The Author's POV

Ashen grey clouds covered the sky as a gloomy atmosphere enveloped the world.

WIIIIIING!

Suddenly, a brilliant light spread shot out, spreading within the empty air. Following this, a terrifying pressure rose, causing the grey clouds to disperse.

Within the light was a human figure whose features were indiscernible. Yet, the pressure that the figure gave out caused the air to vibrate.

Whoever the figure was, they were an absolute master.

Soon enough, the human figure within the brilliant light became increasingly clear as the light dimmed down. Finally, the light converged towards the figure, and a black-clothed male with two crimson-colored eyes clearly appeared in the air.

Lifting his head, the crimson-eyed figure looked towards the distance with unprecedented seriousness.

—Riiip!

It was then that a hand suddenly stretched out of thin air, grasping the sky, and tearing it apart as though it was tangible.

White hair, red-blood eyes, and fair skin.

Stepping out of the void was a figure resembling a human. Although he appeared extremely ordinary, only a genuine expert could sense just what kind of terrifying existence he was. The strength contained within his skinny body could wipe the whole world with a single wave of his hand.

It was terrifying.

Indifferently floating in the sky and staring below, what met the white-haired figure's sight was destruction. A world that was now on the verge of destruction.

A smile formed on his face.

Then, lowering his head and staring at the crimson-colored male below him, the white-haired individual's eyes rippled slightly.

The crimson-colored male stared back, and silence enveloped the world.

Neither spoke, but tremendous energy shot out from each of the two figure's bodies before silently clashing together.

A formidable ripple spread out from the clash of the two, and everything below them disintegrated.

Finally, after an unknown period of time, the crimson-colored male opened his mouth.

"Jezebeth."

His soft voice traveled through every corner of the world. Yet, deep-seeded hatred could be felt in his voice as he spoke.

Staring at the red-eyed individual below, the white-haired figure closed his eyes slightly before the smile on his face deepened ever so slightly.

"How have you been? It's been a while since we've last seen each other."

Before the white-haired figure could finish speaking, his mouth suddenly stopped moving, and the world crumbled down.

***

"Haa….haaa…"

Abruptly opening his eyes, Kevin sat upright.

His breathing was rough, and his clothes were drenched in sweat.

"What just happened!?"

Kevin's eyes were bloodshot.

Frantically looking around, Kevin found himself back in his own room. Or at least that's what it looked like.

But he no longer knew.

Lowering his head, Kevin looked at the watch that was resting on his wrist.

Tapping on it, he quickly checked the year.

[2057]

"…am I back?"

Staring at the year, Kevin did not immediately rejoice. Instead, taking out his phone, he quickly skimmed through his chat longs to see if everything was the same as it was before.

"Wheeew..."

Upon checking and seeing that everything was just as he remembered, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He was finally back in the original timeline.

Standing up, he sat back on his bed and muttered out loud.

"Just what in the world happened?"

His brows couldn't help but furrow.

Many questions he had no answer to flooded his mind.

"Ukk.."

Clenching his teeth, Kevin groaned as his head started to ache. Fortunately, it was a lot milder than before.

But it was also due to this headache that he finally remembered how everything started.

Everything started the moment he picked up the red book on his bed. It was then that all the strange things happened.

The humanoid creature, the white-haired figure, Ren, the book…

They were all things he had never seen before, yet, why did they feel so familiar? As though he had already seen them once before?

"Just what is happening."

Kevin clenched his head with both hands as he tried to rack his brains around the matter.

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached.

—Gulp!

Swallowing a mouthful of saliva, Kevin tried to distract himself from the topic. Unfortunately, every time he started thinking about what had just happened, the headaches would start.

He couldn't bear them.

"Hm?"

Turning towards his right, to his horror, Kevin spotted the red book from before.

Instantly his eyes shot wide open, and he moved back. As far away from the book as possible.

Soon enough, sweat dripped from the side of his face as he looked at the book with deep apprehension.

Unlike last time, it was now open, and from the looks of it, there seemed to be something written on it. But maybe it was his imagination since it wasn't clear from the angle he was looking at.

"Huuu.."

Staring at the book from afar, Kevin took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

"Haaa, I need to calm down."

Closing his eyes, he took another breath before standing up.

Opening his eyes, he stared at the book opposite of him. He then took a step forward.

Although he knew that the book was dangerous, his curiousness overtook his rationality.

He wanted to understand what had just happened to him.

Something wasn't right...

Cautiously walking towards the book, Kevin refrained from touching it and peeked at it from above.

He wanted to see what was written on it.

Sure enough, as soon as he looked at it from above, he could see words written on them.

Furrowing his brows, he slowly started to read the book.

===

—Boooooom!

The barrier shook and a ripple once again formed on the thin barrier enveloping the mountain.

****** who stood atop the northern tower seriously looked at the chaos in the distance.

Dosha! Dosha! Dosha!

The rain continued to plummet hard, hitting the barrier from above.

Closing his eyes, ***** tied his black hair behind his head and rested the blunt sword he got from Malvil by the side of the wall.

Sitting down on the ground, **** leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes.

