In the corner of the dungeon, I was recovering my mana. None of them were coming for me—yet.
It seems that the way these mutants react, the way they move sometimes, the way they operate without even seeming to look at each other... it feels like there's someone controlling them. But I haven't sensed anyone else, so it's most likely someone who knows it's smart not to reveal their presence.
I had already used up more than half my mana. Even though I have a LOT of mana, I'm still not used to using it efficiently. And on top of that, it's immense—but still undeveloped.
In this scenario, it's not even like learning it the hard way—either it'll be a victory or it'll be my death, and there wouldn't be anything left for me to learn the hard way.
But I just know, this Kuroto isn't dying.
Suddenly, I was hit with a realization... a bad one, indeed.
I realized that if there's someone controlling these mutants, then it means Daiki could be in danger too. It's not like these are mindless monsters like you'd normally go against—they're being controlled by someone intelligent.
Just as Kuroto realized this, he immediately started heading for Daiki.
As Kuroto took a few steps, Daiki's mana began to stir. Something wasn't right with Daiki.
Kuroto noticed and rushed even faster. Just then, every single monster—every mutant—started rushing toward Kuroto and Daiki.
Either the monsters had enough of him, or the one controlling them decided to dispose of Kuroto by making all 150+ mutants attack him at once.
As Kuroto stepped toward Daiki, he suddenly realized they were all lunging straight at him.
Kuroto had no choice. He knew he wouldn't be able to fight off every single one of them. Before this, he had been relying heavily on luck alone—that they wouldn't attack all at once.
Naturally, if it were someone else in Kuroto's situation, they'd definitely run for their lives, even with no real chance of surviving.
"Damn this Kuroto… Even at a moment like this, he wants to help the kid. Well, I don't mind dying while following righteousness. At least I'd be able to face God of Absolute in the afterlife knowing that I tried my true best in following what I wanted—no, needed—to follow," Kuroto said boldly. Even in such a situation, where death was inevitable, he headed for Daiki to save him.
Kuroto was 8 meters away from Daiki, while the mutants were around 10 meters away.
Daiki suddenly started glowing—completely covered in multiple colors, so much so that only his body shape was visible, the ground beneath him slightly cracked a little and the air grew heavier with more intensity every second.
Daiki's body suddenly began to change, growing rapidly. It felt like evolution. And he heard something.
"Congratulations from Kaito Iwasaki. He'd like to say his last words, recorded in the rule set:
Daiki, if you're seeing this, that means the rule set has been undone and you've finally found the reason to fight—truly. A reason to use this power to save a certain someone, whether I know them or not. Just know that I'm proud of you, son, and I never regretted using my rule set on you and sacrificing my life. I'm sorry I left you and made you forget my existence completely… but now you know who I was. You might be wondering about my rule set power and how I even got it in the first place. Unfortunately, I'm unable to tell you the reason and how, but know this, my son—you'll find out one day. Now go, my son, and save whoever you want to save. And to the one who triggered the rule set's undoing, give him or her my gratitude as well… and show them your real power.
Goodbye, son."
The message spoke in the voice of his very own father, Kaito Iwasaki.
Daiki stopped glowing… He had completely changed, in everything—including his appearance.
Daiki had dark-blue hair and deep, hunter-blue eyes. Silky, smooth hair. His height: 5'7", with smooth-white, almost pale skin. His face was extremely handsome-looking and generally rather muscular, with a slim look on the outside. He wore a white shirt and a blue informal jacket with black pants. His looks were absolutely stunning.
When he stopped glowing, streams of tears went down his face and he said, "Father… Thank you. I'll save him, no matter what. I can at least say that much," he sobbed.
Kuroto was coming for Daiki, still unaware of what had happened. He was about a meter away. Behind Kuroto, about 5 meters back, came running giant mutated, ripped and muscular, green, zombified-orc monsters in black pants—more than double Kuroto's size overall.
Just then, Daiki raised his hand forward, and suddenly, a flashy, blue-handled steel sword appeared in his hand—sharp and expertly made.
