How to Survive as a Dungeon Manager in Another World

22: Kalmash (2)

The Forgotten Era… it refers to a time within the primordial World Tree, when the Sephiroth, source of light, and the Qliphoth, source of chaos, existed in balance.

That era when the elves ruled the land under the protection of the Sephiroth.

Kalmash was a border touching the chaos of the Qliphoth, and the domain of beings descended from the Outer Sea… the Outer Gods, that is.

The beings of the Outer Sea, mad with blood and frenzy, incited mortals to slaughter and left echoes of chaos throughout Kalmash. To prevent this, the elves created the Chains of Order… the very passage we had just traversed.

‘…Or so the lore goes.’

Having read the original work, there was no way I could possibly be ignorant of this setting.

Kalmash was a stage heavily featured in the original story, and more importantly, a place akin to the homeland of the Outer Gods, the final bosses.

‘Truly deserving of being called a demonic realm.’

Kalmash has one defining characteristic.

Here, where the primordial chaos is condensed, space itself is unstable.

The thick miasma of death makes it impossible to gauge direction, and no machine can function.

That’s why I needed Adina.

Kalmash was disgustingly vast, and we needed to find traces of the Sephiroth within that vastness to forge a path, something only her Spirit Eyes could discern.

Of course, Adina stubbornly refused to go to such a dreadful place, but I easily crushed her defiance with the authority of the housemaster.

“…The edge of the rock. Turn right from there.”

Black clouds clung to the sky, filling it completely.

Adina pointed a finger in the thickly settled darkness.

Each time she closed and opened her eyes, a flash of amethyst light pierced the darkness, only to vanish just as quickly.

*Phat, phat!*

Lost in thought as I watched her Spirit Eyes pierce and illuminate the darkness for fleeting moments.

A monotonous female voice drifted from behind.

“Spirit Eyes… so that’s the unique trait of the Baekmo clan I’ve only heard whispers of.”

Arkan stared intently at Adina, as if fascinated.

“I told you it would be interesting, didn’t I?”

“Hm? Well, it’s intriguing, but we’re far from done. Being an Eye-Seer is a rare trait, true, but it’s hardly *that* special.”

…True enough.

Eye-Seeing was a unique trait of the White-Hair Clan. To ordinary folk, it was an ability they might see once in a lifetime, if at all… But considering the years Arkan had lived to build his current renown, he must have encountered traits of that caliber countless times already.

And so, following Adina’s lead, a long time passed as we walked.

The deeper we went, the more the surrounding environment and terrain shifted.

The sky, draped in black clouds, permitted not a single ray of light, and beneath it, the blackened thickets, submerged in darkness, were difficult to even discern their shapes.

The land was desolate.

Only crimson-black rocks were scattered everywhere in alien formations.

And how utterly putrid the air was; with each breath, the metallic tang stung my nostrils, and the stench rising from the space itself was even worse.

If one were to imagine the end of the world, this was precisely the kind of atmosphere that would naturally spring to mind.

Thankfully, we were still at the edge of Kalmash… making the environment and terrain relatively ordinary.

It was why I, a mere human, could still walk about unharmed, even having crossed the border in earnest.

“It’s strange, you know. Seeing you like this, you seem like just a normal human.”

“Not ‘seem like.’ I *am* one.”

“Yes, yes. If you say so.”

“…”

It was too bothersome to even reply, so I decided to remain silent.

After ceasing the conversation, I lightly surveyed my surroundings, pondering the contents of the original work.

‘A massive spire of black iron, twisted in a spiral, located at the entrance to Kalmash.’

Just a single sentence.

A place described through ‘Her’ recollection in the original work.

In any case, we had successfully entered the periphery of Kalmash, so all that remained was to move inward, following Adina’s guidance.

Unaware of these facts, Adina naturally harbored doubts.

“What in the world are you trying to find in a place like this?”

I stared intently at her face.

It wasn’t just fear.

Her expression held genuine, heartfelt skepticism.

I answered in a dry, monotone voice.

“The Seed of the End.”

“The Seed of the End? What’s that?”

“Such things exist. You wouldn’t know of the echoes of chaos left behind from a forgotten age.”

“……”

Adina ground her teeth at my perfunctory reply.

I didn’t particularly care.

No one here would grasp the truth of my words.

Except for one.

“…Did you just say echoes of chaos?”

Grand Overlord Arkan.

Her eyes gleamed with an unusual light.

“How does a human like you know of such things?”

Ah, damn it.

This has become bothersome.

Because of her insightful gaze, I couldn’t utter a falsehood.

“…I saw it.”

“You saw it? Those primordial times?”

“Yes.”

…Well, I more or less saw it.

In a novel.

“…By what means?”

“Am I obligated to answer even that?”

She gave a dry, humorless laugh at my curt response.

“We should move out now.”

I rose from my seat before the conversation could drag on.

As I prepared to lead the way again, Adina’s voice came from behind.

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t you…see that?”

I stared intently ahead.

But in the dense darkness, I saw nothing.

“Where?”

“There.”

Adina pointed, but still, nothing.

Then, it happened.

*Shooom—*

The thick darkness swirled, a vortex of shadows, and from its heart, a form emerged.

Unmistakably human.

And a woman of considerable beauty, at that.

The woman’s identity…

“…Found her.”

Elfriede Trivia.

