Transcendence Due To A System Error

< Chapter 177: Savior (2) >

“How did it end up like this?”

“Dragon Lord. If you understood the situation, you should have shared it with us.”

“Do you think I knew? I just recklessly rushed in.”

Watching the joint leader of the Savior bickering in front of me, my mouth unknowingly opens in surprise.

“Recklessly? I don’t believe you would choose to seal your power without any confidence. Unlike me who can immediately unseal, you can’t.”

“…I don’t have a retort to that.”

Dragon Lord scratched her mid-length hair.

“I really had no confidence in this matter. That’s why I didn’t mention it.”

“Really?”

Heavenly God glares at the Dragon Lord with piercing eyes.

“Have I been deceived all this while? There’s no way your double-personality scribe wouldn’t have grasped the information that we did.”

“…You’re right.”

Only Heavenly God, Dragon Lord, and I are in the room.

Everyone else has vacated the room, finding the situation too burdensome.

“So why did you personally come here, even without confidence?”

“…I had a slight hope.”

Dragon Lord gazes at me, who’s spaced out.

Heavenly God follows the Dragon Lord’s gaze on me.

“Is this man the ‘hope’ you’re talking about?”

The pupils behind the mask have a peculiar symbol engraved, like a cross. They’re distinct from Yu Hwa’s eyes, but they remind me of her.

“Right. Haven’t you heard at least a little about it? The forgotten race, High Elf.”

“I think I’ve heard of it somewhere.”

“You claim to be a king of the Angel race who has lived for ten thousand years, and you don’t know this?”

Dragon Lord looked at Heavenly God with a disdainful glance.

“I was not in charge of the mortal world.”

Heavenly God replied confidently.

“Well, you were busy opposing the demon world for ten thousand years…”

The world, ten thousand years ago, was divided into three parts.

The heavenly realm ruled by the Heavenly God.

The demon world ruled by the Demon God.

And the mortal world managed by the Dragon Lord.

“If the Demon God hadn’t suddenly taken interest in the mortal realm, there would never have been a need to study it, nor to descend upon it.”

Heavenly God let out a deep sigh.

“That’s what I’m saying. How lowly must the Demon God have regarded you to launch a surprise attack on the mortal realm?”

“…”

The mortal realm is a world one level lower in status than the demon and heavenly realms. To begin with, aside from dragons, there are no races with a ‘status’ comparable to the heavenly or demon races.

So how did the mortal realm maintain its balance between the heavenly and demon realms?

The reason is simple: the heavenly and demon realms were in an endless war. While they were at war, there was no need to interfere with the third-party mortal realm, and doing so risked turning it into an enemy.

From the beginning, there was no advantage to attacking the mortal realm. That’s why the mortal realm could maintain its balance.

However, despite this, the Demon God attacked the mortal realm. What could be the intention behind this major move?

“The confidence that, whether the mortal and heavenly realms join forces or not, he would win.”

In short, he intends to capture and consume both the mortal and heavenly realms at the same time.

Hence, the Dragon Lord is saying this to the Heavenly God. Unless the Demon God looked down on the Heavenly God, attacking the mortal realm would have been impossible.

“…I’ve told you repeatedly about that incident. The Demon God suddenly became powerful, that’s why it happened. We were also taken by surprise.”

“I’ve also said it many times, haven’t I? Does that even make sense? Even if you try to make excuses.”

Sparks flew between the eyes of Heavenly God and Dragon Lord.

Zzzzt-!

It wasn’t an illusion; real sparks were flying. It probably resulted from a clash of magical powers. I’m worried they might start a fight.

“…Forget it. What’s the use of bringing up something that happened 7 years ago now?”

“…”

Fortunately, it ended with just my anxiety. Perhaps they’ve had this argument many times before because the quarrel ended in less than a minute.

“So, what about this forgotten race, the High Elf?”

“Ah, I stopped talking about that.”

Dragon Lord pursed her lips and lost herself in thought. She then glanced at me with a complex expression.

“It’s not that important. Let’s talk about it later.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

As Heavenly God said, it was obviously an intentional topic diversion.

“It’s not changing the topic, rather, let’s discuss something more important. Isn’t the matter of the three senior officers being wiped out far more important?”