He was fast at it—extremely fast indeed.
Then, in an instant, he vanished—only to reappear behind all the monsters.
As he swiftly—or rather, teleported—through the monsters, all of them were beheaded instantly as the blood splashed through the room.
Daiki heard his father's voice echo in his head:
"Save whoever you want to save."
And he thought to himself,
"I will, father."
Daiki straightened himself and wiped off his tears. Kuroto was extremely confused as to what the heck just happened. While he could sense that there weren't any monsters on him anymore, he was still confused about what had happened.
"What the hell was that? I don't sense the monsters on me anymore… and what is that extremely intense mana? Although it's my first day, I definitely haven't sensed a mana flow this powerful. Heck, I'd say this is probably stronger than all the mana I've sensed so far in this world—if I exclude the girl I met at Tsukikage Deli," Kuroto wondered to himself in absolute confusion.
Kuroto, unable to see anything, stood still—meanwhile, Daiki, who could see everything clearly, teleported straight to Kuroto's left side.
He placed his hands on Kuroto's shoulders, and suddenly, Kuroto was able to see everything just like Daiki.
I still couldn't grasp what had happened. The sudden mana was so intense I started breathing heavily.
And then, the intense presence I had sensed from far away was suddenly right next to me, and something touched my shoulder.
I knew the presence wasn't a threat—otherwise, why would it kill the monsters that would've inevitably killed me?
Just as it touched my shoulder… I was able to see everything?
I got confused. Huh? What the hell is that? I instantly looked at the person who saved me.
I looked at him—a handsome boy standing right in front of me. I THOUGHT it'd probably be someone from an Order.
"Who the heck are you?"
My expression shifted from tension to confusion as I said that.
The guy chuckled, loosened up, and said,
"Obviously, you wouldn't recognize me. I'm the same boy you saved."
"What? So you're saying you're Daiki? I don't buy it. You're someone else. There's no way you're that depressed child," I said casually.
"You're calling me a depressed child? Well, I guess that makes sense… but that was still rude," he said, his expression shifting from a chuckle to a hint of realization.
I was almost dead, and now this guy just popped out of nowhere claiming to be Daiki? I saw Daiki—he looked like he was in despair barely two minutes ago. Now he's just gone and this guy shows up, acting like it's normal?
And now I'm suddenly able to see clearly? What does that even mean? I don't even have an ability to see in the dark.
"I'll explain everything to you in detail," he said, then looked behind him, "We have other matters to attend to."
Inside the large opening of the cave, I could now see clearly. I saw a human sized black cloak floating mid-air, its ends shredded like torn fabric.
It looked like a ghost. I didn't sense any mana—it was just a floating cloak.
"What the heck is that?" I asked.
"That's what's been controlling the mutants you've been fighting so far," he replied.
"What is it? A ghost?" I asked, literally.
"It's not a ghost. This one's a mutator. There are various types of cloaked, intelligent monsters that control specific things about the dungeon they appear in. Technically, he's the boss of this dungeon—but he makes others do the work."
"It can summon or mutate something. I don't know the exact method, but I've heard of this type of cloaked manipulator. It's rare to find in a dungeon. In simple words… this thing is bad news," he said, his tone serious.
The cloak looked terrifying, no doubt. I didn't have time to question who this guy really was, but I felt like Daiki was safe—wherever he was. So I didn't ask.
Although it looked terrifying, it didn't radiate any mana. And even if it was hiding its presence, hiding mana so well that it feels completely absent is almost impossible.
"I don't sense ANY mana at all from that thing—not even a little," I said.
"Because it doesn't have any mana," he replied.
"These cloaked monsters have a nickname—people call them 'The Manaless Manipulator' or 'The Cloaked Manipulator.' They don't have mana because they manipulate specific types of monsters that do everything for them. Even to protect themselves, they summon what they control."
"The Cloaked Manipulators are extreme strategists—but fragile. They're known to be arrogant and overestimate themselves… but they still perfectly gauge the strength of their opponents," he said boldly.
It made sense why it was just hovering and staring at us while we were having this chat.
