Reversing "Miracles"

After they got permission, the city hall and the Adventurer Guild provided Shane and the others with an extremely generous supply of provisions.

They could even pick any of the "expensive" equipment he'd never been able to afford. How thoughtful!

Of course, Shane wasn't the sort to take every last scrap he could get.

So he picked out only ten standard-issue longswords, ten sets of pauldrons, ten suits of armor, ten pairs of greaves, ten pairs of bracers, ten pairs of small sheepskin boots, ten kunai shuriken, ten Refined Iron Marbles, ten custom-made outfits, ten sets of blankets of varying thicknesses...and some tea sets, pots, tableware, stationery...

Frieren was dumbfounded.

"All right." Shane patted his half-full backpack, looking satisfied. "We'll leave half the space free. We still need room to pick up junk in the maze."

Once everything was ready, the two of them officially entered the maze.

The moment they stepped inside, Shane understood why this maze dungeon was called the Inverted Land.

They had entered another Gostan City.

Shane glanced back. Like a reflection on the surface of water, this maze was a mirror image of the real world.

The difference was that it was daytime outside, but night here.

And there were no residents.

A breeze swept through the empty streets.

The whole city was silent.

Shane moved closer to Frieren. The eerie feeling of this "ghost town" inexplicably brought to mind all sorts of unpleasant scenes.

The two of them slowly made their way along the streets, hoping to find some useful clues.

But after walking through several blocks, they came up empty-handed.

They hadn't encountered any traps.

Nor had they come across a single monster.

It really seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary, empty city.

But Shane knew in his heart that things couldn't possibly be that simple. How could a high-risk maze that had swallowed several adventuring parties be nothing more than an upside-down empty city?

If it seemed ordinary on the surface, then there had to be something unusual beneath it.

"Frieren, give it a shot."

"?"

"Oh, I mean, try destroying the buildings around us and making some noise. Let's see if we can draw out any monsters."

Boom—

Frieren's enormous beam of magic shot down the street and flattened a row of houses in front of them. The explosion rang out loudly, its sound especially jarring in the empty city. They waited in place for a while, but nothing suspicious happened.

"Let's go. We'll look somewhere else."

Shane turned around.

Then he almost let out a startled shriek!

A figure had suddenly appeared behind them.

It was tall and burly, with a pair of curved goat horns. Strange black patterns covered its dark gray skin, and beneath its thick white fur was a face as fierce as a demon's, with a mouth full of fangs. It was utterly terrifying.

It was none other than the "Corrupt Sage Qual"!

Frieren hadn't sensed anything behind them at all. By the time their target appeared, it was already too late to fight back.

Qual sneered at Shane and Frieren. "Two more test subjects."

With that, he snapped his fingers deftly and instantly cast a spell, pulling them both into darkness.

"Come, try out my latest invention: a spell that reverses [miracles]."

"Unlike the [miracle magic] that helps people enter paradise, this new spell lets people taste the deepest fears in their hearts."

"Let me see you tremble."

"Beep—"

"Fifteen minutes until the exam ends."

Shane was jolted awake by the sound. He opened his eyes groggily and found himself sitting in a classroom.

Written in large letters on the blackboard was: "Exam Room No. 35, National College Entrance Examination Mathematics (National Paper)—3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m."

Huh? What was going on!

Stunned, he looked down and saw a pristine exam paper on his desk. It was completely blank, and there was even a large pool of drool on it.

In an instant, he felt as if he couldn't breathe!

I fell asleep during the college entrance exam? Was everything before just a dream...

No!

No!

No!

This is the dream! Wake up!

Smack.

Shane used all his strength to slap himself.

He hit himself so hard that his face immediately swelled up, and his ears were ringing.

Everything around her was on fire.

But Frieren felt her body growing cold.

The village where she'd lived since childhood had been destroyed. Everywhere she looked was nothing but ruins.

The Demon Race general before her was laughing wildly, still holding the severed limbs of her companions in his hands.

She wanted to get up and keep fighting, but her mana had run dry. She couldn't even move a finger...Was this how she was going to die?

A low laugh came from in front of her. The Demon Race general transformed into the Demon King and strode toward her over the sticky blood on the ground, then grabbed her by the throat.

"You were out of your league."

Frieren looked at the bodies of her companions lying at her feet and said nothing.

That was right. They had been out of their league. They had lost to the Demon King, and humanity had lost hope once again.

They should have stayed in the forest and never come out. What a pitiful end.

The next moment, Flamme's voice sounded behind her.

She asked Frieren, "The Demon Race can't understand humans. What about you, Frieren? As an elf, do you understand human emotions?"

Her words were like a pebble dropped into a deep pool, stirring up ripple after ripple.

In an instant, Flamme's smiling face became countless different faces.

The old woman in the elf village who had often looked after her, the old man by the road who had invited her to ride with him, the child who had given her flowers, Himmel, who had praised her interesting magic, Heiter, who liked to pat her on the head, Eisen, who was always just as unenthusiastic as she was...and so many others.

Countless faces overlapped in confusion.

They grew old, died, and disappeared, until finally, all that remained was a blank face.

Empty. Utterly void.

An indescribable sense of guilt and remorse welled up in Frieren's heart.

"Flamme, in the end, I still haven't learned anything..."

Boom—

A light as bright as day appeared in her vision.

In an instant, it pierced the darkness around her.

Shane's shout rang in her ears:

"Frieren, straight ahead!"

Her vision was filled with white. She couldn't see anything, but she didn't hesitate. She raised her staff and fired a magic attack straight ahead.

Crack—

Something shattered.

Then came Qual's low, hoarse roar. "Impossible! How could the experiment fail? No—"

At the same time, Shane used [Dash] to reach Frieren. In an instant, he pulled her into the [Goddess's Barrier].

Seeing that she was safe, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Thanks to the powerful resistance his [Mind Shield] trait granted him against mental magic, he had regained consciousness not long after falling into the illusion. But no matter how much he called out to Frieren, she didn't respond. It had terrified him.

He couldn't take on a demon by himself!

Thankfully, [Electric Shock] and [Flashbang] had come through again.

Seeing that Frieren had recovered, he looked at the situation outside the barrier and asked solemnly:

"Frieren, can you take on nine Quals?"