Chapter 131: Lost in the Void

A light floated clearly in front of Julian. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, because everything felt impossibly hard to make sense of.

His mind struggled to process whatever was happening to him.

The light was right there in front of him, yet it felt impossibly far away, like a mirage.

As for his body, Julian didn’t understand that either. He wasn’t moving forward, wasn’t moving backward, his feet weren’t touching any surface below him, his stomach felt like it was falling from some great height, and yet his body felt no pressure of wind at all. As if the very ability to feel sensation had vanished from him entirely.

’What is this?’

Julian thought, struggling. For a moment there was only his thought, but the next instant,

"What is this?"

’H-huh?’

"H-huh?"

Julian was startled. He was sure he’d only been thinking, but his own inner voice had echoed through the whole space around him, making him flinch and look around for where it had come from.

But once again, Julian couldn’t find anything except himself, seemingly frozen in place.

That was when he heard a panicked voice.

"Wwawawawaah—! What do we do!?"

Julian glanced toward Monk without thinking, the Rabbitkin whose face had gone pale with panic.

Clearly, Monk’s lips weren’t moving at all, yet it was her inner voice that had somehow come pouring out.

"The ’bridge’ from this Breach hasn’t recovered at all, because I already passed through it before...! Entering it now is far too dangerous, we could get lost in the void. WAAAAH!!! DAAAAD MOOOM MONK IS SORRY FOR BEING SO STUBBORN."

Seeing how panicked the girl was, and how Julian seemed to understand exactly what she was going through, left him frozen too.

Of course he understood.

Wasn’t that how a Breach worked?

Every time a creature finished crossing through a Breach, whatever served as the ’bridge’ between worlds needed time to recover before it could be crossed again.

And didn’t this ’bridge’ also have a limit to how much it could carry?

"Damn it. If this cursed thing really is unstable, and the three of us are entering it at the same time...!"

Julian’s inner voice echoed through the emptiness as he turned over the worst-case scenario in his mind.

He wondered why his skill would be whispering something that felt this wrong to him, but Julian had no time to think it through.

"Don’t worry."

Julian frowned slightly as he lowered his head, looking down at Felicya, who had pressed herself against him again. He even found himself wondering, when had he started holding this girl in his arms again?

Maybe he’d just gotten used to it, after carrying her around for the past several days?

Julian pushed the thought aside, because just like him, Felicya too hadn’t been spared from this strange phenomenon where their inner voices leaked out.

"The worst that could happen is we get thrown into a different world than the one connected to this Breach. We might have to pass through the void, but as long as we’re patient, we’ll get through it. So there’s nothing to worry about."

Julian blinked, confused, looking at Felicya as she closed her eyes, looking listless.

"...So she can actually talk this much?"

Julian’s inner voice slipped out.

Well, more precisely, Julian seemed to realize that rather than speaking, Felicya was simply using the phenomenon around them to voice her thoughts, so the girl didn’t have to speak at all.

Wasn’t that incredibly practical of her?

After that, Felicya’s inner voice continued.

"My memories are incomplete. After I died before, and managed to reincarnate, I could only recover my memories vaguely. But I can still faintly remember a few places we might end up."

Reincarnated? Memories that were sealed too?

Felicya’s identity was pulling more and more at Julian’s attention. But this wasn’t the time for that, so Julian decided to stay quiet and just listen closely.

"There are three possibilities. First, we could arrive in the world where the Dark Elf Race lives. That’s a good place. Second, a world where Mixed Races like Elves, Dwarves, and Lycorils live. And the worst case, we might end up in the world where the superior Race lives. The Dragon Race. Some call it the sky world."

Julian was fairly familiar with most of those Race names. He didn’t know what a Lycoril was, but he knew the rest, since plenty of fantasy films used Races with similar names.

Julian didn’t know if this was just a coincidence, but regardless, judging from how Felicya spoke, it was clear the best outcome was ending up in the world where the Dark Elves lived.

Felicya had said it was a good place.

As for the Dragon Race, though...

"The Dragon Race is extremely dangerous, because they’re among the Races that carry out Invasions. They’re deeply prejudiced against anyone from a Lower Race, like the Lunari."

"EEEKKK—!"

Julian could hear Monk let out a scream of fear. But Julian just stayed quiet, taking in the information and hoping, sincerely, that they wouldn’t end up in that world.

"What’s so impressive about them anyway? The Dragon Race in reality is nothing like in the movies."

Julian felt, for some reason he couldn’t quite place, oddly disappointed. Who would have guessed the Dragon Race would turn out to be this bad?

As he was thinking that over, Julian’s brow furrowed when he suddenly felt something strange.

"...! There’s no oxygen here?"

Julian choked, struggling to breathe as his face began turning blue on its own. Just as Julian felt like he might be done for, with Fearless keeping him from panicking, he heard Felicya’s inner voice.

"Use your Mana. It can take the place of oxygen. Let your Mana spread out and form a shield around your whole body."

Hearing that, Julian didn’t argue or question it. He simply followed what Felicya said and began spreading his Mana, letting it wrap around his entire body and skin.

After that, Julian felt much better, though it was a strange sensation, thinking about how humans lived depending on oxygen as a basic need.

But here, he was only using Mana, with no need for oxygen at all. He didn’t even need to breathe, yet the Mana seemed to keep his body, every organ, running on its own.

It was a strange, unique feeling.

And just then, Julian heard Monk’s voice ring out in panic once more.

"Eeehk—! Here it comes! Here it comes! I can feel it, huwaaa! I can feel it, we’re going off course, the ’bridge’ has sprung a leak. HUWAAAAAAAA!"

And right after that, Julian felt the shift immediately.

Again and again, Julian was dragged along, with no way to resist.