The tide of battle, which had been relentlessly pushed back, began to turn.
This was thanks to the Saintess's not-quite-a-threat, which restored the original speed of command dissemination that had been delayed by politicians' armchair discussions.
That wasn't all.
She, who knew better than anyone that all situations couldn't be judged solely by reported information, urged the high-ranking Hunters commanding the field to make autonomous decisions and act accordingly, and these judgments led to swift responses.
A virtuous cycle, where wise decisions led to positive outcomes, was thus completed.
But that didn't mean the World Alliance had the upper hand.
They had lost so much in the early stages that they had only just managed to achieve parity.
In the war unfolding across the entire world, victories and defeats endlessly repeated.
And in that process, the names of a few individuals, greater than any collective, shook the world.
Merlin, who traversed the globe, wielding his influence.
The Saintess, who healed the afflicted by his side.
Athena, the Goddess of Victory, who swept across the battlefields of Europe with her shield emblazoned with a serpent's head.
Boris, the Empress of Terror, who froze dozens of enemies solid with every swing of her sword, stopping their hearts.
Han Ju-hee, the Scarlet Witch, who rained down endless fire upon her enemies with a single gesture.
The surge of these individuals, whose renown already echoed across the world.
Among them, the figure who stood out above all others was none other than Han Ju-hee.
"It's, it's the Scarlet Witch!"
She showed them.
What kind of influence a mage who had reached the pinnacle could wield in large-scale combat.
「Fire Rain.」
A single spell engulfed the entire battlefield.
A single drop of flame falling from the sky astonishingly incinerated the entire body of any enemy it touched.
Until they lost their form and became black ash, scattered by the wind.
With her near-miraculous magic, which burned only enemies without harming a single hair on her allies, her renown, once slightly below that of world-class Hunters like Athena and Boris, now threatened to surpass theirs.
Everyone praised her as a hero as she swept across battlefields day and night, but she paid no heed to their words.
She knew.
That there wasn't a single shred of heroic nobility in her actions, which reflexively sprang into motion at the mere news of an enemy's appearance.
This was simply revenge.
A merciless revenge against the enemies who had made her lose her husband not once, but twice, right before her eyes.
Burn and burn again.
Until every enemy vanished from this world.
Until her husband, swallowed by the Abyss, returned once more.
Just as she was about to turn back after relentlessly incinerating her enemies, as always.
"I won't let you rampage any longer."
A being blocked her path.
Dark skin, long ears.
A Dark Elf, each one said to possess S-rank power or higher.
The one who appeared before her was an exceptional being even among them.
In terms of rank, he was among the top 20 within his race.
She scoffed, a derisive smile playing on her lips, at the being radiating an unusual aura.
"Someone like you?"
"......"
As if no more words were needed, the battle began.
And before long, the victor was decided.
Whoosh!
The Dark Elf, engulfed in flames and burning to ash, wore an expression of disbelief.
"Th-this... can't be..."
Having achieved a one-sided victory, she gazed down at the pile of ashes left where he had stood, then turned her back without a hint of emotion.
And hastened her steps towards the next battlefield.
The unprecedented Slaughterer, who had killed 9,999 people, ultimately died without reaching a full ten thousand.
-"N-no..."
Thud!
Though their numbers were bothersome, it wasn't a difficult battle.
However, one question remained after the battle.
"...How did he control so many corpses?"
A Necromancer would surely need mana to raise and control corpses.
But wasn't mana unusable?
Could it be that only I couldn't use mana?
Because I'm an outsider, and they are residents of the Abyss?
"I don't think so."
That colossal flow permits no interference.
Meaning, even residents who have lived here for a long time can't defy that flow.
If that's the case.
"Perhaps they aren't interfering with the flow, but riding it."
Instead of defying or interfering with the flow, one simply needs to get on it.
To entrust my body to the direction that colossal flow leads and move forward.
Then what does that flow desire, and what lies at its end?
Perhaps it's connected to the System.
After all, when I was dragged here by the System, I used mana without any hesitation.
I feel like I've grasped something, but my mind is still hazy.
"I don't have enough samples."
So far, only two beings have used mana.
The Sword Ghost and the Slaughterer, who were the bosses of Sector 1 and Sector 2.
So, were they able to wield mana because they were designated as bosses?
Or...
"Perhaps they became bosses because they could wield mana."
There aren't enough samples to figure out which came first.
And the only way to acquire more samples is to press further through the flickering darkness.
`[You have entered 'World Swept by Ruin, Sector 3'.]`
Finally, I arrived at Sector 3.
The desolate cityscape continued.
The only difference was that the desolation here was far more pronounced than in Sector 1 and Sector 2.
