Chapter 38: The Book

"This isn't normal light!" 

In less than a second, I came to this conclusion.

Being so close, I could easily see that the golden light coming from Meredith had some kind of corrosive, destructive quality. Whatever it touched got eaten up without any trace.

Other people might not notice anything wrong, but since I had touched Reality Authority, I could definitely tell something wasn't right - this light actually had the power to change and destroy matter!

Even I couldn't easily use rules affecting such a large area. So seeing this from a Star Glory Knight who wasn't even seventh level really surprised me.

"How is this possible!"

The golden light kept spreading quickly. The other people were already covered by it. There was no way to know what would happen to them.

In such a dangerous situation, even though I had an angel's body with super strong element resistance, I didn't dare take any chances. I quickly grabbed Adrian and ran away.

"What was that? It couldn't be a weapon from Earth, right?"

After running a short distance, the light started getting weaker. Adrian asked while looking back, seeing that the light only went a few meters past the arena before getting dim. Then everything quickly calmed down.

When we returned to check the scene, we found a super huge hole...

"I'm sure that knight didn't even awaken Battle Qi yet. How did one person do something like this?"

Looking at this newly formed black hole that was hundreds of meters wide, Adrian stood at the edge silent for a good minute before sighing.

After making sure it was safe, I flew back to check the center area several times. Not only could I not find even a scrap of clothing from the people caught in it, even Meredith who was the source of the light had vanished without a trace. I could only guess they probably died together.

"Did you think of something?"

Seeing me standing there lost in thought with a worried look, Adrian noticed something was off and asked.

I didn't know how to explain properly. It made me think about what Nicola described happening in another parallel world.

In so called Ancient God Religion, some followers could pray to their god and release huge power, but they had to pay a price.

These things shouldn't exist in our world. We hadn't even heard of Ancient God Religion! But what that knight did before dying was very similar. It made me wonder if those "Spring" guys had arrived in this world too.

"...It's nothing, probably just overthinking! Anyway, that group with the blonde girl was very suspicious. I just feel if Nicola were here, we might understand more!"

I promised Nicola I wouldn't tell anyone about what happened to her in another world, and she specifically mentioned Adrian. All I could do was to gloss over and change the topic.

"True, our main goal is to kill Reider. Those strange people fighting with True Church doesn't really matter to us. We better discuss this stuff later!"

Luckily Adrian didn't push further.

I definitely agreed with this suggestion. However, after getting back on track and moving forward, we still had no clue where Reider was.

Walking and exploring for so long, Adrian and I had seen many weapon storage rooms, living quarters, and training rooms. We were pretty sure this villa was planned as a military fortress. Besides royals coming here for vacation, the space inside the mountain could also be used for defense. This explained why the structure was so complex, like a maze.

But trying to find where Reider was hiding in such a big fortress wasn't easy. He might have even escaped through some secret passage. No wonder that knight Meredith insisted on getting Reider's location by questioning people.

"Wait!"

I suddenly noticed a trace of disturbance at the rules level. I quickly stopped and pointed at a corridor nearby. "Over there... I think it's Nicola!"

After experiencing it many times, I was getting familiar with Nicola's time modifications! If I wasn't wrong, she probably just used time stop or time reversal.

She must have gotten into a fight. This was great news for me and Adrian who were wandering around clueless! 

Running quickly along the direction I sensed, turning several corners, we soon reached a relatively wide area. The situation ahead was just as I expected. Nicola had five pairs of grey-white wings spread behind her, pinning someone hard to the ground.

"She never disappoints..."

Looks like she didn't need our help. No matter who that person pinned down was, at least we caught someone alive. Better than having no leads at all.

"Answer clearly! You read a book that recorded what happened to me in another world. What's going on?"

But surprisingly, Nicola didn't ask about where Reider was. Instead she asked about some book she mentioned before?

"We can talk, just let me go!!"

The man on the ground was only in his twenties, dressed in Earth-style clothes with a gold necklace, looking a bit like a street thug. He showed no sign of wanting to fight back, just kept begging. But hearing this, he suddenly looked very confused. "I read so many books, how would I know which one you're talking about? And I don't even know who you are?"

"Stop pretending! I saw you and your friends discussing the contents of that book, and you mentioned my name. This was about... two minutes ago!"

Nicola wouldn't fall for his act. She pressed down harder with her foot and checked her watch while questioning him. This didn't surprise me and Adrian, but it shocked the man with the gold nechlace.

"Two minutes ago? But I don't think I said any of this two minutes ago? No... I didn't say anything at all!"

"Hmph! You didn't say it because you were busy running away, and we're now on a different future path. But you must know about that book..."

Letting out a cold laugh, Nicola didn't bother talking more. She started searching through his rings and pockets, but none of his jewelry, including the big gold necklace, seemed to be storage space tools.

"Tell me! Where did you hide the book 'Ethereal Ascendance: A Journal of Transformation'?"

Not finding what she wanted, Nicola got angry and stabbed her Condensation Sword into his hand.

In that instant, a huge bloody hole was "corroded" through the man's palm. He rolled around on the ground screaming in pain, but my attention was caught by the book's name.

"'Ethereal Ascendance: A Journal of Transformation'? What's going on? Why does this name sound like it's talking about... us?"

I'm sure I didn't hear wrong, so I tried to control my excitement and asked Nicola.

"Could it be someone already knows about your crossing over, and wrote it into a book?"

Adrian also thought it was unbelievable. After all, who would be so bored to do something like this? It was hard to understand the motivation behind it.