I stood there in a daze, reading the lines on my status window over and over again.
My clenched fist tightened.
‘After all the trouble I went through to hide it until now, is it going to be exposed like this?’
I thought sending the Heretic back to her original dimension would solve everything—not just the S-Class Gate but even the outside world’s problems.
I should have prepared for things to go south the moment I saw the status window say ‘Intrusion from an Extra-Dimensional Being.’
But since the opponent was the Heretic, all I worried about was how to kill the S-Class Gate’s monster—not what would happen if I tried to deal with her.
‘No, who could have even thought of that?’
Who could have imagined that the status window would set things up like this?
I glanced back, scanning the Awakened gathered behind me. If I accepted the quest here, I’d have to reveal my true identity in front of them all.
That was the only way I could face the Heretic.
Even if I didn’t want to reveal it, with all of us here together, it was only a matter of time before I was found out.
‘Ah… This is driving me crazy.’
There was no choice.
To protect the dimension, exposing my identity to everyone was inevitable.
I had worked so hard not to let anyone find out that I was an extra-dimensional being, a possessor.
Do Hyun helped me keep my secret, and even when the Dungeon Management Bureau Chief nearly found me out, I managed to keep things under control and made sure he’d never dig into me again.
To avoid being discovered as ‘Nada,’ I even separated the skills Nada used from the ones I publicly used.
As Nada, I never summoned spirits and conquered dungeons with skills other than necromancy and with only my own strength.
All that effort was about to be for nothing because of the Heretic standing over there, and because of the absurd quest presented by the status window.
‘The more I think about it, the angrier I get.’
Just then, my gaze shifted to the Heretic, who was saying something to Ban Eunhyul with her hands pressed together.
‘Wait a second.’
After the quest window appeared, I was so focused on the fact that my opponent was ‘Nada’ and the penalty for failure was the end of the dimension, that I missed something important.
‘So if the Heretic wins, this dimension disappears?’
If that’s the case, is there any reason for the Heretic to go out of her way to defeat me?
Even if she wins, this dimension will end, and she won’t be able to return to her original everyday life as she wished.
The quest window had already appeared, so there was no avoiding the fight.
There weren’t even any ‘Accept’ or ‘Decline’ buttons on the quest window that just popped up.
So if the Heretic intentionally loses to me, she could cross over to the other dimension and keep living, and this dimension would be saved as well.
I turned all the way around to check the reactions of the Awakened gathered behind me.
“Wait? Hold on a sec.”
Han Jibin seemed to be the first to have the same thought as me.
The following changes in the other Awakeneds’ expressions were also worth seeing.
At first, everyone had panicked at the terrifying word ‘end’ as soon as they saw the status window, but then, like me, they started thinking more clearly.
“If that girl doesn’t want the end of the dimension, isn’t this something we can negotiate?”
“There’s something going on between them, right? If they know each other, she wouldn’t wish for the end of the dimension.”
“Right? And she seems completely smitten with Eunhyul right now.”
Hope began to bloom across everyone’s faces.
‘We don’t know who that girl is, but if she’s so taken with Ban Eunhyul and knows him, there’s hope.’
Everyone was clearly thinking along these lines.
It was a bit troubling that she’d said to Ban Eunhyul, ‘Maybe the gods are giving me a chance,’ but still, I decided to try talking to the Heretic.
“Hey, you saw the quest window too, right?”
“Of course.”
Her annoyingly cheerful voice made a faint unease rise inside me, but I pressed on.
“This isn’t even something to worry about. You get it, right?”
“Of course.”
“Good, that’ll make this easier. I don’t know how they’re going to judge winning or losing, but as long as it’s not about killing, it should be fine.”
“Murder’s not for me either.”
Somehow, our conversation was going surprisingly smoothly.
The quest window didn’t specify the criteria for victory or defeat, so as long as we didn’t have to fight to the death, one side could simply throw the match.
The Heretic would be the one to lose, and I’d only need to pretend to attack.
“Shall we get on with the quest, then?”
As I walked toward the Heretic, murmurs broke out behind me.
‘I don’t have time to explain. They’ll figure it out when they see.’
Even now, outside, the city was being destroyed and people were dying.
I had to succeed in the quest and put everything back the way it was, as soon as possible.
“Go over there and gather together. You’ll get an explanation soon enough.”
