ã€ŠHermit Wizardã€‹


 Chapter 1

    Prologue (1)

    I was around eight years old when the daily lives of neighborhood kids at that time were dominated by a robot cartoon that aired every day on TV at 5 p.m. ¡°Soul Warrior Parvache¡± was its title. Soul Warrior was an old-fashioned and exquisite title. The name Parvache was ambiguously simr to arge 19th-century dog that had frozen to death in the Nethends. Quite strange, but the cartoon was very popr.

    Until then, in the cartoon genre, the concept of a robot was just a ¡°vehicle¡± made of metal ¨C controlled by the protagonist, but Soul Warrior Parvache was a natural fit as a title. It was all about a giant robot with a soul. It was breaking away from passive mainstream norms of the time. This unique robot cooperated,municated, argued, and got outraged with the protagonist¡¯s peculiarities, an elementary school student.

    Due to the limited circumstances of the time, it took a while for the Parvache robot toy to hit the markets; back then, it was the No. 1 treasure that all children had of that era had in their hands. And finally, that day came for me, when after weeks of begging and pleading, my uncle sneaked one of the toy figurines to me, unbeknownst to my mother.

    ¡®Oh, I¡¯ll y with this all the time. I will keep ying with it!¡¯ was what I kept thinking at that time. I fell asleep with the toy in my arms that day and had a strangely picturesque dream. It was a scene where I couldn¡¯t see my face, and someone very tall was looking down at me. The entity clicked his tongue and stretched out his hand to reach me. Then, a blue light began to glow within my body. As the light faded and became smaller, the tall man disappeared almost instantly.

    After much time had passed in the space without him, another change urred. A cool breeze blew through the pool of light flowing in my heart; it breezed across the room. For some reason, I thought I shouldn¡¯t let the wind go. As if responding to my heart, the sensation I felt for the first time in my whole body awakened. It felt like warm water was moving gently inside me. As if reading my thoughts, the breeze soon began to turn and was drawn towards me. It appeared like someone was pulling it by force. The breeze hovered around me for a moment and then disappeared as it prated the toy which was in my arms.

    It was a strange dream. When I woke up in the morning, I looked at the robot in my hand, Parvache. After sleeping one night, I felt like this toy had changed a little, but eventually, I soon forgot about it.

    ***

    The next few days went by in an instant; I yed with the Parvache toy without growing even a little tired. Then one day, I was lying on the floor and role-ying, having a cartoony conversation with my toy.

    -¡°It¡¯s a big deal! Parvache! The Duke of Caiman hase in from the Metal!¡±

    -¡°Dangerous! Parvache! I need a second level of power-up!¡±

    -¡°Parvache! We¡¯re running out of energy! Open the Power of the Soul!¡±

    -¡°Parvache! People on the street are in danger! We have to rescue them!¡±

    -¡°Parvache!¡±

    -¡°Parvache¡­!¡±

    In my mind, I was a pure soul and wanted to be like the main character in a cartoon, too. I also wanted to be apanion to Parvache, The Soul Warrior, and defeat countless viins as a part of his team. I wanted to talk to Parvache. Just as the protagonist, an ordinary elementary school student, had be the hero of justice, I desperately wished that such a thing would happen to me. I wished Parvache would alsoe to me.

    It was then, the strange sensation I felt in my vivid dream a few days ago tickled inside me. Something like warm water stayed in my head as if it were wavering and swaying in a to and fro motion. Then it flowed down my body and rxed on my palm for a while. And then it disappeared from the tip of my fingers, leaving only a tingling sensation behind. Finally, my gaze naturally turned to the Parvache figurine, held in my hand, where I felt the sensation as it left my body.

    And then it happened.

    I felt as if Parvache¡¯s eyes, which were only tiny pieces of green stic, were moving. Of course, there was no movement in those dull eyes, not even the pupils dted, but my head recognized that Parvache turned his gaze to look at me. And, finally, he spoke to me for the first time, as if it was natural for a toy to speak.

    [You, I¡¯ve told you for the 36th time today¡­please shut up! Go outside and y! Please don¡¯t mess around and roll around with me all day; go out!]

    [And don¡¯t get me near your head! You spit on me!]

    [Stop saying crazy thing like ¡°Push shu shu shu!¡± and ¡°Launch!¡± like that! You only spit more!]

    [And I don¡¯t know what you mean! I don¡¯t know what it means, but please tell me one thing at a time! You¡¯re telling me to give you a second level of power, or to open the power of the soul, or to rescue people, just one of them! Of course, I don¡¯t understand what crazy things all of these words mean but speak in context so that I can understand!]

    [Oh, and damn, what the hell do you mean by ¡°Parvache¡±? I don¡¯t even know its meaning! How crappy is the history in this world that it wasn¡¯t in the Akashic Records!?]

    [And why do you not understand what I¡¯m saying? It makes no sense that you can¡¯tprehend while delivering your will to me!]

    [Oh, howe I was caught by a wizard with a mental illness and left to suffer like this¡­]

    [You seem like a kid who hasn¡¯t even started to divide his reproductive cells yet. Why the hell haven¡¯t you heard me for a few days? Then, you¡¯re talking about crazy sounds alone? Huh? What¡¯s wrong with you? What¡¯s the problem with you?!]

    [Why did you suddenly be quiet? Hey! Why are you shaking? ¡­Can you hear me? Can you hear me now, you crazy little bastard?!]

    When Parvache¡¯s screaming stopped, I was left speechless.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    After a while, I think I burst into tears, burdened by overwhelming fear.

    * * *

    My mother didn¡¯t understand why I suddenly threw away the toy I had so desperately begged for. I threw it away and ran to my mother, screaming ¨C ¡®Whooo! Mom! Parvache was swearing!¡¯ She scolded and even hit me, but eventually, she took me to the hospital. My im ¨C that the toy spoke ¨C was diagnosed as a delusion and an action to attract my parents¡¯ attention. Everyone considered it to be resolvable by time. But, of course, it wasn¡¯t resolved over time.

    ¡°What do you mean, Parvache? If you¡¯re not from the Thor, where are you from?¡±

    [*screaming*¡­!]

    ¡°No, the cartoon said that Parvache came from the Thor¡­ah! Stop swearing! And I¡¯m not a wizard!¡±

    [*screaming*¡­!]

    ¡°Channel? What Channel? MBC is number 11. Oh, I told you to stop swearing! What is this ¡®Channel¡¯ in my body? Am I a TV? Stop saying weird things.¡±

    [*screaming*¡­!]

    ¡°I¡¯m the only one with a Channel? Strange, my house doesn¡¯t even have SBS¡­ Why am I the only one with that?¡±

    My mother, who looked at me with a gloomy face when I was muttering alone with my toy in the corner of my room, quietly approached me and put her hand on my back.

    ¡°Min-Joon, do you want to watch SBS? There is SBS at grandmother¡¯s house, so shall we go to y next week?¡±

    My mother kept talking to me to distract me from my abnormal obsession with the toy and from disying delusional behavior. But I was so distracted by Parvache¡¯s words in my head that I didn¡¯t even respond.

    [If you can¡¯t see the Channel in your body, you can assume that the whole body¡¯s magical circuit is blocked. No, you didn¡¯t listen to me at first, but you suddenly changed, so you seem to have prated the telepathic receiver system in your brain with your magic.]

    [That¡¯s an ignorant method. But it¡¯s a show of great talent.]

    [This civilization can be regarded as ignorant of magic as long as it is negligent like this. Well, it is an incredibly young world that hasn¡¯t yet been listed on Akashic Records as you cannot ess this level of knowledge regardless¡­.]

    [By the way, what kind of Truth-Seeker has sown seeds on the child¡¯s body? Hey, what did you dream of that day? Tell me again¡­]

    [Oh, and don¡¯t touch me with your nose-picking hands, you damn bastard!]

    Parvache repeatedly said that I had a long blue crack in my chest. And he called it a ¡°Channel,¡± and through that passage, Parvache came out into this world. Even if I lowered my head and looked inwards, all I saw was the dull-colored cotton T-shirt that I was wearing.

    ***

    Even as a small child, I was sensible. It wasn¡¯t innate, but because I was young and spoke to my figurine at lengths, I was always the center of all things bad ¨C bullying, swearing, and being ostracized by my friends and ssmates.

    They said, ¡®Yoon Min-Joon was crazy. He was talking to a toy.¡¯

    The children started to stay away from me. I had been transferred several times. My mother, feeling the burden of expenses, no longer took me to the hospital. At this point, my mother could have thrown this toy away, but she chose not to do so. Some doctors had said that sudden separation from my toy could worsen my symptoms. My mother, who firmly believed that this delusion came from ack of affection, hesitated to throw away the object I was attached to. Moreover, it was because I didn¡¯t have any other friends around me anymore.

    After a year or so, my head had grown a little bit thicker, and I found out that no one believed me. At the school Ist transferred to, after the grade was changed, I no longer spoke of Parvache. Then, because my personality had already changed timidly, I didn¡¯t make any good friends. Still, I wasn¡¯t outright bullied at the new school. No one knew the rumors about me.

    And the conversation between Parvache and me continued inside the safety of my house. By that time, I understood that Parvache wasn¡¯t a hero from the cartoon Thor. Yes, my Parvache wasn¡¯t a soul warrior who came to save Earth from outer space. Despite realizing that, and even though I couldn¡¯t understand most of the grumbling words in my head, I loved talking to him. I still called him Parvache, but the meaning of that name had already changed to something more than a robot from a TV cartoon.

 Chapter 2

    Prologue (2)

    It was another day. I had turned nine then, and Parvache was speaking to me. We were talking about ¡°that day,¡± a conversation we often had.

    [So, you used the Channel to summon me, and then you made me possess this smelly totem. But opening the Channel is an entirely different matter. There is a Truth-Seeker that opens the Channel.]

    ¡°What is a totem?¡±

    [This cheappound that trapped my spirit!]

    Parvache was a bit rough-spoken; he told me the same story repeatedly so that I could understand. It seemed that there must have been a moreplicated process involved before my toy ¨C Parvache ¨C started speaking to me. The night I had a strange dreamst year, a Channel was opened in my sleeping body. At my call, something simr to Parvache¡¯s soul (Parvache used the term ¡°spirit¡±) came out through the Channel into this world.

    From my half-conscious development, using how Parvache expressed it, with ¡°a ridiculously ignorant and primitive but powerful magic,¡± Parvache was caught and trapped in the toy I was sleeping with. For days after possessing the robotic toy, Parvache spoke to me many times. I hardly understood what he was saying. Then one day, I again used the magical circuit in my head with that ¡°ridiculously ignorant and primitive but powerful¡± magic so that I was able to understand the words Parvache conveyed into my head.

    Parvache told me repeatedly for a long time that I had a tremendous (using Parvache¡¯s expression ¡°fucking¡±) talent as a wizard. Of course, it didn¡¯t feel real when he said that out of nowhere. Parvache grumbled for such a long time and then asked me again.

    [Think carefully, kid. Really? Is it true that you never had contact with a Truth-Seeker in your life? Search in your memories. It¡¯s a high-ranked being who folds space and burns a light.]

    ¡°There¡¯s no way I know anyone like that.¡±

    [This isn¡¯t just a Truth-Seeker. It¡¯s a veteran Truth-Seeker with a long career so that a sleeping kid could sleep without knowing that his body cracked open. Why does such a monster stick an ¡°A-Verdag¡± to be in charge of a young dimension? And to a kid like you¡­]

    It was my question, too.

    ¡°¡­Why did he open it? My chest? The crack¡­¡±

    [It may be because he was interested in you, but I can¡¯t even guess what the reason is. Maybe you have some talent in you¡­]

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    [And when I talk with you, it feels like there is no knowledge about Channels in this civilization. But the real question is ¨C are you the first Seed in this civilization, or are there other people like you?]

    Around this time, my conversation with Parvache was almost like a self-revtory prophecy waiting to be unveiled. Parvache was also desperate to figure out his current situation and expanded his thought scope by asking questions. To me. A child who knew nothing.

    ¡°¡­But the Truth-Seeker just opened the Channel that day and disappeared. We¡¯ll meet him again, right?¡±

    [There is a probability of that urring.]

    Listening to his exnation, it seemed inevitable that the Truth-Seeker woulde back to me. The Truth-Seekers that Parvache described were almost god-like. There were countless dimensions in this universe. The Truth-Seeker was responsible for creating and managing Channels that traveled from one dimension to another if deemed necessary. It was said that no one knew except the Truth-Seekers by what standards they made the Channels.

    [If a Channel is created, it will take about twenty years for each to be an adult. There are many restrictions on using the Channel before adulthood,monly referred to as ¡®Seed¡¯]

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    [You need to have a magic circuit within you to detect it and Mana to use it. Moreover, growth isn¡¯t fixed. The entrance is fixed to the dimension where the Channel was born, but the exit dimension is random. There is only one door to enter, but you don¡¯t know where the exit door will lead.]

    He exined to me like an expert on the matter.

    [The world connected by the Seed Channel may be an extreme environment in which people cannot live, or it may lead to a battlefield full of mythical beings. For this reason, few people enter the Seed Channel unless they are very strong]

    The conclusion seemed to be that it was a door that was within you, but you didn¡¯t know where it would lead.

    [So, in general, there is no particr value of the Seed itself other than growing and evolving it into an adult.]

    Parvache paused for a moment and added an exnation in a tone that seemed unpleasant.

    [Nevertheless, some people are interested in Seeds, but¡­it¡¯s scary to enter the Seed Channel, so after opening the Channel, they¡¯re trying to ¡®call up¡¯ what¡¯s on the other side. It is a dangerous thing to summon magic using Seeds. This is insane because in an unstable situation where you don¡¯t know which dimension it will lead, you don¡¯t know what will pop out, and you¡¯re just throwing things blindly.]

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    The exnation made some sense.

    [The survival rate is slightly higher to call out the beings, rather than throwing your own body into an unknown dimension. Why? It¡¯s like a gamble to see if something good wille out. If something dangerous that you can¡¯t handle pops up, you could try to avoid death as much as possible!]

    ¡°Why would someone do such a crazy thing?¡±

    [But that¡¯s what you did?]

    What? I was taken aback by what he just told me.

    ¡°???¡±

    I was dumbfounded for a moment and asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you mean, Parvache.¡±

    [That¡¯s what you did. You didn¡¯t intend to, but you summoned me on your own ¨C using the Seed Channel piercing your body. There was no spell, but magic is magic. With such primitive magic, my spirit¡­whatever the hell was in your unconscious, so as soon as the Channel opened, you sensed it and cast summoning magic?]

    I stared nkly at Parvache.

    ¡°I-I couldn¡¯t remember well¡­I just had a dream¡­¡±

    [What have you always been thinking about subconsciously? You have done such a stupid thing, and I was caught and summoned among all the dimensions. You¡¯re so lucky that nothing harmful came out of the Channel, and I¡¯m so unlucky to get noticed.]

    He continued to grumble.

    [What would you have done if you called out dangerous things instead of me? If you saw anything like ¡°inhabitants of the boiling sea¡± or ¡°higher-ranked races¡± with your bare-eyes, your body would have evaporated instantly. And then you would¡¯ve drowned all the f¡ª]

    ¡°Oh, stop!¡±

    The word Parvache couldn¡¯t even spit out because I stopped it. This was also one of the new words I learned because of Parvache.

    [You are lucky and talented, but the difference in power is massive. The truth-seeker is quite powerful. It¡¯s like the difference between therge neb and a fine dust particle on a random asteroid. The fact that a person with such great power recognizes your existence and has nted a Channel is a huge disaster¡­ Looking at it, are you not just lucky? I wonder.]

    Was he teasing me?

    [Anyway, what¡¯s in your body is a Seed Channel. Do you understand? And usually, it¡¯s useless for anything.]

    ¡°¡­Uh, I think I understand.¡±

    [But the adult Channels are different stories. Seeds sown by a Truth-Seeker be adult after at least twenty years. Channels that have be adults can evolve to a state of pletely open¡¯ with the power of the Truth-Seeker.]

    ¡°What ispletely open?¡±

    [It is usually expressed as an opened door, but even primitive creatures without magic circuits can see or detect Channels, and the entrance and exit are always open. Anyone can make two-dimensional traffic.]

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Even when I heard the story, I couldn¡¯t imagine it vividly.

    [In short, the Truth-Seekers sow the Seeds and then neglect them, thene back when they are about to evolve into an adult Channel, and after confirming that they have be adults, they open thempletely. Only then is one proper Channel ispleted.]

    Parvache seemed to pick a word for a moment, then continued.

    [When this Channel is ready for adult evolution, The Truth-Seeker will probablye to you to determine if they can use your adult Channels. So if they judge that there is no merit, they will get rid of you and close the Channel.]

    ¡°Get rid of me?¡±

    The expression seemed very strong and pervasive to me.

    [And on the contrary, if they decide that you will bepletely open, from then on, you will be living under the control of a Truth-Seeker¡­you won¡¯t be alive even if you¡¯re breathing. You don¡¯t have to know the details of this part. Your function is only as a ¡®door,¡¯ and you can think it is the same as being dead anyway.]

    My face turned pale hearing his exnations, but I could barely understand anything at this point.

 Chapter 3

    Prologue (3)

    [So, once the Channel is open on your body, we should avoid the Truth-Seeker¡¯s eyes. As I have be your family anyway, my goal is to help you live for a long time.]

    I nodded in horror.

    [Hmm¡­ Kid, now that you have started to understand my words a little, it seems like the time hase to talk about it¡­]

    Parvache chose his words carefully as if he was about to start an important story.

    [In the meantime, I have observed you, especially your potential as a wizard. And I have learned about this world as I have been analyzing the current situation¡­]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    [It is an undeniable reality that a Truth-Seeker was interested in you. There couldn¡¯t be a weird thing that happened, such as he just literally passed by and saw you, then sowed the Channel in your body just because you were there.]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [However, he might have been in a state where he can¡¯t find you right now.]

    ¡°For example?¡±

    [It is unlikely, but if we find any traces that he has died or¡­has acquired a divine nature, from that moment on, we no longer have to fear Truth-Seeker¡¯s return.]

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯splicated¡­anyway, if I find evidence that the Truth-Seeker can¡¯t do anything to me, I can live, right?¡±

    [That¡¯s right.]

    ¡°What if I can¡¯t find it?¡±

    [If you cannot know the whereabouts of the Truth-Seeker or, on the contrary, confirm that he is living well in this world, this is a very dangerous situation. Once this happens, your life is practically done for.]

    ¡°What?¡±

    It was absurd and hard to believe, especially for a nine-year-old.

    [We have to leave this ce and hide where there are as many people as possible.]

    ¡°A ce with a lot of people? Not a ce without people?¡±

    [To deceive the Truth-Seeker¡¯s senses, it is easier to hide in a ce where many simr humans have gathered. And it can¡¯t be too close to the ce where the Channel was opened. It¡¯s dangerous.]

    ¡°Ah¡­ then should I move to Seoul?¡±

    The events that ensued from that moment onwards left me miserable for quite a long time.

    [Anyway, after you have decided on your base, you have to practice the most powerful magic barrier that your potential allows and then live in a locked-in ce.]

    ¡°Barrier¡­ what?!¡±

    [Considering your talent, you can make a barrierrge enough to cover this house, but it will take you about 5 to 10 years to learn it. In fact, the magic barrier avable to you is enough to avoid the Truth Seeker¡¯s eyes, so if the Truth-Seeker decides to start looking for you with his power, the barrier can be broken. However, in such a young dimension, the Truth-Seekers also have limitations in their action, so using that effort will disadvantages. Instead, it would be more efficient to give up on you and create a new Channel.]

    ¡°No, wait a minute¡­¡±

    When I didn¡¯t understand, Parvache exined what a barrier was. In summary, it was like a wall that couldn¡¯t be seen or touched, but if I went inside it, the Truth-Seeker wouldn¡¯t be able to find me. It didn¡¯t have a shape so that anyone coulde in and out freely, but the Truth-Seeker wouldn¡¯t be able to recognize me in it.

    [The Truth-Seeker who can¡¯t find you in the barrier would think you were dead. With your death, he will assume the Channel is already closed and give up on his search.]

    Somehow a gloom had alreadye over me, and I spoke with a grimace on my face.

    ¡°Okay, I get it¡­¡±

    [Oh, but that¡¯s not the end.]

    Parvache stopped talking for a moment; it seemed he was organizing his thoughts.

    [As I said before, the moment youpleted the barrier magic, you should be 90%¡­ no, in a way, at least 99% safe. But¡­]

    It was an expressionless robotic face, but I felt like Parvache was taking a breath with a dulled expression, almost sorrowful.

    [99% is only 99%. We need to be prepared for any contingency. It¡¯s unlikely, but if the Truth-Seeker does all his best to find you, we need a countermeasure in case the barrier is broken.]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    I chimed in with his enthusiasm, although it was hard to be optimistic with this news.

    [It is unlikely, but I think it is more dangerous not to prepare at all. You can¡¯t gamble with your life.]

    ¡°Then what do we do?¡±

    [In case the Truth-Seeker breaks your barrier magic, as soon as youplete the barrier, you¡¯re going to learn Leap magic. It will teleport you to another dimension. But be wary as it will leave you terribly disoriented ¨C as if you¡¯re mad, dying, vomiting blood, or shitting.]

    He paused for a moment so that I could merge my thoughts.

    [It¡¯s high-ranking magic that Truth-Seeker¡¯s cannot trace. It will allow you to wrap between dimensions. As soon as you realize that the barrier magic has been discovered, you can escape to another dimension. It¡¯s a double safety device. Even with your talent, it¡¯s unclear whether you can achieve this level before the Channel evolves into adulthood¡­ and the Truth-Seekeres to you¡­ It won¡¯t be easy. But it¡¯s better than not even trying at all.]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    I lost my words for a moment, then wrapped my head, feeling that somehow the items on my te were getting bigger and too difficult for me to handle.

    ¡°No, but¡­ how do I find the traces of the Truth-Seeker¡­ and how to use the strange¡­ barrier magic that you mentioned before¡­?¡±

    [Don¡¯t worry about that.]

    Parvache¡¯s voice echoing in my head made it feel as if those words had been etched in stone for me.

    [There is tracking magic that follows the traces of the Truth-Seeker, barrier magic that will create a nest where you will be hidden, dimensional leap magic that will let you bounce to another dimension. There are ways to learn everything.]

    ¡°How?¡±

    I asked him curiously with a nk expression on my face. What did I really know, after all? Parvache¡¯s response was determined.

    [Because I will teach you magic!]

    ¡°What?¡±

    [It¡¯s like a blessing, you get to learn from me who¡­]

    After that, there were some profound words and expressions that sounded like exnations of how brilliant and excellent Parvache was. He began to talk about how great a blessing it would be to learn magic from him. Again, words such as ¡®group consciousness, ¡®spirit,¡¯ ¡®Akashic Record¡¯ and ¡®purbagios,¡¯ which I could not understand at that time, continued to be a vital part of his diction.

    [I can¡¯t use magic in this state because my body is a totem without an ounce of magic power, but I can teach it.]

    ¡°No, but you said I summoned you using magic that I didn¡¯t learn. But isn¡¯t it a little weird learning magic from you?¡±

    [That day, I thought that you summoned me, to subordinate me¡­ but it was just a gathering of pure, intense wish and tenacious will that unfolded into a primitive level of magic.]

    I frowned cluelessly.

    ¡°What?¡±

    [What I am trying to teach you is a way to use magic. Simr to the day when you summoned me with your original will¡­ and perhaps with the feeling of ¡®ownership,¡¯ without having to have a strong will or extreme emotions, but at any moment you want, like a true master.]

    ¡°Because it happened by chance that I summoned you, you mean that I have to learn from you how to use magic properly?¡±

    [Yeah, now you understand? In summary, from now on, you must learn the tracking magic to find the trace of the Truth-Seeker and learn the barrier magic to avoid his eyes. You will then learn the dimensional leap magic in preparation for the situation where the Truth-Seeker may break the barrier youpleted.]

    When I heard the story, it didn¡¯t feel real at all. A terrifying being might be aiming at me in this world. In preparation for that event, I had to learn not one but three strange magics from an unknown soul nested in my toy robot. But, as I learnedter, it was a pure thought that I only needed to learn three spells. The magical world that Parvache was talking about wasn¡¯t a simple object that I could learn by selecting only the magic I wanted to learn, as I expected. It was a long journey of memorizing countless spells and forms to reach a certain level, step by step.

    [Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll do my best, too. Now you understand I¡¯m in trouble if you die, right?]

    Actually, I didn¡¯t understand it all that well. I had heard a lot of stories that if I died, Parvache would die too. But his death was a bit different from my death.

    ¡°I still don¡¯t know what that means, Parvache.¡±

    I shook my head. Parvache stopped speaking as if he had given up.

    [Okay, let¡¯s see if we can have a conversation about the meaning of this ¡°death¡±¡­ well, measuring the pace of your intelligence development and knowledge umtion¡­ we¡¯ll talk about it again in the next four years. Then, in the meantime, let¡¯s study hard.]

    And, Parvache had said the words that I would hear thousands of times over the next few years as if it were a broken radio.

    [Rx, I¡¯m an excellent teacher. Magic ¨C is actually very easy to learn.]

    Now that I think about it, he was only half-right. That¡¯s how my Spartan sses with Parvache began.

 Chapter 4

    Common Day of Unemployed Wizard (1)

    We will start the noon news on May 3, 20XX.

    It¡¯s a cloudless spring sky, but today downtown Seoul is covered with fine dust. Citizens who have been out for a long time are also confused. The metropolitan area and the Gyeonggi area maintained the ¡®bad¡¯ stage for 38 consecutive days this year. Seoul citizens have even said that they did not know when thest time they saw the clear sky¡­

    I closed the front door with one hand, holding the paper bag in another hand. I could hear the news from the hallway, and the anchor¡¯s voice was flowing out with the TV turned on in an empty living room. It seemed that when I left, I forgot to turn it off. That was what I thought when I was taking off my shoes. Actually no, about 30 minutes ago, I was lying on the sofa and using the TV remote. After repeatedly pressing the buttons, the TV was finally turned off, so I left the house while muttering that I had to buy batteries while shopping.

    ¡°Oh, batteries! Damn it. I forgot it again. That¡¯s why I have to write it down right away when I think of it.¡±

    I talked to myself. Still, it was bothersome to go out again today. While I thought that I should buy it next week, I opened my mouth.

    ¡°Why would I watch TV?¡±

    The answer came back bluntly.

    [Battery.]

    ¡°¡­I forgot.¡±

    I took the oranges out of the paper bag and piled them on the refrigerator shelf, making excuses.

    ¡°But it still has power. You only need to press hard¡­¡±

    [You went out, and I pressed the power button on this damn thing six times. I barely turned it on. And you said you were going to buy batteries.]

    ¡°No, I didn¡¯t mean to tell you¡­anyway, your ears are sharp.¡±

    It was the remote that I threw out on the living room floor before going out. A robot toy was standing on top of it and pressing a button hard with its foot to turn the channel. I looked at him warily. The robot toy, which tried a few more times, burst out angrily because it didn¡¯t work.

    [Oh shit! Someday, I will fully understand this machine, so I will freely turn on the power and turn channels without a remote like this!]

    ¡°The principle is, well, it¡¯s just a simple infrared signal, so the technique isn¡¯t thatplicated. Don¡¯t you think you¡¯ll be able to make the spell right away if you want? It¡¯s hard for me to control it with such precision, but if it¡¯s you¡­¡±

    [I wasn¡¯t doing it because it¡¯s easier to turn the channel with you than to spell out one by one all the infrared patterns for each function.]

    [The most convenient remote control in the world is the human, right? Yes, yes.]

    I ced the empty paper bag on the Irish table with a sigh and began to fold it finely.

    ¡°Okay, why didn¡¯t you wait for me toe? Why did you struggle to turn on the TV alone? Master?¡±

    Even with those sarcastic words, Parvache¡¯s response didn¡¯te immediately. After some time, he replied¡ªthe toy robot which was the length of a human forearm. He looked at me with green stic eyes, devoid of pupils.

    [I think I need to watch some news.]

    ¡°Why?¡±

    While conversing with Parvache, I felt a vibration from the phone in my back pocket; I took out my smartphone and unlocked it.

    [What happened?]

    He asked me curiously. As I said it, my mind was half-absent. My eyes were fixed on the unpleasant text that just flew over my cell phone.

    Yoon Min-joon is scheduled to join the army on June XX, 20XX. Please send a text reply to 010-XXXX-XXXX by writing (Name/Confirmation of Enrollment) if the designated temporary enrollment is possible (Name/Dy Schedule or Service Recruitment or Re-physical Examination) if you are nning to postpone enlistment due to illness. ¨C Seoul Regional Military Manpower Administration

    Again, this time I will make some reason to dy the enlistment date. Now, the excuse of supporting other forces didn¡¯t seem to work. What kind of national examination documents should I submit? Because I have to stay at home as much as possible, acting through college entrance was difficult. These days, there were many s for Korea Communications College in newspapers; was that not eptable? While thinking about finding out about it, Parvache spoke in a more cautious voice.

    [It¡¯s not like something happened or anything¡­ it just feels weird.]

    I lifted my eyes off my phone and looked up at Parvache, ¡°Intuition?¡± I asked him. Parvache nodded mechanically. Now, that gesture was also quite natural for me.

    ¡°Something seems to break out, I¡¯d rather miss a priest¡¯s prophecy, but your intuition is never wrong.¡±

    Parvache nodded.

    [If you¡¯re thinking of watching the news, at least it¡¯s a national-level case.]

    ¡°It is.¡±

    [By any chance¡­ just¡­ in case¡­]

    Parvache looked at me as if indicating me to continue talking.

    ¡°Well, maybe¡­ that case isn¡¯t something that could affect this barrier that I built with my own blood, right?¡±

    He shook his head.

    [I don¡¯t feel like that. And what do you mean? What blood did you make this kind of barrier with?]

    ¡°What did you say?!¡±

    I flew up in a fit of rage and fired at Parvache.

    ¡°I¡¯ve worked so hard to make this! If the energy cluster exploded, I¡¯d go blind! The core is overworked, and the magical power circuit burst, too, causing four heart attacks! While trying to use the power of ¡°Guardian of the Marsh¡± without a proper offering, I was cursed for guilt and died of visceral necrosis twice!¡±

    Parvache gave a cold answer.

    [Ah, did you?]

    ¡°Aside from that, I can¡¯t count my blood due to overheating of the magic power circuit! The energy cluster exploded again, and I lost my lower body! Before I settled the barrier, I was caught by a security guard and erased his memory. The after-effects caused me to be mentally contaminated, so I lived in my room for a month! This isn¡¯t an analogy. It was really shit! You saw it, too!¡±

    [Oh, really, that was well worth seeing.]

    The unpleasantughter of Parvache echoed in my mind. I groaned and began to unpack the new toothbrush I had ced on the table. I was very displeased. After recovering from mental ¡®pollution,¡¯ I suddenly woke up one day and found myself incapable of opening anything.

    ¡®Oh, why can¡¯t this be opened today?!¡¯

    No matter how hard my fingernails squeezed, nothing seemed to open, especially the toothpaste pack in particr. Even after struggling insanely, it just got wrinkled, crumpled but remained uncut and unopened. Out of the realm of thought, I quicklybined the forms at my reflexes¡¯ speed. Then they mixed with my magical power, and sharp intangible energy gathered at the tip of my fingertips. I swiped the top of the pack and blew it over the end of the toothbrush package.

    Woosh!

    The packaging was cut sharply, and I took out the new toothbrush in it, went into the bathroom, and reced the old toothbrush with it. Parvache fluttered as if he recalled a fun memory. Regardless of his physical distance, his will resonated right into my head.

    [It was a rare sight to see. If it hadn¡¯t happened, the barrier would have beenpleted in two months.]

    ¡°Yeah, I guess you like it.¡±

    [But I helped a lot every time you got into an ident. If it wasn¡¯t for me, you¡¯d already been found out. Aren¡¯t you still alive? When you pass out, I take over and hide you in the house, and while I¡¯m controlling you, I do my best to save you because I can¡¯t even use magic because of this cheap totem.]

    He was a smooth talker. I grumbled openly.

    ¡°If you care for me that much, why have you been watching me shit for over a month until I recover by myself when I¡¯m mentally contaminated?¡±

    [I can¡¯t help it. If you¡¯re just unconscious as usual, I can infiltrate your body through the cold and take control of your body. Still, if I permeate it while your mind is contaminated, I¡¯m at risk of contamination as well. You know well that it¡¯s dangerous and fatal enough for a spirit like me, right?]

    That guy¡¯s spirit.

    [Of course, I understand that there were many ups and downs. But in the future, if the dimensional leap magic gets on the track in earnest, and you start practicing the transfer of the body, not the avatar, suffering from the barrier will be a nostalgic memory. Fufufu.]

    Damn it! I nced at myself in the bathroom mirror, struggling with Parvache¡¯s wickedness. Since I didn¡¯t have a social life, I didn¡¯t care about my appearance. Bangs that hadn¡¯t been cut in a long time had grown to the point where I was afraid they would cover my eyes. I didn¡¯t even care for my beard for a few weeks, so it grew to an eye-catching extent. I looked nothing but a young crook. Thinking that I would get my hair cut and take a walk in the sun, I answered Parvache.

    ¡°Yes, yes, I will study hard, Master.¡±

    I looked a little further down. All the optic nerve¡¯s magical circuits were already opened long ago, and now a blue crack that was clearly visible to my eyes was drawn across my chest. It was the passage where Parvache had been summoned through in the first ce. It was also why I left my family in the provinces and came up to Seoul, alone to live in a magical barrier and with Parvache, my onlypanion in solitude.

    This was my Channel.

 Chapter 5

    Common Day of Unemployed Wizard (2)

    Because of the Channel within my body, I was buried in magic training every day. When Parvache offered to teach me magic, he said, ¡®Magic is actually very easy.¡¯ That was only half-right. Even by Parvache¡¯s standards, I certainly had learned magic at a tremendous speedpared to other wizards. However, this didn¡¯t mean that mastering magic and bing highly skilled at it was easily aplished.

    [Again, your talent is really excellent. It is rare to seed at creating such barriers only 11 years after starting to learn magic. Maybe it¡¯s not impossible to master the dimensional leap magic within the next six years. Hey, are you listening? When it¡¯spleted, even if a Truth-Seeker breaks this barrier, there will be insurance that you can live. It¡¯s excellent.]

    I had been using the tracking magic that I learned from Parvache, but so far, I hadn¡¯t been able to find a basis to be sure that the Truth-Seeker was in this dimension or not. So, as soon as I was 20 years old, with an excuse to be independent, I left my house and came to Seoul to set up a base in Mok-dong¡¯s apartment, where I lived and made the barrier. My family thought that I entered a dormitory after passing from a university in Seoul. Still, there was no such thing in reality. I was just unemployed!

    Where did the unemployed man get money to buy an apartment in Mok-dong and live alone? As you may have guessed, there was a bit of technology in this area that was illegal and far from this world¡¯s civilization. There will be opportunities to talk about thatter.

    ¡°It¡¯s been eleven years¡­¡±

    At the age of 20, after 11 years of magical training, this ¡°Anti-Truth-Seeker Cognitive Disturbance and Concealment Barrier¡± unfolded in my house in Mok-dong. It covered not only the apartmentplex where I lived but also parts of Anyangcheon Stream, covering an area of ??3km in diameter. I don¡¯t have to tell you twice about how much I suffered in the process. In summary, if you were within this 3km area, you could escape the Truth-Seeker¡¯s search for your evolved Channel. Of course, if the Truth-Seeker took the disadvantage and used his power to break this barrier, there had to be other countermeasures.

    ¡°But, on the other hand, it¡¯s somehow vague¡­ I mean that since there is no object ofparison, it doesn¡¯t feel real. It turns out that in the other dimension, it¡¯smon sense to get rid of these things in just five years, not eleven. Isn¡¯t it like that? Didn¡¯t you cheat me?¡±

    [You¡¯re speaking nonsense again.]

    ¡°Hmm¡­also, since the dimensional leap magic has no results, but the barrier magic has remarkable ones, I can see that I am growing excited to do it. But when I want to practice, my avatar is just floating in outer space like a jellyfish¡­¡±

    [It can¡¯t be helped because the difference between the two magical skills is still too big. Nevertheless, if you maintain your current lifestyle ¨C one that never goes outside the barrier like you are right now, there will be a side effect. Still, the barrier will help it stabilize.]

    Actually, at this point, where my Channel couldn¡¯t evolve into adulthood, it wasn¡¯t a big deal even if I wandered outside the barrier. However, since Ipleted this barrier when I was 20 years old, I didn¡¯t leave the barrier until I was 22, not even to see my family. After creating a barrier of such massive size (spanning a few neighborhoods) that I could be satisfied with, I didn¡¯t want to go outside. Parvache assured me that it would never happen, but what if I came across a Truth-Seeker while passing outside the barrier?!

    Parvache said that the Truth-Seeker wouldn¡¯t be interested in Seeds even if he encountered them. Still, there was no such thing as 100% assurity in the world, which was the scariest part of all. Thus, I didn¡¯t take a step outside the barrier ever since I was 20 years old when the barrier was firstpleted. Parvache also mocked me for being a ¡®silly coward bastard,¡¯ but he didn¡¯t stop me because of themon purpose of extending my life.

    Yes, if I stayed within the barrier, I could hide, even if the Truth-Seeker went looking for me earlier than scheduled on a whim. But once again, unless he used enough power to break the barrier, I was safe. When I came back into the living room, Parvache was still watching TV. Usually, I didn¡¯t really care what he watched on TV. Still, when I saw him turning on the TV on his own and focusing like that, it seemed like something important had happened.

    ¡°Are you going to keep watching TV? What about today¡¯s lesson?¡± I asked him in a subtle, curious voice.

    [Wait a minute, something filthy is about to burst soon. But what is that?]

    In the news broadcast of the channel that Parvache yed, a breaking news screen passed.

    -The 26th ident on Mapo Bridge and increased traffic congestion in the area.

    ¡°¡­Wow.¡±

    [Hmm.]

    ¡°How did it happen when they were driving like that?¡±

    It was a big ident, but it happened only on the bridge over the Han River. It was unlikely to affect the people in the buildings like we are now.

    [But, I still don¡¯t feel right.]

    I raised one eyebrow in wonder as I saw Parvache¡¯s expression.

    ¡°Do you still have feelings?¡±

    [Yes, it¡¯s getting stronger and stronger.]

    ¡°Hmm. What else is there to pop up beside that traffic ident?

    [There is a possibility of that. Let¡¯s put the lesson on hold for now.]

    I think I¡¯d take some time off today. I opened the refrigerator door, took out some of the oranges I had just put in, and put them on a tray. Then I sat on the sofa next to Parvache, peeling the orange and staring at the TV screen.

    -I repeat. Traffic is currently paralyzed due to multiple crashes on Mapo Bridge that urred about 15 minutes ago. The exact number of casualties has yet to be announced. Now, KBC ry vehicles and helicopters are heading to the site. As soon as the site broadcasting is ready, the connection will be made¡­

    Perhaps because it wasn¡¯t long after the ident, the anchor was repeating the same thing. There seemed to be no script for the exact ident. How many minutes had passed since it urred?

    -Yes, viewers, our KBC filming helicopter has arrived at the Mapo Bridge. The scene on the video now¡­

    At that moment, the anchor¡¯sment was cut off. What was it?

    The anchorman on the TV screen looked over the camera, and his expression became serious. Just as the production staff continued to deliver messages to the anchors, the anchor¡¯s pupils continued to move. He opened his mouth as if trying to say something to the staff over the camera, then coughed as if he realized he was still in front of the camera. My sight caught his left cheek, shivering subtly like he had a cramp. As the silence continued, the anchor continued with a trembling voice.

    -V-viewers, I will show you a video of the ident site of Mapo Bridge, but I would like to say that this video is a real-time video without any separate CG processing¡­our production crew has been struggling to decide to send out the live broadcast of this video but considering that the citizens are already filming with their cell phones and sharing it on social media¡­

    I identally grumbled as I threw a clean rind from the orange I had already picked up on the tray.

    ¡°What¡¯s the big deal?¡±

    -T¨CThen¡­ Let¡¯s watch the on-site video.

    The screen changed from the studio¡¯s desk to an external image looking down from the sky. It was the entrance to Yeouido of Mapo Bridge. Then, the moment the screen was in my sight, I dropped the orange that I had peeled.

    The bridge was a mess. The scene really looked different from when it was only said they had a multi-car ident. Broken cars were spread out across, making them difficult to count, and there was a lot of smoke rising from the burning vehicles. There were still a lot of people on the bridge. All the car owners, who luckily avoided the crash, were all looking in the same direction at the exact moment. And what they were looking at wasn¡¯t a broken vehicle or a wounded man. They looked at the southern end of Mapo Bridge, where the initial rear-end collision was likely to have urred.

    What the survivors were looking at came out through the TV screen, and Parvache also witnessed it. Without even blinking an eye, I was frozen in my seat. The size was about 15-20 meters. There was a crack in the air that looked like a sharp weapon tore through it. Inside the crack that cut space, there was a strange blue light that couldn¡¯t be made by this civilization¡¯s power and had never been found in the Earth¡¯s ecosystem before today.

    Both Parvache and I knew very well what it was.

    ¡°Channel¡­¡±

    A huge Channel, one simr to the one in my chest, had been opened up. It hung in the air at the southern end of Mapo Bridge.

 Chapter 6

    Common Day of Unemployed Wizard (3)

    The country turned upside down. As the anchor said, videos taken by citizens near the Channel had begun to flood the Inte. The Channel opened was near Yeouido Hangang Park; it appeared right in front of the countless people who came out for a spring pic. It was impossible to have no witnesses. The Inte began to explode. Various stories about what it was,ments, mentions, and posts popped up continuously. I spoke and discussions. It ranged from apocalyptic theories to government conspiracies. The hypotheses were wild and full of imagination.

    ¡°If I wrote ¡®That¡¯s actually a passage that leads to another dimension, and you don¡¯t know what wille out, evacuate everyone around you right away on the Inte anonymously, it would just get buried, right?¡±

    [Right.]

    ¡°I thought that if that happened, everyone would panic and run away¡­why are there so many spectators?¡± I red disapprovingly at the TV as I wondered.

    Besides firefighters and police to deal with the ident, the Mapo Bridge area was now bustling with soldiers trying to iste the area. They were building barricades in a hurry, but citizens who were dozens of times more in number than police and army personnel were gathering and watching from every direction. I grumbled as I watched the opaque blue light emitted by the Channel on the screen.

    ¡°Everyone can see it.¡±

    [This humanity seems to have evolved in a direction where there is no instinctive fear of the Channel. Then that Channel could be the first fully-open Channel on Earth.]

    As soon as I saw the Channel on Mapo Bridge, I could see that it hadn¡¯t only evolved into an adult body but was also fully open. It was of a huge scale, and it was certainly in a state that could be seen by the public; instinctively, I wondered who could have opened the magic power circuit.

    ¡°Is the origin in this dimension over there?¡±

    This was a significant factor.

    [Min-joon, haven¡¯t you ever been to that bridge?]

    ¡°No.¡±

    Aftering to Seoul, I was stuck in the room for almost three months to install the barrier. After the barrier waspleted, I never went outside. I could never go to that bridge, which was outside the barrier.

    [If a Truth-Seeker in this world had opened it, the Seed Channel would have been there for nearly 20 years.]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    [If a Truth-Seeker in the world over there opened it up, there would be no sign from this side, and then suddenly it would have opened up like that. If we had checked the presence or absence of the Seed Channel in advance, we would know what kind of case it is, but it was impossible to tell after being in seclusion like this.]

    ¡°If the Truth-Seeker in this worldpletely opened, that meant he¡¯s just been out there, right?¡±

    [That¡¯s right. If it were this Truth-Seeker¡¯s Channel¡­it would have opened because of his touch.]

    ¡°Ah¡­I really shouldn¡¯t go outside today. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s still near Mapo Bridge¡­it¡¯s a few kilometers from here.¡±

    Parvache agreed with me instead of teasing me on such a day.

    [Yeah¡­you don¡¯t have to risk it.]

    I had now spent more than half of my life with Parvache, and in some ways, he was the one who had the most significant influence on my personality. He had repeatedly instilled, as if brainwashing, every phrase about the dangers of Truth-Seekers and how terrible life as a living dimensional portal would be. As a result, naturally, in my mind, the Truth-Seeker solidified its existence as an absolute evil that must never be encountered and the most vicious monster in any dimension.

    But the Truth Seeker was over there. What if there was a 0.1% chance? It was best to stay stuck in my safe house within the barrier. Yes, it was dangerous outside the house. I should just watch the situation here on TV instead of going out without any reason. In the meantime, Parvache and I could watch the movement of the Mapo Bridge Channel. The Channel, which has been tapered diagonally like a long wound, gradually widened.

    [It¡¯s fast.]

    ¡°Is iting?¡± I swallowed drily.

    -Ah, at the moment, it looks like the unknown object near Mapo Bridge is getting bigger and bigger!

    The spectators were gradually stepping back. Even the soldiers and police officers required to protect the barricade were also stepping back. The crack stretched close to the circle after expanding, the opaque blue light, which had been swaying over the Channel¡¯s cross-section, began to vibrate as if it were boiling. Then, a white pir rose through the blue light.

    -Oh, that, that¡­!

    The anchor was speechless.

    -N-now, something white came out of the blue light!

    I didn¡¯t know if it was a goodparison, but it looked like a white radish. A radish that stretched diagonally toward the sky and had an unpleasantly smooth surface. However, it soon became apparent that it was due to the illusion of the camera¡¯s angle. The cylindrical object seemed to spin and rotate, and the other side that the camera couldn¡¯t capture was revealed. Two dark yellow eyes, a philtrum with only a small hole in ce of the nose bridge, and sharp teeth in a long, torn mouth.

    -Ah¡­ ah¡­

    As if representing the viewers¡¯ hearts and the citizens on the site, the anchor was speechless and on the verge of panic. I thought the white pir looked like a radish, but it was the head of the being that emerged from the Channel. It began to move out of the Channel, and eventually, the shoulders, arms, and legs came out of the Channel in session. It was about 10 meters tall with a long cylindrical head that would take up half its height. Its arms, body, and legs, which seemed too small to support such arge head, were covered with a clothing style that couldn¡¯t be found on Earth and was very distinguishable from all the fashion avable at the moment.

    Its entire body was exposed in front of the camera. The anchor no longer made anyments. The staff¡¯s screams, bewildering conversations, and screaming voices leaked out of the TV, probably because the studio was in an uproar. But the broadcast never stopped. It continued to reflect the scene taken through the helicopter. I muttered as I looked at it.

    ¡°A huge white body, an upright walking, a long head that is half the body¡­¡±

    [That¡¯s the kind you¡¯ve seen before.]

    Yes, I saw it several times while practicing the dimensional leap magic. It was an alien race that my Avatar, formed by magic, had encountered in the cross-dimensional ne. No, it didn¡¯t end up with what I exactly encountered, but there were some conflicts¡­

    ¡°Ashpim Giant?¡±

    The surrounding area near the Channel was already a mess. I couldn¡¯t hear the gunfire yet, but I could see spectators running away. It was strange to see people as small as ants retreating so rapidly. The giant was looking down with its mouth slightly open. Then, all of a sudden, it began to stride. While most people were running away, some weren¡¯t even moving. They seemed to have been struck by a fit of fear. After walking a little further, it stopped just before leaving the barricade, and the giant began to look around with a frown as if it was worried about something.

    The giant opened its mouth wide, revealing hundreds of sharp-teeth. As I looked at it, I muttered quietly.

    ¡°¡­Do they eat human-type creatures?¡±

    Parvache calmly answered my question.

    [It may vary slightly from dimension to dimension, but the human isn¡¯t a favorite food ingredient for them. It¡¯s too small to use as a source of energy for that vast body.]

    ¡°So it won¡¯t rush to eat people right away, huh¡­¡±

    I never thought I¡¯d see that giant in my world and also near the bridge just a few kilometers from home. I talked to Parvache in a daze when the giant opened its mouth and said, ¡°No.¡± From the giant¡¯s perspective, it spoke, but the people who were near the giant would have been assaulted with sound.

    ¡°M¡¯ao!¡±

    It was a short syble, but an echo resonated across the forest and river of buildings. The citizens fled without hesitation, and the military officers surrounding the giant fell in ce. It was a decibel loud enough to be picked up from a microphone in a helicopter hundreds of meters away. The sound pressure was so tremendous that it buried the helicopter¡¯s sound, and it was a low-pitched tone outside the human range. Those near the giant would have felt a pain tearing their ears and a shock as if their intestines were shaking. The giant kept talking without worrying about the surrounding situation.

    ¡°Mwam¡¯aaaoaauu¡­ nguoomoom¡¯oowauaa¡­ mmooom¡¯aawooaawoo!¡±

    I remembered what Parvache exined before. Since sharp teeth ovep not only around the gums but also the roof and floor of the mouth to chop up their prey quickly, they evolved to leave only roots to avoid cutting their tongue with their teeth. Since the tongue remained only as a small trace at the end of the throat, it usually sounded with only long, thin lips and glottis, and the meaning was divided by the slight pitch and length of the tone.

    In other words, it wasn¡¯t a vocal system that I could understand just because I learned thatnguage. I quickly energized the magic circuit located in my ear, and the reverse order waspleted. A soft light wrapped around my ears and disappeared. It was interpretation magic that could understand anynguage as long as it was listed in the Akashic Records.

    ¡°Aooooam ¡®woo! Ngooiooam ¡®woo! Mmmoooom ¡®oowaaw¡­ Wooooomm ¡®nguoowam! Mmooom ¡®aawoooaawooo!¡±

    The sound that I heard as a drunken (and incredibly loud) murmur, no matter how well I listened to it until just now, had conveyed its meaning. I interpreted it with a wiggle.

    ¡°None? Dangerous tongue¡­ my voice, exchange, dangerous tongue¡­ high¡­ an insect in the ear¡­ Move out. Or¡­ put it in a grave¡­¡±

    [¡­]

    That¡¯s what I said, but it made no sense.

    Actually, I still had a low-level of achievement for this kind of magic that used the Akashic Records. I didn¡¯t invest a lot of time because I was being pushed to work on the barrier magic. Parvache, who was listening to me, snorted as if it were ridiculous and corrected my stupid interpretation. Unlike me, he didn¡¯t use magic. It¡¯s the perfect ¡®knowledge¡¯ of thenguage listed on the Akashic Records. After all, he was also a self-proimed spirit.

    [¡®Is there a wizard? Wizard, interpret my words. Tell them to get rid of those bugs that make that whirring sound before I get rid of it.¡¯]

    ¡°Oh, I see. So, it is looking for a wizard.¡±

    [Huh?!]

 Chapter 7

    Common Day of Unemployed Wizard (4)

    Looking for a wizard, the giant kept shouting. Parvache continued to interpret it. Meanwhile, there was no one standing near the giant; most of them had copsed and been rolling on the floor.

    [¡®Wizard. Is there a wizard? How can I not see a wizard when the Channel is open? Are the wizards in this world low-level idiots who don¡¯t even know the magic that reacts to Channels?!¡¯]

    It looked very angry.

    [¡®Wizard! If you are listening to me, interpret me quickly! Get rid of these sharp-sounding bugs right now!¡¯¡­ that¡¯s what it said.]

    Oh, yes. So far, I¡¯m probably the only wizard on Earth. I¡¯m sorry for it as I don¡¯t know the magic. And because I can¡¯t, it¡¯s perhaps right that none of the humans on Earth could do it. Since I had a Channel in my body, the ¡®Channel Detection rm Magic¡¯ failed every time during practice. Even before the spell waspleted, it detected the very close Channel and started ipletely. ording to my Great Master Parvache, it was one magic that could never be learned with a Channel in the body.

    As I wasining inside, the giant reached out and pointed at the Mapo Bridge.

    [¡­Ah, I think that guy is asking you to get rid of something.]

    ¡°Ahhh¡­¡±

    When I saw the direction the giant¡¯s finger was pointing, I understood what it was trying tomunicate. Ambnces and fire trucks had flocked to fix the ident, and most of them were still ringing sirens on the Mapo Bridge.

    [The siren¡¯s frequency is the opposite of the structure of that guy¡¯s sensory organs. Just as humans feel pain due to their voice, that siren must make them feel very ufortable. As a human, it¡¯s like continually listening to the scratching of a ckboard.]

    ¡°Ah¡­ then.¡±

    [Before it makes any more fuss, it would be better to keep the surroundings quiet¡­just because it doesn¡¯t enjoy eating humans, it doesn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t kill them. I don¡¯t know what will happen if he starts moving. They are vicious in nature.]

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    [He holds himself with trying to talk. It¡¯s his first time in this dimension, so he controls himself because he doesn¡¯t know what¡¯s going on.]

    I roughly understood how it felt right now. Then, what shall we do? As far as I know, I¡¯m the only interpreter¡­no, I mean the wizard it was desperately looking for. Should I go over there and force all the sirens off? But was it really right to go outside the barrier in this situation? It wasn¡¯t yet clear what that Channel looked like. And there was a possibility that the Truth-Seeker would be hanging around there. So, what could be done without going from this barrier?

    ¡°¡­If I want to tell them to turn off all ambnces and fire trucks¡¯ sirens¡­where should I call?¡±

    [You think they would believe you?]

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better than not trying anything?¡±

    I immediately found the representative number of the broadcastingpany and made a call. However, only the recorded message yed. It seems that people who were frightened after watching the news called urgently and questioned the authenticity of the broadcast. In the meantime, the giant was still screaming, and ording to Parvache¡¯s interpretation, it was the repetition of the same words spoken so far.

    ¡°Oh, it shouldn¡¯t burst out like that¡­¡±

    I was in a hurry and pressed 119. It was the first number I had ever pressed since I was born. I¡¯ve never made a prank call until now! Damn it! This number also couldn¡¯t be connected. Reports seemed to be flooding in. I hung up the phone right away and tried to press 112 just in case, but it was the same. I have to tell them to turn off all those sirens quickly!

    ¡°Where the hell am I supposed to call?¡±

    As I was nervous, I suddenly thought of a number in my head. That number I¡¯ve heard many times in a radio public service announcement.

    ¡°120¡­¡±

    I made a call in doubt.

    -Hello. This is 120 Dasan Call Center of Seoul City.

    ¡°Ah, yes, hello! I¡¯m going to tell you about the situation at Mapo Bridge¡­oh shit, it¡¯s an automatic voice!¡±

    It somehow felt strange because the call wasn¡¯t received by a person but by a recorded mechanical voice. While I was confused, the line continued.

    -Please press 1 for transportation/ 2 for the water supply/ 3 for general administration/ 4 for information on the phone number of the Seoul City Hall and Ward Offices/ 5 for grievance counseling at the workce.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    I¡¯m sure it was number 0 to connect to a counselor. I thought whether I should just press 0 right away, but I was still listening to the announcement because I thought it might be a unique choice on number 8 or 9 there, but it ended after the selection of grievance counseling at the workce! No, which number should I press?

    ¡°Pa¡­ Parvache¡­¡±

    [Why?]

    ¡°If it is aint to turn off the ambnce siren to calm the monster near Mapo Bridge¡­is it ¡®transportation¡¯ or ¡®general administration¡¯ints?¡±

    [¡­General administration, you idiot]

    I pressed number 3¡­and waited again. And before a minute passed, the counselor was connected! This time it wasn¡¯t a recorded voice. It was a real person!

    ¡°Yeah! I-I have something to tell you about the situation at Mapo Bridge!¡±

    -Yes, Sir, did you call for something on TV right now?

    He seemed to be aware of the situation. That was a relief. I think it would be easier to talk about.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! We have to turn off the siren right now. Please quickly tell the fire department or whoever is it!¡±

    -Sir, many people are calling about this, and the city does not officially instruct our counselors, so it¡¯s hard to say anything about it.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. You don¡¯t have to tell me anything. Please tell the person in charge to turn off the fire truck and ambnce sirens! You just saw that Ashp¡­ no, you saw the monster pointing at Mapo Bridge with its hand? I think that siren is loud, so I think we should turn it off quickly.¡±

    As I was speaking, it was a groundless story that even the country could tilt, but there was no other way. However, I couldn¡¯t tell them to turn off the sirens because I understand everything that giant said.

    -Yes, Sir. We¡¯ll record your opinion well and deliver it to the relevant agencies.

    ¡°I¡¯m telling you! Don¡¯t just record it! Hurry, we have to turn off the siren right now¡­¡±

    It was then, the giant¡¯s shout burst from the TV. It was loud, so loud that it could not bepared to the ones before.

    ¡°Mm¡¯khaaang¡¯ooooo!¡±

    I felt the hostility and anger mixed in it, so I stopped talking without knowing and turned my head to the TV. The screen shook slightly enough to guess that it was too loud to hold even if you hear it inside the helicopter. The cameraman seemed to have stumbled. After hearing the loud echoes that spread out, I could guess how loud it would be to listen to them on the spot.

    -Sir? Sir? Hello?

    Suddenly I lost my words, and the counselor over the phone kept calling me, but instead of answering it, I asked Parvache.

    ¡°¡­Why don¡¯t you interpret it?¡±

    [¡­It was just swearing.]

    I knew it for some reason. At that moment, an ominous feeling came up in the back of my head. It wasn¡¯t as good as Parvache¡¯s, but I had a feeling. Thest sound that the giant roared was spat out while the lid waspletely open and flying far away. I reactivated the trantion magic that was disabled while I was talking on the phone. Parvache said in a bitter voice.

    [¡­Min-joon, I think it¡¯s toote.]

    The giant¡¯s elongated head, which was half its body, faced the sky. I felt like its yellow eyes were a little bigger. Then, the giant who lost its mind roared.

    ¡°Khang¡¯aaaaaamm¡¯khaaang¡¯oo!¡±

    That cry sounded like this to my ears, whose connection to Akashic Records was iplete due to immature magic.

    [Die. You genital-like young animals¡­]

    The giant¡¯s roar continued for a long time. The air near the ground on which it stood was vibrating like crazy. The screen shook violently, seeing that the helicopter was affected, and soon began to move away from the giant. They couldn¡¯t hold up and seemed to be trying to keep more distance. The helicopter was so far away that the giant¡¯s body looked half as small.

    [That¡­]

    ¡°It¡¯s done¡­¡±

    Being caught in the violent vibration of the sound waves created by the Ashpim Giant, the people who were caught in the upheaval exploded. I got nervous on the phone.

    ¡°Oh, my God, for real, we¡¯re doomed!¡±

    -Hello? Hello? Sir? Sir?

    ¡°Turn on the TV right now! Because of the giant now, people are starting to die. I don¡¯t know how many more will die if it keeps going like this.¡±

    -What are you talking about, Sir? Please calm down¡­

    Come to think of it, there was no way the TV could have been turned on in the call center. That counselor now knew about Mapo Bridge¡¯s case through the iing call or the Inte. They weren¡¯t seeing the situation in real-time. I hung up the phone because it seemed to be meaningless.

    ¡°What should I do, Parvache?¡±

    Actually, it wasn¡¯t the first time I had seen humans or humanoid creatures die. No, honestly, I witnessed crueler scenes than this and scenes where even more lives were lost without meaning. However, it happened in another dimension. It wasn¡¯t a scene that I saw with my own eyes, but a scene witnessed by my avatar connected to my senses.

    It¡¯s the first time I saw people die in the world I live in, with my own eyes. Strangely, there was no such thing as fear or sadness. Just¡­how do I phrase this? Annoyance? Okay.

    Deep annoyance was rising in my heart. Why? Why was I so annoyed?

 Chapter 8

    Common Day of Unemployed Wizard (5)

    ¡°Parvache!¡±

    [What?]

    ¡°That guy¡­ isn¡¯t powerful, is he?¡±

    [Yeah. Although there are subtle differences in species for each dimension, it has mainly sharp teeth or attacks that vibrate the air. It¡¯s not difficult to unleash Sixth Defense Magic or more. Why? Do you want to save these humans?]

    I scratched my head, ¡°No, even if I try saving them¡­it seems that all those who are nearby are already dead. Those who have survived outside the sonic range will see what is happening and will run away on their own¡­¡±

    [Then?]

    ¡°No, I¡¯m strangely annoyed. It happened outside my boundaries, but somehow¡­¡±

    [Somehow?]

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s like seeing a motherfucker screwing up someone else¡¯s house.¡±

    [But I will absolutely oppose for you to go outside the barrier and kill it? You know?]

    ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t even n on that. But¡­I can¡¯t make an avatar because I have a real body here, in this dimension.¡±

    [Ah, but when I think about it, it¡¯s kind of weird to leave it alone. If the humans here fail to deal with it, isn¡¯t there a risk that it will get into your barrier? Then, if it destroys one or two of the buildings that serve as the inner core of the barrier¡­]

    ¡°Oh, no! No way!¡±

    It was absolutely uneptable. Since there were several safetyyers, the barriers wouldn¡¯t copse immediately just because the building had copsed, but it would slowly begin to deteriorate until it eventually copsed. To repair it, I had to go through the same bloody hardships as I did the first time! As time passes, barriers naturally deteriorated, but the elements and powers needed to repair them were significantly less than apletely copsed barrier.

    ¡°But we also cannot transform the barrier into a physical barrier to prevent it from entering¡­¡±

    [If doing so, the city center, which is three kilometers in diameter, will suddenly be isted from the outside, and there will be great confusion. Can you handle it? And it¡¯s not something you can do in a day or two right now.]

    ¡°¡­It can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    I made up my mind.

    ¡°For the sake of my life in myfortable barrier¡­ I must quickly send the ¡°right guy¡± to get rid of that giant bastard.¡±

    [Hmm?]

    ¡°That ce is too close to my barrier. If it moves this way, it will be a headache. Once we get rid of that guy, the government will also block the area around the Channel. By all means.¡±

    [What are you going to send?]

    I thought for a moment, and then I came up with the perfect target. I grinned and said the nickname of ¡®these guys¡¯ that I put on my whim.

    ¡°¡­The milk cows.¡±

    [¡­Ah, really¡­ it¡¯s a bit¡­]

    Oh, I forgot to tell you. Parvache hates when I call them by this nickname. He said it wasn¡¯t decent. But it was Parvache who was swearing at me all the time, tsk!

    * * *

    A few minutester, I was on the roof of my apartment. The entrance was always locked, but I knew the lock¡¯s password that only the management office should have known. The work can be done in the room, but I came up to the rooftop because it is bothersome to clean the roomter. The creatures I was about to summon loved going around and destroying things. I put Parvache down on a corner of the roof. Then he stepped back a few more steps and sat cross-legged on the cement floor.

    [Adjust your power. You aren¡¯t in the avatar state right now. You are in a state where you can show 100% of your body¡¯s ability. If you use your strength like when you are in an avatar state, it will spill out enough to cover the entire Mok-dong sky.]

    ¡°Yes, yes, Master. Then the target is¡­ thirty?¡±

    [Isn¡¯t that a lot for that one?]

    ¡°The more we have on our side, the quicker it ends. Now, speed is the key.¡±

    Parvache shrugged his shoulders as if telling me to do whatever I wanted. I stood in the same spot, closed my eyes, and concentrated. Right now, the magic I would use is different from the kind of magic that cuts the toothbrush wrapper or trantes aliennguage. I borrowed the expressions that Parvache often used ¨C ¡®It is on a different level from those magics.¡¯

    Although it was difficult, it couldn¡¯t go beyond the dimensional leap magic. Unlike that spell, which interfered with the dimensions without a Channel, the magic I was about to use now was rtively less difficult to interfere with by utilizing existing Channels. Which Channel? It was obvious. I collected magic power in the cracks across my heart, a Seed Channel, which could be connected to any dimension by infusing Mana. My body and spirit began to chant the spell at the same time.

    ¡°You are the guardians of cruel death, the ck waterbird singing immorality. You were born where the stormy sea of ??ghosts cried and waved in hellfire. Where all the sacred light is silent. In a nest of sea rocks, drenched in blood and dirt, now hear my voice and p your wings.¡±

    Seed Channels, unlike the adult ones, not only lead to one dimension but could be randomly connected to any dimension, as long as you give it enough magic power. So, when a Truth-Seeker nted the Seed Channel, Parvache exined that there must be a wizard nearby aiming at the jackpot and attempted summoning magic. It was aimed at summoning a powerful being of a higher level.

