HRB 107

When Boram surrounded Eddie’s Inn with a sturdy wall of mana, those inside the inn soon realized it was a gigantic, absurdly large birdcage created by pouring out a massive amount of mana.

No matter what they did, they couldn’t break the wall of mana.

No matter what they did, they couldn’t escape outside the wall of mana.

It was the power of a cage created with the mana a skilled Magician had gathered over several years.

Ketron seemed to be constantly conversing with the Holy Sword, probably about how to overcome this situation.

Ketron is the Hero. A true genius and Magic Swordsman proficient in both Sorcery and swordsmanship.

Moreover, he had been Boram’s companion for years, so he was likely familiar with some of the loopholes in her Sorcery.

But Ketron didn’t act, even though he had a way. In that urgent moment, Ketron clearly sent a heavy gaze towards Eddie, but he didn’t say anything to Eddie.

Eddie later thought that perhaps the reason was that while breaking through Boram’s Sorcery and escaping wasn’t impossible, maybe the method was one where only he could escape… or something like that.

However, Ketron didn’t even consider the option of leaving Eddie behind and saving himself, so that method wasn’t chosen.

— Crack.

The birdcage destroyed everything it touched. The building’s pillars, tables, and so on. It was crushing everything, whether made of wood or iron, and gradually closing the distance.

Since all sides were blocked, escape seemed impossible.

“Damn it, Gerold! Don’t you have any useful Sorcery for times like this?”

Ebon seemed to be trying to break down the wall of mana several times, but he was frustrated as it didn’t work.

“Teleport doesn’t work either, nothing works. It’s completely sealed.”

Of course, Gerold didn’t seem to have a brilliant solution either. Gerold shook his head as if experimenting with various Sorcery several times. As if it was useless.

No matter how hard Ketron, Gerold, and Ebon tried, it was impossible to break down the wall of mana, and if a little more time passed, the five people inside would become dried jerky together.

Of course, Eddie couldn’t do anything. Regardless of Eddie’s lineage, whether he was a possessor or not in this world, he was just an ordinary person who had hardly ever trained his body. And his ordinariness fell far short of the average of this extraordinary party.

Eddie, realizing his powerlessness with an anxious look, unconsciously grabbed Ketron’s hand with a trembling hand. Holding the large, firm hand gave him an unknown sense of relief, even though nothing was resolved.

Ketron, who had been talking to the Holy Sword, looked down at Eddie’s hand holding his for a moment, then firmly gripped the loosely held hand again.

As if he had no intention of letting go of Eddie’s hand no matter what happened.

And finally, at the desperate moment when the wall of mana was too close and there was nowhere else to retreat, Eddie, looking around to see if there was anything he could do, even though he was of no help at all, turned his gaze towards the stairs leading to the basement.

“Ah.”

At that moment, a possibility flashed through Eddie’s mind.

Although he wasn’t a possessor with any special power, there was one special thing that he had that others didn’t.

There was a space that had too much foreignness to be from this world, a space that was separated from this world and unaffected by the outside, not to mention this inn.

Maybe, the convenience store in the basement might be the answer.

“Follow me!”

Eddie led the other four people towards the stairs leading to the basement.

“Everyone, hold my hand.”

The four people had puzzled faces, but the three people excluding Sebastian were originally the type to believe Eddie even if he said he would make meju out of red beans—although it didn’t seem like there were red beans or meju in this world—and Sebastian had no intention of going against this flow, so they all held Eddie’s hand with bewildered faces.

The people of this world don’t feel the existence of the convenience store at all. Of course, until now, only Eddie could enter it. But, if Eddie himself led them, maybe they could cross even the space that was only considered an unenterable door to them.

There was no other way to escape anyway, so it was all or nothing.

In the cramped basement stairs, it wasn’t easy for everyone to hold Eddie’s hand at the same time because they were all above average in physique, but at the last moment, Eddie led the four people and threw himself towards the basement, which was just a firmly closed door to them.

Perhaps the four people felt like they were watching Muggles running towards Platform 9 and 3/4.

— Thump.

