It was a vast open sea. Wherever one turned their head, the only thing visible was the dark blue ocean water.
A boat sailed toward the horizon. Its large sail blew fervently in the wind and pushed the boat toward its destination. White foam splashed and scattered from the head of the boat, and the long, white trails of foam behind it marked its passage. The captain of the boat looked at the compass and then in front of him. Just then, another person approached the captain.𝚏𝘳𝑒𝒆w𝑒𝙗𝑛ov𝒆l*𝘤o𝑚
“Do you see anything, sir?”
“Ah, Mr. Hans!” The captain took his eyes off the compass and smiled as he turned his head. Most seamen were rough and often got angry at the most menial matters if they thought they were getting bothered while working. Yet, the captain’s attitude was unbelievably calm for someone with full authority over the ship.
It was only expected. No matter how tough of a seaman the captain was or how passionately he fought the rough winds and fierce waves every day at sea with his life on the line, the person he was addressing was too impressive to act rudely toward. He was a dragon slayer—someone who had managed to bring the fantastical idea of defeating a dragon into reality! Furthermore, Hans was currently working hard to block the Bellids’ great invasion.
Since Bellids served the god of water, Bellu, one might believe that seamen also worshipped the same god. Yet, because of how notorious the Bellids were, no one worshipped Bellu besides a very limited number of people. Instead, Bellu was loathed and thought to be a wicked god who tempted sea people to the ocean and ultimately to their deaths. Considering this, it was only natural that the captain acted so amiably toward Hans. Furthermore, it wasn’t as if Hans had a bad attitude. Hans always maintained the utmost politeness to the captain and everyone around him.
“It’s about time for us to see our destination, so I am surveying the area. I can’t see anything yet though.”
“You and the crew are going through so much trouble,” Hans apologized.
“It’s nothing, sir. We are doing something for the whole world. It’s our honor to contribute to such a big cause,” the captain laughed heartily. “Furthermore, you all helped us tremendously too. We wouldn’t have been able to arrive here so quickly if it wasn’t for you and your companions.”
Hans and his companions used all sorts of methods to help with the voyage. Thanks to it, they had been able to travel at a speed that shocked even the captain who had spent many years at sea.
Hans looked at the horizon from afar and gathered mana in his eyes. Although the captain’s eyes were also good, they couldn’t compare to Hans’ eyes.
“Could it be that, sir?”
“Do you see something?”
“I see land. I can’t decide if it is an island or mainland yet though...”
“Then, it must be an island. There are only islands near here.”
“I see.” The captain moved away from his spot to tell his crew members that they would be arriving at their destination soon. Hans stared intently at the island.
***
Not long afterward, the ship got close enough that even ordinary people could see it. With some distance between it and the shore, the ship let down its sail and a small boat was lowered from the ship.
“Thank you for giving us a ride, Sir Captain.”
“Is it really okay for us to drop you all off here?”
Hans smiled at the captain’s slightly worried tone and replied, “We can definitely cover this distance. Furthermore, you all could be in danger if we get too close to the island. As we discussed before, you need to turn your ship around as soon as we depart. If you’re unlucky, those Bellid bastards might find you.”
“How are you and the other heroes going to come back, sir?”
Hans felt a bit taken aback after they addressed them as heroes. When he had provoked Zich without knowing his place and got dragged off the Steelwall Estate after being beaten like a dog, he didn’t imagine that he would be called by such a title at all. Yet, Hans managed to turn a childish dream into reality, and it was undeniably thanks to one person. Thus, Hans had to give this mission his all, especially because this was a request from Zich not as a master, but as an equal companion.
“I heard great lengths about how outstanding your skills are, Sir Hero, but the ocean is very dangerous. Furthermore, this place is very hard to find. Since it’s far from land, not too many sailors know about it either. Furthermore, the currents around here are very strong and the weather is capricious. No matter how outstanding your skills are, you could be swept by the waters and die.”
“Don’t worry. I can’t tell you the details, but we also have our own methods.”
Eventually, the captain nodded as his face still looked full of worries. Hans climbed into the small boat while the ship they had been riding on made a wide turn and returned to where they came from. Hans looked at the rest of his team members on the small boat. There was Snoc, Elena, and Lara—his very close companions. They were all looking at Hans and waiting for his command. Indeed, the leader of this party was Hans and not Zich.
“Let’s go.” Hans stretched out his palms and pushed mana out. With a loud explosion, the boat slid forward smoothly, and they neared the island in an instant.
The island looked devastated, with no signs of life. There were only black rocks and ashes exposed on the shore and the smoke from the volcano at the center of the island explained how the island had reached this state. It was to the point that they could smell the strong, acrid smell of sulfur before they arrived at the island. Others would’ve tried to look for other beaches more suitable for landing, but this party felt no need to do so. Snoc took out mithril clumps from his magic box.
“Nowem.”
Koo! Nowem flipped the mithril pieces in the air and moved them toward the bottom of the boat.
Blurp! The boat was pushed up by the pieces of mithril and kept ascending until it landed on top of a cliff. The whole party stepped onto the island’s soil, and Hans collected the boat into his magic box and took out a map. It was a very sloppily drawn map, but special landmarks had been clearly marked so that it wasn’t hard to tell which one was what. Hans compared the map with the island’s topography.
