Awesome Shut-In Necromancer

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Filled with doubt, I immediately summoned Gordon from the necklace and shot at him.

“What happened?”

Did he just blurt out anything to survive? If so, that’s quite the award-winning performance.

However, receiving my suspicious glare, Gordon shook his head in apparent indignation and shouted.

“There’s no way I’d do that to you, Master! I definitely saw it clearly!”

“…It doesn’t seem like a lie, but still.”

Yet, it didn’t make sense that the opponent, who even hid from Serejia, would expose their identity to someone like Gordon.

So, the truth must be one of two things.

Either Gordon is having a simple case of Memory Confusion, or some kind of reason exists.

“It was probably just a misunderstanding.”

Despite trying multiple times to recall the memory, there were no results.

That meant the highest possibility was that it was a memory that never existed in the first place.

Upon hearing this reaction, Gordon hesitated and then opened his mouth again.

“…That can’t be it.”

“Why?”

“Actually, during the last second attempt to restore my memory, there was a scene that popped into my head.”

If we’re talking about the last time, that’s when we encountered that strange martial artist in the S2 Rank Dungeon and I read that memory.

He didn’t seem to be lying. However, frustration overwhelmed me, and I slapped Gordon on the head.

“Do you want to die? I told you to speak up if you recall anything!”

“Um, the scene itself is vivid, but the content seems a little strange.”

Gordon crossed his arms, still puzzled, as he recalled that memory.

“The dialogue was the same as I mentioned before.”

The sentence uttered by the high god suspected to be behind the incident, who made Gordon a boss and sent him to this world.

That it was all a process, and it was merely the beginning.

Now that I think about it, that indeed pierced the heart of the situation to some extent.

‘Did I really meet that person?’

Facing my curiosity-filled gaze, Gordon confessed something he had been contemplating.

“That vague vision from back then is now returning to my mind.”

“…Go on.”

“The problem is, I was the one having a dialogue with that person.”

That was somewhat unexpected.

“It was different from what I knew. The one conversing with that person was me, but at the same time, it wasn’t me.”

“What do you mean by that?”

To summarize, Gordon clearly has memories of conversing with the mastermind behind the incident, but he felt a sense of incongruity about the self standing there.

“I chose immortality to research death more profoundly. However, my appearance in that memory was different.”

Thus, he’s unsure of himself, which is why he hasn’t spoken until now. I could understand that to a degree.

‘Something feels off.’

Looking back, though I hadn’t noticed at the time, there’s another weird thing I realize now.

“Isn’t it a bit strange?”

“What are you referring to?”

“You, in a state of unclear memory, sneaked into the Double Dungeon recklessly.”

“Indeed, that was the case.”

That part bothers me. No, it’s definitely odd.

“I’ve never seen anyone else capable of that in Earth’s dungeons besides you. Don’t you have anything to say about it?”

“Hmm?”

Moreover, Gordon went further and tried to take the Hunters who entered the Dungeon as hostages to seek a way out in the outside world.

In the end, he failed when he met me, but it was undoubtedly a clever tactic that could have caught the Strategy Team off guard.

“Do the others just stand there stupidly? They can’t do that, so they’re just stuck in the Boss Room.”

From what I’ve seen throughout this ordeal, most seem to lack the authority to exercise that level of capability.

But Gordon was able to do it. At least, it wasn’t typical.

“…Now that you mention it, it is strange. I was just instinctively trying to find a way to survive in a chaotic situation.”

I turned to Serejia, who had been quietly listening, for cross-validation.

“Has anything similar happened in Thebes?”

“Um, to be honest, I’m not quite sure of the context of this conversation right now…”

“Oh, do I need to start from there?”

I suppressed my irritation and briefly explained the matter regarding Gordon and the Double Dungeon.

Then Serejia nodded, as if she finally understood.

“As far as I know, there were no entities in Thebes capable of such a thing. If everything you said is true, then it’s definitely strange.”

With everyone agreeing, Gordon frowned, looking even more confused.

“…I don’t know what to think. Do you have any clues?”

“I do.”

In fact, it’s simple if you think about it for just a moment.

Combining the information Gordon shared earlier with the current questions leads to a straightforward conclusion.

“You were never the Lich Gordon in the first place. You had your soul swapped and false memories injected.”

Of course, it’s still possible the later memories could be false, but considering the context, this one seemed much more plausible.

“That can’t be. I definitely have memories of my past as a Lich…”

“How accurate is that? Do you remember every moment from being born to becoming a Lich and being trapped in the Dungeon?”

“Not exactly.”

With that, Gordon appeared shocked, realizing how shallow his own cherished memories were.

“Then what am I??”

“That, I don’t know.”

The only ones who might know the truth are Gordon himself and whoever made him this way.

Ultimately, since this is a problem that can’t be resolved right now, we wrapped up the situation and immediately moved on to the next agenda.

“So the important thing is, what do we do from now on.”

Countries around the world are in tremendous chaos due to the reemergence of gigantic Gates.

Those nations with power above a certain level were somehow managing to clear Dungeons, but many others were overwhelmed.

“There’s another aspect that raises questions.”

The coordinates I discovered from Saya earlier and the massive Gate that appeared before our eyes.

That fact could prove something I had suspected for a while.

“There’s a puppet string leading to Earth. It might not be, but it’s almost certain.”

“…Yes. We share the same thoughts.”

Henesia and Astrid nodded, and Serejia added her conviction.

“I’ve experienced a similar situation, so I know. They probably made the residents of this planet their subordinates.”

If that’s the case, the immediate goal is clear. We must find and eliminate that puppet string before it creates more trouble.

“They referred to the enormous portal as the Second Gate.”

“The Second Gate?”

“Yes. A higher dimension portal capable of moving even fully-fledged entities.”

It’s certainly reassuring to have someone experienced. But at the same time, I felt uneasy and stared at Serejia warily.

“I can’t shake the feeling that they wouldn’t just toss such a pile of information over here without any safeguards…”

“If there was something, I would have noticed it first. I’m a demi-god, you know.”

Although I found it truly unreliable, I didn’t sense any oddities either.

Then Serejia, slightly embarrassed, cleared her throat and continued.

“And, as Thebes fell at the Second Gate stage, I don’t actually know more than that.”

In other words, though she sounded knowledgeable, it meant she didn’t have critical information to control.

“Really, did you get taken down so easily? Were you that weak?”

“I couldn’t help it! No matter how much I scoured around, I only had one body, and unlike Earth, the cooperation among nations in Thebes wasn’t strong enough!”

In the end, she was overwhelmed by sheer numbers and couldn’t make a move.

I pushed Serejia, who appeared somewhat gloomy, aside to draw a conclusion.

“Well then, let’s start by finding some allies. It shouldn’t take too long.”

Turning my gaze away from the jerky in front of me, I noticed Henesia tilting her head.

“What are you looking at? This is your specialty.”

“Huh? Saying it out of the blue…”

“You’re the only suitable candidate. I’ll be waiting, so just let me know when you find them.”

“It might be a little tough on my own. Could you help me out, Master?”

At Henesia’s urgent request, sensing trouble ahead, I pushed Serejia forward.

“She’ll do it since she’s experienced.”

Both of their expressions twisted, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I have my own things to attend to.

So, issuing a decree for guests to return home, I was left alone to quietly take out my phone and dial someone.

“Beep.”

[What’s going on?]

“Let’s meet for a moment.”

The person I was contacting was none other than Shin Do Yoon, the Returner who was the driving force behind my previous attempt to eliminate Lee Ji Cheol.