Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The girl in purple looked at him with an expression that was almost one of pity.

"While I can understand your thoughts, the resentment of this generation of reincarnators is a bit too much. As a senior, I think you still need to continue learning. Don't act rashly at the slightest disturbance; it's just too unbecoming."

She didn't seem particularly angry, after all, Zheng Zha hadn't really intended to strike. She gently parted the flow of time in front of her with her outstretched fingers, watching the time on the outside still reversing, her thoughtful expression giving Zheng Zha a sense of unfathomable depth.

This girl seems to be a wise person...

“Interference is a bit strange… Spacetime integration, is that the method of Ismir the North Wind Dragon?” She murmured softly, resting her chin on her hand in thought before dismissing it. “No, it doesn’t seem like Him. This goes back to the previous era; if it were Him, there’s no need for such a huge effort. Then perhaps it’s His enemy… Ymir? The domain doesn’t fit either. Could it be that enigmatic Mother of All Demons?”

She was pondering, and just as she was about to give up as usual because thinking was pointless, the 'handsome vampire youth' who, a few seconds earlier, had nearly slashed the air beside her in a fit of rage and was now somewhat embarrassed, cautiously intervened. She heard a light cough, followed by a neither too loud nor too soft—

"Ahem, I'm a little embarrassed about that just now." Zheng Zha's lips twitched as he scratched his head and discreetly stuffed the Destruction Greatsword back into his storage device. "I was a little overreacting just now, and I accidentally... Anyway, I'm very sorry."

The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Next time, please be mindful of the occasion if you want to apologize. You interrupted my train of thought just now..." She waved her hand, seemingly somewhat helplessly, but her tone didn't seem particularly frustrated. "As for apologizing, there's no need. Anyway, you couldn't hit me, you couldn't scare me, and you didn't do anything substantial to me. As a senior reincarnator who has already graduated, I'm always very forgiving!"

"Is that so? Hahaha..." Zheng Zha then awkwardly laughed along.

"Um... I'm Zheng Zha, the captain of the Zhongzhou team. May I ask your name?"

“Just call me Sirin.” The girl held up a finger, her gaze sweeping across the room. “You seem to have a lot of questions for me. That’s alright, ask away. I’m in a very good mood today and have the interest to answer all the questions of mortals—oh, you probably aren’t exactly mortal. But it doesn’t matter, just say what you have to say.”

"Then I'll ask?"

"ask."

"You said you're a reincarnated person who has graduated..."

When I said the words 'reincarnator,' there was no penalty from the main god... It seems that even if she isn't a genuine reincarnator, she's still someone the 'main god' knows about...

"I used to be on the East American team. I made a deal with the local gods in a story world, so I got rid of my reincarnation identity and just followed the gods there. Anyway, more than 100,000 years have passed, and my reincarnation team must have changed many times by now. Although it was just a dream for me, it must have been a very long time for mortals."

Why do I get the feeling this guy is deliberately showing off?

Zheng Zha thought to himself, but his mouth didn't stop as he continued to press, "You said earlier that it was your fault..."

"That's because my contract expires today. In my excitement, I acted on divine authority a little... But I just sensed something unusual. It seems this reversal of time isn't entirely our fault, but rather we stumbled into someone's scheme by accident." She suddenly tilted her head and asked.

"Hey, what were you doing before you got here?"

[Didn't this guy say he was already here when time reversed...? Oh, he meant before?]

Zheng Zha inwardly scoffed, but still honestly answered, "I was fighting demons. These guys have some... personal grudges with me. So I went to their lair. Then I encountered a demon that looked like a mirror, so I..." He shrugged. "And that's how I got here."

"A demon species?" Xilin seemed to frown slightly, but quickly suppressed the movement before her brows furrowed. She seemed to enjoy giving advice to others. Then, before Zheng Zha could notice this subtle change in her expression, she continued speaking.

"If it's a demonic species, then it's very likely that the Mother of All Demons is behind this. That thing has always been so secretive... If I'm not mistaken, she probably wanted to plot against the North Wind Dragon, so she planned to go back to the pre-epoch era to set a trap when the North Wind Dragon was weak. You probably just stumbled into the Mother of All Demons' scheme by accident. The assassin who replaced her was thrown into the past... Have you recently had dealings with dragon spirits? High-ranking dragon spirits?"

