Karan The Kingslayer gave Niveus an unthinkable offer, leaving Niveus baffled.
Karan was crazy, indeed. But Niveus didn't think it would be more than just that.
That was madness.
Where did he get his idea from?
What made him think like that?
And why would he think Niveus would accept his proposal?
Did he think Niveus was the same as him?
Did he think Niveus had killed the King or the royal family? Karan wouldn't know that. He didn't know what happened on the surface.
But what he did know was if someone was thrown to the deepest layer of the dungeon, that meant they had harmed the royal family in some way.
Anyway, what did Niveus say to his offer?
"Are you dumbass?"
That was his answer.
"Didn't you hear? I was falsely accused."
"Yes. That's why! Don't you hate them for accusing you? Don't you want to make them pay for what they did to you? Don't you think—"
"I'm indeed upset because they didn't let me explain, but I don't hate them. They're just doing their jobs. Make them pay? Of course, I will. I already decided what compensation I will receive."
Karan went quiet for a second, and then let out small laughs before turning completely silent.
Niveus stared at the wall, thinking about what Karan would say next.
However, the last thing he heard from him was the earlier chuckle.
The silence made Niveus feel eerie after everything had happened.
Even when he tried to bait Karan with his divinity, there was only silence. It was as if Karan had never been there at all.
'Is this why no one notices he's still alive? Or have I lost my mind the moment I stepped here?'
Shaking his head, he focused on the situation, trying to piece the puzzle.
He had obtained a few clues that made him come up with two possibilities of what caused the world's destruction.
First, the world was destroyed because of Karan, who quietly gained the power that could plunge the world into chaos just like in the game, except the scale would be more than just a kingdom crisis but a world.
Second, the invasion from the purple realm through the colossal portal.
The Parasite Monolith might be the first time it happened in this world. But in the comic, the phenomenon, even if it was not common, had appeared a few times.
'The infamous Snow World arc. That's when the comic's protagonist and the Ice Witch meet and fight as a comrade in the dying world.'
The story arc of where the protagonist was trapped in a snow-covered world was caused by the Parasite Monolith.
Once someone entered that Monolith, one couldn't leave until they achieved the objective.
But here are the problems: First, the trapped fly doesn't know what they are supposed to do to return. Second, Return Stone can't send one out of that Monolith.
Even the protagonist, who was basically a regressor, had no information about how to clear the dying world of Monolith.
Why? Because that very Monolith was the one that underwent Monolith Chaos in the previous timeline. No one had ever cleared it nor knew of its existence. But with the protagonist's luck, he stumbled upon it.
'I can't believe that said world is the Tundra region of this world. Just how twisted this world will integrate and transform the elements of my creations?'
Niveus sighed.
'I won't be surprised if they suddenly pulled something from my novel and...'
After speaking, Niveus realized something.
'...wait. The novel that my friend and I wrote... what is it again?'
His eyes fluttered wide as he recalled the novel's story.
'Haha... no wonder I felt like I knew what that stone man from back then was...'
After regaining his full memories, Niveus remembered everything as if he lived his 30 years of life just yesterday.
So it wasn't much of a problem to finally have an answer to the unsolved questions.
The purple realm and the colossal portal within, the stone man he had to fight with everything he got, and the unknown mineral embedded in the ring the villager Amor had.
Those were the elements from the novel.
Once A Tyrant.
It was a sci-fi, fantasy novel that had a similar premise to the comic "Saving The World Once Again."
The only difference was the conflict scale; the novel was set in the distant future where interstellar exploration was possible for humanity.
It told a story about a tyrant whose soul regressed to the past, possessing a random human boy without notable skills. In that timeline, he planned to live a slow, normal life as a human amongst humans. However, his home planet was invaded by none other than the 'tyrant,' his old self in the previous timeline.
In short: A regression story set in the distant future where the protagonist, now a human boy, has to face his old self that caused the Universe Extinction by building his own interstellar empire from scratch again.
'That purple realm with a colossal portal... I'm sure it's the homeland of the protagonist's tyrant version.'
The planet belonged to the Quartzar—a spirit-like race whose physical bodies were made of stone, crystal, or mineral.
'What's worse is the stone man I fought back then is a Quartzar in their weakest, premature form.'
Meanwhile, their perfect form would look like just a human but taller and wider. A part of their body would have crystalized, looking like they had scales like lizards.
And then, this ring...' Niveus's gaze fell upon the ring in his palm. 'It's the same one the Quartzar used at the beginning of their conquest.'
Niveus couldn't get his mind off the worst-case scenario.
When he eventually drew himself away from his thoughts, six hours had gone.
He could hear footsteps approaching, but he didn't hear anything. It was actually because Nono informed him that four individuals were headed to his cell.
'I can finally get out of here.'
After almost five minutes, the massive metal door creaked open.
Four individuals appeared, pausing in front of his cage. Among them was a woman in regal clothing.
She glanced at Niveus before turning to face the guards behind her.
"Release him," she said, her voice hard yet with a grin on her lips.
As the guards unlocked his cell, she addressed him immediately.
"Niveus Albus, right? Follow me."