    And, Parvache¡¯s evaluation of that kind of people was consistent. ¡®Idiots who don¡¯t care for their lives,¡¯ he called them. It was because they werepletely ignorant of the dangerous things which coulde out. My summoning of Parvache was more or less a stroke of luck as a result.

    ¡°It delights in the cmity of all breathing things, and I indulge in the bloodshed of every sinister being. Suffer, suffer, suffer without limits. Those who will bite the non-drying contaminated water dare to stand before you.¡± I began chanting the summoning call.

    My body¡¯s Channel was almost left unused, but as time passed, Parvache paid attention to the fact that my Seed Channel was bound to my body and that Parvache was my teacher, who was unmatched in the knowledge of magic. Because it was a Channel connected to my body, the energy consumption decreased with experience. Also, Parvache¡¯s knowledge allowed us to induce coordinates to any desired location on any dimension, rather than waiting for a random dimension to be connected.

    In Parvache¡¯s mind, there was a ¡°dimensional map,¡± a milestone of almost infinite dimensions. This was one of the reasons he assured me that he could teach me the dimensional leap. Through his mind, we knew every possible destination. Thus, Parvache and Ipleted the magic that there were few examples of across all dimensions. Summoning magic from a distant dimension that didn¡¯t lead to its own dimension, excluding randomness that allows you to specify and recall the object you want to summon without error. It was like a lottery where you knew what was going toe out in advance.

    ¡°And I will curse divinity in sighs and screams. Oh, the descendants of arrogant violence, let your prey despair in evesting pain. Come here. Oh, the Waterbird of Decay!¡± I continued chanting the call.

    With thepletion of the spell, it was too far beyond human intelligence to measure. A distant dimension opened and connected to the Channel in my chest, a connection that would have been impossible without the dimensional coordinates that Parvache had nted deep in my unconsciousness and without forcing my spirituality to expand. A dimension that my pure biological brain wouldn¡¯t even dare to recognize.

    The Channel, which was the shape of a long scar on my chest, gradually became more and more circr and eventually stopped growing a little less than my height. It almost covered my body. I¡¯ve tried it several times, but it seemed that this was the limit to the size of ¡°doors¡± that could be made with this Channel. Afterpletely opening the Channel, we waited. Moments passed by, and the beings who responded to my call began to p their wings and fly out onto the apartment¡¯s roof. From the Channel open in my chest, they flew upwards to the sky. The sound of pping continued.

    ¡°Twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-eight! Two are missing, but it¡¯s enough,¡± I said, relieved.

    After thest one was summoned, the Channel began to shrink and returned to the original shape of a long diagonal scar across my chest. Meanwhile, the creatures I had summoned surrounded me and pped their wings, waiting for my orders.

    -Kiiieeeeeeeeeeeeek!

    They cried with their mouths that stretched out like a long bowl on the side of their wings.

    [¡­ It¡¯s spilling a lot. They must be hungry.]

    ¡°Oh great, we can send them right away.¡± Looking at their condition, I nodded.

    At the top of the body, one eye with no eyelids and the size of an adult¡¯s fist was looking at me, and the pair of ck wings right underneath the eyes were simr to a crow at first nce. If it extended its wings to both sides, I thought it would be a few hand-spansrger than my shoulders¡¯ width. The ce where the wings met, a giant, circr flesh-colored mass was drooping down ¨C just under the mouth shaped like a tube. It was a massive chunk of flesh that upies more than 90% of their body¡¯s volume. Its appearance was simr to a thin leather bag, overfilled with water and hung on a ceiling.

    A blunt, dark brown protrusion the size of a thumb rose out toward the bottom. From there, a murky milky white liquid was secreted continuously and was falling on the rooftop. In simpler terms, these bird-like creatures looked like giant breasts flying with crow-like wings. Their anatomy was like a tap that was continually dripping white liquid.

    -Kiiiieeeeeeeek!

    Originally the name of this species was ¡®Waterbirds of Decay.¡¯ Still, I often called them ¡®milk cows¡¯ because of their appearance. Again, Parvache hated this nickname very much. The turbid white liquid that they were spilling on the rooftop floor indicated that they were starving. When the liquid touched a surface, there was no change, and it disappeared naturally over time. However, if it touched a living creature, it rapidly decayed the target, and it was a dangerous magicalpound that never dried or could be wiped off until the decay ran its course. As long as it was an organic body, it would die from this liquid¡¯s effects; the only protection against it was Magical Protection.

    ¡°No matter how hungry you are, if I let you fly like that, a passerby will die if he or she is unlucky enough to get hit by a drop of that. So, hang in there, stop.¡±

    Imanded my mind to be in sync with them. I have dealt with it many times, and the order worked without difficulty. They controlled the secretory organs to stop releasing their decay-inducing liquid. As soon as I beckoned, they started flying to their destination: Mapo Bridge. This was where the Ashpim Giant was raging about. As a safety measure, I instructed them to unfold one of their abilities: invisibility.

    ¡°Come on, go.¡±

    The Waterbirds of Decay started flying over the Mok-dong sky to Mapo Bridge.

 Chapter 9

    Common Day of Unemployed Wizard (6)

    When I returned home, the broadcast had stopped. A news anchor appeared on the screen again to exin the tragic situation at Mapo Bridge and conveyed the government¡¯s guidelines that ordinary citizens shouldn¡¯t approach the Mapo Bridge. Did the government guidelines finallye out? That was also fast.

    ¡°But simply saying not to get close to Mapo Bridge means you can¡¯t figure out how many kilometers away is okay.¡±

    Turning off the TV, I synchronized my vision and hearing with the cows ¨C no, I mean The Waterbird of Decay. Parvache curiously opened up some of my senses to him.

    ¡°Oh¡­that¡¯s the 63rd building.¡±

    In the sight of Waterbirds looking down from above, I could see a golden skyscraper. It was a building I had often seen on TV. It seemed that the Waterbirds had already reached Yeouido even though it had been less than 5 minutes since I let them fly away¡­they were amazingly fast. I conveyed my will to the Waterbirds.

    The 28 birds I summoned began to approach the southern end of Mapo Bridge by lowering the altitude. As they entered the battle, their invisibility broke, and their appearances were exposed. However, the people around there were already in a rush evacuating, so they didn¡¯t immediately notice. But as they lowered altitude further, people spotted the Waterbirds one by one and started pointing their fingers at them. From the Waterbird¡¯s ears, I heard the office workers¡¯ voices, moving in groups.

    ¡°Well, what the hell is that?!¡±

    ¡°Something is flying from the sky!¡±

    ¡°Is it the Air Force? Finally, they¡¯re trying to defeat that white monster¡­!¡±

    ¡°Wait a minute, Sir. Why does the ne¡­ p its wings?¡±

    ¡°¡­Ahhh! Those are monsters! Those are monsters, too!¡±

    Those who witnessed the Waterbirds panicked and began to hide, to get out of the flight path, but I didn¡¯t care and kept flying them in one direction. Using the Waterbird¡¯s single eye, I was already capturing the Ashpim Giant¡¯s image from a distance and encouraging them to approach it. The Ashpim giant had epted that the sirens¡¯ ring sound wasn¡¯t going to stop and had actively begun killing bystanders and damaging vehicles and surrounding areas.

    With its colossal body, it was walking on the bridge. But thankfully, the bridge was strong enough to bear the onught of the giant. It picked up a few cars at his feet and threw them into an ambnce. Unfortunately, its throwing skill wasn¡¯t good. Most of them flew far beyond the target, perhaps because the giant was overpowered.

    -Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!

    Some of the cars he threw crashed onto the bridge, and some fell into the Han River. I wondered if the injured people trapped inside those cars were rescued in advance or not¡­? Even though I could see with my own eyes, there were still injured people and rescue workers on the bridge. The screams of people on the bridge intensified as the giant began throwing and kicking things around. When the distance between the giant and the rescue team narrowed, the Waterbirds surrounded the giant.

    ¡°Oaoam¡¯wwoo? Mooam¡¯woom¡¯oawwoo¡¯nguoaowaa!¡±

    It talked while looking at the giant flies flying around him in a full circle. I gave up on my own interpretation earlier and waited for Parvache¡¯s interpretation.

    [¡®What? These stinky flies!¡¯]

    ¡°Nice nose. But if that¡¯s the only thing it felt about those guys¡­I¡¯m sure it can¡¯t use magic.¡±

    If it could have used even a little magic, he would have realized those guys¡¯ ominous power and ran away. The Waterbirds, who received my will, aimed at the giant with the tip of their body. It didn¡¯t know anything and tried to tear them apart by swinging its hands at random, but just before it reached them, they pped their crow-like wings and flew away quickly.

    I took them up for a while rather than immediately attacking so that the rescuers on the bridge had time to escape. If the Waterbirds started attacking the giant, they could also sweep away the people there. If the giant tried to move forward, the Waterbirds would block it with a torso strike. If it tried to grab them, they flew away again, and the one behind ran up and hit the giant¡¯s head. The confrontation between dozens of crow-winged, single-eyed breasts and the giant continued for a while. As time went by, the giant screamed again, probably at the point of explosive irritation.

    ¡°Mm¡¯khaaang¡¯oo!¡±

    While the Waterbird stole the giant¡¯s attention, the people who could move on the bridge had already fled to the entrance to the northern end of Mapo Bridge. They were lucky to escape from the giant¡¯s sound wave attack, but not everyone on the bridge had such luck.

    -Bang!

    -Boom!

    -Bang! Boom! Boom!

    Those on the ridge that the rescue team couldn¡¯t take care of and the unrescued injured people who were probably still breathing couldn¡¯t ovee the attack and exploded like a watermelon bursting. However, the giant¡¯s sonic attack didn¡¯t affect the Waterbirds¡¯ bodies, which were protected by natural magic shields. The giant continued to roar, its eyes reddening because its anger was rising.

    ¡°Mm¡¯khaaang¡¯oo! Mm¡¯khaaang¡¯oo!¡±

    Whether because the firefighter who drove it was dead or ran away in another car, a fire truck remained on the bridge and continued to sound its sirens. Its irritation must have risen all the way to its head. The sounds of ambnces and fire trucks fleeing were getting farther away, but nearby things could be smashed with a few more steps. However, the Waterbirds kept hitting the giant, stopping it from moving. There seemed to be no survivors remaining on the bridge. I felt it was the right time for me and delivered the final order to the Waterbirds.

    ¡°Okay, get ready¡­shoot!¡±

    As soon as the signal went through their head, 28 Waterbirds of Decay surrounded the giant. They began to spew white fluid all at once. It was like a scene where dozens of spray trucks were busily extinguishing a massive fire.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    It was the decaying fluid that no organic life in the world could endure with a bare body. The giant¡¯s skin that was struck began to decay rapidly. At first, the skin was covered with countless red blisters, and then it burst rapidly, and ck stains covered it like mold, and then the essence of its flesh and skin melted down to nothingness.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The giant, whose skin was necrotized and turned into a hideous appearance, desperately shook its arms and turned to stop the decay. Still, there was no room to escape from the Waterbirds surrounding its body. When it tried to jump off of the bridge through the gap, the Waterbirds quickly gathered in that direction and spewed the decay fluid, covering him once again. Eventually, the giant couldn¡¯t stand and was forced to kneel on the bridge¡ªshrieking with unbearable pain.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaaaaa! Khaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Borrowing the eyes of Waterbirds, I was looking at the scene and muttered, bored.

    ¡°Ah¡­it¡¯s a disgusting picture anytime I see it. The sight of living creatures decaying while still alive and visibly tormented¡­¡±

    As the area was vast, one or two holes began to be punctured in the giant¡¯s long cylindrical head, which had been saturated with decay fluid. The skull was melting down and copsing on itself, turning into a hollow shell. The inside of its long,rge head, which upied half of the giant¡¯s body, was about 90% empty. This was because it acted as a vacuum tube for sound wave attacks. The organs, which act as the brain, were stacked on the lower part of the head, in a tiny space, rtive to the head¡¯s size, in a thick and robust muscr membrane that wasn¡¯t affected by vacuum waves.

    As a result, even when the hole was increasing in his head, the giant wasn¡¯t out of breath. Instead, it half-copsed on the bridge and was crawling on its knees. It seemed like it was trying to get away from the Waterbirds somehow, but it was toote. The Waterbirds, who noticed that the giant was already unable to regenerate, sat down one by one over the giant¡¯s head, although I didn¡¯t order them. Then they stretched out their mouths that looked like a tube, put it on the skin of the giant, and began to suck up the melted flesh ¨C literally like a straw.

    ¡°Ahh¡­ khaaaa!¡±

    The giant¡¯s voice was getting weaker. Indeed the Waterbirds were starving, and their speed of eating the giant¡¯s flesh was exemry. Now its face was almost melted; the huge forehead bones that looked like a shield were partly exposed. The lower part where the eyes, nose, and mouth were gathered had also been tattered and disfigured. Even if I looked under the neck, almost all of the muscle membranes that protected its organs were exposed. And they were melting at a speed that was visible.

    ¡°¡­Ahhhh¡­ khaaaaaa!¡±

    The giant eventually lost control of its body and fell on the bridge.

    -Thump!

    When the giant¡¯s body copsed, the asphalt shattered with a roar, and the entire bridge was rocking. The Waterbirds no longer sprayed the decay fluid. Leaving nothing left, they rushed over the giant¡¯s body and started eating with their tube-like mouths.

    ¡°¡­Ahhhhh¡­ khaaaaaa!¡±

    The giant intermittently breathed out a heavy groan as it was wracked with the pain of being devoured alive. At that speed, the cleanup would be finished in five minutes. I had survived my first crisis of this level. I was proud of myself. I was burying my back deeply on the sofa and putting my hands together on my stomach. Now that the Waterbirds were about to finish their meal, we could bring them back in and return them to their original dimensions.

    It was then¡­

    ¡°A¡¯ng¡¯uooomoo¡­ Ooooioon¡­ Ng¡¯oaawong¡¯o¡­ Om¡¯oo¡­ Wom¡¯oawo¡­ Am¡­ Mom¡¯aawooo om¡¯oaawooong¡­ Mmaaaooowwaa¡­ Ng¡¯owa¡­ Mmawom¡¯aa¡­ ongwoomooaawooo¡­ Aaa¡­ Oaao¡­ Awowo¡­ Mawong¡¯o¡­¡±

    As if squeezing out itsst strength, the giant muttered for a long time in a low voice and then became quiet. Seeing the pectoral movements stopped, it seemed to have stopped breathing. Simultaneously, the disappointing feelings of the Waterbirds, who were connected with me and my mind, were delivered to me. It seemed that the giant didn¡¯tst as long as they expected. After all, they preferred to eat while the prey was still alive. Feeling that the Waterbirds were eating slower than before, I asked Parvache what the giant¡¯sst words were.

    [¡®Since I was a Seed, I didn¡¯t feel good¡­I didn¡¯t know the Truth-Seeker would have opened a channel to such a crazy dimension¡­ Why does such a demon exist in the dimension where humans live¡­we need to inform the tribe¡­this is the dimension where the demon lives¡­they cannote here¡­¡±]

    Oh, the giant¡¯sst words, thankfully, contained cider-like information that solved the question which burned inside of Parvache and me.

 Chapter 10

    The Upside-Down World (1)

    After returning all the Waterbirds to their original dimension, I felt fatigued, weighing heavily upon my body. As I was stretching out on the couch in the living room and watching the TV, I spoke.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do the lesson today. I used up quite a lot of Mana.¡±

    [What? The summoning time wasn¡¯t that long, wasn¡¯t it?]

    I smiled awkwardly and said, ¡°No¡­actually, the Mana leaked out like tap water while I was using the interpreter magic¡­¡±

    [¡­]

    Immature magic was also bad in mana efficiency.

    [¡­You always make excuses for wasting too much, Mana. Because you keep relying on me every time, your magic doesn¡¯t improve at all!]

    ¡°Ah, yes, this disciplecks in training¡­ but I¡¯m really tired today.¡±

    My eyelids were kindly telling me how ridiculously low my level of spell casting was. Why did I use so much mana in a spell that wasn¡¯t really useful? I could be considered to be like an inexperienced driver ck of intuitive understanding of magic) who had stepped on the elerator with side brakes (poor spell control) but barely managed to move a few hundred meters (poor interpretation quality) and only seeded in making the fuel evaporate into the air (exhausted).

    This was almost as if the spell had failed.

    [It¡¯s a good thing. If that giant had been more talkative, you would have used up all your Mana and copsed, exhausted. You would be right behind in such a battle.]

    ¡°¡­If I were in a dangerous situation, I wouldn¡¯t use this magic. Should I just have you interpret from now on?¡±

    Parvache clicked his tongue andmented.

    [Ah, Purbagios! Why did you send your cane to this mushy motherfucker?]

    Upon hearing hisint, I spoke in a tired voice.

    ¡°Did God send you to me? It was me who called you. Anyway, I¡¯m d, the Channel wasn¡¯t pierced from this side, but from the Ashpim Giant¡¯s dimension¡­¡±

    Looking back at the giant¡¯s end, it said that it had seen the Seed form even before the Channel was opened. It seemed that the seed wasn¡¯t made here but in another dimension. In other words, it didn¡¯t seem like the Truth-Seekers were wandering around here. Iy awake on the couch, watching TV again, and closed my eyes without realizing it. Suddenly, a piece of breaking news rang in my ears.

    It was said that armored vehicles and armed troops had finally gathered around the Channel and were besieging it. That would be enough to stop and deal with the additional giants popping out. As soon as it came out of the Channel, it was best tounch a bomb from a distance. When the situation was cleared up, a question arose from within me. In this world where there had been no record ofpletely open Channels since the beginning of human civilization, why had this happened now and in a ce close to me? One day, ten years ago, wasn¡¯t the Channel nted in my body rted to today¡¯s incident?

    ¡°Haaaaaammm¡­¡±

    I yawned loudly and closed my eyes. Since the first event of its kind in civilization¡¯s history had urred twice in a row, if I calcte the probability, it may not happen again for the next few thousand, or even tens of thousands of years. Perhaps today¡¯s events were recorded as thest event to break my peace in this world if I could live in hiding without encountering a Truth-Seeker.

    And from today onwards, humanity would study and discuss this event for a long time, perhaps for a long time spanning over generations. It may be left as an eternal mystery that would never be ovee by our civilization¡¯s intelligence and science. I thought of this and fell asleep with strange emotions brewing within me.

    **

    Time passed; the moment I woke up again, I was hooked to watching TV once more. I realized how absurd and ufortable the thoughts I had been thinking were. What happened at Mapo Bridge was just a part of what happened to the world on that day.

    ¡°¡­What is ¡®The Only Channel¡¯? Damn it.¡±

    Breaking news continued to sh on the TV screen. However, the content was no longer the Mapo Bridge case that took ce several hours ago.

    [Ah, are you awake now?]

    Parvache spoke as if I didn¡¯t deserve it. I think he had been watching TV by my side until now.

    ¡°¡­What¡¯s all this crap?¡±

    I kept changing channels and asking Parvache. Simr screens were appearing on any channel. However, the ces where the situation unfolded were very different, even at a nce.

    [What the hell? Now, you¡¯re fucked up here.]

    Huge Channels simr to the one that appeared on Mapo Bridge was opened in ces all over the Earth, and beings from other worlds were freely entering and roaming on Earth. Yes, the world was turned upside down.

    ***

    ording to the anchor, more than half of the Channels still remained long and torn, and nothing hade out of it. However, it went without saying that its appearance had sent countries around the world into a frenzy.

    ¡°¡­How many were open?¡±

    [After listening to the broadcast, over 200 have been identified so far.]

    ¡°No way. How many hours did I sleep? Are you saying that those 200 new ones were opened recently?¡±

    As I asked back absurdly, Parvache said.

    [It¡¯s 3 a.m. now. You have slept for almost 12 hours.]

    It was the body¡¯s reaction to refill the consumed Mana, after all. Parvache, frightened by the news, tried to wake me up by yelling, but I didn¡¯t wake up at all.

    [At the time the Mapo Bridge Channel was opened, it seems that more than 200 channels were opened in less than 10 minutes. When this neighborhood got into trouble with the Mapo Bridge broadcast, several countries were turned upside down because of Channels in their territories. And if something has already popped out of the Channel¡­there is no such thing as the same race for each Channel. Even human-type creatures have slightly different species. And each of them is a race that cannot exist in the same dimension. In other words¡­]

    ¡°¡­Are all of those Channels connected to different dimensions?¡±

    [I think that¡¯s very likely. I told you, this dimension is screwed.]

    My head was throbbing, so I wrapped my face in my palms and sighed.

    ¡°You said that the dimension where the Asphim Giant came out is the Origin of the Channel. Are all those Channels the same? Over 200 dimensions have channeled here at the same time?¡±

    [If that assumption is correct, it would mean that the Truth-Seekers of many dimensions havepletely opened up adult Channels in their dimensions at one time and intentionally unified the destinated dimension to Earth.]

    ¡°What is that? What kind of multinational¡ªno, is this a multi-dimensional allied invasion scenario?¡±

    Parvache rambled because he was confused as well.

    [No, it was the Truth-Seekers who opened the Channel anyway, but they aren¡¯t interested in aggression or domination. What they intend to do¡­no way, I don¡¯t know what they¡¯re thinking about¡­, but this is a conspiracy. One ensued by many Truth-Seekers.]

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡±

    [The hypothesis that interdimensional Truth-Seekers canmunicate has been suggested for a long time, but damn, the records about Truth-Seeker in the Akashic Records aren¡¯t essible to me! If I had had a little more training before I became a spirit body¡­]

    While listening to his murmur, I realized a possibility and asked Parvache.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that giant lying? Maybe, the Mapo Bridge Channel was also pierced by the Truth-Seeker in this world, and aren¡¯t all other Channels like that? Isn¡¯t that more realistic than the conspiracy of over 200 Truth-Seekers?¡±

    [All those Channels opened with almost no time difference. No matter how strong a Truth-Seeker is, he can¡¯t use the power of Complete Opening more than 200 times within that short time. And as you know, there is only one Truth-Seeker in each dimension.]

    ¡°Ah, what the hell! I don¡¯t know what the intention is, but looking at the result itself is very disturbing.¡±

    The problem was that there are 200 cases. Fortunately, Earth remained intact while I slept, but more than half of the Channels haven¡¯t yet identified the other side¡¯s dimensions. What if the Channel¡¯s inhabitants prefer to eat, catch, or enve rather than talk to human-type creatures? And what if one of them had the power to turn this civilization upside down? I don¡¯t have as much knowledge to properly judge this situation, but governments in each country also have peering ears and eyes. In most cases, whether somethinges out of the Channel or not, barricades had been installed, and troops were queued up.

    Since they already know what has happened in other countries such as Korea, they will have to prepare thoroughly for any contingency.

    ***

    When something popped out of the Channel, it didn¡¯t always attack or threaten humans. It was a lucky case.

    Gray-eyed humanoid creatures emerged from a channel in Hong Kong¡¯s Central Station, and they attempted to speak in anguage they didn¡¯t know. However, surprisingly, the Hong Kong police officers and reporters at the scene who held the camera from a distance naturally understood the meaning of thenguage heard as a sequence of unknown sounds.

    ¡°Fortunately, this is the dimension of civilized humanoid life. Ah! These are really very tall buildings. I salute you for the noble intelligence that made this technology possible. Will you lead us to the rulers of this Earth? We only hope for a phased public/private engagement to have a peace treaty at both levels and the governing body¡¯s approval. We are the vanguard from the dimension of ¡®Dellu##A#Khem.¡¯ Oh, ¡®Dellu##A#Khem¡¯ cannot be tranted as a proper noun. If you measure our dimension, the position is the 23rd dimension, on the 1044th level, and the 52nd Aliu## #Kam, huh? Why can¡¯t Aliu###Kamdo trante? It is the basic term for dimensional recording coordinates. Of course, it exists in yournguage¡­ ah, no, it doesn¡¯t?¡±

 Chapter 11

    The Upside-Down World (2)

    The words spoken by the gray-eyed race were recorded in the reporters¡¯ microphones. The viewers who heard the voice didn¡¯t understand the meaning, like the reporters and squad members at the scene. But there was someone in my living room who could interpret the contents after hearing it. Iughed bitterly when I heard what Parvache had interpreted.

    ¡°Of course, they thought we had been observing their dimensions even before the Channel was opened, so they told them their dimensional coordinates¡­but there is only one human in this world who can understand that.¡±

    It was a situation that themon sense of the other race couldn¡¯t understand. At first nce, Hong Kong¡¯s urbanndscape has achieved a considerable level of civilization. It must have been astonished that there was nonguage to properly trante their words because humans here had no basic knowledge of other dimensions.

    ***

    On the other hand, not all of the civilized races of the Channel¡¯s dimension wanted to exchange andmunicate like the gray-eyed race. Although not hostile, there were also citizens of the dimensions who never wanted two-dimensional passage through the Channel. At around 11 p.m. local time, a Channel opened on thewn in front of the National Constitution Center¡¯s main gate in Phdelphia, U.S.

    ording to the security guard who witnessed the moment when the Channel was created, as soon as a long blue light appeared in front of his eyes, it immediately turned into a circle. The entity walked out at a rapid pace, ¡®as if it had been waiting.¡¯ A human-shaped golden aura formed in front of the Phdelphia Channel, about 10 feet tall, constantly releasing sparks from its whole body and holding a spear-shaped weapon longer than its own height in one hand.

    ording to the security guard¡¯s testimony, as soon as it came out of the Channel, it put the spear in its hand into the ground and stood in front of the Channel as if guarding it. And since that time, all of the American media has been sending out news under the title of The Wonders of Phdelphia.

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    At that moment, all citizens within a mile radius of the Constitution Center heard voices in their heads. Many people were already asleep because it waste at night, but they woke up when they heard that voice. And at that moment, the security guard, who was the only person who was witnessing the golden entity, said that he knew that the sound source in his head must be the existence in front of him. And while all the citizens were confused and bewildered, the voice in their heads spoke one more time.

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    It was a repetition of the same words. However, unlike the first time the citizens heard it, they felt that their minds were beginning to be filled with anxiety. It was abnormal ¨C nervousness and anxiety that couldn¡¯t be understood by reason.

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    When the third voice came in, most of the citizens who heard the sound were trembling with fear. They found themselves restless with extreme panic and a fear of the unknown. Infants and toddlers who couldn¡¯t speak burst into tears, and even adults, who didn¡¯t know what to do, copsed into their seats or, on the contrary, began to wander around the house like crazy. Then, a decisive word followed.

    -Do not approach.-

    As soon as the voice was heard, those who were crouching down and trembling in terror, and those who were walking around without knowing what to do, all began to move as if possessed. ording to an interview with the citizens that took ceter, they just moved with the thought that they should do that.

    Citizens within a mile radius of the Constitution Center, who heard the voice, began to move slowly away from the Constitution Center. They didn¡¯t move alone. After checking each other¡¯s family members in the house, they left the house. Those with elderly parents with limited mobility walked with them. In contrast, parents with infants held their children in their arms and walked. Of those who heard this voice, very few, less than ten people felt that they should move away from there as other people felt when they heard the words ¡°Do not approach,¡± but that didn¡¯t mean that their bodies moved on their own.

    However, even those few people ended up voluntarily choosing to follow their family or neighbors. It was because they were afraid to remain there alone in that weird situation. As people moved a mile from the Constitutional Center, they didn¡¯t think they had to walk anymore, and they couldn¡¯t hear the voice anymore. They naturally stopped walking. So there were no residents left within a mile of the Channel.

    Residents who stopped walking felt anxiety or fear but somehow felt that they shouldn¡¯t go back. Hence no citizens walked back to their house. Among the reporters who gathered that night, one reacted simrly to the few citizens who didn¡¯t unconditionally obey the voice. Mia Keaton, a reporter for The Phdelphia Evening Post, stepped inside the boundaries where everyone else was turning. She felt the voiceing into her head without exception and was horrified.

    She thought she had to take a quick turn and move away. But right after that, she realized that something was different. Although she felt ufortable, she was able to continue standing there. She didn¡¯t turn back and walk outside the border like everyone else. Mia Keaton resisted the voice in her head. She began to move toward the Constitutional Center, the epicenter of the incident. And after a long walk, she confronted the being.

    The existence told her.

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    ¡®¡­You are¡­ no, because you said, ¡°we¡±¡­who are you, people?¡¯

    Then, the golden existence told Mia Keaton what it had not repeated so far. It was the first time since that existence appeared. Mia Keatonter recalled in an article that she felt as if six people were simultaneously talking to her.

    -That information is not meant for you.-

    -We don¡¯t want your attention.-

    -We don¡¯t care about you.-

    -We don¡¯t want your awareness.-

    -Don¡¯t ess this Channel.-

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    These six sentences resounded in her mind in a short moment that felt like an instant. Mia Keaton barely persevered and asked questions, even though she felt a tingling headache scattering inside her head.

    ¡°What¡¯s the Channel? And why¡­don¡¯t you want us? Do you mean¡­ all human beings?¡±

    The existence remained silent for a moment, and the answer returned only after some time had passed. Still, six sentences flew into her head at the same time.

    -¡­The level of civilization is too low. I can¡¯t find a reason to continue themunication.-

    -We do not want the attention of all the races that breathe in your world.-

    -We don¡¯t care about your dimension.-

    -Don¡¯t wonder about us.-

    -¡­Do not approach the blue door guarded by the doorkeeper in front of you.-

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    The sentence¡¯s length was longer than the first, followed by intense pain like her brain was on fire. Meanwhile, Mia Keaton spected. The golden entity in front of her eyes looked like one. Still, she had a strong feeling that six independent individuals were talking to her from somewhere behind it.

    ¡°Just a little bit¡­please give me a little more details!¡±

    -You couldn¡¯t understand our intentions in the first ce. Any furthermunication is meaningless and will damage your nerves. Back off.-

    -Human, tell all your races on this earth, all the races that rule you, and all the races you lead to back off.-

    -We do not care about the existence of other dimensions. Back off.-

    -You don¡¯t know anyway. Back off.-

    -If you dare to cross the Channel, the gatekeeper will punish you. Back off.-

    -Do not approach.-

    At the moment when the words ¡®back off¡¯ ovepped five times and dug into her head, Mia Keaton realized that she could no longer withstand it. Her body turned on its own and began walking with her back on the Constitution Center, just like other citizens were doing. After moving far away, Mia Keaton heard a faint and small voice different from the voices she and the citizens had heard. The sound felt distant in quality, as if a chatter¡¯s voice was caught in the next room with the microphone on. And the voicecked the power to intervene in her will, unlike the ones before.

    The following information she heard was recorded in her article, which was uploaded to The Phdelphia Evening Post¡¯s website a few hourster, and international interest in its authenticity exploded.

    -¡­Ah, it¡¯s not really difficult. It¡¯s a civilization that doesn¡¯t even know what we¡¯re warning about after all. Seniors, you worked hard today. Please bear with it for a while. It¡¯s about the shift time¡­ Oh, I¡¯m sorry for a second.

    Hello? Terry##h#s? Dad is going home soon. Bye! ¡­What? Of course not if you don¡¯t take De###scap for a walk without a leash again, you will be in big trouble when I get home! I¡¯m hanging up!

    ¡­Hmmmm, sorry. Oh, De##scap? No, it¡¯s the pet dragon I bought for my son a while ago. Haha, isn¡¯t it too girly for a home-grown dragon? Everyone thinks it¡¯s a female when they hear its name, but it is actually a male. After about six ##s, I think we can cross-breed it. Now, when it spread all of its wings, it was simr to my 11th tentacle length. Yes, they grow really fast, the dragons.

    Anyway, I say too much, but the natives of this dimension seemed to not know what the Channel is. Oh, sorry! This time the extension phone¡­

    Yes, this is Captain Lu##Caus from The Office of Outer Dimensions Psychological Operations III¡­ Yes. Yes. Ah! Is that so? I will take action. Yes, salute!

    Hey, there Corporal Re##To! Go outside and get amunications officer. What? Is he eating ###? That crazy bastard¡¯s out there, and all the seniors are waiting for him, and he¡¯s eating alone! Tell him to jump quickly together with #####! Ah¡­all the things that weremissioned to that joke are all messed up.

    Oh, the call just now? Themand and control office monitored today¡¯s operation, and they said they heard the noise because the mental interference factor was too strong on the radio frequency¡­ Now that we¡¯re done removing the natives around the Channel, I¡¯ll tell themunication officer to reduce the radio volume.

    By the way, the golem sent to that dimension is an S-ss that has been supplied only ##, but its performance is not very good. It¡¯smon for individuals to have unusually strong mental barriers. Still, out of 3,862 natives in the area, eight of them are not forcibly controlled by recording. Isn¡¯t it too poor for an S-ss to have a 0.2% probability of failure? Oh, it¡¯s an extension phone call¡­sorry.

    Yes, External Dimension Review¡­ Yes? ¡­No, it can¡¯t be¡­ #### is on? Ugh! It can¡¯t be¡­all five #### used by the five psychological propaganda officers, including me, were clearly turned off, except for the transmission of recorded broadcasts¡­yes? I beg your pardon?! Seniors! I got another call from themand and control room right now, but one of the ####s that were sending out our voices is currently on¡­oh damn, you¡¯re fucked! Senior, turn that off. Now!-

    Finally, the harsh voice that was heard by Mia Keaton disappeared, and only the sound that had been heard from the beginning began to resonate repeatedly.

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    -We don¡¯t want you.-

    -Do not approach.-

    -We don¡¯t¡­-

 Chapter 12

    The Upside-Down World (3)

    Hong Kong and Phdelphia were fortunate because there were no casualties. I listened to the TV news while checking the situation around the world with my cell phone. News of casualties came from many cities around the world. It was naive to expect that all the races that came out of the Channels would be peace enthusiasts who boasted a high degree of civilization as in the above two cases.

    Either the existence of the alien world that has passed to the country hadn¡¯t been civilized, had little interest in the humane right of survival, or didn¡¯t know how tomunicate magically. If any of these three were met, a non-trivial problem undoubtedly urred. In most cases, human casualties were involved. However, there were few battlefields in which humankind with modern science didn¡¯t triumph. In many countries, the army won and annihted or defeated the violent creatures and sent them back inside the Channel. Countries that had yet to clear up the situation were already quarantining areas around the Channel to control any further civilian damage.

    However, there were cases in which it was impossible to cope with different races¡¯ disasters with human strength. This was the case for the cities that suffered the most damage on the¡ªCaracas, Cairo, and Munich.

    ***

    Caracas, the capital of Venezu, was the first city to suffer total destruction due to the Channel. It was now hard to find a building that remained intact. As soon as the Channel was opened, odorous seawater poured out under enormous pressure, ignoring thews of physics, and drove around the city as if it had an ego, crushing buildings and sweeping away people. Those who were swallowed by the sea died from drowning or being crushed under the sinking debris. The sight of a tall skyscraper falling apart on impact with the wave was like an unbelievable nightmare, only seen before in films. The waves continually poured out of the Channel. They were now spreading all over Venezu, bringing the nation¡¯s functionality to a standstill.

    ***

    Meanwhile, images of Cairo had surfaced. They were aerial shots that only showed a simr scene as far as the eye could see. Death and enormous mes engulfed the city. This scene was filmed three hours ago, and it was said that even aerial filming was now bing impossible. What came out of Cairo¡¯s Channel was an enormous snake with horns on its head. As soon as the snake emerged from the Channel, it twisted in great pain and began to attack the whole city in a colossal frenzy. The problem was that the snake was huge.

    Its body was over 500 meters in length. Hence, as it bent and traversed downtown Cairo, the city was destroyed, and countless citizens were sacrificed. Besides, when a liquid of unknownposition was sprayed from its horns, the buildings and the grounds covered with it were burned. Jet Fighters were immediately dispatched, and air raids were prepared to sacrifice the citizens still stuck in the epicenter. After the explosion and dust settled, the snake appeared unscathed. The fighter jets were coated with liquid from the snake, leading to a massive explosion.

    The city was destroyed at a rapid pace, and the number of casualties was impossible to count. The capital of North Africa, which had endured the outbreak of the ck Death and the invasion of European countries for over a thousand years, hade to an end, being trampled by colossal animals from another dimension.

    ***

    ¡°Parvache, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s time for me to rx and continue my training in Dimensional leap magic¡­ is there any way toplete it as soon as possible? What if those strange sea waters or crazy snakes cross over here? It doesn¡¯t seem like I¡¯m in a situation where I¡¯ll be hiding alone anymore. I¡¯m gonna have to run away with my mom and sister.¡±

    Indeed, those two kinds were things that I had never seen before, and I couldn¡¯t even ponder winning a fight against them. However, there was already a record in Akashic Records, and Parvache exined to me as if it was a dimensional disaster that could be read.

    [The sea waters¡­hmm. That¡¯s not water. It¡¯s a demon¡¯s body. Those indefinite demons will go back to their own dimension after a little taste of humans who don¡¯t have a handful of mana. And it¡¯s probably never going to cross over to this way. The buildings are tall and strong, so it takes all the power to destroy them. Still, the humans hiding in them don¡¯t really have a single iota of magical power.]

    ¡°Really?¡±

    [What it¡¯s doing now is like chewing some stic that it can¡¯t swallow and spit it out.]

    ¡°Then what about that crazy snake?¡±

    [The me Horned Snake that fell in Cairo¡­it will be weak and hibernate if you leave it. Originally, they are gentle guys because they resemble their master¡¯s personality. Still, it must have been quite surprised to enter such an unknown dimension.]

    ¡°¡­What are those big guys doing? Isn¡¯t it too big to even appear from the Channel?¡±

    [No, even if they didn¡¯t cut its body to pieces orpress the body, crossing the Channel itself isn¡¯t a big issue for the Female Demon of the Inmmation Blood anyway.]

    Parvache turned the subject.

    [Of all the things you¡¯ve seen so far, the real thing to be careful about is that in Germany.]

    I nodded. The details of the Channel that urred in Munich, Germany, weren¡¯t delivered in detail on Korean broadcasts. Instead, the inte¡¯s reaction was explosive, andizens worldwide were divided between the ideas that they had to rescue the citizens of Munich right away, or they had to sacrifice everyone and blow up the entire city by air raids before the creatures left Munich. Munich neither burned nor copsed in the process of the city¡¯s destruction. A cloud of ck smoke from the Channel gradually spread throughout the city, and eventually, it became a huge translucent ck dome that covered the whole city.

    As a result of the military, police, and rescuers¡¯ attempts, it was possible to enter the dome from outside, but the opposite was impossible. It was as if they would never let go of their prey once they had a grip on it. And as time passed, videos shot by people trapped inside the dome began to appear on the inte and broadcast. Running out of the Channel was a two-legged walking creature whose body was covered with red keratin and had a long tail about half its height.

    Depending on the witnesses, some say that their number was in the thousands, and some said tens of thousands. As if theymunicated with each other in a high and sharp voice, they exchanged iprehensible sounds as they scattered around the city. ording to testimonies from citizens who posted requests for help on the inte while hiding, it was systematic and swift as if they were looking at an army.

    They moved at an unimaginable speed for normal creatures and began capturing citizens at random. Parvache spoke when he saw a video of their movement.

 Chapter 13

    The Upside-Down World (4)

    [It is an excellent body eleration magic. You have to be careful when you run against them. And that weapon¡­]

    Their weapon was a delicate glossy metal disk worn on the back of their hand. Whenever they found a citizen, dozens of ck, pointed needles were fired from the disk, and they were lodged in the human¡¯s head, torso, and limbs. The victims immediately stiffened and fell on the spot. These dimensional races moved as a group and recovered the fallen citizens, and piled them up near the Channel.

    They ruthlessly killed the chronically ill or elderly without mercy instead of paralyzing them. When they were harming a person, the disk¡¯s needles didn¡¯t stick to the skin but prated the human body.

    [It¡¯s an artifact that adjusts magical effects and destructive power ording to the user¡¯s will. These things were mass-produced and distributed to the military. Their civilization level is very high. Moreover, seeing them move isn¡¯t a skill they¡¯ve done once or twice. They were thoroughly trained. Those guys¡­must have been waiting for the Channel to open and repeatedly hunted the creatures of the other dimensions.]

    ess to Akashic Records didn¡¯t guarantee an entire truth. Parvache could ess information on specific races,nguages, and dimensional structures, but he couldn¡¯t gain ess to everything listed. Parvache knew that the species currently hunting in Munich were intelligent creatures that evolved based on reptiles. Although there were subtle differences in species depending on the dimension, it wasn¡¯t rare for them to dominate various dimensions. However, there was no information about what kind of habitat or dimension those creatures originated from. There was no choice but to guess from the present clues.

    As time went by, the number of people who were hunted andid around the Munich channel increased, and if you looked at the hidden footage of the scene, it became hard to breathe. This dimensional race seemed to be capturing people alive for some reason. When the number of people umted to a certain extent, other groups came out of the Channel to collect the people scattered around the Channel and disappeared into the Channel.

    The survivors inside the dome frequently called for rescue over the phone and the Inte. The German government decided to send troops to save the citizens¡¯ lives, although it wasn¡¯t clear how to get out of the dome again. The n was to find a way to escape the dome once those dimensional race creatures were eliminated and the hostages were secured. As a result, they seeded in killing about a hundred individuals of this race. Still, they moved swiftly and neutralized the German troops. The rescue troops were eventually caught helplessly in front of the dimensional creatures that responded with speed beyond human imagination- paralyzed, tied up, and thrown in front of the Channel.

    After some time passed, the dimensional race stopped hunting. Even though they knew there were survivors, they were mockingly wandering in front of the building where citizens were hiding as if waiting for something. And as time went on, they seized some unarmed citizens and took them to the border of the dome. They tore the citizen¡¯s bodies to pieces and scattered them on the floor. The German troops watched from the outside helplessly. It was a tant provocation. Enraged soldiers shot into the dome, but theyughed it away.

    The German government had now been unable to deploy additional troops, even though it was clear that there were survivors inside the dome.

    [It seems like they haven¡¯t reached a good number yet.]

    Parvache, who was listening to Munich¡¯s situation, which I found out over the Inte, said.

    [It¡¯s a provocation to send in rescue troops¡­so, they get more prey into the hunting ground]

    ¡°To save the survivors?¡±

    [Right.]

    ¡°¡­Parvache.¡±

    [What?]

    I thought about it for a while and then said.

    ¡°At the level of civilization in this world you¡¯ve seen so far¡­can humanity fight those guys and win without my help?¡±

    [Assuming you didn¡¯t help?]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Parvache pondered for a moment before answering.

    [If it¡¯s about the size of the current city right now, I think it¡¯s possible. Like the intement you read, if the government detonates a few bombs, the hostages will be lost, but no matter how fast those guys escaped with the power of magic, they won¡¯t be able to escape from the fiery explosion of a bomb.]

    ¡°But¡­what if they don¡¯t stop?¡±

    [Yes, that¡¯s the problem. Whether they are capturing humans for food, envement, or mana extraction like the demon races¡­it will depend on the reason. Still, Munich¡¯s situation will not end, and additional troops will invade. And there will be an all-out war. First of all, what bothers me is that they know how to use magic.]

    ¡°The artifacts from before aren¡¯t all they have, right?¡±

    [Sure. Seeing the way they move, it seems that they brought a scale for hunting purposes only. Still, if they go into an all-out war, war artifacts that aren¡¯t here yet will be mobilized, and it¡¯s an unfavorable fight for this civilization that is ignorant of magic. But¡­]

    Parvache seemed to organize his words for a moment and proimed rightfully.

    [But, if you think about it¡­this world¡¯s ignorance of the magic is yesterday¡¯s story, and wouldn¡¯t it be different now?]

    ¡°Are you telling me to teach mankind magic?¡±

    [No, you don¡¯t have to be a teacher.]

    ¡°¡­Ah! I see.¡±

    It was only then that I realized what Parvache was trying to say. Yes, until yesterday, there was nowhere to learn about magic. I was presumably the only one who knew any form of magic. But it was different now that over 200 Channels had been opened.

    [For a simple example, the races that appeared in Hong Kong were certainly possessors of magical knowledge. It is impossible to fight those red reptiles by learning magic in a short period, but you can ask for help and get a clue to break that ck barrier. And how to fight against them¡­you could get some artifacts through a mutually beneficial deal.]

    Then Parvache added a meaningful word.

    [Of course, this is only when humankind speaks out and negotiates with other races. The gray-eyed races will contact the Hong Kong government¡­or even the Chinese Communist Party. However, it is Germany that is directly affected by the red reptiles. Unless they are sure that those reptiles will be a threat to China, will China actively seek help from the gray-eyed race to save Germany? Is there any impact on China¡¯s benefit to be obtained through negotiations?]

    Now Parvache seemed to know very well how this world worked.

    [People on the Inte are worried that the reptiles wille out of the world and follow their own country. If those guys are as good as me at fighting, why are they provoking and trying to drag humans inside? Why don¡¯t theye out to this world?]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [Isn¡¯t there a reason they can¡¯te out of the boundary? That barrier may have other uses other than trapping. I¡¯m sure the governments of each country are carefully considering this possibility. China will not give up weighing because of the irrational fear that those guys can run from Germany to China at any time.]

    ¡°¡­Yes, that¡¯s true. China or any country is going to be selfish until they get a spark on themselves anyway, right?¡±

    [Yeah. And we also have to go that way, Min-joon.]

    Parvache called my name like he is trying to tell another essential story. He said with force.

    [Can you estimate how each government will move? We must go out more desperately than them. Even if the government fails once or twice, the country will not be disbanded, but if you make a mistake, your life will be lost.]

    ¡°¡­Me? Being selfish?¡±

    [Yes. As I said, this world is fucked up now. As far as I know, there has never been a case in which these many Channels are opened at once. Maybe the world can hold out, maybe not.]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [But you can¡¯t evene out to save this world, and you don¡¯t have the ability to do that. Now, if you fly to Germany and analyze the magical patterns of that barrier, you can probably destroy the barrier and rescue the hostages. But then you be the target of the red reptiles, catch the eyes of the many intelligent races who havee into contact with this world, and attract attention from humanity as well. It¡¯s not imminent, but the greatest danger of being exposed to Truth-Seekers one day will be inevitable.]

    I sympathized and nodded. Parvache continued to speak.

    [China will not be actively moving until they are convinced that those reptiles will be a threat to their country. The same goes for you. You can¡¯t respond to all of the unknown dangers that will emerge from over 200 different dimensions. You can¡¯t fly the Waterbirds across the continent, can you? Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?]

    ¡°¡­Yeah. I understand.¡±

    When ites to my safety, Parvache had no room for negotiation. After listening to the lecture with simr contents over thest ten years, I made up my mind. Yes, I don¡¯t have to go out. The Channel of Mapo Bridge was too close to my house, which is why I had to help, but that Channel in Germany was too far away to spark a fire right now. Moreover, after the Mapo Bridge channel, China and Japan¡¯s channels close to my barriers hadn¡¯t yete out. Even if something came out, it wasn¡¯t a more fatal threat to humankind than Caracas, Cairo, or Munich.

    Even if more Ashpim Giants appear on Mapo Bridge, it would be possible to resolve them at the Korean military level. Yes, I am safe here.

    There was no need for me to step up.

    While muttering in my mind, Parvache added a wedge.

    [Yes, the world has turned upside down, but you don¡¯t have to be the one to sort it out.]

 Chapter 14

    Taking a Risk to be Safer (1)

    Someone was pointing at me and grumbling.

    ¡°It¡¯s him¡­¡±

    Yoon Min-joon says he doesn¡¯t have a dad / Really? Where is his dad? / He said he didn¡¯t know.

    It was a dream. As I learned magic, my spirituality expanded, and I often had lucid dreams. Today¡¯s dream was a bit boring. It was a dream about past memories, so they didn¡¯t have much sentimental value. If it weren¡¯t something I had experienced, I would have expected it to be a foresight dream. I watched myself in my dreams like a stranger without much emotion.

    I think I was about nine years old¡ªthe withdrawn old me. I was used to this whispering around me. But I pretended I didn¡¯t hear it and yed well with my ssmates or neighborhood kids. I yed around the yground or the neighborhood alley and imitated the Soul Warrior Parvache. Ah, yes. Parvache¡ªthat cartoon, that toy, and my¡­

    Thendscape changed. More fingers were pointing at me.

    ¡°It¡¯s him¡­¡±

    Yoon Min-joon talks with toys. / Really? Yoon Min-joon, are you crazy? / Mom told me not to y with him.

    Oh my! What I thought while observing myself in my dream was reflected in the dream scene. What I see now was myself after meeting ¡°My Parvache.¡± Yes, I started getting bullied. I, in my dreams, no longer hung out with other kids. I was quarreling with my friends while I was arguing that Parvache was talking to me. But more than that, I think the parents told their children not to y with me because they found out that I was getting psychiatric counseling.

    At the age of nine, I waspletely self-conscious. Of all things, I met Parvache when I was too young and before my head grew any wiser. I put myself in a difficult situation by talking casually about stories that others couldn¡¯t believe. As I¡¯m thinking about Parvache, it seemed natural that Parvache appeared in front of the young me in my dream. It appeared in my dreams, not as an ordinary robot, but always as a young man with sharp eyes.

    Both features and bodily shape weren¡¯t very different from humans on this. The peculiar thing was that the colorful tattoos on his face, neck, and arms exposed outside his clothes wriggled as if they were alive, and they ran dynamically over his skin. In Parvache¡¯s words, this was the actual image of Parvache as perceived by my spirit. To be precise, it was a form close to his origin. Just because I saw this in my dreams didn¡¯t really mean his mental body was in my dreams, though. It was an illusion that my brain had made up using all the ingredients left in my unconscious mind.

    With the face of a young man, Parvache in my dream spoke. With a child¡¯s face, I answered in the dream.

    [You have to run away. You have to hide. You have to be prepared]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    [If you die, I can¡¯t exist either. We¡¯re in the same boat.]

    ¡°Now, I know what it means. I understand.¡±

    [You are a genius, with a little more effort, ¡®we can be safe.]

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard it over and over, I know.¡±

    [I will help you. I am the collective consciousness of great magic. I will give you the knowledge that the wizards of my world have dedicated generations to master. This is all for¡­]

    ¡°¡­For my safety?¡±

    [Right. For your safety. To avoid the hands of Truth-Seeker.]

    As I listened to our conversation ¨C in my dreams, I heard a word that suddenly popped out, and I had an ominous feeling. And, as always, this kind of hunch was never wrong. Suddenly, the ground copsed, and the surroundingndscape poured in. At one time, Parvache disappeared, and the house ceiling, where I lived at the age of 9, was now visible. In a single room, something huge was standing and looking down at me, lying down.

    I squinted my eyes. A blue light shed, but my vision was blurred; I couldn¡¯t see it well. My mother and my younger sister, who was sleeping next to me, weren¡¯t aware of anything. After looking at me for a while, the colossal being made a small sound.

    ¡°¡­Tsk!¡±

    It sounded like terrible displeasure. And just like the dream that I had repeated several times, a Channel was opened in my chest. It seemed to be watching me for a while, then quietly disappeared from the room.

    ¡®What was he so unpleasant about?¡¯ I tried to think while looking at myself in my dream, but I couldn¡¯t know the answer. As I fell asleep in my dreams, the world began to sway and sink into darkness. Instead of falling into a deep sleep, I was going to wake up. Not me in my dreams but me in reality.

    ***

    -The German government has deployed the second unit of federal troops to rescue the victims in downtown Munich at 2 a.m. local time today.

    -German Prime Minister Neunman, who dered a state of war, immediately took over themand of the war from the Minister of Defense and approved the Armored Division and Special Operations Unit¡¯s subsequent operation.

    -There is a high voice of criticism in Germany over the entry order issued without a means of escape.

    -After three hours of operation, allmunications with the troops have been lost¡­

    I must have slept with the TV on again; it had be a long-standing habit. I woke up listening to the news. After 5 a.m. yesterday, I fell asleep while watching TV and Inte trends. Looking at the phone, it was already broad daylight. Even though I took a nap all day yesterday, I could sleep much more. As I slid the mobile phone screen open, I saw several messages of concern from my mother and younger sister.

    I solved the Mapo Bridge incident yesterday afternoon and made a phone call before going to bed, but they still seem to feel worried. The two who believed I¡¯m in a university dormitory in eastern Seoul couldn¡¯t even imagine that the Mapo Bridge Channel and where I lived was this close. They were just anxious that the incident took ce in downtown Seoul. I replied with the report that I was alive and well, and I got up after clearing my seat.

    ¡®Ugh!¡¯

    If I add up the nap time, my whole body ached because I slept ufortably on the sofa for over 15 hours. I did a bare-handed bodyweight workout and questioned Parvache.

    ¡°Is there anything big that went offst night?¡±

    [Almost the same situation as when you slept. There seem to be no additional Channels open.]

    He didn¡¯t tell me the news that woke me up, the one about soldiers entering the Munich Channel and losing contact. Was it because it was on the news anyway? I asked Parvache as if nothing happened, ¡°Today¡¯s lesson, what time?¡±

    [No, for the time being¡­let¡¯s take a few days off.]

    ¡°Really? Shouldn¡¯t we be elerating our lessons at times like this? What if the world goes down before the Truth-Seekeres to get me? I must get ready to run away.¡±

    [We don¡¯t know if the Channels have stopped or will continue¡­we don¡¯t even know what dimension the quiet Channel has led to. What if we suddenly have an ident when we¡¯re out of Mana because of practicing? What if a Channel suddenly opens in your bedroom when you blow your Avatar to another dimension?]

    ¡°Ah¡­well, that¡¯s true.¡±

    [I need some time to get a sense of how things are going. Don¡¯t do useless things for a while, and save your Mana. I can¡¯t give you the Mana you don¡¯t have.]

    ¡°Yes, yes.¡±

    [And! If you hear a different dimensionnguage on the TV, don¡¯t use trantion magic that doesn¡¯t work, or you will really fall behind. If you are curious, just ask me.]

    ¡°If I don¡¯t practice like that, I can¡¯t use that magic all my life?¡±

    Although he was about to curse, he didn¡¯t.

    [Practiceter when you are at peace or when you are free.]

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know if I cane back to peace and leisure in this world.¡±

    Parvache pretended not to hear me and just kept talking.

    [And, you!]

    ¡°Ah, what else!¡±

    [Go out and buy batteries! While you¡¯re sleeping, I can¡¯t turn channels with this idiot remote control, and I was so frustrated! I endured trying to stick it into your snoring nostrils!]

    Ah, that¡¯s kind of annoying. I replied, trying to escape somehow.

    ¡°Hmm¡­shake it hard here and there, and press the button tactfully, and it¡¯ll work.¡±

    [Shut up and get out of here!]

    ¡°I went out yesterday. The next outing is when I shop next week.¡±

    [Ah, youzy couch potato bastard.]

    ¡°For my own safety, I prefer to hide in my safe house¡­¡±

    [Did I tell you to go to Myeongdong to buy batteries? Did I ask you to go to Gangnam? The mart is two minutes away on foot. It¡¯s still inside the barrier anyway!]

    ¡°The safest ce within the barrier is our home¡­my magical fortress on Earth¡­¡±

    [The backdoor connected to your mind is not closed yet. I can¡¯t force you to walk to a distance like a mart, but I can make you clean the toilet with your tongue inside the house!]

    ¡°Ah, yes! I¡¯ll be right back! Give me five minutes!¡±

    I left the front door, swearing inwardly. I would definitely buy rechargeable batteries today.

 Chapter 15

    <ol> <li> Taking a Risk to be Safer (2)</li> </ol>

    I quickly realized as I walked outside the house how the neighborhood was different from yesterday. I went to the mart around this time yesterday, so only 24 hours had passed.

    It waspletely changed in only 24 hours.

    There were no civilians on the street! I ran across a few cars, but I could hardly find anyone walking around. The only people I saw were soldiers wearing motley greenbat uniforms. Looking at the military uniform, I suddenly recalled the unpleasant MMA text that I received yesterday. Ipletely forgot to find out about KNOU because it was so hectic. I walked for a few minutes and arrived at therge mart in theplex residential basement. There were no people on the roadside because all the people in this neighborhood were gathered here.

    ¡°Dear customers! Ramen is limited to only one box per customer!¡±

    ¡°Ma¡¯am! Ahhhh! Please don¡¯t push, Sir!¡±

    The mart¡¯s employees desperately tried to control the customers, but there was no use when they pushed each other. The global phenomena, including the Mapo Bridge incident that continued from yesterday, seemed to have nted tremendous anxiety in people¡¯s minds. Every corner was full of people. It was the kind of hoarding I had only seen on TV before. A scene caught my eye when I finished shopping and dragged a much simpler cartpared to the others to the checkout counter.

    ¡°Huh? That girl?¡±

    I guessed she was about six years old. A girl was grabbing and pulling a woman¡¯s hem that appeared to be her mother.

    ¡°Mom! Ice cream! Ice Cream!¡±

    ¡°Choi Soo-jin! Really, stop pulling my clothes! Why did you follow me all the way here when I told you to stay home!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t even go to kindergarten today! I¡¯m bored at home!¡±

    Around the girl¡¯s body, there was a wave that only I could recognize. As mentioned earlier, it seemed that I was the only real wizard on this. At least as far as I could grasp, there was no knowledge to nurture wizards in this world. So, was I the only one on this with such a talent? The correct answer was no.

    It wasn¡¯t as much as I was when I was young, but still, children who have a wizards¡¯ talent sometimes stood out. I have to emphasize it here, but I could see it once in a while sometimes. I had seen only three people in 2 years since I moved to this town. And the reason my gaze was now on that little girl was that the waves around her body were clearly stronger than when I saw her before. Anyway, I had never heard of her name. Was it Choi Soo-jin?

    ¡°Is there a reason for the sudden surge? Something must have happened in the meantime.¡±

    I passed the mother and daughter¡¯s side as I turned over. It was a talent that¡¯s hard to see, but so what? Now I¡¯m standing in front of her, and I¡¯m like, ¡®Oh, she¡¯s got an amazing wizard talent. If she meets a good teacher, she¡¯s going to be sessful.¡¯ Should I tell her that? She wouldn¡¯t believe it anyway, and there¡¯s no teacher in the world to teach her. I kept walking, but I had to stop again.

    ¡°Hey, what day is it today? Do all people in this neighborhood really gather at the mart?¡±

    This time, I don¡¯t remember his face, but waves were flowing all over his body, even a wave as big as the girl I had seen moments ago. This time, it was a boy. He looked like a junior high school student, or he was probably a prematurely developed elementary school student. Children with wizard talents would begin to age rapidly if they didn¡¯t open the circuit before puberty.

    Besides, if it was such a powerful wave, it was usually the power seen by five or six. I didn¡¯t know what to say, but he was a genius, too.

    ¡°¡­Do you know me?¡±

    Suddenly the boy looked at me, stopping and staring at him with strange eyes, and asked.

    ¡°Oh, no. You look like someone I know. But when I looked closely, you¡¯re not.¡±

    I looked around and rushed back. At this point, I started to feel ufortable. How many more steps had I taken? I arrived at the cash register and took out what was in the cart. Then¡­

    ¡°Oh, shit. What¡¯s going on here?¡±

    I had no choice but to stiffen in ce.

    ¡°Yes, Sir? I¡¯ll help you with the payment. Sir?¡±

    The female cashier standing in front of me looked at me, puzzled. She was probably in herte 20s or her early 30s. No matter how much I look, she didn¡¯t seem under twenty. Even if she was born with a wizard¡¯s talent, the circuit should havepletely degenerated if it didn¡¯t develop.

    But there was a wave that was as powerful as the children I encountered today. It was a wizard¡¯s talent that didn¡¯t fit the age, twice in a row. I swallowed the curse that came up my throat.

    Damn it, why was this world going crazy all of a sudden?

 Chapter 16

    Taking a Risk to be Safer (3)

    When I returned home, I talked to Parvache about the strange phenomena I witnessed, but he couldn¡¯te up with the right answer about it. He looked rtively calm in contrast to me, who was making a fuss. Compared to the case where hundreds of channels were suddenly opened in one dimension, humans whose magical circuits were regenerated wasn¡¯t shocking news at all.

    That was possible, and he seemed to believe in that theory. However, when looking at the incident¡¯s timing, we both agreed that it was clearly rted to the random Channel opening yesterday.

    ¡°The battery recement has beenpleted.¡±

    I spoke sarcastically, but Parvache responded casually.

    [Turn on the news.]

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s all breaking news for the past two days anyway, no matter what channel you¡¯re on¡­¡±

    [Isn¡¯t it an ? Turn somewhere else.]

    ¡®Yes, I am your servant.¡¯

    I turned the channel while grumbling inside. Wasn¡¯t I the only wizard in the world? Then what am I doing? I¡¯m sitting cooped up in my house with my talking robot and magic teacher, Parvache. ¡®I¡¯m the only wizard¡¯ was now an old story. A way to interact with the inhabitants of another dimension had been opened. People whose original Mana circuits degenerated were now resonating. The obstacles that magic didn¡¯t spread in this world had been resolved.

    Yes, the faster humanity learned magic, the higher the odds against a hostile race. Even if I don¡¯t have to step out, they will cope well¡ªwhat a good thing. Then, a sharp siren sound began to re outside the window.

    -Whoo-wee-whoo-whee!

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    It¡¯s a sound I heard only on civil defense training days, but it was much louder than usual. At the same time, a disaster text flew into my cell phone. I had it once, and I thought I¡¯m well prepared.

    -[Emergency Disaster Message] An abnormal situation urred near Mapo Bridge at 12:54. Seoul citizens, please refrain from going out.

    ***

    Before long, live broadcast videos of Mapo Bridge began to fill every channel. Changes were seen on the Mapo Bridge Channel, which had been quiet for a day. The shape changed to a circle like yesterday, and the blue cross-section shook as if boiling violently.

    [The second wave ising.]

    Shortly after Parvache finished speaking, a giant began to walk out of the Channel. This time, it wasn¡¯t alone¡ªtwo more stepped out in a row behind it. And the moment the third giant pushed its huge head into this world.

    -Boom! Bang bang!

    The cannons fired one after another from the tanks that surrounded the Channel.

    ¡°Ngggooooo!¡±

    The screams of giants resonated. The first two giants were shot, their flesh and blood bursting apart were captured on the camera. Judging from the sound¡¯s vibration, it seemed that they let out their sonar attacks. Still, fortunately, there were no soldiers nearby. It looked like they had evacuated early after seeing signs of the Channel moving. After yesterday¡¯s experience, the military desperately learned the Ashpim Giant¡¯s dangers. It seemed that they had ordered an immediate attack if something simr came out.

    -Boom!

    Thest giant¡¯s huge, elongated forehead, which only pushed its head out of the Channel, was also hit, resulting in a big hole. It was a brainless soundbox; the giant wouldn¡¯t have died if it were pierced. It screamed and quickly pulled its head back into the Channel, and only the first two were left in this world.

    -Boom! Bang bang!

    As the cannons set fired in a row, the remaining two giants stumbled, fell, and eventually stopped moving. It was an overwhelming victory less than five minutes after the giants appeared. The news anchor spoke excitedly.

    -Dear Viewers! As you can see, the giant creatures attacked by the Republic of Korea were neutralized. Judging from the fact that they stopped movingpletely, they seem to be dead!

    ¡°Ohh! Good, good.¡±

    p p!

    Amazed, I pped my hands, but Parvache spoke in a tingling voice.

    [Why are you so loud?]

    ¡°Hey, let¡¯s give them a big hand. They¡¯re doing great. They shoot the giants as soon as they get out. They beat the giants even before theye to my barrier. Of course, I¡¯ll p for them! Way to go, soldier! Keep working! Work hard!¡±

    [What¡¯s so great? ¡­It was only active soldiers doing their duty properly.]

    A robot spoke with sarcasm to me as if it were military personnel.

    ¡°¡­You know so much about this world.¡±

    I didn¡¯t think it mattered if the Earth records weren¡¯t listed on Akashic Records forever. It should have had a lot of knowledge. Even after two giants fell to the floor and werepletely out of action, the tanks remained in ce. However, some strange tanks stood out among them. Most tanks were fixed facing the Channel, but some rotated at an angle as if they were trying to intercept the air differently. It¡¯s as if they were on the lookout for aerial defenses.