"What are your abilities?" I asked, curious.
"My abilities are teleportation, creating any object with extreme accuracy, and extreme strength through mana enhancements. That's about it… though I'm generally very slow," he answered.
My expression changed to amazement. This guy has TELEPORTATION? That's insane. I mean, that alone is powerful. And the ability to create anything—that means he can make weapons. And he has extreme strength too?
"If you have teleportation, can't you just kill it instantly by teleporting to it?" I asked the obvious.
"Truth be told, I can't. You don't know this yet, but my powers just returned now. When I sliced through the monsters, my body was still in the state it was three years ago—for a brief moment. At that moment, I was able to teleport without getting numb," he said.
I did NOT understand what he meant by 'powers just returned now', but it felt like a long story so I'd just save this question for later, but I wanted to know what he meant by getting 'numb'.
"What do you mean 'numb'?" I asked, furrowing my brows.
"When I teleport, my body gets numb for a second or two. During that time, I can't move at all," he said.
"But it wouldn't be able to dodge if you caught it off guard, would it?" I said.
"Teleportation takes more focus the longer the distance you're trying to cover. And during the numb phase, it's hard to even think—let alone teleport. If I teleport at it now, it'd be extremely risky. It can probably summon its mutants at any moment, and that risk isn't worth it," he said cautiously.
"Then can't you just teleport out?" I questioned, wondering.
"I can't. Teleportation doesn't work through mana barriers like the gate," he said.
"Oh, damn it then, guess we have to fight that thing off, my mana is drained already," I said frustrated since I was already tired out completely.
"Anyway, what abilities do you have?" he questioned curiously.
I didn't know what to respond with, since I didn't really have an actual ability other than just running fast and punching hard. But this guy seemed to be trustable since his own mana is stronger than my own even if I have to eventually tell him that I'm the God reincarnate God of Death he'd still not want to kill me as it wouldn't reward anything.
"I don't really have any ability—just punching hard, I guess.."
It didn't even sound pathetic, it felt like a miracle or something because it was unheard of for someone to not have any ability by adulthood.
But I couldn't tell him the reason I don't have any ability is because I'm the reincarnation of the God of Death.
"What? How's that possible, you're like above 18 right? And you're skilled at fighting as well, and you're more agile than me." he questioned, surprised and thought I was kidding.
"It's true, it's just that… Well, it's personal—I can't tell you yet," I said, dodging the question.
"Ok I guess," he replied, still a bit confused.
Didn't think he'd accept that so easily.
"So what are we going to do? It's not like we're just going to go attack him and break through with sheer brute force. And if he's as smart as you're saying, that's all the more reason we can't kill the guy," I said cautiously.
There was no way we could kill something like that with brute force alone.
But I was willing to trust this guy. He clearly had more experience than I did, even if he was just a kid.
"That's exactly what we're going to do," he said confidently.
"Wait—what?" I said, blinking in confusion.
He turned toward where the Manaless Manipulator stood and removed his hands from my shoulders.
"The Night Vision will last about thirty minutes. After that, you'll need to make physical contact with me again to see in the dark," he told me.
"Take this, it'll help you a lot," he said, creating an extremely well-made sword without even looking at me as he handed it over.
"I'd rather prefer a dagger," I said.
He glanced back at me and said, "Huh?" with a sarcastic look on his face.
"I said, 'I'd rather prefer a dagger than a sword.'"
"Well... I guess I can make that," he said, raising his hand and staring at it as a dagger began to manifest.
It took him a few seconds to complete it. He handed me the dagger. It wasn't as well made as the sword, but it was still good enough.
"I'm used to making swords. If I'm trying to make something similar, it takes a lot more focus not to instinctively make a sword instead," he told me and looked back ahead.
"Alright… but hey, uh, can you make a bandage for me?" I asked, and when he looked back at me, I raised my left hand. "This injury is hurting like crazy. I'm not used to it."
He then handed me a bandage.
"Damn, his ability is so useful," I muttered to myself.
"Did you say something?" he asked.
"No. Let's just attack already," I said.