My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

The young inn owner explained the sequence of events to the best of her knowledge.

The barren wasteland outside was once a lush meadow, but the rapid thinning of the land's so-called "magic energy" in recent years has led to the contamination of the region, and an exponentially increasing rate of Nightmare appearances.

The declining magic energy of the land resulted in a catastrophic drought that destroyed almost all of the natural wildlife, and on top of that, the adventurers who once worked together to fend off the occasional Nightmare attacks had either moved out or perished due to their rising numbers, making things even harder than they should be.

Eventually, the lord had no choice but to evacuate the entire city, leading to a mass migration. Naturally, there were those who wished to stay behind regardless of the danger; but, these people, too, were slowly dying.

Now, the Nightmares had more or less stopped attacking the city because there were barely any residents remaining, but due to the lack of resources it didn't even matter.

"The escalating numbers of the Nightmares outside the city isn't decreasing because there are no adventurers or knights left... I'm worried that something might've happened to the party who were supposed to be delivering supplies..."

I thought the lore was quite impressive for an imaginary world that those guys had created in such a short span of time.

At the end of the day, though, it is still an imaginary world―there is no need to sympathise with these people who amount to no more than background characters in a story.

Until I can find a way to break into the real world, no one deserves that kind of proper recognition.

After listening to the story, I decided to check out that adventurer party.

It wasn't because I felt like I needed to help them, of course, but because I was intrigued by something the lady had mentioned.

"Magic..."

She said something about magic and magic energy that I didn't quite understand. Magic isn't something that is supposed to exist in reality because it makes no sense, so the fact it exists here proves that this world is fake.

However, because it exists here, there is potential for magic to help me return to Earth and maybe even transcend.

If I had Truth, things would be a lot easier, but alas, he is gone, so I have to do things myself.

That adventurer party is said to have had a mage as a member; I will dig for information from them about it and make a judgement on whether it could prove useful to me.

Thus, after filling myself with food and resting my body for the day, I set off at dawn.

❖─────❖─────❖

Fortunately, the young inn owner had interacted with the adventurers on multiple occasions, and she knew the road they usually took between here and the nearest city, River.

Following her directions with a crude map she had quickly drawn for me, I followed a rough path.

It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for.

-- Krriiieeeehk...!

Clang-!

"Gh...!"

In the distance, I spotted a group of five individuals fighting a single Nightmare in harmony.

Hm... That one looks a lot slower than the ones I encountered yesterday.

Glancing up, I looked at the glaring sun high in the sky. Fortunately, I could stare directly at it without consequences due to the unexpected evolution of my eyes.

Do the Nightmares grow stronger at night? It would indeed make sense if that were the case.

-- Kkrrriiieeee...!

Clang, clang-!

My eyes followed the movements of the man in the vanguard, fending off the Nightmare's claws with flashy sword movements and splashing countless sparks into the air as his feet dug lines into the ground.

"Mmph...! I'm almost ready! Elle, switch; Gil, cover her; and Lud, prepare to freeze it!"

"On it!"

"I'm right there!"

"Understood!"

He also appeared to be the leader of the group.

Despite the sun severely weakening it, the Nightmare still seems to be a tough opponent for the group, weary from the past days of constant travel and battling.

Perhaps it was because they had been travelling for a while at this point and were a day overdue, but I noticed the adventurer's movements visibly slow down as the fight dragged on.

After a while, the robed young man at the rear shouted. "I'm ready to freeze!"

Glancing at him, I noticed he was holding a wooden staff, and on the end of it I spotted something nonsensical―a basketball-sized, glowing blue orb was swirling like a mystical marble.

"..."

Is that... Magic?

It didn't quite look like what I had expected, but I also didn't really know what I was expecting.

"Good! Launch it at my signal, and Elle; switch!"

The leader of the group commanded, and they moved―the woman in the front swapped positions with him as he got into a strange stance.

Grasping the hilt of his sword with both hands and pointing it towards the approaching Nightmare, he bent at the knees.

"...Now!"

"Frozen Net!"

Suddenly, the mage flicked the staff, sending the glowing ball flying in the Nightmare's direction. As it flew, it split into a wider form and materialised, taking on the appearance of a net made of ice.

Hmm...?

The Nightmare, captured by the ice net, suddenly fell to the ground and seemed unable to break free.

