Translator: HunterW
Editor: RED
“There it is.” It wasn’t hard to find the dungeon’s entrance, seeing as how Kazunari’s 27th dungeon was pretty small. And as soon I left the dungeon, I was greeted with a message.
==[Kazunari’s 27th Created Dungeon has expended all of its available time.
This dungeon will now be completely destroyed.]==
The dungeon entrance fell apart behind me, as if it was waiting for me to leave the dungeon. Another message soon followed.
==[Kazunari’s 27th Created Dungeon that acted as a medium between Lee Jiwon and World 1455 has now been destroyed.
A deva/deity is not allowed to stay on World 1455 while it awaits its survival or destruction.
Lee Jiwon will be forcibly removed from World 1455 and returned to the Judge’s Continent in three days.]==
“So that’s how it is.” I didn’t expect this to happen but I didn’t feel disappointed about it or anything. I already gotten so much out of this little experiment, and I wasn’t planning on staying here for the three days, anyway.
“So, Earth no longer has any devas, deities, or monsters, and is now back to being a world full of mortals…” Earth was back to its natural state, and even though I used to live in that normal world, I couldn’t imagine what it was like anymore. Including the time I had spent on the Judge’s Continent, it had been thirteen years since the world changed. With the time I spent in the Otadolon stage during my past life, I had spent almost twenty-four years as a deva. Even though many modern technologies and services, like cars and cell phones, still worked, I had just gotten too used to killing monsters and going to dungeons to survive.
“Huh… this must have been how Alice felt when she fell through the rabbit hole.” I could finally put into words the feeling I had in the dungeon now that the dungeon was destroyed. It definitely wasn’t a bad feeling.
I was currently the only superhuman on Earth, with nothing to fear. I cackled as I sprinted forward.
——
Five minutes later…
“I guess I’m in Japan.” I knew right away that the people around me were all Japanese. It made sense; Kazunari was Japanese, and must have created his 27th dungeon here in Japan. But as I observed the people around me, I couldn’t help but feel confused.
“Why are they all so skinny? They’re all skin and bones, and dressed in rags. Why are they dressed in rags?” All monsters, dungeons, and Stores were all gone now. Earth should have returned to its natural state. And with devas, deities, and Don Gates all gone too, Earth should be experiencing a time of peace now. But these people all looked miserable, like they were slaves or refugees. Curious, I made my way towards them.
——
I crossed the distance and came up next to a group of people digging into the ground. When they saw me, they threw down their tools and prostrated themselves on the ground before me; every single one of them.
Then, an old man crawled forward on his knees and addressed me. “We paid you off less than a month ago, but what brings you back so soon…?” The elder barely lifted his head and avoided my eyes and spoke in a voice trembling with fear. From that, I had my suspicions of what the situation was like here.
“That was all we had. We don’t even have enough for the children to eat anymore. Please, give us more time. I swear we’ll have next month’s offerings in full so please…”
“Ahem. Raise your head, sir.”
“What?”
“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else so please, raise your head.”
The elder, finally noticing something was off, raised his head to meet my eyes. When he realized that I was not who he thought he was, the elder breathed a sigh of relief, free of the fear and anxiety that had gripped him just a moment ago. The others around us followed suit and sat up.
“Who…who are you?”
“I’m just a tourist who happened to pass by.”
“Hah…a tourist in this day and age…” the elder scoffed at my answer.
“So, what was all that about?”
“It’s just…when we saw your luxurious clothes…”
I looked down at my clothes. As he said, my clothes were definitely on the expensive side that my mother had bought for me. I often gave my mother bundles of golden rings to use, but the only things she used them on were clothes and the like for me. She always told me that I was the face of the Empire now, and needed to dress the part.
I shook my head and turned back to the elder. I didn’t come to talk to him about what he thought about my clothes. “I feel like I’m in the Middle Ages or something. The devas, deities, monsters and Stores are all gone; why are you all living like this?” I really thought that now that the superhumans were all gone, the mortals would pick themselves up and start anew. {TN: you naïve fool…this is why the comment section hates you.} I really thought that they’d be ecstatic that their oppressors were gone; this was really not what I had expected to see.
The elder narrowed his eyes at my question, as if he couldn’t believe I had asked that question in the first place.
“I lived as a mountain nomad for a little too long. I just don’t know what’s happened to the world these days.” That was too weak of an excuse, even for me, but I doubled down.
The elder, sensing that that was the best I was going to offer, didn’t press the issue. “After the devas, deities, monsters and Stores all disappeared, we were happy. We were afraid of what the future had in store for us because of the Tardy Deva title we all received, but we were content. Our oppressors were gone. But that happiness didn’t last long, thanks to someone who called himself the Liberator, and the Saviors that followed him.”
“The Liberator and the Saviors?” I could say with confidence that there was no thing as a Liberator. Anyone who called themselves the Liberator was not a Liberator. I scoffed at the very idea.
