chapter 198

“I am not a bug,” I protested.

It was the rabbit that I had seen at the beach, but I did not like how it treated me. The rabbit tilted its head as I continued to insist that I wasn’t a bug.

“Of course, no bug will admit that it is a bug. But a strong vaccine system is at work in here, so there would be no way to get in.”

“The other beings did not recognize me. You were the only one who can see me. Tell me, who are you and where am I?”

“Vaccine!” the rabbit turned its head and shouted.

He waited for a while, but nothing happened. By then, it looked at me again, confused.

“Why isn’t the vaccine working? Wait. Only I can see you?”

I folded my arms and waited for the rabbit. I assumed that the rabbits here didn’t have the power to intimidate me. I was still weak because my mana wasn’t entirely restored, but I could cope. Then the rabbit’s eyes narrowed. It gazed closely at the top of my head.

“There is no ID. What are you then if you are not a bug?”

“I am Randalf Bruciel, a demon.”

I showed mercy for the freaked rabbit. Since I had introduced myself, it should introduce itself, too.

“A demon? Oh, right. Our teacher told us about it before. But how did a being of Devildom get here? Did our teacher program it before he left? Let me see.”

It shook its long white ears a couple of times, and something that looked like glasses came out. The rabbit picked them up and wore them, and began to gesture in the air. It seemed like it was dancing.

[Blocked the invasion from the outside forcibly.]

“Huh?”

A message popped in front of me. At the same time, smoke came out from the glasses that the rabbit was wearing. It quickly took them off in panic.

“W-what is this program? It is a totally different type! And the security level exceeded our teacher’s level. Oh my god!”

Its eyes were filled with astonishment. It gaped at me, and soon, the astonishment turned to fear.

“If you are a virus from the outside, you are definitely dangerous. You invalidated the vaccine, and only I, the vice administrator, can recognize you. It means…maybe…I am already infected.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

I really had no idea. I had heard similar words from humans, but that was it.

“You said you are Randalf Bruciel, right? Can you tell me where you came from?” the rabbit asked desperately.

“If you want to know more about me, introduce yourself first. I already told you who I am, but I know nothing about you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. My ID is 0001. I am the vice administrator of the Reverse World.”

“Reverse World?”

The rabbit nodded and went on, “The moon! Here, we say ‘the other side of the moon’.”

***

After a brief introduction from 0001, I was guided into a small room. The room was filled with moonlight like a universe.

“You said you came from Earth, right? I’m sorry. I thought you are just a bot or something programmed. Anyway, Earth… You are talking about this one, correct?”

0001 pointed out a dot from the map of the universe. He pressed the map a couple of times and zoomed in, and the blue planet appeared.

“I think it’s right,” I confirmed.

“Really? Oh, this is trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“This is a planet out of our boundaries. The highest administer made it this way forcibly, a little more about…,” it paused momentarily, recalling details, “five years ago according to Earth’s time.”

Five years… It was the period when the demons came to Earth.

I frowned and asked, “Who, or what, is the administer you are talking about?”

“God!”

“God…”

I could not understand. 0001 called himself the vice administrator, but he didn’t feel like a god at all.

“The gods also have ranks. The teacher who manages this world is a middle administrator. To be clear, I only assist the teacher. I am not a god.”

As I nodded, 0001 went on, “Anyway, among the administrators, middle administrators manage the assigned worlds to them. Well, even though they are called administrators, what they only can do is to balance the world, not to destroy it. But the highest administrators can interfere directly or indirectly in worlds.”

“Where is the demon god, Death Bringer?”

For me, talking about the gods sounded like catching floating clouds. Thus, I asked about the name that was familiar to me.

0001 answered me kindly, “The demon god is one of the highest administrators. Hmm… Yes, that is right. The demon god was the one who separated Earth from our jurisdiction. And his name was, yes—that is right—it was Death Bringer. All of the low-grade administrators of that world opposed, but he proceeded anyway.”

0001 suddenly closed his mouth. He stared at me blankly like he was worried about something.

“And you said you came from Earth. Do you think the demon god is related to our missing teacher?”

“Who is this teacher you keep referring to?”

“He is the one who manages the Reverse World. He suddenly disappeared about two months ago, according to Earth’s time. After he disappeared, someone accessed the highest administrator privilege and made a mess of this world. We can’t do anything about it.” 0001 scowled.

I cupped my chin. 0001 said this was the Reverse World, the other side of the moon. The moon and the missing administrator… The time and place oddly coincided. Above all, there was a smell similar to the Wizard of the Moon coming from 0001.

“I might have met the one you call teacher.”

