After Stealing Hero's Mother, I Reincarnated in the Fantasy World!

Chapter 48: Are you... smiling?

In unknown space.

Rain stared at the sky for a while, where all the stars had disappeared, making it completely dark. Then he looked at his surroundings.

Aside from the fact that Aelorian was nowhere near him, this place seemed identical to the previous one, down to every rock and tree. But Rain felt as if everything around him had changed, as if it had become unfamiliar to him.

Even the Rift Master was in no hurry to attack him, as if letting him enjoy his last moments of life, already considering itself the ultimate victor.

"You've already felt it, right? This is the end for you."

The wounds on its body were now healing quickly and its polar glow colored fur was now covered in an unusual aura as it looked at the young man before it. He was the first human the Rift Master had interacted with in over a century and maybe not on purpose, but he had freed it from its shackles that had long held it back. So before it devoured him, it had the urge to talk to him.

"I knew you would surely rush to save that elf girl and forget your caution."

A tinge of contempt appeared in its voice as it asked.

"But what's the point of saving someone if you can't handle it yourself?"

Seeing that the young man was still silent, it took that as acceptance of its words, so it continued.

"You succumbed to the emotion of the moment and acted irrationally and foolishly. It's the reason you humans will never surpass us. Therefore, you–"

The monster didn't finish its sentence because it saw something.

"Are you... smiling?"

It noticed the wide, crazy smile on the young man's lips.

The Rift Master looked at him strangely, as if wondering if he had lost his mind at its words. Perhaps if it wasn't the absolute ruler of this place, it might even have thought he had more aces up his sleeve.

Rain paid no attention to its words as he had only one thought in his mind right now.

'I finally did it.'

In the battle with the hero, the Rift Master also used this ability and pulled them into this place, though it was much later and it didn't initially swarm at Aelorian but chose a weaker target, Cale.

Those two differences aside, everything else was the same. And although Rain had to intervene a little, he was still able to get the situation right.

If he already had a path that the hero had kindly laid out for him, why not use it?

The smile on Rain's face grew even wider.

"Have you really lost your mind?"

Its confidence was justified, for it was indeed the absolute ruler of this place, but Rain also knew all of its weaknesses.

"You talk too much."

Rain uttered, rushing towards it. But before he reached the Rift Master, he sensed danger at the side and quickly jumped back in the other direction.

He saw that the place where he had just been was pierced by several spikes from underground. As he reached the monster, it repeated several more times, as if the place itself wanted to kill him.

But he deftly dodged them, even if they came from his blind spot.

In this place, the Rift Master adhered to certain attack patterns that Rain had already thoroughly learned from its battle with the hero. And with a system to help him, he was even more confident.

"Hmm, not bad..."

The monster muttered, finally throwing itself towards the young man with its claws, which were now also covered in extraordinary energy.

They exchanged a few blows as before, the only difference being that now the monster's body was protected by a thin layer of cosmic energy and no attack could reach it. But even so, Rain continued his attacks methodically, searching for something, until his eyes caught the faint wound in its neck.

It didn't look like something the monster had gotten in the fight with Rain and was older in appearance.

Smiling to himself, Rain realized this was what he needed.

It was a wound the Rift Master had received during its battle with Ophelia. Because a shard of her weapon was lodged in it, it didn't heal even after decades. This shard was special on its own, but after feeding on the monster's energy and life force all this time, it turned into a top rank artifact with a space element.

This was the main opportunity the hero got from defeating this monster.

Dodging several more sharp spatial blades, Rain jumped away from it, creating distance between them.

In other places the Rift Master would never let its guard down enough for Rain to to exploit its main vulnerability, but in this place the monster considered itself invincible and with its innate arrogance it was becoming its main weakness.

Rain opened the system store.

'Things are going as well as they can. So it's time for the final–'

But the notice interrupted Rain's thoughts.

[Bloodline: Wanderer of the Cosmic Void (88% sealed) ? (30% sealed)]

Rain's pupils narrowed, but before he could do anything, the Rift Master's eyes flashed with a faint glow.

There was no sound, no bright effect, just the next second the whole world split in two.

Everything Rain's eyes reached, no matter what it was - trees, cliffs, hills, or the tiniest raindrops - was instantly cut without the possibility of ever recovering.

Even the air itself did not escape such a fate and was ruthlessly cut.

Rain felt his body follow the same impulse and begin to split into two along with the surrounding space. But it was only a fleeting sensation, because the next second he was back to his senses again.

Looking down he noticed that he now only had a piece of sword in his hands with a perfectly smooth cut. His clothes were also slashed, but his body was fine.

Suddenly remembering something, Rain looked into his storage ring. The red ruby he had just recently received from Liana had already lost its radiance. Realizing what this meant, Rain experienced complicated emotions, but quickly brushed them aside.

'I will need to thank her and give her a gift in return.'

With these thoughts, Rain looked at the monster's head with interest.

The Rift Master didn't even look at the place where the young man had been a while ago. It knew he hadn't dodged this time, and its ability had hit him, which meant only one thing: he was dead, cut in half like everyone else who had ever been hit by it.

The monster didn't know why the seals around it had weakened so dramatically, giving it enough power to activate this attack, but it didn't care. More important was that it would finally be able to leave this place.

The monster gazed up into the starless sky that reminded it of its home.

"I'll be back soon..."

"... but before that, I'll make that bitch Ophelia pay for everything with her blood and destroy the academy that she has so carefully protected and nurtured!"

The Rift Master growled to the sky as the fire of hatred burned in its eyes.

Rain looked at how everything within a radius of thousands of meters was cleanly cut down. Even he could still feel the phantom pain in his waist.

Without any reason for it, most of the monster's seal abruptly went down. It wasn't worth mentioning that this had never happened to the hero before.

Rain didn't know if this change was due to the interference of the World's Will and he didn't want to think about it because…

'You fucked up this time.'

While the Rift Master muttered something to itself, staring up into the starless sky, Rain closed his eyes.

The moment he had this near-death experience, something deep inside him awakened, as if making his blood boil like never before.

He concentrated on that feeling and when he opened his eyes again, the world in his eyes lost its colors. But along with that, everything around him slowed down a dozen times, allowing him to see even the smallest details.

It seemed that all his senses had reached their peak and synchronized with each other, giving birth to something new. Even predicting an attack from the micro-movements of one's body and muscles now seemed like a fairly simple task.

His body's instincts, fueled by his bloodline roared and an intoxicating power flowed through his veins, taking his body beyond its limits.

If he could see himself from the outside, he would find that his eyes were now glowing a rich bloody color.

Rain glanced at the huge wolf, who was still engrossed in remembering something, occasionally growling at the sky and oblivious to its surroundings. Rain silently rushed toward it.

When he was a few meters away, the monster sensed something and turned around sharply. Its eyes widened in disbelief, staring at the man before it.

Its clawed paw instinctively moved, releasing several space slashes, but the young man, with speed far beyond his previous one, easily dodged it by leaping into the air.

His condition allowed him to immediately see a vulnerable spot on its neck that he had never been able to reach before.

Time slowed around him as Rain concentrated on his memories and replayed in his head the sword stroke that the hero Cale had used to finish off the monster. Finally, remembering every movement in detail, Rain smirked and… threw his sword away.

The monster looked at the sword slowly flying to the ground with a confused look.

If it hadn't been so distracted by the falling blade, it would have noticed that at that moment a round leather object appeared in Rain's hands, emitting mystical shine and something resembling a collar...

No, it was actually a collar!

"Come to Daddy, little doggy~"

With a smirk, Rain activated the item in his hands.

***

Thanks for reading, everyone!