Chapter 139: The World!

"Boom—!"

Following Syr's anxious warning, the tavern doors were blown wide open. A monster covered entirely in purple crystals snorted, stepping over the shattered wooden debris and lunging straight toward Roland. Its hideous maw stretched wide, revealing gums and sharp teeth embedded with the same purple crystals, eager to devour whoever stood in its path.

Yet Roland merely raised his gaze calmly, watching the approaching demonic beast while recalling that exquisite sensation from just moments ago.

It was as natural as breathing, as simple as snapping an HB pencil in half. Roland grasped the power that truly belonged to him, gripping the gears that he commanded.

"Watch out!"

Even for Syr, who held a fanatical trust in Roland, such reckless behavior still elicited a gasp of uneasy astonishment.

"Five seconds..."

Roland recalled the sensation of gripping the gears for the very first time. Though it felt somewhat strange to count specific seconds in a world where time had stood still, all in all, he had indeed managed to freeze time for around five seconds.

It was neither through magic nor dependent on a summoned spirit, but by virtue of his own body and ability that he had brought time to a halt.

What kind of situation was this? Had he somehow become the human embodiment of the world itself?

Roland was still unclear about the underlying principles of this sensation. However, for him as he was now, the ability to stop time had already been engraved into his very instincts.

Yet the result of merely freezing time for five seconds left Roland feeling profoundly unsatisfied. Perhaps that figure represented the limit for a mere mortal, but it wouldn't even suffice for a vampire, let alone someone like him now.

Watching the monster hurtle toward him, Roland's crimson pupils seemed to ignite with flames, swelling with boundless ambition and power.

He spread his arms wide, as if to embrace the entire world, and then Roland called out the name chosen by the pinnacle of existence.

"—The World!"

The very next moment, the stationary world once again welcomed its ruler.

While stopping time, Roland simultaneously experienced two completely contradictory emotions: supreme greatness and utter insignificance.

Curiously, he turned his head, observing the surrounding world. There were no anomalies, yet everything appeared terribly distant, peeled away from reality as if it had transformed into a work of art.

The monster remained frozen mid-pounce. Roland could even see the jagged virus crystals embedded within its gaping jaws, along with the dried blood of its victims staining its razor-sharp teeth.

Within the stagnated world, the expression on the monster's face remained vivid, yet carried the illusory quality of a puppet.

"Is this the power of stopped time?"

Roland lightly exercised his fingers, finally understanding why DIO had grown so arrogant. Infinite space and endless time stood still because of his insignificant self; possessing such power, the notion of dominating everything felt only natural.

With this ability, it was indeed difficult to maintain empathy for mortals. They were like NPCs created by this world merely for his amusement, entirely at his mercy.

"Five seconds have passed..."

Roland moved forward slowly, stepping as lightly as an elegant cat, yet the fierce, upturned pupils in his eyes flashed with an eerie and fanatical crimson glow.

"Six seconds have passed..."

Roland quietly felt the passage of time. He alone remained unaffected within this world of halted time.

He looked at the monster before him, summoning Killer Queen to deliver a physical-style Sheer Heart Attack.

One punch.

'Bang—!'

Accompanied by a loud crash, the monster's chest and abdomen suddenly caved inward, pierced clean through.

Killer Queen's arm penetrated straight through its body, pinning the creature in place.

Hanging from Killer Queen's arm, the monster remained completely oblivious to everything happening to its own body.

The instant its heart was pierced, the shattered internal organs and splashing blood blossomed like newly opened buds, only to be refrozen in the stagnant world the moment they spilled out.

This monster was already dead. Yet, in a world where time had stopped, even the reality of death was held in suspension.

Killer Queen withdrew its arm, allowing Roland to clearly inspect the creature's injuries. Aside from the horrifying gaping hole in its chest, even the monster's most crucial magic stone had been reduced to a fine powder under Killer Queen's merciless strength.

"Nine seconds have passed! And I am still stopping time!"

Roland felt all his previous vexations vanish entirely. Every grievance dissipated with the landing of that punch. He wore a refreshing smile and clasped his hands together.

"Just how long can I stop time for now? It still doesn't feel like I've reached the limit... Though I'd love to test it further, I need to reserve some energy to deal with the trouble outside."

Within the frozen time, Roland calmly observed everything around him, his gaze as haughty as a monarch inspecting his domain.

