Chapter 144 - Broken Silence

—Dimensional Gap—

Stepping out into the Void alone, I understood why the Dragons like it here so much. Aside from the intense forces this place exerted on individuals, the peaceful silence and tranquility it had were second to none. If I were not in a hurry, I would have gladly taken a nap here to escape the hectic worlds outside of here.

'I can understand why Ophis wants this place for herself.', I thought with a sigh, 'That said, it would get quite lonely after a while. Wonder how she keeps that sensation at bay…'

Focusing on trying to pinpoint their location, fortunately, I did not have to look far as both of them came flying out of a rift. Watching the two of them blast one another with magic, Ophis could not injure Great Red and Great Red could not be bothered to take the fight seriously. Studying them for a moment, I could see why Great Red had little concern for Ophis. In terms of magical power, Great Red had her beat five to one and in physical strength, it was easily ten to one or more.

'With her stats, I am honestly surprised someone managed to kill her in a single blow.', I thought for a moment, 'I forget what their name was, but it would be fun to go and fight them myself. Since I have no interest in establishing relations with them, I can use it as an opportunity to improve my new ability. Hopefully, prolonged uses will expand the amount of time I can use it or lower the energy cost.'

Letting the two Dragons enter the space completely before approaching them, they began bickering with one another. Acknowledging that her magic attacks were getting her nowhere, Ophis switched to a more diplomatic approach. Offering her additional power, wealth, and even territory in the Human World, Great Red turned down all of her offers. Telling Ophis that she had no need for any material goods in the Dimensional Gap, she asked why she was the one who needed to leave this place.

"I enjoy my peace and quiet.", Ophis replied.

"Sorry but I am not leaving this place, I enjoy being able to roam freely without being swarmed by people. Besides which this place is enormous, why can we not just stay in separate places here? There is nothing that says we have to be near one another.", Great Red remarked, "Believe me, I do not like having you pestering me all day every day either."

"That will not work, I already tried that.", Ophis admitted, "Your snoring and sleep-talking are too loud, even being on the other side of the gap I can still hear you."

Stopping her flight, Great Red turned back and glared at Ophis. Not taking the comment well, Great Red quickly delivered an equally vicious comment.

"At least I do not get mistaken for a child by our kin, I mean you are just a shrimp after all.", Great Red spat, "In more ways than one!"

"What was that…", Ophis growled again.

Changing into their humanoid forms in front of me, the two women never broke eye contact. Ophis looked like a young, gothic, teenage girl with very modest curves while Great Red was on the completely opposite end of the scale. She had the tan, athletic body of a college swimmer with dangerous curves in all the right places. Deciding to inject myself before they began fighting again, I called out to them before they could get started.

"Ladies, could I have just a few minutes of your time?", I called out, "I am looking for someone that may have passed through here some time ago, and I was hoping you could point me in the direction of where they may have gone."

Registering my presence for the first time, the two broke contact to look at me. Feeling them releasing their Killing Intent at me, I returned the favor and made both of them back away. Sensing that I was a genuine threat to both of them, they decided to refrain from attacking me immediately. Gliding closer to them so I did not have to shout, the two of them became more nervous as I approached.

"Who are you looking for?", Great Red inquired.

"This woman", I said projecting an image for them to see, "Her name is Ciri, and she-"

"No need, I have seen her.", Great Red interjected before quickly apologizing to me, "That said, the last time I saw her she made me promise not to tell anyone where she went. Ciri mentioned that some pretty dangerous people were after her, you one of them?"

"No, I am not with those genocidal Elves.", I chuckled, "I am trying to find her because several of the worlds she has visited have been frozen solid by them. My goal is to find her, bring her back to my world, and figure out a plan to deal with the Wild Hunt. While I understand that you promised her that you would not tell, I really need to find her soon…the most recent world was frozen a few weeks ago."

"Hmm…", Great Red mumbled unsure of what to do.

"He has the scent of two other Dragons on him, he can be trusted.", Ophis remarked looking at Great Red.

Unable to argue with that logic, Great Red agreed to show me where Ciri was. Ripping a hole in the Dimensional Gap for us to peer through, she stated that Ciri was staying in this world while she further honed her sword skills. Seeing a modern-looking, Japanese city on the other end, I asked if this world had a name.

"It is called Earth, so it will not help you any.", Great Red replied with a smirk, "A lot of worlds I have seen are called Earth, I do not understand why. A word of warning, the people of this world lack the ability to sense each other's magical power as we do in our universe. Do not be surprised if you get attacked by people far below you in strength."

"Thanks for the heads up, I owe you one.", I told her with a nod before jumping in.

—Unknown World—

Arriving around midafternoon, the city was buzzing with life as people wandered the streets going about their daily lives. Keeping myself hidden with magic, I touched down on an apartment building to survey my surroundings. Sensing many different races living among the humans here, the most prominent among them was a Goddess who was suppressing the majority of her power.

'Quite unusual, but not unheard of I guess.', I thought looking around the immediate area, 'Alright, I need to find Ciri as soon as possible and get out of here. I do not want this place getting frozen over like the others.'

Before I could get moving, many individuals began moving toward my location. Likely drawn in by Great Red's portal, I hung back to see who showed up. Showing up first, several low-level Devils appeared and began searching the area. Watching them scour the area for traces of the magic, they became visibly frustrated when they came up empty-handed.

"Do we have any idea what we are looking for anyway?", one of the Devils asked.

"No…the Commander just said to come and investigate…", another Devil grumbled, "I know we sensed a powerful presence here, but it vanished almost immediately. Be grateful we found nothing, based on the pressure we felt earlier, we would have died almost immediately. Let us get going before the Heroes show up…"

Walking behind a cluster of trees, the Devils teleported away just before a lone, armored human showed up. Using Illusion Magic like the Devils before him, the lone human carefully searched every nook and cranny of the area for me. Coming up empty-handed, he pulled out his phone to make a phone call. Taking his helmet off to speak properly, I felt like I knew him from somewhere.

"It is me, there is nothing here but that does not mean anything.", he reported, "Devils beat me here so I do not know if they ran off with something."

Studying the brown-haired man, I tried to recall where I had seen him before. Unable to see his face from my vantage point, I glided down to the ground to get a better look. Not sensing my magic or presence, he continued his discussion.

"No I did not slack off, I had to slip out of a work meeting to come investigate this for you. If you are going to be ungrateful I will not help you again. In case you do not remember, you banished my family and me over a decade ago so I did not even need to agree to this sudden request.", he complained with a smile.

Moving into a better position, I got a good look at his face.

'Green eyes, glasses, a scar on his lower right cheek…I know this man!', I realized.

Making sure that no one else was around us, I released my Illusion Spell and revealed myself to him.