There Is No Place For Fakes [EN]: Chapter 168

“Ugh!”

The Sword Divinity blazed with light, and the intruder lost consciousness.

By the time Philomel returned the sword to its scabbard, Elencia’s chest was completely unharmed. Balbad’s sword had only harmed the soul of the impure intruder.

Of course, his soul had only left Elencia’s body; it wasn’t destroyed.

‘If it’s going to be destroyed, it should be done in that world, not this one.’

That’s the only way the rift will completely close.

Kugugung.

It was then that an enormous roar was heard. With the heart destroyed and the Evil God gone, the ‘Stem’ began to collapse.

“We have to get out of here!”

Philomel tried to pick up Elencia but collapsed.

She couldn’t muster any strength. It seemed the effects of the power elixir had worn off.

“The backpack, where’s the backpack?”

She needed to take more elixirs to escape this place.

Thump!

Just as Philomel spotted the backpack in the corner and was about to grab it, something crashed down on her.

“Ugh…….”

Philomel felt pain rising up her leg as she assessed the situation.

The ceiling had collapsed. She barely avoided a head injury, but her leg was pinned under debris. She tried to move the debris, but it was no use.

“It’s dangerous.”

Her mind warned her. The ‘Stem’ would soon completely collapse.

Philomel rubbed the Ring of Red Flames, just in case. But the ring had only a faint amount of divine power left, barely enough to purify the contamination, let alone teleport her. She had used too much divine power when she was attacked by the Evil God earlier.

“What should I do…….”

Even in this situation, the ‘Stem’ continued to crack, and more and more parts were collapsing. Which would be faster, the Sun God coming to save her or being crushed to death by debris?

‘Maybe dying from contamination due to the depletion of divine power will be faster.’

Philomel’s consciousness gradually faded.

From the start, she had forced herself to get up after almost fainting when Ieries strangled her. Now, she had reached her limit, and no matter how much she steeled her will, she couldn’t muster any strength.

“Is this really the end…….”

Philomel reached out towards Elencia.

‘I wanted to save you, just like you saved me.’

Her eyelids were too heavy. She couldn’t hold on any longer.

Just then.

“Lady Philomel!”

He appeared like a savior.

Not the Sun God, but Nasar, her lover.

“Nasar?”

Philomel blinked in disbelief.

“Get a hold of yourself!”

Nasar’s warm hand brushed Philomel’s cheek. It wasn’t an illusion. It was really Nasar.

“How……?”

How did he get here?

This question contained two main points.

First, his body would be contaminated. Second, he wouldn’t know where this was.

“Details later!”

Nasar removed the debris covering Philomel’s leg and then lifted her up. He was already holding Philomel’s backpack in his arms.

“I’m fine, please take care of Elencia!”

Even for Nasar, it would be difficult to escape this place while carrying two people.

Philomel quickly took a bandage from the backpack and applied it to her leg. The pain in her leg quickly disappeared.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“There’s no time! Hurry!”

At Philomel’s shout, Nasar nodded and picked up Elencia.

‘It’s amazing. Just a moment ago, I didn’t even have the strength to move my fingers.’

The moment she saw his face, strength surged through her entire body.

She absolutely couldn’t die.

She didn’t want to die.

Even as they moved, the ‘Stem’ continued to collapse relentlessly.

“Ah, the path……!”

As Philomel left the room, she saw the passage blocked by debris.

“This way!”

Nasar guided her in a different direction from which Philomel had come. It seemed he had come through that way.

However.

“Here too!”

Unfortunately, that place was also blocked by huge debris.

‘What should I do, there must be a way…….’

Even in front of a dead end, Philomel didn’t give up.

‘There must be a way!’

As if responding to that thought, her hand glowed. A pickaxe-shaped mark appeared on the back of her hand.

‘The mark the Dwarf Chieftain engraved!’

The light emitted by the mark stretched out towards one point. She felt it instinctively. She had to go that way.

“Nasar, this way!”

Nasar seemed to have the same thought, as he followed Philomel without a word.

The light led to a room. Instead of trying to get out, where they were likely to be crushed to death, they were going further inside. It was absurd.

But Philomel and Nasar headed straight there.

Whoosh.

They were greeted by the outside air. One wall of the room had completely collapsed, revealing the outside.

Kugugugugu!

A roar of a different dimension than anything before engulfed them. The ‘Stem’ could no longer maintain its shape.

The ceiling and floor shattered. If they delayed any longer, they would be buried alive.

“Nasar, jump!”

Philomel ran towards the collapsed wall and looked down.

It was a dizzying height. Falling from here would mean instant death. But there was no time to hesitate.

“Hoo.”

Philomel took a deep breath, braced her stomach, and shouted.