“…You’re not wrong.”

And surprisingly, Dragon Lord’s topic diversion succeeded without a hitch.

All attention was once again focused on me.

“Going by the flow of our conversation. This man is the High Elf and the mastermind behind handling Mephisto, Bazet, and Lilith, right?”

“Correct. I’ve received confirmation from the Queen of Alfheim and the Water King of Ruperiel.”

…So you visited Alfheim in the meantime. I didn’t know that.

“This man…”

Heavenly God looks me up and down with a peculiar gaze. In the original work, the Heavenly God did not appear as she died during the 10 years of void. Therefore, I don’t know what abilities she possesses.

“…He certainly is an unusual man. I can’t see his fate.”

“What?”

Dragon Lord’s eyes widened in shock, staring at me with utmost surprise.

“That’s what I’m saying…”

I could roughly grasp why they were surprised based on the vibe. Judging by the comment that my fate is invisible, the Heavenly God possesses the ability to see the fate of others.

And it seems he can’t use that ability on me, probably because I don’t have a system in me.

“That means, at the very least, he possesses a ‘status’ on par with mine.”

…Did I hear that wrong?

Equal status?

Me?

“The fog obscuring his fate was as dark as pitch-black. With this level, he might even surpass my ‘status’.”

I began to feel like there was some huge misunderstanding.

“Of course, the power he’s currently exuding isn’t significant…”

“Ah, that’s because he, like us, has sealed his power.”

“Sealed… Like us, to avoid the eyes of the Demon Lord?”

“There might be that reason as well. But I heard it’s to regain his strength.”

“The phrase ‘to regain his strength’ implies that he lost his power due to some event…”

Heavenly God sharply stared at me.

“If a powerful individual like you lost strength… Did you by any chance fight with the Demon Lord?”

“…”

I remained silent.

I was choosing my words, unsure of how to respond. I hadn’t anticipated this question.

“…It seems like you don’t intend to answer. Or is it a question you can’t answer?”

But my silence seemed to be interpreted by Heavenly God as an unwillingness to answer.

“Fine. Let’s move on to another question.”

A sharp glint appeared in the eyes of Heavenly God.

“How did you find out about the invasion of the Demonic Faction?”

“…”

I expected this question to come up.

I had been speculating it since the two chiefs of the Savior revealed themselves in front of me.

“That’s because…”

Thus, I had already considered how to answer this question.

“I came from a future after the world was destroyed.”

I decided to lay out the truth.

‘To gain the cooperation of these two, there’s no other way.’

I was sure of it.

* * *

After the conversation with Kang Seo-yul,

The Dragon Lord and Heavenly God left Reperiel and returned to the headquarters of the Savior.

Usually, they would return to their respective domains in the mortal realm and the celestial realm, but they returned to the central headquarters together because they had more to discuss.

“What do you think about what that man said?”

Having taken off her usual mask, Heavenly God looked seriously at the Dragon Lord. She would never remove this mask that conceals her power outside, but in this headquarters, a powerful barrier was installed, so there was no risk of being detected by the Demon Lord.

“He came from the future…”

The face beneath Heavenly God’s mask was both feminine and masculine. The color of her hair, hairstyle, pupils, and the five pairs of wings on her back. If you were to differentiate, that would be it.

“The probability that it’s true is 70%, and the probability that it’s a lie is 30%.”

Dragon Lord responded, resting his chin on his hand. Heavenly God looked surprised at this.

“I thought you’d say it’s 50-50. Why 70:30?”

“His words were credible.”

Dragon Lord reflected on Kang Seo-yul’s words.

Even upon reconsideration, there were no logical flaws in what Kang Seo-yul had said.

“He knew about the surprise attack in advance. Furthermore, he even knew who would execute the attack. This alone would be impossible unless he possessed knowledge of the future or came back from it.”

At this point, Kang Seo-yul’s words began to seem credible.

“Furthermore, he possesses a power that neither my ‘Dragon Eye’ nor your ‘Heavenly Eye’ can detect.”

The existence of such a mysterious and powerful individual only added credibility to the idea that he had come from the future. There were many other reasons too.

“So, you’re saying he really came from the future… from a destroyed world as a savior?”

“Didn’t I already say it? The possibility stands at 70%.”