“When? Where?”

“He used the power of the moon and brought the night with him. Although his body was injured a hundred, or even a thousand times, it recovered immediately. And then, he suddenly sucked the night around him.”

“Yes, that is right! He is our teacher! When he is in a bad mood, he sucks all of the night. There is no night here because he is not around. He took all of it with him. But you said his body was injured?”

Only with little information, 0001 seemed pretty sure about who he was. I was in disbelief to find out that the Wizard of the Moon was actually a god. He moved around in such an awful form. What the hell Ufa had done to him?

But, if he was a true god, his unbelievably regenerative ability could be explained.

“He was being controlled by another demon. He lost his ego and became like a puppet that only follows orders. I fought against him, tried to destroy him, but I failed. After the final battle, when I opened my eyes, I was at the beach where you saw me.”

“Only those who entered the realm of transcendence can harm gods… You are some piece of work! If you die after harnessing more divinity, you might be able to become at least a low-grade god or something. I envy you… Anyway, hang on a second. You mentioned that our teacher is being controlled…,” 0001 spoke incoherently. He was confused.

“Yes. He is under the control of a demon, like me.”

“An immortal is controlled by a mortal? No way! It goes against the rules of the world! The gods of that world wouldn’t allow it!”

I recalled the moment when I returned to the past. All the gods of Earth were sealed. The demon god, Death Bringer, did so. He had built dungeons where the gods were sealed and invited demons to Earth.

Since all the gods of Earth were sealed, no one would prohibit things against rules. Well, except Death Bringer. However, he was not doing anything about this matter. He was no more than a spectator, watching as things unfolded.

“Oh… What should I do? I should bring our teacher back.”

“Send me back to Earth. Then, I will kill the demons controlling him.”

I thought I could solve the problem if I killed Arentu and Ufa. It was my plan anyway, so it was like hitting two birds with one stone. But 0001 shook his head, disagreeing with my proposal.

“It is not a simple matter. Whoever infiltrated our world, contaminated our teacher, too. And he even took him! How the mortal being managed to do that? Alas! Wait. Maybe it was because of the crack. Last time—”

“Crack?” I cut the rabbit at the mention of the ‘crack’.

“About two years ago, a mistake occurred during programming, and a big crack was opened. It was the only chance for the world to be exposed in the past 100 years. It was opened for about a second, and I dealt with it immediately. I also searched through all the systems. There were no issues. But maybe something could have happened during that one second… Oh, no. Does that even make sense?”

0001 shook its head. Knowing that its teacher was kidnapped and manipulated was a heavy burden on its shoulders.

It started to bite its finger and went on, “And that crack was only connected to the Nothingness. But it was only a second!” it reiterated. “They had to go through the Nothingness in a second! How was that even possible? There was no way for a mortal of Earth to do so! Since the beginning, not many beings would know about the Nothingness.”

The rabbit mentioned about two years ago and the Nothingness. They sounded very familiar. It was the time when Contegnome had been summoned. It was the first time that a being of the Nothingness was summoned on Earth. I never heard of any other cases after that.

“I guess there was a chance.”

“Yeah. That is the only explanation. Oh, well. It cannot be helped. I have to bring back our teacher first.”

The rabbit went to the corner of the room and brought out an arrow from a drawer.

“Can you do me a favor? Please save our teacher with this vaccine. Otherwise, this world will be doomed.”

It looked like a normal arrow. I was curious, so I opened my Mind’s Eye.

[Interpreting the program…]

[Interpreting is complete.]

Name: Moon Arrow (Legend)

Description: It is an arrow formed from the strong concentration of the moon’s aura. It contains the gods’ blessing and grace. It is enough to be called as the clone of the god of the moon.

* All stats +2 when held. It can pierce through all boundaries.

** Depending on who was pierced, there will be a completely different effect.

It was even a legend-grade item. I’d never touched a legend-grade item before. I had seen it a couple of times, but I had never owned one. I encountered it in a totally unexpected place.

“I’ll make the passage for you. I have to make two passages to Devildom and Earth at the same time.”

“Passage to Devildom?”

I wondered if that was really necessary.

0001 saw my face and began to explain, “Well, because I will make the passage using the code of your body. You were in Devildom originally, right? But you will not be able to go back there now. If what I think is correct, you probably be moved to Earth under certain circumstances. So, you might be banned to go back to Devildom until you fulfill the conditions. Well, the mortals from Devildom staying on Earth does not make sense, though.”

0001 shook his ears and took out another pair of glasses. He wore it immediately, moved his fingers, and said, “Just give me a few days. It will not take long.”