"..."

I stared at the ice, and something occurred to me.

She wasn't able to do something like that...

I shook my head free of distracting thoughts and observed the remainder of the fight intently. Would they show me more of this magic?

From what I could see, it seemed far stronger than the average level of firepower a Measurement would possess, and the process looked different, too.

At the same time the net captured the Nightmare, the leader shot forward. He raised his sword in the air and yelled.

"Beheading Strike!"

Subsequently, his sword shone in a white light as it drew a vertical line through the air, decapitating the immobile Nightmare in a single move.

What was that? Another type of magic, perhaps...? It seems there is a lot that I will need to research about this Otherworld.

The party let out a collective sigh of relief as they slay the Nightmare, but it was too early to let their guard down. I had experienced it thoroughly in the past day, but just because you had eliminated one threat, it didn't mean that all the danger had disappeared.

After all, although it was daytime, they were still in a contaminated wilderness.

"..."

At a distance not too far from the group, to which their backs were turned, I spotted sable-black fumes emerging from the cracks in the ground like an ominous fog.

The fog coalesced and formed the shape of a Nightmare within five seconds; not even moments later, two red circles flashed like eyes exposed to the light for the first time and it brandished its claws.

Foreseeing what was about to occur, I began my gradual approach towards the group; as I started walking, the monster likewise shot off the ground in utter silence.

"...Eh? B-behind you...!"

"What--"

-- Krriiieeeeekkh...!

The Nightmare arrived at the rear mage's back in the blink of an eye and cried.

Swinging its claws towards him, the mage barely managed to avoid an instant death, but that didn't mean the attack wasn't lethal as blood exploded from his wrecked torso.

Splatter-!

"No! Lud...!"

The rest of the party screamed as the mage fell to the ground with a thud. Engaging the Nightmare, it was clear that their exhaustion was catching up to them from their sluggish movements and slowing reaction speeds.

They hadn't the time to recover from the fatigue of the previous battles, and now, one of their core members was on the verge of bleeding out, so it was understandable.

"W-who are you...?!"

Fortunately for them, I arrived before the Nightmare could claim another victim.

-- Krrriieeeekkh...!

"..."

Walking towards the Nightmare, it seemed to stare at me as if something was wrong.

Then, it took a step back.

I don't know why, but it almost appeared as if it was wary of me.

Did it realise that I am a higher class of being than it?

The other Nightmares I had encountered until now didn't act like this, but perhaps my presence had grown, or maybe it was a side-effect of the sunlight.

Whatever the case, it didn't matter.

An imaginary monster like this really shouldn't be making a move against me, anyway.

-- Kkr-...

As if adhering to my thoughts, the Nightmare suddenly appeared frozen as I continued my approach. Stopping just inches in front of its face, I slowly reached out my hand to the shadow beast.

Placing my palm on its intangible body that gave me an inexplicable sensation, I uttered.

"Disappear."

In an instant, the Nightmare turned to dust and vanished like an illusion.

I glanced at the adventurer party who were all staring at me as if they had seen a ghost, but ignored it and turned to the dying man on the floor.

Walking over to him, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to test something out.

"W-wait! What are you doing? Who are you...?"

The leader called out to me as I crouched down and put my hand on the mage's head.

His eyes were glazed over and his chest was heaving; his body seemed to be having a hard time recovering as thin raspy noises exited his mouth every time he inhaled.

All of that, however, was irrelevant.

The sweat that drenched his body; the blood soaking the ground; and even the gradually slowing rate of his beating heart.

None of that mattered,

Because, at the end of the day,

This man,

Was just as fake as everything else in this Otherworld.

Therefore, it should be no problem to fix his issues.

I gently closed my eyes.

A fake man can have no real wounds. Thus, this person is not wounded.

As long as the script can be changed; the writing edited―then nothing in a fake world is finalised.

An injured character needs only his existence be rewritten for them to have never happened.

Therefore...

"..."

Discover tales on mvle-mp _y,r.

Opening my eyes, the mage was perfectly unharmed―as if everything was a lie.

I lifted my hand from his forehead and roughly wiped it on the clean part of his clothes.

Standing up, I turned back to the others.

Around me, the rest of the adventurer party looked at me with a gaze of reverence.

"How..." The leader muttered.

Well, of course, they could never comprehend it.