Early Afternoon - Early Fall : The Grand Mountains | Temnota

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  *Woooosh* *FWIP-CRACK* Bsting across an endless pin, a massive wash of air tore up the ground in my wake, turning the tall, metallic bdes of grass into flechette-like nails that peppered the surroundings.

  In order to cover eight thousand kilometers as fast as I could, I put all my strength into every stride, shoving as much mana into my legs as I could muster in order to cover countless kilometers with every step.

  But even though I was just a streak of light to the lingering monsters I passed—moving at nearly twenty times the speed of sound—I still wasn’t sure it was fast enough. -Twenty minutes...- That’s how long it would take to get back to Eve if something happened. -Far too long...-

  In the time we looked through the abandoned city, it was more than abundantly clear that nothing had gone inside there in countless years, with the most recent 'monster sign' I found being some dust-covered paw prints that could date anywhere between one and ten thousand years ago.

  Nothing was there, and nothing was going to be there. -I cleared out the surrounding area and killed the monster whose territory the city was in...- But as I ran, my stomach never settled.

  At least that was until I no longer had a choice but to move my mind elsewhere.

  *WOOOSH* Cavitating the thick ice of a wide, frozen bay as I passed over it, my eyes settled on a string of towering, steep and pointy, snow-covered mountains. -This must be it...-

  Fixing my gaze on the tallest, rightmost peak, I searched the thick bck plume of smoke rising from its summit, looking for any unusual flows or currents indicative of a powerful, volcano-dwelling creature, but didn't find anything worth investigating before turning my attention to the older, now-dormant peaks. -From the carvings in the city, they seemed to depict one of the smaller peaks as the home of the Cataclysm...-

  Specifically, it was the smallest of the peaks, a mountain covered in snow so thick that cave entrances were only visible as indents in the mountainside.

  At least that was for every cave entrance but one.

  The biggest on the mountainside.

  Stretching about a kilometer across, there was a massive hole bored into the base of the mountain, inexplicably round and clean, with a series of old, now-frozen hot springs just outside of its entrance, and a long trail of short, dead grass leading into the darkness. -Looks like that's where I'm starting...-

  Finally crossing the wide frozen bay, I started slowing down, kicking up a tsunami of snow as I gripped the ground with my aura before continuing into the cave at a more controlled pace, fully expecting to slow to a walk as it thinned and curved deeper into the mountain.

  But that never happened.

  Having fshbacks to the times I investigated a dragon's den, I rather quickly found myself slowing down more. The cave never thinned, nor turned, and even as daylight from the cave entrance faded behind me, the flow of air through the countless termite-like tunnels bored into the walls never ceased.

  Hearing the familiar, gentle hum of the tunnels as air blew over their entrances, a reminiscent chill passed down my spine.

  The pce was clearly abandoned, without so much as a paw print in the soft dirt that coated the ground, but at the same time, I couldn't help but imagine a wall of fmes hurtling toward me from deeper in the cave.

  Dragons were highly intelligent creatures, so much so that they could command armies even without hive-mind skills or magic I initially assumed 'the Cataclysm' would have. -And considering it was mentioned that 'it' could wear the skin of a human, a dragon would fit the bill...-

  However, while I continued deeper and deeper into the tunnel while trying to iron out the details, my aura entered a rge, final chamber I expected to be the roost of a dragon.

  But that assumption couldn't have been more off.

  Rather than finding myself in a nest of bones, gems, and riches, I found myself before a grand pace rivaling the most vish I had ever seen—complete with paved gardens, grassy expanses, and beautifully carved fountains, statues, and monuments

  It was a grand structure seemingly intended for a human.. or perhaps a dragon that wished to live as one...

  With a breeze still flowing steadily through the massive tunnel with its countless vents, the statues and carvings were considerably weathered, but still more than easily recognizable as monsters, with more than a few statues depicting them with a horned humanoid.

  But the farther I walked, and the closer I got to the estate, the more I failed to recognize things, and the less abandoned the weathered statues seemed to appear. Even though the statue's bases were covered with moss-like growth and coated with ivy, the statues were.. clean...

  "To think the first being who'd dare invade my home is a human..." Hearing a voice without a presence, I instantly jolted before looking over and finding one of the statues staring at me. "I wasn't aware there were any humans left."

  "I thought I had killed them all." Looking at the other voice, I found another statue staring at me as if it turned its head.

  "It makes me wonder if you're a sve of that wretched system, sent to kill me after I finally escaped its clutches."

  -Interesting... To think they're still communicable...- Turning yet again to another statue they were communicating through, my tense posture rexed. "There is no escaping the system. Even if it forgets, it will eventually remember..."

  "I see..." *Rumble* Hearing heavy stone shift, I found the rgest statue in the courtyard turning toward me. "You must not be a cleaner then... You speak from.. experience..."

  -A cleaner, huh...- Unsure what the term stood for, I looked up at the weathered statue and spoke with some bitterness. "Even after suffering under the hand of the system for endless years, as soon as I thought I escaped, I got roped back in."

  "Hoh..? Then we are birds of a feather... I apologize for my rudeness... However, I must ask what brings you to this world. What is your mission."

  "Low-Intel Assassination."

