How to Survive as a Dungeon Manager in Another World

Episode 25 – Absolute Defense

“…”

“…”

The two of us sat facing each other at a table.

An awkward silence filled the room to overflowing.

*Sip.*

Without a word, I took a sip of coffee, glancing surreptitiously at the figure across from me.

The woman who had been kissing my hand and offering prayers to me just moments before now sat demurely, blinking her eyes.

Golden hair, as if spun from molten gold, stirred softly.

From her sapphire eyes, locking with mine, I sensed a strange confluence of emotions – tension, excitement, elation… eyes that suggested she had waited her entire life for this very moment.

…What am I supposed to do now?

I had saved her before she could be consumed by the chaos, but I hadn’t deeply considered the aftermath.

In the original story, she was an incorrigible entity. Now that I had twisted the predetermined future, even that source was useless as a guide.

The woman sitting before me was a monster possessed of the most immense divine power on the entire continent.

Though her fate was altered, she could not erase the past, etched with the Betrayal of the Star Cluster.

‘I loathed humanity with a poisonous passion.’

She was of humankind, yet she despised them.

The fact that her deepest desire had been to set the world ablaze spoke volumes of the depth of that hatred.

How she felt about me remained shrouded in doubt.

I might have saved her, but to assume that alone had earned her trust was premature.

But we couldn’t remain in this heavy silence forever.

I cautiously broke the stillness.

“Elfriede Trivia. Is that correct?”

Her name, to begin with.

A verification was necessary, just in case.

“That is so.”

She nodded readily.

“What are your intentions now?”

“…Intentions, you say?”

A faint bewilderment tinged her voice.

Her gaze held a hint of “Why ask the obvious?” aimed squarely at me.

“You joined Blackmore seeking death. You believed it to be the only path.”

“……”

“My meaning is, do you still desire that end?”

“How could I? This life, bestowed by the Divine, I now intend to cherish.”

The Divine, indeed.

I was the one who saved your life, not some god.

Be grateful to me, do you understand? The words swelled to the back of my throat, but I refrained from raining on her parade.

“Do you have any other place to go?”

“If it would not be an imposition, I wish to remain by Luke-nim’s side.”

“Me? Why would you want that?”

She seemed unable to tear her gaze from me.

The focus of her vivid, sapphire eyes wavered.

Not because my face was handsome, but as if her vision pierced something beyond my mere surface.

“I see the form of your soul.”

…To be able to see the form of a soul, I had no idea.

Even the original novel never mentioned it; in the first place, she was just a villain, not a character explored in any great depth.

“And, in this world, there is no one else with a soul like yours.”

Well, that’s certainly true.

I’m the only one who’s been possessed into this world, after all.

There’s no way the souls of those who were born and lived in this world would be the same as my soul, which came from another world.

But.

“A sublime soul, reminiscent of holy light.”

“…?”

“The path of discerning intellect, the crown of creation, the radiance of unity, she who gives form to faith.”

“…Kavilla?”

The phrases she murmured were not unfamiliar.

The gods of this world are called forgotten beings.

Among them was a god referred to as ‘The Great Moon,’ that being Kavilla.

What she had just said were passages from the scriptures that described Kavilla.

“I saw it. Just before my consciousness faded, the source of the power you wield. It was clearly the authority to command time.”

…Well, I did absorb the Rune of Time.

“An authority granted only to Kavilla.”

This, too, was true.

Runes are fragments containing the forgotten primordial language, the power of a god to twist causality, and the Rune of Time is a fragment that severed a part of Kavilla’s authority from the whole.

‘Could it be…?’

It was strange from the moment she abruptly said she would serve me.

But now I understand.

In her eyes, I was Kavilla, or something akin to her.

Even the reason is fairly logical.

The fact that I possess a soul form different from the people of this world, and that the power I wield happens to be time, Kavilla’s authority.

“…”

I’m truly going mad.

How on earth am I supposed to explain this?

Should I just spill it, tell them I’ve been spirited away into this body?

But to explain possession, I’d have to reveal the truth—that this is a world inside a novel. That’s a red pill bordering on poison.

They wouldn’t believe it. And even if they did, there’s no predicting what would happen next.

“…You asked if I had a place to go.”

I just blinked dumbly.

My mind was truly blank. I felt numb, like something inside had short-circuited.

“I cannot give you a definitive answer. However…”

“…However?”

“I wish to follow you.”

Elfriede smiled, gazing at me.

“For it is my bounden duty.”