"I recently dealt with a Skywing species that had Dragon King scales..."

“That’s it.” Sirin clapped her hands lightly. “My guess was correct. The demon race planned to plot against the dragon race, but they didn’t expect to run into the unreasonable reincarnators. For various reasons, you were lucky enough to rush into the demon race’s ritual and accidentally activated it, thus triggering the time reversal.”

[That sounds somewhat reasonable...]

"The place you were in before was the inner side of this planet, not underground, but a subordinate plane like a folded space. The many demons you killed were probably the sacrifices to drive the ritual. So your actions actually promoted the operation of the ritual... It's a bit strange that the Mother of All Demons didn't notice you. But it's also possible that she couldn't descend in her true form, or that she was held back by something."

That does seem to be the case...

"Hmm, you must have been discovered. But the Mother of All Demons couldn't do anything to you for the time being, so she simply went along with it, using the dragon essence aura on your body to push you directly into the era of the North Wind Dragon, making the past North Wind Dragon see you as an intruder and thus deal with you—a good plan, but it couldn't hide from my sharp eyes, Miss Sirin. And you were also very lucky, because you were lucky enough to run into me in the reversed flow of time!"

She stood with her hands on her hips, exuding an air of smugness mixed with a touch of self-satisfaction. However, in Zheng Zha's eyes, it was the mark of a wise man with complete confidence. And the self-aware Zheng Zha could only submit.

The logic behind it all... makes perfect sense!

"Amazing!" Zheng Zha exclaimed sincerely. This wasn't the first time he'd encountered a wise person who could see through everything at a glance. But a wise person like Xilin, who could understand everything without giving him the intellectual pressure of feeling like an idiot, was a first for him. Having been outmaneuvered by Alice to the point where he knew exactly whether to step with his left or right foot first, he felt a surge of complex emotions welling up inside him. And this feeling must be what they call "why didn't we meet sooner?"

“That must be how it is, Miss Sirin.” Zheng Zha appeared completely convinced, then immediately offered his guidance. Since his wise men hadn't made any prior arrangements, he was now free to act as he pleased—“So, in your opinion, what should I do next?”

"Are you asking me?" Celine blinked. "Are you sure... you want to take my suggestion?"

"Uh..." Zheng Zha's mind raced. He felt something was off, but a strange trust in the woman who called herself Xilin made him overlook this anomaly. It was odd, really. Both he and Xilin were meeting for the first time at this point in time, yet they seemed to have instantly become friends, skipping the initial awkwardness. And neither of them sensed anything amiss!

“I think it’s better to listen to an expert’s advice than to guess blindly.” Zheng Zha suppressed the unease in his heart and said very seriously, “Although this is our first meeting, I feel that you seem trustworthy. If you don’t mind, perhaps we can start a little cooperation?”

He gestured with the muscles in his shoulder, and power immediately surged within him.

"I'm still pretty good at fighting."

"Hmph, of course I can see through something so obvious." Sirin raised her delicate chin slightly, her gaze drifting downwards, seemingly reluctant. But the swaying of her long hair betrayed her joyful mood. "However, since you've made such a sincere request, I, with all the time in the world, will certainly not disappoint you. It's only natural for a graduated senior to help a junior, but this is only for this one time!"

She took a deep breath and pointed to the flow of time outside. Before them stretched a vast battlefield, the very scene from the Lord of the Rings movies—the battle where Minas Tirith was attacked by orcs—appearing before their eyes. Time continued its relentless march backward, and Zheng Zha even witnessed King Théoden's 'resurrection' and the 'reconstruction' of the White City gates.

"Do you know where this is?" Sirin asked, but before Zheng Zha could answer, she stated her conclusion: "This is the previous era, the distant past of the continent of Disbod. But in reality, this is an illusion. The so-called Disbod was nothing at all before the descent of the primordial goddess you see."

"It has no past, because it is just a script. The world is created, develops, and is completely destroyed after the great war you are experiencing, and then history repeats itself from the destruction—as long as the reincarnator has never set foot in the world, then it will inevitably be like this. Just like a movie with a predetermined beginning and end, the years before the beginning and after the end are just illusions, only traces, but no experiences."

