Chapter 185: Skill Synthesis (4)

[Please, Crown Prince. I can't protect them alone!]

"W-Why can't I be happy...!?"

[C-Crown Prince?]

"N-No, nothing."

By now, I was used to something happening whenever I was climbing the dungeon smoothly. Event Dungeons, Event Raids, Luka continent, and now this! Just when I thought I could focus solely on the dungeon, Ren was calling me. I couldn't let my guard down at all. In fact, I felt like someone was doing this on purpose.

I gritted my teeth and asked Ren.

"What's up, Ren? Tell me."

[... No, Crown Prince, you must be having a hard time too. It was my mistake, forget what I said.]

"Cut the crap and tell me."

[Y-Yes!]

Ren's world, the Panan continent, was a peaceful land where humans and beastmen coexisted. Of course, both races had to face numerous difficulties until the peace was achieved, but they had reportedly done it. At least, that was how it was 200 years ago.

Things began to change one day. Small conflicts between humans and beastmen increased in scale as time went on until one day, a war broke out between a human country and a beastman country.

"I'm not really interested in Panan continent's history."

[What if it was the history of an outsider's invasion?]

The war raged and blood flowed like the ocean. Another country then jumped into the war, and the entire continent became enveloped in the war. Before a dungeon explorer revealed the truth of the matter, everyone thought it was a self-created disaster by humans and beastmen.

That wasn't it. It was the doing of Panan continent's invaders, the 'El Patiz.'

"El Patiz?"

[That's what they call themselves. We call them 'brain worms.' That's what they are. Bugs that crawl into our brains.]

According to Ren, these brain worms crawled into the brains of sleeping victims and ate the content. The victims would die and the brain worms would then pretend to be the victims they killed. The only way to detect whether someone was eaten by a brain worm was to use a special magic for detecting life signals.

Brain worms could perfectly imitate the actions of their victims to the point that not even the victims' own family members could tell anything apart. However, the fact that they were still brain worms didn't change. When enough brain worms gathered, they would finally reveal themselves and drag others into their hell.

[Luckily, people with high mana could detect brain worms in their initial form and avoid them. The explorers who found out about the brain worms' existence did their best to find their weaknesses, and they notified everyone that they were the ones who caused the war. However, the effect was minimal. Upper echelons of most countries' government had already turned into brain worms, and soon, stronger brain worms that Panan continent's warriors had trouble with began to cross over.]

"And?"

[Unable to stop the war in time, the population of Panan continent plummeted. The brain worms' forces only grew stronger as they consumed more people and strengthened themselves... In the end, 170 years after the onset of their invasion, an incident happened that made everyone lose their hopes against the brain worms.]

I had a feeling I knew what was coming. Though I blocked my ears, I could still hear Ren's voice.

[The Hero of that generation... the Lion Empire's Golden Lion Emperor was eaten by a brain worm.]

"Ren...!"

[The worm that controlled the Hero was the one that ruled over all other worms. It was the so-called world's enemy. Regardless, after it gained the power of the Hero, the worms began to conquer the continent at an unprecedented rate. They were now able to reproduce in our world.]

Ren said that the only way the Panan continent's people could survive until now was because they found the brain worms' weakness.

[The ocean. They can't enter the ocean. Not even the worm that obtained the Hero's body could enter the ocean. We realized that the worms avoided invading ocean-based countries. Since they couldn't cross the ocean, they used another passageway to deploy their troops to the countries in the ocean.]

"You should have noticed that sooner!"

[I already told you. They were extremely meticulous and skilled in hiding their weakness. An explorer than ran to the ocean to escape the brain worms noticed coincidentally, and it was thanks to this coincidence that the remaining explorers could breathe a sigh of relief. Of course, that didn't last long either.]

"Why?"

At my question, Ren became silent for a while. Then, he confessed in a somber tone.

[Crown Prince... Beastmen are unable to swim.]

Beastmen couldn't enter the ocean. Most of Panan continent's survivors were beastmen. Thus, they could only resort to creating a base near the ocean and using ocean water to fight against the brain worms. Thankfully, they had someone who could wield the power of water, but after he was eaten by the brain worms, the last hope had disappeared.

[This was around the time Sir Lebuik died. Most of the remaining explorers also died then.]

"Ren, right now, you're..."

[I'm protecting eight children. Five beastmen, three humans. When the base collapsed, I barely managed to save these children and found a safe place to hide. By climbing the dungeon, I found food to bring back for them. This was when I met Crown Prince.]

This might sound harsh, but there really seemed to be no hope. Regardless, I urged Ren on since I had to hear what was happening now.

"Ren, tell me the current situation."

[They discovered our hiding place. We're running.]

It was rather simple.

[We're currently resting after defeating the pursuers. But soon, a stronger squadron of brain worms will attack us. I ended up talking to Crown Prince out of desperation.]