  "Hoho~," A cheery ugh quickly filled the air. "That must mean I have shaken off the System's prying eyes... How joyous..."

  "The mission could have only just recently been made, so you must have caught its attention somehow."

  "Of course..." The voice quickly took on a creepy tone as if speaking through a smile. "How would the system not find it odd that one of the users it marked as dead used their facilities."

  Squinting, a blend of curiosity and skepticism flooded my face. "How did you manage that?"

  "I was reborn, of course."

  A tilt quickly found its way to my head. "You reincarnated?"

  "I was reborn... Turned into a being that can manipute the system."

  My eyes instantly shot open.

  "I finally became a god."

  Feeling a different kind of presence suddenly approaching from behind me, I went to turn around...

  But it was far faster than even my mind could move. *Vwoop*

  Appearing behind me, I found the figure of a tall, horned man in a long martial garb smiling at me with pointed teeth. "I became a god." Without moving a hair, he continued to speak through the statues. "After countless millennia, I found the answers I so desperately sought after, and found the freedom I had always wished for."

  -Upper-Demigod my ass...- Just looking at his crazed smile, I felt my stomach churn. He wasn't a being I could beat.

  But at the same time, he didn't seem hostile, despite me telling him my mission was to kill him.

  So, I decided to py the dice. "How did you manage it?" Remaining calm, I stayed rexed while vigint.

  But as he floated toward me, that steadily became a more challenging ask. "I finally died. I reached a point where I no longer needed organic flesh to survive, so I rid myself of it." Speaking with a crazed smile, he shoved his face into mine before abruptly pulling away. "As it turns out, as soon as your organic mind goes quiet, the system marks you as dead, yet somehow, you can still use it.. even if it takes an external mana source." *Vwoom* With a mana core instantly appearing in his hand, he crushed it between his fingers before the liquid mana pouring out seemed to seep into his body like countless slithering snakes. "Oddly enough though, it actually made many things even faster than before... You should really give it a try."

  Seeing his lifeless eyes snap to me, lit abze with excitement, I felt a chill pass down my spine. "I-I'm quite alright, actually." Acting flustered, I raised my guard in a rush. "I'd rather not risk getting trapped in this world."

  "Hoh?" Pulling away, his craze seemed to settle for a moment. "But you wouldn't be trapped here."

  "What do you mean..."

  "Well, after being reborn, I can manipute the strings of the system... With just a snap of my fingers, I can make the system think you've killed me, and send you on to the next world." Gncing at me with a somewhat predatory look, his cheeks curled again. "You are clearly strong, far stronger than even me in my prime..." Reaching out his hand, he pointed at my forehead. "If you destroy your mind, you won't 'die'." The glow in his eyes instantly grew by magnitudes. "You may be able to keep your body... You could keep your mana!"

  "But if I die, the mission fails." Feeling my senses suddenly scream at me, I jolted my head to the side.

  *VWO-CRRRACK* Curling his fingers into a fist, he struck the air where my head had been, carving up the ground behind me and shattering the tunnel behind him.

  It was a punch that far exceeded the speed of something I could react to. "How do you know it doesn't just say that to make sure you stay trapped." *WOOM-WOOSH* Punching again, this time stopping just short of my face, an immense bst of wind ripped past me, colpsing part of the pace behind me. "I know you're too strong to die in a world like this even if you tried. You think the system doesn't know that?!" *Pat* Grabbing my colr, he pulled me off the ground with ease. "You physically can't fail missions where death is the only failure condition!"

  My eyes instantly shot open.

  "If you don't complete the mission fast enough, the system will call in other mercenaries until one person completes it, then, while you won't get rewards, you will be transported to the next mission."

  He was completely right, missions with death as the failure condition were indeed impossible to fail. As long as you lived until someone completed the mission, you'd advance to the next world.

  But while it would make sense that 'Death' was just a formality the system used, I couldn't afford to take that chance. "I can't risk it. Not here..."

  Staring at me in silence for a moment, his eyes drifted over my body before eventually, his smile returned, this time less crazed and more calcuted. "Then do it in your next world." *Snap* Snapping his fingers, the glow of a panel instantly lit my face.

  -H..Huh..?- It was the mission completion panel.

  "You can go."

  Squinting my eyes, countless arm bells rang off in my head.

  It felt as if the panel before my eyes was a lie.. an illusion he created in order to get me to fall into his trap...

  But little did I know, I was already in it... All thanks to the system's countless imperfections...

  So even though I knew something was up.. as I teleported back to Earth with Eve and Bel, I could never figure out what was wrong... I could never figure out what that lone god did while I was in his cws...

  At least.. that was until I finally returned...

  *Vwoop-BEEP* The moment I was released from a gate in the courtyard I was initially snatched from several weeks prior, the faces of everyone in the vicinity lit up red with warning panels.

  Someone had appeared on Earth that vioted the terms of system usage... Someone who did more than exploit the system's fws...

  *Beep* "Warning: Unauthorized being detected on Server 141-A81-B5. Unable to automatically resolve. Please remain vigint while-" *Crackle*

  But the system couldn't even finish speaking before a heavy impact nded on my cheek, my jaw cracked, and my surroundings blurred. *WHAAAMM-WOOOSH*

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