“You should know that, right?” she asked.

"Uh... I think I've heard about it."

“Just hearing about it is enough, it saves me the trouble of explaining further.” Sirin nodded. “In short, before the Dragon Break, Disbot was just a simple scenario world, there was no previous era or next era at all. After the Dragon Break, other outsiders, as well as the world I live in, were pulled in and merged with the Disbot world, giving this cyclical scenario the previous era of the primordial era.”

She made a gesture, as if forcibly combining two completely different things together.

Zheng Zha then recalled the abnormality of the main god and the strangeness when this mission was announced. It turned out that the Lord of the Rings world wasn't the past of this No Game No Life Zero, but rather one of the world lines pulled together as components. So, in that case…

"...Is someone secretly manipulating things behind the scenes, piecing together different worlds?" Zheng Zha asked.

“The word ‘splitting’ is too soft; it should be ‘squeezing’,” Sirin corrected. “This place looks like the previous era of Disbod. But in reality, it’s one of the world lines that were kneaded and squeezed together. [Dragon Break] is a singularity where world lines were squeezed together. And before that, all the worlds, including the 300 worlds of Sparta by my former boss Kororos, were in their own places.”

“I don’t know who caused the ‘Dragon Break’. But I do know that what you see now, Disbote, has long been a place of chaotic entanglement of time and space. The boundary between the past and the future is actually quite ambiguous and blurred in that land, but you haven’t come into contact with the level of time and space yet, so it’s not obvious to you.”

Celine put her hands together, stacking them into the shape of a tower.

"I don't know what your mission is as a reincarnator, but I imagine it's either to defeat the original god of Disbod or to obtain the Star Grail. However, I can tell you very clearly that you cannot achieve your goal until the Dragon Break is broken. This is because there is a mastermind behind this anomaly, whose purpose is unclear, but it is probably related to the Star Grail."

“So…” Sirin glanced at the Lord of the Rings script that had rewound to the time when the Fellowship of the Ring was formed, then with a flick of her wrist, the reversal of time accelerated a hundredfold, a thousandfold, making everything chaotic and blurred. “My suggestion is to go with the flow, return to the era of Ismir, and destroy it in the past. Because according to the information in my memory, my former boss, the Lord of Time and Space, Kororos, has already pinpointed the source of the Dragon Break… and coincidentally, both of these are connected to you causally… perhaps this is the privilege of being a reincarnator.”

"In short, one of them is Ismir, the dragon of the north. It is said that there are messages about 'Dragon Break' in its era."

"The other one is a sinister character who likes to hide behind the scenes, sending out minions to cause trouble everywhere while downplaying his own presence."

"Your nemesis, the Mother of All Beasts of the Demon Race, is an ancient demon god from Greek mythology, just like my former boss, Kororos!"

Chapter Thirty-Four: Miss Sirin's Clever Plan

“…Aichidra?”

“There are also different versions, such as Echidna and Echidna. The origins of the entries are also different.” Sirin explained, “Sometimes she is the daughter of the primordial sea god Phorcys and the sea monster Ceto, and sometimes she is the offspring of Gaia and Tartarus. But no matter which one, she eventually became the mother of all demons in the Greek mythology.”

"Colchis, Ladon, the Nemean Lion, Cerberus, the Sphinx, the Hydra... all these famous monsters in mythology are His offspring. In the accounts of pan-Greek mythology, He was killed by the hundred-eyed giant Argos, but unfortunately, the one my former boss mentioned, and the one you have a grudge against, is clearly not the disgraceful creature that Argos killed."

"Uh... what does this mean?"

"Hmm? As a reincarnator, you don't know? Any being that has a place in mythology and is legendary in the world must have a primordial form that has unlocked its genetic lock at least at the high level of the fourth tier. Its derivative forms also generally possess considerable combat power and the potential to leap from mortal to the early level of the fourth tier at any time. If it is a special being that has broken free from mythology and created another destiny, then the possibility of it not gathering the light of the soul is extremely low."

Xilin looked at Zheng Zha with a surprised expression, her surprise masking a barely concealed sense of superiority. This was easily discernible from the slight upward tilt of her voice. The listener, however, pretended not to notice the oddity.