I understood how Ren was feeling. He most likely wanted to get whatever help he could. I sighed and asked.

"So, what are you planning to do?"

[Before it's too late, we have to go back to the coast. We have to create a base that will protect us from them. We have to drive the ocean water and create a manmade island of some sort.]

"Sounds like tough work even when you get to the coast."

[Ri... Right.]

After thinking for a bit, I continued.

"Did you submit a request for Dimensional Mercenaries?"

[Yes, but no one came.]

"How about using Dimensional Travel skill to move them elsewhere?"

[That's impossible, Crown Prince. Dimensional Travel can only be used alone.]

"Why don't you put some skill points into it and... ah."

Right, that was my skill! The original Dimensional Travel skill didn't have skill levels, so it didn't matter how many skill points you had... Wait, but there's Return! If I could use Return with the eight children other than Ren...! My Return skill was currently level 4. I could take up to three people with me. As I had never distributed skill points into it, I used 15 skill points to raise it up to level 8.

[Return became level 8! It can be used 6 times per day and you can choose 6 returning points. You can bring up to 5 people.]

Damn, it's not enough...! Once I came back to Earth using Return, I couldn't go back to Panan with Return. I had to use Dimensional Travel to travel between worlds. Because of Dimensional Travel's cooldown, it wouldn't work out. I bit my lips.

Meanwhile, Ren was still talking.

[Crown Prince, forget about what I said. I'm Panan's Ren. This much danger, I can get through by myself.]

"No bullshit allowed."

[I'm not a bull, I'm a lion!]

In this situation, there really was only one thing I could do. It was to ignore Ren's request. Ren knew he was making an unreasonable request, and he took it back as well. A brain-eating worm... disgusting. It wasn't that I didn't feel any sympathy for Ren, but there was just no hope.

Thus, I told him.

"Don't die before I get there."

[Crown Prince, I told you, don't come! I was just ranting!]

"If you die, I'll kill you, got it?"

[Crown Prince!'

"Shut it! If I think it's too dangerous, I'll escape by myself!"

[Crown Prince...]

I hung up on Ren. Then, I contacted the person on my friend list whom I never contacted before.

"Lebuik, are you doing well?"

[P-Panan continent requested for Dimensional Mercenaries... What do I do, Rookie?]

"You should know who made the request."

[N-No one wants to go...! Rookie, tell Ren-nim to get out of there! Please!]

"Ren doesn't plan on leaving. He's protecting eight children."

[Eight... That's two less...]

"Lebuik, what are you going to do?"

[Me? What, are you telling me to go to Panan continent?]

"Tell me quickly. What are you going to do? Tell me what you're thinking."

[... Rookie, you...]

"My Dimensional Travel skill is a bit special. I can bring someone else with me. So, Lebuik, what are you going to do?"

As I spoke to her, I put skill points into Dimensional Travel. Lv 2, Lv 3, Lv 4... It was then that the number of people I could bring increased by one. The cooldown decreased by quite a lot to two months. I now had 1 skill point left. There was no going back.

[W-What do you mean... I, I can't go. I'll die if I do. Definitely!]

"You might die, that's true. I didn't make my decision easily either."

[Then how can you say it like it's nothing? Are you looking down on death!? If a brain worm kills you, you can't even enjoy eternal rest! Your brain will get eaten and your body will become their toy!]

"But if I don't go, the same will happen to my friend. Lebuik, I'll give you 5 seconds, so make up your mind. If you can't, I'm going to go alone."

[W-Wait! No, I won't... I won't go! I escaped by myself, so how can I, at this point...!]

"3, 2, 1..."

[Uuuuut! Fine! I'll go!]

I smiled. As expected of a woman in love!

"Good. I'm sure Ren will be touched. Maybe, he'll be so touched that he'll hug you."

[H-He will hug me? Ren-nim will? Gulp... N-No, I'm not going to fulfill my desires...! Even I wouldn't throw away my life to satisfy my lust! I just want to make up for the loyalty I failed to protect!]

"I got it, so meet me at the First Dungeon Residential Area's pub, 'Cocked.' Make sure you're fully prepared."

[Rookie... Okay.]

I hung up on her as well. Then, I let out a long sigh and opened the guild communication channel.

[I'm going to go do a Dimensional Mercenary request. It might take a while, but don't worry.]

[Is it safe?]

At my sudden announcement, the guild communication channel became noisy. Hwaya then asked me with a worried voice. Though I was thankful that she was worrying about me... for some reason, I broke out into laughter.

[What requests are safe? But well, it'll be fine.]

I spoke honestly.

[I can see the ending.]

Author's note:

PS - Do you see the ending Shin saw?

Tfw the pub's name is 'Cocked'... Literally, he spelled it out in English :thinking:

Also, the last bit was a The World God Only Knows reference.