    Now that I see it, it seemed that a few tanks that carried surface-to-air missiles were mixed and deployed in the first ce. No matter how tall a monster was, wasn¡¯t that too high and too far? How did I know about this? This was also because of Parvache. When it couldn¡¯t get the world¡¯s knowledge through Akashic Records, it had no choice but to acquire knowledge through encyclopedias, the inte, and TV. And when Parvache was still unable to move, I had to hand over a book, turn a mouse wheel, or flip through the channels all day.

    Parvache paid a lot of attention to the armed forces¡¯ system in this world without magic, and I, who looked over its shoulder, now knew what weapons were. The anchor soon answered my question. It seems that these tanks were not arranged only to guard the Channel.

    -Yes, even though both giants are neutralized, the military forces near Mapo Bridge seem to remain vignt. If you look at the screen, you can also see many aerial defense weapons. Like yesterday, it appears that they are simultaneously carrying out an operation in preparation for the appearance of flying creatures with ck wings.

    Ah, So, I was the main culprit. Those air defense weapons seemed to have been deployed just like yesterday in case cows, no, the Waterbirds of Decay were flying. In fact, what happened yesterday in Korea, regardless of the size of the damage, caught the world¡¯s attention because the Waterbirds flew in from the sky rather than the Channel.

    The fact that the Waterbirds appeared as an unidentified entity was also a problem, and the whereabouts of where they had disappeared seems to be a big issue. All the people were trembling with extreme anxiety without notice that they appeared on the roof of an average apartment in Mok-dong and returned to their original dimensions. It was because they didn¡¯t know whether those mysterious creatures that quickly melted a giant over 10 meters tall would reappear and attack.

    ¡°It¡¯s all useless worries.¡±

    I clicked my tongue while looking at the footage of the Waterbirds. The army was holding the giants so well. Why would I send the Waterbirds again? However, from the people¡¯s perspective, there was no way to know that they were under my control.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to prepare everything like that. They aren¡¯t harmful.¡±

    As I muttered, the data screen was turned over, and there was a scene where dozens of Waterbirds were spraying a white liquid over the Han River bridge all at once yesterday. The anchor¡¯sment followed the screen in the background.

    -The fluid that those flying creatures sprayed into the giant yesterday rapidly dposes biological tissue. The government estimated that the mass death of fish and shellfish in the lower Han River, Ganghwa Ind, and the coast of Incheon Port, which has continued for the second day, is due to this toxic liquid that fell over the Han River yesterday.

    -ordingly, the government announced through an urgent announcement that the use of Han River water for the Arisu factory and any other purpose would be prohibited.

    -Some analysis showed that the damage caused by ck-winged creatures is more significant than that of giant creatures if environmental damage, excluding human damage and property damage such as farms, is considered. The more severe problem is that it is not even clear whether the contaminated river and seawater can ever be restored¡­

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [¡­]

    Since I sprayed enough to decay the body of a 10-meter tall giant, it seemed that a lot of it fell into the Han River. The spray was spouting like water, but of all things, it was on the bridge. To be honest, I didn¡¯t expect this to happen. I didn¡¯t think the power to dpose organic material would be maintained even after mixing with water.

    Looking at the screen¡¯s data, it seems that the dilution in the river and seawater wasn¡¯t enough to melt the flesh and bones of living things like the Ashpim Giant. However, it was still enough to kill small creatures such as fish and marine flora. I spoke as I thought that I should test the limitations of the amount of decay that the Waterbird produced.

    ¡°¡­I didn¡¯t care because the decay liquid would disappear spontaneously if it didn¡¯t react with living things.¡±

    [Even though it¡¯s diluted, the power doesn¡¯t disappearpletely, the decaying continues because it¡¯s mixed with the river water, and it keeps spreading.]

    ¡°If I leave it as it is, it won¡¯t disappear, will it?¡±

    [It¡¯s not just fish in the water. If it reacts with something like green algae and keeps it dposed, it will keep spreading¡­]

    At this rate, I will destroy not only a race but also the Earth¡¯s ecosystem.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to deal with that¡­¡±

    [Do you really have to?]

    Parvache reacted sensitively.

    ¡°Of course, I should do it in a way that my identity will not expose. I¡¯m not saying that I¡¯m going to go to the Han River and cleanse it right away, so don¡¯t be so serious.¡±

    [Well, then¡­]

    Neglecting the Channels of other countries was different from ignoring the environmental disasters I hadmitted. In a situation where the dposing power was unknown, it was impossible to know how far the damage would escte. To be more selfish, I can¡¯t sleep when the rivers and seas near me were polluted.

    [What are you going to do?]

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it the fastest way to spray the artifacts enchanted with purification magic in the rivers and the sea?¡±

    [Rivers were no problem, but how do you bring artifacts to the sea? You won¡¯t go out of the barrier, and even if you summoned anything, you wouldn¡¯t be able to control it that far.]

    ¡°If neither the one I summoned nor I can do it, I should get the help of someone who can do it. Let¡¯s see¡­ah, thank God, that person is in Seoul.¡±

    Parvache nodded as if it knew what I was talking about. After I finished speaking, I climbed the stairs leading to my house¡¯s third floor. Due to my apartment¡¯s structure, the ceiling¡¯s height was only about 2.5 meters. However, the stairs I climbed keep going up to a floor that couldn¡¯t actually exist inside my house.

    The length of the stairs was a scale that couldn¡¯t be found in an 80-meter square house. In the first ce, the interior structure of each household in this apartment was single-story. There couldn¡¯t be a three-story duplex in one house. Arriving on the third floor, I opened the inside warehouse door and started searching inside.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­aha! Luckily, we have some stock of low-grade elixir. Actually, the appointed day is next week, but I can go to see my client tomorrow. Oh shit, going out for three days in a row. It is a new record after the barrier waspleted. Why is that damn Channel in Seoul? Why is it so hard for me?¡±

    Parvache answered in my head from the first floor.

    [Anyway, your life is twisted because of the Channel in your chest. Compared to the hardships you do because of the Channel attached to your body, it¡¯s like nothing.]

    ¡°¡­Thank you very much for reminding me.¡±

    I took a green ss bottle out of the warehouse and came back down to the first floor.

    [But can you not see your client today? Why tomorrow?]

    I shrugged and said.

    ¡°I am a man who knows manners.¡±

 Chapter 17

    Taking a Risk to be Safer (4)

    Maybe she was busy, so I couldn¡¯t call her up by notifying her of the appointment. Wasn¡¯t it polite to give her a day or so? I didn¡¯t have an artifact in my hands right now, and it took time to create one. Pollution near the West Sea would inevitably fester for a few more days. Certainly, I didn¡¯t want to go outside again today. I sat on the couch and summoned a small creature through the Channel in my chest. The creature was a ss that could be easily summoned without having to bother to go to the roof.

    -Keeek, keeeek.

    A lump of flesh about the size of a baseball floated in the air before my eyes. It had dark maroon skin with no strands of hair growing on it, a long torn mouth, and one ear immersed in the flesh without an earlobe. I grabbed it in one hand and spoke, holding the ear close to my mouth, at a whispering distance.

    ¡°Yes¡­client. It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve eaten together. How about Chinese food? See you at 1:00 tomorrow at the Magical Garden. As usual, please make a reservation¡­ it¡¯s two weeks earlier than the promised day, but I¡¯ll bring a ¡®gift.¡¯ Tomorrow¡­it¡¯s lemon vor.¡±

    When I had finished speaking, I squeezed the creature in my hand to make sure the recording went well. The words I had spoken flew out of its mouth, and its body was crumpled. It was a voice that had been altered so that the original voice couldn¡¯t be understood. After confirming that thest word was well recorded, I opened the window on the first floor and blew it out.

    The destination had already been synchronized telepathically. It was confirmed that the recipient was in Seoul and hence flew away from the strange creature, carrying my message. If I was too far away, I couldn¡¯t control my pet; I had to let it go when I knew she was in Seoul. I didn¡¯t know where the person who would receive this message would be going tomorrow, because she had so many local business trips.

    ¡®By the way, what should I wear tomorrow?¡¯

    ***

    The next day,

    I stood at a Chinese hotel restaurant entrance on the hillside overlooking the Han River and Anyangcheon Stream. Fortunately, it was in business. No matter how overwhelmed the world was by the sudden appearance of strange races and magical beings, business was business; people had to eat and live.

    This restaurant was one of the ces that my client had chosen to meet after I gave her a rough idea of ??the range of mypleted barrier. I asked her to set up an appointment only within this range. Looking at the ce, I wondered, ¡°My client has such expensive tastes.¡± A friendly staff greeted me at the restaurant entrance. Unlike me, they didn¡¯t recognize me at all. It was expected. I lookedpletely differentpared to thest time I came here.

    I spoke with the middle-aged man. He seemed to be in his 40s, and his face had a bit of roundness to it.

    ¡°Can you see if there is a reservation in the name of Lee Seo-rin? Two people.¡±

    The man flinched for a moment when he heard the name that was too familiar at unexpected times and then turned to the reservation book.

    ¡°Oh, I¡­I¡¯m sorry. Sir, I can¡¯t confirm today¡¯s reservation under the name you gave me¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, really? Hmm, it¡¯s a mess. Under what name did I make a reservation?¡±

    ¡°May I look for any reservations under your name? May I have your name, please?

    I waved my hand in denial of his request.

    ¡°No, I wouldn¡¯t have made a reservation under my name.¡±

    It was because my client didn¡¯t know my name, after all.

    ¡°I¡¯ve made a reservation under some other name, not my name. Could you take a look again just in case?¡±

    At that time, a cold voice came from behind my back.

    ¡°You can just go in with me.¡±

    I turned my head. It was the client. It looks like she was listening to our conversation from behind me. A woman with ck, long, straight hair was looking at me with her arms crossed. She was a little over 170cm, but today she was simr to me in height because she was wearing high heels. I could see her eyes staring at me from under the pale sunsses she was wearing. She wore sunsses, but she couldn¡¯t hide her natural beauty. An employee who recognized her ran out quickly.

    ¡°Ah! It¡¯s been a long time since I saw you. I was just wondering, but I guess you really made a reservation today. By the way, what name did you make your reservation under? It wasn¡¯t in the record right now, so I was checking with yourpanion who came first.¡±

    She took off her sunsses, staring disapprovingly at me as her panion who came first.¡± As the beautiful face with a subtle mix of Eastern and Western culture was fully revealed, the hotel lobby began buzzing with people who recognized her in an instant. It seems that many eyes were staring at us. I could roughly make out the distant whispering, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s Lee Seo-rin!¡±, ¡°Wow, I saw a celebrity today!¡± and a few more simr chants, spoken in hushed, excited voices. She looked at me, tilted her head, and frowned.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s you, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right, client,¡± I replied with a bright smile.

    She asked me once again as if checking the authenticity of my im.

    ¡°What is the taste for today?¡±

    ¡°Lemon!¡±

    ¡°Yes, damn it.¡±

    She walked into the restaurant entrance with an elegant gait,ining to herself in a calm voice, asking why I used a face that confused people like this. Walking through the entrance, she turned her head and spoke to the staff as if she were suddenly reminded of it.

    ¡°The Solidarity for the Reform of Unfair Trade.¡±

    ¡°Pardon?¡±

    ¡°The Reservation. It¡¯s not my name but the name of the civic organization I sponsor. Do you understand?¡±

    ¡°Oh, yes, of course. Let¡¯s see¡­ yes! You two are reserved in the name of ¡®The Solidarity for the Reform of Unfair Trade.¡¯ We didn¡¯t know, and we prepared for a hall seat¡­today; we will guide you to a special room with a good view.¡±

    Lee Seo-rin nodded and walked along with the staff¡¯s guidance. Iughed bitterly as I followed them. Understandably, she made a reservation using a pseudonym instead of her name because of her professional status as a celebrity. But did she really need to bring in the name of the civic organization? In fact, if you think of it withmon sense, she could choose any name randomly. The Solidarity for the Reform of Unfair Trade¡­ Haha. She was protesting against me now. She was protesting to me that our deal was so unfair. Did sheete on purpose today?

    ***

    As the staff said, the room we were guided to was really nice. It was also quite spacious for an arrangement of only two people.

    ¡°I will keep the bag next to you.¡±

    The server carefully picked up the scarlet-colored bag, ced it on an empty chair next to her, and covered it with a napkinrge enough to cover several bags. I imagined that it must be extremely expensive.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep your bags, too.¡±

    I shook my head and refused.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s okay. I¡¯ll be choosing the menu first, so could youe backter?¡±

    ¡°Yes, then shall I give you water first?¡±

    I nced at Lee Seo-rin and spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have mineral water¡­and you¡¯ll have the Perrier, right? You like it.¡±

    I smiled as I spoke; Lee Seo-rin frowned as if she saw something she couldn¡¯t see and responded.

    ¡°Give me anything as long as it¡¯s not Perrier.¡±

    ¡°Oh? You must have changed your taste.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel like it today. I have too much Perrier.¡±

    Her eyes would catch fire due to the fierce gaze she had. Lee Seo-rin talked to the waiter, keeping her gaze fixed on me.

    ¡°You can bring anything, so please go out and wait outside until we call you. Thank you.¡±

    As soon as the waiter went outside and closed the door, Lee Seo-rin snapped.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with this month¡¯s stuff.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, I understand.¡±

    I opened my backpack, which I was holding without handing it over to the server, and took out a yellow paper bag from it. When I handed the paper bag over to Lee Seo-rin, she took a green ss bottle out of it. The sticker on the ss bottle said Perrier lemon vor. Still, the bottle was actually recycled after all the contents were consumed. What¡¯s inside now was a low-grade elixir, a magic solution.

    ¡°Can you please put it somewhere else? Why do you always put this in a used bottle? It¡¯s ufortable.¡±

    ¡°This is the right capacity. The lid locks well. At first, I put it in a soju bottle, but because you didn¡¯t like it, I purposely changed it to this Perrier bottle.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just put in a ss bottle from a kitchen shop? Or, what about Lock & Lock?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know where they sell those bottles. And no to stic containers. Elixir is different from stic inposition. If stics were okay, I would have brought it in a lighter stic bottle.¡±

    What I told her was true. The Elixir was easily contaminated when it came into contact with petroleumpounds.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry because I washed it cleanly. And even when I was drinking the sparkling water inside, I didn¡¯t touch it.¡±

    This was a lie. I lived alone, so it was annoying to drink it in a cup. When Lee Seo-rin listened to me, her expression became darker as if she was more upset. Soon, she sighed as if she had given up. She opened the Perrier bottle and began pouring the transparent contents into the empty wine ss in front of her. She divided it, poured it into a ss, and drank in a gulp without taking a break. And I was staring at her all the while.

    As expected, the closer I looked, the more beautiful she was. Her small face was harmoniously arranged with distinct eyes, nose, and a petite mouth. When I looked at her eyes and nose, I could see exotic lines that didn¡¯t resemble Asians. I thought that the rumors that she was mixed blood might be true.

    Lee Seo-rin continued to swallow the elixir without breathing. I stared with wonder as the tiny white uv moved.

    ¡°You drink really well.¡±

    Lee Seo-rin, who poured thest drop in her mouth, spoke, putting down the wine ss.

    ¡°You have to drink it to live.¡±

    There was a thorn in her voice.

 Chapter 18

    Taking a Risk to be Safer (5)

    I answered with a smile.

    ¡°You are full ofints, Ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°How can I be dissatisfied? I¡¯m grateful to you for saving my life.¡±

    Lee Seo-rin must know that she was in perfect health now and in better condition than before she suffered from the disease two years ago. Her head was clear, and her physical strength was strong. Let¡¯s be more honest. It wasn¡¯t just a strong physical strength. Still, her muscr strength or endurance was almost on the level of an athlete¡¯s physical ability.

    She has been drinking an elixir every month for over two years. However, she experienced it two years ago ¨C that if she didn¡¯t drink it once a month, cancer she fought against would recur. If she took a quick abdominal MRI scan, she couldn¡¯t see the cancer cells, but I once exined that the elixir prevented its recurrence with magical power. When I said that two years ago, it was ¡°the truth.¡± It meant that I wasn¡¯t lying.

    ¡°Unlike what you said, you must have something against your lifesaver. The Solidarity for the Reform of Unfair Trade? Haha, how is this an unfair trade?¡±

    ¡°You didn¡¯t save me 100%, and I¡¯ll be in a hearse next month anytime you decide I¡¯m not worth saving anymore.¡±

    ¡°Hahaha.¡±

    I didn¡¯t say yes or no.

    ¡°And it¡¯s unfair trade. Do you know how much money I¡¯ve given you so far?¡±

    ¡°Where in the world is there something more expensive than life?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying this because I feel like my whole life has been mortgaged to you. And if you¡¯re going to save me, you can help me in a good way!¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel good or bad, even if you die.¡±

    ¡°Uhhhh, shit, I shouldn¡¯t talk.¡±

    Sheined and called the waiter out loud. The more we talk, the more she burst into anger. So, it seems that she was ready to eat and leave. I asked for lunch; she couldn¡¯t leave this ce right away. In fact, if it were only for the elixir, I could have sent it through a summoner instead of meeting her. It didn¡¯t mean that today would just end with lunch; I had a request only she could fulfill. And ording to the ¡®contract,¡¯ Lee Seo-rin couldn¡¯t leave without listening to my request.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time today. This was barely timed out during filming. How can you give me a day¡¯s notice? Don¡¯t you know how busy I am?¡±

    ¡°I know there¡¯s no filming today. Why are you lying?¡±

    ¡°Are you stalking me now?¡±

    ¡°You posted on your social media. ¡®I feel really depressed and scared today. After yesterday, today¡¯s shooting was canceled¡­what will happen to this world?¡¯ something like that.¡±

    ¡°Oh, why would you search for my social media?¡±

    ¡°You werete for your appointment, so I was worried if you had a car ident on your way here. So, I searched your name on the Inte. If you get hurt, we need to treat you. I didn¡¯t see any articles, but I saw what you posted on your social media.¡±

    ¡°¡­You alwaysete. I must have arrivedter than the appointment time today.

    Lee Seo-rin seemed to feel unpleasant sitting face-to-face with me and wanted to disappear after a quick meal. Still, my choice was a nine-course menu, which was the most expensive lunch menu and took a long time to eat. While grinding her teeth, Lee Seo-rin said she only needed a single dish, but the waiter politely told her that this course could only be ordered by two or more people. Lee Seo-rin, who had weary and forced eyes, ended up choosing the course herself.

    Starting with the spicy beef tendon dish served as an appetizer, white porridge with the bird¡¯s nest-like garnish, seasonal vegetables cooked in chicken stock, whole stewed abalone, Chinese lobster grilled with white wine sauce and thyme sauce, Cantonese steamed fish fillets on top of the tofu, stir-fried pepper sauce beef tenderloin, until Yangzhou Fried Rice.

    During the course that followed for about two hours, we both emptied the dishes without saying much. Lee Seo-rin said that a single dish would be enough, but she ate through everything served. She always ate well. After finishing the fried rice, she took a few small teaspoons of the mango Simiro served as a dessert. Then, Lee Seo-rin lowered the spoon again and asked.

    ¡°Now, why don¡¯t we talk? What other strange things are you trying to do today?¡±

    ¡°Why are you such in a hurry? Why don¡¯t we talk after dessert?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m done eating.¡±

    ¡°¡­Did you finish it in three bites with that little spoon?¡±

    ¡°Men.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t eat enough¡­¡±

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you been to the army? Why are you eating so slow?¡±

    Yes, this woman hadn¡¯t been in the army. I spoke with a bitter smile.

    ¡°Yes, I haven¡¯t been there. I have no intention of going forward.¡±

    The light of suspicion deepened in Lee Seo-rin¡¯s eyes, looking at me like that.

    ¡°Because you change your face like that, how could I know how old you are¡­no, your age isn¡¯t important. Are you even a person? Well, you¡¯re more like a demon, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Wow, that¡¯s hate speech, Ma¡¯am. What do you mean I was a demon after a few face-offs?¡±

    ¡°I lived my whole life as an atheist, but because of you, I went to church for the first time and even prayed.¡±

    ¡°Why? To thank the Lord? For being miraculously alive?¡±

    ¡°People say that people haunted by demons get well after going to church. You are like a ghost or a demon, or something simr.¡±

    I was speechless andughed hard. Lee Seo-rin fixed her eyes on me.

    ¡°I know that even cross, prayer, or amulets don¡¯t work¡­¡±

    I threw my eyes at the cross worn around her neck and the beads on her wrist. I didn¡¯t know that she even wore an amulet. Maybe it was in her wallet or something.

    ¡°Why do you keep doing it if you know it¡¯s not working? I¡¯d think you would hate to go to church or the temple. I can¡¯t see the amulet. Did you bring one?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s just in case. Because it¡¯s scary, whether it¡¯s Jesus, the Buddha, or the ancestors, I¡¯m going around this because I hope this one will work, but now, I know for sure. These things don¡¯t work.¡±

    ¡°How did you realize it now?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because of what¡¯s happening in the world right now.¡±

    She shuddered with goosebumps.

    ¡°I think the world is going to be ruined. It¡¯s no problem that the shoot was canceled yesterday and today. Our country seems to be rather lucky¡­the chaos in Yeouido seems to be less bloodypared to other countries¡­if there is a God in the world, there is no way to just look at it like that. So, I¡¯m just going back to being an atheist. It¡¯s really unfair. Why is there no God when there is a demon in the world?¡±

    She emphasized the word ¡®demon¡¯ and looked at me. So, I denied it again.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not a demon, Ma¡¯am.¡±

    ¡°You keep a terminal cancer patient alive and are going to kill her if she doesn¡¯t do what you want. You control strange monsters that aren¡¯t from this world. You change your face and voice whenever you¡¯re bored. If you¡¯re not a demon, then what are you?¡±

    ¡°No, let¡¯s get this straight, Ms. Lee Seo-rin. When did I threaten to kill you? This is a very fair contract. This contract was signed because your soul admitted that it was on par with the price guaranteed to me and the ¡®elixir¡¯ provided to you.¡±

    ¡°No, I can¡¯t believe it¡­do these strange events happening in the world right now have anything to do with you and your kind?¡±

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, the Channel that¡¯s open now¡­no, anyway, these events weren¡¯t my doing.¡±

    I wanted to say that I didn¡¯t have the ability to do that, but then I swallowed back my words. I was sure that she knew something about the Channel situation through my words and way of speaking. Lee Seo-rin¡¯s face, looking at me, turned white for a moment and quickly returned to her original face. Unexpectedly, she stopped prying into it and changed the subject.

    Could it have been a quick judgment that if I really were the cause and Lee Seo-rin herself knew about it, she wasn¡¯t confident to deal with her mentality up to that point? Or was it because of the worry that if she knew more, she would put her own life in danger? Even though she was close, she didn¡¯t cross thest line. Was it a bad feeling or a good judgment that held her back?

    ***

    There were practical restrictions toe to Seoul and live in the barrier¡¯s protection. It would have been very convenient if there was such a magical thing that printed money, but there was no such thing in the world. Besides the need for housing, I needed materials to be catalysts for making a barrier. Still, I didn¡¯t have the money to buy them.

    So, after discussion, Parvache and I decided to find someone with enough money. There was also a magic to steal stuff in Parvache¡¯s n, but I opposed it. No matter how much magic I used, I wasn¡¯t confident I would live with stealing. Let¡¯s say I robbed a bank right away. Wouldn¡¯t I be tracked in the process of spending that cash? How much cash do you have in your bank these days? What should I do about moneyundering? Searching the Inte for such questions raises enough suspicion in itself, and I¡¯ve ruled out that option from the start.

    So, how could I save money other than stealing? I could get the money under an agreement. The other party gives me money, and I give the other person what they want. After deciding to make a deal, the things to think about were as follows.

    -What to sell?

    -Whom will I sell it to?

    -How to keep my safety in the transaction process?

    First of all, what products should I offer so that customers could open their wallets without worrying? It wasn¡¯t eptable to have a product that exceeded the taste of the customer. Products that meet the needs that everyone in the world had inmon would be the best. What was it? The conclusion I came up with was ¡°life.¡± No one in the world wouldn¡¯t value their lives and be willing to pay for them. Thus, our item was decided ¨C a low-grade elixir.

    Whom will I sell it to? People who are sick are more desperate than those who are healthy. Then we had to find a customer who was ill enough to need elixir and could provide the resources necessary to build my barriers. I graduated from high school and couldn¡¯t have any contacts or helpers to find such a suitable person, and I ended up with the general public. Therefore, I had to narrow down the customer base to famous people whose private information was easily essible.

    Information on celebrities who were seriously ill could be easily found on the Inte. Among them, the chairman of argepany, who was unconscious, was removed from the list. He must be on a strict guard, and I was afraid of being caught. After that, it was a celebrity that caught my eye. It was easy to find an article that a promising actress in her twenties had terminal pancreatic cancer. Thus, Lee Seo-rin was chosen as my customer. I felt guilty about making a deal with a critically ill patient for her life, but in the end, I convinced myself to save her from dying.

 Chapter 19

    Taking a Risk to be Safer (6)

    Lastly, how would I ensure my safety? The whole country¡¯s attention would be focused if news leaked out that Lee Seo-rin had recovered her health. So, I chose to sign a soul contract with Lee Seo-rin. She was limited in her scope of action with a contract that bound her soul more profoundly than her surface consciousness.

    ¡°Anyway, back to the point. So, what is the term of your requests this time?¡±

    I took a piece of paper out of my arm and put it on the table. Yeah, I was going to take care of my business today. The magic contract began to glow faintly when I poured Mana onto it.

    ¡°Now, following Article 3 of the ¡°Elixir Supply Agreement¡± signed on X-X-X-X, 20XX, A request to B.¡±

    A strange contract where I, the supplier, am A and Lee Seo-rin, the buyer, is B. The letters written on a sheet of paper moved like a scroll and expanded the paragraphs as I read.

    ¡°Article 3. A must provide B with a ¡®lower-grade elixir¡¯ at least once a month, and in return, A can propose a ¡®request¡¯ to B. If it is determined that B can perform the matters requested by A, it must be fulfilled. If B refuses a possible request, A may stop supplying the ¡°lower-grade elixir.¡±

    What a fair contract was this? If my requirements were deemed unfulfible, then Lee Seo-rin didn¡¯t need to follow them. Of course, this judgment wasn¡¯t based on Lee Seo-rin¡¯s rational assumptions but on her own potential, memory, and environmental factors.

    ¡°Here was the term of request.

    Point 1. B must throw the object-012 provided by A to the throwing point designated by A.

    Point 2. The throwing method used by B is free. However, it is forbidden to provide information about this object-012 to any mobilized third party. The information includes B¡¯s personal spection that has no explicit grounds. Vition of this matter will result in a breach of confidentiality obligations as defined in paragraph 1 of Article 5 of this Agreement. The confidentiality vition penalty specified in Article 5.3 shall be applied without any restriction or dy.

    Point 3. Object-012 is limited to less than 10, with a volume of 0.5 square meters per unit and a weight of no more than 40 kg per unit.

    Point 4. The throwing date of object-012 must be made within ten days after the object is delivered from A to B.

    Point 5. The throwing point provided by A is limited to the sea area within 10km from the Han River downstream based on Yeuoido and the western coast and is provided by GPS coordinates. An error of up to 500 square meters between the coordinates of the throwing point provided by A and the actual throwing point of B is allowed.

    End of request.¡±

    Hearing it so far, Lee Seo-rin¡¯s face burned red.

    ¡°The Han River downstream in Yeouido¡­the western coast? I¡¯ve heard this a lot. They have been talking about this all day on the news. And¡­why are you making me do this? How do I go out to the sea and throw ten such heavy things!¡±

    Contrary to Lee Seo-rin¡¯s protest, her deepest soul recognized this as a viable range. The contract circted in green light. Then the letters on the contract fused to one side, creating a nk space at the bottom. The requests I had made were starting to be written in letters above the contract¡¯s nks under the appendix.

    ¡°Ah¡­I¡¯m going crazy.¡±

    Lee Seo-rin frowned.

    There was no mention in my request that Lee Seo-rin had to do it all by herself. Besides, I deliberately set restrictions on my part and attached helpful conditions on Lee Seo-rin¡¯s part. The details were limited to the weight and volume that could be loaded on the ship. Not to mention details such as specifying the permission of error for the throwing point. And because of this, I believe that Lee Seo-rin¡¯s soul was capable of fulfilling this request.

    Nevertheless, Lee Seo-rin was very discouraged and groaned with a depressed face.

    ¡°¡­The western coast¡­the whole seawater has be like fish extract, and I have to go on a boat¡­!¡±

    ***

    I neatly ignored Lee Seo-rin¡¯s protests and took a taxi home after parting with her. When she renewed the contract appendix, she disappeared into the parking lot exhausted with new information being engraved on her soul, despite her strong physical strength. That¡¯s why when I proposed a ¡°request,¡± I first fed her well.

    When I got back home, I was stuck in the studio on the second floor for a few days and devoted myself to creating artifacts. In this process, the metal and magic catalysts that I had umted so far were consumed. It turned my stomach sour, but I couldn¡¯t help it. I was trying to fix the damage that I had done. I pledged not to summon the Waterbirds near the river or any body of water in the future.

    One day, I was immersed in the studio when I heard Parvache¡¯s call in my head.

    [Hey, it came out again. Come down here.]

    Parvache had been stuck in front of the TV, like a ghost, for several days. Our lessons were still suspended. Parvache hadn¡¯t yet decided how to respond to the current situation. As I stepped out of the door, I heard the sound of a siren that I couldn¡¯t hear because of soundproofing. Something seemed to havee out of the Mapo Bridge Channel. I didn¡¯t think there would be any threat to the Korean military, but I asked while looking down without descending from the second floor.

    ¡°How many this time?¡±

    [Sixteen so far. And, this time, there is a wizard among the giants.]

    No matter how powerful the wizards were, they just need to be fired on without giving them time to recite the spells. I came down to the first floor without much tension. I guess the giants who camest time were helpless, so they prepared their own warriors this time.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    And I saw an unexpected scene.

    ¡°That staff¡­is that right?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t difficult to find out which of the 16 entities the wizard was. The clothes that only one wore were slightly different, and it held a long wooden staff in its hand. It was about five meters tall, maybe to fit its height. What I noticed was the material of the staff¡ªa wood with a soft silver luster. I had seen it while I was wandering through another dimension as an avatar.

    ¡°Is it Enchanted Wood?¡±

    [I think it is.]

    The giant wizard put the staff forward, and a subtle green light surrounded the giant¡¯s group with it as the center. It was still crude because the shape kept being distorted, but it seemed to be a kind of barrier preventing physical shock. Blocked by this barrier, the Korean army¡¯s artillery shells could hardly reach the giants, and the confrontation was growing drawn out.

    ¡°Wow, look at the staff¡¯s size. How big was the original tree when it was processed to that size?¡±

    [In a particr civilized world, the Enchanted Wood tree will not remain until it grows that much. When it grows to a certain extent, cutting it right away and nting it again will speed up the supply and demand.]

    It seemed to be an unusual sight even for Parvache. The name ¡°Enchanted Wood¡± was how they called it in Parvache¡¯s dimension because of the tree¡¯s characteristics that greatly stabilized permeable Mana. It couldn¡¯t amplify the Mana or change its properties. Still, it was spotlighted as a material for barrier magic due to its rare nature that strengthened stability. The more advanced the level of magic, the more precious it was.

    ¡°But why does the magic that uses the Enchanted Wood Staff look like that?¡±

    The giant wizard¡¯s physical defense barrier could hardly withstand the shell. The shape was twisted a few times, and eventually, a hole was made. The confrontation that was barely continued fell apart. The shells that flew through the barrier holes hit the giants¡¯ bodies. And some were already lying on the floor.

    [The magic level is so low, it can¡¯t even use a tenth of the Enchanted Wood¡¯s ability. Look at how the barriers are broken. The spell itself is messed up. In the first ce, I¡¯m sure it can¡¯t unleash the barrier magic without an Enchanted Wood staff? And¡­look at that guy. He can¡¯t concentrate right now.]

    I listened to Parvache and looked closely at the giant wizard. Even though it closed its eyes and concentrated while gathering Mana to restore the barrier hole, I could see that it kept failing. The cause was quickly found.

    ¡°That siren is driving it crazy, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    When the first Ashpim Giant came over to this dimension, the rescue vehicle¡¯s sirens were loud. A warning had been issued in downtown Seoul, making the whole city roar with louder and sharper sirens than during civil defense training. Although not restricting the giants¡¯ movement, this sound would be sufficient to distract the giant¡¯s ability to use its magic.

    [Ah, the barrier is broken.]

    Eventually, the giant wizard couldn¡¯t recover its concentration, and the entire barrier disappeared. As if waiting, shells flew from everywhere, and the giants were soon wiped out.

    ¡°At that point, I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about them rushing into the army.¡±

    Ipletely let go of my concerns about the Mapo Bridge Channel after watching the battle scene today. In the meantime, Parvache mumbled regretfully as he saw the abandoned Enchanted Wood lying next to the bodies of the giants.

    [Oh, it¡¯s really rare for such an Enchanted Wood of that size. However, humanity here will not even know where to use that¡­such a waste. It¡¯s like throwing your smartphone to a monkey.]

    ¡°Shall I send a summoner to steal it?¡±

    [Never mind. If so, you will really be the target of this country¡¯s government. You can¡¯t move an object that size without being caught.]

    ¡°Yeah. Well. Even without it, I¡¯ll just need to work hard and repair the barriers.¡±

    After I said this, I started to crave it like crazy all of a sudden. Yeah, with that, the barriers would be stronger, and my efforts might be lessened. However, that was just insatiable greed.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s suddenly unfair. I¡¯d rather not see it in the first ce.¡±

    [It¡¯s the pie in the sky. Those precious things are being wasted because they couldn¡¯t find the right owner. Min-joon, if you used that, you could have doubled the size while enhancing the stability of the barrier.]

    I was surprised.

    [It¡¯s such a valuable item. The Enchanted Wood of that size.]

    ¡°So if I focus on size instead of stability, I can expand it more than double. That¡¯s amazing.¡±

    [Why? Are the barriers not wide enough now?]

    I waved my hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s just like I say. I¡¯m living this size right now, but it¡¯s okay. It¡¯s only hard to manage if the barrier gets bigger. And if we grow the barrier, won¡¯t we meet the Mapo Bridge channel someday?¡±

    If the Channel and that barrier got closer, only the If the Mapo Bridge Channel was inside my barrier, and those giants cross the Channel and wander around, how would I handle the aftermath? In a moment, an idea that I had never thought of passed by in my head.

    ***

    I had a fierce discussion with Parvache about my idea for over an hour. Eventually, I reached a moment when the two of us, who were paranoid about safety, agreed. And from that day to night, I began to immerse myself in my work, hardly sleeping at all.

    First, I had toplete the artifacts that had to be handed over to Lee Seo-rin. I hurriedly finished the seven purification artifacts much earlier than I had originally expected. At first, I thought of up to 10. Still, as a result of the simtion, it seemed that even though it took much longer, it was possible to achieveplete purification with just seven. I put the finished artifacts in my backpack, along with a GPS coordinate note. Then, with the bag set with the space expansion magic and weight reduction magic, I went to a private warehouse without any CCTV around and threw the contents out and contacted Lee Seo-rin.

    Now, she would take care of the rest.

    ¡°Now, this is all I need to do, to undo what I¡¯ve done.¡±

    [Wouldn¡¯t you want to monitor if that woman is working properly?]

    ¡°It¡¯s not once or twice. Our client will do well.¡±

    In the contract¡¯s appendix, the artifact of purification was written under the name object-012. It meant that it was already the twelfth time that Lee Seo-rin was on an errand to take something from me and handle it. I didn¡¯t know what Parvache might think, but I didn¡¯t think Lee Seo-rin would break the contract at the risk of a penalty.

    So I decided to move without waiting for the purification to finish. I bought whatever I needed through the Inte. The exploration period agreed with Parvache was one week, but I put a lot of supplies in a magic backpack in case of an unexpected event. It also took time to cast the protective spell on the clothes I was going to wear.

    But what was more difficult than these things was the preparation of the heart. After the preparation waspleted, I was lying in bed for a whole day in vain with my hurried efforts. Even Parvache didn¡¯t touch me during this day. Should I give up now? Could I just live like this? The Truth-Seeker could just give up on me, right?

    But I managed to make up my mind. To get more safety, I decided to take an adventure. And the next day, I stood under a purple sky.

 Chapter 20

    Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (1)

    ¡°Khaaaaa!¡±

    [Back!]

    Parvache pulled his head out of the backpack with a sharp grunt. At the same time, I felt a considerable force pound on my back. I quickly kicked off the ground and soared upward. The dry wind hit my face without any mercy.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    [Oh, it¡¯s noisy. Do it quietly!]

    I could feel the air around me vibrate. If it had not been for the 7th defense magic ¨C activated before the battle, my internal organs would have been obliterated by this sound wave, and I would have died immediately. As soon as I fell to the ground, I rolled my feet back and flew in the opposite direction of the Ashpim Giant. While floating in the air, I turned around and faced the one who attacked me. It realized that sonic attacks don¡¯t work, so it started running towards me with its fists wide open.

    The purple moonlight reminded me of the butcher¡¯s light because it was so bright and clear. Under the strange color, its yellow eyes shed so ugly that it was hard to describe. It seemed like it was trying to kill an immoral man that had an affair with his wife. At first, I thought it would do something like catches me alive, but now it was furious and trying to tear my body up.

    ¡°What did I do wrong? You, big head! I was just trying to talk!¡±

    The moment I shouted with a voice full of irritation, my leap lost power as the spell¡¯s effect ended. As the Mana that had floated in the air was taken away by gravity, I started to fall back to the ground. If I fell like this, it was sure that I would stop breathing.

    ¡°The Hammer of Thermios! The Thorn of Quecardios!¡±

    I reached for it and shot two spells in a row. Simultaneously, a murky haze lingered around the giant¡¯s ankles and then quickly united and struck the giant¡¯s lower body. With a single scream, itsrge body that was over 10 meters in height leaned forward. Since its head wasrge and elongated, its body slowly fell forward. The giant tried to hit the ground with its arms before hepletely fell, but the second spell I spat was activated.

    ¡°!!!¡±

    In the direction of its copse, the ground suddenly shook like it was melting, and sharp metal thorns emerged from the ground!

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Sharp metal spears were lodged in the arms and lower body of the fallen Ashpim Giant. It must be excruciating. It fell to the floor in a posture as if it was doing push-ups, its posture barely preventing them from piercing its face and upper body. However, it seemed to have gone crazy. Its body was engulfed in pain due to the numerous thorns piercing and tearing through its flesh.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    For reference, those thorns weren¡¯t just cylindrical pointed thorns, but their tips were shaped like a harpoon. Desperately, it pulled its arms out of the thorns and tried to raise its body, but as it pulled them out, its flesh tore and burst. It was a sight of unbearable pain. It struggled and eventually lost its strength and fell on the thorns.

    -Fububuk!

    The thorns were stuck in its face and upper body. The thorns weren¡¯t long enough to prate its body, but it wouldn¡¯t be easy to survive a copse like that. The body of the giant, lying on the thorny field, fluttered and convulsed intermittently. Now, we were done with thest.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s miserable. Why are those rotten beings giving me that shit?¡±

    I spat on the ground andined. There were two more corpses of Ashpim Giants scattered around thest giant I fought. One was burnt ck, little more than ash, and the other had its body cleanly separated at the midsection. I just asked where the Enchanted Tree grows, they couldn¡¯t understand me, and they ran madly at me. It hadn¡¯t been a few hours since I arrived here, which was my third time visiting this dimension.

    ¡®Crazy bastards.¡¯

    Even if I was used tobating, I had only fought through avatars. It was unpleasant and scary for me to engage in this life-threatening fight with my actual body. Even if my opponents were weak like the Ashpim Giants, it was dangerous to be struck by a blind knife. If I hadn¡¯t experienced it through the Avatar and hadn¡¯t used magic to control my biological response, I could have died from fear.

    ¡°Parvache.¡±

    [Huh.]

    ¡°What are those bastards talking about again?¡±

    Aftering to this side, the interpretation magic waspletely sealed. It would just waste my Mana for nothing. Parvache interpreted all the words of the Ashpim Giants from within my backpack.

    [Everything it spits out during the battle is a curse, so I don¡¯t think there is a need to interpret everything¡­the words it spoke when it found us from far away were the same as those who came before.]

    ¡°It¡¯s a human! What a windfall!¡±

    [Exactly.]

    ¡°Those crazy guys.¡±

    I shook my head because I couldn¡¯t understand. ording to Parvache¡¯s knowledge, the original Ashpim Giants didn¡¯t like to eat humans, so why did those who live in this dimension go crazy when they saw me? Moreover, I had never encountered a wizard among them. I couldn¡¯t use interpretation magic, whether it was listening or speaking in this dimension. I could understand what they say because I have Parvache. Still, they couldn¡¯t understand my words because theycked the ability to use magic, so they just rushed and attacked me.

    I looked up for a moment with irritation. The night sky here was neither ck nor deep indigo but a rather bright purple. A huge, frivolous purple moon colored the whole sky and dry earth with its own shadow.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like it.¡±

    Yes, I was now crossing the Channel of Mapo Bridge and entering the dimension across it. It took great courage, and the process wasn¡¯t easy. Most of all, I went outside the barrier, which I had never been out of for two years, and went to Mapo Bridge!

    Furthermore, as the carnage grew across the world, through several international agencies and governments, the Korean government recognized that what appeared on the Mapo Bridge was an object called a Channel ¨C a gate leading to another dimension. Realizing that monsters coulde over at any time as long as the door was open, the government tightened the boundaries around the Channel. It wasn¡¯t easy for me to get across such a strictly guarded perimeter.

    ¡°How many hours in the night?¡±

    [16 hours.]

    Fortunately, this dimension was a world listed in Akashic Records. From the moment Parvache crossed the Channel and grasped the identity of this dimension, he was able to ess necessary information.

    ¡°Then, how many hours will it take to the morning?¡±

    [If you look at the movement of the moon, about 2 hours?]

    ¡°I have to go into the forest over there. You said that the forest isn¡¯t an area of ??the Ashpim Giants?¡±

    [Yes, that¡¯s what the records say.]

    ording to Parvache, in this dimension, besides the Ashpim Giants, several intellectual races were mixed, living within their respective areas. Instead of having more conversations with the Ashpim Giants, who ran like crazy dogs whenever they saw me, I decided that it would be better to contact the other races and enter the strange forest facing the desert. I walked in the woods for a while, and I sensed someone approaching by about dawn.

    ¡®Please, don¡¯t be an Ashpim Giant.¡¯

    ¡°Aren¡¯t the footsteps too small? Maybe not those guys again?¡±

    [But just in case, prepare a spell. Races other than the Ashpim Giant may have freaked out too.]

    It certainly made sense. Looking forward, I was preparing a spell that quietly sprayed white gas, but when I finished the magic to the point where I could throw it right away, I sensed something and stopped.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    [They are all three wizards.]

    All three approaching me possessed Mana. Maybe we couldmunicate. I hit the ball. Parvache interpreted what I wanted to say in anguage that could be spoken by my pronunciation system among thenguages ??of this world, and I followed it.

    ¡°I have no intention of attacking. Please reveal yourself slowly. You don¡¯t have to use speaking interpretation magic. I can understand what you say.¡±

    I repeated it several times. Then, I felt a non-aggressive flow of Mana as if all three entities on the other side were using the listening interpretation magic. When the magic waspleted, I repeated the same thing. And in response, thenguage of a different race came from beyond the bush. Parvache quickly tranted it.

    [¡®You are a wizard, too. But why don¡¯t you turn off the hideous magic you¡¯ve been working on? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re making, but it feels so bloody. It¡¯s Mana is too violent.¡¯ ]

    [This is thenguage of the Dell Giant on this dimension. I think they¡¯ll be fine.]

    I listened to Parvache and extinguished the magic I was preparing for. Then, as if waiting, three giants appeared from the bush. Their height was about twice as high as mine. They were dressed in unknown animal skins, and their arms and legs were covered with dark brown fur. When the giants saw me, they jumped out of their ces in surprise.

    ¡°¡­Ah, what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    I was overwhelmed by an ominous premonition, but instead of attacking me, the Dell Giants pointed at me and began to talk about themselves. ording to Parvache¡¯s interpretation¡­

    ¡°This, human? Ghur! Isn¡¯t that a human?¡±

    ¡°Oh my God¡­look at that dwarf. There are thin limbs, ugly nostrils, extreme hair loss in the hands and arms¡­and the deformedly curved neck bones! Hickham, you¡¯re right, that¡¯s a human! My God, it¡¯s been 60 years since I¡¯ve seen humans!¡±

    ¡°Humans aren¡¯t extinct yet?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll brag about it in the vige! Palo, you¡¯re the witness! Ghur, you have to testify, too!¡±

    ¡°Hickham, if Ghur talks about it, all the Dells in town will believe it. He has a lot of knowledge and experience.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ll tell them the news even before he opens his mouth! Everyone¡¯s going to ckout!¡±

    ¡°No, but why is the Channel open in his chest? Ghur, are humans a race that originally opened a Channel in their body?¡±

    ¡°No way. The Truth-Seeker in our world is azy bastard. He never goes far from the Silver Forest. Near that area is ??the savage Ashpim¡¯s territory, and there is no way a rare human can roam there¡­ah, is that so? Hey human! Are you not from this dimension? Are you interpreting my words now?¡±

    The tallest and oldest-looking giant of the three, called Ghur, asked me. I told the truth without a hitch.

    ¡°Yes¡­I understand everything. By the way, from what you¡¯re saying, human beings are very rare in this dimension?¡±

    Ghur nodded and replied, ¡°Right.¡±

    ¡°I heard it¡¯s umon, but it¡¯s not surprisingly small.¡±

    ording to the information provided by Parvache, at least tens of thousands of humans lived here.

    ¡°Maybe, in a very distant area, they may still be noticeable. But not around here. It was a race that wasn¡¯t easy to see from the beginning, but until 100 years ago, some were living in a small vige in this forest. But from some point, the number decreased rapidly and dried up 60 years ago.¡±

    ¡°Is there any reason?

    Ghurughed at my question and said.

    ¡°Because there are rumors that they are good for energy.¡±

 Chapter 21

    Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (2)

    The Dell Giants were nocturnal, and as dawn began, they were about to settle down and rest until night returned. While looking for a ce to camp, it seemed that they felt my presence and walked all the way here. They showed even greater curiosity when they learned that I came from a different dimension. After a short conversation, I decided to wait the night together with them, following the advice that it was dangerous to walk around the forest alone.

    I wasn¡¯t sure they were safe yet, but I was confident enough to subdue them anyway. If they had bad intentions, they would likely try to use magic, so it would be easier to grasp. I was tired of walking for so long after crossing dimensions. Besides, I wanted to dig up some information from the Dell Giants.

    As we moved together, we quickly found a ce to spend the night. No, I meant to spend the day. The giants sat together under the shade of arge tree that could cover all of their bodies, and I sat next to them and leaned against the tree. The two giants with Ghur were named Hickham and Palo. Both said they were disciples of magic, learning from Ghur. Hickham was constantly asking questions; he was excited that I was human and came from another dimension.

    ¡°Hey, hey, is it true that humans mate more than three times a day? Is that the same in your dimension?¡±

    Most of them were questions filled with these unfamiliar prejudices. Hickham¡¯s eyes were shining brightly as he asked his questions. In this world, human beings seem to be regarded as a symbol of energy, overflowing enough to somehow rece the status of seals on Earth.

    ¡°Ah¡­well. I don¡¯t know what these humans are like, but it isn¡¯tmon in our world. I could do it if I wanted to. I don¡¯t think many people are doing it that hard¡­¡±

    Hickham¡¯s question didn¡¯t end even though he was confused with the makeshift answers I gave.

    ¡°And you? How about you, Yoong?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not Yoong. It¡¯s Yoon. And what are you asking me?¡±

    ¡°Are you mating three times a day? You¡¯re also a male, right? That¡¯s amazing.¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know? You¡¯d know if you¡¯d done it.¡±

    At that moment, I felt a deep murderous intention spring up inside me.

    ¡°Well, I mean, it is physiologically possible, regardless of whether I do it or not.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s awesome!¡±

    And Hickham started talking about information that I didn¡¯t want to know much about, which Parvache hadn¡¯t even read in Akashic Records. Hearing the long story of Dell Giant¡¯s male body¡¯s fertility and recovery time led to an unpleasant mood. I had no choice but to understand why humans became famous for their energies in thisnd. Simply summed up, it would take at least a week for a single ejaction to be reloaded. Regardless of the will, the physiological structure itself was like that. Hickham gave me an intense nce like shooting aser while exining. I pulled my shoulders back unknowingly because it was burdensome. Palo noticed it and quickly intervened.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Yoong. Hickham looks at you like that because he envies you. Not because he wants to eat you.¡±

    Wasn¡¯t he so envious that he wants to eat me? Somehow, they¡¯ve already promised that it wouldn¡¯t happen.

    ***

    I recalled the previous conversation. As soon as Ghur said that the humans in the vicinity had dried up after suffering from rumors that they were good for stamina, the first thought that came to mind was, ¡®Ah, so that was the reason those rotten beings rushed to me?¡¯ It was unpleasant to imagine them thinking of me as a stamina booster.

    And the next thought was, will these Dell giants want my medicinal effects and attack me? I would never know. But when I look closely at the giant Ghur who exins this to me, he seemed a little weak. Ghur shook his head with a smile as if he could see my guard clearly. He said that the Dell Giants living here no longer ate intelligent life. Ghur exined.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say that there aren¡¯t any Dells that feed on human-like intellectual races¡­but all of those tribes have now been driven to a very remotend. The elders in our vige were furious because the number of humans kept dropping. And I chased all those tribes out of the forest. In fact, in number and strength, we were overwhelming, so there was nothing to call it war.¡±

    ¡°Why were the elders angry?¡±

    Palo asked as if he had never heard this story. He replied with a rolling shrug.

    ¡°Human hands are small and fast. The underpants made by weaving animal hair by humans living in this forest were so soft that they were very popr with the old Dells.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°Palo, you don¡¯t know yet, but as we get older, our skin gets more sensitive. The elders get obsessed with that. Dells can¡¯t make things like that because our fingers are too thick. So, as humans¡¯ numbers decreased, the older people were forced to wear underpants from rough leather or woven grass. After seeing blood a few times in the bathroom, the elders eventually exploded.¡±

    What, in the end, were they thinking about saving human beings because of their underwear? Just because of panties, they were driving the other tribe out of the woods? But Ghur continued as if that wasn¡¯t all.

    ¡°And the elders thought the habit of hunting intelligent life was very dangerous because of unproven, superstitious rumors. Isn¡¯t that a bad thing? They thought that those guys might try to eat our vige, Dell, too, for such a reason. That¡¯s why we kicked them out. Before it was toote.¡±

    Palo nodded, convinced.

    ¡°Oh, I see.¡±

    ¡°Of course, I think the reason why those old men opened the lids was that their underpants were bigger.¡±

    As he said so, Ghurughed loudly.

    ¡°But the elders¡¯ decision was a littlete. We kicked out all those guys, but the humans were already few by then. When the numbers were reduced below the level of maintaining the herd, they began to be preyed on by predators like wild beasts in the forest, and eventually, the humans dried up.¡±

    This was the end of human history in this area.

    ***

    Unlike Hickham, who was only interested in human fertility, Ghur and Palo showed curiosity about the dimension I came from. They were amazed that there were only humans on Earth and 7 billion in number. As I sat in the shade of the tree and continued talking, a question came up about which Channel I came from, and I gave a brief exnation.

    It had been less than a month since the Channel that connected this dimension was created. When we talked about the story that the Ashpim Giant had already crossed our way several times and that the first giant killed humans, Ghur seemed to understand.

    ¡°They treat any intelligent creature but their own kind as worms.¡±

    It was consistent with what I knew. Even in this dimension, their ethnic characteristics weren¡¯t significantly different.

    ¡°Their rtionship with the Dell people is also not good.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just bad. We¡¯ve been fighting those savage guys for a long time.¡±

    Ghur frowned as he clicked his tongue.

    ¡°It¡¯s been quite a while since the war stopped, but if we¡¯re caught invading each other¡¯s territory, we¡¯ll try to kill each other.¡±

    ¡°Is there any reason for conflict?¡±

    ¡°Perhaps if we look at the records in the elders¡¯ houses, we will find a reason. But I don¡¯t know because I¡¯m not interested in that.¡±

    Ghur spoke, scratching his chin.

    ¡°But one thing¡¯s obvious, even if we don¡¯t see it. We must have be enemies of each other because they have done some Ashpim-like things.¡±

    What else was an Ashpim-like thing?

    ¡°Ah, as soon as they saw me today, they rushed like crazy. Did the rumors that humans are good for energy spread to those Ashpim?¡±

    I exined to them that I came across this dimension today and what I had experienced. Then Ghur shook his head.

    ¡°No, it won¡¯t be. Humans have be so rare that their value had risen among them. As the number of humans in thisnd decreased, there were many hit by the wild beasts. But as the number decreased further and the value increased, there were quite a few Ashpims who took humans hiding in our area. They fanned the human to death.¡±

    ¡°The value has risen?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, because they enve intelligent life. The rarer it is, the more expensive it is. Humans were believed to be almost extinct. The Ashpims traded humans at a costly price among their society.¡±

    I didn¡¯t understand it well.

    ¡°No, what benefit is it for those giants to enve humans? They¡¯re so different in size that they can¡¯t even make us work.¡±

    For example, the house they live in would be a huge space for humans. Even if I tried to clean once, it would take a few days, right? Even if I cook, I would have to trim ingredients that were muchrger than the human body.

    ¡°There¡¯s a way for small creatures to y small, big creatures to y big.¡±

    Ghur frowned as if it was unpleasant to think about it.

    ¡°A race of some size makes manualbor. However, small, human-like races are just toys. They y with them and kill them. Be d you are a strong wizard. If you were a weak human, you would have been caught by them, and you would have died after being harassed for a long time. Or you would have been tortured, only enough never to die.¡±

    [The Asphim Giants of this dimension seem to have evolved with a vicious and brutal nature.]

    Parvache, who was hiding in my backpack, said something that only I could understand. When I heard this story, I was firmly convinced that the purpose of the giants who came through the Mapo Bridge Channel wasn¡¯t just exploration. I remembered one of the second groups was injured and ran back into the Channel. It probably informed its colleagues that this dimension was full of humans. A human being was treated dearly among them.

    Wouldn¡¯t the third groupe across the Channel to abduct humans like the Munich Channel reptiles? The purpose of the reptiles kidnapping humans was unknown, but now I knew why they might want humans. The guy who was injured in the second group wasn¡¯t among the third group. In a little while, rumors may spread, and more maye to Mapo Bridge.

    Initially, no matter how many times they crossed, I was just going to leave it to the Korean Army. But, now that the n was revised to put the Mapo Bridge Channel within my barrier, it seemed that I couldn¡¯t leave them as they were.

    It was also one of the things directly connected to one of the three things that led me to this exploration.

 Chapter 22

    Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (3)

    ¡°So, Yoong, why did youe to this world? Where are you going?¡±

    I was thinking about how far to reveal my reasons, but I decided to be honest. They didn¡¯t seem to want to threaten me anyway, and what I wanted from these giants was information. I thought it would be better to ask what I wanted in a straightforward manner.

    ¡°First of all, I came to get some Enchanted Wood. It¡¯s my first time in this world, so I was just trying to get information on where to find it.¡±

    ¡°Enchanted Wood¡­¡±

    Ghur nodded! The word Enchanted Wood seemed to have been properly tranted. This meant that it wasn¡¯t a concept unfamiliar to the inhabitants of this dimension.

    ¡°Yes, I saw the Asphim Wizard, who came to our dimension, holding a staff made of Enchanted Wood.¡±

    ¡°Yes, they sometimes pick some branches and make things like that.¡±

    I sang, delighted inside. It became clear that it could be obtained from this dimension. Then, Ghur asked unexpectedly.

    ¡°I felt it for a while, but don¡¯t you already have a lot of magic? How big a barrier are you going to make?¡±

    ¡°For some reason¡­I¡¯m trying to make a big barrier where I live.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, really? But Yoong, I have no choice but to ask because you want to get an Enchanted Wood.¡±

    Ghur pointed his finger at the Channel in my chest.

    ¡°That Channel was opened by the Truth-Seeker in your world, right? In other words, have you never met the Truth-Seeker in this world?¡±

    I nodded because it was true. But what was wrong with the Truth-Seeker in this world? Ghur continued.

    ¡°There are two ways to get the Enchanted Wood. One is to go out of this forest and go back to the territory of the Ashpim Giant. I think you came across their territory before you entered this forest.¡±

    I understood what Ghur was talking about.

    ¡°You mean to take the Enchanted Wood that the Ashpim Giants have?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. They picked up a few of the best branches. Still, if you try to take it, their resistance will be enormous. I don¡¯t know if you felt it, too, but they¡¯re far below Dell¡¯s level of magic. Without the wood, protective magic would be almost impossible for them. From their point of view, the Enchanted Wood is a great treasure.¡±

    It was necessary to collide with the Ashpim Giants before returning to Earth. Still, it was a bit burdensome to go deep into their territory and conduct a search and all-out war at the same time. Or should I deliberately provoke them out? Wouldn¡¯t a wizard with an Enchanted Wood artifacte out to defend anyway? Thinking of putting it as one of the valid options, I turned to Ghur.

    ¡°The other way?¡±

    ¡°Going to find the area where the Enchanted Wood tree grows.¡±

    Yes, this was close to my original n.

    ¡°Is it far from here?¡±

    ¡°You have to walk further north past the area of ??Ashpim. Then, you¡¯ll see a Silver Forest. It is a huge forest from a cluster of the Enchanted Wood trees.¡±

    I cried out inside. Jackpot!

    [Forest? And also, a huge forest? I can¡¯t believe it even though I¡¯ve tranted it.]

    Parvache said as if it were terrific news. In its parental dimension, the Enchanted Wood was a precious tree. It was natural to cut it before it grew enough to form a forest, and it was very rare. But a huge forest? I was distracted by the startlingly good news, and then I began to worry about a single word I had forgotten. Wait, I thought I heard that before.

    ¡°Silver Forest? You said earlier¡­¡±

    Ghur nodded his head.

    ¡°Yes, Silver Forest is the hideout of this world¡¯s Truth-Seeker. It¡¯s a forest where thezy Transcendentys a huge barrier and hides.¡±

    Of all the people, he was another Truth-Seeker. A Truth-Seeker lived with barriers? In the forest where the Enchanted Wood trees grow?

    ¡°¡­By any chance, the barrier itself is?¡±

    The ominous feeling did not go wrong.

    ¡°A powerful barrier made using tens of thousands of barrier trees that make up the forest. Only the Truth Seeker knows precisely what kind of barrier it is. No onees back alive after entering the forest. The area around Silver Forest has been Ashpim¡¯s territory for a very long time. Still, they only pick up the branches that are cast off the forest after a storm and never go into the forest.¡±

    Oh, it was a dark future in front of me. It was so powerful that I could double my barriers with a single branch, but how hideous was the barrier that the transcendental truth-seeker made out of tens of thousands of these trees?

    * * *

    Ghur and his disciples said they would go into a deeper forest in the southwest direction after spending the day resting. There seemed to be a vige there. I asked if there were any Enchanted Wood in their viges worth selling to me. Still, they said it was hard to find outside of Ashpim¡¯s territory, and the vige had no Enchanted Wood at all. I told Ghur that I wanted to buy a map around this area. I couldn¡¯t decide whether to get rid of the Ashpims or approach the Truth-seeker¡¯s base, but I had to know the detailed location information first.

    When asked if they had the concept of money, Ghur nodded and showed me an unknown ck ore. It was a kind I had never seen before.

    ¡°It is a mineral called Derkop. You don¡¯t have it in your world, do you?¡±

    Parvache told me the ingredients. If I had all of them, I could make it. But I couldn¡¯t even think about trying. First of all, I had to stay in the studio inside my house for a few days with enough material. However, I couldn¡¯t afford to do that right away. And the material was also too expensive to get from Earth.

    If that mineral were hidden underground in enough quantities to be used as currency in this world, it would be worth the price of gold in our world. However, trying to make this with materials avable on Earth didn¡¯t make a difference.

    ¡°Yes, it is a material that doesn¡¯t exist on Earth. But instead of money, there are some things you might be interested in.¡±

    I searched through my backpack and pulled out an artifact I had brought in advance. It was an enchanted item made out of stic soju sses sold at convenience stores. I felt like I was losing money because I didn¡¯t know how much value it would have in this world. Still, from my point of view, it was kind of easy to make with littlebor and money, so I was just trying to exchange it for a map. I turned the soju ss upside down, put it on the ground, and then put the Mana into it.

    ¡°Well, if you put this here like this and use barrier magic¡­¡±

    Perhaps these giants would find this kind of artifact useful. As soon as we settled under the shade of this tree, I noticed that three giants were deciding the night-watch shift among themselves. When they camp out, they said that they usually took turns making barriers and waiting for the day to pass. When I asked if the reason for the night watch was because there were wild beasts that could destroy the barriers among the beasts running around during the day, an unexpected answer came back. It turned out that they couldn¡¯t maintain barriers while sleeping with their knowledge of magic.

    I asked, spreading the barriers.

    ¡°Well¡­is there any beast in this forest that can break this level of barrier?¡±

    A soft green light surrounded the stic cup ced on the ground, creating a flipped cup. The cluster of lights grew in size. Eventually, it waspleted in the form of a physical defense barrier that could cover us all. Hickham and Palo opened their mouths as they felt the Mana in the barrier, and Ghur spoke in a confused voice.

    ¡°¡­Yoong, I expected it, but are you one of the best archmages of your dimension? The Mana I felt before was really only a fraction of it. Even Elder Kapal, the best wizard in our vige, would not be able to make such a barrier.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­I have higher Mana than the others in my dimension.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t just higher. There was no one on Earth with stronger Mana than me¡­because I was the only one with Mana in the first ce. Hickham received my words in agreement.

    ¡°Ohh! Yoong, are you the leader of the human vige in your dimension? The reason why you want to get the Enchanted Wood, are you trying to cover the whole of your vige with a defense barrier to protect it?¡±

    Although I wasn¡¯t the vige leader, it was correct to say that I wanted to cover a vige with a barrier. It was already surrounding the town, but I wanted to cover more area. If I talked about the fact that it would almost double the barrier, which was now 3km in diameter, the reaction seemed to be more intense, so I murmured.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not very interested in domination or anything like that¡­¡±

    Ghur spoke once more.

    ¡°Anyway¡­to answer your question, no creature in this forest can break it. But I didn¡¯t mean to make you stay awake¡­¡±

    Of course, I didn¡¯t bring out this artifact just because I would stand for a night watch. Actually, this was an artifact that I had been preparing for camping out.

    ¡°No¡­you don¡¯t need to worry that this barrier would break anyway. Why don¡¯t you all stay and go to bed without any concern?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? No matter what, we can¡¯t just make you stay up all day.¡±

    They misunderstood that I would keep this barrier until the night arrived and stay focused without sleeping.

    ¡°¡­No, I¡¯m going to sleep, too.¡±

    When Ghur looked at me with a nce that seemed like he didn¡¯t get what I meant, I exined.

    ¡°This thing buried in the ground is an artifact that maintains a barrier even if I don¡¯t keep focusing. If I leave it like this, even if I pass out, it will hold.¡±

    ¡°Whaaaat?!¡±

    The giants jumped up as if they couldn¡¯t believe it. Looking at the reaction, it wasn¡¯t because the level of the trio was rtively low. Still, it seemed that there was no knowledge of barrier magic and artifacts that remained semi-permanent once unfolded. I was grateful because I had Parvache. If Parvache¡¯s parental dimension had been this dimension, I would never have thought of creating a barrier near my house. I couldn¡¯t sleep for 24 hours while maintaining the barriers, could I?

    ¡°Well, so I create a barrier nucleus separately inside this artifact. If the Mana is concentrated in the outside space in this way, rather than the body of the caster as the center of the barrier¡­¡±

    I had always learned from Parvache, but it was the first time I exined magic to others. Despite the unsophisticated exnation, Ghur and Palo admired and were amazed when they had a rough understanding of the artifact¡¯s principle. It seems to be an unimaginable way of operating Mana. However, even in the midst of this, Hickham was nking out with a look on his face, wondering what a bummer I was talking about.