Her smile was so gentle, it was like she’d tear out her own heart and offer it to me.

And so time passed, and the final day of the Headquarters Assembly approached.

Before returning to the office.

I sat on the vast training grounds, contemplating my current state.

“So I’ve overcome the first hurdle, haven’t I?”

The ability to twist causality in a legitimate manner—that is the essence of Authority.

And the embodiment of that Authority as the world’s laws is the Rune.

The Authority gained through a Rune passes through four stages.

First, the power of the Rune permeates the flesh, ‘Embodiment (體化).’

Next, the Rune’s five stars are imprinted upon the soul, ‘Blooming (開花).’

Following that, one touches the origin of the world, ‘Sublimation (昇華).’

And finally, one becomes one with the Rune, ‘Unity (歸一).’

The power that can be wielded differs at each stage.

While absorbing the chaos dwelling within Elfriede’s body, I reached the second stage, Blooming, which was practically the same as overcoming a hurdle.

A fortuitous encounter, one might say.

I clenched and unclenched my right hand, checking my current condition.

Then, I tossed three prepared fountain pens into the air.

Immediately afterwards.

“Accelerate.”

The familiar incantation slipped from my lips, and the pressure of time, coalescing from my fingertips, brushed past three fountain pens suspended in mid-air.

“Reverse.”

A low hum resonated, and the three pens froze in place, arrested in the air.

Reaching out, I nudged one of the stationary pens slightly. It slid sideways, proof that even slowed, time’s current still held sway.

The flow wasn’t stopped, merely impeded. External force still took its toll.

*Tap—!*

I snapped my fingers once.

“Reverse.”

The same incantation, layered upon itself.

Immediately after.

I cautiously approached, extending a hand to push the same pen.

But this time, no matter the pressure I applied, the pen held its position, unyielding.

As though fixed to the very air itself.

“It actually works.”

Incantation stacking.

One of the new powers granted by awakening the Rune of Understanding.

And the most useful of them all, without a doubt, was the stacking of ‘Reverse’.

It wasn’t merely slowing the flow of time as usual.

The instant the word ‘Reverse’ was doubled, the targeted object, albeit with limitations, was completely removed from the flow of time. Absolute invincibility. No movement, no external pressure, could affect it.

Like a cheat code, the kind you hear about in games.

It was akin to being placed in a state of absolute damage immunity.

There was a drawback—the user couldn’t move while the ability was active—but it was a minor penalty compared to its sheer power.

“Adina.”

I called out to Adina, who had been secretly observing me from a corner of the training ground.

“Attack me.”

“…?”

Her eyes blinked in surprise at my sudden request.

“Attack you? Why would I do that?”

“Just a little test I want to run.”

“That seems rather dangerous?”

“Not dangerous at all, so there’s no need to worry.”

“……Ha.”

She scoffed, as if utterly dumbfounded.

“Fine then.”

Adina drew up her magic, and the pressure around us escalated sharply.

The aura she exuded was remarkably blatant; it seemed her pride had taken a blow.

The magic that had been spreading outwards converged in an instant, forming a ring.

The pure white ring of magic pulsed, contracting and expanding as it emitted its peculiar flashes.

A moment later, a sharp crack echoed in my ears as dozens of condensed white magic strands erupted like an explosion, slashing across the void.

A supersonic shockwave tore through the surroundings, and at its center, magic was being compressed into a single point.

“……”

I quietly raised my head, gazing at the crack in the void where magic was leaking out.

Sparks erupted from the fissure, poised to slam into the ground in an instant.

One hit, and I’d be a goner.

But.

“Accelerate.”

I form a pressure of time.

The pressure formed, encompassing me in a sphere.

“Reverse.”

The flow of air slows to a near standstill.

“Reverse.”

The phrase is layered.

Space and time split, completely separating the inside and outside of the pressure as if they were different worlds.

And.

KWA-GA-GA-GA-GANG!

A colossal flash of light cleaved through the void, raining down.

It shattered the surroundings with overwhelming destructive power.

And I, who had taken that blow…

“!!!”

He was unscathed.

Not even a scratch inflicted.

As the Layered Reversal was depicted as absolute defense even in the original work, it was the expected outcome.

However.

‘I can’t keep this up for long.’

The problem, if it could be called that, was the alarming rate at which my Imaginary was being consumed.

The inability to move while defending was also a regrettable drawback.

But even with just that.

“!!!”

It was enough to elicit Adina’s astonishment.