Chapter 121: What... what was that...?

"What... what was that...?"

Godon couldn't stop himself from being shaken. His eyes went wide at the sight of Lovia — someone he no longer recognized at all. Her usual cheerfulness had been replaced by something seething with rage, her whole demeanor turned sharp, easily set off. Dark, worm-like veins crawled across her face and body, the whites of her eyes gone black.

That look was familiar. It was the same as when a first-year student had once terrorized the Academy back then.

The difference was, Lovia looked composed. She didn't seem to be struggling at all — she had complete control over herself. Her power was on an entirely different level, strong enough to make Godon realize immediately that he wouldn't stand a chance against her in a real fight.

Godon clenched his fists tight, his expression darkening as he watched Lovia effortlessly kill an Abyss Creature that had seemed to be at the very peak of the Awakened Soul Tier.

With power like that, Godon could say without a doubt that... Lovia wasn't just some ordinary-level student. What he'd just seen put her on par with the geniuses.

'No.'

Calling it "genius level" felt like an understatement. Lovia looked like she was operating on a level that went beyond genius entirely, and that realization only left Godon more stunned.

How was he even supposed to put this into words?

As the son of a merchant, he'd never fully grasped how this world actually worked at its deepest level. He'd come to the Academy in the first place just to study, to grow strong for his family, and to make some good friends before graduating.

And he'd done exactly that. He'd made good friends, right?

Whether it was Lovia or any of the others. Only, unlike them, Godon had always looked at the world in simple terms. Unlike his friends, all of them seemed to be carrying something distant, something Godon couldn't quite grasp.

A shadow moving in the background of the world. That was probably the best way to put it.

Now that Godon had noticed it, today, he found himself starting to worry about their friendship — about how the bond they'd built might end up breaking apart, about how they all seemed to be drifting further and further away.

Maybe it had all just been in his head before. But now, after seeing Lovia like this, could he still say that?

'Ugh...'

Godon wasn't the type to overthink things. He could think it through if he really needed to, but he wasn't as sharp as he looked, and he knew that about himself perfectly well.

Staring at Lovia from a distance, Godon knew one thing for certain — he couldn't just leave her by herself. That was the only thought in his head, and before he even realized it, he'd already stepped forward and called out.

"Lovia!?"

Lovia looked startled, turning toward him with a blank expression, but that lasted only a moment before her face broke into a cheerful smile.

"Oh! It's just you! Way to scare me."

That was the Lovia Godon knew. The bright, cheerful demeanor, the habit of grinning happily, sometimes even mischievously. Seeing that, Godon struggled for a moment to keep his own expression steady, but he calmed himself and looked down at the Abyss Creature's corpse.

"...You killed it?"

First things first — Godon didn't want Lovia to know he was aware of her secret. He needed to hold back, at least for now, at least until all of this was over.

The situation looked bad enough already. Godon didn't want their friendship falling apart in the middle of all this chaos too.

"Hehe, what's got you so surprised, you idiot? Didn't I tell you I've always been this strong?"

Lovia stepped closer and punched Godon lightly in the arm. Godon, for his part, forced an awkward smile onto his face.

"Is that so?" For the first time, he felt like his mind had gone completely blank. He had no idea how to react, not when the Lovia he thought he knew turned out to be nowhere near the whole picture.

Lovia seemed to brush past the moment entirely, glancing behind him in confusion.

"You're alone?"

"...? Yeah, guess so. You're the first person I ran into."

"Hmmm..." Lovia nodded. "So, what are you gonna do? Or, should we just get away from that Abyss Rift? There's no telling the scale, since whatever phenomenon it's giving off isn't showing."

Just as Lovia said. The danger level of an Abyss Rift was always judged by how large the scale appeared through the rules leaking out through the gap. But looking at the Abyss Rift ahead of them, Godon couldn't detect any rules affecting reality at all.

Since this was Godon's first time actually facing an Abyss Rift, he had no idea how or why this particular one wasn't showing any scale at all.

There was no specific guidance from the Academy on something like this. For a moment, Godon felt his throat go dry, glanced at Lovia, and suddenly said:

"You don't want to try going in?"

Godon watched Lovia closely. How would she react to that — would she refuse, would she panic? Because if he'd read this right, Lovia should refuse to go in.

Lovia went quiet at that, her expression hard to read, but then she suddenly smirked.

"Oh? That's unusual of you... I figured you'd be the one running away out of fear?" Lovia, unbothered, looked straight at the Abyss Rift. "But if you're saying that, why not?"

Unfortunately, Godon found no reaction he could work with there. He had to admit, that was disappointing.

His thoughts drifted back to the Abyss Rift.

"...Lovia, I think we should think this through again. Do we even know where we are, what the situation actually is, all of that? I feel like it'd be reckless to just walk straight in."

Lovia's smile faded, and she nodded. "Guess you're right about that. So, should we just fall back, then?"

'...She's being way too agreeable.'

The old Godon might have just written that off as a simple mood shift. But now, having seen the real Lovia, he realized that sometimes she became almost unnervingly compliant, as if she didn't care what happened next, or maybe it was just her way of dismissing her own decisions as unimportant.

"So, should we fall back?" Godon asked.

"Sure, let's go."

Watching Lovia agree without a single trace of hesitation, Godon let out a small sigh.

"...Or, should we just try taking on the Rift instead? Since it's not showing any scale, maybe it's some kind of Dormant Rift?"

Hearing that, Lovia tilted her head. "What kind of Dormant Rift has an Awakened-tier Abyss Creature living inside it?" She hesitated for a moment, looking at Godon, then smiled. "Why are you so hesitant about this? You curious or something? If you are, let's go in. Your pretty big sister here will protect you, you know."

"....."

Godon didn't feel the least bit annoyed by that. Well, he already knew by now that it was all just an act. He stayed quiet, weighing the Abyss Rift for a moment, then looked at Lovia.

Then he took a breath and made up his mind.

"Let's go in."

If Lovia really did know something about this situation, then maybe, inside the Rift, she'd end up showing more of her hand.

And if that turned out to be true, Godon decided that... he wanted to know. He might be stepping in far deeper than he should, straying from where he'd started, from what he'd originally wanted, from the life he'd hoped for.

But who cared?

Godon was a friend who genuinely cared about his friends. That much, at least, he could give them.