“Let’s go there,” Hans said and walked away while placing his map into his pockets.
“I heard it was desolate, but this is beyond my expectations. There are only a few grass shrubs and sea birds.”
Koo.
Snoc looked around and muttered, “They said that the volcano erupts frequently.”
Lara’s gaze landed on the top of the volcano, which was emitting smoke. Compared to the two who were relaxed, Elena was continuously muttering something under her breath.
“Are you okay?” Snoc asked.
“I have to practice, so don’t talk to me.” Elena's reply was flat, to the point that Snoc felt somewhat hurt. However, Snoc understood her feelings. She played a critical role for this mission, so he understood why she was so tense and focused. Moreover, Elena had been continuously practicing while they had been traveling on the ship and even while they were on the boat. Snoc stayed a short distance from Elena, so as not to distract her. However, he didn’t go too far away so that he could protect her immediately in case anything happened.
Hans had been walking in the front when he stopped walking and said, “There it is.”
Lara stood next to him. “It’s a cave.”
There was a cave in front of the party that could barely fit one person inside.
“They’re probably in there.”
“Will there be many enemies?”
“If the plan worked, there shouldn’t be many. It could even be completely empty.” Since they had used such high-quality bait, there was a high possibility that all of their enemies were gathered around the bait.
Hans and the others went inside the cave. The cave that stretched down made it extremely uncomfortable to walk forward. They moved cautiously toward the inside of the cave.
The cave was very deep. After going down for a while, they saw movement in front of them.
“Monsters.” Hans pulled out his sword.
“Unfortunately, it seems that not all of the enemies are gone.”
“It doesn’t matter. We can easily defeat monsters of that level.”
The monster wandering around the cave was on the extremely strong side, but it was still not strong enough to pose a problem to Hans’ party.
Hans looked back at his companions and said, “We’re going to quickly break through from now on. Even though we should be able to reach it in the time that Sir Zich told us to, we don’t have time to dawdle.”
“Will we really get there in time?” Lara asked anxiously.
This operation had to be timed precisely by the two groups since two operations needed to be carried out in a row within a few days at a considerable distance. It was an extremely high-risk operation that was very likely to fail from Lara’s point of view.
However, Hans simply replied, “We just need to get the timing right since there’s no way Sir Zich will fail. So far, it’s been working out well for us.”
Hans' trust in Zich was astounding as always; it was to the point that it made Lara slightly jealous.
Lara nodded while slightly pouting.
“Let’s go!” Hans ran while holding his sword. The others followed him and hit the ground. The monster turned its head at the sudden sound of commotion. However, even before the monster could identify its enemy, Hans’ sword had slit its throat. Hans didn’t even watch the monster fall over; he looked around to find another enemy.
There was a considerable number of monsters in the cave. However, they failed to resist properly, and Hans’ group annihilated them. Like this, they finally arrived at a large door.
“Is it here?” Hans stood in front of the door. From a glance, it didn’t look like a door that belonged on a remote island, and this was proof that they had come to the right place. Hans slightly placed his hand on the door and put more strength into his hand. However, the door didn’t budge.
‘As expected, it’s locked.’ It was as Zich said.
* * *
“...Did he send a separate party to the island?” The ruin where the World Tree was and the tower were connected together by mana. As a result, Ultel could sense someone trying to open the door inside the ruin since he controlled the Brushel System. There was definitely an intruder inside the ruin. Most of his subordinates were currently gathered inside the tower, and no one among his subordinates would try to open the door to the ruin.
Then, there was only one possibility left—Zich had sent out a separate party to the ruin since those who knew the importance of the island were only him, a handful of his subordinates, and Zich. At the same time, he couldn’t understand what was happening.
‘How?’ In fact, Ultel wasn’t sure if Zich would come to the tower on the island. To be precise, Ultel had expected Zich to barge onto the island with the tower or the island with the World Tree. His subordinates were on standby on the islands, and they were there to pressure Zich and his party and stop them. In the end, Zich had come to attack the tower, and Ultel had concentrated all his forces on the tower. Thus, naturally, the island where the World Tree resided was now empty. However, Ultel didn’t feel a sense of crisis. He just couldn’t understand Zich’s intentions.
‘What the hell are you thinking?’ In order to open the door to the ruin, the Emperor’s Ring that Ultel had was essential. Otherwise, the door would never open or break since it was, protected by the World Tree’s mana, would never open or break. Indeed, Ultel believed that Zich was in possession of something similar to the Emperor’s Ring. However, Zich was currently here, and as long as Zich was in the tower, no one could open the ruin’s door. Perhaps...did Zich not know this? No, there was no way Zich would not know about it, since he received information from the Brushel System’s Core.
‘So why?’
The next moment, however, Ultel's eyes opened with astonishment.
* * *
Bam, bam, bam! Hans looked down at the object in his hand as he heard the door open with a loud creak. It was the item that Zich had handed to Hans saying that he would need it to open the door.
‘Did Sir Zich say it was called the Key That Distorts Destiny?’ Hans thought it was a grand name and carefully retrieved the small shard.
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