    In any dimension, the curiosity and enthusiasm of the wizards were the same. These giants put off their sleep and fell into the story of my barrier magic and artifacts¡¯ principles. Mostly the giants asked questions, and I answered them. In the meantime, I chanted the magic form. There were times when I forgot what to chant next, but Parvache helped with that part. As the sleepless night¡¯s burden was gone, I was ready to reduce my sleeping time, so I thought that I had to change the subject.

    ¡°Although the effective material for making such artifacts is the Enchanted Wood¡­unfortunately, the Ashpim Giants are very primitive in using Enchanted Wood.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way they can do magic in a way that our Dells don¡¯t know.¡±

    Ghur said as he shook his head.

    ¡°Anyway, because I will give you this artifact, I want to buy some maps that show up to the territory of Ashpims and the Enchanted Wood Forest.¡±

    ¡°There is no map of the inside of Enchanted Wood Forest, of course. But there is a map in the vige that shows the way to it. The elders will also pay any price for these treasures. Why don¡¯t youe to the vige with us as soon as tomorrow nightes?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t veryfortable to say that it was a treasure. There¡¯s a box of these stic soju bottles in my backpack right now. Of course, all of them were artifacts.

    However, I nodded dly without showing any signs of this fact.

 Chapter 23

    Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (4)

    ording to Ghur, humans were a rare race even before being hunted in earnest. It was said that humans had strong fertility that was iparable to the Dell Giants, but what was the reason for their small number? It soon became apparent that this world¡¯s environment was too harsh for humans¡¯ physical ability to survive. As the sun rises high, the atmosphere was heated up. Even in the middle of the night, the temperature seemed a little hot. Still, the temperature increased rapidly when the day started. I was under the shade of a tree that had apletely shaded canopy, and yet it grew quite hot.

    ¡°Ah¡­it¡¯s hot.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t bear it, so I chanted a spell that spewed cold, but the three giants, including Ghur, were frightened, so I quickly canceled the spell.

    ¡°No, isn¡¯t it hot?¡±

    Ghur said with a straight face.

    ¡°It¡¯s natural that the day is hot, right? But I beg you, please do not use that magic again.¡±

    Hickham nodded quickly and said, ¡°Yes, Yoong! I only touched the wind for a moment¡­but it was tearing my skin apart!¡±

    When the cold created by my magic hit them, it seemed to be perceived as painfulness beyond just cold. Even though I set it to the same temperature as an air conditioner¡­I eventually gave up, put a little chill around my body, and went into my sleeping bag. The giants also soonid down and fell asleep. I was tired. It wasn¡¯t because of Mana exhaustion, but Mana tension in my mind and body.

    Although it was a one-sided victory, I crossed the dimension and fought three battles with my own body. I was sleepy, but I couldn¡¯t sleep easily. Looking sideways, the Dell Giants, including Ghur, was restingfortably. They seemed topletely believe in my, a stranger¡¯s, words, and they were sure that this barrier would remain intact until the nightes. What if I lied or had an evil heart?

    ¡®Parvache.¡¯

    I called Parvache quietly in my mind.

    [What?]

    ¡®How does it look to you? This dimension. And the habitation?¡¯

    [First, isn¡¯t the temperature too high? You said you were going to bring your family here if the Earth went down. You can create a suitable environment and live in it¡­but you are used to living that way? What about your mother and sister?]

    ¡®That¡¯s the problem¡­no matter how much you look at, it¡¯s not a favorable environment.¡¯

    I nced sideways at the giants who had fallen into a deep slumber. Compared to any primate on Earth, they had long hairs that cover their entire body. I felt hot even just looking at it.

    ¡®Why did the Dell Giants evolve into long-haired species while living in such a hot environment?¡¯

    [Theposition of body hair is entirely different from life on Earth. The heat-blocking effect is iparable to the animals on Earth. The trees here look simr to those of Earth, but they are entirely different creatures when you look inside them.]

    If it were on Earth, it would be difficult to survive except for desert nts like cactus. The tall trees that fill the forest were simr in appearance to Earth¡¯s trees, but their internal structure and survival mechanisms seemedpletely different.

    ¡®But, why are they weak against the cold when their hair is that good for temperature control? They said they were cold earlier and looked very serious.¡¯

    [Because of the environment, their endurance for cold is lower than it is for heat.]

    Anyway, it was clear that the area where I was now wasn¡¯t afortable environment to live in with a human body. I would have to explore more after I got the Enchanted Wood. To carry out my ns in the future, I had to go to and from this dimension as if I were moving in and out of my house. Still, the Mapo Bridge Channel¡¯s current location was outside my barriers¡¯ boundary. It was too much of a burden to be exposed outside the barrier every time I crossed the Channel.

    If the Truth-Seeker overturned the Earth to find me, it would be meaningless. But even if that happened, it would be at least a few yearster. Until then, I wanted to move only within the boundary as much as possible. So, I decided to expand the barrier and put the Mapo Bridge Channel inside my barrier. For that purpose, the Enchanted Wood was an indispensable factor. And actually, the Enchanted Wood would be useful for other barriers.

    ¡®However, the native Enchanted Wood is in the hermitage of this world¡¯s Truth-Seekers¡­¡¯

    [What wickedness did you have in your previous life that the Truth-Seekers will tackle you in every world you go?]

    ¡®Ah, I don¡¯t know. Damn it.¡¯

    As soon as I get the map, I had to decide how to get the Enchanted Wood. I took a deep breath and went to sleep to calm myplicated thoughts.

    ***

    As night came, we woke up and walked several hours again to reach Ghur¡¯s vige. And as soon as I got there, I had no choice but to doubt the quality of Parvache¡¯s interpretation.

    ¡®Hey, Parvache. You¡¯ve always interpreted it as a vige. How can this be a vige?¡¯

    [No word in Korean could be adequately tranted other than a vige. It was also the smallest unit among the Dell Giants¡¯ residential areas.]

    Honestly, I reflected on myself. Looking at their clothing style, environment, and magic level, I knew that civilization on this side was far lower than on Earth. So, of course, when I heard that it was the Dell Giant¡¯s vige, I imagined that there would be some straw huts gathered like the primitive tribes of the Amazon in the jungle. However, what spread out before my eyes was a vast, tall, circr tower that was too high to measure. The walls were densely decorated with white building materials that looked like short tubes.

    The trees kept blocking the view, and suddenly the tower appeared in front of me. I looked up right at the tower in front of me and couldn¡¯t see the top, perhaps because it was a building where the giants of the vige lived together. The scale was enormous.

    ¡°¡­Wow, how could such a tall tower not be seen from outside the forest?¡±

    After entering the forest, the sky¡¯s view was blocked because of the trees¡¯ canopy covering everything above the head. But I didn¡¯t see this tall tower while I was walking towards the forest.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because you were walking in the middle of the night. Dell¡¯s bones hide in the moonlight.¡±

    ¡°¡­What? What bones hide?¡±

    Ghur exined in a calm voice.

    ¡°Dell¡¯s bones assimte with the atmosphere and hide their appearance when they reflect the moonlight. It can be seen from up close, but when viewed from a distance, it is difficult to find it as if hiding in the moonlight.¡±

    ¡°No¡­you mean, that huge tower¡­¡±

    All of those building materials that look like a white tube were¡­

    ¡°Yes, Dells builds viges out of the bones left by their ancestors. Dell¡¯s fathers and mothers use the blood and flesh of their descendants when they live, and when they die, their bones strengthen the barriers that will protect their descendants¡¯ homes.¡±

    [Actually, Dell Giant¡¯s skeleton is extremely strong. You can say that is simr to a magical metal.]

    Parvache gave a supplementary exnation in a voice that only I could hear. Ghur continued exining with a tone full of pride. Still, I was reluctant to listen and thought of doing anything else. Ghur¡¯s two disciples walked ahead toward the entrance and gestured to me as if to follow them, but I didn¡¯t step forward easily for some reason. Were there any smells in there?

    ***

    All of the giants who found me entering the tower reacted not much differently from the Ghur and his group. They were shocked. Ghur roared as curious giants flocked around us as he walked, including the gatekeeper.

    ¡°Stay back! He¡¯s the Elder¡¯s guest!¡±

    No giant in this group broke his word and approached him further, perhaps because of his high status. Ghur handed over his luggage to Palo and Hickham, told them to go home and rest, and led me to the elders¡¯ floors. Contrary to my concerns, not all the interior materials in the tower were made of bone. Apparently, only the outer walls and substantial build were made of bones. In contrast, the rest was made of materials easily found in nature. Ghur and I rode on an elevator made of wood and metal. The area where the elders lived was said to be the top floor. Fortunately, I didn¡¯t have to climb up this tall tower.

    -Rattle, rattle

    Feeling no Mana from it, I was certain that it didn¡¯t use magical power but pure mechanical power. Whatever the principle was, it didn¡¯t seem to be very sophisticated. The elevator began to climb faster than a person¡¯s walk and finally reached the top floor. After getting off the elevator, Ghur walked a little further through a circr corridor and stood in front of a door.

    ¡°It¡¯s Ghur.¡±

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    A voice deeper than Ghur¡¯s replied from inside the door. With permission, Ghur opened the door without hesitation. As soon as I followed him into the room, my Mana circuit sensed strong and deep magic, my nose smelt various kinds of dried nts and old paper, and my eyes were stained with refined, delicate moonlight.

    It was the middle of the night. However, it seemed like they didn¡¯t use indoor lights likenterns. Magenta moonlight, which permeated through the window frame, filled the room with a slightly weaker brightness than what was seen from the outside. Looking closely, the window was covered with translucent minerals, and the moonlight prated and lit up the room to a reasonable level. The ceiling in this room was ridiculously high by human standards. Still, I think it was rtively closepared to the size of the giant sitting in front of me. If she stood up, she would be taller than Ghur.

    Sitting on a table covered with various giant animals¡¯ skins, an old female giant stared at Ghur with a calm gaze.

    ¡°You¡¯re back. Good job. And¡­¡±

    Her gaze stayed on the Channel on my chest.

    ¡°Wee, to the ascetic of the alien world.¡±

    The ascetic¡­that misunderstanding should be resolved when the conversation began. As soon as she saw and spoke to me, Ghur, her subordinate, bowed his head and greeted her first.

    ¡°Thank you for the wee.¡±

    Ghur introduced us to each other.

    ¡°Elder Kapal, I met him in the forest, and his name is Yoong. As you might have already guessed, he came from another world. Yoong, this is Elder Kapal, the greatest wizard in the vige.¡±

    Following Elder Kapal¡¯s gesture, Ghur sat with his legs crossed over the leather carpet in front of her, and I trembled for a moment and then sat next to him, facing Elder Kapal.

    ¡°Elder, we have a guest, so I will tell you a little bit about the results of collecting herbs this time. Here¡¯s what Yoong proposed for a deal¡­¡±

    Ghur took out the barrier artifact he had received from me, handed it over to the Elder, and gave a brief exnation. She tweaked the artifact a little, then infused them with Mana, and in an instant, the barrier spread across the room.

    ¡°Sure¡­it¡¯s a great treasure.¡±

    The Elder admired it as if she immediately realized its value. She felt that the barrier was maintained even if she no longer consciously controlled the magic. While the Elder admired the artifacts, Parvache and I admired the Elder¡¯s way of operating her Mana, having a conversation inaudible to the giants.

    ¡®¡­They said she was the best wizard here.¡¯

    [The spell¡¯sposition is very tacky, and in my dimension, it was used in the primitive era and discarded. However, the way she uses the Mana circuit is very delicate and high-level. It seems like thebination of long experience and genius hase up with the most efficient method.]

    I didn¡¯t think she learned that kind of management method from anyone, and maybe she learned it herself. She probably wouldn¡¯t be able to pass it on to someone else. It would have only been optimized for her physical Mana circuit.

    ¡°So¡­did you say you need a map?¡±

    The Elder, who had admired the stic soju ss in her hand, put it down and asked.

    ¡°Yes, as you have already heard, I¡¯m looking for Enchanted Wood.¡±

    ¡°¡­A wizard as powerful as you need Enchanted Wood?¡±

    She thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

    ¡°Well, humans have so many children. A tribe like yours surely would have arge number, right? Unlike the humans who lived here, you must have defeated all the predators, and the size of the tribe must have grown tremendously. Even to protect all those people, you may need Enchanted Wood¡­¡±

    As if her thoughts went further, she bumped her hands together with a murky touch.

    ¡°What¡¯s more, with this artifact, you can permanently maintain any barrier! You¡¯re going to build a barrier that encloses your vige!¡±

    She wasn¡¯t logically wrong.

 Chapter 24

    <ol> <li> Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (5)</li> </ol>

    ¡°I will give you any map you want. I will give a special map to you ¨C who has brought us this treasure.¡±

    She got up from her seat. I expected it, but she had a huge body, her head almost touching the ceiling. This race seems to continue to grow in size as it aged. Elder Kapal looked a couple of headsrger than Ghur. She went into the next room from a connecting door and made a brief rumble for a moment, then brought some scrolls about half my height and spread them out in front of me.

    ¡°These are the maps showing the territory of Ashpim and the road to Silver Forest. And¡­this is the route that connects the farthest point in the area of ??the Ashpim. If you want to get the Enchanted Wood, there is a way to take it directly from Ashpim. Still, I rmend you to search around the forest without entering the Silver Forest, just like how they get it.¡±

    The elder then exined to me how to read the markers on the map. Indeed, there were quite a fewnds in the area around Silver Forest that didn¡¯t ovep with the residential area of ??Ashpim, and it seemed to be possible to look around for such a ce.

    ¡°Enchanted Wood isn¡¯t verymon, given that it is regarded as valuable even among the Ashpims. However, I think a good wizard like you must have learned special tracking magic or cognitive magic that we cannot know. I¡¯d rmend it because I think it¡¯s much higher than the chance to find it by luck.¡±

    Well, there were many ways. At least, there were ways to increase the probability rather than identally discovering it while passing by.

    ¡°Anyway, it won¡¯t be good for our Dell people if the Ashpims get that wood in their hands. I hope you will get all the Enchanted Wood that fell outside the forest to help you create barriers to protect your tribe. Good luck to you and your tribe.¡±

    I bowed my head to express my gratitude.

    ¡°Thank you. Actually, it is a barrier to hide one person, but I am very grateful for your wishes.¡±

    Ghur¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°What? You¡¯re not protecting your families from predators, but you¡¯re only hiding? What are you afraid of, Yoong?¡±

    I smiled bitterly and pointed my finger at my chest.

    ¡°¡­As you can see.¡±

    Elder Kapal looked at the Channel on my body before responding.

    ¡°Is there a lot of wizards in your dimension aiming for the Channel open on your chest? To the point where you need to hide?¡±

    Ghur took her words.

    ¡°Are these guys running away with the summoning magic they¡¯re throwing at you all the time?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°No¡­in fact, I¡¯m hiding from the Truth-Seeker in our world.¡±

    Elder Kapal¡¯s eyes, half-buried in thick wrinkles, shed and erged.

    ¡°What? Why? Are you not an ascetic?¡±

    This misunderstanding must now be resolved. It was clear that there was some contact with the Truth-Seeker of this world, given the story that he waszy. That was why I was mistaken like this. I calmly exined what happened when I was a child. After hearing the story, Elder Kapal let out a sigh as if it were unexpected.

    ¡°Oh my! I thought you were an ascetic who served the Truth-Seeker because there was a Channel on your chest. So, you¡¯re not willing to be a door for the Truth Seeker when the timees?¡±

    ¡°No! Not at all.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t a long-life species who was tired by the weight of life after sailing through thousands of years, nor was I a megalomaniac trying to reach the truth of a dimension. It was strange to think that a man ofmon values ??that couldn¡¯t live to 100 would sacrifice their body to be a part of the grand universe and live as a door that connects the dimensions.

    ¡°Then, your channel wasn¡¯t opened because you went to the Truth-Seeker and asked for it, but the Truth-Seeker came to you and opened it up at his own will?¡±

    I gritted my teeth in affirmation.

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s right.¡±

    Ghurughed.

    ¡°Now it makes sense to hide from the Truth-Seeker. By the way, it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve ever heard the absurd story of a Truth-Seekering to a human being, opening a channel in his body, and disappearing.¡±

    [That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying.]

    Parvache grumbled in my head.

    ***

    Three dayster, Ghur and I stood on deste desertnd with the Silver Forest ring in the distance. As I would encounter the Ashpim before returning to Earth anyway, I aimed to find the Enchanted Wood branches outside the forest by searching around the Silver Forest as Elder Kapal had rmended. I was trying to do it the way the Ashpim Giants got the Enchanted Wood.

    I already knew that normal conversation with them was impossible, so I didn¡¯t have to show myself around like I did the first time. Furthermore, I was apanied by the Dell Giant, Ghur, the Ashpim Giants¡¯ enemy. It was said that they would kill each other just by invading their territory, but since we weren¡¯t making any fuss, I moved diligently with the invisibility magic that covered Ghur and me. Elder Kapal considered that Ghur apanied me. Even after teaching me how to read the map, the elder told him to apany me as a guide. It was the part where I could see how precious the artifact I gave them actually was.

    No matter how much we avoided the Ashpim Giant using invisibility magic, it would be dangerous for Ghur to jump into the battlefield. Nevertheless, I was grateful to the elder who gave him instructions to apany me and Ghur, who was willing to join me, so I took out a whole pack of 12 stic soju sses from my backpack and presented it to the elder.

    ¡°Oh, my God! What are you doing on your dimension that you are generously giving out these treasures?!¡±

    I was just an unemployed man. An unemployed man who had enough time to manually artifact each box of stic soju by his own hands. No matter what my story was, it went without saying that the elder who epted the artifact I brought out had been turned upside down. I chose this disposable stic soju cup as the ¡°core of the barrier¡± because it was nice if it had a bowl or dome shape in the first ce. And it was very small and thin, so if I stacked them, the storage volume increased tremendously. There were many left even after I gave them what I was carrying.

    This would be enough for them to study the artifacts¡¯ principle. Still, I wanted to make sure, so I spent a day teaching Elder Kapal how to make the barrier¡¯s nucleus. I taught what I learned from Parvache. However, there was a theory of a level that hadn¡¯t yet been achieved in this dimension. For this part, my godfather and self-proimed ¡°Collective Magic Consciousness¡± Parvache immediately created a spell. They downgraded it to fit the level of the Dell Giant¡¯s Intelligence.

    Elder Kapal¡¯s genius wasn¡¯t our guesswork, so she absorbed my (in fact, more than half of Parvache¡¯s) teachings within a day. Although it may not be possible to produce the finished product right now, it would have greatly shortened the time it would take for her to seed in self-production.

    ¡°Now that we can see the Silver Forest, I think you¡¯ll be able to get to the entrance of the forest in a half-day walk. I¡¯m telling you again, just in case, never, ever think about going into the woods. Okay, Yoong?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ghur. Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    No matter how much I thought about it, I felt like I was poorly intertwined with the Truth-Seekers, so I couldn¡¯t do anything inside the forest. I had no intention to get entangled with the Truth-Seeker in this world.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going into the woods. I¡¯m only going to search around. Now that I can see the forest, why don¡¯t you head back to the vige, Ghur? I¡¯ll apply the invisibility magic again so that it can be maintained enough until you get back.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s very kind of you. It¡¯ll be of great help. I honestly don¡¯t have that much Mana.¡±

    Ghurughed.

    ¡°It¡¯s a little less burdensome to cast magic while we go around searching together.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    What else are you talking about? I just told you to go back to the vige.

    ¡°No matter how much you have learned to read a map from the elder, what you know with your head is different from when you actually follow the map. Moreover, invisibility magic isn¡¯tpletely safe. You entered a dangerous area, so I can¡¯t leave you alone. I will guide you to the safest route possible while you are navigating.¡±

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t need to¡­¡±

    Ghur remained steadfast in his will.

    ¡°Believe me. This map the elder gave you isn¡¯t a normal map. Over the years, they have sacrificed many Dells¡¯ lives to explore the territory of the Ashpims and cleared thends where they don¡¯t live and where they seldom walk. That¡¯s how it was made. There is an infiltration map that can navigate through their territory, avoiding the eyes of the Ashpims.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    I asked, interrupting him.

    ¡°Ghur?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°How long has it been?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    I didn¡¯t think this giant man, who had less sensitive Mana circuits than I am, had yet to feel it.

    ¡°It¡¯s a map created by searching for a long time. When was thest time you updated it? This map?¡±

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know. I remember I was 26 when thest time Elder Kapal made changes. At that time, my third uncle died after following an infiltration operation to create this map. I remember clearly.¡±

    ¡°¡­Ghur, you said you had seen humans until 60 years ago? How old are you this year?¡±

    Ghur scratched his cheek for a moment, then said.

    ¡°I am not that old. I¡¯m not even 140¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    I spoke with a sound from my throat. It was a pain in my neck.

    ¡°The route of the Ashpims Giant recorded on this map must be at least 100 years old¡­¡±

    I blurted out the end of my speech and looked at the crowd that began to appear over the line¡ªat least fifty objects or more. Moreover, I wasn¡¯t lucky. I could feel the Mana in that crowd. It meant that there was a wizard among them. After approaching this far, Ghur felt it; he looked dark as well.

    ¡°Hmm¡­didn¡¯t they feel our Mana? I can barely feel it in this path, too.¡±

    ¡°If we¡¯re just passing by, they might not feel it. We used invisibility magic in the first ce because we expected the field of vision to be much longer than the distance they could respond to the Mana. If they get closer like this, we are now casting invisibility magic, so they will be able to notice the powerful magic¡­¡±

    It was then.

    ¡°Khoo! m¡¯gaa! m¡¯gaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    I heard the shouting, which I believed to be the wizard of the Ashpim Giants. In the distance, they were screaming, pointing towards us with a magical staff. Damn. We got caught up in the air. They started running towards us, kicking up a cloud of dust. The disadvantage of invisibility magic was that it became prickly when the wizard detected the magic at close range because of the activated Mana. However, Ghur and Ipletely believed in the map. We thought we would move at least one or two kilometers away from the Ashpim Giant¡¯s territory.

    That wasn¡¯t enough distance to feel magical power, but it could be exposed to the view in an open area without obstacles. That¡¯s why I purposely moved with transparency¡­this close approach would inevitably lead to the discovery of Mana-activating magic. Furthermore, we couldn¡¯t see theming this close because they approached us in a sloping direction.

    ¡°¡­When you return to the vige this time, let¡¯s update the map.¡±

    In the meantime, what made me more confused was that the staff that the Ashpim Giant was holding wasn¡¯t made from Enchanted Wood, but it was just a in wood staff. Well. I couldn¡¯t be so lucky from the start.

    ¡°What a shame.¡±

    Ghurughed hard as he said that. We faced more than twenty times the number of enemies in the Ashpim territory, but he didn¡¯t feel very nervous. It may be because he believed in my abilities. However, he also seemed to have confidence in himself. I also remembered that he was one of the best wizards among the giants I encountered in the Dell Giant tower. Ghur¡¯s palms faced each other, and he gathered his Mana.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve been beaten and killed the Ashpim. Was it five years?¡±

    ¡°¡­Did you send them peacefully without killing even when you met them this whole time?¡±

    He had a smile.

    ¡°What are you talking about? I haven¡¯t encountered them in 5 years.¡±

    When Ghur opened his hands again, dark green Mana exploded forth.

 Chapter 25

    Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (6)

    The crystalline force condensed in Ghur¡¯s hand flew into the Ashpim Giants group, drawing a trail of light!

    -Boom!

    The light struck the face of the Ashpim warrior running in the lead, a ray bursting through its head. It seemed that he had a lot of experience fighting with them; he hit the brain directly, avoiding the hollow soundbox that upied more than 90% of the giant¡¯s head. Under the moonlight, fragments of brain shed an unpleasant red color as they scattered across the ground. Those who were rushing from behind saw it and stopped immediately in their tracks.

    ¡°Khaaaa! am¡¯goowaaa!¡±

    Three Ashpims appeared to be wizards. They raised their voices and shouted as if they were inmand of the crowd. Then, except for those protecting the wizard, the rest of the warriors put some distance from each other, spreading out in all directions, and rushed toward us.

    ¡°Fortunately or unfortunately, they seem to have no Enchanted Wood in their hands.¡±

    ¡°I think so.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. If they could use barrier magic, they would have put the formation in one ce without dispersing like that.¡±

    Obviously, it would be ideal for one of the wizards to defend everything with a barrier while the others prepared magic. If so, the warriors would surround the wizards. But when there was no barrier, they decided to scatter the warriors and rush towards us from all sides. When Ghur first attacked, the invisibility magic surrounding his body was broken, and I, who weaved a spell together, was also exposed.

    ¡°Mgggooooo! maggwaaaa!¡±

    Those who saw me closely were more excited and screaming among themselves.

    [¡°It is human! What a windfall!¡±¡­No more trantions now.]

    Perhaps Parvache was tired of repeating the same words. If I had some physical abilities, I could y assassin by putting invisibility on my body again and putting a knife through their necks, but it was faster to be reborn. I couldn¡¯t do what was not possible.

    Anyway, the only way I could attack was magic, so I prepared another spell tounch a magic attack. The most powerful thing was summoning magic, but I didn¡¯t have a few minutes to spend opening channels and summoning! Afterpleting a simple calction, I mmed a clenched fist in my hand. I emittedpressed air bullets from the tips of my fingers.

    ¡°Pebbles of Driflos!¡±

    -Smack! Smack, smack!

    It wasn¡¯t a one-shot, one-kill as neat as Ghur¡¯s, but with multiple shots, I seeded in killing several of the Ashpims running ahead at the same time! A hole the size of a human head was drilled through their soundboxes and limbs. The warriors were tossed in the opposite direction from which they were running and hit the ground.

    ¡°Khaaaaaa!¡±

    The ones running from behind trampled over the fallen. Some tripped and fell, making a mess. In the meantime, I could feel the wizards had almostpleted the spell in the rear. I didn¡¯t know what the spell was, but I had to stop it. I took out the iron te I had prepared in advance. I moved the Mana to quickly vibrate the sharp air and scrape the iron te. It was a magical vibration without a proper spell. Simple but effective.

    As a result¡­

    -Keeeeeeeeeeek!

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Mmmkhaaaaaa!¡±

    When they heard the high-pitched noise that was several times sharper than the siren, the Ashpim Giants screamed as if they were really mad. However, the sound my iron te made was much louder than their screams. It was a nerve-gnawing noise that magnified the sound of scratching on sterboard several times. I was annoyed, too, but how many times more sensitive were those guys than humans? I felt the wizards lose focus and fail his spell.

    I looked sideways if it had influenced Ghur, and although he frowned a little, he waspleting his spell without any worries. It was assumed to be a spell that borrowed the power of other worlds, given the feeling of power. The magic system that I used as my main power and the source of power was simr, so I could easily recognize it. I constantly threw air bombs at them to keep them in check. I had a spell to annihte them, but I was worried that I would sweep away Ghur, who focused on spells without protection next to me. I wasn¡¯t confident because it was my first time fighting with someone.

    In the meantime, Ghur shouted the starter after hepleted concentrating the mana.

    [email protected]#@$!

    And, the sky turned upside down.

    ¡°¡­Huh?¡±

    After a while, I realized it was my mistake. The sky wasn¡¯t upside down. The earth covered the sky.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Khooowaaa!¡±

    -Grrrrrrrr! Grrrrr!

    Would it look like this if the ground hit the waves? The dry earth began to sway like crazy, and it swallowed up the giants! The warriors ran away like crazy but couldn¡¯t avoid the cracks and rising rocks. The giants¡¯ bodies were torn apart in a mass of rocks attacking from all sides. One of the wizards helplessly raised its hands to cover its body. Still, even the attempt was ridiculous, and a pile of dirt and rocks of enormous weight swallowed them whole. In an instant, half of the group of Ashpims were buried in the ground or crushed to death by rocks.

    ¡°Yoong! There are still two wizards left!¡±

    While Ghur¡¯s magic swept over them, I wasn¡¯t ying either. I stretched my hand forward to fire the prepared shot. It seemed that Ghur¡¯s spell wasn¡¯t intended only to attack them, but at the same time, aimed to create a position favorable for us. While the earth moved and swallowed up the Ashpims, the ground on which Ghur and I were standing soared high, creating a barrier in front of them. This was enough. He wouldn¡¯t be swept away even if I threw some strong magic.

    ¡°Ghur, please lower your head for a moment.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Hold your head down and cover your ears.¡±

    ¡°¡­This is the wall that I made so that you can hide while shooting air bullets, not me¡­¡±

    Even after seeing my magic, I think he tried to create a favorable environment for mybat method. He had good sense. The intention was good, but it was annoying to shoot and kill them one by one. Ghur was puzzled, but he hid behind the wall and covered his ears as I told him. I checked it and thenpleted the spell.

    ¡°The Storm of Adelegos.¡±

    At the same time as the chant line, the millet-sized gray dust blooming in my palm was blown through the surviving Ashpims. The speck of dust had already disappeared from my view as soon as it flowed into the air. Still, my Mana circuit showed that the highly condensed energy was rapidly flying around the group of giants. As soon as I sent it away from my fingertips, I quickly hid behind the wall, hesitantly sitting down, and closed my ears. At that moment!

    -Crumble!

    Over the wall, a shockwave that was iparable to Ghur¡¯s previous spell tore the atmosphere.

    -Kuaahahhh!

    ¡°What, what! what!¡±

    Everything in sight shook and rolled like crazy. Ghur screamed in confusion, hitting his buttocks several times while sitting on the rocking ground. If he hadn¡¯t covered his ears, he might have lost his hearing. Wouldn¡¯t it sound like this if the sky copsed?

    ¡°Aaaaahh! Uaaaagh! What is this?!¡±

    Even though he couldn¡¯t control his body, hisplexion was deep blue. The atmosphere, which boiled fiercely as if it had gone mad for a moment, began to subside little by little after a dozen seconds passed, and then the madness stopped.

    ¡°Ugh! Uuugh! Huaaargh!¡±

    On the earth that had regained its tranquility, only the rough breath exhaled by the Dell Giant remained and resonated.

    ¡°Y-you¡­what the hell¡­¡±

    For such a long time, Ghur attempted to calm he breathe. After slowing down his astonished heart, he sighed deeply and got up from his seat. Then he turned his gaze over the wall where he was hiding, and he hardened. All 20 or more Ashpim Giants had disappeared. There were no corpses left after Ghur buried them in the ground. The entirend where the Ashpim Giants were had been overturned. What was left was the trace of a huge explosion that nature couldn¡¯t have created. Purple moonlight seeped like blood over the wounds of the trampled earth.

    ¡°¡­What kind of magic was that?¡±

    Ghur asked, dumbfounded. I answered with the truth.

    ¡°It is a magic that borrows the power of a superior being. Depending on the dimension, there are cases where the name of immortals defines them; some are called great spirits, some are called gods, and sometimes they are called demons¡­¡±

    ¡°No, I know that it is not a natural force, but magic using the power of someone I don¡¯t know. What principle is used to create such destructive power?¡±

    ¡°It explodes highlypressed vibrations and sounds in a confined space. We heard a roar because the distance was close, but we wouldn¡¯t have heard anything if we were just one or two kilometers away. On the contrary, the ones in the middle who were directly hit by magic were caught in a storm of loud noises that made their eardrums pop.¡±

    Their eardrums burst. The whole body also burst out to the point that there were no pieces left.

    ¡°¡­Weren¡¯t we in danger, too?¡±

    ¡°¡­Well adjusted.¡±

    Ghur shook his head as if it was absurd and asked again.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to ask the same question over and over again, but now I¡¯m really curious, so I¡¯m going crazy. What the hell are you doing in your original dimension?¡±

    I shrugged and answered.

    ¡°¡­I¡¯m unemployed.¡±

 Chapter 26

    Silver Forest under the Purple Sky (7)

    The closer the silver forest grew, the stronger I could feel my power circuit flinching. Ghur and I stopped at a distance enough to walk into the forest in another ten minutes.

    ¡°The Elder was right,¡± Ghur nodded his head.

    ¡°Yes, this barrier was magic. By the way, you are a monster in terms of the amount of Mana¡­butpared to that, isn¡¯t it kind of a shame?¡±

    Was it a shame? Or ridiculous? While walking, the Mana that flowed from Silver Forest pierced my circuit as we neared. Approaching this distance, the Mana that formed the forest¡¯s barrier was so rich and huge that I felt like I would vomit. Ghur¡¯s face was blue, describing how much he was affected.

    [Min-joon, because the purpose of the barrier you made is to hide, you made aposition to hide the Mana as much as possible¡­but the truth-seeker in there spews out Mana, which he doesn¡¯t need to.]

    The size of the barrier wasrge, but the Mana that formed the barrier was too powerful. Moreover, it seemed that there was no intention to hide this Mana. It was spreading out in all directions with outright momentum! At the same time, I realized how powerful the Truth-Seeker who created such a barrier was, and at the same time, I felt the joy flowing through my spine because my guess was correct. Elder Kapal was right. The barrier created by the Truth-Seeker of this world in Silver Forest was magical.

    ¡°Now, then, shall we take this path and search around the forest?¡±

    ¡°Ghur. Again, it¡¯s dangerous, so it¡¯s better to return to the vige¡­¡±

    ¡°Have you seen the Ashpim from before? I can¡¯t believe this map anymore. What should I do if I go back alone and meet so many guys I can¡¯t handle them? It would be safer to move with you and thene back together.¡±

    ¡°¡­You¡¯vepletely changed your words since before you encountered a group of Ashpim. You said that you had a lot of trust on the map.¡±

    Ghur shrugged his shoulders as if he was wondering what to do. A hundred years may not be a long time for Dell Giants, but for Ashpim Giants, it seemed long enough to change their ways. As he said, I thought it would be more dangerous to send him back alone, so I decided to continue with him.

    ¡°By the way, shall we approach the forest a little more? No matter how stormy it blows, wouldn¡¯t it be difficult for the branches to roll all the way out here.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know how great the storms in this area were, but this distance was certainly a bit far away. Ghur hesitated for a moment, then expressed consent.

    ¡°But are you okay with how unhostile the Mana bes? It makes me nervous.¡±

    It seems that he was reluctant to go closer because of the magic of the barrier.

    ¡°I honestly feel burdened to bear it, but if it¡¯s okay, let¡¯s go a little closer.¡±

    We started moving closer to the perimeter of the forest.

    ¡°Hey¡­the Truth-Seeker in the world named Earth must also be such a monster, right?¡±

    ¡°I honestly can¡¯t remember because I was sleeping¡­¡±

    [He was more than that. He could never be weak.]

    Parvache told me through telepathy, affirming my thoughts.

    ¡°As far as I know¡­the Truth-Seeker in our world must be incredibly old. It is said that it was difficult to even among Truth-Seekers to open a Channel in the body without waking a child who has no power.¡±

    This was what Parvache taught me.

    ¡°When a Truth-Seeker reaches that level, it ismon to make a final push to gain divinity in A-Verdag instead of managing one dimension¡­Oh, is this word tranted now?¡±

    I was surprised to see Ghur nodding in agreement. This world was still a bit unbnced. Compared to the level of magic, the knowledge of the Truth-Seekers was known in small detail.

    ¡°The dimension of the hometown and grave of the Truth-Seekers, right?¡±

    That was a neat definition of A-Verdag; a higher dimension led to special Channels that only Truth-Seeker or divine beings could use.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there a barrier in your dimension right now to deceive such a terrifying Truth-Seeker? And you are the only wizard who made it?¡±

    Heughed as if he was speechless.

    ¡°It¡¯s magic that mymon sense cannot even imagine. Was Elder Kapal right? Aren¡¯t you a Demi-God, not human?¡±

    ¡°I told you I¡¯m not! If I were at that level, I wouldn¡¯t even have to suffer like this.¡±

    I repeated the same words I said to Elder Kapal and denied him. Then I recalled the conversation I had with the elder before our departure.

    ***

    The elder was just getting a bunch of artifacts from me and was confused. In her room, Elder Kapal asked me, ¡°You make such treasures or a barrier to avoid the Truth-Seeker¡­are you a Demi God-ss creature?¡± Elder Kapal, who was trying to figure out who I was, threw an irrational guess, so I tly denied it.

    ¡°If I¡¯m a Demi God¡­I don¡¯t need to hide from the Truth-Seeker like this. I wouldn¡¯t even go to look for Enchanted Wood.¡±

    Elder Kapal looked at me, expressing her sympathy for what I said, but was still unable to shake all the suspicions in her eyes. But that was true. Parvache earlier affirmed it. With my skills now, it was impossible to expand the barrier around my house anymore. Since there was no time topletely resume the training of barrier magic, in the end, we had no choice but to rely on the Enchanted Wood.

    However, there was no confidence in collecting the Ashpim wizard staff handed over to the Korean government. Then, the only way left was to go beyond the Channel where the Enchanted Wood was expected to grow and bring it directly back to Earth. Ghur, who was sitting next to her, asked.

    ¡°By the way, how are you saying that the missing Truth-Seekeres back to you? Looking at how you make the barrier, it sounds like you¡¯re convinced that the Truth-seeker will surely find you.¡±

    Elder Kapal answered the question instead.

    ¡°You must be afraid of the Echo Power of the Truth-Seeker.¡±

    These giants knew everything. I nodded my head in wonder.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Echo Power?¡±

    ¡°It is one of the powers that Truth-Seekers have inmon. It spreads a unique wave that only Truth-Seekers can make, and it is said that if this collides with a Channel that they have created, it bes a sense of location information.¡±

    ¡°Then the barrier you make is to prevent that echo from reaching you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, to be precise, it transforms the wave that urs when the echo and my Channel meet into a form that the Truth-Seeker cannot recognize.¡±

    ¡°No, but didn¡¯t you ever go back and forth in and out of the barrier? Then, wouldn¡¯t the Truth-Seeker think it¡¯s weird that your reaction is in and out?¡±

    ¡°¡­In fact, it has been two years since I came out of the barrier, and our world¡¯s Truth-Seeker has never made an echo after I made the barrier. I am sure about that.¡±

    When he used an echo, my barrier was supposed to react.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s probably waiting for the time to pass for my Channel to mature.¡±

    He threw his eyes as if asking whether any elders heard this far.

    ¡°Is that barrier able to block the other powers of the Truth-Seeker? For example, like the Anti-magic Power¡­¡±

    [Does this woman really want to believe in you as a Demi-God?]

    Parvache said so outrageously. Oh my, Elder. I hope so, too.

    ¡°There is a limit because it is a barrier that is human-made. If the Truth-Seeker decides to sweep my dimension¡­the Earth, with anti-magic power, there¡¯s no solution.¡±

    Parvache assured me that this barrier could deceive the Truth-Seeker¡¯s eyes. But Parvache predicted darkly that it would be broken by one blind kick from the Truth-Seeker. I could avoid the Truth-Seeker¡¯s eyes. However, if it turned out that he had a very persistent and filthy nature so that he was prepared for the reaction of providence and swept the entire Earth with his Anti-magic Power, my barriers would be destroyed. I¡¯m just hoping he wouldn¡¯t, but I was also preparing for an emergency.

    ¡°By the way, Yoong, if the Truth-Seeker could break the barrier in your dimension¡­then why don¡¯t you just give up and hide in this dimension?¡±

    Ghur asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re sharp. Actually, that was the first thing I thought about as soon as the Channel opened in our world.¡±

    When a hundred Channels connected to other dimensions appeared on Earth, of course, it was a thought that came to my mind. In any case, shouldn¡¯t we jump to another dimension through those Channels? The situation was different from when I first met Parvache, so now, there were so manypletely open Channels in my world. Then Parvache replied.

    [Even if you move through the Channel, the two dimensions are still connected, so even if your body is in another dimension, the echo of the Truth-Seeker will follow you.]

    Simply put, even if I am in the living room (The Earth) then hide in the master room (different dimension) with the door (Channel) open, the Truth-Seeker wille into the master room, grab my hair, and drag me back to the living room. So, until now, I was stuck in the corner of the living room, and I had been hiding under a barrier.

    And in case the barrier was broken, I was learning the dimensional leap magic. If I warp without using a Channel and run away to a dimension that didn¡¯t connect with this world, no matter how powerful a Truth-Seeker was, he couldn¡¯t find my traces. Would it be like suddenly jumping into someone else¡¯s bathroom? Possibly.

    Even if the Truth-Seeker tried to find me and cross over, he couldn¡¯t tell if I would be on the 15th floor of the front building or the 7th floor of the next building. But what if the number of households in this apartmentplex was nearly infinite? After all, tracking was impossible. He couldn¡¯t even see me in the living room.

    ¡°But I suddenly thought about it. What if I cover up the Channel that has been created in our dimension with this barrier?¡±

    What if there were Channels within the barrier that I had created? What if I ran away through that Channel? This idea came to mind while imagining what would happen if my barriers covered the Mapo Bridge. Ghur tilted his head.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it meaningless? You said that if the Truth-Seeker wants it, he can sweep the entire dimension and destroy the barrier. The Channel connecting the two dimensions will be exposed outside the barrier, and the echoes will find you, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I concluded that it didn¡¯t make sense either. So, I thought about it another way. Anyway¡­what the Truth-Seeker can destroy is the barriers in my world, after all.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°After I get the Enchanted Wood, the second thing to do is to find a suitable ce in this dimension and build the barrier here. It will take a while. If there is no suitable ce in this dimension, I might find a third dimension connected by Channels.¡±

    This was insurance in case the dimensional leap magic couldn¡¯t bepleted. What if there were hundreds of doors in the living room rather than one? And what would happen if I chose one of those rooms and made a barrier and hid in it? Or, what if I went to another third room connected to that room and hid there? Furthermore, there would be a Truth-Seeker in each dimension. Could the Truth-Seekers of my world ignore ones of other worlds to stroll into that dimension to find me?

    If so, finding me right away and then dragging me back would be tolerated by the other dimensions¡¯ Truth-Seeker. But would the Truth-Seeker of each dimension really tolerate sweeping the whole dimension with Anti-magic Power to find me hidden in the barriers within another dimension? A huge mess that nullified all the magic in the world to destroy my barrier?

    Besides, I had heard a nice story from these giants.

    ¡°You said that the Truth-seeker in this world is sleeping behind a powerful barrier inside the forest, right? Is it¡­a power or magic?¡±

    Ghur spoke.

    ¡°In the first ce, the use of the Enchanted Wood is to stabilize the magic power, so if the barrier were deliberately built there, it would be magic¡­¡±

    Elder Kapal interrupted Ghur.

    ¡°When I was younger, I had been fighting a war with the Ashpims and went near the Silver Forest. It must have been magic.¡±

    Shepleted my conviction. If the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker was going to make a mess in this world, he would have to blow up the world¡¯s barrier as well.

    Would he take such a risk?

 Chapter 27

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest (1)

    After walking a little further, Ghur and I stopped as we approached the forest entrance. And instead of moving further, we decided to go on a perimeter search around the boundary. It was dangerous to approach the forest beyond this point. Still, it didn¡¯t seem easy to withstand the powerful Mana flowing out of the forest.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll use the search magic around here.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡± Ghur nodded.

    I closed my eyes and focused my mind. This magic didn¡¯t need to borrow a superior being¡¯s power but required extreme concentration. We couldn¡¯t walk around without knowing where the branches of the Enchanted Wood were scattered. I decided to use magic to detect the surrounding area. After some time passed, my whole body was drenched with sweat; I opened my eyes.

    ¡°Phew¡­¡±

    As I sighed and rxed my body, Ghur asked.

    ¡°Did somethinge out?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m afraid¡­¡±

    There was no way I¡¯d be so lucky from the beginning.

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep this distance and walk a little more along the forest border.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s do that.¡±

    I covered my whole body with cooling magic to cool off my sweat. Even though I was careful not to leak out the cold, seeing Ghur hurry back, I knew he felt the cold.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, that¡¯s okay. So what direction is it?¡±

    Ghur asked, pulling out the map and spreading it out.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ I can¡¯t believe it 100% now, but it would be better to move under the premise that the map is correct.¡±

    ¡°I agree. Except for what we encountered a few hours ago, we¡¯ve been avoiding them and moved safely so far.¡±

    There was a point. I nodded and stretched my finger across the map.

    ¡°Well¡­ then we move west.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ording to the map, moving west from the current position was supposed to move us further away from the Ashpim territory. We got up again after picking up the map and putting it in our luggage. It was then that we heard a sound.

    Sheeesh!

    I hurriedly looked at Ghur.

    ¡°Ghur?!¡±

    He also threw his gaze at me with a paleplexion. His eyes moved sharply.

    ¡°¡­I didn¡¯t feel wrong, did I?¡±

    Ominous energy was emerging from beyond the Silver Forest. We could feel a different power from the Mana that had made it difficult for us to go through where we stood.

    ¡°Ashpim Giant?¡±

    ¡°They don¡¯t have this ability! It¡¯s not even Mana.¡±

    Furthermore, the energy was emanating from within the Silver Forest.

    ¡°I-is it the Truth-Seeker of the Silver Forest?!¡±

    Ghur vomited swear words.

    ¡°Damn, was this distance too close?! But she said it was okay as long as we didn¡¯t go inside the forest!¡±

    Now, it was useless to me the elder. Its purpose was unknown, but a powerful entity different from mortals had begun to turn its eye on us!

    [Run away!]

    Parvache urgently shouted into my head. I didn¡¯t know why the Truth-Seeker showed interest in us, but it was impossible to sit still optimistically. It was best not to encounter him in the first ce rather than worrying about how the Absolute, who had a distant difference in power, would treat us! Besides, I couldn¡¯t predict how Truth-Seeker would react to the Channel that was open in my chest right now! I spoke hastily to Ghur.

    ¡°Now I¡¯ll quickly cast leap spell¡­!¡±

    At that moment, like a sharp dagger that dug through my skull, a will was stuck in my head.

    =There, why don¡¯t you take a look at me?=

    ¡°!!!¡±

    Ghur and I felt a pure will at the same time. It was the call of something that spoke directly into our heads. I was overwhelmed by the sound for a moment. It was a strong will that was different from the telepathy that Parvache used for me. Before Ghur and I could say anything, the existence spoke.

    =Well, it¡¯s too far to see. Come closer.=

    Then, the silver forest we were looking at began to grow bigger. Tall Enchanted Wood grew thickly. The forest that looked like a huge silver curtain becamerger and expanded to a point where the outline of the branches outside the forest was clearly visible. What was going on? I soon knew what this phenomenon meant. Even though we were standing still and not moving a single step, our bodies were being dragged into the Silver Forest!

    The speed at which we were pulled in was growing faster and faster, and then the outer Enchanted Wood came right in front of us. If we continued to be dragged in like this, we would hit one of the trees. I tried to raise my arms to protect my body for a moment, but my limbs remained immobile. And, as if tough at my worries, my body passed through the barrier without any conflict.

    The speed at which we are sucked deep into Silver Forest was getting faster and faster. At first, the forest was discernable, but now the Enchanted Wood trees passed us like a speeding blur. For fleeting seconds, the shape of the forest and trees were nothing more than a sharp silver blur in my eyesight. Suddenly, my body went numb, and my vision turned ck.

    ¡®Am I dead?¡¯

    I still didn¡¯t feel any sensations in my body. There was no pain. After a short period, I felt the surrounding environment change rapidly without any notice. At the same time, the sensation in my body returned as well.

    ¡°Gasp!¡±

    ¡°Ugh¡­ Cough!!¡±

    I btedly realized that we couldn¡¯t even breathe while being dragged in. I felt severe pain weighing on my lungs and my head. Ghur and I swallowed and gulped in the air like crazy. My legs were weak, so I kneeled and touched the ground with my hands. As I kept breathing for a while, I noticed my surroundings. A huge cavity. To understand the space¡¯s structure, I shot up Mana to scout the surroundings, but the Mana that was shot forward soon bumped into something and returned to me.

    It was clear that we were underground in the forest. But how could such a huge space exist underground? What¡¯s more, in front of me was an enormous being. My face turned blue when I realized that the body of that being was bigger than the barrier I had spread. And the overwhelming presence that crushed me more than that huge body¡­

    That speaking to us.

    = Is groping the opponent¡¯s body with Mana your dimension¡¯s way of greeting? Human?=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    =I won¡¯t say hello in the same way. If I do, both of you will be crushed.=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    =Just speak out loud with your mouth as you normally do. Then the meaning will be conveyed to me. Even if you answer telepathically, your wills are too weak to understand.=

    ¡°¡­Y-You are¡­¡±

    I managed to speak out. However, it wasn¡¯t easy to talk as the pressure felt as if someone was putting hundreds of kilograms of steel bars on my body. Before long, the existence realized what was wrong.

    =Ah, it was a little too much for you. It¡¯s been a while for me, too¡­=

    As he muttered, we felt a little fading of the presence on our bodies. Then Ghur hurriedly shouted at the being in front of him.

    ¡°Eh, the Mana¡­the Mana, please¡­!¡±

    =Hmm?=

    The existence quickly understood the meaning of Ghur¡¯s words. This area was probably located near the center of Silver Forest. It was likely an area very close to the core of the barrier that covered the entire Silver Forest, and tremendous Mana was boiling in the atmosphere. It was only after Mana¡¯s strength that was moving around was lowered that Ghur and I could see the being.

    It was clear that this cavity was underground, but there was a faint blue light circting around it. And in the darkness beyond that, only one being was watching us. I quickly realized that what I saw before my eyes were nothing more than a fragment of a veryrge being. In the dark, where it was impossible to discern urately, some tentacle-like things in the middle and eyes were looking at us. The overwhelming power of this being was emanating from its eyes.

    Ghur asked in a trembling voice.

    ¡°Are you the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest?¡±

    =I am.=

    The answer came back quickly.

    ¡°Do you have anything to do with us?¡±

    =Hmm.=

    In the dark, I could see a tentacle swishing and moving. I was extremely nervous and barely put up with wanting to jump out of my own skin.

    =Actually, Dell, rather than having a business with you¡­=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s gaze came from Ghur to me. And I felt the pressing presence that was covering us focus on me.

    =It¡¯s because of you, human=

    ¡°¡­Why, why is that?¡±

    No way? There was no way. Why was this Truth-Seeker who managed a different dimension also interested in me?

    = No humans are living around here anymore. And your clothing ispletely different from the civilization here.=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    =The most recent Channel I opened¡­you are a human who came from that dimension, aren¡¯t you?=

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    There was an ominous premonition throbbing from my head to toe.

    =Then, the Seed was nted in your chest by the Truth Seeker from that dimension, right?=

    I knew it! It was because of this! I looked at the Truth-Seeker, barely enduring the desire to close my eyes. Why the hell were you interested in this?

    =I called you because I wanted to see the Seed a little closer. By the way, after being called this far¡­=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s eyes were filled with strength.

    =¡­You guys smell sweet.=

    I felt a calm longing from his will. The moment I felt it, Ghur, and I felt our body receding rapidly. Feeling that the intentions weren¡¯t unusual, I urgently threw words at Parvache, hiding in the bag.

    ¡®D¡ªDo Truth-Seekers eat mortals?¡¯

    [I-I don¡¯t know! I don¡¯t know what kind of race he must have been before he was born as a Truth-Seeker¡­I haven¡¯t seen or heard a race with such a huge body!]

    The Truth-Seeker continued.

    =You both smell¡­ sweet and enchanting¡­ of divinity. There are traces of the gods.=

    I felt that the Truth-Seeker¡¯s eyes were constantly watching us.

    =Come a little closer.=

    Neither of us moved, but I could feel the distance between the Truth-Seeker and us growing shorter. It was a strange sensation simr to when we were brought to the Silver Forest. The Truth-Seeker¡¯s body in front of me was so huge that only a part of it could be seen, but the sense of my soul told me that we were closer to this being than before.

    And the overwhelming feeling that pressed us also grew. At that moment, I felt that overwhelming feeling rushing toward Ghur. It seemed that its gaze was focused on the giant next to me.

    =Are you the one who serves Terrestrial Predator?=

    Ghur responded in a shallow, trembling voice.

    ¡°Yes, yes. Truth-Seeker. I know a spell that borrows the power of¡­¡±

    As if it was an unknown god in Parvache¡¯s Dimension, it couldn¡¯t trante the name. Ghur seemed to refer to a God whose power he borrowed when he cast the spell that swept through the Ashpims by violently moving the earth. After he responded, I felt the pressure on meing from Ghur. It was hard to hold onto my mind.

    =And you¡­=

    As if trying to figure out something for a while, it was silent and then spoke. It might be my illusion, but his will seemed to be mixed with a sense of absurdity.

    =What is mixed so much? How many gods¡¯ power have you borrowed and used?=

    I¡ªI don¡¯t know because I haven¡¯t counted myself! Parvache taught me the spells of divine abilities, saying that if I used several higher beings¡¯ power, my soul level would naturally arise. Also, I thought it was natural to train to mixbat styles and use spells without leaning toward any god.

    =It¡¯s so mixed. No matter how fragrant and pleasant the smell of God, it feels like a little too much.=

    Come to think of it, it was extremely rare for a wizard of different races whom I met while crossing the dimensions with my avatar to borrow more than one god¡¯s power. I only thought it was because my teacher, Parvache, was superior.

    =Among them, the most recent scent remains¡­The Swimmer of the Star Wind and The Destructive Melody¡­is it?=

    It seemed that the traces of the air bomb spell and the vibration explosion spell that I used today remained strong. I used the names of those two gods recognized by mortals instead of the true names of the gods spoken by the Truth Seeker. I put the name of the spell and the token of promise in my mouth to use the power of God.

    ¡°Yes, yes. It was because I used a spell today that borrowed the power of Dryflos and Adelegos¡­¡±

    =¡­Hmm?=

    The Truth-Seeker, who heard the word, threw something that couldn¡¯t be converted into anguage in my mind. It was probably a mass of meaning close to emotion. The will, which wasn¡¯t easy for humans to understand, wandered through my head. The closest human emotions seem to be curiosity, unusuality¡­and a little pleasure. Was it enjoying itself? With my answer?

    =Interesting. Interesting! The civilization that referred to the two gods by the names you said would have been a civilization that prospered in apletely different world, far from your dimension.=

    His guess was correct. This spell was created in Parvache¡¯s parental dimension, and the name for the god wasn¡¯t thenguage of the Earth but thenguage used in that dimension. But, something felt ufortable. Did it say prospered?

    =Strange. That civilization is a civilization that has already been destroyed so long ago that it is difficult to estimate in human time¡­how do you know thenguage?=

    ¡°Did you say destroyed?¡±

    I had never heard of such a story. Parvache¡¯s civilization was destroyed? A long time ago? Parvache listened to the Truth-Seeker and remained silent without exining anything to me. But before I could even clear up my thoughts, words came from the Truth-Seeker thatpletely blew away my confused mind.

    =A wizard who memorizes the spells of an already perished civilization appeared with a seed nted in his chest by an extinct old Truth-Seeker¡­what a poetic concept. Human beings, you are like the remnants of destruction. All the things that give you strength are those that have already died and disappeared¡­=

    What? What?!

    ¡°Did it say¡­ extinct¡­ old Truth-Seeker?¡±

 Chapter 28

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest (2)

    The stiffness of my body, which the Truth-Seeker¡¯s presence had caused, broke instantly. My limbs were trembling because of the great shock.

    [What?]

    Parvache also seems astonished, and his unorganized thoughts poked randomly into my head. It broke my head, but I couldn¡¯t afford to calm him down. I was on the verge of fainting.

    ¡°Did you say, an extinct Truth-Seeker?¡±

    =Yes?=

    The Truth-Seeker answered very calmly.

    =Did you not know? Have I prated the Channel to your dimension?=

    ¡°Are you saying that the Truth-Seeker who created this Channel in my chest is already gone?!¡±

    =Yes.=

    Was this the truth?! No, there was no reason the Truth-Seeker would lie to me. No, but if the Truth-Seeker was already gone, why had I suffered so far? My life for thest ten years! My bloody tears!

    ¡®Oh, motherfucker!¡¯

    ¡°How did you know that he was dead?¡±

    =You ask for something very obvious.=

    The Truth-Seeker threw a cold pin.

    =Although it was only a few days ago in this dimension, suddenly, the barriers surrounding your dimensions disappeared in one moment. A-Verdag sensed it, and there was an uproar.=

    My head was throbbing with a gripping headache.

    =The Truth-seeker disappeared, but the door to A-Verdag wasn¡¯t opened. Then there was only one answer in the end. He was extinguished. We are not mortals, but we are notpletely immortal like the gods.=

    It seems to be rtively recent that the Truth-Seeker of Earth had died. But why didn¡¯t anyone know? Were there any signs when a Truth-Seeker dies? Ah, wait, it¡¯s a sign? Of course, if it¡¯s a big incident on Earth recently¡­the Truth-Seeker turned my guess into a definite answer.

    =I¡¯m not the only one who broke through that Channel. Since such a young dimension suddenly lost its dimension barrier, the Truth-Seeker who had an adult Channel that hadn¡¯t yet been fully opened must have opened doors to it.=

    Hundreds of Channels on Earth were suddenly breached within one hour, and now a Truth-Seeker was giving an answer.

    =I was lucky to have one Channel that didn¡¯t open after just growing up. I quickly connected it to your dimension.=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    =The Truth-Seeker¡¯s seat to defend is empty, so it must have been helpless¡­I¡¯m curious. How many Channels are there in your dimension right now?=

    Even in the state of being distracted by the information that suddenly poured in, I answered with the truth.

    ¡°¡­As far as I know, there are over 200.¡±

    =Less than I thought. It seems that there weren¡¯t many Truth-Seekers who had the right Channel, just like me. Well, it¡¯s only a matter of time now.=

    Is it only a matter of time?

    ¡°Do you mean that, in the future, more Truth-Seekers will be channeling to Earth?¡±

    =Of course.=

    The Truth-Seeker gave me a confident will.

    =I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s been since a dimension lost its Truth-Seeker. No one will miss this opportunity. Among the Truth-Seekers, those who haven¡¯t yet been able to connect with the Earth will connect with the Earth as one of their growing Channels matures. It¡¯s a 100% sess rate.=

    ¡®Holy shit!¡¯

    =Even Truth-Seekers who do not have the channel that they have made will quickly nt new Seeds. Of course, aiming at the Earth. =

    After hearing this far, I couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°No, why do Truth-Seekers create Channels?!¡±

    The Truth-Seeker flinched its huge tentacle. I don¡¯t know why, but I thought it was a kind of expression forughter.

    =Why should I tell you that?=

    Damn it. It answered everything I asked so far, and now, why?

    ¡°You said the Truth-Seeker defends the dimension. If hundreds of dimensions are connected to the Earth in this way, the chaos will increase. Isn¡¯t it difficult even for a dimension that has pierced a Channel on Earth? Different races from hundreds of worlds can pass through Earth ande to that dimension¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it possible for several races to go to another dimension and wage war with the Earth as an intermediate passage? So, isn¡¯t it more dangerous to keep the Channels open on Earth? It could be a door to attract an unspecified number of enemies.¡±

    ¡°Moreover, the civilization of the Earth isn¡¯t at a low level. Rather, it could be dangerous for the people in the dimension that connected the Channel.¡±

    =It is only the point of view of mortals, humans.=

    Now I was able to better understand the feelings that the Truth-Seeker expressed. That being now clearly enjoyed it very much!

    =When the Truth-Seeker protects a dimension, it doesn¡¯t mean that he will protect the mortals of that dimension. Dimensional barriers are not intended to protect mortals in his dimension.=

    Then why?

    =It seems that you think we are opening a Channel just to pick a childish war between ethnic groups.=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    =How mortalse and go, how they interact with each other, how they die or die through connected Channels, it is a mortal¡¯s thing.=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s will contained pure colors.

    =I just watch. If the ending of the Channel I opened leads to the extinction or the copse of an especially fond of species, it may be sad. But, just that.=

    ¡°Then, why the hell?!¡±

    The Truth-Seeker remained silent for a while. And the heavy presence I had forgotten for a moment became several times stronger and pressed me down. If it had been looking at me with one eye so far, now I think it was looking at me with a few more eyes open. The Truth-Seeker, who was looking at me from beyond the distant ck space, threw words as if they had decided long ago.

    =The reason I called you here in the first ce was just pure curiosity.=

    Yes, that Truth-Seeker said he saw a Channel open in my heart and called us.

    =I wanted to see the Channel in your heart a little closer.=

    I asked while swallowing dry saliva.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    =I heard from A-Verdag, that the entity in charge of your dimension called Earth was originally a Dragon.=

    What is it talking about suddenly? Dragon? There was no such thing on Earth? After being confused for a moment, I soon realized what it meant. All Truth-Seekers were born in A-Verdag and descended into each dimension. The birth of a Truth-Seeker was an awakening to the highest being. The existence of the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker seemed to have been a Dragon in a certain dimension before moving on to A-Verdag. But why?

    =I can¡¯t believe the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker created an open Channel on your chest, the Truth-Seeker who created such a sophisticated and high-potential Channel is the one that awakened from a Dragon¡­this is too¡­=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s heavy feelings were conveyed to Ghur and me. Was this longing? And, with feelings of pity for something¡­satisfaction?

    =I¡¯m so proud!=

    What in the world was it talking about all of a sudden? The Truth-Seeker continued with pleasure.

    =Originally, the dragon race is a race with a short story. In the dimension I lived before I awakened as a Truth-Seeker, it was a pet tamed from the native wild and trained to follow people.=

    What? A pet? While I was dumbfounded, Parvache stammered, too.

    [I have never heard of it. The origin of the dragon species. What kind of tribe is that Truth-Seeker from? How old was it?]

    =Yeah, it was a small animal that was only about 16 tentacles in size. Even though it was all grown-up, it was a favorite animal for children.=

    It was quickly understood that the people the Truth-Seeker was talking about were not Homo sapiens or humanity. It would mean the race of Truth-Seekers with that huge body.

    =But over time, the species itself lost its wild nature and became a domestic animal¡­and all wild dragons went extinct. Because of this, there were a lot of angry opinions. My civilization has a very long history, so we have a very high ethical awareness of animal rights and outer dimensional-life rights.=

    The Truth-Seeker spoke in a vague tone as if reminiscing about a long time ago.

    =So, to preserve wild species, we tried to release some to the mountain, but our dimensional environment changed too harshly for them to survive. In the end, the government released about 100,000 to dozens of different dimensions at once? Of course, it is well arranged to avoid ecosystem disturbance in those dimensions.=

    Ghur finally couldn¡¯t hold back and whispered to me.

    ¡°Do you understand what it means? What is preserving wildlife? What is ecosystem disturbance?¡±

    However, I couldn¡¯t give an answer because I was too preupied with understanding the truth.

    =Unlike the pet dragons remaining in our dimension, we heard that dragons that inhabit other dimensions had increased in intelligence over time and evolved enough to achieve civilization in some dimensions.=

    I didn¡¯t know why I was listening to this story right now.

    =Since it is a race with a short history in the first ce, the Truth-Seeker of the Earth must have been a young Truth-Seeker who had just awakened. Was it 10,000 or 20,000 years after awakening? That Truth-Seeker created such a sophisticated Channel.=

    The Truth-Seeker seemed to look down at the Channel on my chest again.

    =It is impossible for me to nt such a sophisticated Channel in the body of a small and weak human being. But I can¡¯t believe my home-grown creature has evolved to be such a powerful Truth-Seeker. I called you because I felt it new. He might have been blessed with divinity soon. I don¡¯t know how he ended up being extinguished. It¡¯s a shame =

    As soon as it realized that the Truth-Seeker had disappeared, it quickly connected a Channel to the Earth, and now it felt sorry, but the Truth-Seeker couldn¡¯t believe it at all. The Truth-Seeker spoke as if humming.

    =Pets were released to many dimensions, leaving the hands of their owners. It was a miracle that he evolved into a Truth-Seeker through a far-off probability and surpassed other Truth-Seekers from higher races. Then he disappears for an unknown reason, but it¡¯s a sad story¡­ Hoo. The divinity is rising like crazy. Good works wille out.=

    To be honest, it was a little weirdo. Were all the Truth-Seekers like that? The Truth-Seeker, who had been muttering something for a long time, talked to me again as if it had remembered something.

    =Looking at it so closely, I realized how well-made it is.=

    The Truth-Seeker said again after releasing what I guessed wasughter.