Eddie, who had almost fallen inside, felt relieved when he saw the four people who were holding his hand all tumbling onto the convenience store floor at the same time.

His body, which had been stiff with tension, finally relaxed at the sound of the familiar refrigerator.

“Ha.”

He had expected it to work, but fortunately, the gamble was successful.

And not long after throwing himself towards the convenience store, there was a tremendous roar, and the sound of the wall of mana colliding right in front of the convenience store entrance and smashing everything was heard.

Eddie trembled as he watched in real-time as the debris piled up on the basement stairs, completely blocking the entrance.

It was so clear that if he hadn’t thought of the underground convenience store, they would have suffered the same fate as that debris.

As Eddie had expected, it seemed that nothing could invade the inside of the convenience store, which was not of this world, and Boram’s powerful Sorcery did not affect the inside of the convenience store. As if blocked by a thick wall.

Maybe it was a completely different dimension.

“What is this place?”

Ebon, who completely trusted Eddie but had no idea what he was thinking, shone his eyes as soon as he saw the incredibly strange modern convenience store space.

Moreover, Ebon had a personality that went crazy for strange things, so he quickly sparkled his eyes and looked around the convenience store, and began to run around inside excitedly. He was like a child who had discovered an amusement park.

“Gerold, come here! There are so many amazing things!”

“Ebon, is this the time for that?”

Gerold scolded Ebon, but he also couldn’t take his eyes off the convenience store space filled with familiar objects.

Sebastian, as well as Ketron, had dumbfounded faces as they looked at the unfamiliar style of space.

“Eddie.”

“Um… I’ll explain later.”

Eddie took the lead before everyone could question him. In reality, what was important right now wasn’t an explanation of this space.

Ketron stared blankly at the retort porridge that Eddie had brought him someday, then looked at the banana milk that he filled up every time, and the fire chicken noodle that was piled up in the corner of the kitchen.

Come to think of it, he had also seen the ending of in a convenience store that looked exactly like this. It felt strange to bring the protagonist of the novel, who had been frustrated after seeing the ending at that time, into a space that looked exactly like his convenience store.

Anyway, Eddie, scratching his cheek as if his business foundation had been revealed, looked at the outside, which seemed to have calmed down, and carefully reached out towards the debris blocking the stairs.

However, before that hand could escape outside the convenience store, Eddie had to be held back by Ketron.

“Boram’s mana might still be affecting it, why are you so brave?”

“But it doesn’t seem like there’s any problem now…”

“Eddie.”

Ketron had a grim face. Eddie, who knew he couldn’t beat Ketron at times like this, especially Ketron who was more sensitive than anyone to Eddie’s safety, immediately surrendered.

“Okay, I won’t touch it.”

Everyone waited for the commotion to subside for a while in the quiet, except for the sound of Ebon running around the convenience store excitedly—he pressed the buttons on the microwave that had nothing inside, opened the refrigerator door, and touched the POS machine randomly.

After some time had passed, Ketron looked alternately at the convenience store and the stairs as if they were separated by space, then used Sorcery to clear the debris that filled the basement stairs and went upstairs. Eddie quickly followed behind him.

The outside was a mess. No, rather than a mess, there was just nothing there. The first floor of Eddie’s Inn, which he tried to keep clean every day, the first floor that was clearly full of customers just a moment ago, was not only littered with debris without anything left, but black rain was falling from the sky.

Before they knew it, the ground was all wet with rain. The Demonic Energy that had blackened the floor was ominous.

Gerold, who felt the presence of the black rain while coming up from the basement, created a temporary umbrella with mana and put it over Eddie’s head.

“…….”

However, Eddie didn’t even recognize that Gerold had made an umbrella for him.

The symbol of the Demon race, no… the symbol of the Demon King.

He blankly looked up at the black rain, which he had only seen described in novels but was seeing actually falling for the first time. The sky was blackened as if it had been scorched.

Eddie’s face turned pale in an instant as he looked at the sky where black rain was falling.

It wasn’t because the Demon King had been resurrected.

— Screech.

The sound of gears that hadn’t been heard in a long time meshing incorrectly was almost deafeningly loud, shaking Eddie’s brain.