“Belleron!”

And jumped. Holding Nasar’s hand.

The Sun God had said that once they were out of the Evil God’s domain, he could find Philomel anywhere.

‘Please let that not be a bluff.’

Philomel prayed desperately as she fell towards the ground. Otherwise, she, Nasar, and Elencia would inevitably crash into the ground and be pulverized.

“Alright.”

As if responding to that prayer, the three people suddenly stopped in mid-air.

The Sun God appeared before them and said.

“It’s been a long time since a human dared to call my name so carelessly.”

They were alive. The three of them were alive.

* * *

Urrr.

Philomel watched the ‘Stem’ collapse from the air. It was as if the Sun God had provided them with a VIP seat.

“Is Ieries now destroyed?”

Philomel’s question was answered by Belleron.

“Gods do not perish. They merely slumber more deeply.”

He rubbed his chin, estimating the time.

“She probably won’t awaken again for another thousand years.”

“That’s good enough.”

She was just a human, so she wasn’t concerned about things a thousand years from now.

‘The people living then will take care of it.’

Philomel was interested in the here and now. The world she lived in, the people she loved.

Philomel and Nasar looked at each other as if by promise.

Then Philomel suddenly exclaimed, “Ah!”

“By the way, Nasar, how did you get to where I was?”

“Thanks to this.”

With those words, Nasar took out a heart-shaped jewel from his pocket. It was the gift Philomel had given him about an hour ago.

“Connected Hearts!”

A reward obtained when Nasar’s favorability reached 100%. A jewel that looked exactly like the one Philomel had.

In fact, there were two ‘Connected Hearts’ from the beginning. As if for a pair of lovers to share.

Philomel kept one for herself and gave the other to Nasar before entering the ‘Stem’.

“Is that what it’s called?”

Nasar scratched his cheek.

“For some reason, looking at this jewel made me feel like I was with Lady Philomel, so I kept looking at it, and then Lord Belleron spoke to me.”

Belleron pointed at Nasar with his thumb.

“He said that jewel could be a medium to contain my power. So this guy begged me.”

“I begged him to please imbue it with even a little bit of power.”

“I only gave him a little bit. But he still went to the ‘Stem’, whether it was brave or reckless, I don’t know.”

Philomel unknowingly raised her voice.

“What were you thinking, doing something so dangerous!”

“Weren’t you in danger as well, Lady Philomel?”

“Still……. If Nasar had wandered around inside the ‘Stem’ even a little bit, it would have been a disaster.”

He would have been swallowed by contamination in an instant.

“You don’t have to worry about that at all.”

“Why?”

“Also thanks to this ‘Connected Hearts’.”

He looked at the heart-shaped jewel with affectionate eyes.

“Holding this, I somehow knew where you were.”

Perhaps that was the hidden effect of ‘Connected Hearts’?

The explanation that this jewel would protect them wasn’t just for show.

Philomel took hers out of her pocket. The two jewels glowed faintly as if resonating.

“It seems these protected us.”

“It seems there’s something else that protected you as well.”

At Belleron’s words, Philomel looked at the mark still on her hand. Thanks to this mark, they were able to escape the ‘Stem’ at the last moment.

“Lord Belleron, is this perhaps the blessing of the Dwarves?”

“That’s right. They are miners. They live with the risk of being buried in a mine their entire lives.”

So the Dwarves created a blessing that would allow them to find another path even if the existing path was blocked due to a mine collapse.

“This time, the ‘Stem’ was recognized as a mine.”

“Well, the collapsing situation is similar. Didn’t the one who gave you the blessing explain that to you?”

“He probably didn’t think it was necessary to explain.”

How often would Philomel ever go into a mine in her life?

She stroked the back of her hand with the mark and fell into thought.

Until just now, she had thought that the fight against the Evil God was a lonely path she had to walk alone. She pretended to be okay, but her shoulders were heavy.

‘But it wasn’t.’

Many people helped Philomel. They were by her side.

The Dwarf Chieftain who gave the blessing, Elencia who fought against the Evil God, the Emperor who gave up his lifespan, Regin who cast an automatic protection spell on his daughter. And Nasar, who risked danger for Philomel.

‘Many others helped too.’

Just then, voices calling Philomel were heard in the distance.

“Lady Philomel!”

“Hero! This way!”

It was Ellein and Theodore.

They were waving their hands from the ground, quite far from the ‘Stem’.

Belleron explained.

“I told them to stay away in case they got hurt when that collapsed.”

Philomel also waved her hand towards them.

Because they were there, and not only them, but also the priests who purified the land and protected the people from monsters.

‘I was able to defeat Ieries.’

They all protected our world from the threat.