    = Did you ask why the Truth-Seekers opened the Channel?=

    ¡°¡­Yeah.¡±

    =You don¡¯t need to know it before you get the qualification, and after you get the qualification, you can¡¯t help but know it even when you don¡¯t want to.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    = Nevertheless, in return for giving a good conversation, I¡¯ll give you a clue.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    Parvache also felt it as he listened. The Truth-Seeker briefly conveyed its will.

    =All of this is a matter of mindset regtion. And it is a question of whether it evolves or not.=

    What bullshit was it talking about?!

    ¡®Parvache, do you know what it means?¡¯

    [No, I don¡¯t know.]

    The Truth-Seeker said as if it was enough.

    =This is the best part I can tell you. Think about it. Who knows? Maybe you can ovee the limitations of your species. Why did the dragon protect your dimension and choose you? Is it just a whim and a coincidence?=

    I couldn¡¯t give an answer because it only talked nonsense.

    =Try diligently using the Akashic Records as a clue. Because I heard that the civilization from which your magic was derived was quite advanced in its knowledge.=

    Then it added a word.

    =Isn¡¯t it? Poor spirit hiding behind the humans¡¯ back? =

    [¡¤¡¤¡¤!]

 Chapter 29

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest (3)

    The Truth-Seeker noticed the existence of Parvache, but I couldn¡¯t snap out of the panic yet. I tried to do it in a daze as my head was still in a mess. It got caught, then what? What the hell, damn it! I didn¡¯t know anymore. Evolved and was gone? I couldn¡¯t even understand what the Truth-Seeker was saying. If the Truth-Seeker of my dimension were gone, could I just live freely? Was it like that?

    My mind wasplicated because my thoughts continued to spiral.

    =Your presence is so faint that I found youte. Was it because of this Spirit that you knew thenguage of a distant dimension? Well, good. I¡¯ve taken a good look at the Channel, so I¡¯ll send you back to where you came from.=

    It doesn¡¯t seem to have any idea what to do with us anymore. I thought it would think that humans and giants¡¯ lives were worse than flies¡¯ lives because it said they didn¡¯t know anything about mortals. I¡¯m d it was such a weirdo. As it turned out, I just wanted to go home quickly.

    ¡®Yes, let¡¯s go back. Let¡¯s go back to Earth through the Channel I came across.¡¯

    Parvache urgently eximed at the moment I was about to express my gratitude to the Truth-Seeker.

    [¡­Ah, wait a minute! Please wait a moment!]

    What¡¯s going on all of a sudden? Parvache had been delivering telepathy so that only I could hear it aftering to this dimension. Still, this time, it sent its will to the entire surrounding space. It was a will that anyone could understand if their Mana circuit had been opened. It was simr to the way the Truth-Seeker talked. Ghur, who hadn¡¯t heard my conversation with Parvache until now, noticed the existence of Parvache and looked at my bag with a strange expression.

    [Please wait a minute, Truth-Seeker! There is still one request!]

    However, it seemed that Parvache¡¯s will ¨C that Ghur heard, wasn¡¯t delivered to the Truth-Seeker.

    =What are you talking about? It¡¯s hard to understand. Spirit, can¡¯t you make a voice with that doll?=

    [¡­Damn, I feel it again, but this damn totem is really ufortable for some reason. Hey, Min-joon. Take me out.]

    I took Parvache out of my bag and put him down on the floor. Ghur¡¯s eyes widened when he realized that the telepathy he had heard came from this little toy.

    =How did you get sealed in such a doll?=

    [There are many stories.]

    =I think you answered something, but I still can¡¯t hear it, Spirit.=

    No. Why couldn¡¯t telepathy be transmitted when it said it felt Parvache¡¯s presence? I asked.

    ¡°¡­Can you really not hear? You said that you sensed its existence¡­¡±

    =It is impossible for such a faint existence. Just because humans see an ant doesn¡¯t mean you can even hear the sound of its footsteps, right?=

    Parvache was treated like an ant, but it replied as if there was nothing to refute.

    [¡­As long as my mind is tied to such a cheap totem, my will seems unable to reach a mighty soul like you. It¡¯s shameful.]

    I conveyed its words in voice, and the Truth-Seeker asked back.

    =Why did you choose such a doll?=

    [It was not my will, but the will of this human being that tied me together.]

    After hearing what it said, the Truth-Seeker replied as if it was ridiculous.

    =Is it an authoritative contract? But still, was there no better magic conductor in that dimension better than that material? I don¡¯t understand¡­but it¡¯s not my business anyway. Why did you call me Spirit?=

    Then Parvache made a request to the Truth-Seeker. Ghur and I, who heard the request before the Truth-Seeker, looked at Parvache with puzzled eyes. I had to ask him back before I transferred it to the Truth-Seeker.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that something I don¡¯t need anymore? I don¡¯t have to hide in the barrier anyway, so we don¡¯t have to expand it¡­¡±

    Then Parvache exined his thoughts to me step by step, and when I heard it all, I had to nod my head. And I delivered every word Parvache told me to deliver without mistake.

    ¡°¡­Thank you for sending us back to our dimension. But before we leave, may I ask a request to the Truth-Seeker who lives in the Silver Forest?¡±

    =What is it?=

    I took a deep breath and spoke.

    ¡°May I get a little bit of the Enchanted Wood growing in this forest?¡±

    ***

    The wind blew.

    I shrugged off my long-grown and itchy bangs that tickled my eyelids. I was annoyed with these trivial things because my nerves were on edge. After getting out of the Silver Forest and relieving my tension, my heart was full of a mixture of emptiness, depression, anger. So on, it was swirling in a storm of emotions, all colliding and copsing at once.

    What were myst ten years for? Of course, it was rtively recent that the Truth-Seeker disappeared. If I knew he would end like this, I wouldn¡¯t have had to start suffering in the first ce. Why did the great spirit ess Akashic Records say that all crucial information rted to Truth-Seekers cannot be essed? And it is called Purbagios¡¯s staff who touched the source of knowledge.

    Wouldn¡¯t something have changed if Parvache had known more about the Truth-Seeker?

    I remembered a time when the Mana concentration exploded while installing the barrier, and my legs literally flew away. I couldn¡¯t even faint at that time, thanks to the constant magic training and strengthening of my spirit. While Parvache was taking over the control of my body through a backdoor open in my mind, I was crawling on the floor, feeling as if my brain was boiling, waiting for Parvache to knock me out.

    Maybe, I didn¡¯t have to go through it in the first ce?

    I knew I was being irrational. Knowing that it wasn¡¯t his fault, I despised myself for ming Parvache in the back of my mind. I felt like I was getting a bit out of mind. Meanwhile, another strong wind hit my face and passed by. The pping bangs pricked my eyes again. They were itchy!

    ¡®Oh, this is so annoying!¡¯

    Yes, I should go to the salon first when I go back to Earth. Now, I won¡¯t have to stick to the traditional franchise salon within the barrier. I¡¯ll go a little farther. It wouldn¡¯t be bad to go to a neighborhood like Myeong-dong or Gangnam, which I have never been to since I came to Seoul. Now I could go anywhere I want to. If I had enough time, there would be no reason why I couldn¡¯t go to the head shop in Ennd, where this franchise was first started.

    Hold on. I had all the time in the world, right? It wasn¡¯t a good idea to go abroad to cut my hair, but what was important was that I could travel now. Yes, I have to go abroad! The neighborhoods I¡¯ve always seen on TV! Yes, I also want to go to the famous cathedral in Barcelona that I saw in the entertainment program or the beer festival in Germany¡­

    While my thoughts were spreading to this point, I suddenly felt as if I had thrown cold water on my head. That¡¯s right, the famous, unfinished cathedral was now banned from entering because it became a Wyvern¡¯s nest due to its proximity to the Channel. Germany now had martialw dered throughout the country, making it impossible for travelers to enter the country. Yes, I want to travel even if it isn¡¯t Europe, wherever it is.

    ¡°¡­You must have aplicated mind. Yoong.¡±

    As I remained silent for a while, Ghur spoke, looking at my face. We were now standing in front of a huge circr light source that was several times my height. It was the same Channel that I passed through a few days ago toe to this world. Clumped on the destend, this Channel wasn¡¯t far from the Truth-Seeker¡¯s Forest. Rumors that Truth-Seeker wouldn¡¯t be far from Silver Forest seemed to be true. If I walked in the opposite direction as soon as I left this Channel a few days ago, I could have found the Silver Forest right away.

    I responded to this grateful giant who had apanied me from the Silver Forest to here.

    ¡°Oh, I had a lot to think about. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°I think your feelings areplicated. Isn¡¯t that good for you anyway? You don¡¯t need to live in hiding anymore.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ in the corner of my heart, I can¡¯t get rid of the despondency that I¡¯ve done useless things until now.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not true. To hear and judge the story, you and the spirit just did what you could do in that situation, and you did your best. How could you guess that the Truth-Seeker was gone? Even the Truth-Seeker in our world doesn¡¯t know why.¡±

    [¡­That¡¯s right, Min-joon. We¡¯ve only been doing what we can and should do.]

    Ghur agreed enthusiastically with Parvache¡¯s words.

    ¡°Yes. Didn¡¯t the resultse out in a good way for you anyway? Now that you¡¯re free.¡±

    I sighed loudly as if shaking off the clutter ofplex emotions in my head.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, Ghur. I no longer have to live in hiding. It¡¯s right to be happy.¡±

    The giant nodded.

    ¡°And you¡¯re right, Parvache. I agree.¡±

    In my head, I understood. We had done what we needed to do so far, and so now. I looked at the huge branches of the Enchanted Wood tree that Ghur was holding with determination. Of course, my mind hadn¡¯t been organized in an instant. But for now, I decided to do what I had to do now, leaving this sticky emotional nuance in a corner. Upon receiving my signal, Ghur stuck the Enchanted Wood branch taller than himself on the floor. Thumping vibrations rang under our feet.

    ¡°Thank you so much for helping me with this, Ghur.¡±

    ¡°¡­They will being soon. Will it take long?¡±

    ¡°I think it will take almost half a day to install the barrier. I think we have to deal with them first, leaving the Enchanted Wood as it is.¡±

    After I said that, I focused my mind and slowly expanded the Channel on my chest. It took a few minutes to open the Channel and summon the existence of an alien world. It could be done enough before the Ashpim Giants reach us. This was because we predicted their attack in advance. I began to harmonize the existence and spirit of the alien world by chanting the spells. I thought it would be a little dangerous topletely kill thend surrounding the Channel connected to the Earth, so I decided to call out something other than the Waterbirds.

    Anyway, if I had the spare time, the summoning magic was the most effective both in its strength and in dealing withrge-scale enemies.

    -Wheeing!

    The Channel on my chest vibrated, and the blue light began to boil. Yes, I could use all of these magics because Parvache taught me. It made no sense to me him. I calmed my mind andpleted the spell.

    The first n I wanted to implement beyond the Channel was to seek the Enchanted Wood. The second n was to search for a ce within this dimension to create a great barrier as great as the Truth-Seeker one. In the end, I wouldn¡¯t use it to expand the barrier in Mok-dong, but now I found the Enchanted Wood. It was also decided to make something different in this dimension, not a barrier to deceive the Truth-Seeker. Both ns had different goals from what we initially thought, but we had achieved it as a result or were about to achieve it in a slightly changed state.

    [Finally, it¡¯s like carrying out thest third of our n.]

    I couldn¡¯t respond due to reciting the spell, but I agreed with Parvache in my heart. Based on the map Elder Kapal gave, the experience of exploring the surroundings for a few days, and the stories I heard from Ghur¡¯s party, Parvache and I were able toe to one conclusion.

    The number of Ashpim Giants living near the Channel connected to the Earth was far toorge. And because they were trying to enve humanity, they were dangerous. If I leave it to the Korean military, it would be possible to handle it for a while. Still, one day, they may not be able to handle the situation. With no ns to abandon my home right now, it was possible to expect that it would be difficult if that happened. To live freely was to live. I needed to clean up my surroundings.

    Originally, I tried to end it with a simple barrier to make it difficult for them to get in and out of this dimension and prevent their constant attempts. But I agreed with Parvache¡¯s argument that a stronger barrier might be needed. And it would be helpful to instill some fear in the Ashpim Giants. The fear that if they tried to get to Earth, they would bring a hell of a lot of shit with them.

    As soon as the spell waspleted, the air fell heavily, and ominous energy began to pour out of my chest.

 Chapter 30

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest (3)

    As the Mana pressure reached its peak, the expansion of the Channel stopped. And the one slowly emerging out of it had a human-like shape. She was a woman whose head was bigger than mine, and her skin wasn¡¯t white but had a little blue light. Nothing was covering her skin other than the ck hair that came down to her waist.

    After showing up, the naked woman stood there for a while, breaking the moonlight with her shoulders, and then she smelled the air, stuck her tongue out, and wetted her lips as if detecting something. After looking around for a while, she immediately turned her gaze toward Ghur and me next to him. A metallic tone that didn¡¯t feel like a human voice came out.

    ¡°Is this the limit to the size of the door so far? It¡¯s very ufortable.¡±

    She had dark ck eyes that looked like deep night. Her eyes were devoid of whiteness surrounding the iris, and all that existed was a dark shade of ck. Her blood-colored pupils stuck in the middle nced at me with a sharp, piercing gaze. The ears that wererge and sharp enough to cover half of her face seemed to mimic the shape of the power that served her. I called her, but her body¡¯s size didn¡¯t allow her to pass through the Channels I made, so I used my own way.

    ¡°Why did you summon me in this dimension? Moreover, you did note across as an avatar, but as your original body?¡±

    This time, the Channel was open. Instead of projecting my avatar onto this dimension for finding the Enchanted Wood, I had toe over directly. This was because it was impossible to return with a substance of a different dimension if I crossed over as an avatar. Rather than exining that fact, I decided to proceed with the contract.

    ¡°There¡¯s a reason¡­then let¡¯s move on to the contract.¡±

    She nodded.

    ¡°As you may already know, what I am asking for is the annihtion of the enemy.¡±

    ¡°Is he the enemy you are talking about?¡±

    When her eyes reached Ghur, the giant, overwhelmed by the power she unleashed, stepped back unknowingly.

    ¡°No! No! Absolutely not! Put the horns in!¡±

    As I hurriedly shook my hands, the red-skinned horns rising from the center of her forehead buried back into the skin, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. Ghur was terrified.

    ¡°Then?¡±

    ¡°The enemy is approaching this ce. You don¡¯t need to kill all those who run away, but at least I want you to destroy those who fight.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t to destroy all the Ashpim Giants around here anyway, and I didn¡¯t decide to do so. All I wanted to do was instill a deep-seated fear, one that they may never ovee. Not long after Ghur and I arrived at this Channel, I was spotted by the Ashpim Giants, who were moving in groups of five. Instead of attacking us right away, they ran wildly to a vige very close to the Channel. It was clear that there were already rumors about Ghur and me.

    If this were the case, it would be nice to bring a bunch of them. The woman threw her gaze into the distance beyond the desert horizon. Sheughed when she saw a crowd of Ashpim Giants flocking from a distance not yet visible to my eyes.

    ¡°The number is about 600? 700? Good. So, what¡¯s the price?¡±

    ¡°Six to seven hundred?!¡±

    Oh, as expected. However, Ghur became noticeably pale. Perhaps it was beyond his expected range. The woman was sarcastic as she saw our conflicting reactions.

    ¡°When I smell them, it seems only their heads are big. Sixty or six hundred are the same. I don¡¯t know what the situation is, but it seems a little too much to call me for something like this?¡±

    ¡°¡­Understand me. I wanted to have the most obvious card in my hand that doesn¡¯t allow variables. I have some circumstances right now, and I am in a state of being beyond the dimensions with my main body¡­so I¡¯m very sensitive, and I¡¯m saving myself.¡±

    The womanughed, revealing her teeth.

    ¡°What bullshit. Even when you are in your avatar, you¡¯re sensitive and self-conscious. That¡¯s your personality.¡±

    Parvache humbly intervened in the conversation.

    [Hah, she said it! It is undeniable.]

    ¡®Whatever!¡¯

    ¡°Ah, the one that¡¯s been spreading suspicion in the bag, is it the Spirit that has been manipting andmanding behind your avatar so far?¡±

    The woman felt Parvache¡¯s presence and spoke. Then Parvache also put its robot head out of the bag.

    [Yes, it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve seen you in person, ck Kirin Lady.]

    What manipting? I set out to close the contract before the conversation between the two continued.

    ¡°Anyway, there¡¯s a price you¡¯ll like today.¡±

    I put Parvache from one side of the backpack to another, put my hand in a deep ce connected to the sub-space, and picked up what I wanted. It was a ck stic bag that I picked up in advance. The woman in front of my eyes had too much power. She had high intelligence, so it was difficult to find an appropriate price. I didn¡¯t call her often, but today I had something that she liked, so I summoned her without much hesitation.

    The woman sniffed when I took out the bag, and her expression turned bright.

    ¡°I was wondering why you came to this level of destion, and you came to get this?¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m just lucky.¡±

    Actually, I didn¡¯t expect to get the seeds.

    ¡°It is the best of the price so far. The seed of the Enchanted Wood tree!¡±

    Some of the seeds received from the Truth-Seeker were wrapped separately for this asion. That was enough to pay for today¡¯s contract.

    ¡°You can have your family members nt it. I didn¡¯t know, but the Enchanted Wood tree grows big, right? I guess these should be enough.¡±

    She snatched the bag from my hand before I even finished speaking and then put the seeds in her hand, looked, and sniffed them with adoration.

    ¡°This is the kind of tree that grows veryrge. It smells very good. When it¡¯s grown, the taste will be amazing.¡±

    As expected, she was an expert on vegetation. When the tree was fully grown, there would be enough quantity to the point of no regret even if the woman returned to her main body. Yes, surprisingly, that woman was essentially herbivorous. She must have liked it very much that she spread a powerful word in the air.

    ¡°The contract has been signed.¡±

    With the words ofpletion of the contract, she began to exude a deafening power throughout her body. Ghur, who couldn¡¯t withstand this, turned to me, supporting his arm on the enchanted Wood branch ced on the ground as if leaning over.

    ¡°I thought I had managed to get away from the Truth-Seeker. What is that being?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a bit of a vicious herbivore.¡±

    Without care for us, the woman began to prepare for battle. Scales began to rise from the woman¡¯s body and covered her naked body. Her body turned muscr, and she grew taller. It was in a moment that her body became as huge as the Ashpim Giants.

    10 meters? 20 meters? The scales covered her body which had grown to a small height. The scales¡¯ color may appear bloody dark depending on the moonlight¡¯s angle or as ck as ebony. Two feet resembling a horse¡¯s hooves stood on the ground under a strong and menacing muscr body that seemed to exude tremendous power. Sharp nails glistened at the ends of both hands, and a single-pointed horn covered in a red film sprouted from the center of the head, which looked like a dragon and a deer half-mixed.

    The higher-level being who finally revealed all of her main body looked down at us.

    ¡°Stay out of the way. You¡¯re a nuisance.¡±

    Her voice resonated in the atmosphere. Two eyes the size of my body were peering down. When she started a battle, she grew very violent. It was better to keep a distance and watch rather than get caught up in the surrounding. I nodded without saying anything. After confirming my answer, the ck Kirin, which returned to her main body, expanded her thigh muscles and ran out in the direction of the enemy. Amid the tremors of the earth she created, Ghur muttered,

    ¡°Is that¡­a herbivore?¡±

    She collided with a group of Ashpim Giants, who had only just crossed the horizon. And what followed was a bloody massacre.

    ***

    Like an open crocodile¡¯s mouth, the Kirin¡¯s mouth opened, and blunt white teeth were revealed neatly. With that enormous mouth, she snapped the heads of the Ashpim Giant and swallowed them whole.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The middle of the long cylindrical head was cut off as it was, and the giant rolled on the ground with only the bottom of its head left. The Kirin spat out the bones and flesh, then swung her tail around as if whipping relentlessly.

    -Wheeik! Puck! Puck! Puck!

    A long, agile tail, like a snake, pierced through the eyes of those running away and came out soaking wet with blood and brain fluid. Almost at the same time, the ck Kirin poked and cut out two¡¯s hearts and necks. In three swings, three giants fell to the floor, lifeless.

    ¡°These filthy things!¡±

    She screamed with her mouth stained with blood. Her roar contained an unknown emotion mixed with joy and irritation, excitement and disgust. She swung her tail several times in the air at a rapid pace, shook off the brain matter, blood, and flesh, and then threw herself into the amassed crowd of giants.

    -Wheik! Puck! Quack!

    Every giant that got caught in her nails was torn, pierced, and swept away. The screams made by the tall Giants echoed; their pain was felt verbatim by Ghur and me, who watched from a far-off distance. The ck Kirin sted once more. She was fierce; using her slender knife-like fingers, she caught a giant¡¯s head from both sides and pierced it effortlessly as if piercing a slice of meat on skewers. It was bloody and devastating. In the meantime, the Giants rushed in, shot their sonic attacks, bit at her, and some wizards even castrger shockwaves. However, such an attack couldn¡¯t evennd a single scratch on her scaly body.

    ¡°Khaa! Khaaaaa!¡±

    ¡°Ha ha ha haha! So dirty! Filthy! You are really loud and smelly!¡±

    She shouted, burstingughter mixed with madness. With her fingers piercing it, the giant in the air struggled frantically, but she didn¡¯t care and shook her hands in an X-shaped motion. Her fingers crushed the giant¡¯s skull, portions of the brain flowing through the cracks of its crushed face. Ghur and I, who were watching the scene from a long distance, felt puckish and distraught.

    ¡°¡­For an herbivore, she¡¯s exceptionally good at ¡®hunting.¡¯¡°

    I quietly responded to Ghur¡¯s ridiculous words.

    ¡°To be precise, it¡¯s not hunting. It¡¯s just a pure and efficient form of killing.¡±

    Too much power led to efficiency. The Kirin ran to the next Ashpim Giant without wasting a moment and grabbed the giant¡¯s head and shoulders with both her hands ¨C stained with gray, yellow, and red body fluids. Then, she bit the back of its neck.

    ¡°Khaa! Khaaaaa!¡±

    The ck Kirin quickly turned the direction of the bloody fountain spouting out of the giant¡¯s body and avoided being covered in blood. She shouted, spitting out the chunk of meat from her mouth.

    ¡°It tastes awful! Terrible! Fishy! It tastes bitter!¡±

    She swung her tail around the giant¡¯s ragged necks and cut it clean.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how carnivore eats these stinking muscles, fat, and blood! Animals smell like filth when they¡¯re alive or dead.¡±

    She kept shouting and continued onwards with her massacre. She seemed to be enjoying it.

 Chapter 31

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest (5)

    They were swept away by her long hair. I heard the sound of the bodies being crushed to the bone.

    -Creak!

    The heads of the Ashpims were shattered and lost their function as a weapon. However, having released both hands, the Kirin didn¡¯t stop spinning and turned with her tail stretched while maintaining centrifugal force.

    ¡°Hahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahaha!¡±

    Her long tail struck the giants with the sound of the howling wind. The giants approaching were cut down by the Kirin¡¯s tail and died instantly.

    ¡°Khooaaaaaaa!¡±

    There were many such giants that it may be possible to surround and besiege her, but it could never happen in reality. She was far too vicious to be besieged. In the distance, her huge body was seen. The giants who believed in their number and approached her were dying and falling. There was no time for her to be cornered by the group of Ashpim Giants. Watching the bold dance of violence, Ghur slowly deduced who she was.

    ¡°What the hell is that? Oh, My God. I can¡¯t believe it even when I see it with both eyes. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a deity, but¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know because I haven¡¯t asked for the sake of her dignity¡­but isn¡¯t she a true Demi-god?¡±

    I was ashamed of myself, who was suspected of being a Demi-god by Elder Kapal. A minute or two had passed since she jumped into that group, but already dozens of Ashpim bodies were rolling over at her feet. But what was scary was that she didn¡¯t seem to suffer any damage despite the giant¡¯s attacks. And that too without any protective magic!

    ¡°It¡¯s a terrifying body.¡±

    When a Kirin, which was said to be reluctant to harm life and not even step on the grass, opened its eyes to ughter and violence while maintaining its power, it seemed to be such an atrocity. ording to what was passed down in Parvache¡¯s dimension, there seemed to have been a case of a fallen Kirin stained with evil. Still, as I watched her battle, I couldn¡¯t resist the thought of dismissing the fallen part about her. Wouldn¡¯t it be eptable that it was an evolution to develop such a fiercebat power?

    ¡°Kwaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Although Ashpims poured out vibrations with all their might, the Kirin didn¡¯t frown even once.

    ¡°I think you¡¯ll realize it at this point, but it¡¯s a shame.¡±

    Her hoofed feet prated the giant¡¯s face.

    Puck!

    Her feet, having smashed the giant¡¯s forehead, came out again through the flesh. The trembling of the giant¡¯s body, which emitted vibrations, stopped instantly and copsed to the ground. She rubbed her hooves against the ground, wiped them off, and rushed to the next giant.

    p!

    Under formidable pressure, the giant¡¯s eyes popped out of the face like a firecracker! The brain that had been piled up in a protective membrane had managed to escape destruction. But the giant, who hadn¡¯t died, fell to the floor. Both its eyes were hanging from the eye socket and twitching with the optic nerve still attached. It must have been an unbearable pain, where death would have been better than enduring such misery.

    The Kirin stood in front of the copsed giant with a suspicious smile. Taking advantage of the opportunity, five or six giants pushed their attacks onto the Kirin at once. But the giant¡¯s nails didn¡¯t leave a single scratch on her. The Kirin was standing upright, undisturbed. The giants, whose attack was nullified, panicked. And without giving a single nce to them, she picked up the neck of the giant, who lost both eyes, with one hand.

    Then, putting its head back, she roared with a rumbling voice.

    ¡°Die! Useless worms whom I can¡¯t eat! Just die!¡±

    And as it was, she head-butted it.

    Pang!

    The horn on the Kirin¡¯s forehead struck the giant¡¯s mouth like an awl. It came out through the back of the head, resulting in instant death. Originally, a Kirin¡¯s horn was said to have a blunt shape not to harm living things, and its flesh covered the bones, but the ck Kirin¡¯s hard-skinned horn shone brighter than most swords and des could. As the Kirin¡¯s hand released the giant¡¯s body, she turned and swung her horn.

    Fuss! Wheik!

    The giants surrounding her were cut down, leaving a neat cross-section. Even before the bodies fell to the ground, she swept the giants beyond them like a storm. Horrible traces remained in every ce where the Kirin moved.

    ¡°Khaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    As she began to rampage violently, the screams of the giants continued. How long could such a one-sided ughterst? Realizing that they couldn¡¯t stand against her, the wizards of Ashpim eventually ordered a retreat. The wizards hiding under cover of the crowd exchanged shouts with each other, and the giants quickly pulled back and started to retreat: no magic, no ability, no physical attacks.

    There was nothing they could do. That much was evident. However, the Kirin, who was excited to the fullest, didn¡¯t stop. She crushed the giants that had entered her range one by one. Eventually, the battle ended in less than ten minutes after she jumped into their ranks. The number of giants running away seemed to be less than half of what we had originally seen. Ghur and I had no choice but to cancel our spells in vain, as each of us was preparing a spell to deal with the giants that came our way.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s incredibly terrifying.¡±

    ¡°She has a certainbat prowess¡­¡±

    Ghur, who was scratching his furry arms to say he was getting goosebumps, spoke.

    ¡°You summoned her for a purpose, didn¡¯t you? You certainly looked like you know each other.¡±

    ¡°Yes, she¡¯s already helped me several times.¡±

    The giant shook his head as if he didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that the Seed¡¯s Channel wasn¡¯t calling out any entity in random? You¡¯re saying that you were connecting a channel to that monster¡¯s world and then calling it out, right?¡±

    ¡°Well, she¡¯s not of a low-ss to be called a monster¡­anyway; everything you said is correct.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen or heard magic like this. The Elders strictly forbid summoning magic because we do not know what kind of disaster it will cause¡­¡±

    Ghur¡¯s tribe seemed to have banned the summoning magic-using seeds. Usually, most cases of such tant taboos had a history of summoning something that they couldn¡¯t handle. This civilization must have had a big problem with the Channel, perhaps.

    ¡°Can you teach me how to do it? If we can summon such an entity at will, it isn¡¯t impossible to drive out all the Ashpims around here.¡±

    Seeing the Ashpims being wiped out helplessly by a single ck Kirin, greed seemed to have arisen, but I shook my head.

    ¡°To do this¡­first, there should be a dimensional map in your head, but this isn¡¯t the level of information that an ordinary organism¡¯s brain capacity can handle. I did it specially.¡±

    In my case, Parvache engulfed my spirit and then forced the map to be engraved. In other words, the attempt can be made only when a spirit body that is close to dimensional information is kept, like Parvache.

    ¡°Furthermore¡­to induce the Channel to the coordinates of a specific dimension, the consumption of Mana is multiplied by several times. In my case, my body itself is somewhat synchronized with the Channel, so Mana consumption is reduced, but if it isn¡¯t¡­¡±

    ¡°How much Mana would you need?¡±

    I hesitated for a moment because I wasn¡¯t sure how topare.

    ¡°Approximately¡­I would need enough Mana to eradicate all the Ashpims in this neighborhood.¡±

    If a volcanic eruption were concentrated in a specific area, wouldn¡¯t it be wiped out? It meant that you need Mana to trigger at least that much magic.

    ¡°In the end, it meant nothing.¡±

    If they could mobilize that amount of Mana in the first ce, they could grab and kill the Ashpims on their own instead of leaning on summoning magic. It seemed that my intention was well conveyed. Still, the lingering feeling hadn¡¯t fully left gone, so Ghur smacked his lips.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like that since I was born.¡±

    His gaze was fixed on the Kirin. She ended the ughter instead of chasing them when most giants ran away and began to turn around and walk towards us. Every time she took one step closer, her body became smaller as it returned to her slender, nude appearance.

    ¡°Did you see the Truth-Seeker today? Inparison, the Truth-Seeker would still be more powerful¡­¡±

    The Truth-Seeker was the one who had approached the most deity-like status among mortals. No matter how powerful a Kirin was, it was nowhere close to the power of a Truth-Seeker. Ghur replied with a bitter smile.

    ¡°The story of the Truth-Seeker has been told by the elders since I was a child¡­I know how great it is. But I never imagined that there would be a creature with such a powerful might that wasn¡¯t a Truth-Seeker.¡±

    After he said that, the giant pondered for a moment. Then he broke the silence again and muttered vaguely.

    ¡°¡­You must be getting fed up with it, so I¡¯ll ask you onest time. What the hell are you doing?¡±

    Instead of answering, Iughed quietly. Well, what was I doing?

    For the past ten years, I had recognized myself as a desperate fugitive who was building a high wall to hide from a Truth-Seeker. But now that I realized that building that wall was in vain, I didn¡¯t even know what I was anymore. One thing was for sure. I don¡¯t feel 100% happy right now. Before long, the Kirin approached Ghur and me, who were at a loss for words.

    ¡°Sigh~.¡±

    She was humming in front of us. The Kirin, who ughtered more than three or four hundred giants in the time it took to boil and eat ramen. She looked strangely happy. Although it was unknown why, was it because the Kirin ran wild after a long time, or because she got seeds of the Enchanted Wood tree?

    It was the opposite of me.

    She ridiculed the giant looking at her and said, looking at me, quietly raised both thumbs.

    ¡°What are you doing? Open the door.¡±

 Chapter 32

    The Forgotten Race (1)

    I often thought about it after my head grew thicker. I felt like I was being carried away by the torrent of life. The feeling of being thrown into an event beyond my control, losing the realism of stepping on solid ground. Powerless as I was swept away by a torrid river.

    Since the day I was eight years old, I couldn¡¯t find my own choice in life even if I cleansed my sight¡ªno decision, no choice, no influence. I just drifted away as fast as the helmsman named Parvache led me. I never thought about rowing myself because I felt it was safest to leave it to a skilled sailor named Parvache, to run away before the dreadful torrent of the Truth-Seeker consumed me.

    However, after learning that there was no longer a Truth-Seeker in my world and that I was actually floating on a calm river, I was relieved and excited. Still, on the other hand, I felt angry, depressed, and empty. I thought nkly as I lifted the remote control. What time did I get up today? Seeing that my back was starting to hurt stiffly, it was likely at least four or five hours since I lied down on the couch. I put down the smartphone in my hand and turned on the TV.

    The news wasing out.

    -It has been six months since the outbreak of the Munich Incident, but the dome-shaped ck object surrounding the city hasn¡¯t disappeared. Early this morning in Korean time, the German government announced that they would halt military operations, including bombings on the ck Dome in Munich. In fact, it can be interpreted as a decision to give up on Munich.

    Ah¡­that¡¯s how it turned out. It seemed that the German government¡¯s response to Munich¡¯s Channel eventually ended with giving up.

    -It is spected that the different races that the German government has contacted for help have been unable to identify or destroy the dome over the past half-year.

    I remembered the sad news I heardte after returning to Earth from the dimension of the purple moon six months ago. All of the German government¡¯s follow-up operations to subdue the reptiles and rescue Munich citizens were wiped out. Many of the remaining citizens in the dome were also killed in the fierce battle. It was a terrible failure on humanity¡¯s part.

    The red-skinned reptile race that upied Munich gave up any further provocations, as they felt that the armed forces mobilized by the Germans weren¡¯t so terrifying. They kidnapped all remaining citizens in the city and disappeared into the Channel that they came through. The problem was that even then, the ck dome didn¡¯t disappear and stayed still. Rather than sending additional troops into the scene, which was possible to enter but impossible to escape, the German governmentunched a massive bombing across Munich. The target was to destroy the dome, of course.

    After entering downtown Munich, the n was to send troops into the Channel where the reptiles escaped ¨C to rescue the citizens and retaliate against the kidnappers. The government, gaining knowledge of friendly races, already knew that the Channel was a door to another world and decided that if they entered it, they would be able to rescue the citizens who were taken away.

    However, as the ck dome wasn¡¯t destroyed by any means of force, Germany couldn¡¯t deploy troops to rescue the citizens. This was because it was impossible to escape the dome, which thoroughly extended even underground. Even if the citizens were saved, they would be indefinitely trapped within the ck dome which hung over the city.

    What happened to people who were dragged in? I felt more depressed, so I quickly pressed the remote and turned to another channel. It was a weekday, so there was no program to watch. It was then.

    -Woongwoong!

    There was a vibration from a distance as if something hit the barrier¡¯s boundary located several kilometers away¡ªa shock wave of Mana as if something solid hit the wall. The fluctuations of forces that formed the barrier caught my senses as clearly as if they happened next to me. It was a change that ordinary people couldn¡¯t notice. But it was a shock noticeable enough even if the circuit was a bit insensitive if there were people around with their Mana circuit already open. It was definitely getting weaker and weakerpared to the beginning.

    I knew that the wizards being fostered by the Korean government were all being trained in istion from the outside, near Heonneung. However, there would be sprouts of wizards around here that were talented enough to open their Mana circuit on their own without any additional training, as I did before. If such a gifted person noticed this phenomenon and reported it somewhere, it would be a big deal.

    [What are you gonna do with that?]

    Lying face down on the couch, a robot stuck out its thumb-sized head in front of my eyes.

    ¡°¡­What should we do?¡± I asked back helplessly.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time this happened. It had intermittently urred 2-3 times a day for a few days. When I reconstructed this huge barrier around this town, I had a hunch that this would happen someday.

    -Woongwoong!

    The Mana of the barrier fluctuated again. As expected, it was a weaker shock than before. But it did bother me. Which neighboring Channel were these guysing all the way from to make a mess here? Parvache rushed me again.

    [Aren¡¯t you gonna find out who these guys are?]

    ¡°We sent a summon yesterday to scout, but we didn¡¯t find any signs. It¡¯d be on the news if any races were hanging around here in the first ce. They¡¯re hiding right now.¡±

    At least it must quickly hide after a failed attempt to enter the barrier. Did it have a sense of alertness about me, the one who conjured the barrier? However, the attempt to enter was too explicit and ignorant for such things. Rather than being a civilized race, it was highly likely that their intelligence level was close to animals or primitive races.

    ¡°And it can never break this barrier. The first shock three days ago was the strongest, and after that, it¡¯s gotten weaker. You don¡¯t think they¡¯re very strong, right?¡±

    [But it means that it¡¯s a creature who does the same thing as long as they avoid your summons¡¯ eyes.]

    Oh, it¡¯s annoying. The spirit was meditating quietly inside the room for a while, then suddenly came out to the living room and was now nagging at me. The shock seemed to be quite bothersome for Parvache.

    ¡°Oh, this never happened in the past few months, so why now¡­¡±

    [I think you¡¯ve been lucky. There are a few Channels on Earth right now. Amazingly, no one¡¯s ever touched a barrier so far.]

    ¡°Of all the neighborhoods on this big, why is it wandering around my neighborhood? Why is it trying to get inside the barrier?¡±

    [Maybe it¡¯s because of what we were concerned about when we rebuilt this barrier six months ago.]

    ¡®Damn it, damn it!¡¯

    This kind of barrier was a double-edged sword. The primary goal of preventing the entry of other races could be achieved. Still, once the defense was sessful, the barrier was discovered by those attempting to cross. It was a good thing if they just gave up and stepped back, but things grew annoying when they start obsessing over trying to get through the barriers. Nevertheless, Parvache and I decided to make this barrier.

    After I returned to Earth, over a hundred new Channels had been opened. But more than half of all Channels had yet to show signs of entry. Except for the very few cases in which exploration troops were first deployed from Earth¡¯s side, the Channel that hadn¡¯t yet popped anything up were unknowns. And since we didn¡¯t know what dangerous beings live beyond that point of entry, we didn¡¯t know when they would attack Earth.

    I usedplex lies, tricks, and some magical measures to move my mother and sister to a house inside the barrier (my family members still didn¡¯t know I was so close) and made a barrier that any races that weren¡¯t rooted in Earth couldn¡¯t enter. It was kind of repurposed and expanded using the existing barrier. It was the minimum defense device deployed because we weren¡¯t going to abandon Earth right away.

    If there was no shock, it was an object that couldn¡¯t recognize the existence of a barrier at the level of humans who have only just started learning magic. Still, its effect on other species was powerful. As far as I knew, beings other than normal Earthly creatures could never enter. For example, suppose those indefinite demons who copsed the metropolis of Caracas in one moment even hit Seoul right now. In that case, people could save their lives if they were within this barrier because those demons couldn¡¯t get in here.

    ¡°¡­Wouldn¡¯t it give up and go away if I leave it a little longer?¡±

    [But are you going to leave knowing what kind of race it is? Did you really gain weight in your brain after you¡¯ve been spreading it for about six months? It has been like that for three days now, you bastard! Aren¡¯t you anxious?]

    Honestly, I was a little anxious. However, the strength of striking was also weak. No matter how strong a race was, would it be as strong as a Truth-Seeker? Whether or not the Korean military was on the alert, the only Channel in Korea was now blocked by me. It was to stop the Ashpim idiots from lingering around. The things that annoyed me for a few days right now around my barrier were the other races who had flowed from the Channels of the neighboring countries¡­who the hell was it?

    [You¡¯re not going to answer me anymore?]

    I pulled myself up from the couch because I was annoyed by the constantly nagging Parvache.

    H-Huh?? As soon as I got up, my head started spinning. Did I lie down too long? Or was it because I was starving? Nowadays, our magic lessons were also irregr, so most of the days, I just rolled around the way I wanted to, all day long. If it was bothersome to eat, I didn¡¯t eat. I couldn¡¯t control my life because the rhythm of my life was broken once again.

    Parvache looked up at me as I stumbled on the carpet for a while, unfocused. Parvache¡¯s eyes were just sculptured pieces of stic that didn¡¯t have any pupils. Still, I felt like I was facing a look that criticized me, so my shoulders shook without knowing.

    ¡°¡­Why?¡±

    Parvache looked at me for a moment without saying anything.

    [¡­Eat quickly and get out.]

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    [If it keeps trying to invade like that, it¡¯ll stay around the barrier anyway. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s going to run away, so quickly put something in your mouth and go out and find out what it is doing. If it feels dangerous, kill it.]

    ¡°¡­Yes, yes.¡±

    Taking a bath and getting dressed was so bothersome. These days, I only felt a great lethargy. In a singr moment, the goal that I had been running for just disappeared. The danger of The Truth-Seeker had just disappeared. In short, I had zero motivation andcked purpose.

    Nevertheless, it was the countless Channels that bothered me. Without those channels, I might have stopped the lessons with Parvachepletely. For the same reason that this barrier was reconstructed, training was being conducted intermittently to prepare for dangerous races¡¯ arrival.

    However, I no longer needed to learn the dimensional leap magic. I didn¡¯t need it anymore. When I thought of the time, effort, and hardships I had put into it, I really¡­sigh, let¡¯s stop. Again, heat rises, and I fall into despair.

 Chapter 33

    The Forgotten Race (2)

    I took a taxi to where the shock had urred. It was an area close to the southernmost point of the barrier. I got out of the car, but there were only ordinary people who couldn¡¯t even feel what happened around me.

    ¡®Oh, it¡¯s cold!¡¯

    I magically wrapped warmth around the thin padding I was wearing. The weather had be cooler than I thought. It seemed winter had begun its arrival while I was curled up inside the house.

    ¡°Now, where are you guys?¡±

    I mumbled and made fun of my busy steps. While I was outside, I must identify it today. So, if it were a dangerous creature, I would have to get rid of it, as Parvache said. I didn¡¯t know how intelligent it was. Still, it was an individual or group presumed to have the ability to hide. It urred to me that if it tried to hurt people, I would kill it mercilessly. However, I didn¡¯t think it was causing any trouble because there hadn¡¯t been any such news yet.

    I changed my mind. In three days, even if there were missing people, it may not have been in the news yet. I managed to speed up, gathering the motivation I didn¡¯t have. I didn¡¯t know why it knocked on other people¡¯s barriers for several days, but I hoped it was friendly. I walked along the border outside the barrier and looked for traces. Earlier, it was a big decision to wander outside the barrier, but now it wasn¡¯t like that anymore.

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡®How long has it been?¡®

    I found the clue when I passed near Mok-dong Elementary School. I could feel something foreign inside the yground. It was such a small wave that it would be difficult to find without being a very sensitive wizard. As I entered the yground, I could quickly see what was holding my nerves. It was already early evening, so the sunset was quietly falling on the empty yground where all the children had left school¡ªjust in scenery.

    But I noticed something like a hazy fog covering about half of the yground.

    ¡°Oh, look at this?¡±

    A barrier. I didn¡¯t know exactly, but it seemed to be a kind of cognitive disturbance. People who hadn¡¯t opened their Mana circuit wouldn¡¯t be aware of this barrier. Still, they would spin around outside it without even realizing it if they tried to approach. Therefore, it was clear that no one could notice, even though the barrier upied arge part of the yground.

    ¡°It must have tried to cover up its magic, but it couldn¡¯t avoid my eyes.¡±

    It was so skillful that it couldn¡¯t be found even with a few wizards, but I caught it. Now it seemed certain that it was a civilized race. Where did ite from? Among the races with high-level magic from the Channel near Korea, the gray-eyed race from Hong Kong¡¯s Channel, the anthropomorphic creature called Gramperi in theirnguage, was the best.

    However, I heard that it was impossible for them to leave China based on an agreement made with the Chinese government. Was this a different race?

    I thought about it for a while before getting ready for battle. After being stuck in a shoebox for several months, I pulled out the military walker and prepared the spell to leap and dodge in advance. I didn¡¯t know what kind of creature would be in it. I also activated the concealment artifact on my chest if it tried to do something wrong after seeing the Channel on my chest.

    When I was ready, instead of destroying the real barrier, I decided to make a gap and dig into it. It seemed casual, but every time I took a step, aplex form unfolded. And so naturally, I entered the fog of barriers.

    -Woongwoong

    Even though I broke in, the barrier didn¡¯t even fluctuate. As soon as I entered the barrier, what I felt was a deep warmth. The weather outside was at the beginning of winter, but inside it was no different from early summer. I wiped the magical heat from the padding. It didn¡¯t stop there, though, so I put on a little chill. It was pretty warm inside.

    And what caught my eye were two figures squatting in front of a bonfire in the middle of the yground. I easily noticed that the bonfire burning next to them was the core of the barrier. I slowly approached, thinking that I wouldn¡¯t touch that bonfire to avoid being exposed to the creatures if there were a battle.

    And I was confused. Those two squatting in front of the fire were obviously human beings. They were staring at the bonfire calmly; it wasn¡¯t clear whether they had noticed that I had entered. Both of them had hidden but unusual Mana. It was the first of its kind I had ever encountered. Wizards? Then, did they belong to the Korean government?

    Or maybe they were wizards dispatched from another country? But they had achieved this level in six months? If that was true, they were more genius than I was. Oh, that¡¯s right. Seeing them hiding like this, weren¡¯t they spies who infiltrated Korea from another country? While I was distracted, did Earth¡¯s civilization develop magical science enough to send wizards as spies to extract information? Or were the alien races in contact with foreign governments using something special?

    Anyway, if they were really spies, I was getting caught up in a very bothersome job. I frowned automatically. Even if they had Mana, as long as they were human, there was no reason for them not to be able to prate my barriers. Perhaps these weren¡¯t the ones who knocked on my barrier. Digging into a hidden entity, it seemed that I unintentionally discovered irrelevant people. Maybe they were just unrted people who were going to bother me tremendously.

    As I approached them step by step, they raised their heads and looked toward me as if they were aware of my existence. But¡­why didn¡¯t they seem surprised? The two got up from their seats calmly without any hurry.

    Contrary to my expectation, the boy, who seemed to be a little more than ten years old, spoke to me. He was wearing a dirty Korean traditional outer top, clothes, and a white cloth conch around his forehead. Perhaps his forehead was hurt. There was a red bloodstain on the cloth. The kid looked at me with a calm look and opened his mouth.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know I was going to see an elderly in a big city like this.¡±

    Elderly? Me? Was he talking about me? No, even looking at the age difference, I think it would only be about ten years apart. And although I had been a little bit out of sorts these days, I¡¯m not that much older in appearance.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what race of elder you are, but I greet you first as the duty of the younger ones. I am the son of a man named Hamun who originally lived in Swan and now settle in White Deer; my name is Garam.¡°

    The boy¡¯s long-exined voice, which might be my misunderstanding, was mixed with some annoyance even though he was very polite. What was this guy? Furthermore, I didn¡¯t understand what he said in the first ce, whether he was annoying or not. The boy turned his head and introduced the person standing next to him, not caring that I didn¡¯t respond to him when I was dumbfounded.

    ¡®Oh my, thatdy came out in fewer clothes than I did on this cold day.¡¯

    Her age seemed to be the same as mine. Around twenty? Even though she had a pretty face, it was so dirty that I could roughly guess when shest washed. In this weather, she wore only a white short-sleeved tee as a top and ck training pants made of thin material. She was likely to catch a cold after walking outside the barrier for a few minutes. What¡¯s more, she was barefoot.

    ¡°She is¡­reluctant to be called by her name because of certain circumstances. She has wandered around thend since she was young, and now she has settled in White Deer.¡±

    When the introduction of herself was over, the woman bowed her head. Her expression showed signs of nervousness.

    ¡°Hail Elder, well met.¡±

    What was that unusualnguage? Hail Elder, well met? I wasn¡¯t an idiot either, and by this point, I could see that they weren¡¯t ordinary human wizards. To dismiss it as just an anachronistic setting, the way they covered up their Mana and their unique magic stood out too much. Did theye from another dimension?

    Even if I tried hard to deduce their identity, I couldn¡¯t figure out why they said such strange words and why they spoke Korean so well. My head was about to grind, but the woman insisted.

    ¡°¡­If you don¡¯t mind, you can rest here.¡±

    As soon as her speech fell, I could clearly see that the boy¡¯s eyebrows were distorted very slightly. As expected, he seemed to think that this situation was very annoying. However, the woman threw her gaze at the boy, and soon the boy nodded so that I knew that some sort of telepathy was going between them. And he chimed in, looking at me.

    ¡°¡­Yes, it is cold. If you are not in a hurry, let¡¯s get some heat. I will improve my dreams with my little tricks. It would be embarrassing to say, but I wonder if I could borrow some of the wisdom of the elderly.¡±

    Despite some mixed feelings of disapproval, a color of resignation came out of his voice. I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. I still didn¡¯t know their way of talking, and I didn¡¯t understand all of that, but I think they were the right people to talk to. They didn¡¯t seem like an ignorant race that would run into me, bite me, and rampage right away, as I first expected.

    I squatted down on the dirt floor. Only then did the boy and girl sit down. It looked like they really treated me as elderly.

    ¡°She used to live onnd as you did, but she doesn¡¯t know much about the deepnd because she only went to the vige of humans that aren¡¯t far from the sea.¡±

    The woman nodded silently as if responding to the boy¡¯s words. I nced at the kid to keep talking.

    ¡°Presumably, you seem to have spent many years in the human city. Humans¡¯ odor is so strong that it is impossible to guess what kind of race you are, Elder. Things are getting better now, but I¡¯m afraid to dare to ask questions about how hard you must have suffered before.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The little boy spoke as if he understood my silence as an affirmative.

    ¡°That¡¯s why you have such a powerful soul. Elder, I would like to ask you who has ovee the long and hard times onnd. As you¡¯ve been close to humans for a long time, I¡¯m just wondering if you know what¡¯s going on between humans.¡±

    I don¡¯t know what it was, but I knew for sure that they misunderstood me. However, I wasn¡¯t sure where to correct this misunderstanding. As I hesitated, the little boy pointed at the cloth tied to his wounded forehead.

    ¡°When I try to approach the crack in space, I can¡¯t reach it anymore because something extremely strong is blocking it. At first, I didn¡¯t even notice that there was a barrier, so three days ago, I ran at full speed with this woman on my back, and I hit my head so hard that it left this scar.¡±

    So, you were the culprits!

    ¡°I¡¯m so stupid¡­oh, sorry. Anyway, I know that humans have begun to gain strength since the wicked one disappeared, but the barrier is too much to see.¡±

    ¡°¡­What do you mean a wicked one?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°It¡¯s about the mean Dragon. Was there another one like that in thisnd?¡±

    ¡®¡­What?¡¯

 Chapter 34

    The Forgotten Race (3)

    Was he referring to the being who was the Truth-Seeker of this dimension? I clearly remembered what the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker said. It clearly stated that the Truth-Seeker of Earth was a dragon.

    ¡°There is a very old Elder in our vige. Thanks to his prophecy, we quickly learned that the evil Dragon disappeared from thisnd and that there was a crack in the country¡¯s capital.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    As I kept silent, the boy thoughtlessly threw his eyes at the me again and asked.

    ¡°Do you know what kind of being lives around that barrier? Is that really human-made?¡±

    I didn¡¯t answer immediately and asked the boy back.

    ¡°Why do you want to know that?¡±

    Although he looked young, I was trying to be respectful for now because I didn¡¯t know what he really was. Instead of the boy, the woman answered my question.

    ¡°The elders in our vige are thinking about moving the vige back to thend. White Deer is almost saturated now. It is getting crowded with the ethnic tribes from the Korean penins and some parts of China since the Dragon suddenly appeared in the world long before I was born.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The woman spoke, sweeping the bangs that had spilled on her forehead. Her appearance was dirty, but she was strangely pretty. What was wrong with her? She didn¡¯t even need to put on makeup, only if she washed her face. The woman continued, looking at the bonfire, with her slender, pointed eyes sometimes turning to me.

    ¡°After the Dragon disappeared, it would have been the time to start moving after we had made up our minds. However, the elders dyed their decision because of the cracks in space that suddenly appeared. The elders have instructed us to observe the conditions of the crack so that they can make a decision.¡±

    The boy added.

    ¡°But now, because of that barrier, it was very difficult to ess, so I was in trouble.¡±

    I nodded quietly. As I reconstructed the barrier, I expanded the scope and intentionally put the Mapo Bridge Channel within my barrier. The purpose was to prevent beings from the third dimension from essing the Channel and throwing tantrums. They approached to observe the Mapo Bridge Channel, but the road was blocked because of my barrier. I deeply pondered who these people were.

    The core of my barrier was a copy of my soul and parts of my unconscious mind. It was impossible to directly determine whether it was an alien race or not whenever countless life forms came and went between the boundaries of this wide barrier. I couldn¡¯t stand it with the capacity of my brain.

    The criteria I judged as normal Earthly creatures were already stored in the barrier¡¯s core, and the barrier made its own judgment and decided whether to let them pass or not. Regardless of how they looked, it meant that their real identity was out of the range of normal Earthly creatures, that much I could recognize.

    I asked, ¡°Where is the vige called White Deer?¡±

    Her eyes turned round as if I had asked an absurd thing. The light of bewilderment shook in her clear eyes.

    ¡°Elder, how do you ask such a thing? Baengnokdam is, of course, in Ha Mountain, Jeju Ind.¡±

    Ah, did she mean the White Deer (Baeknok)¡­was she referring to Baeknokdam? Were these beings living in Baengnokdam? Not from another dimension? Something became veryplicated in my head, and my heart started beating quickly. It began to ur to me that I might have been having a fundamental illusion about the world until now.

    ¡°When I hear the story¡­it sounds like it¡¯s very difficult to get on thisnd?¡±

    ¡°Of course it is. Things are getting better now, but it has been quite difficult until then. Wouldn¡¯t you know that best, Elder? Maybe you¡¯ve stayed on thisnd several times longer than me. Originally, we decided to be beyond the wall to live only on the ind without stepping onnd¡­¡±

    I asked one question after another.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Well, because the continent was the dragon¡¯snd. Until the dragon disappeared a few months ago.¡±

    Ah¡­there seems to be a lot of stories that I didn¡¯t know. Even though it was the story of this world, the one I had been living in! The little boy began to stare at me with suspicious eyes. At this point, even these guys would start to grow suspicious. I don¡¯t know why they mistook me for an Elder of the same race in the first ce.

    ¡°I heard that if you live a long time mixed with humans, you may forget your existence. I was a bit puzzled, but Elder, you also may be¡­¡±

    When I didn¡¯t answer anything, the boy sighed. Then he muttered very quietly.

    ¡°Ah damn it. Why did we meet such a dotard old man¡­¡±

    What? Damn it? A dotard old man? Hey boy, I heard it all! As if he didn¡¯t care whether I heard it or not, the boy reached out his hand.

    ¡°As I said at the beginning, I will share some of my dreams. I chose a good one. Originally, I tried to share it so that you could enjoy it as entertainment. Still, now I think it should be used for therapeutic purposes. I am young and immature, but I will do something to wash away your muddy memories.¡±

    Foreign energy began to build up in his hand. It was different from the way I used it, but it was definitely magic. It felt simr to the unique Mana surrounding this barrier. Inparison, the magic I used and the magic used by Dell Giants, including Ghur, differed in level. Still, the fundamental principle and the nature of magic weren¡¯t very different.

    However, the magical power of these guys was very different from Ghur¡¯s and mine. How did they build up their magic power? The magic principle itself would be the kind that differed from the one I used. The magic wasplete, but there seemed to be no intention to harm me, so I stayed still. Then, haze-like energy lumped in the little boy¡¯s hand and began to flow¡ªthe energy of a strange texture, like a cloud and spring water. It felt familiar, so I tilted my head and realized what it was.

    It was very simr to Parvache¡¯s presence. Now that guy¡­was dealing with the energy of the mixed, and fluctuated like a kaleidoscope in the energy umted in his hand. He lifted the lump to the corner of his mouth and then blew it out. Then the colored mass lost its shape and started to spread out, covering all three of us.

    And I saw the scenery from far away.

    High mountain tops. Beyond the boundary invisible to the human eye, a calmke was located halfway between reality and unreality. A very spacious and cozy vige spread beneath the surface of the water. Amidst ancient buildings that werepletely different from the mingle, chat, cry, andugh together.

    The feeling that flowed into my heart now that I saw this scene wasn¡¯t mine. It was a faraway longing, strangely warm and flowing with relief. Strands of emotions that I hadn¡¯t felt were mixed in with the memories I hadn¡¯t experienced. The illusion that had ruled me suddenly disappeared as quickly as it covered me. While still immersed in the remnants of faint feelings, the boy spoke to the woman.

    ¡°¡­Mrs. Pearl, you had a dream that reminded me of the vigest night, so I borrowed it a little.¡±

    ¡°Ah, did I have a dream like this?¡±

    ¡°As you know, I don¡¯t remember all the dreams I have.¡±

    ¡°You said so.¡±

    Wait, what did he call her?

    ¡°Mrs. Pearl?¡±

    The boy nced at me.

    ¡°This woman doesn¡¯t want to be called by her name, so we call her Mrs. Pearl.¡±

    ¡°Oh, are you married?¡±

    No, why am I asking this useless thing?

    ¡°¡­I was.¡± She answered hesitantly.

    The woman bowed her head with a darkplexion. I felt like I had trodden on some deep-seated emotion, which I shouldn¡¯t have. The boy stared at me.

    ¡°Mrs. Pearl is a faithful widow.¡±

    Gosh!

    ¡°Ah, sorry. Sorry. I couldn¡¯t even imagine it because you looked so young¡­¡±

    Come to think of it. I didn¡¯t know what kind of race they are, so she might be older than she looked. The boy named Garam. I don¡¯t know if it was a real boy or not, but anyway, the little boy looked straight at me.

    ¡°You may have received warm feelings through your dreams, but you must have seen a sight that will stimte your forgotten memories. Are you feeling a little clear now?¡±

    I think it was time toe out.

    ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry. I knew well that you aren¡¯t human.¡±

    The boy¡¯s face was distorted with dismay as if he were asking whether it wasn¡¯t working. I went on quickly.

    ¡°I am not an elder with memory loss. I don¡¯t know what kind of race you are, but I¡¯m not the same as you.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I would have recognized you if you were my kind. And if you¡¯re a rtive of Mrs. Pearl, she would have recognized you.¡±

    What else did that mean? Were they different races?

    ¡°Ah, anyway. That¡¯s not what you think. I am human.¡±

    Hearing the words, the boy looked at me as if he was tired and muttered a little.

    ¡°It¡¯s really severe dementia, damn it.¡±

    I can hear it all! I hear everything!

    ¡°No, I am really a human being.¡±

    Then, the woman called Mrs. Pearl suddenly came to me. Then she spread out her palms wide and grabbed my head like a basketball.

    ¡°Ah, why are you doing this?!¡±

    I didn¡¯t feel any murderous intention, so I let her. But it was a bit of a conflict whether I should blow away the magic or not. Meanwhile, Mrs. Pearl started sniffing my hair. With her nose in contact with my scalp, her breath came out, and I was swept away. Without even realizing it, I blushed slightly.

    In the meantime, I felt a little contempt for myself, thinking that I was fortunate toe out after washing my hair today. She lifted her nose from my hair and licked my cheek once with her tongue sticking out. ¡®Wow!¡¯

    I was so surprised that I pulled my body back, but Mrs. Pearl¡¯s expression looking at me was unusual. It was an expression that seemed ready to burst into tears at any moment. Then she sighed and rested, and suddenly the bonfire rose as if responding to her emotions. This barrier, which had the bonfire as a core, seemed to be the magic she had unfolded.

    ¡°What? What is it, Mrs. Pearl? Hang in there and control that bonfire. The barrier will be broken!¡±

    Turning to Garam, who couldn¡¯t figure out the situation, Mrs. Pearl uttered with a cry.

    ¡°Oh, Garam, what are we going to do with this?¡±

    ¡°Why?!¡±

    ¡°That young man, he¡¯s a real person!¡±

    ¡°¡­What?!¡±

    ¡°I told you! I am human!¡± I said with a deep sigh of resignation.

 Chapter 35

    The Forgotten Race (4)

    The boy shouted, telling her not to talk nonsense.

    ¡°I can see clearly! Humans cannot have such a mighty and great soul! He¡¯s just an elderly person who has lived for a long time beyond the wall¡­!¡±

    ¡°My brother, it can¡¯t cheat my nose. The original wasn¡¯t hidden because of the human body odor, but he originally smelled human!¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± Garam rumbled.

    ¡°You, can you take responsibility for that? I know you¡¯re very good at smelling, but just because of that¡­¡±

    Mrs. Pearl stopped talking to the boy.

    ¡°Apart from the talents, I have lived with a human man on a nket for forty years. I am the best expert in this area!¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s true, but¡­¡±

    ¡°Both his smell and taste, I¡¯m sure of it!¡±

    The boy blushed and coughed. However, Mrs. Pearl looked at Garam with a straight and clear gaze as if she had said something that couldn¡¯t be said.

    ¡°If you say so¡­¡±

    The boy¡¯s expression was distorted and reflected an ounce of respectful shame, and then he stared at me.

    ¡°You must be human!¡± The boy suddenly eximed.

    I sent it back to him.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! It¡¯s annoying for me that you got it wrong in the first ce!¡±

    Garam¡¯s eyes became more ferocious.

    ¡°Not only did I serve the wrong person like an elder, but I also gave you valuable things! What the hell are you? How did you get into this barrier that couldn¡¯t be approached except by Beast Spirits? And the power you have¡­wait!¡±

    Garam tapped his knee as if he had a clue about the current situation.

    ¡°I have never seen or heard a human as powerful as you. And, this barrier exceeds the power of ordinary humans. Also, it wouldn¡¯t be a coincidence to encounter you in front of the barrier.¡±

    His eyes widened as if he finally found the correct answer.

    ¡°That barrier surrounding the crack in space, what is its connection with you? No, it must be the barrier you made?¡±

    I replied nervously because I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d believe me even if I denied it now.

    ¡°That¡¯s right! Why?!¡±

    And a long tug-of-war between those two and me began.

    ***

    Garam and Mrs. Pearl, who now knew that I was the Mok-dong Barrier¡¯s creator, asked me to let them in. Since they were on duty ced on them by their vige, it seemed like they had to check the Channel¡¯s status with their own eyes. They came out so strongly. Under the condition that they should only observe, I finally brought them inside. I guided them to the Mapo Bridge Channel.

    It was a barrier set to prevent the invasion of other foreign races. Still, honestly, there was no reason to prevent them from entering. I didn¡¯t want to have a meaningless fight with these peaceful beings, with whom I had a gentle conversation. As I felt right now, it would take some work even if something happened, but I thought I would be able to suppress them if it ever came down to that. Even so, I couldn¡¯t start a big fight without knowing my opponent¡¯s abilities. There might be eyewitnesses who might be watching too.

    I needed to be attentive and careful.

    ***

    Although the Korean Military was tightly surrounding the Channel, we proceeded without hesitation and approached the Channel¡¯s front. The reason I apanied them so far was, of course, for surveince. I was wondering if these beings would do weird things inside the barrier or near the Channel. I still couldn¡¯t trust them entirely. While looking at the Channel whichid in front of their eyes, their mouths were left gaping.

    ¡°Oh, finally¡­we¡¯re here!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl muttered, clenching her fists; she seemed full of emotions. It turned out that both of them were dressed like beggars, but how the hell did they get all the way from Jeju Ind? That was the real question. Garam, who stood next to her, also looked up at the huge Channel as he responded.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t feel good after listening to the prophecy, but when I looked at it with my own two eyes, the expression of a crack in space was perfect.¡±

    Channels that weren¡¯t active were shaped like a long crack, and blue light shed out from the opening.

    ¡°But¡­is there another barrier here?¡±

    Perhaps because of his intensive observation, Garam quickly noticed the different types of barriers that covered the Channel. In case the human wizards who developed their skillster discovered it and did something wrong, I covered it up just as a preventative measure.

    ¡°Oh, really. Did you make that barrier, too?¡±

    I nodded to the woman whose expression became serious as if she found it one beatte.

    ¡°Are you making a living by creating a barrier? Or is it a hobby? How many barriers are there around here?¡±

    Garam¡¯s question was absurd, so I responded.

    ¡°Make a living what? I¡¯ve been volunteering for free. For the safety and peace of Seoul¡¯s citizens.¡±

    This country wasn¡¯t really good enough to reward me. Strictly speaking, I was doing the work of the state. However, I was volunteering because I was anxious to leave it entirely to the military.

    ¡®So, in recognition of my services, stop sending active enlistment texts to my number!¡¯

    I wondered to myself with a bitter feeling in my gut. But since I couldn¡¯t tell them who I was, this kind of fuss didn¡¯t mean anything.