Kang Seo-yul had revealed the truth to them. However, he didn’t divulge everything.

He skillfully evaded difficult subjects.

For instance, rather than clearly stating that he came from a world 10,000 years into the future, he said he returned from a timeline after its destruction.

“Also, he wasn’t wrong, was he? With your ‘Heavenly Eye’, you would know it best.”

“…”

Heavenly God bit his lip.

Kang Seo-yul had said,

The war would precisely end in a stalemate three years from now,

And it would be only due to Heavenly God’s sacrifice that they could barely bring it to a draw after being on the brink of total defeat.

“You mentioned it before. You have only three years left to live. That’s your ‘fate’.”

From the beginning, Heavenly God knew better than anyone else that he would die in 3 years.

He sacrifices himself to stop the Demon God, putting an end to his long life.

That was the ‘fate’ Cheonan foresaw for Heavenly God.

And only Dragon Lord and Heavenly God knew this fact.

Yet, Kang Seo-yul knows about those 3 years.

It’s too precise to be a mere coincidence that he pinpointed the 3-year time frame and the term “sacrifice of Heavenly God” was too definitive.

“…But is ‘regression’ really possible?”

“It is possible. After all, an artifact exists that makes it possible.”

It’s an artifact well known to both Dragon Lord and Heavenly God.

“Even the powerful essence of the Time Dragon can only rewind 30 minutes, but he went back a full 3 years.”

The gap between 30 minutes and 3 years is just too vast.

“Unless it’s the Creator God Adam who…”

Dragon Lord interrupts Heavenly God’s statement.

“It might not be Adam, but he could have obtained a power close to Adam’s.”

If Kang Seo-yul had been the Creator, he wouldn’t have been defeated by the Demon God. Therefore, he’s not the Creator. However, acquiring some of the Creator’s ‘power’ might be possible.

“He’s of the forgotten race, a High Elf.”

“…High Elf.”

Heavenly God’s eyes sharpened.

“You were about to tell me earlier. What exactly is a High Elf?”

“10 elves who suddenly transcended the limits of their species 1000 years ago. They are High Elves.”

Heavenly God’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“Transcended… their species’ limits?”

“Yes. ‘Evolution’ might be a more accurate term.”

These ten elves underwent sudden evolution on a battlefield one day.

And they became heroes, ending the war with their immense power.

That’s the entirety of the 1000-year-old High Elf legend.

“It doesn’t make sense. How could a mere creature created by Adam surpass its own racial value?”

All intelligent beings in the mortal realm, heaven, and demon world were born from the Creator God Adam’s essence.

Their racial values are predetermined and remain unchanged throughout their lives. That’s common sense.

“I don’t know how it happened either. But they certainly ‘evolved’. Those mere elves had a stature no different from me, a dragon.”

“…It’s hard to believe. Such an event took place in the mortal world.”

Heavenly God seemed taken aback.

“So, what happened to these High Elves?”

“After the war, they built a nation called ‘Alfheim’ and one day they suddenly disappeared.”

“…Without any warning?”

“Not exactly. They came to bid me farewell for the last time.”

Dragon Lord recalled events from a thousand years ago.

“We’ve seen the ‘truth’ of this world. We are leaving for ‘Eden’ to find that ‘truth’.”

With those words, the ten High Elves vanished from history.

That was the end of the High Elf legend.

Heavenly God abruptly stood up.

“Eden…! Are you talking about that Eden?”

“Yes.”

“The Eden, Adam’s dwelling place, mentioned in the creation myth?”

“That’s right.”

The High Elves who claimed they left for Eden had returned.

After the creation myth, the only beings to ever transcend their racial limits, the High Elves, had returned. And not just a simple return, they came back from the future.

Could this be a mere coincidence?

Certainly not.

“Kang Seo-yul. I suspect he obtained some of Adam’s powers in Eden and returned.”

Could that power be ‘regression’?

“Adam’s… power…”

Heavenly God’s eyelids trembled in shock.

“So, you’re saying… Kang Seo-yul is…”

Their deduction, which seemed off in every aspect,

“…a messenger sent by the Creator God, Adam?”

“Yes.”

Surprisingly, they had arrived at the truth.

< Chapter 177: Savior (2) > End