Beyond the Eternity

There was a massive headache. It felt as though someone had ruthlessly struck my head with a baseball bat again and again. No, maybe it was more accurate to say it felt like several needles were piercing through my head.

This excruciating headache.... Perhaps it was a side effect of my soul leaving my physical body.

It was painful but I slowly opened my eyes to escape from my reverie. The first thing I saw was the familiar faces of Jung Yunhee and Angelica.

"Jakga, you're awake!"

"Ugh... My head hurts."

I slowly raised my body and rubbed my temple. After the pain subsided a little, I looked around and noticed I was laying on the clearing.

Then there was the sight of the burning forest and the ongoing battle. More importantly...

"What happened? How..."

"Lee Suhye dragged you out of the forest." Jung Yunhee answered my question.

"Is that what happened? I see. I think I remember now. Where is Lee Suhye?"

"She's over there but her condition is not good."

Jung Yunhee pointed to Lee Suhye who was barely breathing. Her body has almost completely blackened and her breathing pattern was rough as though she could use at any moment.

Did she really carry me in that state? I have to act quickly. The medicine...

I tried to stand up. My body remained and it was difficult to move. How long was I unconsious? Maybe my soul was out of my body for a long time.

Angelica caught me and looked at me with a worried expression. "Take it easy! You haven't recovered yet."

"I'll be fine. Lee Suhye is still suffering because of me. I have to help her before it's too late."

Angelica supported me as I moved until I reached Lee Suhye. I pulled out an elven forest essence and put it in her mouth.

Lee Suhye's expression relaxed as she took the medicine, and the dark markings on her skin started to fade away. If we wait for a while, she'll recover on her own.

My gaze landed on Angelica and I asked "How many minutes has passed?"

"Only 30 minutes has passed since you passed out."

"30 minutes? Are you sure?"

"Yes. Why are you asking?"

"It's nothing."

Only 30 minutes. I felt I was stuck in the white room but in reality, only 30 minutes had passed. That prison was really a terrible place.

The sound of fighting attracted my attention and I looked at the battlefield. The soldiers were currently overwhelming the monster horde. Only a handful of ogres and ogre riders remained. Even then, their numbers dwindled rapidly until their roars fell silent.

It was inevitable. Miasma was the core of their strength. With the source of contamination gone, the monsters fell under the might of the city defence.

Of course, the soldiers suffered heavily losses as well.

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Only 100 soldiers remained. Naturally, the soldiers already suffered losses before the reinforcements arrived.

Half of the cavalry perished defending the wall, while the rest were slain when the ogre riders joined the fray. Without the intervention of the backstage characters, the city's destruction would have been inevitable.

The party members were resting somewhere and recovering their strength. Jung Yunhee and Angelica were slightly exhausted while Lee Suhye was resting.

It was a good thing I prepared some elven forest essences before coming here, otherwise her condition would have gotten more serious.

Miasma was the source of corruption in 'Songs of the Fall'. Needless to say, it was very dangerous to humans including walkers. In fact, it was a miracle that we both managed to escape the forest alive.

It doesn't matter anyways. The plan worked and we survived so it was useless to think about it anymore.

I stood alone at a comfortable distance and watched the forest burn infront of me. Embers and smoke drifted through the air, mingling with the smell of scorched wood.

I closed my eyes and pictured the forest before the Nightmare Trial cast this world into darkness. A beautiful scenery filled with life and wildlife. But now, it was just a mere shadow of its former splendor.

The sound of footsteps drew closer. I glanced behind me and noticed Jung Yunhee approaching with Lee Suhye. Once they arrived before me, I opened my mouth.

"You should rest some more."

"Don't worry about me. I'm not weak." Lee Suhye wore with a strained smile.

Why was she acting to be tough at a moment like this. Since she stayed with Soo Jinyoung for a while, she must have picked up her bad habits.

I opened my mouth. "Thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would have died in the forest."

"Don't worry about it. You also helped me as well so we're even."

Lee Suhye replied and then looked at the plains with a dark expression.

The plains was filled with the gruesome sight of blood and torn bodies belonged to fallen soldiers and monsters. Some corpses were missing limbs while others were torn from their torso.

Lee Suhye showed a mixture of disgust and sorrow before opening her mouth again.

"Is it finally over? Why isnt the story ending?"

"Be patient, the story will end soon."

"Tck, great. How long do we have to wait?"

"How about we put out that fire?" Angelica suggested, looking at the burning forest.

"Don't worry, the fire will go out on its own. In fact, the clearance message should be appearing soon."

"Huh?"

Everyone looked at me but I did not elaborate. My reason? There was no need to explain.

Literally in the next moment, a system message rang in my ears.

[The first 'Conclusion' has been reached.]

[Main Actors: Kim Jakga, Angelica, Jung Yunhee, Lee Suhye.]

[500 coins has been given as a clearance reward.]

As the stage clear message arrived, the ground beneath our feet began to glow and the party members became noisy.

"W-What!"

"This is...!"

"Rest. We're just leaving the story."

With the conclusion reached, there was no reason for us to stay in the story. The dungeon master must have been satisfied with this ending.

