Death… And Me

Chapter 4380: Need to See It Again

Roan looked around at the hesitant expressions of the veteran explorers before speaking.

"Are you truly thinking about entering it again?"

Unlike the others, he already knew that the Orb System’s quest pointed directly toward whatever existed beyond that barrier. Even so, after witnessing the strength of that strange Godly Energy being, he couldn’t justify risking everyone’s lives just for a hundred Orb Points. At least now he understood why Sister Orb had managed to offer such an unusually generous reward. The danger involved easily matched the difficulty of the mission.

Harksha slowly stood up. Thanks to the healing pills and her own recovery abilities, the wound where her arm had once been was now completely closed. Although regrowing the limb itself would require returning to Besgol, the injury no longer affected her movements.

"What attracted that thing was the attack I launched against the barrier," she said while recalling everything that had happened. "Besides, if I had retreated immediately after Rean warned me it was approaching, none of this would have happened."

Her gaze drifted back toward the distant barrier. "Fortunately, I’m not a weapon user. Losing an arm doesn’t reduce my combat strength nearly as much as it would for someone who relies on those things."

She then turned toward Rean. "Your airplane detected that creature before any of us sensed it. If your radar can locate it, couldn’t we simply avoid it altogether?"

Rean frowned slightly. "That’s exactly what’s bothering me."

He pulled up the previous radar recordings on one of the airplane’s displays before pointing toward several lines of data. "The amount of Godly Pressure my arrays detected was perfectly consistent with what we’d expect from a Godly Predator. However, the strength that thing displayed was clearly comparable to a powerful Godly Horror."

He let out a helpless sigh. "If Seniors Arcis and Tobao fought it, I honestly doubt they could defeat it. Surviving would already be difficult."

Senkiyu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That may actually be good news. If its Godly Pressure output is only at the Predator Level, then even if we enter its area of influence, the suppression on our own powers won’t be nearly as overwhelming as facing a real Godly Horror."

Rean gave him a bitter smile. "If we end up standing inside its Godly Pressure field, I don’t think we’ll have enough time to appreciate that advantage."

He shrugged. "We’ll already be dead."

"...Fair enough." Senkiyu scratched the back of his head. "I suppose it’s still technically an advantage."

The atmosphere grew quiet again until Celis suddenly spoke. "No matter how we analyze it, entering that barrier normally is suicide."

Everyone immediately looked toward him. "If we’re discovered, we’re dead. Worse yet, we have to assume that wasn’t the only guardian inside. Let’s be realistic. The safest assumption is that there are more of those things waiting beyond the barrier."

He paused before smiling slightly. "However... What if we looked like one of them?"

Almost instantly, everyone’s attention shifted toward Rean. "The disguise array?"

Rean blinked before falling into thought.

Without saying anything else, he walked over to the airplane’s central console and accessed the logs recorded during Harksha’s battle. Every fluctuation in Godly Pressure, every energy signature, and every array reading had been stored automatically.

"Hmm..." He enlarged several windows and carefully compared the readings. "This is... interesting."

Everyone quietly waited for him to continue.

"The energy patterns aren’t identical to those of ordinary Godly Creatures, but they share many similarities. My arrays classified that guardian using almost the same recognition process."

He crossed his arms. "It may very well use Godly Pressure as some sort of identification, just like the Godly Creatures."

Hope immediately appeared on Harksha’s face.

Then Rean shook his head. "There’s still a problem." He pointed toward another section of the recorded data. "Throughout the entire encounter, my radar never detected a single Godly Creature inside the barrier."

He enlarged the image even further. "The only reading that ever appeared belonged to that energy being." Then, his expression became serious. "So disguising ourselves as ordinary Godly Creatures won’t accomplish anything. If those guardians identify each other using their own Godly Pressure signatures, they’ll recognize the difference immediately."

Harksha sighed. "So the disguise idea is useless..."

"Not necessarily." Celis interrupted before she could finish. "I already considered that possibility."

Everyone turned back toward him.

"My idea was never to disguise ourselves as Godly Creatures." He smiled confidently. "I meant disguising ourselves as those energy beings."

Roan was the first to understand as he looked directly at Celis. "You’re relying on your sensitivity to energy."

Celis nodded. "No one here understands energy better than I do."

Roan remained silent for a few moments before asking the only question that mattered. "Are you certain?"

Celis smiled again. "If nothing has fundamentally changed since then... Our chances are actually pretty good."

Harksha was losing her patience. "Would one of you stop speaking in riddles?" She looked back and forth between the twins’ group. "What exactly are the two of you planning?"

---

Approximately a day later, the completely repaired airplane once again approached the ancient barrier.

Although the damage had been fixed, careful observation still revealed several sections where the original light-blue and golden exterior no longer matched perfectly. The repairs were structurally flawless, but aesthetically, Rean would have to perform a complete refit once they returned to Besgol.

This time, however, Harksha remained inside the airplane.

No one left.

The vessel simply hovered quietly in the air without making any suspicious movements.

As planned, everyone focused their attention on the Godly Pressure Detection Array.

Before attempting anything else, they needed to confirm one important detail. Did the strange guardian automatically attack anything approaching the barrier, or had it only appeared because Harksha damaged it?

That answer would determine whether their entire plan had any chance of succeeding.

An hour passed.

Nothing happened.

Rean carefully advanced the airplane a little closer before stopping again.

Another hour went by.

Still nothing.

Once more, he moved forward.

Little by little, the airplane approached until it was actually much closer to the barrier than Harksha had been before launching her Heaven-Piercing Finger.

Even then... Nothing appeared. No strange energy fluctuations. No guardian. No Godly Pressure spike. Only complete silence.

Finally, Rean leaned back in his chair. "That confirms it. If that thing responded every time something came close to the barrier, it would spend its entire existence flying back and forth."

He pointed toward the radar. "My arrays are detecting dozens of Godly Creatures wandering around the barrier’s surroundings right now. Some are even closer than we are."

He shrugged. "The guardian clearly doesn’t care about proximity. It only reacts when someone actually attacks the barrier."

Harksha slowly nodded and took a deep breath. "Then we can begin the next phase."

Without hesitation, Rean pulled the airplane away from the barrier until they reached a safe distance. Only then did the front hatch open.

Standing inside the opening, Harksha extended her remaining hand toward the barrier once again.

’Heaven-Piercing Finger!’

Lightning and Godly Energy rapidly converged before another brilliant blue beam shot through the air.

*KABRUM!*

The attack struck the invisible barrier, which instantly revealed itself through countless white ripples spreading across its surface before disappearing once again.

Rean’s eyes immediately shifted toward the radar.

"It’s coming!"

The familiar concentration of Godly Pressure rapidly approached from within the barrier. Without wasting another second, Rean rotated the airplane and accelerated away from the ruins.

"Kentucky! Celis!"

"Take a good look!"

The duo accepted the order. "Leave it to us."

That was the true objective of this second test.

When they had escaped the previous day, Kentucky had noticed that the guardian’s body had shrunk considerably. They suspected that maintaining those terrifying laser attacks consumed enormous amounts of Godly Energy.

If that hypothesis was correct, then after an entire day, did it recover?

Only after confirming that point could they proceed with the next—and most dangerous—step of Celis’ plan.