"There's nothing left."
In Sector 1 and 2, there were still quite a few structures that barely maintained their building forms, but here, almost none were visible.
All that littered the ground were remnants on the verge of turning to dust and fragments of stone.
It felt as if time had flowed through this place.
As if it showed what happens to the ruined land of Sector 1 over time.
A bitter laugh escaped me as I watched the aimlessly wandering corpses on the dust-laden ground begin to swarm towards me.
"...It's going to be hard to hide now."
With few places to hide, I couldn't avoid combat.
Slash!
Gurgle...!
To conserve stamina, I cut down multiple zombies with a single swing of my sword.
Severing legs to remove their mobility, or cutting throats to end their lives.
I carved a path with efficient attacks, then hid behind the walls of barely standing buildings or chunks of metal to catch my breath.
"Hoo..."
My somewhat ragged breathing gradually calmed.
Kiiiii!
Grrr!
Kyaaak...!
The zombies' shrieks from all directions made me frown involuntarily.
"The situation isn't good."
The number of zombies swarming around me was steadily increasing.
It seemed all the zombies in the vicinity had come out.
I didn't have enough stamina to cut through all of them, but trying to avoid them was impossible with zombies filling every direction.
"What should I do...?"
As I pondered, an idea struck me.
"Hey, Tammang."
No sooner had I called than a black haze surged above my head.
The creature, transformed into an Imugi, then flicked its tongue and thrust its face forward.
Come to think of it, this guy had nothing to do with mana.
It was merely a collection of Divine Authority, a power distinct from mana.
If I had him, things would be easier.
"Eat all these guys here."
For a creature that just shoves everything into its mouth, a few thousand zombies like these would be no problem.
But a variable appeared.
Grrr!
"...You don't want to eat them?"
Growl!
He said he didn't want to eat them.
"No, why...?"
Growl! Hmph!
"Ah... you don't want to eat rotten flesh."
Growl!
Hoo-hoo.
What am I going to do with this brat?
"Hey, are you in a position to be picky right now? If I can't get out of here, I'll die."
And if I die, you die too, you punk.
I tried to persuade him with the kindest words possible, but he was stubborn.
Grrr...!
"You'd rather die than be with a master who feeds you that kind of stuff?"
Growl!
I was speechless.
To think that the one creature I'd found that might be a solution would turn out to be so uncooperative.
I felt a little indignant, but at the same time, I understood.
He might look like a big, arrogant pet, but in reality, he was a Divine Authority.
And I'd been giving him commands like "Sic 'em!" as if he were a pet dog.
"...Suddenly, I'm thinking of Puppy."
Why was that punk so defiant towards his master, even though he wasn't a Divine Authority?
What an arrogant dog.
"Well, no choice then."
I had no choice but to quickly break through one side before more zombies swarmed me.
Just as I was catching my breath and loosening my tensed muscles, preparing for battle.
Growl!
The creature wrapped around me suddenly snorted, showing enthusiasm.
I wondered why he was acting like that.
"...You've found something you want to eat?"
Growl! Growl!
He said he'd found something he wanted to eat.
But that was strange.
"Was there anything else to eat here besides zombies?"
As I wondered, the creature raised its head towards the sky.
Following its gaze, I looked up, and then I saw it.
What the creature wanted to eat.
"Aha... so you want to eat that."
The object of its drooling desire was the mana, tightly bound within the colossal flow, unable to move.
To me, it just looked like a sickly chicken, slowly dying after losing its freedom, but to him, it seemed to be perceived differently.
Growl!
Grrrrowl!
Judging by how enthusiastic he was.
"Hmm... right, so you want to devour that."
It wasn't a bad idea.
Tammang's greatest advantage was that the power he consumed and digested accumulated directly within me.
But this was both an advantage and a disadvantage.
Just as one suffers from an upset stomach after eating something bad, if he dared to eat something he shouldn't, I would have to bear that pain with him.
And in my eyes, that colossal flow and the mana bound within it belonged to the category of things one dared not consume.
While I felt no particular danger just by looking at it, my instincts screamed.
That it was something someone like me dared not touch.
"Hmm... what to do."
As I pondered, I suddenly realized.
That the path given to me was, from the start, only one.
"If I'm going to die either way."
I might as well struggle a bit before I go.
With my resolve firm, I gave Tammang permission.
"Go on, take a good, solid bite."
Hee-hee-hee!
The creature, not even a horse, made a horse-like sound in its joy.
In the blink of an eye, the creature shot into the sky, baring its sharp teeth at the colossal flow, and took a massive bite.
CRUNCH!
RUMBLE...!
Memories of an unknown person began to flood into my mind.