The seed of apocalypse, sought for so long.

“Wait here.”

*Thud. Thud.*

I moved forward.

Each step pressed down with a crushing weight, as if the very air itself were solidifying, but I gritted my teeth and endured.

How far had I walked?

The woman, once a dark silhouette, now sharpened into clarity before my eyes.

“…”

I stood silently, gazing down at her slumped form.

She wore a white holy robe, but the pure fabric was stained crimson, speckled with patches of black.

The exposed skin seemed afflicted by a curse, rotting and decaying only to be reborn by golden, holy light; a cycle of endless, gruesome renewal.

As though trapped in an eternal torment.

‘This is bad.’

The price for sealing a demon lord within a mortal vessel.

The fragment of chaos sealed within her would gnaw away at her sanity for an eternity.

‘…A Saintess.’

She was clinging to life with holy power, but even that was failing.

The forcibly sealed fragment of apocalypse would soon sprout and bear fruit.

And she would be reborn as something new.

Having lost all conviction, all self, become a puppet of chaos.

“That won’t do.”

Though consumed by chaos now, her essence was not that of a villain.

A true Saintess, replaced. That was Elfriede’s true nature.

Suffering here due to the machinations of the Sacred Order, but such was not her destiny by birthright.

If only the shard of chaos dwelling within her flesh could be purged, the immediate crisis would be averted.

“Quite the murderous aura.”

I gazed upon her, exuding a baleful energy.

Just as described in the original work.

Slowly, I reached out a hand toward her.

The instant my fingers brushed her brow, an overwhelming presence pierced my very soul.

Hwaaack!

From her, a black aura erupted in a violent torrent.

Ordinarily, one would have succumbed to this horrifying corruption, lost consciousness. But I was different.

“This is something else.”

All the energy she spewed was being absorbed into the ring upon my index finger.

A wondrous artifact capable of absorbing fragments of chaos, the Ring of Yphrasia.

The overflowing fragments of chaos were purified into an infinite vista, filling my soul.

The tattoo beneath my right eye pulsed with a cerulean light.

Simultaneously, a radiance imbued with supreme dignity devoured the darkness.

A primordial image, buried deep within my heart, stirred restlessly.

The comprehension of the runes etched upon my soul finally blossomed.

It was proof, a sign that I had transcended one of countless branching paths.

And then.

Something approached.

Kugugugung!

It was a serpent.

With a physique so immense, it could easily be mistaken for an Imugi.

The moment I beheld it, I knew its identity.

“…Jörmungandr.”

A Serpent that devours the world.

A monster born between destruction and creation.

Jormungandr.

A Calamity-Class demonic beast.

Grand Overlord Arkan.

She stared blankly ahead, utterly entranced.

“…A demonic beast.”

A demonic beast.

And a Calamity-Class one at that, a primordial monster belonging only to myth.

Even for her, who had lived for centuries, this was the first time directly facing a Calamity-Class beast.

No, she hadn’t even dared to imagine it.

That she would meet such a monster beyond the border.

“Tch, what a mess.”

That was not a monster meant to be fought.

Of course, it wasn’t that she *couldn’t* fight it, but even she would have to endure a certain degree of sacrifice.

There was no need to confront it.

A Calamity-Class demonic beast was *that* kind of existence.

She turned her head.

The two girls who had followed Luke were crushed by the oppressive aura emanating from the Calamity-Class beast, unable even to properly move.

Ah, bothersome.

The sealing of a demon king within a human vessel was certainly intriguing, but if she had known she would encounter such a monster, she wouldn’t have opened the passage; the regret was already immense.

Thud.

Footsteps ringing out, breaking the chilling silence.

Her eyes widened.

Luke Richter, the man who claimed he would show her something interesting, was slowly approaching the monster.

His ability to maintain his sanity within that oppressive aura was commendable, but she couldn’t simply stand by and watch.

That was, quite literally, no different than going to one’s death.

But his expression was strangely serene.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

It was a smile that felt like an itch spreading across his entire being.

From his right eye, a searing blue glint stared down the foe before him.

Then.

“Accelerate (加速).”

An intensely compressed, azure haze bloomed from his entire form.

Reaching out in dozens of tendrils, they collided and coalesced at a single point, birthing a colossal ripple.

Waves born of countless frictions.

It was a tide of the mind, a dominion unto itself.

“Time Gate (時門).”

From the heart of the ripple, a violently compressed ray of light scattered into the heavens.

A radiance illuminating the darkness, sketching a shape in the air—a gate (門).

“Open (開放).”

Kreeeeeeak—!

The gate creaked open with a deafening screech that pierced the eardrums.

Beyond the gate, a monstrous heat surged forth.

A chilling, viscous, eerie undulation seized control of the space.

And.

“Reverse (逆).”

The world froze.

As if time itself had come to a standstill, even a single mote of dust drifting through the air was completely arrested.

The pressure of time glued the space together.

Immediately after.

Kwooo!

The Time Gate, now flung wide open, began to devour everything adhered to the temporal pressure.

The space itself was torn away, in its entirety.

The undergrowth, the pebbles, the rocks—all of it was ripped asunder.

And so too, the massive serpent before him.

The Time Gate finished its feast and vanished leisurely, its existence concealed.

And.

The world, now stripped bare of everything…

“Emptiness.”

It explodes.

Emptiness swallows the world.