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5. Nasir

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Rifts.

Wounds in this world.

It is said that there are many phenomena in this world that mortals cannot understand, but Rifts are likely the phenomenon they understand least of all.

However, Regan’s words sounded vague like a riddle to Haniel, who didn’t know exactly what Rifts were, so she had to ask for details.

“So, a Rift is… some kind of place?”

“Yes. But it would be more appropriate to call it distorted space-time.”

Distorted space-time. According to extremely rare survivors, inside a Rift exists a world very similar to this reality but completely different, where time flows differently.

A twisted world where the laws of this world do not apply.

The world inside a Rift had its own laws.

Animals that were tiny and insignificant in this world became ferocious monsters that devoured intruders inside Rifts, and flat terrain transformed into narrow, winding paths like hell’s caverns, trapping intruders inside.

Just as a stream might flow at different speeds in different sections, time could also flow differently in various spaces inside a Rift.

Ten years inside a Rift could be equivalent to a moment in the real world, or vice versa.

A person caught in a Rift would, from that moment, exist in a completely different, isolated space-time from the original world.

Whether all Rifts had visible entrances was debated, but what was certain was that ordinary mortals could neither see nor feel these entrances with their abilities.

“When I came to my senses, I was in hell”—this saying applied. Those who naturally entered could not get out, and most lost their lives.

But the most frightening thing was…

“Above all, Rifts drive living beings inside and outside mad.”

“M-mad?”

“Whether large or small, they devour things around them to grow stronger, emitting increasingly distorted and polluted power.”

“…And I’m supposed to close such things…”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

Haniel responded flatly with a blank expression.

“I see, Rifts… extremely dangerous. I didn’t… know about this.”

D*mn it all…

Haniel’s golden eyes turned to her own fists resting on her knees.

A hot feeling seemed to boil inside her. As this emotion rose like lava and grew stronger, her pale hand, which had been twitching slightly, clenched tightly as if gripping an invisible person’s neck. Then it began to tremble with overwhelming anger.

Tremble, tremble, tremble.

‘System window!!!!’

The sentence clearly engraved in her mind from the status window came to mind.

A long sentence that could ultimately be summarized as “Has a sucker arrived?”…

No, now she properly understood. It meant “Has a sucker (who will close the Rifts) arrived?”

Haniel gritted her teeth.

At this point, not knowing would make one a fool.

Listening to Regan’s explanation about Rifts, she suddenly had a clear sense of what the system wanted from her.

‘Rifts? Those are dungeons…’

No matter how she heard it, these Rifts were spaces like the “dungeons” in the game she played in her previous life.

Another dimension teeming with all kinds of dangerous monsters that one had to enter to complete game quests!

And such dungeons would remain in place until users came to solve them directly, no matter how strong the characters among the game world’s inhabitants were.

Nightmare Forest, Rifts… to be backstabbed multiple times by the system in such a short time.

Unfortunately, the status window was a mysterious entity visible only to her eyes, so she couldn’t impose personal sanctions on it.

Haniel tried to swallow her anger and told herself:

‘No, no… don’t think too negatively. Strictly speaking, it’s not a scam. If I close Rifts, I might get rewarded with “Rift fragments” or whatever! With those, I can expand my territory!’

Ding!

‘This crazy status window…’

What was that subtly dejected-sounding sentence about?

The status window suddenly appearing before her eyes was not helpful at all in this situation.

Yes, whether the status window had scammed Haniel or not, she eventually needed to obtain the item called “Rift fragments.”

It meant that, like it or not, she had to approach these “Rifts.”

Looking at how things were unfolding, the system was clearly urging Haniel to close these dangerous dungeons… Rifts.

But according to Regan, Rifts were like disasters, where surviving would be miraculous… so how was she supposed to close them?

‘When I’ve barely touched combat skills because I’ve been busy farming.’

Did this mean she needed to improve her combat skills now?

Setting aside her anger toward the system, a sudden worry overwhelmed Haniel.

“…Ugh.”

Haniel’s heart suddenly began racing and her face turned pale. Perhaps Regan thought she was extremely distressed.

Regan extended his rough hand and awkwardly patted Haniel’s shoulder.

“Now that you know about Rifts, you can prepare for them.”

“…”

Haniel glanced down at the man’s enormous hand resting on her body.

‘Is this supposed to be comforting?’

Was this patting, or was his hand just numb?

Regan’s movements, “patting” like a beast imitating a human, were awkward, unlike the fl*id hunting skills he had shown so far.

As if he had never done such a thing before…

Given what she had observed of Regan’s nature since they began living together, it seemed unlikely, but he also appeared confused, not knowing what to do.

When Haniel didn’t reject his touch, Regan properly placed his large, hot hand on her shoulder and began to pat rhythmically.

Pat, pat. The strong hand that could easily bend an iron streetlamp moved carefully, as if touching down feathers, incongruously gentle.

‘This is ridiculous.’

But what was even more absurd was that Haniel’s boiling emotions gradually calmed at his clumsy actions.

By the time her irregularly beating heart became steady and her tensed muscles relaxed, Regan was already licking Haniel’s cheeks thoroughly.

“…This isn’t bad either.”

“Pardon?”

Is this animal therapy?

It felt like becoming ice cream, and her cheek stung a little, but the feeling of being licked by a wolf wasn’t bad.

‘D*mn it, I’ll figure something out.’

After all, wasn’t Regan by her side, capable of tearing apart not only humans but bears as well?

There would be a way, and if all else failed, she would make explosives!

Haniel sighed deeply and opened her mouth.

“Alright. Regan, according to you, how many Rifts are distributed throughout this forest?”

“No one has counted them all. But as far as we can estimate, there are about 100 small Rifts.”

“100? This is… Wait, what are small Rifts?”

“All Rifts except the Great Rift, the largest calamity standing on this land, are called small Rifts.”

And so far, one known Great Rift existed in the Elven kingdom of Anaserph.

Haniel frowned as she listened to Regan’s explanation of the Great Rift.

If the Great Rift was the biggest calamity, and small Rifts were a subordinate concept below it…

‘So regular Rifts, or small Rifts, are dungeons, and the Great Rift is something like a raid.’

Haniel understood from the perspective of an Earthling familiar with games.