===

Reading the book, Kevin tilted his head.

'Is this a novel?'

He thought.

But he quickly shook his head. Something didn't add up. Why was the name of the person in the book blacked out?

Lowering his body, Kevin tried to get a better look at the book.

However, regardless of how much he tried to read the name, Kevin could not see who the story was about.

It was as though a veil was preventing from seeing it.

—Ding!

It was then that he suddenly heard a chime ring inside of his head, and a small screen appeared before him.

Lifting his head and staring at the screen, Kevin's pupils dilated.

===

『Synchronization – 22%』

[Demon King ascenscion]

▷ 10 years, 287 days, 08 hours, 45 seconds.

▶ 08 years, 287 days, 08 hours, 45 seconds.

===

"What the…"

***

[Henlour]

After an unknown period of time had passed, a familiar voice reached my ears.

"They're removing the barrier in ten."

I opened my eyes and found Hein and the others standing opposite of me.

Stretching my arms, I asked.

"Has the rain stopped?"

"No, not yet, but it's better than before."

Ava replied as she looked into the distance.

Lifting my head and staring at Ava, I noticed that her hair was a lot shorter than before. About shoulder length.

"When did you cut your hair?"

"..Oh, this?"

Ava touched her hair and casually replied.

"I realized in our last fight that long hair hinders my eyesight, so I decided to cut it."

"Fair enough."

Ava's words reminded me of my long hair. Though they didn't really hinder me during fights, maybe it was about time to have them cut as well.

Or maybe not, who knows.

On another note, staring at Ava opposite me, it only dawned on me now that I was talking to her just how much she changed over the last few months.

She talked a lot more confidently than before and what was more impressive were her eyes. They sparkled with a never seen before light.

"Oh well, you do whatever is best for you."

Raising my hand and gripping onto something, I supported my body up.

Turning around and gazing into the distance, I could see that the weather had cleared up a bit. Although it was raining, it was a lot milder than before.

I could now at least see what was happening in the distance.

Resting his shield by the side of the wall, Hein suddenly asked.

"...Are we going to do the same thing as last time?"

"Like?"

"Like going outside to fight?"

"No, that would be suicidal."

That reckless approach was only okay during the first wave, but the second wave would be a lot more difficult than the first wave.

Count and Viscount ranked demons would join the fray. Unfortunately, they weren't something I could handle at my current capabilities.

"Understood, so what are we going to do?"

I pointed towards the distance where a bunch of orcs stood.

"Hold the line with the orcs. It should still serve as good training."

Unlike last time, this time our job was to hold the front line with the others. Since we couldn't be as reckless as before due to the increased difficulty of the opponents, the least we could do to secure our safety was to work with the others.

Although I was confident in the abilities of the others, I didn't want them to die. We could fight without worrying too much if we worked together with the orcs.

Turning my head left and right, I curiously asked.

"By the way, has anyone seen Smallsnake and Ryan? Haven't seen them since they left."

"They're with the dwarves." Leopold lazily replied. "They didn't want to wake you up, so they told me to tell you that they are fine."

"Is that so? I guess that makes sense."

I had a sudden understanding.

Most likely, Ryan and Smallsnake had impressed the dwarves with their abilities. So much that they probably forced them to stay downstairs.

That was good.

The more they learned, the better for me. Who knows, maybe Ryan could figure something out about the chip in my head.

On a good note, regarding the chip, as of right now, the only information the Monolith had on me was the fact that I was currently somewhere around here.

From what Ryan told me before, it seems like the city system could somewhat disrupt the connection of the chip in my head.

Although it didn't completely stop the chip, it at least made sure that the Monolith had no idea of where exactly I was.

Even so, it didn't really matter.

The Monolith was a human association; regardless of how much they wanted to try to investigate in this city, they'd come out empty-handed.

After all, the dwarves weren't just going to let them do as they please.

This was especially so when there was an ongoing war at the moment. It wasn't like they would open the gates just for them.

At the moment, the city was sealed, and no one could enter.

Plus, even though there was an organization similar to the Monolith in the dwarven domain, they wouldn't go out of their way to help the humans.

They had more important things to do, like trying to interfere with the war.

Therefore, as of now, I didn't have to worry about the Monolith.

This was also why I wasn't in a rush to get the chip removed.

Might as well have Ryan remove it for me.

Well, I was obviously going to consult a dwarf before that. So if they really could do it and Ryan was too busy, I may as well let them do it.

"By the way, Smallsnake told me to give you this."

Leopold suddenly took out a small black badge.

"What's this?"

I curiously asked as I looked at the black badge.

Handing it to me, Leopold explained.

"Smallsnake said that if you wanted to visit him in the control room, you could directly give this to the guards standing outside, and they would grant you access."

"...how thoughtful."

I muttered as I took the badge from Leopold's hands.

Then, I picked up the blunt sword that was resting by the side of the wall and headed downstairs.

"As long as they are fine, then everything is good...oh right."

Halting my steps, I suddenly recalled something.

Turning my head, I reminded.

"Don't forget to get as many achievements points as possible."

There were a lot of good rewards after all.