    ¡°Tsk.¡±

    ¡°What else is this barrier for?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a device that prevents humans from passing over to the world that lies beyond the channel.¡±

    I had created barriers around the Channel on both dimensions that were now connected.

    ¡°For what reason?¡±

    ¡°Do you watch TV? Have you seen these guys?¡±

    Asking so, I showed them a video projected on the surface of the Han River, a feat that only wizards or those with an affinity for magic could observe. Mixing with the night¡¯s colors, the Ashpim Giant¡¯s shape, shaking with ck waves, appeared. It was an illusion created by leaning on my memory. When he saw it, he nodded as if he wasn¡¯t familiar.

    ¡°I¡¯ve rarely seen TV, but we know it. These are things that once appeared in human dreams.¡±

    Come to think of it, was that guy a dreamer? I don¡¯t know the principle, but I think he was good at using mental magic.

    ¡°Yes, these guys crossed over on this Channel several times. People are suffering. If they ever touch the wall over there and the monsters start toe over in earnest, I don¡¯t think I can handle it. There are quite a few more than I thought. And their temper is dirty.¡±

    The barriers in this world were intended to prevent the Korean government from sending troops to the other side. The problem grewplicated if they wandered around and came in contact with the barrier I had made in that world. No matter how well I covered it up, there was no answer if they blow up a bomb or something. Detonating a bomb in Yeouido may be a matter of reconsideration. Still, there were concerns that the world on the other side could use tough retaliatory measures.

    I even exined the story that I had been to the world over there, yet Garam¡¯s expression remained a bit stiff. What was it, I wondered.

    ¡°Break it out.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°It sounds good, but¡­as I listen to it, it feels like I¡¯ve been drinking water with a lid.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Why did you do that? Take a risk, go to the other world, strike a barrier, and create an additional barrier to prevent human ess.¡±

    ¡°Ultimately, it¡¯s also for my safety. To stop them from harming people.¡±

    I didn¡¯t even talk about the Channel in my chest and the Truth-Seeker. As for the motives of my exploration of the other world, I just said that it was to avoid future dangers. It wasn¡¯t even a lie because my house was very close to this Channel. However, Garam¡¯s strange expression couldn¡¯t be resolved easily.

    ¡°Even though you are human, you have basically blocked ess to this channel without telling other humans.¡±

    ¡°¡­Well, in the end, that is correct.¡±

    However, I couldn¡¯t appear in front of the government and exin this situation in detail. It would reveal who I was, after all.

    ¡°For now, I understand your story. However, it is difficult for us now to fully grasp the identity of this barrier. In conclusion, we have checked the condition of the crack. Still, we have a random variable¡­we need to report the situation to the elders of the vige, Mrs. Pearl.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°And human, if all you say is true. If that barrier is just to prevent other humans from approaching¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, but it¡¯s true.¡±

    ¡°Yes, if that¡¯s right¡­that¡¯s also a bit weird. I think it¡¯s going to be another thing I don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    ¡°¡­Just because it seems a little different from the way people I know think.¡± The boy said, tilting his head a little.

    ¡°The idea of ??controlling the entire human race without giving any information rather than the idea that the same human would do¡­yes. It seems a bit simr to what the Dragon did in the past.¡±

    He mumbled like that and then shook his head.

    ¡°Well, it would be a useless idea.¡±

    I couldn¡¯tprehend what he was trying to say.

    ***

    Parvache argued as if it was an absurdly ridiculous move.

    [So that¡¯s why you brought them home? Do you think I believe that?]

    I shrugged apologetically.

    ¡°No, it was toote, and they kept holding on to me and asking this and that, but I have no reason to kick those guys out¡­and I also want to ask them a lot of questions.¡±

    At the same time, I nced at the two sitting at the dining table in my living room. With their abilities, they couldn¡¯t directly grasp exactly how the barriers surrounding the Channel worked. However, they seemed to believe the information I gave them. In the end, they concluded that it was a problem that they couldn¡¯t make judgments about. They decided to report the current situation to the elders in their vige and receive follow-up instructions on what they had to do in the future.

    Thanks to that, the story continued longer than expected, and it was nighttime before we realized it. When I asked if they wanted to eat after paying attention to their beggar-like behavior, both faces were noticeably brighter. It seemed that they were walking around without being able to get a proper meal. After bringing them home, a minor problem was discovered, and it was their diet.

    When Mrs. Pearl said she wanted to eat fresh raw beef liver, I was confused. There couldn¡¯t be anything like raw meat in my refrigerator. However, it wasn¡¯t difficult to get it as the butcher shop in the apartmentplex was still open. But when the little boy asked me to for iron and copper, I couldn¡¯t digest his answer easily.

    Eventually, when I took some iron and copper tes collected from the warehouse on the third floor, surprisingly, Garam took them in his hand and melted them as if eating ice cream. While looking at the strange appearance of the metal melting down like mud, I wondered what his saliva was made of. Anxiety began to creep up in the corner of my mind as the materials disappeared so vainly.

    ¡°Well, when you¡¯re done, ask again quickly.¡±

    When I saw the meal was finished, I approached them.

    ¡°Wait a minute.¡±

    Garam poured the remaining piece of iron in his mouth and closed his eyes, chewing. And after a while, he spoke.

    ¡°Hmm, we¡¯ve finally connected to a human. What time is it now? They¡¯re already asleep¡­even though Mrs. Pearl and I are having such a hard time onnd, we¡¯re so lucky.¡±

 Chapter 36

    The Forgotten Race (5)

    Garam then shut his mouth again and began concentrating; he continued this for a while. As far as I could tell, he picked a fellow sleeping in his vige and essed the dream-world to have a conversation. After some time, Garam opened his eyes. The conversation was over.

    ¡°I¡¯ve told them everything that we¡¯ve talked about here.¡±

    Licking the blood off her long white fingers, Mrs. Pearl spoke.

    ¡°Ah¡­then, that¡¯s it. Now, all we have to do is wait for an answer.¡±

    I asked politely, ¡°Do you have to go into someone¡¯s dream to get the answer? Or do you sleep and just dream it?¡±

    Garam shook his head, ¡°I used the inconvenient method because it is the only technique I can use, but there are people who each race, so we will be contacted as soon as the conclusion is decided.¡±

    ¡°Garam has the best skill in dealing with dreams, but in fact, there are many ways tomunicate words and thoughts, other than through dreams.¡±

    ¡°Then I want to ask you two a little as we wait for an answer.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡± The boy stared at me with quiet eyes as if he were about to speak.

    I asked what he was wondering about.

    ¡°You two¡­what are you guys?¡±

    ¡°You have heard so far, and now you¡¯re asking? Who the hell are you then? I have never seen a human with strong powers and a strangely enormous soul like you. And what kind of being is in that doll? It¡¯s an energy I¡¯m encountering for the first time. I don¡¯t know anything about it, except that it¡¯s very old.¡± Garam looked at Parvache and me one after another.

    I quietly threw a nce at Parvache, who was next to him. Earlier, we had a conversation openly while those two were listening. Still, beforeing into the house, Parvache and I had been busymunicating through telepathy between the two of us.

    ¡°Well, I just¡­learned magic from Parvache here.¡±

    [The reason Min-joon¡¯s soul feels enormous is probably because of the magic I taught him.]

    Certainly, my soul¡¯s level had indeed been increased and expanded through magic training. Nevertheless, Garam tilted his head as if he could not understand the meaning.

    ¡°And Parvache¡­ is the spirit I summoned from another world. Actually, I thought you guys might havee from another dimension. I haven¡¯t seen anything like you until the Channel opened.¡±

    Garam snorted with a honk and answered, ¡°Different dimension? We are beings who have lived on thisnd for a long time; it is difficult to find the origin of our history.¡±

    ¡°¡­Is that so?¡±

    ¡°A long time ago before I was born, the spiritual mountains andkes of thisnd were our territories. In those days, not many humans knew how to use their power, and some interacted with us. Until the evil dragon from another world appeared.¡±

    Garam continued like he was going to grind his teeth.

    ¡°ording to the post-war agreement, we were isted from humans, and despite our indigenous species, we were driven off the continent, torn apart, and had to migrate to numerous inds. Jeju Ind is one of them.¡±

    ¡°Because of that dragon?¡±

    ¡°Is there any other reason? The evil dragon proimed the entire continent as his territory, and we, who lost the war, left thend in exile.¡±

    I had no choice but to ask a question after hearing it so far.

    ¡°A war? So, weren¡¯t humans also involved?¡±

    But why was there no such record in human history?

    ¡°Not at all. You, humans, are creatures that are too weakpared to the being beyond the wall like us. At that time, even human civilization was nothing. The war broke out beyond the realm of human perception.¡±

    I still didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°If there has been an exchange in the past, why aren¡¯t people aware of your existence?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been too long since we¡¯ve been unable to make any explicit contact under the agreement,¡± Garam responded, clearly unsettled with unpleasant feelings.

    ¡°You have forgotten our existence. The existence of races like us.¡±

    ***

    After getting some rough information, I gave them a break. Originally, this house itself was a space where thendlord himself had no intention or preparation to receive any guests, so I suddenly had a little trouble creating two empty rooms.

    These days, the inventory of materials had been drastically reduced, so the warehouse area on the 3rd floor, which had some empty space, had been narrowed down. I put a part of the kitchen and magic devices on the 1st floor to the 3rd floor and then built two new rooms on the 1st floor. If it were outside, it would be impossible for me to move it, but it would be possible in this house. It was more difficult to draw a picture of rearrangement as if it was a puzzle in itself, more difficult than moving the interior space.

    I threw extra nkets into each room, and that seemed to be enough for those two. After the two of them closed the door, I sat on the sofa and turned on the TV. Pretending to look at the screen, I quietly began to generate magic. It was like watching a CCTV, but the rity was iparably clear, and the images of the two in the room filled my retinas.

    Without closing my eyes, I adjusted the video to ovep with the visualndscape properly. And I shared my senses with Parvache and showed them. I quietly exchanged telepathy with Parvache. Unlike before, even if they were right next to us, they couldn¡¯t hear this conversation. Based on the information I had just heard, I exchanged ideas with Parvache, organizing past events and spections on the Truth-Seeker¡¯s current situation in the past.

    And we talked about what to do with them.

    ¡®How can they be so vignt?¡¯

    [You said they see your soul, right? They may know that you have no direct hostile intention. Anyway, you even exined the reason why you brought them so far, so even if they doubted it, they would have stopped to some extent.]

    ¡®Anyway, I was surprised because it was easier than I thought.¡¯

    Actually, I didn¡¯t bring them here to harm them. Judging from their behavior, I thought they would desperately need a ce to eat and rest, but I didn¡¯t know that they would be willing to follow me. It was as if they were waiting for someone to rescue them.

    [It would be better to keep them like that until they are contacted.]

    ¡®Right. Once they are inside the barrier, I am a little reluctant to put them outside my sight. I don¡¯t think they¡¯re the ones who are going to get me into trouble, but I can¡¯t trust them 100%. I¡¯ll have to think a little more about how to persuade and make them stay inside the house.¡¯

    [It is the worst idea to imprison them forcefully. It would be better to make them want to stay on their own. At least while these guys have something to do with the Channel.]

    As long as they were in this house, they couldn¡¯t escape my eyes. It was also impossible to leave the house unless I allowed it. Even though it was embarrassing to say with my mouth, this house was the best magic fortress on Earth that could prevent external invasion. It waspletely controlled by my will, so it seemed like a dungeon in a video game when you looked inside. Every environment was an optimal space to show more than 100% of my abilities.

    What if they used force to get away from me? I had the confidence to overpower them outside, but it was impossible to beat me in this house. Well, again, it wasn¡¯t that I had bad intentions. It was just that I couldn¡¯t unconditionally trust their purpose and intentions. I had just met them for the first time today.

    ¡®Ah, I¡¯m trying to live quietly without doing anything for a while, but why aren¡¯t they leaving me alone?!¡¯

    [You really are unlucky. Muahahaha.]

    Parvache¡¯s unpleasantugh echoed in my mind.

    ***

    Langley City, Virginia, United States.

    Simon Van de Camp, who was called to the eighth floor after a long time, was quite annoyed. It wasn¡¯t the first or second time that thepany treated employees like him unkindly, but this time it was a little too much. He had no choice but to be upset as he lightheartedly attended a meeting that he thought was only preliminary before the official mission. The first examiner persistently asked Simon whether he currently had a religion or whether he had ever held faith in the past.

    Due to work¡¯s nature, even employees themselves were less sensitive to personal information exposure. However, after being asked four times in a row whether he had been to church, he thought it was a bit too much. If Simon himself had been working for an ordinarypany, he could judge it as a discriminatory act and file aint about viting federal citizenshipws.

    ¡°Have you ever attended a group prayer or religious retreat even if it isn¡¯t a specific religious facility, Mr. Van de Camp?¡±

    ¡°¡­No, I haven¡¯t.¡±

    Simon responded, feeling the limit of his patience. He had been an atheist since he was young. He has already testified to the examiner repeatedly, and he had never attended any religious groups or meetings. The examiner, who had been asking simr questions all this time, finished the interview after more than two hours. He covered the file as if he was about to get up. The examiner threw a question to him, as if it were a passing conversation, with his gaze fixed on the tip of his hand, organizing his briefcase.

    ¡°By the way, what do you think of the dimensional door? Themonly-called Channel that has been appearing for nearly half a year now? You know, some religious people seem to interpret it as God¡¯s withdrawal from the fallen modern humanity.¡±

    Simon responded as usual, with a strong suspicion that this question would eventually determine the interview¡¯s oue.

    ¡°It seems like I¡¯m talking about it for the second thousandth time, but I don¡¯t believe in the existence of God¡­¡±

    At this point, both he and the examinerughed bitterly.

    ¡°¡­So, I have nothing to say about their opinions. But even if God exists, isn¡¯t it tooplicated for a way to punish humans? If I were a god, I would do it by simply dropping a meteorite. Instead of doing this kind of hard work.¡±

    Simon didn¡¯t know if he liked his answer, but as a result, he received a new mission with a ne ticket to El Paso exactly two weekster. As always, it was one-sided and sudden. When he remembered his father¡¯s words, who died while working for the samepany, it seems that it was better than in the past.

    Arriving in a taxi in the basement of an ordinary-looking building outside El Paso, arge space like a yground greeted him. It was one of the typical forms of the safe house. As soon as the middle-aged branch manager met Simon, his eyes widened a little as soon as he saw him, then he smiled and gave a greeting.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Agent Van de Camp. You really look like your father.¡±

    ¡°Did you work with my father?¡±

    ¡°He was my boss when I was a freshman. He was really worthy of respect. I would be proud to have such a father.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s my hero.¡±

    After saying hello, the branch manager appointed Simon to a manager named Jeffrey. Simon, who Jeffrey guided, passed through an additional security facility inside the house and arrived in the quarantine area. He was finally confronted with the sight he had prepared his heart for on the ne. Beyond the ss wall, he saw a room like an ordinary motel. The being, sitting cross-legged on the recliner and operating the TV remote control, was wearing a in gray hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

    However, the face, which should have an ordinary pair of eyes for an average person, had more than twentyrge and small eyes attached. Among them, half of the eyes, which were open, constantly moved around the room, in addition to the TV they were facing. He recalled the contents of the mission instruction and asked Jeffrey.

    ¡°Is that guy right now aware of the requirement, even just some parts of it?¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°No. He doesn¡¯t know yet.¡±

    Simon muttered, retrieving the contents of the document.

    ¡°An example of a race that appeared on the Channel touched or caused friction with a third non-human race. Or did it say that you want to know about the cases of alien races who haven¡¯t been identified?¡±

    Simon pulled out a document containing the information he wanted from the bag he was holding. It was a document containing data from a very peculiar Channel. An incident that met both conditions he presented urred. Simon slowly read the title of the paper.

    ¡°An Analysis Report on Channel urrences Near Mapo Bridge, Seoul¡­¡±

 Chapter 37

    The Master of Vignce (1)

    I buried my back in the sofa, sinking in deeply. Since it was a weekday, there were no TV programs that stood out. As cable entertainment reruns were in full swing, the volume had been increased.

    -¡­The odd fact is that the people being manipted remain conscious! The phenomenon that urs when you approach the Phdelphia Channel is already well known through the media¡­

    Panels sitting around the round table were throwing words at each other. The theme was¡­Channels.

    -The reason that the Phdelphia Channel became more popr is because of an article in a local daily newspaper¡­ and the controversy about its authenticity has be a hot topic until now, half a yearter, right?

    -That¡¯s right. The U.S. government has been conducting experiments in the past few months to get various people into the Channel. Still, not a single person has had a real conversation as Mia Keaton did. Is it really interesting?

    The U.S.¡¯s current official position stated that it was difficult to determine the authenticity of the article¡­

    -Meanwhile, there are many spections that the US government¡¯s persistent attempt to ess the Phdelphia Channel is due to the fact that it has not yet entered into a state-level agreement with any ¡°advanced alien civilizations.¡±

    -Yeah. It is analyzed that the Chinese government has signed an exclusive trade and information exchange agreement with the Gramperi race-based in Hong Kong. Will it make the U.S. government even more annoyed by the fact that they are virtually monopolizing the world¡¯s goods and information?

    For some reason, I felt dissatisfied.

    ¡°What¡¯s all the fuss about? What¡¯s so interesting? Ah, what¡¯s the matter?¡±

    They didn¡¯t know how serious it was. It was a wide-area psychological control that had never stopped once in thest six months!

    [They don¡¯t know to treat the Channels as something interesting. It must have been quite a shock from the perspective of this civilization.]

    ¡°I know, yeah.¡±

    [Has society already regained stability in a short time, such as half a year?]

    If I watched a broadcast like that, it seemed so. However, if you look a little closer, it didn¡¯t seem that society had entirely returned to normal. It would be near impossible to go back to the time before the Channels appeared, especially in terms of the economy. Stock and real estate prices were still fluctuating, and prices were soaring. Korea was in a better situation than other countries in terms of cross-alien race aggression because Ipletely blocked the Channel. Still, it hadn¡¯t escaped from the aftermath of the recession that covered the world.

    ¡°To be honest¡­ (Nom nom)¡­ I don¡¯t know if there are¡­ (Gulp) so many channels in space. Even though I heard about the Channel in this country through prophecy (Crunch)¡­ it seems that the elder¡­ (Chop chop) have limited prophecy¡­ (Gulp)¡±

    Garam expressed his appreciation by constantly into his mouth. He sat next to me on the sofa, his feet up on the table in the living room as he diligently ate the metal he had piled up on a tray. The wound on his forehead waspletely healed, and he took off his torn hanbok and changed into something worth noticing. Even if he wandered outside like this, he would look like a normal neighborhood kid.

    By the way, this guy was really¡­well, he ate very well. This Spirit Beast, who had just melted a whole te of metal, now picked up a stick of metal the size of a finger. Then, he bit into it and chewed as if eating a bar of chocte. The jade-colored glow in his mouth, that texture, that¡­was Palemikranium. It was a magic metal! Oops¡­ it seems that I identally brought out what I left behind.

    ¡°You are really talented, not like humans. How did you make this metal? Indeed, it is a delicacy.¡±

    He smiled with delight as if he was very satisfied.

    ¡°¡­You aren¡¯t full yet?¡±

    ¡°If I decide not to eat, I can live without touching anything for a year, and if I decide to eat properly, I can eat all day long.¡±

    Garam and Mrs. Pearl had been staying at my house. It was their second day. The answer seemed to have yet toe back from the vige called White Deer. Meanwhile, Garam finished off more than half of the iron and copper stock in my warehouse in such a short time. He had a huge appetite. He wouldn¡¯t continue eating like this unless there was a mineral mine in Ha Mountain. Still, I wondered how he had lived in the meantime, and it seemed that there was no problem with survival even if he didn¡¯t often eat like ordinary creatures.

    ¡°When you decide not to eat?¡±

    ¡°When I don¡¯t like it very much. I mean, this warehouse is truly like a gourmet hall. I have never seen a person with such a variety of metal stacks.¡±

    Then he continued.

    ¡°I mean, why don¡¯t you open up more space where I can enter the warehouse? What I put on this tray now is thestpartment of the drawer under Section 8.¡±

    As he said so, he wiggled his feet on the table. Delightfully. Following the feet movement, which move from side to side like a seal pping, Bart Simpson, who was drawn on the ankle socks I bought, revealed his teeth andughed. He smiled so grimly at me.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    As long as I nned to create an environment they wanted to stay in, I cannot be fed up with them. Also, I should keep their feet in this house as much as possible. It was ufortable to release them without any measures within the barrier.

    ¡°I¡¯ll open it up after I¡¯ve cleaned it a bit.¡±

    I had to put away anything like magic metal that was very rare or difficult to make and then open it to him. It was troublesome to stock up on other metal types, but they weren¡¯t very expensive items.

    ¡°Did you hear from the vige?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you nervous? I think the answer is a little slow?¡±

    I was trying to sneak a little, but he responded without changing his expression as if it were nothing.

    ¡°Usually, it takes a long time for the elder to decide something. I will have to bear that much.¡±

    ¡°But I think it¡¯s been a while since you left your hometown, don¡¯t you want to go home? Back to Jeju Ind.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t have any gold buried there, and there is no hurry. Moreover, staying here is quitefortable. There are many delicious things.¡±

    At that time, Mrs. Pearl, who was in her room, came out to the living room in a hurry.

    ¡°Garam!¡±

    ¡°What happened¡­?¡±

    I cut off Garam¡¯s words, approached Mrs. Pearl, and asked.

    ¡°Did you get a response?!¡±

    She nodded her head.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl held out what was in her hand. It was the red silk cloth she carried around with her luggage. As she spread the cloth on the living room floor, an array of vertical letters seemed to have been written in ink with a brush. Clearly, it wasn¡¯t written there before. Seeing that the missing letters suddenly came up, it seemed that they sent the words from the vige of Jeju Ind. However, these were characters that I had never seen before. They were like Chinese characters but a little different.

    ¡°What does it say?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl said hesitantly.

    ¡°It is not the character of my kind¡­Garam, please look at this!¡±

    Then Garam got up from the sofa and walked toward us, rubbing the piece of metal in his mouth.

    ¡°¡­The pine-scented dew formed at the end of the branches, so they gather and grind their food. How have you both been? It¡¯s going to be freezing cold, but I¡¯m afraid to look at the sea on your side. These days, I¡¯m often looking for alcohol because I get emotional every night. ¡®Why do you think that every step of the road will be filled with hardship¡­¡¯¡±

    ¡°The main point!¡±

    I cut it off because it was something like a long greeting. Garam frowned disapprovingly and rolled his eyes. Then he read the writing quickly.

    ¡°h h¡­ h h¡­ ah, this is the main point.¡±

    His eyes stopped at thest line of the letter, and he read it.

    ¡°¡­Well, the elders are pondering. I¡¯ll put in the stovepipe as it is decided, so please wait. It will rain tonight¡­ The end!¡±

    The end?

    ¡°That¡­ is that the end¡­???¡±

    Garam folded the silk cloth, handed it over to Mrs. Pearl, and spoke, looking at me.

    ¡°They haven¡¯t decided yet, so wait a little longer. Anyway, Brother Song wrote so long. He¡¯s often prolix.¡±

    It seemed that the two would be staying a little longer.

    ***

    Jeffrey introduced himself as the head of Istion Camp No. 25. The two had a conversation while looking at the alien race across the ss wall. For over a month after being captured, he had delivered only small demands to thepany. Still, this time it was content that would draw attention from the top.

    ¡°The higher-ups are very interested.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure of it. This is the first time he has asked for such information.¡±

    Actually, the information he requested from thepany was a matter that could be obtained by looking at the news. Still, from the standpoint that he was isted from the outside, the information couldn¡¯t be obtained without negotiation with thepany. Moreover, the documents in Simon¡¯s hands contain details that were iparable to those published in the media.

    Simon looked down at the papers.

    ¡°What did you say was the reason he wants this? I read the summary in the work order, but I didn¡¯t receive the unopened conversation log.¡±

    ¡°Perhaps that¡¯s all you¡¯ve seen. Although he learned English quickly, he stillcks vocabry. He is only talking via voice because the side effects experienced by the agents when hemunicates telepathically are too much.¡±

    ¡°From what I read, it was said that it was rted to his purpose foring to Earth?¡±

    Jeffrey nodded and exined what the alien had said.

    ¡°It is said that they gave a gift to a great being in their world. In return, they said they got information about this world, the Earth.¡±

    ¡°There was no exnation for that ¡°great being¡± in the document.¡±

    Jeffreyughed awkwardly.

    ¡°Because the level of words he knows isn¡¯t high enough, he used the word Finder to describe its existence, but I¡¯m not sure exactly what context it was used in. It feels like he just puts -er on the verb he knows.¡±

    ¡°Did you specifically ask?¡±

    ¡°He declined to exin in detail. Except that there is only one in that world and that it has a great deal of power. As you can see from the report, in this case, it is like an iron wall. He insists on speaking telepathically instead.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°It is said that he gave a gift to that being and heard the story, but in context, it seems to be more like a sacrifice.¡±

    Simon contemted and scratched his chin.

    ¡°Finder¡­ Is it sort of like a searcher? Hmm¡­ anyway, and¡­?¡±

    ¡°ording to the story they found out from ¡®Finder,¡¯ there is something unusual in our world.¡±

    Simon burst intoughter. Was there anything normal in this crazy world? Jeffrey spoke quickly, guessing his mind.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he is talking about the hundreds of channels currently open on Earth. Aside from that, it is said that a unique phenomenon that is rarely found in other dimensions has urred on Earth. It is said that he came here to observe it.¡±

    ¡°Probably, the story has to do with these flying creatures.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded. After Simon handed over a few documents, a photograph of ck-winged creatures that came out a few months ago was seen, taken near the Channel on Mapo Bridge.

 Chapter 38

    The Master of Vignce (2)

    ¡°The Eraser will also be very happy to know that you are here to provide information. These days, he¡¯s asking these agents about their progress more than once a day. I think he has high expectations.¡±

    Listening to Jeffrey¡¯s words, Simon swept his bearded chin with his hand. Eraser¡­alien race codename: Amazon. Instead of a codename that took the name of an area discovered and captured a month ago, this branch¡¯s people seem to call it by their own nickname. He could guess why such a nickname was given. He smiled bitterly and looked at the papers.

    Through the Mapo Bridge Channel, Korea¡¯s only Channel, there were three invasions of alien giants, and 79 people were injured during the first invasion. And only then did a bizarre thing happen that no other country had ever seen. Dozens of flying creatures with an unknown power arrived at this world through unknown means. It was clear that the 28 living creatures with a nearly spherical flesh-colored body and ckbird wings weren¡¯t Earthly creatures.

    The creatures fought the giant from the Channel, killed it, ate it, and then flew somewhere in the city and disappeared (although the report suggests that thest two actions may have shifted in order). In the meantime, there was a strange incident that left a huge environmental disaster. However, it was restored to its original state in less than a month.

    ¡°A creature of the other world that appeared without going through a Channel. This in itself is most likely the rare phenomenon he referred to.¡±

    Jeffrey nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Simon was lost in thought for a moment. In exchange for sharing information, the Uppers wanted to make a deal with the alien race.

    ¡°I read the report, but his attitude itself is fairly moderate?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he hasn¡¯t had any friction since staying here. However, before the handling protocol waspleted, several agents with devout religious convictions were exposed to him¡­ and they had a peculiar reaction.¡±

    ¡°Right¡­¡±

    ¡°The agents who had the peculiar reaction seem to be able to cope with the mental shock they received, although they have been pointed out and surprised by their surroundings. It is considered as something they didn¡¯t know in the first ce, not forgotten.¡±

    Simon nodded his head.

    ¡°But it was a serious change for the people around them who knew their past. Thepany¡¯s judgment also considered that the damage was a serious human rights vition even if the person wasn¡¯t aware of the damage, so the current protocol was created.¡±

    ¡°Then, those agents who showed the peculiar reaction¡­?¡±

    ¡°After the intensive screening, they still work for this branch if they wanted to. Except for one thing, there¡¯s no disruption to their daily lives or work. But they can¡¯t enter Istion Camp No. 25. Nothing has been verified, but I¡¯m not sure what would happen if a person who had a peculiar reaction approaches the Eraser again.¡±

    ¡°I see.¡±

    Upon hearing that, Simon threw his gaze back at the being beyond the special mirror. Not knowing that there are two people beyond the wall, he remained seated toward the TV. The TV wasn¡¯t connected to the broadcastingwork in real-time, but only broadcasts and movies that the headquarters had censored. He wasn¡¯t allowed to receive information on dimensions portal, Channels, which had urred throughout the world.

    A small room of about 30 sqm with a recliner, a bed, and simple furniture other than a TV. He had been stuck here for quite a long time, but there had been no violent resistance so far. Simon made a decision after some contemtion.

    ¡°I will negotiate face to face. Please make time for tomorrow.¡±

    For the first encounter with this alien race this evening, he must go through all the records of contact with Eraser umted so far and familiarize himself with them to be flexible in responding to the negotiation process. Simon stared through the ss wall with sharp eyes. Jeffrey asked him carefully.

    ¡°I think the head office has already done the preliminary investigation, but Mr. Van de Camp, perhaps?¡±

    Simon replied with a slight frown on his face as if he was sick of it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. No religion for 38 years!¡±

    ***

    Next day.

    Like yesterday, Jeffrey personally guided Simon. The two opened an iron door inside the El Paso branch and entered. This was the beginning of the area ssified as Istion Camp No. 25. Simon questioned him as they walked through the windowless corridor.

    ¡°I have memorized all the precautions in the work order. Do you have any advice for me based on your experience?¡±

    ¡°Well, ording to the protocol, the most important thing to check before entering Istion Camp No.25 is, as you already know, whether they are a devout believer or not.¡±

    ¡°¡­Actually, it seems that the examiner who interviewed me puts great importance on whether or not I have faith, regardless of how faithful I am or not.¡±

    ¡°Since there is no way to measure the depth of faith objectively, the policy is to prohibit entry unconditionally to people of faith.¡±

    Listening to the exnation, Simon recalled that he had been curious from the moment he first learned the name of Istion Camp No. 25. It was only half a year since the channel crisis broke out, and there was no way that the Istion Camp for alien races would be numbered up to 25. Was this a fake number to deceive the size and number of the entire quarantine? Or were there so many Istion Camps operating all over the United States without his knowledge?

    ¡°Is the only alien race that is currently being housed in this quarantine¡­the codename Amazon?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the only being who is quarantined here is the one who is going to see you now.¡±

    Jeffreyughed dryly, leaving a strange tone.

    ***

    After passing through the long corridor in the Istion Camp No. 25, the two arrived in the observation room and stood in front of the ss wall. Jeffrey picked up the phone on the wall. His voice resonated through the ss wall and in the room of the alien.

    ¡°Good morning.¡±

    The Eraser watched TV with his body on the recliner, not different from what they saw yesterday. As if he heard a voice, he opened one of his closed eyes and looked into the special mirror. There were fewer eyes open today than Simon saw yesterday. There were only five or six open out of over twenty. The alien race spoke toward the special mirror.

    It was awkward, but the meaning was clearlymunicated.

    ¡°Good morning, Jeffrey.¡±

    Simon was amazed at his voice, which was harsher than expected. It was clearly spoken in English, and the meaning was distinct, but it was a tone that he had never heard of anywhere. Regardless of Simon¡¯s reaction, Jeffrey spoke.

    ¡°A guest is here. He says he wants to talk for a moment. Let¡¯s see what gift this person brought for you.¡±

    Eraser reacted when Jeffrey talked happily, implying that Simon, the guest, had the information he wanted.

    ¡°Gift?¡±

    The alien race responded with a rattling sound, presumed to be lightughter. It was unnatural English like that babbled by foreigners.

    ¡°Okay. But I want to see him with my own eyes. And talk.¡±

    This was the expected response. Simon and Jeffrey made eye contact and nodded quietly.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    He operated the equipment briefly, then turned to Simon.

    ¡°Now, Eraser can see you.¡±

    The special mirror that isted them from the alien race turned into the transparent ss on both sides. The alien stood up from the recliner, approached the wall, and sat in a chair ced in front of the ss. Simon, too, sat in a chair in front of the ss wall in his observation room and picked up the handset ced there.

    Now, they were sitting face to face with a ss wall in the middle. The alien opened a few more closed eyes. Simon calmly counted. One, two, three¡­eleven. The orange eyes that were too bright glowed strangely. ording to the report, Eraser had 23 eyes. Of the 23 eyes, 11 were currently open. Simon managed to suppress the tension rising behind his back and quietly took a deep breath so that it wasn¡¯t obvious. Suddenly, he missed his father. How would his father have dealt with this moment? He would have started negotiating calmly without being nervous whether the opponent was human or not.

    Simon hardened his heart as he recalled his father, who he had relied on and respected the most. Then, the alien greeted him first.

    ¡°Good morning? Nice to meet you. How are you feeling today?¡±

    ¡°¡­Hello. I am also pleased to meet you.¡±

    ¡°How are you feeling today? You didn¡¯t answer.¡±

    ¡°¡­Very good. And you?¡±

    ¡°I am also very good. Thank you. People here call me Eraser. What is your name?¡±

    ¡°Mine is Simon.¡±

    After an English-like conversation broadcast for foreigners, Simon raised his hand and signaled OK. Jeffrey nodded and went out of the observation room. ording to the guidelines above, he would observe this only with CCTV without audio in a separate space outside the observation room. From now on, some of the conversations between Simon and the alien were confidential.

    Jeffrey probably knew the secrets of this quarantine, which Simon had no ess to. But Simon, from the headquarters, also knew secrets that Jeffrey didn¡¯t know. Apart from the level of status, the level and type of confidentiality disclosed depended on the individual¡¯s work. When Jeffrey was away, Simon, who was left alone in the observation room, quickly got to the point.

    He informed Eraser of very little information that thepany collected concerning a particr channel, as instructed by the upper part, and made a short proposal. Although Eraser responded mostly moderately to agents in contact with him, he was very keen on providing information. He avoided the answer, giving the excuse that crucial information was difficult to exin in English.

    The mission Simon received today was to answer the questions the upper part wanted to know from Eraser in exchange for the information the Eraser needed. When he finished speaking, the alien, who was keeping silent, opened his mouth.

    ¡°I understood. You want information from me. I also want information from you.¡±

    He seemed to think for a moment, then opened a few more eyes and stared at Simon. Now fourteen. Nine of the fourteen open eyes were looking at Simon.

    ¡°Good. Will you ask first? Or do I go first?¡±

    ¡°You ask first.¡±

    The alien raceughed.

    ¡°I want to ask. What do the animals look like? What can they do?¡±

    Simon exined the appearance and presumed abilities of the raw creatures seen on the Seoul Channel. It was a detailed narrative as he read through a few pages of a report. This analysis level was a report that was only allowed ess to some personnel, even at the headquarters. And, among the contents, there was one piece of information that wasn¡¯t disclosed at all in the media.

    A body fluid that caused decay, sprinkled by raw organisms, was collected by the Korean government and sent to a research institution. Still, after a while, the test tube stored in a sterile chamber was checked, and it was reported that itpletely disappeared without leaving a single molecule. This was different from simple liquid evaporation. The traces of the liquid in the test tube had alsopletely disappeared.

    The moment he heard it through Simon, the alien¡¯s body slightly stiffened. Maybe he was a little surprised.

    And¡­

    Gurrrrrrh¡ª-

    The alien raceughed loud and long.

    ¡°Where is the city?¡±

 Chapter 39

    The Master of Vignce (3)

    Instead of immediately answering that the city where the incident took ce was Seoul, Simon changed the subject.

    ¡°Before that, I also want to ask a question.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Please ask.¡±

    Simon cleared his throat. And while he was looking at Eraser, he felt a sense of incongruity. What was it? He quickly realized why. Until recently, some of the Eraser¡¯s eyes were scattered around the room. However, now all fourteen open eyes were staring at him, Then fifteen. In the meantime, he opened one more eye. Simon felt chills even though he knew that he couldn¡¯t have a peculiar reaction.

    ¡°Why do you need this information?¡±

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s a long story. Can I use brain instead of voice? I don¡¯t speak English very well.¡±

    Simon adamantly refused, as he already knew from his work report and Jeffrey¡¯s request.

    ¡°It¡¯s not possible. Please speak by voice instead of telepathy.¡±

    ¡°Hmmmmm, okay. What I¡¯m looking for is the one who called those flying demons into this world.¡±

    Unlike the previous attempts recorded in the report, Eraser gave up his insistence on using telepathy and began exining it with voice. The deal was effective. Upon hearing his answer, Simon noticed that Eraser used the word ¡°animal¡± first. Still, after hearing his exnation, he changed the word to ¡°demon.¡±

    ¡°It could be a person on Earth. It may not be an Earthly person. But I know¡­that person is probably a wizard.¡±

    Simon asked a question, hiding his surprise.

    ¡°What does it mean to be called into this world?¡±

    ¡°¡­The demon probably did note in the usual way. The world where the demon lives. This world. The two cannot be connected. The world where the demon lives are very high. This world is low. Oh, it¡¯s too hard to exin! I want to speak with the brain.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not possible. Please exin slowly, in English, using the words you know.¡±

    ¡°¡­Do you know the Channel?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°The world where the demon lives, this world, and Channels cannot be connected. One is very high, and one is low.¡±

    ¡°The dimension from which the creatures originated, and the dimension in which we live is higher¡­ no, level? Are you saying that they can¡¯t connect to the Channel because of the difference in the level?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

    Eraserughed and continued.

    ¡°Our world¡¯s Finder said, there is such a person in this world. Perhaps a wizard who can connect it. That person can connect to ces that cannot be connected. And call. I look for that wizard. I want to talk. I want to ask that person something.¡±

    Simon quickly cleared up his thoughts in his head. Eraser expressed it roughly, but the meaning was understandable. There were raw creatures who originally lived in a dimension where the Channel couldn¡¯t be opened. Such creatures appeared on Earth. No scenes from the Channel were seen. The one who called the creature¡­was it an individual or a group? An earthling or an alien from another Channel? How could the wizard summon creatures out of where the Channel couldn¡¯t be opened?

    In addition to Channels, were there any doors that led to other dimensions?

    ¡°Then¡­ what do you want to find and ask the wizard about?¡±

    ¡°Want to learn. Learn how.¡±

    ¡°What is the Finder?¡±

    ¡°I want to talk with the brain¡­¡±

    ¡°Please exin in words you know.¡±

    But this time, the reaction of the alien race was strong.

    ¡°I can¡¯t exin with my voice. It¡¯s veryplicated.¡±

    In fact, this was the part that the upper paid the most attention to. It was also the reason why Simon was so excited about the negotiations with Eraser. A mighty entity called the Finder was said to receive offerings and informed him about our world. Simon spected that the upper had some guesses about the identity of the existence. One of the secrets that couldn¡¯t be essed on his own level.

    Among the races with the civilization and knowledge that could exin the world¡¯s odds, such as the Channel¡¯s principle and the purpose of its creation, the most human-friendly race was the Gramperi that appeared in Hong Kong. However, they interacted with humanity (China) only within restricted areas, with the Chinese government¡¯s external contact. On the other hand, the United States hadn¡¯t yet started a proper exchange of civilization.

    For that reason, his boss and uppers seemed to be bothered as America mightg in acquiring knowledge of alien civilizations that could change the world¡¯s fate. Their impatience resulted in flying to foreign jungles, capturing the aliens, and cing them under their own protection. Even though the alien was now somewhat unfaithful to the request for cooperation. Simon gave up and moved on to another question.

    ¡°Do you know why the Channel is opening?¡±

    ¡°That question, not the first. So far, six people from Earth have asked me. That¡¯s a difficult question. The answer isplex. I don¡¯t speak English very well. It can be exined with the brain.¡±

    In exchange for the deal, the uppers also wanted to obtain information about the world¡¯s extreme events. However, Eraser didn¡¯t seem to want to tell himself more than why he needed information. Simon tried several more simr questions, but each time a strong rejection returned. Time passed helplessly. He felt like he had hit a wall.

    ¡®Damn it!¡¯

    The back of Simon¡¯s shirt began to grow wet with sweat. At the same time, the interview continued sluggishly without having ess to the answers the upper wanted. Because he was stressed out, it came to his mind without knowing. What if it were his father? If his father, who was considered one of thepany¡¯s best agents, had been here, wouldn¡¯t he have been possible to break through this situation somehow?

    Yes, if he were his father, he might have been able to handle the alien race easily. His father was the greatest support and idol in his own life. If he could get advice from the one who had already died¡­he had a keen desire to rely on his father, who was not by his side anymore.

    That was when he thought about it. Strangely his head felt heavier. It felt like the sensations of the whole body gradually became distant. Simon suddenly thought it was weird, but then he forgot the thought. What? Eraser¡¯s Eyes¡­how many were they supposed to open? Simon was counting one, two, and the rest of Eraser¡¯s eyes. He stopped because it was meaningless. There were no eyes closed. Eraser opened all his 23 eyes and was staring at him with all of them.

    How long had it been, Simon had forgotten that thought again. And when he came to his sense, he stood up and said goodbye. His willingness to get an answer he couldn¡¯t hear in any way disappeared. Simon greeted him with a calm heart, convinced that he had achieved enough.

    ¡°Thank you for taking the time today.¡±

    The answer came back from beyond the ss wall.

    ¡°Goodbye. Nice to meet you, Agent Simon Van de Camp.¡±

    ***

    Simon came out of the observation room without feeling any difort. Jeffrey, who was waiting in the room next to him, came out and asked urgently.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we didn¡¯t get all the answers we were aiming for, but we¡¯re still making great progress. Now, I think we just need to hand over the recording and the report to our information analysis team.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it¡­but the CCTV footage showed Eraser with all his eyes open. Sometimes he does that without meaning, but there are several cases in which a peculiar reaction urred in the subject¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to worry. I am fine. And, in the first ce, I said I don¡¯t have a religion. It¡¯s impossible for a peculiar reaction to ur. Because there is no object to forget.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ well, that¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your support for these two consecutive days. I would like to say hello to the branch manager before returning to headquarters.¡±

    Aftering out of Istion Camp No. 25, saying goodbye to Jeffrey, and walking alone to the branch manager¡¯s office, Simon summarized today¡¯s interview with the alien race. He had also recorded it, but it wasn¡¯t bad to outline the report in advance. Meanwhile, Simon suddenly realized something. The alien race didn¡¯t get an answer to a question from him. Eraser asked where the Channel took ce, but instead of saying it was Seoul, he took time and avoided an immediate answer. Even after that, Simon had no memory of answering that question.

    -Knock, knock

    Upon entering the branch manager¡¯s office, a middle-aged man greeted him.

    ¡°Good job, Agent Van de Camp.¡±

    Simon shook hands with the branch manager and smiled.

    ¡°Thank you for your support. We had a meaningful achievement.¡±

    ¡°Good! We look forward to hearing from headquarters. Richard would be so happy to see this. You are grown up and doing your part as an agent.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yeah?¡±

    When Simon asked back with an empty look, the branch manager asked why he was like that.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with you? Agent Van de Camp?¡±

    ¡°Richard? Which Richard are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°Hahaha. Who else would I mention in this situation? Of course, Richard Van de Camp, yourte father.¡±

    Richard¡­ Van de Camp¡­? Simon Van de Camp silently asked himself in his own mind. Who¡­ is that? Who was¡­my father?

    ¡°¡­Agent Van de Camp?¡±

    In the branch manager¡¯s eyes, the light of suspicion, conviction, and finally astonishment passed one after another.

    ¡°No way¡­ you forgot?¡±

    The branch manager¡¯s voice trembled.

    ¡°¡­Isn¡¯t his power supposed to make people forget the god that a devoutly religious man believed in?¡±

    The branch manager looked back on everything that happened before. Until now, devout believers who have reacted to Eraser and had shown a peculiar reaction forgot the existence of the god they believed in. However, there was no other adverse reaction at all. At that time, a voice could be heard in Simon¡¯s head. The pure meaning was conveyed without borrowing the form of thenguage of English.

    =Get rid of him.=

    At the same time as the voice echoed, Simon forgot everything he had thought of before. Simon, whose memories of his father named Richard Van de Camp were erased, trembled again, forgetting that he had forgotten him. Instead, he focused on the warm voice in his head. This person talking to him was his hero. The biggest support and idol. A rock that he could trust and rely on.

    ¡°Yes, father.¡±

    With the answer, Simon rushed toward the branch manager at the same speed as the wind. Simon¡¯s two hands grabbed the branch manager¡¯s face before the middle-aged agent, who had retired from the field for over a dozen years, could even pull back.

    -Thung!

    Having broken the branch manager¡¯s neck, Simon carefully supported his head and back andid him down slowly without a sound. Then he searched his body and took out his keys. After randomly rummaging through the branch manager¡¯s room, he opened a hidden small safe, took out another heavy master key, and put it in his pocket.

    Simon opened the branch manager¡¯s office door and ran at full speed to the observation room. Contrary to his concerns, the armed personnel guarding everywhere had already been killed by the other children of his father and were scattered on the floor. The red-haired male agent, who just shot and killed another agent who couldn¡¯t hear his father, looked at himself with a nk nce. It was a face that had been overlooked outside the quarantine area. On the back of his hand was a tattoo of an emblem representing a certain religion.

    Turning his dry gaze behind his back, Simon went into the observation room, pointing to a corner of the wall that the voice told him. A part that looked like a normal wall opened, and a keyhole came out. The emergency master key from the branch manager¡¯s room was inserted and turned. The door opened, and Simon stepped inside. In front of him, he sat cross-legged in a light brown faux leather recliner. Half lying on his back, his father, who opened his eyes, spoke, looking at him.

    =Let¡¯s go to the city called Seoul.=

 Chapter 40

    The Master of Vignce (4)

    ¡°Uuuugh!¡±

    I awoke and got up, stretched, and groaned without realizing it. I felt dazed, but my head was refreshed. I felt as if I had awoken as soon as I closed my eyesst, but it was morning now. Come to think of it. I didn¡¯t remember dreaming for the past few days. I had a high frequency of lucid dreams, and I often remembered my dreams vividly even after waking up, but strangely, I didn¡¯t seem to have it these days.

    ¡°Yaaaaawn!¡±

    I yawned for a long time and walked out into the living room. I scratched my head and activated my Mana to keep an eye on them. I checked their positions and then suddenly stopped.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    I shared my senses with Parvache as it approached me. The two guests staying in this house were talking in the study on the second floor. They had already left their rooms, which were on the first floor. They had woken up early. What were they up to with the door closed? As I concentrated my mind, the conversations they had in the enclosed space resonated clearly in my ears, as if I heard them at an arm¡¯s length.

    ¡°It seems the elders¡¯ decisions are getting slower than I thought.¡±

    It was Mrs. Pearl¡¯s voice.

    ¡°These nobles are just like that.¡±

    I heard Garam respond bluntly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been observing for four days, but I haven¡¯t found anything. It¡¯s just the first time I¡¯ve ever seen it. The spirit-filled silver saplings growing in the center of the house, the strange objects in the warehouse, and the house itself, which is obviously enchanted, but the principle ispletely unknown.¡±

    ¡°There is also a doll with a soul, which may be thousands of years old. I don¡¯t know where that person came from.¡±

    So, the two have been making spections and assumptions about my identity.

    ¡°Anyway, we¡¯ll stay here and observe him until the answeres from the vige. We have to wait in a ce not far from the crack anyway.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but still¡­¡±

    After hesitating for a moment, Mrs. Pearl spoke.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t look like he has an evil and wicked heart, does he?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s evil, but he¡¯s short-thinking, and he seems tock prudence. I didn¡¯t expect him to bring us to a secret ce full of these strange things. I mean, when he saw us.¡±

    ¡®So, why did they believe me and followed me to my den, youzy bastards!¡¯

    ¡°Thanks to it, we have the opportunity to watch closely. No matter how much I look, I can¡¯t shake my suspicion. It is also questionable how he came to have such power. I don¡¯t know yet whether the barriers made in the crack are the things he said. But don¡¯t worry. If he tries to harm us, we can just run away.¡±

    ¡°Will it be that easy?¡±

    ¡°It seems that he has the skill to build barriers, but there isn¡¯t anything like that in this house right now? You checked it when we left the house before, right?¡±

    Actually, the two of them once went out of the house with me. It was the day after they came here. In the meantime, it seemed that they didn¡¯t feel any difort, thanks to my cover-up.

    ¡°¡­Be honest, is itfortable for you to stay here, Brother?¡±

    ¡°Of course! I woke up in the morning dew every two days after leaving the vige. Wouldn¡¯t it be nice to take a break?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect the location of the mountains and rivers recorded on the map to have changed so much.¡±

    ¡°It took a long time, but I think we¡¯vee here because you¡¯ve lived a little bit on the ground. I didn¡¯t expect it to be so busy.¡±

    ¡°When I was on thend, the road was not this well paved. There weren¡¯t so many cars on the street.¡±

    ¡°Thest time I stopped by the human vige on the ind, there was no car. They were just walking around or riding horses. Anyway, I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m a little out of it¡­¡±

    Garam coughed and cleared his throat.

    ¡°It is a predictable part of what the elder will conclude. Since we can¡¯t identify that barrier, they¡¯ll send someone who can do it. It won¡¯t take months like us. Wouldn¡¯t it be in vain for the two of us toe this far? I¡¯ll lead the way for someone new from the town, and that person will be here in a few days.¡±

    You can take a ne, a ne! Come to think of it. They wouldn¡¯t have taken that long if they took the bus. What have they been doing?

    ¡°¡­Then, Mrs. Pearl. If the two of us are away for too long, he may be suspicious, so please go down first.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl finished the conversation and asked as if it suddenly came to her mind while she was about to go out of the study.

    ¡°Ah, Brother, you eat a lot these days, isn¡¯t it about the time?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯sing soon.¡±

    ¡°You have to be careful. This isn¡¯t White Deer. The human houses might copse like before¡­¡±

    ¡°No way. I don¡¯t think this house is built with the usual magic. I¡¯ve never seen such a space folded and unfolded at will. Wouldn¡¯t it be possible to withstand the weight of about one hundred and twenty kilograms?¡±

    I heard Mrs. Pearl sigh.

    ¡°The abilities of your race are weird. When it¡¯s piled up in the body, it doesn¡¯t have any weight, but it recovers its original weight the moment it is sent out. By the way, have you really already eaten one hundred and twenty kilograms?¡±

    Parvache was listening to this conversation along with me, he mumbled in my head, his tone inflecting the absurdity of what we had just heard.

    [The content of that conversation right now¡­]

    ¡°Stop. STOP. Don¡¯t.¡±

    But Parvache didn¡¯t stop.

    [Ah, that¡¯s right. If he eats that much¡­]

    [He will release it.]

    ¡°¡­Ah, I don¡¯t want to think about it anymore.¡±

    ***

    Around lunch, I hung myundry on the veranda because the sun was good when Mrs. Pearl approached me.

    ¡°Can I help you?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ no, it¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°But, thanks to your heartfelt care, we arefortable, even though¡­¡±

    I waved my hands at her and nced at myundry before hanging it out. I had many things like my underwear, so I couldn¡¯t leave this in her hands.

    ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s really okay.¡±

    ¡°I see, Bachelor.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Bachelor, it was too old-fashioned. I had never seen anyone¡­no, any race, call me that before in my life. It felt awkward to be called a bachelor. I hesitated.

    ¡°You can call me Yoon¡­you keep calling me a bachelor. It¡¯s a little¡­¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to tell her my name as I remembered the name Ghur and the other Del Giants used to call me, so I just gave them my surname. I didn¡¯t know how many Yoon are in the world, but at least it wouldn¡¯t lose the meaning of anonymity.

    ¡°Okay, Yoon Bachelor.¡±

    ¡°¡­You can remove the Bachelor.¡±

    She put a smile on her mouth as she sat in a chair next to the clothes dryer. It seemed she wanted to have a conversation. I first took out a white T-shirt that wasn¡¯t too embarrassing, even if I brought it out of theundry basket and brushed it in the air. Then I suddenly remembered something.

    ¡°By the way, how old are you, Mrs. Pearl?¡±

    She didn¡¯t express it herself, but I heard all the conversations the two had. I heard that they followed me to monitor me, and that they had wandered thend for a very long time, and that they were much older than I thought. I knew she was old, but how old?

    ¡°Well, Yoon Bachelor¡­no, how old are you this year, Yoon?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m twenty-two.¡±

    Her mouth slightly opened in surprise.

    ¡°You look your age, but you are really young. Howe at that age¡­? It seems like the teachings of the elder in the doll was really great.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­well¡­¡±

    ¡°This time, I have seen humans who have regained their power whileing to thend. But they are more confusedpared to you, Yoon.¡±

    It seemed like she saw people who opened up their Mana circuit with their own power as I had in my childhood. Or had she encountered people being nurtured under the state¡¯s control? I wasn¡¯t sure if it were a situation where these people could go out freely in thetter case.

    ¡°I think humans have changed a lot. Actually, I¡¯ve only seen humans who have almost lost their power, so I¡¯m not familiar with what I see. Not to mention you, Yoon.¡±

    I nodded quietly. Since the day when the Channel was opened indiscriminately in this world, the number of people showing magical affinities had suddenly increased. The presence of waves meant that the Mana circuit was sensitively reacting withary energy. It meant that they had the talent to convert that energy into magical power and umte it in their body.

    Besides, as the knowledge of magic spread from different races through various Channels, governments of some countries secretly began to foster wizards. Although there was no media report, rumors spread, and unproven information was overflowing on the Inte. As far as I could tell, even Korea was gathering talented people near Heonneung for training. Actually, this was a matter that I checked directly through the pet. I didn¡¯t know how they were managing that without official contact with an alien civilization.

    Although most civilized races, including Gramperi, securely exchanged information at the will of the country in which the Channel was located, it was certainly unexpected that information had flowed to the United States. Then I had a question that lingered in mind for quite some time. If Korea was amassing its breed of wizards, where was it getting its information? Why wasn¡¯t such a piece of news officially reported in the media?

    Even if it was said that hiding the existence of the wizard was the level of concealing the nation¡¯s power, it was impossible to understand why the information about the Truth-Seeker and wizards was hidden from the public. I was thinking about that, but Mrs. Pearl suddenly spoke.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think the only thing that changed is that you¡¯ve regained your strength.¡±

    ¡°Well?¡±

    ¡°While I was out in the human world, it looks like a unique trend has spread.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°How many times do humans go around the same road these days?¡±

    Going around the same road? Was she talking about a walk or something?

    ¡°Did you see people walking?¡±

    ¡°The walk itself is not unusual. But were humans a devastating lover of walks, enough to spend twenty-four hours a day overnight?¡±

    ¡°24 hours?¡±

    I didn¡¯t understand what she was talking about, so I asked her back. Then Mrs. Pearl threw a serious look at me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed a few people since yesterday. They¡¯re passing the same road several times a day with the same time difference. I¡¯ve been watching, and I think they probably stayed up all night.¡±

 Chapter 41

    The Master of Vignce (5)

    Walking all night? In this cold weather?

    ¡°Unlike Garam, I don¡¯t have fun watching TV. In thest few days, I was looking out the window to organize my thoughts or meditate. Then I came to realize it naturally. I saw the same faces too often¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I have seen the same faces many times sincest night.¡±

    ¡°Do you still see that person?¡±

    When I looked out the window and asked, Mrs. Pearl, shook her head.

    ¡°It takes at least an hour or two toe back. I mean, those peoplee out every hour or two around your house and walk around it.¡±

    ¡°Or, it could mean that they are going around a wide range that takes one to two hours to make one round. Considering the normal walking speed, it is about 4km to 8km in a straight line¡­¡±

    What? It was a strange revtion, something that raised concern. It couldn¡¯t be. Doing some walking exercise all night long, even in such cold weather. No matter how much I thought about it, it wasn¡¯t normal. I didn¡¯t know what that person was doing, but I couldn¡¯t just let it pass over.

    When you found out that suspicious people were roaming around your neighborhood, it would be natural for ordinary people to feel anxious and report them. In this situation, it wasn¡¯t easy to change the sudden way of thinking of trying to find out the culprit¡¯s identity and know its purpose. Unless you were a person with quite many delusions or a self-conscious excess who believes the world revolved around you.

    But I was different. If her story was true, it was too likely that the masterminds¡¯ purpose was me. If anyone ever doubted my abilities or already spotted it, it was a reason to spy on me. As long as the culprit was walking around the barrier, I didn¡¯t think that person was an alien. It must be human. Maybe they were sent from some country¡¯s intelligence agency? Was I exposed to them? ¡­How?

    If I really was their target¡­how did they know my identity and where my home was? I couldn¡¯t think of a usible route. Did Mrs. Pearl lie? However, she had nothing to gain by telling such a crude lie.

    ¡°Does it also look suspicious to you, Yoon?¡±

    As I nodded my head with a serious look, Mrs. Pearl, looking at my expression, asked.

    I responded with a dark look, ¡°It¡¯s definitely strange to hear what you said.¡±

    Once under the premise that what she said was true, I quickly started rolling my head to see if I had left any clues which could be traced back to me. When I summoned the Waterbird of Decay, I used magic at a level that ordinary people could recognize. Did they figure out those Waterbird¡¯s flight paths? ¡­No. It wasn¡¯t known that the source was here because they moved in an invisible state. Moreover, at that time, since the Channel was first opened, there were no other races in Korea that could track the Waterbird. Let¡¯s skip that one. Could there be any traces of Waterbird left near this apartment? It couldn¡¯t be. The decay liquid they shedpletely disappeared without a trace if there was no target. This was because the decay liquid wasn¡¯t made by pure chemical action but a kind of magic instead.

    The only ce where they spilled magical materials produced by their biological organs except around Mapo Bridge was this apartment building¡¯s rooftop. I confirmed that what spilled there was cleanly extinguished after a while. Even if someone collected the decay liquid left on the Mapo Bridge, it would be impractical to estimate this apartment¡¯s location with it. Let¡¯s also skip that one.

    As I was so troubled, I was confronted with a possibility at the moment. I felt a cold chill on my back. No way¡­no way¡­

    ¡­Dasan Call Center?! No, I immediately denied it again. No, this was really too much.

    ¡°Because I know a little bit about the way humans behave¡­I felt suspicious. I¡¯m sure you also think it¡¯s suspicious, Yoon.¡±

    Did they say that she lived with a human man for 40 years? Mrs. Pearl continued.

    ¡°Then, maybe what I¡¯ve seen is not human? Is it something to do with the crack in that space¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­First of all, it must be human.¡±

    Because if they were of an alien race, they couldn¡¯t enter the apartmentplex within the barrier without my permission.

    ¡°If you hadn¡¯t told me, I wouldn¡¯t know.¡±

    They weren¡¯t empty words, and it was very likely that if she hadn¡¯t really told me, I couldn¡¯t find them, and it would keep happening. They weren¡¯t trying to break into my house, they were just wandering around, so there was no risk of getting caught in barrier magic. I had to literally see them myself to thin out the suspicious people among the humans in the barrier. It was unreasonable to search the entire range of several kilometers.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have to do some reconnaissance around the apartmentplex first.¡±

    Since it required a formidable construction to expand the scope of the magic used to peek at Garam and Mrs. Pearl from inside our house to outside the house, I decided that it would be better to send a summon to explore directly. After organizing my thoughts, I came out of the veranda to call them. I couldn¡¯t break the magic of concealment in front of Mrs. Pearl and reveal the Channel on my chest.

    With that in mind, we walked into the living room. The boy sitting on the sofa stood up, looking at us. Was he listening? Ah, it didn¡¯t seem like that. Something was in the hand of the boy looking our way. Mrs. Pearl¡¯s silk cloth. They didn¡¯t know when the letter woulde, so it seemed to have been taken out. The boy got up from his seat, and he walked toward us.

    Then he talked to Mrs. Pearl, ¡°Did you finish talking? Another letter came.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl, who received the silk cloth, nced over the contents. Then, as if surprised, her eyes widened.

    ¡°The priest ising directly?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what it says. What a fuss. The elders, really.¡±

    Garam clicked his tongue and spoke as if he had be annoyed.

    ¡°Since it¡¯s been like this, it won¡¯t take a few days, and he¡¯ll be here right away. I¡¯m going to sleep, so when the Daejong-maekes, say hello and wake me up.¡±

    Then he suddenly went to the sofa andid down. What do you think you¡¯re doing right now? When he raised his hands while lying on the sofa, the spirit of the magic that we had seen on the yground before came to mind. He flipped it over his body and immediately fell asleep with his nose snarled.

    While I was out on the veranda, Parvache looked at Garam and clicked his tongue in the living room.

    [What¡¯s that all of a sudden?]

    ¡­Yes, I do all the star shows alone. I looked at Mrs. Pearl, asking for an exnation of how things were going.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Garam made himself a dream for sleeping. It¡¯s not amon dream, but it looks like he¡¯s collecting something.¡±

    ¡­Ah, yes. Ignoring Garam, who was doing that, I just went into the room and tried to call a summon, but I changed my mind and ate instead.

    The enormous Mana flowing out while inducing the existence of a different dimension couldn¡¯t be easily concealed. It was different from the Mana used to seal this house¡¯s door or spy around the house. I¡¯m worried that I might get caught about the Channel on my chest if I drew uncalled attention. It was also worrying about leaving these two at home and going far. Come to think of it. I had to tell Parvache about the story I heard from Mrs. Pearl.

    ¡°Who is it that Daejong-maek? Daejong-maek?!¡±

    It seems that I just heard a strange name in their conversation.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Daejong-maek is famous for being very good at witchcraft among young Maek-Dream Eaters. At the same time, he was also a priest, and he was the one who received the title of Daejong. I thought they are going to send someone who had good witchcraft to look at the barriers that you made, but when I think about it, of course, he was worth sending.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because Garam is here. Daejong-maek can use very high-level spells among the magic of Maek. Garam appears to be in the dream of the same race and tells a story, but I hear that the Daejong-maek doesn¡¯t stop at appearing in dreams, but he also¡­¡±

    I cut off Mrs. Pearl¡¯s words.

    ¡°Can you ask him toe after a while? He wouldn¡¯t be able to approach this far because of the barrier anyway, and I¡¯m not in a situation to meet at the border right now.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but keep her mouth shut when she told me that much.

    -Woong woong

    Without any warning, lingering energy, like water and smoke, flowed through Garam¡¯s nose and mouth. The energy gathered through the living room floor and eventually created a human-like phenomenon. And in the blink of an eye, there was a young man with long hair tied back, standing in front of us. Mrs. Pearl wrapped up what she had been saying, looking at the new young man.

    ¡°¡­Daejong-Maek appeared in a dream of his own people, and through that dream, it said that he could also use magic to move to the person¡¯s side. This is the first time I have actually seen it.¡±

    Then she turned her head and greeted the young man.

    ¡°Long time no see, Daejong-maek.¡±

    ¡°Hey, Mrs. Pearl. Long time no see.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but break out in a cold sweat when I saw another person appearing before my eyes.

    Ah, crazy.

    As if not noticing my astonishment, the man looked at Parvache first with a calm expression.

    ¡°Ah¡­ I don¡¯t know what to call you¡­¡±

    He continued with a strange smile on his lips.

    ¡°Greetings to those who have existed for many years. Your soul is so hazy that it is difficult to see, but this color must have been polished by a long time that I cannot measure. Forgive me for being ignorant of other worlds and not giving you the right name and title. I am Yusu from White Deer.¡±

    He had a slippery voice. Even after receiving a long greeting, Parvache just nodded. Was he also on the alert now?

    ¡°And¡­you must be a Master Yoon. I¡¯ve heard a lot about you.¡±

    He looked at me with a big smile. I didn¡¯t know what he meant, but the title suddenly increased when that kid called me. He looked at Garam and Mrs. Pearl in turn.

    ¡°Thank you for feeding these two for a few days and putting them to bed.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    My head wasplicated, and I couldn¡¯t hear his words properly.

    ¡°What a great soul, as I¡¯ve heard. It¡¯s the opposite of the person next to you. His soul was trembling so powerfully that I was blinded, but I can¡¯t see the years¡¯ colors because of its prestige. I see why they were misunderstood. If I hadn¡¯t heard it beforehand, I would have mistaken you for the elder who crossed the wall without a hitch¡­how amazing!¡±

    I wasn¡¯t happy to hear such praise in this situation.

