Chapter 132: Lost in the Void 2

Julian had lost all track of time. He had thought it would be a long journey, but he never imagined that "long" here would mean so long that it began to feel as though it had no end.

At first, Julian was fine. He could still rely on himself. But as time passed, every reserve of Mana he had was drained away, and every serum he carried was now gone, not a single one left.

Even Monk was in the same state, though she lasted longer than Julian, considering the Rabbitkin’s Rank was one level higher than his.

On the other hand, Felicya seemed perfectly fine. Julian didn’t know how, but unlike him, who had to coat his body in Mana like Monk to survive in that vast void, Felicya wasn’t doing anything at all.

Didn’t she look like she was right where she belonged? As if the void was a playground made just for her.

Remembering the Rank she’d held before being sealed, and the fact that she was a Reincarnator, strengthened Julian’s guess.

Of course, that wasn’t the point.

The point was that right now, Julian could no longer hold on. His Mana had been drained completely from his body, Fearless was now inactive, and every organ of his was struggling to find oxygen that could never be found in this void.

Julian found himself in endless darkness, without a single star, just frozen there, moving neither forward nor backward.

Fear and panic all merged into one mass that seemed to drain his emotions dry.

It all burst out like layers of emotion that had been held back before. But it lasted only a few seconds, because Julian heard a whisper in his ear.

"Sleep for a while."

It was Felicya’s inner voice, as she looked at him listlessly as usual. Julian didn’t know why, but at that moment he found himself extremely sleepy.

Was it because his body had been forced to keep running nonstop on Mana? Or because Felicya had personally done something to make him drowsy?

Julian couldn’t guess. All he knew was that his consciousness was slowly beginning to vanish. And Felicya’s inner voice sounded once more as she spoke with someone Julian didn’t know.

"...Don’t resist. I won’t hurt him. You know he won’t survive if I don’t do something here."

Those words drifted further away as Julian’s consciousness vanished completely.

At that moment, Julian felt a foreign Mana seep into his body, setting his organs, which had been struggling to find oxygen, moving again.

An unknown Mana was helping him stay alive. After that, Julian felt nothing but a brief calm.

***

Julian and Monk fell asleep.

Felicya looked at the two of them one by one with an unreadable gaze. She lingered on Julian for a moment, as her gaze reached for something deep within his soul.

Once she had its consent, and the thing within had gone back to sleep as though trusting her presence, Felicya channeled her Mana into the bodies of both Julian and Monk.

Afterward, the two of them looked relieved, having received enough Mana to survive.

Felicya blinked listlessly, letting out a small sigh as she turned her reptilian pupils toward some far-off direction.

She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"How unlucky can we get... Of the three closest worlds, and among thousands of possibilities, we really did end up in the world of that insufferably arrogant Race."

However, Felicya wasn’t worried at all. There was nothing to worry about as she turned her eyes slightly again and glanced toward Julian, looking at something deep within his soul.

"...Happy? It seems we’ll be meeting your kin."

Her inner voice echoed once more in that empty and utterly silent void.

Then, Felicya’s gaze returned to herself, or more precisely, to the transparent blue screen showing her status.

She saw it. The Rank progress she held right now was no longer trying to climb or grow to restore her Rank. It was dropping.

Of course it was.

"This seal is annoying."

Felicya felt a rare irritation within her laziness, but it couldn’t be helped. If she hadn’t used the Mana she had to help Monk and Julian, neither of them would have survived in this void.

Well, annoying as it was, that didn’t mean Felicya regretted it or anything. If anything, she would only have regretted not doing it.

She was about to go back to sleep when something suddenly caught her attention. Felicya narrowed her gaze and looked at Julian, who even in his sleep still hadn’t let go of her.

"....."

Right in front of her, directly in front of Felicya, Julian was in a state that was hard to make sense of.

"This is happening again. I’ve lost count of how many times now."

Felicya was startled at first. Even she, lazy as she was, couldn’t help opening her eyes a little when she noticed Julian’s change.

Julian himself didn’t seem to notice, because the situation was so hard for him to comprehend. But Felicya, who was used to all this, paid very close attention to every change in him.

Looking at him now...

"He’s getting stronger."

His Mana kept growing, his Rank had risen, and Julian’s presence kept climbing to ever higher levels.

Unfortunately, in this void there was no Mana that could be used to refill Julian’s already depleted Mana Reserve. If only that growth had happened right before they entered the Breach, Felicya could have said they wouldn’t be struggling like this.

Well, what else could be done?

After that, Felicya continued to observe Julian’s unique condition for a while. Then she let her baby-soft cheek rest against Julian’s shoulder and closed her eyes sleepily.

Time soon passed again, at a speed that couldn’t be felt in that void.

And when Felicya opened her eyes, she now saw a crack-like point filled with a spectrum of colors.

They were heading toward it, something that felt like a mirage, sometimes close and sometimes suddenly drifting away.

Although it was hard to tell whether they were moving forward or backward, what mattered was that Felicya, who could still sense a familiarity within this void, could feel that they were heading toward that spectrum of colors.

Or... that could also be called the ’bridge’ connecting the other side within a Breach.

In short, after such a long time, they were reaching the way out of this void.

They would land in the world where the Dragon Race lived.