Amplified by his own constitution, the flaw of a excessively short time-stop had already been compensated for. "Someday—two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes. I'll be able to stop time for as long as I wish."

Roland muttered to himself, initiating the final countdown.

"—Now, time resumes its flow."

The void rapidly receded, and a spark of intelligent light flashed once more in the monster's eyes. Maintaining its pounce, before it could even react, it was struck directly by the immense force erupting from its chest, sending it flying backward.

The monster's head whipped high, and its teeth, desperate to taste fresh blood, finally got their wish. Pouring from its own throat, its warm blood stained its entire mouth in a thick, dark crimson.

Even Ryu, who had unawares drawn her wakizashi and charged over, froze in place. She hadn't even perceived when Roland had launched his attack.

Was this the gap between a hero and a mortal?

Roland's brow ticked upward slightly. Even knowing he needed to maintain his heroic persona, at this moment he couldn't help but reveal that unmasked arrogance.

"I can become even stronger... Someday, {Heaven} itself will be firmly within my grasp!"

"Are you alright?"

Roland glanced at the demonic beast that had already turned to ash, then turned to look at Syr beside him.

"I'm fine... Lord Roland."

Syr's eyes were already brimming with infatuation. She pressed her hands against her chest, the blush on her cheeks resembling layers of overlapping sunset clouds.

At this moment, Ryu also lowered her wakizashi, though she did not sheathe it. Instead, she stepped forward tensely, clearly having no intention of reverting to an ordinary waitress.

Behind her, the remaining staff of the Hostess of Fertility had all picked up their weapons, radiating murderous intent as they vigilantly watched the commotion outside.

"What happened?"

Roland frowned, feeling somewhat puzzled by this array of combat readiness. For such high-ranking adventurers to become this vigilant and guarded, a simple runaway monster shouldn't have been enough to cause it. That monster just now looked fierce, but it was at most Level 2.

To staff members who were at least Level 4, it didn't even count as an appetizer; even in greater numbers, the situation would only be a one-sided slaughter.

So, what on earth had happened outside? Had the Virus Queen launched Lost Christmas ahead of schedule? That was impossible... With a scale of power like that, the release of mere monsters couldn't possibly be the only trivial sign, nor could he have remained completely unaware.

"A disaster... Or rather, a calamity."

Usually composed, Ryu showed none of her usual calmness upon hearing Roland's question. Instead, she looked out the window, uttering words that sounded like a feverish murmur.

Roland fixed his gaze outward.

Not far outside the shattered tavern doors, at the end of the street, several figures clad in leather armor were stumbling forward. They brandished their weapons, executing erratic and disorganized attacks against the closed doors of another building.

Their strikes were clumsy and sluggish—not even a novice who had never touched a weapon would fight like that—yet every single blow effortlessly pierced the solid wooden doors, sending splinters flying. This destructive force proved they were not raw recruits, but adventurers who had gained blessings and grown stronger within the Dungeon.

"What is that? Are they just drunk and going crazy?"

Syr looked somewhat puzzled at the adventurers' movements, clearly not yet realizing the gravity of the situation. Though she stood behind Orario's largest Familia, for the Goddess of Beauty, fulfilling the duties of a main god was likely no different from punching a clock; she couldn't muster the slightest interest.

She did possess some understanding of the purple crystals, but certainly not much.

The end of the street was a full hundred meters away from the tavern door. To Syr, whose physical capabilities were currently no different from a normal person's, she could only discern the general situation.

However, that did not apply to Roland, who had long since stopped being human.

He clearly saw that on the bodies of those wildly attacking adventurers, several wounds were oozing dark, turbid blood. However, purple crystals quickly covered those injuries, spreading like a suit of armor across their entire bodies and gradually creeping onto the weapons in their hands.

Combined with their rolled-back pupils and pale skin identical to that of corpses, these signs clearly indicated they had officially strayed beyond the category of humanity.

After breaking down that wooden door, those adventurers swarmed in like a pack of wolves catching the scent of prey, ruthlessly attacking the screaming residents inside.

Fresh blood immediately began to trickle out, but this process did not last long. Every strike dealt by the virus-infected weapons caused the purple crystals symbolizing the Apocalypse Virus on the victims' bodies to spread wildly and erratically, halting only when they grew to a scale comparable to the attacking adventurers.

Then, the previously dying residents who had been under attack staggered back to their feet. They, too, began to wander aimelessly, emitting mindless growls from their throats as they joined the hunting party.

