. Wait here.”
Dramut left the room.
He was going to persuade the other star guardians.
‘I should prepare thoroughly too.’
I needed to do everything I could in case of any situation.
‘The Constellations of Pantheon. The rewards they put up themselves.’
The reward list I got from clearing Main Quest 5.
I still hadn’t chosen yet.
‘The Constellations that were most favorable to me. I should look at them first.’
Since they were favorable, the odds they offered useful rewards were higher too.
Rewards that came from an overwhelming score of 500 points.
Each one was surely a treasure to shake heaven and earth, but if I couldn’t use it, it was the same as trash.
If I picked without thinking, I could fall into a trap.
《Hourglass of the Clockwork Constellation》
《Ring of the Constellation of Adventure》
《Four-Leaf Clover of the Constellation of Luck》
《Spear of the Constellation of Battle》
《Armor of the Eternal Moon Constellation》
《Invention of the Constellation of Alchemy》
《Hair of the Nameless Constellation》
《Weapon Blueprint of the Blacksmith Constellation》
······.
After raising the reward list, I carefully chose one from the Constellations’ offerings.
***
Underground of the hot springs.
In an underground tunnel where hot-spring water flowed, a vast ‘veil’ was spread out.
“Can that corpse crow really erase ‘mystery’?”
“If it’s a lie, Dramut, you’ll be held responsible too.”
Ten star guardians had gathered.
The silhouette they looked at with displeasure was only one.
The King of Corpse Crows.
Everyone’s attention was fixed on whether the King of Corpse Crows standing before the veil could truly erase a ‘unique-grade’ mystery.
But it wasn’t only the star guardians here.
“······ The White King and the Four Great Masters.”
“Why are you lot here?”
The star guardians glared at them with even more displeasure.
Of course they would, with both the White King and the Four Great Masters present.
The White King shrugged.
“Is it wrong for me to set foot on my own land?”
“I let it slide once, but didn’t I say if you so much as loiter near a ‘star’ again, it’s war?”
The strongest star guardian, the “Giant of Annihilating Evil,” lifted his chin.
There are only a few giants left, and the giants were the strongest species on earth that claimed themselves the goddess’s protectors.
“I just want to watch. If even that bothers you, then we’ll have no choice but to see blood.”
But the White King didn’t back down either.
Because he was genuinely curious.
Whether that corpse crow could really destroy a ‘unique-grade’ mystery.
‘Didn’t expect him to try to handle it before the fifth great master’s announcement, but still.’
That decisiveness was astonishing.
How he had persuaded the star guardians was also endlessly curious.
But more than any of that, what interested him most was the destruction of mystery.
Unique-grade.
Even the White King and the other star guardians had been blocked and couldn’t enter.
“Hm.”
······And before their eyes, I had no choice but to furrow my brow.
What was spread before me was certainly a mystery.
The problem was the text mystery showed me.
【First Wall (unique-grade mystery)】
【Until Pangaenia collapses, 9.96%】
【Until the first ‘dimensional fissure’ begins, 0.04%】
【When collapse reaches 10%, the ‘First Wall’ will vanish.】
【When the ‘First Wall’ vanishes, the ‘first dimensional fissure’ that connects to Earth will be created.】
【‘Main Quest ??? : Eliminate the King of Dimensional Fissures’ will soon begin.】
At the same time, something inside the veil met my eyes.
It was a star.
The King of Dimensional Fissures holding a star dyed black!
And countless nightmares led by the King of Dimensional Fissures were lurking inside the veil.
Main Quest ???
Can’t the others see this?
Even if you set aside the explanation about the mystery, the number of nightmares inside the veil was greater than the number of monsters gathered here in Kramdel.
Moreover, the ‘King of Dimensional Fissures’ holding the black star was clearly radiating presence.
‘Looks like only I can see it.’
If they could see it, there’s no way they’d be so calm, just watching me.
Maybe it was because I was a player, but that content and the monsters inside the mystery seemed visible only to me.
First Wall.
‘So that’s the first dimensional fissure.’
Meaning that when the collapse rate hits 10%, the First Wall disappears, a dimensional fissure opens, and it heads to Earth.
It felt like the ‘fissure’ that had been emphasized ever since I was first summoned to Pangaenia was that very thing.
The real start of invasion and erosion.
‘Why is it under Kramdel?’
Why were so many nightmares, of all places, in Kramdel.
The one that made the goddess’s tears flow in the underground hot-spring water was surely the star.
Tears from that black-stained star soaked the spring water and revived Kramdel.
And.
‘It called me.’
That star, was calling me.
When I first met Isaac and entered the hot-spring water.
<‘Observer’s hand of the blind goddess’ begins to search for you.>
The Observer’s hand of the blind goddess started searching for me and made the hot-spring water explode.
Strange.
I didn’t remember being particularly close to any goddess.
Wilhelm, who transcended five stars, was called a ‘knight of the goddess’ only because he possessed five stars, there wasn’t any separate connection.
After becoming a player, it sometimes felt like the goddess was oddly obsessed with me.
Or was that star related to me?
What was certain was that the moment I erased the mystery, countless nightmares would burst out in a swarm.
‘······ Only 0.04% left anyway.’
Even if I didn’t do it, it would happen soon.
Since I didn’t know the criteria for the collapse rate rising, there was no way to stop it.
At this pace, no matter how slow, it would reach 10% within a week.
Then.
‘This might actually be a good thing.’
I change my thinking.
Rather than waiting for a dimensional fissure that could open at any time, it might be better to open it at the timing I want and clear it.
No, that was definitely better.