    This guy. He appeared too easily. Inside my house! What flowed out of the sleeping Garam¡¯s body was initially mental energy, but suddenly it turned into a teleport. Then that guy appeared without any disturbance in the middle of my house, which was the barrier¡¯s magical center and equipped with all fifty thousand magical defenses.

    What method did he use? The magic they used went beyond mymon sense, no matter how many times I saw it. Space transfer was a magic that I couldn¡¯t do without quite a bit of preparation. Nevertheless, I had made formidable arrangements to prevent teleports into this house in case of an emergency.

    However, this race appeared here in an unimaginable way, as if making fun of my magic without touching my traps and defenses in the first ce. I think it was apletely different method from the teleport principle I knew. If that method brought a strong person that I couldn¡¯t handle in the barrier, it could be a pain. Under the premise that the words of Mrs. Pearl were true, it was a possible scenario as long as at least one member of Garam¡¯s race was in this barrier first.

    I didn¡¯t know what the principle is, but I felt a sense of crisis that I needed to quickly find a way to reinforce this barrier. While I was in such a serious thought, Yusu pped Garam, lying on the sofa, on the cheek.

    ¡°Hey, hey. Wake up, boy.¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    Garam quickly opened his eyes, perhaps because he was sleeping by magic.

    ¡°Ah, you have arrived.¡±

    ¡°You just saw me in my dream. Why are you saying hello again?¡±

    Garam took a deep breath and exhaled, then stood up.

    ¡°Well, then, I have already exined everything in the dream. So, what do you want to do? Can I show you around if you¡¯re going to go right away?¡±

    ¡°I have another memorial service tomorrow. We¡¯d better move right away today. I have to finish it quickly and go back to White Deer.¡±

    Then he looked at me and said, ¡°Master Yoon, I have something to tell you. Could you please give me a moment?¡±

 Chapter 42

    The Master of Vignce (6)

    I couldn¡¯t open the Channel with these three here; I had to create a Mana concealment at all costs. I decided to put off the summons for a while and listen to their story.

    ¡°First of all, thank you for your help.¡±

    I nodded without replying. These two were brought here to monitor and gather information, and a lot of my metallic materials were consumed in the process. Even though they were quite troublesome to buy, fill, and make, they weren¡¯t expensive materials; I should think of it as an opportunity cost. Instead of saying anything, I silently waited for Yusu to speak.

    ¡°I have heard about the kind of arrangements you have ced in the crack in space. Not only this world but also the world across the crack; you created a sealed barrier, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Actually, most of the people in the vige thought it was impossible for humans. I feel your strength directly in person, but I hope you understand that it was unbelievable from the perspective of those who have never experienced it before.¡±

    I didn¡¯t answer back and looked at Yusu to signal him to continue talking.

    ¡°Some elders thought Garam was talking nonsense. That¡¯s not true, but they even told me that maybe he went crazy after going around thend for a long time¡­¡±

    Garam cut off his words and screamed with an angry look.

    ¡°What? Did I go crazy? Those sick old men are really¡­!¡±

    Yusu politelymended him.

    ¡°You should be careful with that mouth. You were so polite when you saw the elders in front of you, and behind their back, are you this frivolous?!¡±

    ¡°If I¡¯m frivolous, are those old men decent? Even if it was bullshit, they¡¯ve got it all wrong. Even after the death of one party and the effect of the agreement¡­! No, even if the Dragon was still alive and going around thend, didn¡¯t they think that Maek¡¯s mind ispletely insane? Isn¡¯t this an insult to the race?¡±

    ¡°Shut up. Would you have suspected such a thing¡­?¡±

    Ignoring the gant Garam, Yusu looked back at me.

    ¡°Anyway, for that reason, the meeting was getting longer, and it took some time to make a decision, but we decided to proceed with the premise that your power was true. And I must check it myself in person.¡±

    Then he looked at Parvache and spoke.

    ¡°In fact, another suspicion that remains from this is that how did you gain such power, being born in the time of the Dragon. However, it can be exined by seeing the elder in person. In that sense, I would like to offer you a suggestion. It will be beneficial from your point of view, so would you please listen to me?¡±

    I responded without a doubt.

    ¡°¡­Tell me.¡±

    ¡°I believe you¡¯ve heard why Garam and Mrs. Pearl came to thisnd.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know.¡±

    ¡°Actually, they should have returned to White Deer after the mission was over, as they have confirmed the exact location and condition of the crack in space. But they couldn¡¯t interpret the barrier surrounding the crack. Master, you have given them the exnation, but they weren¡¯t sure if it was true.¡±

    This was a story I already knew.

    ¡°So, the first task I received was to check the barrier with my own eyes.¡±

    ¡°¡­You want to see if it¡¯s really blocked?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We are considering moving White Deer Vige to thisnd. This is serious as it isn¡¯t enough even if we study it a hundred times. In the meantime, the prophecy came out, as it was said that there was a crack in the space near the most suitable ce for our vige to move; I was personally tasked to check this anomaly out by myself.

    ¡­So, where was the destination where they wanted to move the vige? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to have a deserted demilitarized zone? I don¡¯t know how close it was to the Channel, so there was no point talking about it.

    ¡°By the way, Master, if you have already sealed this crack, our worries will disappear.¡±

    ¡°In a way, would you like to free-ride?¡±

    It was a straightforward conclusion.

    ¡°Free-ride? What does that mean?¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you saying that you will live while enjoying the benefits of the barriers that I have made?¡±

    Then Yusu mentioned a strange word in his reply.

    ¡°Of course, I am not saying that you will gain nothing. After checking the barrier that you have made, I would like to make an offer. Getting it done well will be my second task.¡±

    ¡°What offer?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you in advance, but I absolutely hope that it would be beneficial to you. However, it would not be a disadvantage¡­there seems to be a reason for you to maintain that barrier anyway.¡±

    As he said so, Yusu looked at me with calm eyes.

    ¡°I will tell you more after checking the barriers. After confirming the teacher¡¯s strength in this way, I don¡¯t think it would be a lie, but it was still a mission given by the vige elders. Even if it¡¯s a formality, it¡¯s inevitable for me to go in person. I hope you understand.¡±

    ¡°Are you going right now?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ashamed to say, but I¡¯m not free enough to be dispatched to thend. Unlike the two over here.¡±

    ¡°No, Brother Yu, what¡­!¡±

    Yusu cut off Garam¡¯s words and continued.

    ¡°I was chosen because Garam is here so that I can use dream-travel, but I have to return to work today. So, we¡¯ll be back in a while. Garam will guide the way.¡±

    Then he suddenly got up and got ready to leave. But I couldn¡¯t let them wander out of my sight. Especially in the field where the destination was a Channel¡­!

    ¡°Wait a minute. I will have to apany you to the Channel.¡±

    Then Yusu looked at me with a dull gaze that I couldn¡¯t read.

    ¡°Are you sure?¡±

    When could I summon? I would have to deal with this as soon as possible. Sincest night, I walked around, but it wouldn¡¯t clear up only with a short walk. Honestly, from my point of view now, the race in front of me, whose limits of their ability were unknown, was a far greater threat than humans whose identity I didn¡¯t know. Yusu got up and prepared to go out, then suddenly, he turned around the living room and said, ¡°The window is a little small.¡±

    Then he turned his head and looked at me.

    ¡°Master Yoon, could you help me get out of here, please?¡±

    A faint smile hung around his mouth.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Did he notice something? The barriers and seals were surrounding this house¡­unlike these insensitive two who have been here for days. But there was no evidence. Anyway, if they move to the Channel now, I was set to follow. I responded, hardening my heart.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go out together.¡±

    * * *

    After secretly unlocking the front door, I took everyone down to the first floor of the apartment. After we got out, I surrounded my house with a much powerful defensive magic than usual. I also packed Parvache in my backpack. Just before leaving the building, Yusu spoke.

    ¡°I try to do my best to save time. I will go back to my main body for a while. Isn¡¯t there any ce for a few people to avoid prying eyes? I don¡¯t want to make a fuss because I stand out. There can be no one who remembers our kind.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the case, it would be better to do this than to hide.¡±

    I waved my hand to cast simple invisibility magic on all of us. Now we wouldn¡¯t be seen by ordinary people without Mana circuits. I didn¡¯t know what he was trying to do, but I hate to stand out too. Moreover, I didn¡¯t want to stand out while those suspicious guys were around me. Aftering out with invisibility, Yusu suddenly covered his whole body with smoke. After the magical mist disappeared, what remained was an animal I had never seen before. Without realizing it, a sound flowed out of my mouth.

    ¡°¡­Oh my God.¡±

    Four-footed, as big as a bull, with a short back. It had an elephant-like nose at the end of its snout that looked like a wild boar. Was that the main body of a creature called Maek?

    However, the most amazing part that caught my eye wasn¡¯t how it looked.

    I could see it when I concentrated on my Mana. There were lumps of energy that were halfway between a mental body and matter around the Maek¡¯s body. Many of them were already half-fused with the body and flowed with were projecting different images.

    In the light that flowed along with Maek¡¯s nose, I could see a scene where a goblin was falling off a cliff. On his forehead, a ck crane with three pairs of wings sat on a pavilion in the moon and poured alcohol into an earthenware ss. On the edge of his back was a scene where tribes gathered to feast in an old-fashioned quaint vige. As Yusu raised his forelimbs, a toad sat down underneath and cried while singing, and a tiled house burned in front of it.

    ¡°Is that all¡­?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl nodded when she realized what I was asking. Whenever Garam used magic, the energies of the mental energy gathered at his fingertips seemed to be carried around the body like that. Yusu wriggled his ass. At the same time, a ball of light bounced off his hip. In the scene, a baby fox was flying excitedly through the wide sky.

    ¡°The dream of flying is also out of stock. This is thest time.¡±

    Yusu muttered. Then it snatched the light ball with its nose and burst it. As the waves of scattered light began passing through our surroundings, each of the four bodies floating in the air. I would resist the forces surrounding my body, but I knew it held no aggression and left it alone. Did it mean we were flying?

    ¡°Okay, then we¡¯ll leave.¡±

    We, who were only visible to those who could use magic, flew towards Mapo Bridge at a tremendous speed.

    ***

    Staying tense throughout the flight, I was keeping an eye on it. If I needed to, I was ready to get out from his mana range and use flying magic of my own. However, Yusu didn¡¯t do anything, as if it had no secret n, and focused on flying normally.

    By the way, I didn¡¯t grasp the principle behind this magic either. The flying magic I knew required a huge amount of Mana to fly over long distances. Thousands of magic factors that control the center of gravity, breathing, barometric pressure, altitude, speed, etc., had to be fine-tuned. If the coordinate induction of the summoning magic was dealing with data that exceeded the human brain capacity and the magic power was vtilized to force the exit of the Channel, in this case, there were too many kinds of factors that operated simultaneously.

    However, at first nce, Yusu doesn¡¯t seem to be taking that much input.

    After a short time, when I couldn¡¯t even exchange a few guesses with Parvache, we arrived near Mapo Bridge. Considering the distance, it was an instant arrival.

 Chapter 43

    The Master of Vignce (7)

    Yusu and I approached the Channel hidden away from the South Korean soldiers and checked it. And he nodded, looking through my barriers surrounding the Channel.

    ¡°It¡¯s great. I have confirmed that even a Spirit Beast, who has studied the art of barriers for more than hundreds of years, cannot break this seal. Well, it would be absolutely impossible with physical force.¡±

    ¡­It seems that he saw my concealment on the barrier. Again, his level was high. We quietly withdrew from the area near the Channel and returned to Han River Park beyond the barricade, which was quite far away. Mrs. Pearl and Garam were here.

    When we arrived at their ce, Yusu and I sat on the bench. I saw the Han River Park, not an isted area, but filled with empty scenery, unlike what I saw on TV before. There wasn¡¯t a single mat on thewn. One or two people stood out, but they walked somewhere at high speed instead of sitting and resting. It seemed like they didn¡¯t want to stay here long.

    ¡°I will finish by telling you what I was about to say, Master Yoon.¡±

    ¡°Yes. But¡­will the talk be longer?¡±

    I asked, ncing at Mrs. Pearl, who was lying down on a park bench after fainting, and Garam sitting next to her after a long period of dry nausea. By looking at their condition, I could see how fast the pilot was during the flight. Whether they had little experience of flying in the White Deer vige or had never flown this high, it seemed to have been a very intense flight for the two.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have much time either, so I¡¯ll tell you as soon as possible.¡±

    He spoke with a serious look.

    ¡°We hope that you will continue to maintain this barrier.¡±

    As expected. I had no intention of removing it anyway? ¡­I didn¡¯t say it but waited for him to continue. Looking back on what he said at my house, I think I already guessed it.

    ¡°I heard that the reason you made the barrier is that it essentially prevents the grotesque things beyond the crack from crossing over. I think this is an action to protect the lives of our fellow human beings.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°And aplete blockage of the crack is also what we want. We can¡¯t leave the danger in the front yard of our new vige. And again, we¡¯re not asking for it with our words alone.¡±

    He coughed.

    ¡°But it¡¯s a little weird.¡±

    I looked away.

    ¡°If I change my mind and break the barrier, can¡¯t you guys make it yourself? Apparently, you can use that kind of magic already.¡±

    I remembered the barrier of the bonfire that Mrs. Pearl unfolded a few days ago. Yusu nodded and answered.

    ¡°As I hear from Garam that besides the barriers I have identified now, there are strong barriers in the world over there that prevent the grotesque inhabitants approaching. But we have no knowledge of barriers that can work in another world. And to give a more practical reason, this is already a good barrier, but I think it¡¯s inefficient for us to create new ones.¡±

    In fact, that was probably the biggest reason¡ªsticking to the hard work of others.

    ¡°The elders also said that if we can trust you, it is right for us to provide support and cooperation instead of only benefiting from this barrier.¡±

    ¡°Then, I need to ask a few more questions.¡±

    ¡°Tell me.¡±

    I threw out the questions I had been holding.

    ¡°You said that you could trust me, didn¡¯t you¡­? Why would you suddenly trust me? Will all of that be solved after checking the barrier with your own eyes?¡±

    It was rather suspicious because they suddenly came out like that. Moreover, I already knew that Garam and Mrs. Pearl were monitoring me because they weren¡¯t sure about my identity.

    ¡°Why do you believe that I will be so good-hearted to keep the barrier?¡±

    They didn¡¯t even doubt me. In the end, what if I suddenly got rid of the barrier after the migration was over? What if I just take what they offered and ran away?

    ¡°No, why do you ask me that?¡±

    Yusu¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°Master Yoon, you are strong. But don¡¯t you use that strong power only to protect humans on this Earth? Considering your action, how will you do anything that will harm humans for trivial reasons?¡±

    ¡­What?

    ¡°I don¡¯t think Mrs. Pearl and Garam have a good grasp of your true power yet. But I am different. As far as I can see, your power is enough to establish a great nation and govern humanity if you wanted to.¡±

    It seemed that he was looking down on human civilization. I¡¯m not that much¡­only then did Garam, who was sitting on the ground, raise his head to look at Yusu.

    ¡°¡­You mean he has that much power, Brother Yu?¡±

    Yusu nodded and continued with his gaze fixed on me.

    ¡°It is presumed that among the ancient human wizards heard from the elders, there was none like you. But at that time, even those who couldn¡¯t even reach their feet, the first thing they did was conquer and trample other humans. But you are different, Master Yoon.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Instead of using the power to control humans, you are using it to create a barrier to protect powerless humans here.¡±

    No, well, in the end, it was true, but I think the motivation¡­was a bit exaggerated.

    ¡°Your actions are already proving that you care about your fellow people.¡±

    Um¡­ this was somehow a little¡­

    [Hey, it¡¯s embarrassing for me to listen to. Actually, you¡¯re not interested in justice or anything, and the barrier just happens to be there because it¡¯s easy to recycle the barriers that were there. The reason for blocking the Channel is only 90% personal safety and avoiding anything annoying. Would they believe me if I told them now that you¡¯re stuck in your house without any motivation and thought that everything¡¯s annoying?]

    I quietly nced at Parvache, who was being overly sarcastic. I could see what Yusu was thinking. However, not all questions had disappeared.

    ¡°It¡¯s still weird. If you think so, why would you help me? You said you¡¯re sure I¡¯ll keep the barriers, whether your people interfere or not, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Then it means that we, who are not the same race, will benefit without any sign of our sincerity. When we start moving, we cannot escape from your eyes. However, over time you may feel dissatisfied with us. That¡¯s why I want to help you strengthen your motivation and will ¨C in exchange for properpensation. We don¡¯t want to get on the bad side of someone like you.¡±

    Where on Earth were they trying to move to?

    ¡°And¡­¡±

    ¡°And?¡±

    ¡°In the case of non-trivial reason, that means I want to be prepared in case your cause and the protection of my people cannot bebined.¡±

    ¡°¡­What do you mean?¡±

    Yusu said calmly.

    ¡°I think it could happen that you abandonpassion and think not to protect human beings in this country. For example, what if the humans of thisnd came together to oppress you? Or what if you were trying to do something so terrible that you couldn¡¯t even imagine it right now? In the meantime, would you want to maintain that barrier?¡±

    Could that¡­happen?

    ¡°What we hope is that, even if that happens, you will maintain this barrier based on our support.¡±

    In my head, I repeated what Yusu had said so far. I didn¡¯t think I could bear any malice strong enough to oppose keeping this barrier up. Were they trying to take advantage of me? However, as he mentioned, it was a barrier to maintain anyway. If I took the reasonable price for it, we would use each other. Crucially, it was unlikely that I would have any reason to break this barrier myself. Could it be that I had to fight all of humanity? Ridiculous.

    I asked, summarizing my thoughts so far.

    ¡°¡­Then, finally, what does support and cooperation mean specifically¡­?¡±

    At that time, Garam interrupted me and raised his voice sharply.

    ¡°Brother Yu! There¡¯s still one thing I¡¯m not sure about. I understand that this person has a stronger power than Mrs. Pearl and me. But it¡¯s unclear how humans got that power! With that level of strength, he must have built it before the Dragon disappeared.¡±

    The little boy continued to talk.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it suspicious that a human born in the age of Dragon had an unattainable power? To dismiss it simply just because he learned it from an old person¡­!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not just an old person.¡±

    Yusu stopped Garam. And he spoke, looking at Parvache.

    ¡°¡­As I said, the soul of an elderly person is so faint that it wouldn¡¯t have been easy for a child like me to grasp its identity. Please forgive my rudeness.¡±

    I felt it before, but there was a strange sense of speech in that guy¡¯s words.

    [¡­You, what do you know?]

    To Parvache¡¯s question, Yusu responded with an almost invisible smile.

    ¡°I know nothing about the rest of the world, but you are probably a writer of scriptures that this world hasn¡¯t yet written down.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°I understand that you are touching the bookmarks of the scriptures without thest chapter. You are the one who stands at the end of the history of some world, a sculpture of myth.¡±

    ¡°¡­What do you mean, Brother Yu? What is a sculpture of myth? Do you mean that old man is a god?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say anything disrespectful. No matter how much you are not interested in worshiping God, how dare you say that? Of course not. It¡¯s just something like that, so don¡¯t be rude anymore and be quiet.¡±

    After shutting Garam¡¯s mouth like that, Yusu looked at me.

    ¡°Well¡­ why don¡¯t we talk about what kind of support and cooperation will be avable? I¡¯ll give you a summary because I don¡¯t have much time.¡±

    After that, Yusuid out some conditions that he had prepared for me, and Garam¡¯s face was distorted with suspicion. A look as if trying to say, ¡°Why is he giving him so much?¡± Pretending to grapple with it for a long time on the outside, I exchanged telepathy with Parvache at high speed. After some time, Yusu and I concluded the initial negotiations.

    And I turned to Yusu as if I suddenly remembered it.

    ¡°Oh, but I want to add one thing.¡±

    ¡°Tell me, Master.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it impossible to talk and make a promise for such a long time? We need the power to make it work, anyway.¡±

    ¡°You persistently focus on the trust issue. Do you have any idea how?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I know a technique and magic that can be useful in this case.¡±

    I looked into his eyes.

    ¡°All of this¡­ why don¡¯t we leave it as a contract?¡±

    If you can¡¯t give themplete trust, let¡¯s bind each other with magical coercion. Yusu looked slightly suspicious and tilted his head for a moment, but his worries weren¡¯t long.

    He nodded, and I smiled.

 Chapter 44

    The Master of Vignce (8)

    Yusu and I decided to write a contract for White Deer based on the negotiations. When I showed a sample of thepleted contract, Yusu had a slightly reluctant expression, saying that it was magic simr to the principle of an agreement made by the beings who crossed the wall with the Dragon. However, after much consideration, he was convinced that the situation was different from then. No fatal or unreasonable use could jeopardize them.

    Right now, Yusu was talking with a few hazy lights to ask for permission from the vige elders regarding the details of the contract. It seemed to be an entirely different kind of magic from what Garam had used previously. Yusu was much experienced and superior to Garam. It was a necessary procedure because the contract¡¯s magic wouldn¡¯t be established if the delegation of the individual Maek named Yusu who came to this ce wasn¡¯t recognized as a delegation of the group called White Deer.

    As I looked at it, I threw closed telepathy to Parvache.

    ¡®I don¡¯t know how the feedback wille. Even if I reduce some of the weird items and precious metals that I give in exchange, I should stick to the original text for the part I want.¡¯

    [However, it would be better to receive an item called Speech Dissolving Pearl. It¡¯s the interpretation magic of this world¡¯snguage that has no record in the Akashic Records. I¡¯m curious about its principle.]

    Parvache coveted it, but when I thought about it carefully, I wondered how many times I would have to talk to foreigners in the future. It didn¡¯t seem like a big need. The top priority I would like to implement was the prohibition of aggression and hostilities between White Deer Vige and me. In fact, the purpose of proposing a contract was to secure my safety by making a soul contract with White Deer for this part alone.

    It was still a hope to get a rake-off, but it was absolutely necessary to create a magical spiritual force that wouldn¡¯t harm me. For ¡°support and cooperation¡± to be possible, Yusu agreed that peace must be guaranteed on its basis. A peace treaty would be a huge loss if we were fighting. Moreover, it would be even more necessary if the other party were to move near my house¡­ if it could be ssified as a ¡°neighbor¡± who will move into my neighborhood, a peace treaty was a must.

    In the process of negotiating the contents of the contract a few minutes ago, when I asked where the vige was to be moved, Yusu replied.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t Garam or Mrs. Pearl tell you about it?¡±

    Then Garam nodded and replied.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t tell him, Brother Yu. I wasn¡¯t sure, and I didn¡¯t expect this to happen. It is information that must be kept secret to humans¡­¡±

    ¡°Master Yoon, I think I should tell you. We need your help anyway because of the huge barrier that blocked Garam. And once we start moving, it will be difficult to avoid your eyes anyway. I¡¯d rather tell in advance and ask you a favor.¡±

    When ites to the barrier that had blocked him, it meant the Mok-dong barrier. Was it that they needed my help because of that? Was he saying that the ce was within this barrier? And as convinced of my guess, Yusu ??nced at the Han River¡¯s water surface flowing under the Mapo Bridge.

    ¡°The nned ce is right here.¡±

    ¡°¡­I beg your pardon?¡±

    Yusu exined with a calm tone.

    ¡°The medium of the barrier of White Deer Vige is pure water. Baengnokdam looks like a shallow craterke that doesn¡¯t dry out at all in ordinary humans¡¯ eyes. Still, the elders create a hugeke after a long time beyond the boundaries that humans can perceive. Theke protects the vige and acts as a barrier to space at the same time. The currentke is already unified with the spirit body of the mountain, so even if the vige is moved, it is impossible to bring it¡­¡±

    Yusu paused for a moment before continuing.

    ¡°ording to the prophecy, it seems this ce is where the cleanest water flows among thergest rivers andkes of thend. Unfortunately, it has be a dilemma because it is said that there is a crack in space. But the problem seems to be resolved now.¡±

    Parvache, who heard so far, burst intoughter through telepathy, and I shook my head because it was an absurd im. This was the source of pollution directly exposed to the Waterbird of Decay, so I asked Lee Seo-rin to throw a few more artifacts, especially near the Mapo Bridge. The artifact, which sank on the riverbed, began to purify while simultaneously invoking the magic of concealment. Its effects have continued to this day. It was at a level that couldn¡¯t bepared with the general water quality of the Han River.

    Humans were only puzzled by this phenomenon and couldn¡¯t find the artifact¡¯s existence, so they were left guessing why this phenomenon was happening.

    ¡°And when I saw it with my own eyes, it seems that a kind of technique is being applied to the river here that maintains the unusually pure water. I can feel the energy that is simr to the power that blocks the crack in space. It would be useless to pretend you didn¡¯t notice. I guess your arrangement didn¡¯t work anyway, right?¡±

    I acknowledged his spection.

    ¡°Well, there are no other humans who can do this other than you.¡±

    He could have passed on without talking about the necessity of pure water. Still, I think he was trying to ask me to continue the purification by publicizing it as long as it was obvious that it was my magic. Anyway, this made me understand that they owed me three things. I maintained the Channel¡¯s barrier, purified the Han River¡¯s water quality near Mapo Bridge, and allowed entry into the Mok-dong barrier.

    Even if I didn¡¯t cooperate, they could somehow find a different way on their own. Still, it seemed certain that they would have to go through a very cumbersome and difficult path. If I didn¡¯t know this, the story would be different, but I demanded that the level of ¡°support and cooperation¡± that would be given to me be raised as soon as I knew this. Parvache strongly advocated this part.

    In addition to the few items that they initially decided to provide, we were asking for more. Then Yusu openly asked me what I wanted. What more should I ask for? The answer to this question was quickly drawn out. The materials required to create and maintain artifacts for Channel barriers or purification weren¡¯t great. It wasn¡¯t a big benefit for me to receivepensation from White Deer residents just as much as I spent. Regardless of whether I waspensated or not, it had little effect on me.

    I didn¡¯t tell Yusu about this. However, I demanded to receive something in exchange that wasn¡¯t directly rted to the barriers¡¯ maintenance.

    ¡°Then, the magic that you and Garam use. Teach me the magic that uses the dreams.¡± I told him in a calm voice which reflected my curiosity and interest in their magics.

    ¡°¡­?!¡±

    The magic that Yusu used to casually appear in the middle of my living room was intimidating. That form of magic had piqued my interest and created a desire within me to learn it. In learning and analyzing their magic, the demand came from the judgment that the method of elimination could also be derived. I could be relieved to some extent by signing a contract. However, there was an intention to prepare for an unforeseen event when the contract term was shortened or terminated for the rest of my life. There was also the purpose of satisfying Parvache and my curiosity about their magic.

    ¡°However, this technique is difficult to use properly without mixing the innate ability of the Maek. The only person who is not a Maek and could use this perfectly was Magohalmi¨CGrandmother Mago.¡±

    While saying so, Yusu expressed difort at first. Still, I stuck to my argument that even if I failed to implement the magic, it was meant just to encounter and learn new magic. The real reason for this push, of course, was that even simply understanding the principles of magic alone could help me to set up a countermeasure, just in case.

    In the end, Yusu agreed to organize the terms in the contract to the extent that the best efforts based on good will be made to teach magic without falsehood or concealment, but the performance cannot be guaranteed.

    ¡®I thought my heart fell when he showed up at my house earlier. What kind of magic is that?¡¯

    It was an event where the concept of the barrier, which I absolutely believed, copsed. I had never thought of magic invading by bypassing the ¡°wall¡± of the barrier.

    [The concept of magic will bepletely different. You can learn that part after signing the contract, but I¡¯m curious about what characteristics of that race affect their magic.]

    ¡®Me, too. Let¡¯s take a look at the records slowly after signing the contract and get them out of our house.¡¯

    Parvache nodded. While the two were staying at my house, I didn¡¯t just spend time spying on them and eavesdropping on them. From the moment the two stepped into the house, the magical patterns circling their bodies were all recorded. Body hair and skin fragments that fell on the floor while they were transformed into humanoids were also collected for future inspection. When Yusu transformed into his basic bodily form, the transformation was recorded as a means for future study into the race.

    ¡®It¡¯s going to be a lot of data¡­ but it is still necessary to take some time to study. It will help to find out what kind of creatures they are.¡¯

    I took a draft of the yet-to-be-written contract and tried to imbue the idea. It was a contract that hadn¡¯te into effect yet, but I could tell in advance whether or not my thoughts vited the contents of the contract. The result was, of course, clean. This means that my research activities weren¡¯t included in hostile acts. I was just researching the data I¡¯ve collected before signing the contract, and I¡¯m still unwilling to take the lead unless I faced an explicit risk. Research under that premise was interpreted as not being hostile.

    That¡¯s why you have to write good uses when writing contracts¡ªespecially important parts, such as the definition of hostile acts. Yusu was still talking with a serious look on his face.

    Looking at those tribes, I realized how many times I encountered things in the world beyond my expectations. Moreover, in our dimension, Parvache couldn¡¯t obtain information through the Akashic Records. I don¡¯t know what other beings were hiding beside them. I don¡¯t know if everyone could talk and negotiate as they were now, but if there was a kind that didn¡¯t¡­

    Yeah, one careless action was enough. Before ites to a severe price, it was necessary to mobilize all possible precautions. Oh, well, I need to find those suspicious guys quickly, but before that, I should stamp the contract and send them to Jeju Ind. Thinking so, I frowned.

    Until a few days ago, I enjoyed the life of an unemployed man who watched TV all day long and did only what he wanted to do, but suddenly I had more work to do. Well¡­

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡± I sighed as if the ground was going to fall out from under me.

    Up to this point, my reason was sharply forged because of the sense of crisis, and my sensibility, which was more honest with my instincts, was lingering in me.

 Chapter 45

    The Master of Vignce (9)

    ¡°So, I told you from the beginning?¡±

    In an office on the eighth floor, which waspletely soundproof, Matt raised his voice in front of his boss. He couldn¡¯t calm down his anger. He had been dismissed of what he had repeatedly imed, and an unimaginable disaster broke out as a result. After reading a report on the El Paso branch¡¯s stats, including Quarantine No. 25, Matt couldn¡¯t even put sarcasm in his mouth ¨C ¡®You didn¡¯t listen to me and knew this would happen.¡¯

    The recorded damage scene was much worse, more frightening, and more disastrous than expected.

    ¡°Keep the agents with the peculiar reaction to work within the El Paso branch! What the hell was the reason¡­!¡±

    Abraham, who was still listening to Matt¡¯s words, looked at him with calm eyes. Receiving such cold eyes, Matt soon felt something strange.

    ¡°¡­What is it?¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re in a position to realize this for yourself. I ignored your opinion and even didn¡¯t give you the right reason. Why would it be?¡±

    Matt was caught in a ridiculous mood, and he asked, leaving any thoughts behind.

    ¡°¡­You mean the order itself wasn¡¯t apany level, but a higher one?¡±

    Abraham quietly nodded his head. Matt got up from his seat and shouted furiously.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be!¡±

    ¡°All documents rted to him are reviewed and signed by him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous¡­!¡±

    Abraham raised his voice in annoyance.

    ¡°Agent Mathias Eisenberg!¡±

    Matt snapped back, keeping his head up.

    ¡°There is no reason for the White House to give such instructions!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about the reason. The instructions were given, and we just carried them out.¡±

    ¡°Look at the results!¡±

    Matt gasped for breath and kept talking. His face, which was originally blushed with redness, turnedpletely red like a turnip.

    ¡°If they had been transferred to another branch in advance, even if the ident broke out, it could be finished without any casualties. If the only person brainwashed in the branch were Agent Simon Van de Camp, no matter how superhuman he was, we would have been able to subdue him alone. I mean, this could have been avoided!¡±

    Abraham, who was listening to what he was saying, shook his head as if his head was aching and looked straight into Matt¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Matt, how many years have you been in thepany?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not what¡¯s important right now.¡±

    ¡°Shut up and answer first. How many years has it been?¡±

    Matt, who felt that the weight in his voice was unusual, looked at his boss for a while before answering, barely holding back his anger.

    ¡°¡­It is the 15th year.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s only been 15 years, and you¡¯re having a private meeting with me. You also have ess to level P-046 secrets, and you¡¯re even in a position toment on this.¡±

    ¡°No, what I¡¯m trying to tell you right now¡­!¡±

    ¡°I mean, be aware of your position! Just calm down and sit down.¡±

    Matt raised his suspicious eyes and sat down again. Abraham then put his hands on his forehead with his fingers crossed and pondered for a while. Just before Matt, who felt the limit of his patience, asked what the hell he was doing now, Abraham spoke again. And instead of saying what he was thinking about until now, he brought up another story.

    ¡°When you get to that level, you¡¯re supposed to think about the upper part¡¯s intentions. If your head isn¡¯t rolling enough to find a convincing reason, just do what you¡¯re told!¡±

    In the meantime, Abraham muttered quietly. The words he couldn¡¯t say to his subordinate, who was too upright.

    ¡®When you reach that position, you have to guess on your own. After all, this is a problem between the experimental and the control group, you idiot.¡¯

    Without even guessing what he was thinking, Matt was ring furiously, unable to control his rising anger. Looking at such a man with irritated eyes, Abraham continued his thoughts. If all of the agents exposed to the alien races and showed a peculiar reaction were sent to other regions, the experimental group, given adjacent Eraser, would also disappear.

    Therefore, he permitted the agents to continue working with the El Paso branch. This was a truth that Matt wasn¡¯t ready to ept yet.

    * * *

    In fact, it seemed that what the upper part initially wanted was just a peaceful negotiation. They wanted to provide what Eraser wanted in exchange for gainingplete knowledge of his world. Then, as some countries were already doing, they may sell less important information to other countries at a high price. But Eraser was too stingy to provide information. As time passed without getting anything, the upper part became nervous and wanted to get information even by pressing Eraser, but they couldn¡¯t do it because they didn¡¯t know the limit of his power.

    Abraham muttered inside.

    ¡®Actually, the ability to make people forget God was a little vague. So, they had no choice but to doubt. Is that really all that he is capable of? Could it be that the ability to manipte memories could intervene in the human mind in some other way?¡¯

    Still, they couldn¡¯t throw the agents who showed unusual reactions in front of him like guinea pigs. Suppose personnel who had already suffered damage (which they weren¡¯t aware of) were contacted by Eraser again. In that case, internal public opinion would deteriorate, and the Ethics Bureau would also look into the matter. That¡¯s why they gave permission to work within the El Paso branch as a contingency. And surprisingly, more than half of the agents wanted to remain. Considering that most of those who expressed such intentions were personnel-rted to weapons, it was presumed that there was already an indication at that point.

    In fact, they couldn¡¯t enter the Istion Camp No. 25, and the El Paso branch was blindfolded so that it was possible. However, even if there was no direct contact with Easer, the upper part spected that there might be a reaction when observing it in a space less than a few hundred meters in the distance. Could it be that his abilities were of the kind that manifested over time? He might be desperate enough to lean on such a rare possibility.

    The agents who showed peculiar reactions were secretly marked by much other armed personnel and subject to the CCTV¡¯s intensive monitoring. Therefore, they thought they would be able to suppress these people enough even if they showed unexpected behavior. In such an emergency, it was nned to shut down the quarantine branch No. 25 to prevent Eraser¡¯s escape. However, all these ns failed as a result.

    In any case, it was an unofficial operation in which several agents were prepared to lose. However, the actual damage was far more than expected, which was terrible. With that thought, Abraham gritted his teeth.

    ¡°¡­Mr. Abraham?¡±

    Matt suddenly threw a suspicious look at his boss, who was at a loss for words. But instead of paying attention to him, Abraham tried to calm his rising anger. He raised his consciousness back from his deep thoughts, speaking to his subordinate seated before his eyes.

    ¡°That¡¯s all I can say about your protest. Let¡¯s move on to the mission. Simply put, it¡¯s looking for the helper who assisted in Eraser¡¯s escape.¡±

    Abraham threw a thick file of papers on the desk. Matt¡¯s eyes widened as he took it and read the contents. It had more details there than he knew previously. The moment Simon Van de Camp opened the door on the observation room wall and knelt in front of Eraser, the rm triggered in all branches because the door opened with the master key without prior approval. The headquarters was also immediately aware of this and forcibly initiated a shutdown procedure by remotely controlling Istion Camp No. 25.

    However, the remote control was cut off in the meantime, and all CCTV footage in the El Paso branch that was being observed at the headquarters was turned off. It wasn¡¯t a matter ofmunication. At that moment, all CCTVs in the branch were destroyed. The headquarters immediately requested and dispatched troops from nearby branches. Still, they arrivedte, and only a small number of survivors were found within the El Paso branch. The entire building was cked out, and the facilities were destroyed.

    As Matt read the papers, Abraham chewed on his lips and recounted the thoughts he had repeated several times in the past few days. This experiment¡¯s first failure was that the peculiar reaction¡¯s target was prematurely determined as a devoutly religious person. The second was that it wasn¡¯t expected that brainwashed humans would sweep through the branch with supernatural strength and speed.¡¯

    ording to the testimony of a few survivors and traces of the scene ¨C they tore people apart and destroyed facilities in a way beyond the limits of the human body. The third was that they didn¡¯t notice external intervention, which was the agency¡¯s most disastrous failure.

    ¡°If he could disable electronic devices, he would have used that power first to disable CCTV and remote control and then move. But he didn¡¯t. Moreover, the evidence of external involvement at the scene of the incident remained too clear.¡±

    There was certainly a helper. What made the headquarters crazy was how the helper made contact with Eraser. The one who had been isted from the outside ever since being captured in the jungle.

    ¡°¡­Who on earth? Were there other people brainwashed that day besides those who disappeared from El Paso?¡±

    ¡°People who have been in contact with him at least once, regardless of whether they have a religion or not, have confessed their conduct, but there is no evidence associated with it. However, there is one thing for sure.¡±

    Abraham¡¯s eyes shined fiercely, ¡°He cannot do such a thing without an internal spy. He will have to clean it up from the inside.¡±

    ¡°Then, how many did Eraser collect¡­?¡±

    ¡°It already started with another organization. They told me that the field agents were not aliens but gave false information and tracked them as ¡°wizards¡± who went crazy during training. Since the condition of brainwashing cannot be determined, information gathering is a top priority rather than capture.¡±

    ¡°But, he was in charge of us!¡±

    Abraham responded by pressing hard on his temple.

    ¡°Because there is a separate specialist for search in the maind¡­ he couldn¡¯t have left America. No matter how brainwashed he is, controlling a huge space is another matter.¡±

    But really, just in case, if this guy was found abroad¡­that was to prove the existence of the helper once again. It couldn¡¯t be possible to flee overseas without outside help. And the task of tracking would probablye back to them.

    ¡°For the time being, all of your team¡¯s resources will be focused here.¡±

    Without knowing, they were bitten too deep. It hurt, but the shame was bigger than the pain.

    And on the other hand, this heavy thing called shame touched the upper¡¯s deepest disgust. It wasn¡¯t unusual to see the highest-ranking people¡¯s anger because of the failure which urred over thest few hours.

    Abraham quietly ground his teeth.

 Chapter 46

    Condition of Trust (1)

    The desire to fill the psychological deficiencies would be more like a spontaneous impulse that a highly intelligent creature normally had. Eraser thought that the root of his own race¡¯s abilities would eventually be the principle of expanding and stimting those desires. The desire to trust and depend on was linked to the desire to escape doubts and anxiety when seeing the upside down¡ªthe desire to fill in the heart¡¯s gaps devastated by negative emotions.

    It became the prey for Eraser and his people. Absolute and overwhelming trust in someone. Psychological dependence left no room for denial or suspicion. Eraser¡¯s race called this mental factor a prerequisite for brainwashing ¨C The Seed of Domination. It wasn¡¯t a coincidence that the Truth-Seeker used the same word as the one they created to open the channels. Eraser spected that it was well-intentioned naming. The choice of words might reflect the psychological deficiencies andplexities of the people of his own race.

    Jealousy and envy toward the Truth-Seekers who were closest to God among mortals. Yet, because they want to be like them, they might have stolen one of several words that symbolize the Truth-Seekers.

    ¡°Thousand Lord, I¡¯ve heard from brothers and sisters who were patrolling near Yeouido.¡±

    To the thoughtful Eraser, a middle-aged man crawled on his knees and fell down, stretching his limbs to the floor at his feet. Eraser didn¡¯t know the Koreannguage that that man spoke. Still, he stared at him, who has already been brainwashed by Eraser himself and had erased all mental barriers with his twenty-three eyes. He picked up the meaning of the ident and saw the meaning of his words.

    Besides the naked, superficial consciousness that had been revealed without barriers, a visualized form of a man¡¯s consciousness and an image that spanned the boundary between the unconscious was visible to Eraser¡¯s eyes. Those aggregates that could be seen without brainwashing the other person were emotions, memories, and old habits that determined how to think. Unlike the soul, with only words to be exined as mine, it looked like a lump of colorful light that filled the man¡¯s head.

    And what fills the man¡¯s head with the most overwhelming size at this moment was what Eraser called the Seed of Domination. It was seen as a golden glow in Eraser¡¯s eyes before brainwashing a man. After recing the object of trust and dependence with Eraser, it turned into pitch-ck, filling the man¡¯s head and flowing down.

    =What did they say?=

    With the supreme majesty and solemn weight, he answered telepathically. Originally, this man and most of the humans who lived in the facility had the Seeds of domination toward the same object. The deep dawn of the day when Eraser stepped down from the barrier and looked around, the golden glow leaked out of the building and caught his steps.

    The God that these puppets, who call themselves Thousand Years members, believe in was literally the Lord who ruled over a thousand worlds. Some of the humans couldn¡¯t ept the sudden changes in this world, and they seem to have created a religion that believes that all these changes are the trials and tests of God. Regardless of the origin, it was clear that God, the central point of religion, didn¡¯t exist. This is because humans pretending to be the highest priests in the group didn¡¯t have a handful of divine powers. Furthermore, among the hundreds of believers who gathered at the facility and lived in groups, one of the fake priests couldn¡¯t be brainwashed because of theck of Seed of domination.

    Even if the Thousand Lord were a real god, the divine power that a priest can borrow would be of little concern. A God who can influence only a thousand dimensions wasn¡¯t as great as a deity. While Eraser was thinking about this, the man spoke with his eyes closed, with his forehead on the floor, without daring to look up at him.

    ¡°They found a suspicious person. It¡¯s near the shopping mall, not far from the Channel. A man suddenly appeared, and they¡¯ve been tracking him ever since. After observing with the mysterious eyes of the Thousand Lord, they can see that he is constantly attracting Mana.¡±

    Found it.

    Geerrrrrgh¡ª

    Eraser burst intoughter.

    ***

    Eraser instructed to divide the followers who were pursuing the wizard in the field into two groups. A group to be bait, and a group to continue hiding and observing. Eraser smiled with satisfaction as he watched the man in front of him making a rushed phone call with the believers. Then he thought.

    He found it faster than he thought.

    After getting the information he wanted from the United States, Eraser made a n to start a search around the Channel of Mapo Bridge to find the traces of the demon species found in this country and the wizard who summoned them. When he arrived in Korea and went to the Channel immediately after breaking up with the unknown group, Eraser¡¯s move was forced to stop due to unexpected disturbances. Still, on the one hand, it was a half-sess in itself.

    A huge barrier that didn¡¯t allow his own entry. What kind of wizard could maintain such a huge and powerful barrier¡­? At the same time, other life forms such as humans could enter without any hindrance. As soon as he found it, a thrill flowed through his body. Indeed, he was convinced that the wizard must have been the one who could summon the demon servant. His own target would surely be within this barrier, in this enormous magical fortress that the wizards of this world, who were still weak, wouldn¡¯t even notice.

    Instead of making the wizard wary by touching or shocking the barrier¡¯s wall, Eraser quietly stepped back, looked around, and found this religious facility. And he brought the brainwashed humans into the barrier to patrol the area. He forcibly opened their eyes to mana circuits. He raised their stamina to walk without rest so that everyone would lose their lives within a week. Like the ones, he used as his pawns when he escaped from the United States.

    After all of them died, he was thinking of looking for another group. Fortunately, the tail was caught before that.

    =Make the bait group lure the wizard out of the barrier. Awkward words will raise his doubts, so run outside the barrier after the attack. I¡¯ll give them more power. Afterpleting the mission, you will not be able to bear the divine power, and your life will end. However, in the afterlife, you will live in the most blessednd of the worlds I rule. =

    ¡°Oh, it will be a great honor, Thousand Lord¡­¡±

    The man trembled with emotion as if it were a blessing. Looking down at such a man, Eraser continued.

    =If they fail to escape, do not resist anymore and be captured. Then, a group that was in hiding will trace the captured group to his base. =

    Considering the properties of general wizards, when they see an unknown target who attacked them, they will try to capture it and reveal their identity and background rather than immediately removing them.

    =You must be waiting in advance near the boundary of the barrier. Keep the hidden group observing and continue reporting the situation. Now, go. =

    Eraser muttered inside as he stepped out of the building with a middle-aged man who would be the scene¡¯s members¡¯ contact point.

    ¡®It would be easier if the wizard had the seeds of dominance like these. Well, the probability of that would be slim.¡¯

    ***

    Yusu came to me after discussing the details of the contract with the vige. It seemed that the vige didn¡¯t get permission for all the contents discussed. We decided to add the disputed usester and agreed-upon contents which werepleted in the contract. The most important thing for me was the prohibition of hostilities and the need to teach me the magic of Maek. The first may be because there was nothing to lose over there, and for Maek¡¯s magic, it seems that they didn¡¯t think I would learn it properly anyway.

    Of course, this way is different. I had Parvache. No matter how unfamiliar it was, once the principle was taught, it was no longer magic if Parvache didn¡¯t understand it. Meanwhile, Parvache was very satisfied that the size of strange objects such as Speech Dissolving Pearl, precious metals, and other material costs wasn¡¯t reduced but adhered to the original proposal.

    The content that wasn¡¯t approved by the vige was a part that prescribed more explicit content. As long as the big frame was finalized, we could take the time to adjust them¡ªconditions such as who would teach me magic, for example.

    ¡°Now we just have to seal it.¡±

    In front of the magical paper, the revised contract was read aloud again. The words of the covenant flowed out when Mana was blown into the paper. Spreading two contracts on the floor with only a seal on a nk sheet of paper, I magically signed on them. Then Yusu held a ceremony to borrow the vige¡¯s authority momentarily. After that, he pressed the tip of his elephant-like nose against the paper once. As he lifted his nose, a magical seal glowed on the contract.

    ¡°It¡¯s over now.¡±

    ¡°It is.¡±

    He and I shared a signed contract. Honestly, it wasn¡¯t about whether I fully believed in them or not. There were many stories I hadn¡¯t heard yet, and I hadn¡¯t even seen the vige called White Deer. But I believed in this contract. The contract judged that it was the truth that Yusu was recognized as the representative of the vige called White Deer. After the contract¡¯s signing, the multiple presences linked to this contract informed me that the White Deer vige wasn¡¯t a fictional ce.

    ¡°I will make arrangements for delivery of the first batch of support items soon. It would be better to have more discussions there about how to teach the magic.¡±

    ¡°Then, all three of you are going back to Jeju Ind, right? ¡­Are you going to fly?¡±

    I asked while ncing at Mrs. Pearl, who was still lying unconscious.

    ¡°Please leave Mrs. Pearl for now. Anyway, I don¡¯t even have any inventory of flying in the sky. When she wakes up, wouldn¡¯t it be better for the three of you to move back to your house? They probably have their luggage there.¡±

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right.¡±

    I realized btedly and nodded. We should stop at my home anyway. Yusu looked at us.

    ¡°I have nothing left behind, so I¡¯ll go back to White Deer first.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going with them?¡±

    ¡°I have work to do tomorrow, so I must reach White Deer today. I have to use a special method.¡±

    ¡°¡­Like that teleportation?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. If I use that method, I can¡¯t move with them, so I should go first.¡±

    I was going to say that they could get on the ne, but I swallowed it. Well, he was going to teleport, and I think the ne must have caught their eyes. However, if I interact with them in the future, someday this may cause some inconvenience, and not everyone will teleport like Yusu. I thought I had to teach them how to get to Jeju by ne. Then they will preach among themselves.

    ¡°Ah, well¡­ it was nice to meet you.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll see you again. I¡¯ll do my best to quicklye to an internal conclusion on the terms that haven¡¯t been discussed yet.¡±

    ¡°Please contact me whenever need be.¡±

    After hearing that the magic of invisibility would naturally be released if he moved away from me, Yusu ??turned to a human once again and approached Garam. After a short conversation between the two, Yusu walked somewhere and disappeared. Looking at the direction he had disappeared, I asked Garam.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just leave for Jeju Ind and walk that way?¡±

    ¡°¡­It takes a lot of effort to move through people¡¯s dreams, like the way Brother Yu came from Jeju Ind. We fill our strength by gathering dreams while moving around and pick one of our own people sleeping in White Deer to move there.¡±

    ¡°The sun is still bright, and there aren¡¯t many people sleeping. You must find someone who is taking a nap, right?¡±

    Parvache, who was watching it happen, asked Garam.

    [The magic you use¡­ is it the one that made a dreame true?]

 Chapter 47

    Condition of Trust (2)

    Garam nodded.

    ¡°But it is within the limits of the power of the user. In short, just because you dream of reviving the dead, you cannot bring it to reality.¡±

    Through the closed telepathy with Parvache, we discussed how far the limit of this magic was, and Mrs. Pearl, who was lying down, groaned and woke up. She seemed to havee to her senses.

    Mrs. Pearl had a frown as if she had a splitting headache.

    ¡°Did Daejong-maek already return to White Deer?¡±

    Garam exined the situation to her; Mrs. Pearl nodded and stood up.

    ¡°Brother, then, we also will head to Yoon¡¯s house and pack. Now it¡¯s time to go home.¡±

    ¡°Yes.

    Oh, it was time to send away those two. Their business with Channel was over, they had signed a contract, and I had obtained enough information and samples, so there was no need to worry about it anymore. To fly long distances like Yusu consumed many Mana, and they didn¡¯t want to do such a flight again, so we decided to take a taxi. Mrs. Pearl and I walked toward the main street, followed by Garam.

    ¡°Oh, right.¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    While walking, I suddenly thought about it. Come to think of it. There was an answer I still hadn¡¯t heard. When I asked the question again, Mrs. Pearlughed as if embarrassed.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t answer back then. That¡¯s an embarrassing question.¡±

    Was it not appropriate to ask her age, even in their culture? However, that wasn¡¯t what she meant.

    ¡°When beings beyond the wall transform into humans, it ismon for them to adapt to the human age corresponding to their initial life cycle. It¡¯s the easiest way to do that. My actual age is twenty-seven in terms of humans? Twenty-eight? I am that old.¡±

    ¡°What? But in my opinion¡­¡±

    A person in herte twenties with that face would be impossible unless she looked incredibly baby-faced.

    Mrs. Pearl responded with a pleasant smile, ¡°I¡¯m good at transforming myself¡­it¡¯s been a while since I¡¯vee to thend, and I¡¯m so moved that I transform into my appearance back then.¡±

    ¡°Back then?¡±

    ¡°I lived in thend for a while in this form¡­it was the happiest time in my life, so I chose this look without realizing it.¡±

    Meanwhile, she put her gaze slightly on the ground as if she was embarrassed. The river breeze blew past, and her dark hair fluttered and danced in the air. She said that she had lived on thend for a while as if she had stayed for two or three years. But I think she had lived in the human world for at least a few decades. Come to think of it, how did the main body of Mrs. Pearl look like?

    ¡°I know that you have been living for quite a whilepared to humans, but how about that kid?¡±

    ¡°Brother Garam doesn¡¯t have a lot of skill in transforming. He¡¯s just that old for a human being.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°But the pace of growth is different from mine. Brother Garam is the same age as a human child.¡±

    ¡°Then, about ten years old?¡±

    ¡°Around that age. But the actual age counted is far older than me.¡±

    ¡°Really?¡±

    When I look at his chattering words and actions, he didn¡¯t appear to be that old mentally.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    While Mrs. Pearl and I were having a conversation, Garam, who was staring at one side without paying attention, suddenly frowned.

    ¡°What are those humans? There are no traces of dreams. And why are the eyes like that? It¡¯s like rotten frozen eyes.¡±

    ¡°There is no trace of a dream?¡±

    Looking at the ce Garam was pointing, four men under the embankment were busy walking at a pace close to a quick march. I didn¡¯t know what the traces of the dream were, but there are certainly strange parts. And also, their eyes were creepily empty.

    ¡°Yoon, those guys¡­ I feel they are simr to those strange people I saw near your house.¡±

    ¡°What? They must have been tracking us down.¡±

    ¡°They look different, so they¡¯re not the same people. But that expression and oddly fast walking speed¡­there are too many simrities to be mere coincidence.¡±

    Garam, who didn¡¯t understand what Mrs. Pearl said, asked.

    ¡°What? What does that mean?¡±

    We told Garam what Mrs. Pearl told me about on the veranda. And he scratched his head as if he didn¡¯t know what it was all about.

    ¡°Anyway, aren¡¯t they suspicious? I wonder what they are doing near the vige¡¯s nned site.¡±

    [Of all ces we found them is near your apartment and Mapo Bridge Channel, right? We can¡¯t let them go even if they were just picking up two spots and turning around. Even if it¡¯s a coincidence¡­it is also suspicious. How many of these guys are wandering outside so they can easily stand out like this?]

    ¡°I don¡¯t know which way they are aiming, but I can¡¯t just leave it because of the location. I have to catch and interrogate them. It¡¯s not normal if they are getting a hint about the White Deer¡¯s relocation.¡±

    I knew Garam¡¯s concern, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s very likely. It was said that Garam and the others called beings beyond the wall had been avoiding exposure to human civilization as much as possible even after the Dragon agreement expired. They were wary of side effects such as confusion and hostility when they suddenly appeared in front of the humans who had forgotten them. In the contract I signed with White Deer, there was also a provision for my duty to keep these people and the vige a secret from other humans.

    Wouldn¡¯t it be more likely that they were aiming at me?

    ¡°Let¡¯s put them under control for now.¡±

    The guy who said that summoned smoke around his body and transformed himself into a Maek!

    ¡°Hey, what are you doing?!¡±

    Garam replied, waving his long nose from side to side as if he were cracking his fingers at my sharp shout.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t there any stealth techniques that you can use anyway? There is no need to worry about this appearance.¡±

    Garam, who had returned to its original body, was the size of a baby wild boar that came about to my knees. Except for the white stripes on the back, it was small in size, and it looked almost simr to Yusu¡¯s main body. It is also the same that body. Comparing the sizes, it seemed correct to say that he was a young individual of his species.

    Looking down at Garam, who had transformed, Mrs. Pearl asked.

    ¡°Are you going to write a dream?¡±

    ¡°Mrs. Pearl, once you use your strength, they¡¯ll be either dead or on the brink of death, so I¡¯ll do it. I¡¯m going to tie them up first. Then we¡¯d better take them to a quiet ce. This ce is so open¡­¡±

    Garam stomped and removed a lump of light. Then, before we could capture the scene inside, it grabbed it with its nose and threw it at the approaching people.

    -Paaats!

    The fragment of the dream thrown by Garam burst, causing the atmosphere to rumble. And in the center where all the light had disappeared, a doll that didn¡¯t exist just before was now standing there.

    Huh?

    However, it was a very familiar shape. A young man with long hair wearing a curtain-like dress. His exposed long arms and neck were covered with blue tattoos. Tattoos waved over his skin as if they were alive. That was¡­!

    ¡°Parvache?¡±

    It was Parvache in the form of a young man from my dream.

    Parvache nestled in the toy also muttered absurdly.

    [I don¡¯t know how long it¡¯s been since I have seen that figure¡­]

    ¡°Garam, you, how did you do that?¡±

    Garam does not respond to me but ordered the young-looking Parvache.

    ¡°Redeem!¡±

    Then the young man Parvache raised his hands and spread them toward the people. Then, the men stopped walking!

    ¡°It works roughly.¡±

    Garam nodded as if satisfied and said to me.

    ¡°In the meantime, I have collected some of your dreams. You often have really strange dreams. I still don¡¯t know what it means because it¡¯s full of strange metaphors and symbols. Still, I don¡¯t really understand what you¡¯re trying to say, especially the tall shadow and the shining light in your heart.¡±

    ¡°What?! What are you talking about?! You mean you¡¯ve seen all my dreams?¡±

    ¡°I saw it, and I kept it well. Didn¡¯t you feel like you¡¯ve never dreamed these days? I took some and piled it up.¡±

    This rotten bastard! What a terrible invasion of privacy it was! Don¡¯t tell me he had seen all the dreams I was dreaming of, without leaving any of them private¡­?! No, it doesn¡¯t matter now. Did he even read all the memories of my dreams?

    ¡°Don¡¯t blush like that. I cannot read the detailed thoughts in your dreams or even the conversations of those who appear. I just embodied the attributes, actions, and phenomena that the scene represents and that the limit of my strength allows. The attributes that the long-haired man has in his dreams are control and restraint of thinking and actions. That concept was realized here. To be able to intervene in their minds to control and restrain their movements.¡±

    Even listening to this exnation, I felt awful. I wouldn¡¯t lie anyway because I would learn this magic, but it was so unpleasant, though! Do the people of White Deer not mind looking at other¡¯s dreams as they pleased? Moreover, it was possible to suppress the human mind in this way. This, too, was beyond the magic concept I knew of. But control and restraint? In my dreams, Parvache nagged me a lot, but¡­

    Anyway, that didn¡¯t matter now. While I thought that I had to dig into this magic principle, the men who had been stiff began to move again. At the same time, the image of the young man Parvache was distracted and disappeared. Was it a magic failure? Looking at that, Mrs. Pearl responded.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t work. Did you misinterpret the dream, Brother?¡±

    ¡°No, my interpretation is irrelevant here. Because I will know what the dreamer feels¡­ Why is this? How about this then?!¡±

    It took one more dream from its body. This time, I was able to see the scene inside the light cluster because it was gathering strength: it was a familiarndscape. No matter how much I looked at that, it was me! It was me when I was young!

    ¡°This is the dream you often have. Sleeping dreams are an umon kind, but you are unusual. Thanks to this, I was able to collect a lot of stock. If you embodied the scene before that strange shadow and light in your chest appeared, it is a great sleep technique.¡±

    As he said so, Garam burst the ball of light and shot the energy towards the four men under the embankment. But they were standing still after a moment of stumbling! Oh, wasn¡¯t this kid a fake? The effect was so different from when Yusu used magic! Those men began to look around when two mysterious forces struck themselves. At that moment, when I thought that they couldn¡¯t see us with the invisibility magic on us, a strange scene appeared.

    Obviously, those men had strange facial expressions and behavior. Still, they couldn¡¯t feel the resonance of the Mana circuit, and they couldn¡¯t even sense a handful of Mana. But all of a sudden, all four of them blinked with a strange light. It was a familiar sight but still felt somewhat awkward.

    At a nce, it was clear that the four were ordinary humans with all their Mana circuits blocked. However, energy close to primitive life power was concentrated only in their eyes. At the same time, unnaturally, energy simr to Mana gathered in their eyes. It was identical to the way the wizards put Mana around their circuit¡­

    ¡°Ah, I see.¡±

    Garam, who looked at the figure and tilted his head for a moment, nodded as if he understood it.

    ¡°They are already being controlled by someone. So even if I try to interfere with their mind, it doesn¡¯t work¡­!¡±

    ¡°Hey! It¡¯s already not what¡¯s important.¡±

    As I stopped Garam from speaking, I raised my palms and stretched out towards the men. At the same time, Parvache shouted, sensing the same thing as me.

    [Now those guys can see us!]

    My face was exposed! I was thinking of using camouge magic to change my appearance, but I changed my goal after realizing that it was toote to hide it now. The memory-erasing magic was too risky, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. I was going to wipe their memory after I figure out who they were. Damn it! Damn it! Can¡¯t I live peacefully?!

    As soon as one of the men who faced us took out a cell phone from his arms, the other three started to rush towards us. It was as if they had been nning to do that in advance. I first fired the spell I had prepared in my left hand.

    ¡°The Mirror of Brunos!¡±

    In an instant, a barrier was formed that surrounded all of us. A 200-meter radius barrier made without any magical catalyst with both cognitive impairment and physical barriers were simultaneously applied when there was any contact from the outside. Withoutplicated calctions of space and cement of distortion variables, a barrier was created due to very simple measures like I hoped and wished.

    Ah, Brunos was a God who chose offerings so carefully that I tried to avoid using this spell at some point! My head hurt as I thought about what else to offer to refill the consumed spell. However, in this situation, I had no choice but to borrow this god¡¯s power to achieve this level of barrier without any artifacts or prior work. This wasn¡¯t the only loss today.

    In this way, rather than a battlefield, I burst the magic of my right hand as soon as space was secured. The target was the cell phone in their hand!

 Chapter 48

    Condition of Trust (3)

    ¡°The Raindrops of Dryflos!¡±

    Bullets ofpressed air, smaller than the grains of sand, poured out! There was the sound of the bullets tearing through the air as the shots were fired from my right hand without calcting the trajectory. I hit the desired target precisely.

    -Boom

    The right hand of the man holding the cell phone flew away. This prevented contact from being made. The scrap metal pieces, which were the cell phone a while ago, mixed with flesh and blood andy shattered on the floor in the distance. There was a sign that the invisibility magic I was wearing was about to unravel. It was a reaction in which the body¡¯s Mana exploded rapidly in a concealed state.

    Parvache saw it and quickly telepathized.

    [Just blowing that cell phone apart won¡¯t make it end here!]

    ¡°I know!¡±

    I was confused and thought of destroying the cell phone; it was different from what I practiced. Without thinking much, I used a frequently used magic spell. Parvache and I were already prepared to deal with a situation in which I encountered humans in a country or organization who tried to reveal my identity.

    Firstly, creating a barrier to prevent what happens inside from being exposed to CCTV. The next thing was to deal with wasmunication. In addition to visiblemunication devices, there was a possibility that information was being collected by wiretaps and cameras hidden in clothing. Rather than analyzing and targeting all kinds ofmunication means and radio bands in the world, Parvache came up with a simpler solution.

    No matter what kind ofmunicator they hide, it all works on electricity! I grabbed one of the keychain decorations from my backpack and threw them at the men as I infused it with Mana.

    ¡°Stay back!¡±

    Garam and Mrs. Pearl jumped back as I gestured.

    -Boom! Whiiirrrr!

    As the artifact exploded, a white sh of electric shock hit the men ording to the pre-drafted spell. I put such a loud light effect to prevent me from being captured on film while there was electricity surging through, but in fact, it was just enough to knock out an adult male. And it was a built-in magical pattern that broke down all electronic devices. I don¡¯t know which country this half-wizard was sent from, but this had definitely cut offmunication. The moment we were so sure, the invisibility magic surrounding us waspletely unraveled. However, concerns about recording through electronic devices had already disappeared.

    Just because I was free from the Truth-Seeker, I had no intention of showing off my face and ability in front of humankind. More attention and awareness than necessary would result in inconvenience and danger, and I wasn¡¯t confident dealing with the human race alone. Furthermore, the exposure of hundreds of Channels to humanity on this wasn¡¯t a matter of no consequences. Numerous alien races interact with humanity, formally or informally, and unidentified beings of other dimensions might be observing this world in secret while still hiding their appearance. I would get the attention of all of them.

    Wouldn¡¯t it be strange if a wizard grew up from a dimension where there was no magical knowledge and had a skill that couldn¡¯t be exined logically? Wouldn¡¯t it be weird if those people didn¡¯t feel like digging up that secret?

    However¡­

    [They are not ordinary humans. They feel no pain!]

    It was a very painful force, but they didn¡¯t respond much! After trembling for a while, they started moving again as soon as the electricity dissipated. For the first time, the man who took out his cell phone, whose right hand exploded and had been stunned with electricity, wore no change of expression on his face. He turned and ran away without a moment¡¯s hesitation, stopping by the barrier I had created. In the meantime, the other three rushed back and approached our nose. Why were they so fast?! That wasn¡¯t normal human speed.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    At that moment, Mrs. Pearl jumped in the air and turned in her body, twisting into a new form. And it was only in time to say that something long and shiny in color came out of the wave-like surface almost at the same time.

    -Burst!