I surveyed my surroundings one last time. At the city's northern gate, the cavalry commander was engaged in a conversation with a man who seemed to be the defense captain. The distance was great so I couldn't hear what they were saying. But there was no need to listen to what they were saying.

In the next moment, the surrounding space distorted and we appeared on the first floor. There was a slight headache and dizziness but it cleared out after a few moments.

The party members were engaged in an conservation but I could not hear them properly. I was thinking about what happened earlier.

Honestly, my heart was still troubled. Did I really see that person, or was it someone else. Perhaps I had imagined it all. That place really missed with the prisoners mind so it was possible that what I saw was just a hallucination.

"Jakga! Jakga!"

A shout pulled me from my reverie. I turned and noticed Angelica looking at me with a frown.

"What were you thinking about so deeply? I've been calling you for a while."

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry about."

"Hmm."

Angelica looked at me with an unsatisfied expression as if saying she did not believe me.

I sighed then opened my mouth. "So what were you saying again?"

"I was asking if we have to pass more floors like this one."

"Yes, there are no other alternatives. We will have to use the stairs if we want to reach the higher floors."

We quickly entered the second floor using the stairs. Fortunately, the stairs was not destoryed. I noticed a few cracks on the stairs while climbing.

It seems Kang Jaewon tried to destory the stairs to block us but failed miserably. Fortunately, nothing here can destoryed unless the librarian allowed it. Even the broken shelves had slowly repaired themselves while we were trapped.

In any case, as we entered the second floor, we were assaulted by a book that flew our way. There was no point in resisting so we were transported into another fable.

This time, we found ourselves in a futuristic city, its skyline adorned with sleek, towering skyscrapers and advanced structures. The air was filled with the hum of hovercars gliding smoothly through the skyways, while neon lights and holographic advertisements illuminated the bustling streets below.

The party members looked around in admiration especially Angelica. If I remember correctly, wasn't this a story where the actors had to fight giant robots.

Kuooooh!!!

A massive T-Rex-shaped robot let out a deafening roar, while robot spiders and drones scurried and flew through the city, wreaking havoc.

Lee Suhye exclaimed as if it was absurd.

"What on earth is going on here?"

"Let me break it down for you. Basically, someone thought it was a good idea to create an artificial intelligence with a conscience. This is the result."

"Of course." Lee Suhye rolled her eyes. "So it is a cringe story."

"Pretty much."

"The librarian does not have taste."

Once we destoryed the robot army, we appeared in the library dungeon and headed straight to the third floor.

The next story was a mystery. We were detectives in the station trying to solve a crime case and find the killer.

Jung Yunhee opened her mouth. "I told you it was the mother."

On the other hand, Angelica looked confused. "Why would the mother kill her husband?"

"The husband abused the wife and then wife reaches her breaking point and snapped. It was a simple story."

I looked at Jung Yunhee as she spoke. She seemed as though she wasn't bothered but I noticed a crack in her expression.

"Aren't we moving quickly? We are already on the fourth floor." Lee Suhye asked.

I felt a knot of anxiety as we ascended the stairs. The challenges we faced were tough, but not as daunting as the first story.

If we pushed ourselves to the limit, we could handle any story. The real issue was Kang Jaewon.

What would happen if a fight broke out between us and the regressor? Perhaps everyone here would die powerlessly.

We needed another way apart from physical combat to handle the regressor.

[The transfer will begin.]

The surrounding space distorted and when we opened our eyes, the background was covered in woods and greenery.

The refreshing wind caught me unexpectedly, a fierce yet gentle force that seemed to caress every inch of my skin. It was as if the air itself had come alive, whispering secrets through the rustling leaves and brushing against my face with a chill that sent shivers down my spine.

I sweep my gaze around and noticed we were the only ones here. I sighed. To begin with, was I expecting anyone else to be here?

In the next moment, a system message popped up infront of me.

[The Fourth Story will commence.]

[Description: You are currently in the forest blessed by the Earth Mother, a place where abundance has sustained its animal inhabitants. However, monsters have emerged, threatening to plunge the forest into darkness. Your role in this story is to eliminate the Four Monster Kings and prevent the forest's contamination.]

Rumble, rumble!

Far away in the distance, several black silhouettes were charging towards our direction. However, they were not the only targets.

Different monsters were approaching different directions. Ghouls from the north, Gnolls from the south, Ogres from the east and Dark Elves from the west.

To kill the 'Four Monster Kings' and protect the forest. That was the goal of this story.

Lee Suhye opened her mouth and cursed.

"Oh, great. It's a f*cking monster outbreak. How the hell are we supposed to defend against all those monsters? There is no structure to even use as a barrier."

Indeed, there was no defensive structures to use as a barrier. We were stationed in an open field and there was only four of us. It was unreasonable to expect four people to fight off a monster outbreak. However....

"There's a way."

There was a way to survive this trial. As the reader of the novel, I already knew many ways to survive.

"We'll pick them out one by one. Our first target were the ghouls."

Beyond the horde of ghouls, the ghoul king's crimson eyes glowed and spotted us.