Before long, driven by the efforts of these infected adventurers, the scale of their pack spread like a plague of locusts.

"Did I walk onto the wrong set again?"

Roland furrowed his brow deeply. This was completely different from the Apocalypse Virus he remembered. Crystal proliferation on this scale should already be at the third or fourth stage; in the world of Guilty Crown, this was practically synonymous with death, yet the people here were still lively enough to leap and bound.

If the adventurers' resistance could be attributed to the physical differences brought by Falna, then the resident who looked thoroughly like an ordinary person just now had no reason to experience the same thing.

Moreover, this mindless, living-dead appearance constantly reminded Roland of another creature.

——Zombies.

Yet Roland certainly didn't recall the Apocalypse Virus possessing the capability to destroy a person's sanity. Even the butterfly effect caused by his own actions shouldn't be this absurd; the Apocalypse Virus was not the T-Virus.

Something was wrong. The Virus Queen indeed wanted to destroy the world, but her method should have been to let the virus spread and then trigger a synchronized genetic eruption all at once, rather than this current siege of zombies.

This summoned spirit harbored external factors that even she herself hadn't noticed, factors that had already begun altering the fundamental nature of the Apocalypse Virus itself.

Regardless, since the situation was already a foregone conclusion, the fall of Orario was unavoidable.

However, for high-tier combatants, the impact of this infection probably wasn't that severe; after all, the gap brought by each level-up was astronomical.

As long as they bought enough time—not to mention restoring order to Orario entirely—establishing a reliable survivor faction for Orario, the center of the world, wouldn't be too difficult.

The only thing to worry about was the subsequent cleanup. After all, the virus seemed to have spread worldwide; one careless misstep, and this world would truly turn into a rerun of Resident Evil.

"No time. Follow me."

Roland nonchalantly glanced at Syr and Ryu beside him, grabbed Esther by her side, and immediately transformed her into the shape of the Demonic Sword of Salvation as he strode outward.

The people in the tavern hesitated for a moment. Mama Mia even instinctively looked toward Syr, but seeing that the girl showed not a trace of hesitation and excitedly followed behind Roland, she let out a helpless sigh and fell in step.

"Where are we going first?"

Although she was a Level 6 adventurer and had formerly served as a captain, before a serious-looking Roland and an adoring Syr, she didn't have the slightest intention of fighting for leadership.

"To the Guild first. My Hestia and a bunch of foolish gods are probably hoarded up there. They are Orario's strongest group of patron deities; if another divine descent happens, we can forget about things ever ending."

Roland calmly assessed the situation. Whether out of a simple sense of responsibility or his own principles, Roland could not abandon Hestia. If the situation hadn't still been within his control, he would have already traversed the distance using the power of the Shadow Kingdom.

However, since the crisis was only just beginning to spread, he had no intention of letting this opportunity pass him by.

Compared to heroes who forged great feats in times of peace, heroes forged in blood and fire were far more convincing.

"So many gods are just ordinary mortals. If it were only one or two, we could carry them and run, but with too many it becomes troublesome, and we don't have that much energy. Besides, Syr is also..."

Hearing that their destination was the Guild, Mama Mia nodded, but then suddenly remembered that Syr beside her was currently an ordinary person. She instinctively wanted to reveal the girl's identity.

Yet, cutting off Syr's stern gaze, Roland's calm voice arrived first.

He waved the holy sword in his hand, directly cleaving through a storefront ahead and several zombies attempting to swarm forward, revealing a horse nervously snorting in the alley behind the shop, along with a carriage attached to it.

The others immediately caught on, scrambling onto the carriage and instantly turning it into a battle wagon. Roland vaulted directly onto the horse's back, protecting the animal while cutting down the surrounding zombies. The agile Ryu also swiftly mounted the horse beside Roland, covering his flanks to assist his actions.

With Roland acting as the vanguard, they smoothly cleared their current street and entered one of Orario's eight main thoroughfares.

Then, she was left utterly speechless by the sight before her.

Wandering hordes of corpses surged and roared like a tidal wave in all directions. As far as the eye could see, it was a veritable ocean of purple crystals.

"Keep moving. I'll clear the way."

Roland waved his hand, shattering the horde before them, letting a tide of fresh blood add another splash of color to the monotonous purple crystals.

"But there are too many infected... The carriage won't get through."

Before Ryu's words could finish, they were cut off by Roland's cold voice.

"Aren't the sidewalks wide open? Drive through!"