[He really is a show-off!]

[But being fooled is much better than being completely kept in the dark by Margot Lloyd or Chu Xuan, and not understanding what's going on from beginning to end!]

"...So, this Aichidra is very strong?"

"Yes, yes, it's definitely strong. It's at least at the mid-stage of the fourth tier, and it has reached the limit through the accumulation of years. And the possibility of being at the mid-stage of the fourth tier is not very high. There's also the possibility of unlocking the gene lock to the high-stage of the fourth tier, or even the possibility of becoming a quasi-saint. All combined, it might be as high as seventy percent!"

Sirin raised her chin once again. "After all, he's someone my former boss was wary of, so it's impossible for him not to be strong. You should know the difference between the early and middle stages of the fourth tier, and the difference between the high and middle stages of the fourth tier is several times greater than before—my former boss, that time-manipulating Kororos, although he rarely makes a move, he's definitely at the high stage of the fourth tier. And his evaluation of this Aiqidra, as far as I can tell, is the highest."

[Multiple fourth-order advanced-level enemies... such powerful enemies? How can we possibly win this war...?]

Zheng Zha's heart sank, but his ability to conceal his emotions was just as poor as Xilin's. So much so that the latter could see through his inner turmoil at a glance, and then the purple-haired guy casually snapped his fingers.

The flow of time on the outer edge slowed, revealing to the two a world from the Lord of the Rings, a world detached from the movie script. They had arrived at the ancient wars of the Silmarillion era. Powerful giants clashed across the earth, sky, and sea, arbitrarily altering the terrain and celestial phenomena, yet not a single pillar of the gods noticed the two trapped in the rewinding flow of time.

"The Age of the Ring is coming to an end soon... We are getting closer and closer to the Age of Ismir."

She glanced at Ilúvatar, the supreme deity of the Lord of the Rings universe, who reigned high above all beings and gods. Even through the barrier of time, that immense being exerted considerable pressure on them, but now, without the interference of time, He seemed oblivious to them, much like His creation.

"See that? That's the supreme god of the Lord of the Rings universe, a powerful being with four levels of limits, or even close to or reaching the four high levels. But He is imprisoned within the projection of His original destiny, unaware of reincarnation, unable to find liberation, and can only endlessly cycle with the creation and destruction of worlds. And this is the common characteristic of the powerful beings in the four or higher story worlds that reincarnators most often encounter."

"They think they know everything, that they are omnipotent, yet they are unaware that they are imprisoned by fate, believing that all their actions come from their own hearts—though they are powerful, they are weakened by various strange weaknesses due to the imprisonment of fate. In fact, most of them will choose to die at the end of the original legend to start the next cycle of reincarnation—because they believe that is their destiny... utterly foolish."

And so time continued to flow.

"The reason I'm telling you all this is because my former boss was someone who had broken free from the shackles of fate, no longer equated with the originators of myths and legends. Having finally escaped one cage, it's only natural that it wouldn't touch another. A precious item like the Star Cup, which is clearly a world-themed item, it wouldn't even bother with, so you don't need to worry about becoming its rival. Unless…"

Miss Sirin suddenly leaned back at a 45-degree angle and glanced at her new collaborator.

"...Your main mission for the Reincarnation Squad is to kill Him?" Her tone suddenly became serious, as if she would pack her bags and run away immediately if Zheng Zha said "yes." Faced with this situation, the only thing the 'handsome vampire youth' could do was raise his hand and show her the words on his wristwatch screen.

[Why didn't she ask about something so important beforehand... and she doesn't seem to have inquired about the other members of the Zhongzhou team at all... Is she simply only interested in dealing with me? Or... has she forgotten?]

[Hmm, it should be the former. She seems like a reliable and wise person; she eliminated such a powerful enemy for me with just a few words. Forgetting her... that's a bit of an exaggeration.]

"Hmm, just the Star Cup? Then it seems the enemies you need to deal with are the Lord of War... and the leader of Dragon Break, and a few fools who haven't broken free of their bonds." Miss Sirin nodded slightly, satisfied with the answer. "As long as you don't provoke Kororos, he won't actually make a move. His conflict with the Lord of War seems to have some strange connection, but it shouldn't involve you, a reincarnator."

