SO, instead of dying, Navi was actually sent to a different planet.
But…
"Is this really a different planet?" Navi asked while looking around. "This just looks like a dungeon."
First, everything there was dead.
The air was humid.
The soil was baked.
The sky was orange, and so was what seemed like the sun.
Hence, the entire place was also 'dyed' with the same color.
But there are interesting things here, too.
First, the charcoal-black trees.
Instead of leaves, the trees had semi-transparent jelly-like green cubes attached to their branches. Each cube was the size of a box of her favorite instant potato soup dish.
And each cube has a little amount of Mana in it.
But she could also feel something else from the cubes, but she was uncertain.
I feel a very weak life force in each of them.
It was like hearing a very faint heartbeat of a baby.
Don't ask me how I know— I just do.
Anyway, that was the first interesting thing Navi found.
The second thing was the Status Window floating in front of her face.
"You're not Sola-nim," Navi said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Who the hell are you? Are you the System God that rules this dead planet?"
[This planet isn't dead— not yet, at least.]
"Okay. So, who and what are you?"
[I'm hurt that you didn't recognize me right away, Miss Earthling. I'm the last 'person' you saw before you 'died.']
"The last person I met was…"
Oh, damn.
Navi knitted her eyebrows. "You're the Fallen Constellation that killed me?"
[My name is Stello, and I didn't kill you. I simply erased your data from System Sola's database so that the world you came from, the planet called Earth, would declare you as dead.]
"And why would you want my world to declare me dead?"
[Because that's the only way to send you to this planet.]
Navi knew it was useless, but she still threw hands and punched the floating Status Window in front of her.
Of course, her fist just punched the air.
Tsk.
[This planet called Astralume-023 is also known as the 'Graveyard of Heroes.']
"I don't like the sound of it."
[As its name suggests, this planet is where the souls of the dead heroes who died while saving their worlds are sent after their death. But I'm only talking about the world plagued by what you, humans, have named 'dungeons.' After all, only worlds or planets that are, unfortunately, invaded by dungeons are under the System Gods' influence.]
Souls of the dead heroes…
Oh, wait.
"Those cubes," Navi said while looking around, her eyes glued to the semi-transparent jelly-like green cubes attached to the trees as if they were leaves. "I feel some faint life force coming from those cubes. Don't tell me…"
[Yes, what you're thinking is correct, Miss Earthling. Each cube contains the soul of a fallen hero.]
"Why are the souls trapped in those cubes?"
[They are waiting to be reborn.]
Aigoo.
Navi didn't like complicated stuff.
It was making her head hurt.
She spent her entire life fighting monsters. So, admittedly, she was pretty dumb. She would only use her brainpower when crafting a fighting strategy with the Elites.
Won Yiwon is the brain, and I'm the brawn.
"Get straight to the point," Navi said, almost growling at the stupid Constellation. "Now I understand why I need to 'die'— that's the only way I'll get sent to this planet, right?"
[Correct.]
"Then why do you need me here?"
[I need you to save the heroes I failed to protect, Miss Earthling.]
Oh, right.
Since 'Stello' was a former Constellation, he must have been in charge of a few heroes from the world that he came from.
Like how the Constellations sponsor the high-ranking Hunters in my world.
"I'm not saying that I'll agree to do what you want, but I'm quite curious," Navi said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Where are the heroes that you want me to save? If they are here, then they must already be dead." She pointed at the trees around her. "Are they one of the cubes here?"
[They are in front of you, Miss Earthling.]
What?
But the only 'things' in front of her were…
"Hello, Miss Earthling."
Aigoo!
Navi almost had a heart attack when the cotton ball of a bird with a blue tail and beak suddenly spoke— in a foreign language that she somehow understood. "Oh, you're sentient. Are their souls trapped inside their bird form?"
Actually, those birds were the third and most interesting thing for her.
Hence, she was quite glad that the Fallen Constellation was talking about them.
[They were reborn as birds on this planet. However, I edited their data. Hence, they somehow regained their human form.]
"What do you mean by 'somehow?'"
[Children, please introduce yourselves to your new mother.]
'Mother?'
"Excuse me?" Navi was in disbelief. "I don't want kids unless they are Won Yiwon's—"
POOF!
All her complaints vanished in the air with just one 'poof.'
In just the blink of an eye, the little round and fluffy birds with colorful tails and beaks had turned into little kids…
… and each one wore a very cute onesie!