“Yes. The Liberator told us that he was the one who chased out all of the devas and deities. He also vowed to return Earth to us humans again. And somehow, we believed him.” The elder closed his eyes before continuing. “It didn’t take long for him to gain a massive following. It was great at first. We welcomed the change after all the hardship we went through as mortals. But we were fooled. Not long after, the Liberator declared Earth as his and that everything on Earth now belonged to him and his followers.”
“…”
“And so, he began to divide us up into Ranks, like items. The lower Ranked humans could not disobey higher Ranked humans, even if they were ordered to die. If they did disobey… then they were executed immediately. Ha… it’s Hell on Earth. I welcome the days of devas and deities. At least we had security and order then.”
After the elder stopped speaking, he and some of the people around us began to sob. I knew from that just how horribly they had been treated the past two years. I pitied them, but I didn’t want to destroy this Liberator and his Saviors for their horrible treatment. I wasn’t a savior or hero, but I was pissed off. I truly believed that with devas and deities no longer on Earth, the mortals would band together and make a better life for themselves. They did, after all, go through the same hardships under the oppression of devas and deities. But now, they were being treated even worse by another mortal.
But one other thing really ticked me off.
-I’m supposed to be Earth’s owner but someone is out there calling themselves that?-
Even my Stats Menu called me ‘The Keeper of Terra.’ I wasn’t really going to give much thought about being the owner of the Earth, but I didn’t like that someone else messing around with my possession like that. Still, I wasn’t going to just go find him right away and kill him. I could at least hear him out first. Innocent until proven guilty, right?
“Can you tell me where they are right now?”
The elder looked up at me, tears staining his leathered face. After staring at me for a while, he finally answered, “Brazil. They made Sao Paolo, Brazil their home.”
“Thank you,” I said before walking off. I only had three days on Earth. I needed to meet with this Liberator and decide what his and his Saviors’ fates were.
—
Section 104 of the Judge’s Continent…
“The enemy army has less than half our numbers but seeing as how they’re not using Section 104’s walls and were waiting for us out in the open doesn’t sit well with me,” Jesus muttered.
Wai Chung, Joel, and John shared his sentiments. It hadn’t been that long since the Crootians had experienced heavy losses against Lee Jiwon, but the four Terran guild masters did not expect the enemy soldiers to be waiting for them so confidently, and with only about three hundred thousand troops. The Terran army outnumbered them threefold, and they had chosen their most elite soldiers to show the rest of Earth that they were as good as the Empire. That was why the four guild masters did not shy away after seeing the enemy army and brought their army face to face with the Crootians. They couldn’t have an army of nine hundred thousand soldiers run away from a smaller army.
“We need to, don’t we?” Joel asked.
“We have to. The time to turn back has long passed.”
“I know we didn’t expect the enemy to reveal themselves this early, but it’s not like we weren’t prepared.”
“You’re right. We heavily outnumber them as well.”
The four guild masters were worried about the enemy’s sudden appearance, but they couldn’t retreat just because they were worried. They prepared their soldiers for battle, believing that their larger army would be enough to destroy the enemy soldiers.
But the Crootians were the first to act. More specifically, it was just one Crootian who walked out from the enemy soldiers’ ranks without hesitation. At first, the four Terran guild masters thought that the lone Crootian was a messenger and sent out one of their subordinates to meet the Crootian. Soon, the two met in the middle of the battlefield, but something happened that the four Terran guild masters did not expect.
The Crootian suddenly attacked the Terran messenger, killing the man instantly. The four Terran guild masters stared in shock at what just happened, but only for a moment. When they were about to give the order to attack, the Crootian they believed to be a messenger did not turn back and instead calmly continued forward.
“Grr! Get ready to attack!”
“Kill that bastard first, then surround the army behind him and slaughter them all!”
“Yes sir!”
As dumbstruck as they were at the Crootian’s actions, the Terran soldiers were also just as hyped after destroying Section 103. At their guild masters’ orders, the Terran soldiers roared a war cry in unison before charging, firing a volley of Skills at the lone enemy soldier.
“Triple Shot!”
“Stalagmite!”
“Blizzard!”
:
“Dancing Fire Sparks!”
“Razor Wind Storm!”
“Ice Ring!”
The great volley of Skills and spells was launched at the lone Crootian and struck him dead on.
“What the…?”
“He didn’t even bother dodging or blocking them?”
“He really is crazy.”
The four Terran guild masters clicked their tongues at how strangely the lone Crootian acted and how easily he was defeated. Now, they had to shift their attention to the three hundred thousand enemy soldiers.
“Charge!”
“Let’s show them that there’s more to the Empire that Earth has to offer!”
“Yes sir!”
“Raaah!”
The Terran soldiers thundered towards the Crootian army, running through the cloud of smoke caused by the spells and Skills that landed where the lone Crootian stood. Every single Crootian soldier believed that the Crootian could not have survived the attacks.
“Gah!” The Terran soldier that charged first into the cloud of smoke was suddenly flung back out. The cloud of smoke soon dissipated, revealing the Crootian still standing there.
“Did you really think that was enough to kill me?”
