Free Web NovelHer feet landed softly on ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) the carpet of fungi. Vieya descended lightly to the bottom of the well.
Looking up from below, she could see the heads of Liufir and the others leaning over the edge above, peering down.
“I’m fine!”
After shouting her reassurance, Vieya turned her focus back to the well and brushed her fingers along the wall.
This place—
It was her birthplace, and yet, it wasn’t.
Back then, the well had been less than two meters deep. Even as a Level-1 slime girl, she could have climbed out with some effort.
But now—this well was over ten meters deep.
If she had never reached the conditions to job-change back into a Hero, or never reactivated her divine Authority, then back then... she would have been trapped here, doomed to die in this pit.
“Just as I thought... something’s wrong.”
That war had nearly flattened the entire town of Mount Aisa, destroying everything—including this well, which had been reduced to a fragment. That tiny fragment just happened to become her point of rebirth.
So what was this now? Had someone rebuilt the town? Or was this the work of some phenomenon tied to time itself? And...
What exactly had Flaviel done while I was unconscious back then?
Silence. Long, heavy silence.
No matter how many times she called Flaviel’s name in her heart, there was no answer.
Vieya stretched out her hand and looked down at her current delicate body, falling into thought.
Her stats were low; her offense and survivability depended entirely on opening with divine Authority; her mana consumption was extreme; her control required hundreds of times more precision than back when she was a Hero—
Flaviel, did you really turn me into this just to destroy me?!
“Flaviel, come out and talk to me. If you don’t, I’ll go home, drink, and smack your daughter.”
“......” freewёbnoνel.com
“Oh, finally awake.” Vieya smiled in triumph. “Don’t play dumb, I can sense your presence.”
“You’d really go home drunk and hit our daughter?”
“I was joking.”
“Mm-hmm?”
“I swear I’m not lying.”
Vieya brightened and said, “By the way, I never got to ask you last time—what exactly are you now? Is the anomaly in this town related to you?”
“One moment. Let me check the time... Relax your body—like when we once... deeply connected.”
“Oh...”
Vieya took a deep breath. She felt something invisible—gentle hands—slide over her eyes, cool and soft.
Then the whole world blurred, veiled in mist. A faint breeze swept past, lifting the haze to reveal what lay beneath—the real world.
Flaviel saw clearly where Vieya stood now: a single point in the looped timeline of Mount Aisa.
“......” Flaviel fell silent.
The silence made Vieya uneasy. “What is it?” she asked nervously.
“Why... did you come here?” Flaviel’s voice was beautiful yet heavy. “Now I see why I was able to wake... You’ve already found our daughter, haven’t you? You could’ve just stayed with her. You finally had a normal life—was that not worth keeping?”
Her voice softened into quiet bitterness. “Do you know how much I wanted to live those days with you—just you and our child? But I can’t anymore. That’s why I entrusted her to you. Why won’t you cherish it?”
“What do you mean?” Vieya blinked. “I only wanted to earn more money, to make Jasmine’s life better. How is that wrong?”
“If you weren’t a Hero, I can’t even imagine how blissful our life could’ve been!”
Vieya’s voice rose, indignant. “You knew I was a Hero summoned from another world. Sure, I was lazy sometimes, but I never hated demons like the rest of humanity! If you hadn’t stepped forward to lead the demon race, even knowing who you were, I’d have protected you!”
“You killed plenty of demons,” Flaviel said coldly. “Was I supposed to just surrender to you, like them—helpless and waiting for execution?” freewēbnoveℓ.com
They were EXP packs! You’re different!
Vieya opened her mouth. “You’re not like them. I wouldn’t have done that to you.”
“I’m exactly like them, Little Ye,” Flaviel said softly, almost tenderly. “Just like all those monsters who died by your hand.”
“That’s not true...” Vieya insisted stubbornly.
“Forget it. What’s done is done. I won’t waste time rehashing old pain.”
Her tone grew calm again, but there was weight in her next words. “So tell me, what matters more to you now—your lost power, or your daughter?”
You, thought Vieya.
But aloud she said, “My daughter.”
Then she thought she heard a faint, bitter laugh.
“Very well. I’ll admit this place has something to do with me.”
Flaviel’s voice steadied, as if narrating a memory long buried.
“When you drove the Holy Sword into my heart with the last of your strength, I didn’t lose consciousness right away. My life was ending, but I reverted to my true form—you’ve seen it. A divine dragon, the highest of all beings with holy-attribute resistance in the demon race. None surpass it.”
“But that day, I faced the entirety of humankind. I still don’t know why, though I was far more wounded, your life force was fading faster than mine.”
“Maybe that’s what makes you human Heroes so fragile—wielding the most terrifying weapons in the world, yet still bound to decay, sickness, and death.”
“So I picked you up in my jaws and tried to carry you away. But my wings were too damaged to fly, so I walked... slowly. When the humans—your comrades—caught up, I thought maybe it would be better to spit you out and return you to them.”
“But I couldn’t accept it... I was the one who fell for you first, yet I lost everything. Heh... At that moment I didn’t feel like a Demon King ruling the world—I felt like a stray dog kicked into the mud by its master. I regretted everything.”
“When I imagined you falling in love again, having children with another woman, living a happy new life... while my corpse was carved apart by humans, reforged into weapons to slaughter my kin—rage consumed me. Infinite, searing rage!”
A nearly perfect golden-haired girl appeared before Vieya. Though the bottom of the well was cold and damp, the girl’s eyes blazed like twin suns, turning the air dry and scorching.
“No one in this world could hurt me but you. Not even if every Hero joined forces!”
Flaviel stared at Vieya, a beautiful, crazed smile curving her lips. “I let your teammates go, but the others weren’t so lucky.”
“They will remain trapped in the eternal hell I created—endlessly looping until the world’s end. That hell is Mount Aisa. Mount Aisa is this place.”
Suddenly—
Up above, those guarding the well felt something strange. Liufir, who had been leaning over the edge to watch, suddenly went pale. Her voice trembled.
“N-not good! M-Miss Vieya... she’s gone!”
The bottom of the well was empty—hollow, silent—as if it connected to another world.