The kid with blue hair and gray eyes wore a shark onesie.
The kid with yellow hair and blue eyes (and a distinct mole under his left eye) wore an alpaca onesie.
The kid with pink hair and pink eyes wore a hamster onesie.
The kid with red hair and red eyes wore a wolf onesie.
Lastly, the kid with black hair and black eyes wore a black jaguar onesie.
They look like they're around five years old…
The kids were so cute! Just look at those chubby cheeks! And those innocent, round eyes!
"Kids, let's greet our mother properly."
It was the blue-haired kid who said that, and it looked like he was the leader of their little group.
But why call me 'mother'…?
Before Navi could complain, the other kids had already bowed their heads.
"Hello, Mama!"
'Mama?'
Navi massaged her temples while glaring at the Status Window. "Are you not going to open your mouth, you bastard Constellation?"
[This is going to be a long story, Miss Earthling.]
***
SO, the story goes like this…
Apparently, Stello— the fallen Constellation that 'killed' Navi— served as the kids' Guardian Constellation in their world.
The kids weren't kids at first, of course.
According to Stello, those kids with colorful hair used to be Paladins in a world plagued by dungeons. The Paladins in that world refer to knights who pledged their loyalty to the Saint. Apparently, there's only one saint there.
Long story short, that world was destroyed when the Saint lost the fight to the Final Dungeon Boss.
Of course, the Paladins died with the Saint.
After the Paladins died, their souls were sent to Planet Astralume-023.
And that was when Stello had gone crazy.
"Constellations are supposed to die when all the heroes they sponsor die?"
[Correct.]
"But you didn't die right away because you're super strong?"
[Eyy, you're making me blush. But that's true. I'm even stronger than System Sola during my prime. The only reason I didn't become a System God is because I'm only capable of loving a few—]
"Shut up," Navi said, glaring at the Status Window. She actually wanted to curse and say bad words, but the 'kids' were looking up at her with shining eyes. "So, you're telling me you followed the kids' souls on this planet. Then, when you realized that this world didn't have a System God, you 'hacked' the System here and 'edited' the kids' data so they wouldn't be classified as 'dead.' By doing so, you stopped this planet from turning them into cubes."
[Correct. I used half of my remaining strength to give them a form that won't get them turned into Soul Cubes. Since I only have a small amount of Mana to spare, I chose the smallest and cutest animal I could think of at that moment. That's how the kids turned into birds. After that, I used the other half of my remaining power to travel to the closest planet I could find."
"And that's how you ended up in my world."
[Correct. When I found out that the planet I was headed to belongs to System Sola, I hacked their System. You are System Sola's most treasured child, so I chose you. After all, according to the data that I've seen, you have very low self-esteem so you don't have the courage to put yourself above others. You feel guilty whenever you choose yourself because you don't think you are that important.]
"Excuse me?"
[And that's exactly why it's easy for you to sacrifice yourself for your world. You claim that it's because you want to protect Hunter Won Yiwon. But, in reality, you have survivor's guilt due to a traumatic incident in the past. Hence, you'd rather die than let other people die under your watch—]
"Shut the fuck up."
Navi didn't mean to curse.
In fact, she only realized that she had said a bad word when the kids' pupils shook in fear.
She let out a sigh and averted her eyes.
I want to comfort them, but I don't want to get attached to them yet.
"Fine, let's say you chose me for that stupid reason. I can't do anything about it anymore since I'm already here," Navi said, sighing. "Now tell me what exactly I have to do in order to save those kids."
[Let's head to the Glass Tower first.]
***
AS ITS name suggested, the Glass Tower was a tower made of glass.
Well, to me, that looks more like a glass skyscraper than a tower.
The skyscraper was shaped like a DNA strand, so it was pretty cool.
[It's the infinity symbol, not a DNA strand.]
"Do you read minds?"
[No, but you're pretty easy to read.]
Tsk.
Anyway, she didn't know how they got there.
Stello probably used a teleportation skill to bring her and the kids in front of the Glass Tower because they got there in just the blink of an eye.
However, she already knew why she was brought to that place.
"I've read enough webtoons to know that you're going to make me climb that tower," Navi said, and then she looked over her shoulder. The kids— cutely dressed in animal onesies— were lined up behind her. She felt like a duck being followed by her ducklings. "But with these kids?"
[Miss Earthling, those kids are all natural S-Class Hunters like you.]
Damn, for real?
***
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