[This judgment seems somewhat similar to Margot Lloyd's... Come to think of it, Margot Lloyd and the others never even considered this Time Titan... Is this the difference between the wise and me? But...]

“Those fools who haven’t broken free from their shackles are…?” Zheng Zha asked subconsciously.

"Mainly my former boss's two relatives, and the leaders of several other powerful races. Their combat strength should all be below that of Kororos, and some of them may not be much stronger than you."

"For example, the racial gods of the goblin and forest elf races... I'm too lazy to even remember their names. Because they are just two special fourth-tier beings in this Disbod world, possessing only the light of the mind, but much weaker than other reincarnators of the same rank. If there were an undisturbed platform, you and I combined could take them both down right now."

"These two are relatively weak. Above them is the Fairy Queen, who always hides in her lair. Although she and her race are ranked lower, Kororos's assessment of her is—'a dream weaver who wanders between reincarnation and chaos, wielding the weakest yet strongest blade'—I don't quite understand this statement, but she must have some incredible trump card. I suggest forming an alliance."

"Above that is the giant Kua, who should also be a freed from the shackles of fate. But Kororos's assessment is—a dead corpse seeking a final chance of life in the cycle of reincarnation—it seems to be severely injured or even half dead. I do not recommend cooperating with him, as there is a possibility of hostility."

"Then there is the giant Ymir. Kororos's assessment is: a simple fate binder, a victim who was accidentally drawn into the game of chess—this should be the kind of enemy that reincarnators often encounter. He should be very interested in the Star Cup, and he is someone who must be defeated no matter what."

"The God of War is here. Kororos said He is 'a prisoner who does not know his own true nature.' And that's all... Does that mean He is still trapped in fate? Anyway, to get the Star Cup, we have to kill Him."

"I have no comment on the White Dragon Ismir. I only know that His expression was strange when He mentioned Ismir, and I don't know what He saw. Anyway, let's skip this guy for now, since we'll be going to cause trouble for Him later anyway. And He's currently locked in a fierce battle with Ismir. So as long as it's not a direct confrontation, he should be fine..."

Miss Sirin shrugged and stretched her limbs.

"And finally, and with the highest praise, is the Mother of All Demons, the demon goddess Aichidra, whose motives remain unknown. Kororos calls her—'the embers of the pursuit of the great path, the last spark that hasn't been extinguished'—I don't quite understand what that means. But she's the only one Kororos doesn't want to actively antagonize. And that's why I recommend you continue along the timeline. Dealing with Ismir should be much better than clashing with her."

"However, if it is ultimately proven that Dragonbreaker is related to this guy, then you'll probably have to fight a tough battle. So I suggest that you don't be too conspicuous at the beginning of Ismir's era. If you can figure out the mastermind behind Dragonbreaker without conflict with Ismir, then the remaining room for maneuver will be quite large."

"I see." Zheng Zha nodded, indicating his complete agreement with Xilin's view. "So, what should we do after we find out who's behind Long Po?"

"Isn't this simple?" Sirin replied, resting her chin on her hand. "Before the Dragon Break, this world of Disbod was just an ordinary arena of gods. The Lord of War held absolute power, while the rest of the weaklings banded together but also had their own conflicts. If a reincarnator like you were to descend upon that era, the only thing you would have to deal with is a war waged by a single dominant power. And if you can reverse the Dragon Break even after the God of War has failed, then victory would fall directly into your hands, wouldn't it?"

"Of course, this is only the best-case scenario. Dragon Break may not be able to reverse the situation, but Dragon Break itself will definitely have some impact on those uninvited guests. And this is a good bargaining chip, allowing a reincarnator like you to maneuver among many powerful figures. It's even hard to say whether you can establish a winning position by using this if there is a wise person in your team."

She exhaled softly. At the same time, the landscape outside the flow of time shifted to the beginning of the Lord of the Rings era, to the primordial chaos in which Ilúvatar created the world with her creation hymns. With a flick of her finger, the shifting flow of time severed the interaction between the inside and outside, preventing Ilúvatar from seeing the two traveling backward in the chaotic disorder, like the unknown goddess at the beginning of Disbord.