“
•You’ll be alright?”
“It’s a fight I’m going to win anyway. It’ll be over soon.”
I shrugged at Yeon Hayeon, signaling her to join the others.
“Yeah, the outcome’s already decided. It’ll be fine.”
Yeon Hayeon seemed worried about me, but after listening to my conversation with the Heretic, she looked reassured.
So Ban Eunhyul and Yeon Hayeon went to join the other Awakened, leaving just me and the Heretic standing face-to-face in the center of the arena.
The moment we showed we were ready to fight, two changes occurred inside the arena.
‘It’s getting serious.’
I glanced at the Awakened, who had been forcibly relocated to the spectator stands, then looked up at the ceiling.
It wasn’t the sky above us now, but a semi-transparent white ceiling.
‘They even set up a Dome.’
Were they seriously laying out the stage for our fight, wanting to spectate?
“Bisharp, breathe some fire at that over there.”
Hearing my own name called so familiarly irritated me to no end. Raising an eyebrow, I glanced over to see a spirit that looked exactly like Bisharp flap its wings beside me and unleash a breath at the semi-transparent wall.
A blue breath crashed into the wall and spread out in all directions.
“Guess I don’t have to worry about Eunhyul getting hurt.”
“Hah.”
Her attitude, as if she was taking care of her boyfriend, made my blood boil.
[My liege! Leave that impostor to me!]
As the spirit that looked just like Bisharp used the same ability, Bisharp’s battle spirit seemed to blaze even hotter.
I patted Bisharp a couple of times to calm him down and spoke.
“This is a fight I have to win anyway, so let’s not waste our strength on each other, alright?”
At my words, the Heretic cocked her head. She looked at me as if I was spouting nonsense.
The Heretic smirked and replied in a tone of disbelief.
“Why do you have to win? I’m the one who has to win.”
“What?”
“If I win, everything returns to normal. But if I lose, I’ll be banished to that other dimension. What would you do in my place?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I had no idea what she was going on about.
Did she even read the quest window properly?
Then the Heretic spoke again, enunciating each word clearly.
“If I win, everything goes back to normal…”
“Hey, read the quest window out loud for me, word for word.”
She seemed annoyed at having been cut off, but obediently read out the quest window.
I’d thought we were on the same page, but things seemed thoroughly tangled now.
The Awakened, forcibly relocated to the spectator stands, stared at the inside of the Dome, unable to hide their confusion.
Inside the Dome, the wall was semi-transparent, but from the outside, the view was perfectly clear—they could see both combatants without obstruction.
“Why, why, why…”
Eunhasu had been repeating nothing but ‘why’ like a parrot, pointing a trembling finger at Dana.
Her demanding gaze bored into Ban Eunhyul’s profile.
“Why is Dana noona in there? Huh?”
“So that means that woman is…”
Yeon Hayeon’s eyes were also burning with questions.
Yeon Hyungwang pressed right up against Yeon Hayeon, asking a question she already knew the answer to, and Baek Jiwoo clamped both hands over her mouth, unable to say her suspicions out loud.
“Wow, I knew she wasn’t ordinary.”
“…I never thought she’d be right beside us all this time.”
Thinking this would be an easy victory, Chae Hyunseo and Lee Hwan slipped into spectator mode and exchanged a few words.
They were the calmest of the group.
The most intense reaction burst out next to them.
“Wow! Seriously? Dana was Nada all along? Then what about the Gate? If Dana was here, why was it closed?”
Amid the stunned responses of the Awakened, shocked by the revelation that Dana was Nada, a question was raised for the first time.
James was plenty surprised that Dana was Nada, but right away he brought up the question about the Gate that had disappeared all this time.
And next to him, one person sat stiffly, mouth open, frozen in place.
It was Mark.
‘Unbelievable.’
Just one word, but it was powerful.
His eyes darted, tracing every changing expression on Dana’s face, every move she made.
There wasn’t even time to marvel, nor the composure to utter more exclamations.
‘I was on close terms with Nada? Me?!’
His gaping mouth wouldn’t close.
At last, Mark reached out and grabbed Ban Eunhyul’s shoulder, who sat calmly beside him.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
He tried to keep his voice level as he continued.
“Spill everything. Right now.”
A deep sigh escaped Ban Eunhyul’s lips.