    A long tail covered with hair shimmered scratched the floor as if a match was drawn on the rough side of a matchbox. A curtain of fire, taller than a man¡¯s height, burned along the trail of hershing tail. Eventually, the fire curtain moved as if it had an ego to surround the three men. Thanks to that, I changed my spell¡¯s target to the man who had already reached the barrier.

    The man was madly knocking on the barrier with his hands and kicking with his feet. I think he yed the role of the key informant while the other three were supposed to be the diversions. But that wasn¡¯t a barrier to be broken. He hit the transparent wall in the air with his crushed right hand. The torn flesh, blood, and bone fragments stuck in the empty air like filth sttered on a clear ss window and flowed down disgustingly.

    ¡°The Chain of Thermios!¡±

    Along with my shouts, a hazy fog stretched out like a long whip toward the man. The tip of the whip, approaching just in front of the man, suddenly split like an anemone, divided into dozens of strands, and wrapped around his body. Not only his limbs and torso ¨C but several of them also forcibly dug into the man¡¯s mouth.

    By doing this, he wouldn¡¯t be able to bite his tongue. Though if he kept biting this mist, which had a higher hardness than a fair amount of magic metal, his teeth might break. After suppressing one of them, I asked Mrs. Pearl. She looked unfamiliar as she had probably returned to her original body.

    ¡°Can you adjust this me to be a little smaller?¡±

    The mes covered the three men¡¯s bodies, making them invisible. To use the magic chain, I must first see the target with my own eyes. The moment Mrs. Pearl opened her long snout and revealed her fangs to answer my question, a roar broke out from inside the veil of fire!

    ¡°Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrhhhh!¡±

    Now that they were back to their senses, those men were screaming in an otherworldly manner. The men clinging to the me curtain, reached out and tried to approach. However, that me curtain was blocking them, acting as a physical barrier.

    ¡°T-Those crazy things!¡± Garam clicked his tongue in astonishment.

    Perhaps because their body was in contact with the mes, all three could now be seen. Their flesh melted, and even when all of their clothes and hair had burned, they constantly stretched and stirred their arms to approach us. However, the mes didn¡¯t allow them to advance, as if they were opaque, orange-tempered ss.

    ¡°Kaaaaaaaaarrrrrghhhh!¡±

    A man with his eyelids crinkled like a burnt stic bag stared at me with empty pupils. As if tearing me apart would be his wish for a lifetime, without this me between us, he would immediately run into me. Just a few more seconds like this would kill them. Before that¡­!

    ¡°The Chain of Thermios!¡±

    As soon as the chain of fog, like the one that arrested the man who knocked on the barrier, caught the bodies of the three men, Mrs. Pearl vanquished her me as if it never really appeared. Now, a chain of fog stretched out of my left hand wrapped around the four men. Their whole bodies were shaking with fear and resistance. ording to the original scenario, the right thing to do was leave quickly and interrogate them at the workshop on my house¡¯s lower floors. Still, the condition of those three was too serious.

    I was afraid they were going to die while moving.

    ¡°I have never heard of such a story from elders¡­what the hell did dragons do to humans while our people were away from thend? I don¡¯t know how much the soul has fallen to manipte the mind by erasing the fear and pain of death.¡±

    Garam muttered, looking down at the men scattered on the floor. Then he stretched his nose towards them and continued.

    ¡°After all, there is no trace of any dreams. They¡¯re still thoroughly brainwashed.¡±

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t know what the traces of the dream are, but after all this is over, we should talk.¡±

    ¡°Talk? About what?¡±

    I sharpened my teeth while looking at Garam, who was shamelessly looking at me as if he didn¡¯t know what I was talking about. He looked like an animal called Maek, but I felt like I could read that expression for some reason. Was there something wrong? A look that seemed to be asking me back. Ah, this pig elephant cub! You¡¯ve been looking into all of my dreams! I would have to revise the contract again as soon as I get this done. We just signed it today, but it doesn¡¯t matter! Thinking that collecting dreams without mutual consent should be stated as hostile acts, I reached out to the men who fell to the floor.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Yoon. I didn¡¯t think they¡¯d try to fight the pain of the fire. You¡¯re going to interrogate them, but it turned this way¡­¡±

    Because of the fire invoked, three out of four were injured to the point that it was difficult to obtain information. Because of that, Mrs. Pearl¡¯s two pointed ears were drooping as if she med herself for being reckless.

    ¡°No. I didn¡¯t even expect them to be like this.¡±

    I answered back and gathered Mana in my hand.

    [You are going to heal them?]

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to leave a mouth to testify? If we leave them like this, they will all die.¡±

    In my decade with Parvache, we had a singr goal ¨C My Safety. I thought I could maintain my safety just by maintaining a lifestyle embedded within the barriers I had built. Although the types of barriers were a little different, the magic taught by Parvache was effective for the Truth-Seekers as well. I thought there was no other race that could easily neutralize my magic barrier.

    Mok-dong¡¯s barrier was a double-edged sword that I and different races could recognize at the moment of contact, but it had been thought of and maintained as the minimum barrier. It was the primary shield for when suddenly, one day, Caracas¡¯s demons or the me Horn Serpent of Cairo struck.

    There was also confidence in the concealment that it would be difficult to recognize the existence of the barrier unless there was direct contact with the alien races. Human beings, of course, would never recognize it. But I had to admit that it was a short thought.

    [No, I¡¯m not saying to cure them¡­instead of using too much Mana to revive thempletely, try treating it only enough to avoid immediate death. There is something I want to experiment with.]

    ¡°¡­Yeah, I got it.¡±

    It was brainwashing ¨C to blindly rush toward the goal even though the whole body was on fire. It was impossible to think that the person who orchestrated this was an inhabitant of this world. I had cleared all the hypotheses that these were simply wizards trained by human hands. There was the influence of strange magic on these poor souls. I didn¡¯t know what their goal was in the first ce, but the fact that these guys were running around here proved my failure.

    Who the hell was it?

 Chapter 49

    Condition of Trust (4)

    The three were burnt to a char ¨C their death seemed imminent, and the remaining one was treated quickly with magic because the amount of bleeding was serious. Only after I thought that they wouldn¡¯t die right away, I moved on to the next step. On behalf of Parvache, who couldn¡¯t use magic, I reached out in front of them. I operated Mana ording to Parvache¡¯s guidance.

    The brainwashing method wasn¡¯t topletely subdue and dominate the soul, as the higher beingsmonly did, but rather to inject powerful magical suggestions into the brain. If it was a magical principle, It couldn¡¯t escape Parvache¡¯s knowledge. I repeatedly infused Mana as Parvache ordered several times, and he exined the reaction.

    [¡­Based on the power of natural force, it is a magic trick thatbines spiritual magic. But this Mana pattern isn¡¯t unfamiliar, where did I see it¡­]

    Although they had been treated, they were still close to dying, and their brain function was also extremely weak. As Mana¡¯s constant flow stimted the brain, the Mana pattern embedded in it easily emerged to the surface.

    [Ah¡­I get it. I know what it is!]

    ¡°What is it? Can you see anything?¡±

    Garam, who heard the telepathy, approached and asked. Then Parvache replied.

    [These humans¡­ are puppets of Fake God!]

    ***

    After using Mana as Parvache guided me, I sessfully transformed the Mana piece in the man¡¯s brain into a form that Parvache could recognize. Parvache interpreted it to us.

    [I don¡¯t think that the Fake God is around here right now. Because of the distance, it is unable to directly control their behavior or share their senses. It put some strong hints and released them around here. But¡­howe it urately grasped the range of the Mok-dong barrier and nted it in their head?]

    I was going to go crazy. In the end, it meant it noticed the barrier without touching it. How could I hide this more borately? I felt my head starting to ache.

    [They have to patrol within the boundaries. If they find something suspicious on the way, they are supposed to open the Mana circuit of the Mystic Eyes¡­so the eye¡¯s Mana circuit was opened temporarily, and the results reported over the phone.]

    ¡°Mystic Eyes?¡±

    [It¡¯s a rough name. Actually, it is a trick that destroys the survival instinct and draws out life force to use it as a substitute for Mana. It just thinks of these humans as consumables that it uses once and throws away. Even if we left them like this, they would have died in a few days anyway. It is to force ordinary humans who do not have Mana to use their life force to open the Magic Eyes. It¡¯s a rough trick.]

    Mrs. Pearl, who was listening, posed a question.

    ¡°No, but why did they run against us like that?¡±

    [They are supposed to report on the phone as soon as they find the target. If it bes impossible to contact or is found out by the target, they¡¯ve been faithfully driven by suggestions that they should attack and lure the target out of the barrier.]

    Garam raised his eyebrows.

    ¡°Who on earth is the target?¡±

    Parvache, who had been looking into the Mana patterns that I had visualized and floated in the air, replied with telepathy carrying anger.

    [The wizard who created this barrier.]

    It seems like it was now clear who the target was.

    ¡°The wizard.¡±

    Parvache poured out unrefined, rough telepathy.

    [Back then, these poor little bastards flocked at a whiff and didn¡¯t even dare to unfold themselves to us. At best, they brainwash primitive short-lived species with the skill of reading brain waves, and they dare to eat and live as Gods¡­]

    Parvache has already exined what kind of race the ¡°Fake God¡± was. Parvache, who rarely let out such a violent reaction, asked me.

    [Are you tracking it now?]

    ¡°Yeah. If they¡¯ve been in touch with it regrly, they might notice the situation right away. I have to take the lead.¡±

    I don¡¯t know why, but I couldn¡¯t leave it as long as I knew what it was looking for. Considering the ill will contained in the method is used, the possibility of reasoning was slim. Above all, I should check how my information leaked out.

    ¡°Tell me the Mana pattern of the species.¡±

    I memorized the pattern that Parvache showed before my eyes. I just needed to use the tracking magic.

    ¡°Oh, and¡­¡±

    I looked at Garam and Mrs. Pearl. Did I really need to take them?

    ¡°This is a fight with the guy who came to me anyway. I don¡¯t think both of you need to be involved anymore. In this case, it¡¯s not a vition of the contract if you don¡¯t help.¡±

    They couldn¡¯t go home without me, but why didn¡¯t they just wait here? After hearing me, Mrs. Pearl looked up at me. They said that she once was riding on Garam¡¯s back, and her original body size¡­ was about the same as a fox¡­but it was a kind I had never seen in my life.

    If the fur were white, it could be called a white fox, and if it were red, it could be called a red fox. However, I didn¡¯t know what to call a fox whose fur was transparent like ss and reflected the strands of cohesive hair close to the skin were closer to white, so it was more like a white fox.

    She opened her mouth.

    ¡°But we also need to check the existence of the alien world and the power and scale of the brainwashed humans. The fact that they are wandering near the Mapo Bridge is an uneasy factor in the future. Moreover, Yoon, you are now giving our vige a ways. If anything happens to you, it is an affliction of the vige. I know you already have great power, but our help won¡¯t be meaningless.¡±

    Garam nodded his head as if he meant the same thing.

    ¡°If Brother Yu were here, he would be very helpful, but he has already returned to Jeju. He won¡¯t even be sleeping, so I have no way to contact him.¡±

    I knew they would help, but I wasn¡¯t happy with it. If these two were attached to me, I couldn¡¯t open the Channel on my chest and perform the summoning, so the number of cards I could use decreased. ording to Parvache¡¯s exnation, it seemed to be a level that didn¡¯t require summoning, but the more options, the better.

    Oh, I got an idea.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m grateful for both of you, but isn¡¯t there anything I need to check in advance? If youe here to help and get brainwashed, you¡¯ll be a great nuisance¡­¡±

    ¡°But it can¡¯t prate our soul; we are Spirit Beasts.¡±

    Parvache, who was listening to us, interrupted.

    [This is not a principle that touches the soul.]

    ¡°You mean the seeds of domination?¡±

    [Yeah. But whether it is there or not is a difficult problem to determine here. I can¡¯t read brain waves. Actually, there is a more certain way¡­]

    Parvache looked at Garam and Mrs. Pearl in turn and asked.

    [Both of you, how old are you? Tell me exactly in numbers.]

    ***

    If he had to make an excuse, he might be able to exin why he didn¡¯t pay close attention to collecting dreams at random. There weren¡¯t many humans sleeping because it was daytime. The speed of collecting dreams was too slow, and the power collected so far wasn¡¯t suitable for using the Dream-Travel.

    Yusu, who was in a hurry, was busy making fun of his steps and couldn¡¯t mind releasing the hermit¡¯s technique. If it had been his personality, he would have moved to a dark ce as soon as he saw signs. Suddenly, a man attacked him, and when Yusu easily avoided the attack, the man stared at himself and abruptly turned his back and started running at full speed. It was an obvious provocation to anyone. However, Yusu noted that the pace was too fast and that it wasn¡¯t far from the crack in space.

    He thought he would go back to the river and bring Yoon Min-joon and Garam¡¯s party together, but in the meantime, it seemed that he would miss out on that man¡¯s actions. His physicality was excellent, but his mind wasn¡¯t: this prompted Yusu to pursue his investigation. A short chase battle continued, and this time Yusu naturally passed through the Mok-dong barrier that blocked Garam. After signing the contract, Yoon Min-joon excluded Yusu, Garam, and Mrs. Pearl from the barrier¡¯s targets. In particr, in the case of Yusu, it was taken because there was a high probability of meeting again.

    Yusu, who came to the outside of the barrier without any hindrance, finally encountered ¡°him¡± in a hilly mountain.

    ¡°¡­What is he doing?¡±

    When the hoodie, which waspletely flipped over, rolled down, the face covered in the shadows was revealed. Dozens of eyes that humans couldn¡¯t see. All those eyes shed as they looked at him.

    =Here you are, Wizard.=

    The voice rang directly in the head through pure will, without borrowing the form ofnguage. Yusu frowned at the indignity of malice in it. An intense conscious tapping of the aftereffects of direct exposure to a child or human beings.

    ¡°He¡¯s definitely not a human, and it¡¯s too unfamiliar to think of him as being beyond the wall¡­ I see. Is he a strange monster from beyond the crack in space? It looks like he came from another country. I heard through Garam that there is no other open crack in thisnd¡­¡±

    The alien race hesitated andughed, then asked Yusu via telepathy.

    =I can¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about. By the way¡­ I heard that there is a seed on your chest, but why can¡¯t I see it?=

    ***

    Instead of using telepathy, the wizard in front of his eyes insisted on bringing up a dialogue. Eraser learned that he couldn¡¯t interpret his words. He btedly used the interpretation magic because it was impossible to read the surface consciousness. After all, he wasn¡¯t brainwashed.

    =Is the Channel on your chest hidden by magic?=

    ¡°What bullshit are you talking about?!¡±

    =Hmm, I can¡¯t interpret it. It looks like yournguage isn¡¯t recorded in Akashic Records.=

    The wizard could understand Eraser¡¯s telepathy, but Eraser couldn¡¯t interpret his voice. Eraser couldn¡¯t see the Channel, but it didn¡¯t bother him much. That wizard must have done something to hide it. Well, unless he was an idiot, it wouldn¡¯t be openly exposed.

    There was something else that caught Eraser¡¯s eye. The surface consciousness couldn¡¯t be read, but the elements that make up the mind were visualized. The size of the Wizard¡¯s spirit world, which was seen as a light source to Eraser, was enormous. If he had lived a normal human lifespan, he couldn¡¯t build that size. Were all human wizards in this dimension like that?

    Soon, he denied the question himself. Eraser spected that he would have exceeded his lifespan after extreme practice in magic. And another¡­various elements made up the wizard¡¯s spirit world; there was an intense golden glow among them.

    Eraser noticed that the wizard¡¯s body was surprisingly scented with the smell of divine power. It was a rare case, but it wasn¡¯t impossible. Being both a wizard and a priest. That ¡°seed of domination¡± would aim at the god he serves as a priest. The way wizards and priests borrow divine power differs from each other. The wizard obtains spells in exchange for offering sacrifices. The priest receives divine power in exchange for faith and obedience to the gods.

    Eraser easily recognized that the wizard in front of his eyes was using only magic that didn¡¯t borrow the power of a god and gained divine power as a priest by giving faith to a certain god.

    The god receiving the sacrifice didn¡¯t respect the wizard¡¯s faith, but the god receiving the faith required the priest to serve only himself. Since that person had already obtained divine power, he wouldn¡¯t need to receive a separate magic spell from the god he served. And the act of offering a sacrifice to an entity other than the god he served was interpreted as a betrayal of faith, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to receive orders from other gods.

    ¡®Probably impossible, but let¡¯s try.¡¯

    Eraser tried to change it at once based on the seeds of domination that the wizard had, but it wasn¡¯t easy. The wizard¡¯s expression hardened as if he felt something during the attempt. Eraser made up his mind that he had to try brainwashing after distracting his concentration.

    =Go! My believers!=

    The believers who were surrounding Eraser rushed to the wizard at the same speed as howling wind.

 Chapter 50

    Condition of Trust (5)

    -Sheeesss!

    -Kyaaargh!

    There were countless snakes scattered on the dirt floor. Unable to find their targets and to bite each other, wriggling in the dirt. The serpentspletely overpowered the believers. Even with their unusually strong power, they couldn¡¯t cut off the snakes¡¯ jaws. Their bodies were already bitten everywhere by the snakes, forming puddles of blood.

    At first nce, the snakes were unusual. All of them had red blood flowing from their eyes. They were making strange screams. The longer they bit the believers, the longer their fangs became to prate deeper into muscle. There would be no such snake in the world. The snake, which held on to the believers¡¯ flesh,pletely shut its mouth. Yusu¡¯s power had created an enormously strong serpent. The serpent¡¯s fangs pierced through the man¡¯s flesh and bone effortlessly.

    The snake¡¯s skull, with its head, stuck, cracked like a chestnut shell, and a new head grew out of the gap; it put its teeth back in to search for skin that hadn¡¯t yet been bitten. This was one of the worst nightmares among snake dreams. The object of this collected dream today was, of course, humans, not Spirit Beasts. Considering the color and concentration of dreams, it seemed that he was mentally deranged.

    ¡®But¡­ that¡¯s not good.¡¯

    On the surface, it seemed that he had won without a hitch. However, it wasn¡¯t these humans who had lost their reason that Yusu was truly wary of. Yusu turned his head and looked at the Alien. Snakes couldn¡¯t approach him anymore because of the translucent walls wrapping around it. Inside the shield stood a skinny middle-aged humanoid, most probably a male. He didn¡¯t seem sane because his facial expression remained the same while watching the gruesome scene.

    To break that shield, he would have to use a stronger power. However, Yusu was unable to properly replenish his strength after using the Dream-Travel technique. He didn¡¯t want to reveal his original body in front of an alien whose identity was still unknown. There was a limit to the power that could be used while maintaining the human form.

    -Kreeek!

    ¡°Again?!¡±

    Yusu extinguished the needle-like force that stuck to his head.

    Suppose the Alien ignored all of that shield and his own protection techniques and kept trying to force its ways into Yusu¡¯s head. In that case, it seemed that there was a mixture of power that hit him with just seeing. Therefore, at first, Yusu had to be vignt. Still, after it touched his head, it seemed that Alien had no power to do anything else. So Yusu was trying to exterminate the power that the Alien used now.

    Yusu spoke, staring at the Alien.

    ¡°What the hell are you trying to do? Anyway, it doesn¡¯t work on me, so give up.¡±

    Saying so, Yusu thought of a way to call Garam and Mrs. Pearl. Mrs. Pearl¡¯s fire might be able to melt that shield. At that time, the Alien looked at the human man standing next to him, turning the direction of dozens of eyes staring at him as if he had decided on something. And he reached out his hand towards his neck.

    ***

    ¡®That¡¯s not going to work.¡¯

    Eraser eventually gave up. Clearly, a golden glow was shing in front of his eyes. That wizard clearly showed a seed of domination. However, his own domination wasn¡¯t working with the seed. Initially, the n was carried out under the assumption that the wizard wouldn¡¯t have the seed of domination. It just couldn¡¯t go morefortably, but the n itself wasn¡¯t something that deserved being thrown out.

    Eraser decided to proceed ording to his original n.

    =Be a martyr for my glory.=

    ¡°I am willing to offer this body.¡±

    Eraser turned his head and looked at the middle-aged man next to him. Then he grabbed his neck with one hand. For this time, this man was left in the shield instead of mobilizing to attack the wizard.

    ¡°What the hell are you trying to do again?¡±

    The wizard, realizing that Eraser was trying to do something, lumped Mana in his hand and then burst it. A ck shadow popped out of it and stuck to Eraser¡¯s wall. The shadow scratched and hit up the shield with a pointy skewer in his hand and tried to break in, but the shield remained.

    Although it was peculiar magic, itcked power. Was that wizard looking down on him? The artifacts that implemented this shield were obtained at a fairly high price. Even if that person had the magic of even greater power than this, it was an object that could block even the magic attack, which was said to have destroyed dozens of Asphim Giants in a certain world at once. The Truth-Seeker had already guaranteed that part in Eraser¡¯s world.

    ¡®Because the Truth-Seeker in our world is a crazy guy, but one deal is certain. Even if it¡¯s entertainment against the mortals.¡¯

    Eraser, who finally cleared up all of his thoughts, contemted the deep part of his soul and threw a call into it. As soon as the magic had beenpleted to some extent, Eraser saw a mark that was branded as a stamp on his soul. And he felt that the sign became a door and a passage was opened. This was different from Channels. It wasn¡¯t a perfect passage created by a Truth-Seeker, but a breathtaking bridge between two souls. The only fact that the target soul wasn¡¯t on this dimension revealed the power of a divine being.

    Eraser spoke to call his weapon against the wizard.

    =Come, my contractor.=

    At that moment, Eraser¡¯s soul began to boil.

    ***

    As I was climbing the mountain alone, following the Fake God¡¯s Mana pattern in my cover-up, I stopped walking when I felt a violent wave of Mana. It seemed to be close. If I went any further, it might notice my presence. I took the observation magic in my hand and blew it over the ridge. I was confused by apletely different scene than I expected.

    ¡°What, what¡¯s all this crap?¡±

    No, was there no CCTV in the mountain? Any witnesses? They were doing those things in the middle of Seoul! These awful things. That ce was a mess now. People had fallen, there were disgusting fake snakes that appear to be made of Mana¡­besides, why was Yusu here again? And most of all, there was an Alien that looked bizarre at a nce where Yusu was looking. It must be the Fake God Parvache spoke of.

    A closer look revealed a translucent membrane surrounding the Fake God and a human. Probably, the confrontation was ongoing because he was hiding in that shield. I was wondering so, but the wave of magical power that came from there gradually intensified. Parvache, who confirmed it through the senses I shared, suddenly shouted sharply at me.

    [Hey! Min-joon! It could be annoying. We have to approach it quickly and stop that spell.

    Parvache, with its torso out of my backpack, suddenly warned with strong telepathy. Parvache then informed me of the identity of the spells that the Alien was preparing. As soon as I heard the answer, I quickly prepared the leap magic and jumped out of my ce. For now, it was more important to block that than to hide!

    As I suddenly appeared from the sky, surprise and joy passed through Yusu¡¯s face. Then he quickly exined the situation to me.

    ¡°It¡¯s a strange race with unknown origin. I¡¯m trying to catch and interrogate him because it¡¯s attacking me, but the shield¡¯s strength is extraordinary!¡±

    ¡°I know what he is! The problem is the spell he¡¯s going to use¡­!¡±

    I took out the soju ss artifacts from my backpack and threw them around with a hidden barrier. The level is lower than the barriers I struck on the Han River because I didn¡¯t borrow the power of God, but we had to endure it first with this. As soon as the barrier waspleted, another magic exploded from my hand.

    ¡°The Tornado of Dryflos!¡±

    It was more than half a year ago that thest sacrifice was offered to this God of that true name, The one who swims in the wind of the stars. At that time, there were still enough spells left. Again, its mercy and tolerance were unlimited. You couldn¡¯t evenpare it to a stingy god-like Brunos.

    -Woong woong woong!

    The air waspressed and rotated ording to Mana¡¯s flow. Eventually, it became a whirlwind the size of my body and struck the Fake God¡¯s shield. It was a magic that concentrated the destructive power to one point as much as possible so that the aftermath didn¡¯t spread to the surroundings, but¡­

    ¡°What, did it block that?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t broken! To achieve more destructive power, I had to use a divine spell such as ¡°Adelegos,¡± which will also break the hidden barrier. But¡­there was no way. I think that was the only thing I could do now. Let¡¯s think about how to handle the aftermathter, and just as I was getting ready to unleash the magic¡­

    Parvache and I felt that the Fake God¡¯s spell had beenpleted.

    [Tsk, it¡¯s getting annoying!]

    ¡°¡­We could simply end it before!¡±

    It went too far from the initial n. After neutralizing that Fake God, I nned to take him home and try to find a source of information, but there was no way I could sign a contract with such a guy.

    Now it was inevitable to fight. I tried not to leave any trace outside. I removed the magic I was holding in my hand again. The more I draw strong Mana in front of that opponent, the worse the fight will be, after all.

    [Now that it turned like this, we have to take care of it as soon as possible]]

    I looked at the one called by the Fake God. Not the shell, but the dark spirit that sat in it. The summoning magic I used was a rare type across all dimensions. I couldn¡¯t guarantee it because I hadn¡¯t seen all the dimensions. Still, I was probably the only one who could do it in terms ofplete movement using the Channels.

    However, there was summoning magic in the world, which was a little lower in level. Instead of directly jumping over space using the Channels, the summoner¡¯s soul could be mediated to call another¡¯s the mental body. With this magic, a summoner can only call up one being¡ªthe one who signed a very special contract with himself.

    Parvache replied to me when I asked for the identity of the Alien¡¯s spells.

    [That crazy damn Fake God signed a contract with the Priest of Kaidemos. That¡¯s a spell that brings the spirit of the contractor!]

    The priest who gained divine power by offering his faith to Kaidemos¡­I hadn¡¯t spoken this word out of my mouth for so long that the echo from my mouth felt awkward.

    ¡°¡­Demon!¡±

    ***

    Eraser felt another human wizard approach and attack his barrier. Still, he didn¡¯t care much and focused on the summoning magic.

    Two wizards?

    He saw the new approaching wizard, but the size of the spirit was rtively insignificant. Eraser¡¯s race couldn¡¯t see the souls of others. Instead, the other person¡¯s emotions, colors of memories, and thinking habits could be read.

    Most of these spirit worlds grew in proportion to the time they had lived. When looking at the light source seen in the spirit of the wizard who had appeared now¡­20 years at best? There was no way such a young wizard could use a Channel and call a demon race. Was he like a disciple of that wizard who transcended his life span? Thest attack must have been thest blow to use all his Mana.

    Even though the golden glow seemed weak, he didn¡¯t pay him more attention. Eraser cut off his interest and focused on summoning again.

    -Woong woong woong!

    As a result, finally, Eraser felt the demonic spirit dwell in the crack in his soul. Like the Channel, he couldn¡¯t bring up both the body and mental body, but he possessed the mental body through his own soul. However, he had no intention of staying like that. Keeping the demon¡¯s spirit in his body put a great burden on him, no matter how powerful the contractor was.

    Before Eraserpletely handed over the body¡¯s dominance to the demon, he guided the demon¡¯s mind toward the human male whose neck was being held in his hand. It wasn¡¯t too difficult for him, as hepletely dominated the subject. ording to Eraser¡¯s instructions, the mental body of the demon dwelled in the man¡¯s body, who hadid down all mental resistance.

    Realizing that the intent waspletely over, Eraser released his hand from the man¡¯s neck. The man¡¯s eyes, who seemed empty, now had a light like a deep night. It was no different from before that no expression could be found on his face. Still, now his nk expression had a certain kind of cold and grim energy emanating from within.

    The demon, dressed in the male body, looked at its contractor, opened his mind, and spoke.

    =Contractor, [Kill] This is [Rape] Really [Relive] Garbage [Rend it] -like [Please Stop] flesh. [Aaaah] 10 minutes is the [cry] limit. [It hurts] What [sick] do you want?=

    The demon, the Priest of Kaidemos, conveyed its will to Eraser. The souls who became members of the demonic family cursed all living things, suffered pain, and screamed in despair for eternity. Feeling the goosebumps unwittingly at the gruesome scream, Eraser tried hard to pull himself together.

    ¡®Ah¡­ damn it. Anytime I hear it is terrible.¡¯

    Kaidemos was a unique god. It didn¡¯t ept the wizard¡¯s offering. The only way to borrow its power was to be a priest. Also, the only way to be a priest is to enter into a contract with it. The signing of the contract became a confession of faith. There was no need to create a strong faith in advance. At the same time as the contract, the soul became God¡¯s authority, creating a faith of perfect purity. There could be no moreplete faith and obedience than this.

    In the human body in front of him now resided the priest who signed the contract with Kaidemos. Eraser managed to regain hisposure and then replied to the demon.

    =I will tell you my wishes ording to the contract.=

    The demon nodded. A priest received divine power in exchange for offering souls to Kaidemos. One of them was the power of contracts. Just as the demon made contracts with God, the demon could also make contracts with other mortals. In this case, the belief of the contractee wasn¡¯t important. The demon gave strength to the contractee, and in return, they only put a seal on the soul.

    As a result, as long as the contractee was alive, it was possible to borrow power by calling the demon¡¯s mental body to an infinite degree without paying any price.

    =10 minutes is enough time to eat. We have prepared a dinner for you, so please, enjoy as much as you like. Please neutralize that wizard, but don¡¯t take his life.=

    No matter how great he was, a wizard who had lost all magic couldn¡¯t be a target of fear. After that, Eraser could easily collect him and dig up the information he wanted. Even without brainwashing, there were many ways. The torture targeting human-type creatures was familiar to him. Was it the area closely connected to nerves, mucous membranes, including the tongue, the end of the limb, or genitals?

    =Do you [despair] just want it [please]? [I want to live] Good. =

    The demon replied by throwing unemotional nces at Eraser.

    =I will lend [your] power [turn] ording to the contract [next].=

    At that moment, the barriers of the artifacts Eraser received from the Truth-Seeker copsed.

 Chapter 51

    <ol> <li> Condition of Trust (6)</li> </ol>

    The demons weren¡¯t ssified by genes and pedigree. Still, they were the only race in all dimensions ssified by their divine power. In Parvache¡¯s dimension, their god was called Kaidemos, whose real name was The Contract of Faith. From the moment the demon¡¯s spirit possessed the man, I felt the magic of my body slowly seeping into the air as if evaporating. It was self-evident that the escaping force was heading somewhere. The demon took away the other¡¯s Mana. The unique power of the demon was to absorb Mana from living things.

    As soon as the demon was summoned, I canceled Adelegos¡¯ spell that I was preparing earlier, knowing that there was no time left toplete it. It was breathtaking timing just before the demonpletely took over the man¡¯s body when the Mana gathered in my hand was taken back into the body. If I had enough time to attack in advance without knowing about it, or if I had been concentrating the Mana, it would have been stolen by the demon as if pouring water into a bottomless pit. The spell couldn¡¯t even bepleted.

    As Parvache said, it should be done as soon as possible. Before that, I have to break the straw that was put on us. I shouted to Yusu while closing and locking the Mana circuit.

    ¡°Yusu! Take control of your Mana circuit! Cut off all the magic you¡¯re using now!¡±

    It was suicidal to continue fighting with great Mana when it was taken away, even when it wasn¡¯t done yet. We had to scatter the grains of rice on the floor, so it spent more time picking them up, but attacking with Mana was like putting them in the rice bowl and saying, ¡®Eat it.¡¯

    ¡°Are you talking about the meridians where the power flows now?¡±

    ¡°Yes! Stop the cirction! Strengthen your Mana, and calm it down!¡±

    Oh, it was hard to exin in words like this!

    ¡°Like this?¡±

    As he asked back, Yusu did so easily what I intended to. The fake snakes that were flooding the floor disappeared in no time. He saved all the magic.

    ¡°Yes, like that! The loss will be slow. Stay that way!¡±

    But we just dyed the time it would take. The absorbing power was so strong that it might take a few minutes to run out. The body of the man taken by the demons began to change. Bumpy boils appeared on his whole body, constantly rising and then sinking. The faces of like tearing and ripping his skin revealed the shape¡ªall with expressions screaming in pain.

    =[Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgggh]=

    =[Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh]=

    The shield surrounding the demon gradually weakened. The power of the artifacts used must be running out. I prepared to attack. Just because I couldn¡¯t activate new magic didn¡¯t mean that I had no way to attack. All I had to do was release the magic that had already been activated.

    I took out one of the bundles of Go stones I had in my inner pocket and put them between my fingers. Then, for a moment, I opened and closed my finger¡¯s Mana circuit. If you turn the faucet a full turn, you wouldn¡¯t be able to lock it again because of the water pressure, but you could poke a drop and then lock it again. To activate an artifact, that was, a frozen piece of Mana that had already beenpleted, I injected a tiny strand of Mana. A white light glowed in the stones, and I waited for the correct timing.

    And finally, the shield surrounding the demon and Fake God disappeared. The man¡¯s clothes were torn off because of the force that shook his body. The faces blooming from his body screamed at once. The speed of sucking up Mana was elerated. Behind the demon¡¯s back, the Fake God burst withughter in the spiritnguage.

    =Hahahaha! No matter how powerful the spell is, the activation is now sealed¡­=

    I threw the Go stone I was holding in my hand before he even finished speaking. The target wasn¡¯t the demon¡­but the Fake God standing behind it! He must be exhausted after he called out such a vehement summon. If I subdue the summoner, the demon would no longer be able to maintain its possession.

    -Bang bang bang!

    The roar shook the mountain. A storm of mes rose around the ce where the artifacts collided. The white mes swept down my face and swirled through my eyelids. When my eyes were exposed to high temperatures, they were hot enough to tear up. Still, I prepared to throw one more while looking beyond the explosion without closing my eyes. The situation I assumed when I made these stones was for an emergency escape from a situation where my Mana was almost exhausted. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be using them against a demon.

    A faint figure of a demon standing and blocking the Fake God was revealed through the red storm and smoke. It was standing upright even though its torso had been blown away.

    =[Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh]=

    The screams of some other beings, not the demon, prated my mind. From the man¡¯s torn upper body, veins and muscles rose, and faces were made. The faces bit each other, chewed, and clump together into a lump, then the lump swelled up again, and new faces crushed each other and multiplied on the body. Thus, the man¡¯s body was renewed again. What was annoying was that it continued to suck Mana even in the midst of that.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s even regenerating, that damn thing.¡±

    I threw three Go stones in a row while spitting out curses.

    -Bang bang! Bang! Bang bang bang!

    Even if the body was torn, and it regenerated immediately. Even with only the ankle left, it was shocking to see the body recover in an instant. I was looking at the Fake God, standing behind ¨C carefree.

    [You can¡¯t. The regenerative power is almost limitless. It is meaningless to throw more Go stone. It would be better to wear the ring.]

    I constantly threw artifacts and responded telepathically.

    ¡®Then, the Fake God would die? I can¡¯t get information¡­!¡¯

    At that time, the demonunched a counterattack.

    =[Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh]=

    Several of the faces on the demon¡¯s body stretched out and attacked us. Yusu, who was concentrating on his mind, quickly pulled back, and I sprinkled Go stones on the ground.

    -Boom boom! Bang bang!

    The explosions continued, and all faces that stretched out like tentacles from the demon¡¯s body broke out. I pretended to attack the tentacles and threw one of them towards the Fake God¡­the demon blocked it instead and protected him. Even if we stayed still with our magic circuits locked, the Mana was being sucked up fast. And every time we opened the circuit for less than a second while injecting Mana into the artifacts, the additional magic power was ripped out.

    However, now, we couldn¡¯t use arge amount of mana, so this was the only way to attack.

    ¡®It¡¯s not too far before either the Mana or the artifacts run out.¡¯

    I started thinking about whether to use an artifact that would definitely end this situation.

    =[Kaaaaaaaaaaaarrrggghh]=

    -Boom! Bang!

    If I threw several Go stones at once, the firepower would be scattered. As I aimed and threw in session without rest, I asked myself by fiddling with the ring on my left hand. Wouldn¡¯t it matter if I killed the Fake God without getting information from him? If I use this, as Parvache said, I would be able to blow away both demon and Fake God.

    And this mountain would disappear as well. Even if the demon was on a tremendous level and regenerated at the cellr level, the contract ended when the Fake God died. It would disappear after taking only the soul.

    -Boom! Bang bang!

    It looked like a high-ranking demon, no doubt given its regeneration power. Despite the penalty of being in a human body, it was eating its meal without touching the target. At a tremendous speed, too. The liquid of demons that destroyed Venezu¡¯s capital was a type that sucked magic by contacting living things. Of course, they couldn¡¯t find the wizard, so they quickly gave up and went back to the Channel and returned to their own dimension.

    ¡­Ah, wait a minute.

    ¡®Parvache?¡¯

    I immediately thought of a possibility. I conveyed the meaning shortly and quickly through telepathy. Upon hearing it, Parvache nodded its head.

    [I think it¡¯s possible!]

    I suddenly remembered the demons that appeared in Caracas. The only way to get rid of this demon with terrible regenerative power and retrieve the Fake God while keeping him alive¡­

    I shouted to Yusu, ¡°Yusu! Do you have any of the dreams you have collected of control or restraint?¡±

    I asked, remembering that Garam used my dreams for mental restraint. Yusu, who had been busy avoiding the attack, shook his head.

    ¡°Not now!¡±

    Taking out Go stones and throwing them up continuously, I continued talking.

    ¡°Is there any way to tie that demon? Just for a few seconds!¡±

    -Boom!

    How many times was this? The demon was caught in an explosion and started to regenerate. Still, the Fake God was looking at it without even stepping forward. The summoning must have consumed a lot of Mana. He knew that if he left it in this situation, we would run out of magic anyway, so he would be trying to wait for that time. For the same reason, the demon wasn¡¯t actively rushing and keeping us in check from a long distance.

    ¡°If I use power to make any kind of reality, wouldn¡¯t that monster absorb it all before the technique isplete? So, instead of using technique right now, aren¡¯t you using that strange method to stop that monster, Master Yoon?¡±

    He seemed to understand what was going on right now. I threw out one more artifact and spoke.

    ¡°I need to tie him up while I can¡¯t throw it because I¡¯m trying something else. I¡¯d like to ask you to keep it in check by throwing it for me, but I¡¯m the only one who can use it.¡±

    I asked while blowing Mana into the Go stones.

    ¡°Rather than using arge amount of Mana, is there a way to use a little bit of Mana as I do now?

    Yusu said as he was throwing himself to avoid the attacks, flying like a whip.

    ¡°If the dream is not fully embodied, it will just blow up¡­¡±

    He hesitated and then spoke again.

    ¡°I have a few dreams that I left without converting them into power because the idea contained isn¡¯t strong. If I break all these dreams at once and then release them, it will be enough to tie them up for a while. However, since it wouldn¡¯t be implemented properly, the effect willst seconds?¡±

    ¡°A few seconds is enough.¡±

    After finishing the conversation, I matched the signal with Yusu. When one of the few remaining artifacts was thrown, the demon was engulfed in mes. Now, the speed at which Mana was absorbed suddenly became extremely fast. Perhaps it is because the demon thought it was time for us to run out of Mana. It was thest time.

    ¡°Yusu!¡±

    At the same time as I give the signal, energy began to gather in Yusu¡¯s hand. Like the magic power operation when I used the artifacts, Yusu instantly opened the Mana circuit and stimted those energies. At the same time, the images in his hand broke out in an instant!

    The sight was different from what I had seen before. Until now, if it was smooth and natural as if drawing the dream into reality ¨C intact without harming it; what I saw in front of me right now was a mess! Yusu released the energy from his hand, aimed towards the demon. The vivid imagery mixed in a mess wrapped around him. I could see what he meant that the dream wasn¡¯t realized properly.

    =[Kaaaaaarggghhh!]=

    Amidst the energy barrier that struck the demons, goblins rose above the sky in andslide. In tears, the crane shed, the moon shined, the sky burned, and the toad spread his three pairs of wings and flew as it passed the wine ss. The apple blossoms fluttering in the wind melted like a swamp and flowed into a puddle, and countless races danced and sang under it. In addition to that, the fragments be seen but couldn¡¯t be counted.

    Each one was a weak power, but it swirled like a whirl and blocked the demon¡¯s body. The soul that bloomed in its body bit off the dreams but couldn¡¯tpletely tear it apart. A cloud struck the screaming arm. The tentacles created by the demon were bounced off by the vines vomited by the whale.

    Itsted only a few seconds, but I hadn¡¯t been standing still either.

 Chapter 52

    Condition of Trust (7)

    At that moment, when all attacks on me stopped, I ran toward the demon. Would I give up the information I could get from the Fake God and keep my secret from Yusu? Or would I reveal my secrets to Yusu and take the Fake God¡¯s information. I chose thetter.

    I disabled the artifacts on my chest. Simultaneously, a Channel of blue light torn like a long scar on my chest was revealed. The Fake God who witnessed it stretched out his fingers and let out violent telepathy. Yusu¡¯s face was distorted in surprise. I opened the Mana circuit on my chest and poured my energy into it.

    The only condition for unlocking seeds was Mana. The Channel integrated with my spirit body opened the door with just a single tap, without needing a long period of magical cohesion. When the Mana circuit opened, my Mana started to be sucked out by the demon as if a water line burst, but it didn¡¯t matter. It would be over in just a few seconds. I didn¡¯t stop running, and the Channel on my chest became disk-shaped. I kept running towards the demon with the Channel open in front of me.

    The Channel rushed as I moved. It looked as if I was charging with a huge shield in front of me. Instead of enormous Mana to specify the summoned target, I injected only a small amount of Mana to open the Channel. Seed Channels opened randomly without calction of dimensional coordinates. This was the original and normal seed opening method. Instead of opening withoutrge Mana consumption and long calction time, I didn¡¯t know where this Channel was connected right now! But it didn¡¯t matter. Anyway, I couldn¡¯t go into the Channel open on within my body.

    ¡®¡­But you¡¯re different, you bastard!¡¯

    I jumped into the air, pushed forward by my momentum. It was a long jump using pure muscle strength without leap magic. As my body soared in the air, I tilted forward a little, with a disk-shaped Channel tilted in front of a 45-degree slope that hit the demon¡¯s body from above! The demon opened its eyes to look at me, but its body was still trapped in the shattered dreams.

    As I floated in the air, I fell forward, and my circr Channel swallowed the demon¡¯s body as I fell, starting from the tip of its head.

    -Thump!

    From a distance, it looked like my body had swallowed up the demon as its body disappeared from the ce where it was standing. Then, I collided with the ground with my stomach down.

    ¡°Aaaaaaahh!¡±

    Part of the ground was pushed into the Channel, but when my body touched the ground, the Channel no longer sank as it ate the ground! It went exactly the same as the experiment I conducted before!

    ¡°Cough! Cough¡±

    Now, I was face down on the ground. I immediately shut the Mana in my chest, erased the Channel, and then rolled on the ground a few times. Goodbye, demon. I don¡¯t know which dimension it went to, but it wouldn¡¯t be easy toe back here¡ªconsidering the number of near-infinite cases! And when youe back¡­ your contractor will be in a state where you no longer need to care.

    ¡°Cough! Gosh, it hurts so fucking much!¡±

    The power that had absorbed Yusu¡¯s and my Mana so far has, of course, stopped. After checking the remaining Mana in my body, I applied to heal magic so that the pain subsided. A lot of Mana was taken away, but the amount remaining was enough. And what else could I do with the remaining Mana? Yes. There was enough left to do such a thing.

    I looked at that guy with a hardened face: the guy that probably consumed most of his Mana by using that summoning magic. The one who caused me this hardship so far. Staring at the Fake God, I spoke.

    ¡°Then should we talk?¡±

    ***

    =How¡­ an inexperienced wizard like you¡­how can a young human being¡­?=

    The confused Fake God shot wild telepathy everywhere. Oh, my head hurt. I responded by lowering the sensitivity of the receiver system of the Mana circuit.

    ¡°Oh, right. You can¡¯t understand me, anyway?¡±

    Anyone could understand the nonverbal telepathy he was rooted in. Still, it was hard to understand the Koreannguage not recorded in Akashic Records, even if he tried some interpretation magic. Even so, he didn¡¯t seem to be strong enough to read my surface consciousness. I hadn¡¯t yet been able to transmit telepathy to non-family members or summoned creatures, so I decided to transfer what I said to Parvache by converting it to telepathy.

    ¡°I have a lot of questions.¡±

    After speaking with my voice, I waited for Parvache¡¯s telepathy. It was quiet. Anyway, the only thing that didn¡¯t understand me was the Fake God, so instead of sprinkling telepathy so that we can all hear it, it seemed like Parvache was only shooting it directly into the Fake God¡¯s head. I didn¡¯t care about it and kept talking.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start by tying you up.¡±

    I was getting ready to jump and bounce to see if my words were beingmunicated well, but it was faster for my magic to hit him.

    ¡°The Chain of Thermios!¡±

    A chain of fog stretched out of my hand, binding his body. I pulled my hand and tossed the Fake God to the floor.

    -Thump!

    He was looking at me with intense eyes while lying on the floor.

    ¡®How many eyes does he have¡­?¡¯

    At first nce, there were around twenty. As Parvache told me, he was pretty young.

    ¡°For your race, you¡¯ve just be an adult. How dare you say the other was young?¡±

    I didn¡¯t go straight to the point, but instead, I deliberately made fun of him and spat out useless words. Now, are you ready? Go ahead. The fierce hostility in his eyes grew as if to show Parvache was delivering my words. Deep murderous intentions emanated from the myriad of eyes that were stuck staring at me.

    Yes, I didn¡¯t touch his face as I sprayed the chain. The mouth was open for interrogation, but those eyes were also left to see me well. Parvache said it wasn¡¯t sure if I had a ¡°seed of domination¡± or not. If I had such a thing, the subject would probably be Parvache. But I couldn¡¯t bet myself. I believed in Parvache¡­ yes, let me admit it. Absolute trust and dependence; I depended on it a lot but without any doubt? Was it enough for me to say it?

    He didn¡¯t respond as I expected. Was it because he hadn¡¯t tried to brainwash me, or was it because he tried, but I had no seeds of domination? That¡¯s what I was thinking. At that moment, I felt like I was losing all my senses. Huh, what was I thinking?

    The expression that my brain was tingling was correct. Everything flowed by my side, forgetting the sense of reality. When I tried to send my thoughts about the time and ce surrounding me, the reason, and the process of being here, far beyond my consciousness. There was a sharp telepathy ringing in my head.

    [Stop!]

    Rapid intervention as if it had been waiting. The voice of Parvache, who shared my senses through the backdoor! As soon as I heard it, I felt that whatever was eating my mind lost its power and faded. At the same time, my mind, which was hazy as if there was a fog, returned to me. Returning to my senses, I realized the meaning of the phenomena that had just happened, and I was left speechless. Although it was a situation that had been reviewed in advance¡­was it really in my consciousness? I believed and trusted Parvache 100%? No, well, there were good reasons for that. But why couldn¡¯t I believe this?

    Well, there was still no reason not to believe in Parvache. Then, Parvache shouted excitedly.

    [It¡¯s a trap!]

    Through the backdoor of my mind that only Parvache could use, I could feel his mind flowing into me. At the same time, I could see that Parvache¡¯s mental body was holding and fiddling with the energy that was trying to infringe on me. It was a fight in my mental world. As Parvache¡¯s attack progressed, the body of the Fake God lying on the floor trembled and convulsed, its movements bing increasingly intense.

    [These stupid things. The level is obvious when those with flesh use magic to manipte other¡¯s minds. If you get caught by your mental body, you will be robbed to the bottom!]

    Parvache used the magic of my body and manipted the magic nted by the Fake God as if it were enjoying it. The magic he was trying to instill in my brain was still connected with his eyes. Parvache, who hadpleted aplete analysis of the magicalposition in the Han River Park, had finished preparing for a counterattack method. It was an attempt for a situation where we weren¡¯t sure if I had the seeds of domination or not. If I didn¡¯t have it, I could just drag him home and interrogate him.

    What was a more reliable way to extract information than mental control? It was worth trying, and after sess, I thought it was the right choice. The wriggling Fake God fell on the floor and weakened as time passed. After some time had passed, Parvache spoke to me.

    [It¡¯s almost over. I couldn¡¯t perfectly reproduce the magical effect. It wasn¡¯t possible to control or manipte each of his actions. It ended up as nting a suggestion to avoid the content of the question or answer without lying. Still, I¡¯ve made a deep hint, so he¡¯ll honestly answer whatever you ask.]

    ***

    At the moment when Parvache¡¯s mental body dwelled in Yoon Min-joon¡¯s body, Yusu ??and Eraser saw a scene that was contradictory to each other.

    Yusu, who was shocked after witnessing the crack in the open space on Yoon Min-joon¡¯s chest, was looking at them, waiting for Yoon Min-joon¡¯s interrogation to end instead of asking his questions. Meanwhile, he saw a new soul dwelling in Yoon Min-joon¡¯s body. It was a faint soul like a thread different from Yoon Min-joon¡¯s intense and huge soul. Yusu was able to realize that it was the soul of Parvache.

    Meanwhile, Eraser, who couldn¡¯t see the soul at that moment, was looking at apletely different scene. Only after the mental body containing Parvache¡¯s soul was put into Yoon Min-joon¡¯s body, that was, a living vessel, could the Eraser recognize his existence.

    And he saw a great consciousness that went beyond the concept he can perceive, which was close to infinity, huge and heavy, instead of Yoon Min-joon¡¯s insignificant young mental world he had seen so far. The size of consciousness implied the volume of emotions, memories, and thoughts umted over the years. It was iprehensible. That young wizard, with a Channel on his chest, apparently had the weight of a mind for over 20 years.

    What was unique was that the seeds of domination were very faint. Eraser quickly recognized why the golden glow looked so faint. It was buried so deeply under the unconscious. Probably, a deep consciousness system that was difficult to recognize by the wizard himself. It was a strange phenomenon as if someone had intentionally hidden it there. Eraser was suddenly convinced that the great spirit in that body wasn¡¯t the wizard¡¯s own.

    Even in that newly emerged spirit, he could see a golden glow. But Eraser knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to try brainwashing, even if that spirit was in a normal condition. The greater the other¡¯s consciousness, the less sessful the brainwashing process. Eraser, who was still young, had a lower sess rate even against beings of the same age as he had lived for about a thousand years. Moreover, it was unpredictable against such a huge spirit that couldn¡¯t bepared to him.

    Eraser was aware that he was being caught up in a powerful suggestion. That spirit used his thrown magic to counterattack. Just before Eraser waspletely engulfed, he had no choice but to ask this question towards the spirit body that dwelled in the body of a young wizard.

    =This¡­this is nonsense. I have never seen an umtion of such great consciousness so far. How long have you existed?=

    The enormous consciousness in the wizard¡¯s body replied as if itughed at the telepathy that the only Eraser could hear.

    [How old am I? ¡­You cannot even imagine it, you bastard. Do you think you will live that long?]

    At that moment, the magic of suggestion waspleted.

 Chapter 53

    Condition of Trust (8)

    ¡°I saw it hanging implicitly. Did you try to find me?¡±

    When I asked a question, the Fake God responded telepathically without hiding the anger on his face.

    =¡­Yes.=

    It was in a state that didn¡¯t control 100% of his thoughts or emotions. Still, the force of answering the truth unconditionally was working on him.

    ¡°How did you know? The fact that I exist and that there is a barrier here.¡±

    He wouldn¡¯t have seen my barrier while passing by. I didn¡¯t know where the Channel is, but I was sure he hade to Earth through a foreign country, so I needed to understand why he was looking around.

    =I received information from humans in the United States, observation record of demon species that appeared here several months ago. While heading to this country¡¯s Channel to find the traces, I found the barrier.=

    What did he mean he received the information? The United States? I asked for a detailed exnation, and the Fake God told me about the process of being held on purpose in an American facility aftering to Earth. The more I listened to his telepathy, the more distorted my expression became.

    ¡°Do you mean the information about the Mapo Bridge Channel, rather than my personal information?¡±

    =Yes.=

    ¡°As soon as you heard the incident of the Mapo Bridge, you escaped the base?¡±

    =Right.=

    It was driving me crazy. Unless those American guys were idiots, it was like he revealed that his purpose was this neighborhood. Mapo Bridge would be his most likely destination. Wasn¡¯t there something like special forcesing to catch this guy soon? Oh, it was so¡­ annoying. The Mapo Bridge Channel attracted attention because of its peculiarity. Still, now I think it was like sprinkling oil on the fire because of this guy.

    ¡°No, why are you so interested in the demon species? What do you want to do, crawling all the way here, you bastard?¡±

    Parvache, who wanted to hear the answer as much as I do, quickly ended telepathy, and he responded to me almost without dy.

    =The devil isn¡¯t the purpose. My goal is to summon the demon species.=

    ¡°More details!¡±

    =I got information through a deal with the Truth-Seeker in my dimension.=

    When I heard the words he spat out, I felt my heart sinking. Now I knew so well that I was safe and that the Truth-Seeker of this world couldn¡¯t touch me. Nevertheless, my body reacted sensitively to that single word. My whole life so far must have made me like this. The surprise was bigger than the unpleasant feeling.

    ¡°¡­You made a deal with a Truth-Seeker? How?¡±

    He continued the exnation. Truth-Seekers were often obsessed with things that mortal eyes couldn¡¯t understand.

    Should it be said to be entertainment for living a long life until bing a god and escaping from the bondage of time? The object of strange obsession of Truth-Seekers is art such as poetry or song, or it can be a meaningless ughter. Rarely, it might roll in a constructive direction, such as creating new materials and concepts that weren¡¯t in the world.

    It seemed that the Truth-Seeker who had jurisdiction over this guy¡¯s world enjoyed trading with mortals, who, from their point of view, were weak. In return, what the Truth-Seeker wanted was sometimes a pretty stone, and sometimes it was a concentration of blood extracted from the hearts of tens of thousands of living things. The category and depth of information also changed ording to the mood of the Truth-Seeker. In a word, it meant that all of this was nothing more than a game.

    =After discovering the Channels that lead to this world first, I went to the Truth-Seeker to trade information. However, the Truth-Seeker told the story of only one human wizard, without giving any information of the civilization¡¯s level, the distribution of the species, or the magic system. He said this is probably the most important information.=

    ¡­That can¡¯t be?

    =A human wizard with a Seed Channel in his chest. Through its seeds, he invokes the existence of a higher-dimensional being. He kills hundreds of Ashpim Giants in the third dimensionality. Judging from the circumstances, it is almost certain that the summon was not randomly summoned but were summoned by urately specifying the dimensional coordinates¡­!=

    [¡­!]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The Fake God casually spat out my secrets that I didn¡¯t expect to hear like this. I barely subsided the urge to kill him right here. How did the Truth-Seeker who said he had a deal with him know that? There was no Fake God race in the dimension where I called the ck Kirin. It was definitely a different dimension. The Truth-Seeker this Fake God was talking about wasn¡¯t the one from Silver Forest, but apletely different Truth-Seeker¡­ah!

    Parvache unleashed telepathy full of anger.

    [The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest¡­that guy!]

    Aside from beingpelled to answer questions, the Fake God, whose freedom of emotion and thought remained intact, speaks grotesquely.

    =A-Verdag says it¡¯s a famous story already.=

    Now that I thought about it, the Truth-Seeker of the Silver Forest was so kind to tell me a lot of information. If it could tell so many stories to an insignificant being like me, would it be too much for an equivalent being¡­that is, other Truth-Seekers? The Truth-Seeker of the Silver Forest also said he had heard the news from A-Verdag that the Earth¡¯s dimensional barriers had disappeared. Although it was no longer a hypothesis that there was a means of information exchange between Truth-Seekers in each dimension, I probably wanted to deny it.

    ¡°¡­You mean you want to do something with the Channel in me? To brainwash me and make me use summoning magic as much as you want?¡±

    =Not such a simple purpose!=

    The Fake God frowned as if he didn¡¯t want to speak but eventually failed to resist his head¡¯s coercion and continued the telepathy.

    =The fact that you can connect by specifying a higher dimension means you have an Akashic record-level dimensional map.=

    His eyes turned red as if they would burst.

    =I tried to ovee the limitations of species through the dimensional map!=

    What bullshit! Oveing what?

    =My people have been insulted as a Fake God by a race whose lifespan is longer than ours or has a strong mental ability. On the contrary, the tribe that can brainwash was designated as an object of extermination¡­in search of a tribe capable of brainwashing but didn¡¯t have any information about us, our number is gradually decreasing. The species¡¯ limits are clear. Someday it will have to fall. However, as soon as I heard the Truth-Seeker¡¯s story, I discovered the possibility of getting out of this limit! No longer a Fake God, but a path to bing a Real God!=

    Ah, this guy¡­he was a total nut.

    ¡°You want to go to A-Verdag and be a Truth-Seeker?¡±

    =Yes! Isn¡¯t that the only way to be a Truth-Seeker and even more a God?!=

    Now I knew what he was thinking. That guy was trying to get me to open a channel to A-Verdag.

    ¡°Crazy.¡±

    But this made no sense. First of all, there were no coordinates to A-Verdag. It was a dimension that only gods or Truth-Seekers could reach. Secondly, it wasn¡¯t as simple as going to A-Verdag. As far as I knew, being a Truth-Seeker wasn¡¯t a simple problem that could be solved by just going beyond dimensions. Rather, I think it was right to say that you were summoned to A-Verdag only after the conditions were met.

    ¡°Your delusion has reached its peak.¡±

    As I was listening to his bullshit, I felt angrier. Was he looking for me because of that stupid idea? Did he threaten me with such a ridiculous delusion? I barely suppressed my irritation and moved on to the next question. It was none of my business, whatever this guy misunderstood, and I had to dig up the information I needed.

    ¡°Are there any humans who know you¡¯vee here¡­other than the U.S. intelligence agency?¡±

    Again, the answer came back almost without dy.

    =In the process of my escape, there were humans who tried to capture me. It is presumed to be a separate group from the forces that held me.=

    ¡°What?!¡±

    The Fake God continued to exin. He said that when he started to turn the ce upside down using brainwashed humans, he suddenly saw signs that the entire building was being blocked under external control. But then, a third force entered the building. They brutally murdered and attacked U.S. intelligence agents, threw something ¨C presumably an artifact to the floor. All floors of the building were cked out, and the blockade was shut down.

    kinds of artifacts in addition to the objects that caused the ckout and fought with a sense of self-possession against those who were more powerful than normal humans because of the Fake God¡¯s brainwashing. They constantly attempted to approach the Fake God and subdue him during the battle, but the confrontation didn¡¯tst long.

    ording to the Fake God, dozens or so of the third power had the seed of domination. Eventually, they became ves to the Fake God, except those who died in battle, and he made a judgment that he considered reasonable. He attempted to abandon all brainwashed intelligence agents who would soon be out of breath by drawing more power. He headed to Seoul with these new, unidentified forces.

    The Fake God had them prepare a way to get to Seoul, and when they boarded the flight to Seoul, they hid inside the ne. After arriving in Korea, the Fake God feared that his tail would be stepped on by an unknown organization and the intelligence organization that confined him if he continued to carry them. He moved without looking for a substitute to quickly get out of the United States, but now he didn¡¯t have to.

    The Fake God suggested that all of the brainwashed personnel move out of sight andmit suicide. Before that, he tried to steal the artifacts they had. It was supposed to self-destruct if someone other than the owner touched it or canceled the instation. Eraser eventually gave up their recovery. Then he headed to Mapo Bridge alone.

    ¡°Is it an unknown organization? If they had been brainwashed anyway, wouldn¡¯t you have read all their memories?¡±

    =Like the artifacts they used, there was a powerful magic that I couldn¡¯t understand. Even after being brainwashed, the memory of their identity and belonging was under strong protection, making it impossible to read them urately. What I barely got was just some pieces of information.=

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    The Fake God answered back, fumbling with his memory.

    =I couldn¡¯t figure out the name of the organization. Just¡­that it is quiterge, and it has existed for a very long time to be perceived in human time. The organization¡¯s goal is to follow the will of a certain being and walk the path of asceticism.¡¯ And to defend a specific agreement. It¡¯s an organization that has been on its mission for such a long time, but it seems like one has been added recently.=

    ¡®Asceticism?¡¯ It is a familiar word.

    =The newly added mission¡­is to regenerate an entity. Its existence is the spiritual support of this organization, the object of absolute trust, and at the same time, the object of doubtless dependence.=

    From the moment I heard the word asceticism, I felt my anxiety rising again. Barely repressing my voice so that it didn¡¯t tremble, I pushed on.

    ¡°What is that being¡­?¡±

    =I do not know what kind of metaphor this is or if it is a simple expression of facts. They call for its existence¡­=

    The telepathy containing thest word of Fake God sharpened my thoughts.

    =Dragon.=

    ***

    Deep at night in the city center of New York, a small cargo truck was parked on the street, which was notoriously the most expensive street parking area. It had been several hours since it parked there. In the driver¡¯s seat, a man, who appeared to be its owner, sat freely in the dark, looking out of the window.

    It seemed to be a private vehicle as there was no brand orpany name written on the cargo hold. It was around the time when the night guards in the surrounding buildings began to wonder why someone would leave a car in such an expensive ce for hours. Contrary to the security guards¡¯ opinion, the true owners ??were in the cargo hold, not the driver¡¯s seat. The small container was equipment pieces, and three people sat in front of a panel full of buttons.

    Matt focused on what was being heard, with hisrge headset in his ear. The ce where the conversation actually went on was the office on the 26th floor of the building, right next to the truck¡¯s parking lot. The high-performance tapping device attached under the mahogany desk, which wasn¡¯t suitable for the world these days, captured all the shallow breaths that resonated in the room.

    ¡°¡­To be honest, I¡¯m bored now. It¡¯s been too long since I started because of my faith and friendship.¡±

    The woman answered thezily lying man¡¯s words.

    ¡°Friendship? I thought you were in his family. Wouldn¡¯t the word loyalty be more appropriate than friendship?¡±

    ¡°A lot of people are indeed loyal to him, but I¡¯m different. From the moment I first met him, he only helped because he thought it was necessary. It was never because of his family.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a fact I didn¡¯t know. But your old friends wouldn¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do that¡­I want to believe that I¡¯mpletely subdued. The truth is bitter in the mouth, after all.¡±

    ¡°But no matter how much you fight against him, you must have been trampled badly. Eventually, you are subdued and served him as the master. He didn¡¯t take you into his family because even if he didn¡¯t, you were already his.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a bitter but undeniable truth.¡±

    The man sighed, and heughed in a shallow manner. Those two continued talking about the man who wasn¡¯t present there.

    ¡°Anyway, after he bes like that¡­it¡¯s very difficult for us. I¡¯m trying to uplift his spirits somehow, but it¡¯s not easy. We¡¯re short of hands.¡±

    ¡°Now you¡¯re telling me why you called me.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, aren¡¯t you a little peculiar? There will be no resentment toward us.¡±

    ¡°Why do you think so? I hate you, too.¡±

    ¡°Hey, let¡¯s be honest. You didn¡¯t even participate in that old war, right? Because you don¡¯t like those people anyway, and you were already living on an ind at the time, so it doesn¡¯t matter.¡±

    ¡°Now it¡¯s different. I¡¯m not as indifferent to people as I used to be.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I heard the news. Was his name Charles?¡±

    The woman hesitated for a moment, then she answered.

    ¡°¡­He preferred to be called by the name Lewis.¡±

    ¡°A pseudonym is one of the customs that cannot be understood. Anyway, my condolences. Even though we know that it is natural as flowers bloom and fall year after year, it is not easy to endure seeing those humans who have been loved leave.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t expect I¡¯d hear that from you. You have a lot of nerve.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s why I don¡¯t get attached to people. Once in a while, when you get attached, you won¡¯t be able to leave them forever.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s unpleasant because just hearing it reeks of blood.¡±

    The man suddenly asked.

    ¡°Do you miss Lewis?¡±

    ¡°¡­Very much.¡±

    ¡°I heard he was a talented man.¡±

    ¡°He was a brilliant person. I didn¡¯t understand that until he died, but he liked to study veryplex counting. He also loved taking pictures. He wrote novels well.¡±

    ¡°Ah, you mean the novel with the heroine named after you?¡±

    The man¡¯s whisperingughter continued for a moment, and the woman¡¯s sharp voice was heard.

    ¡°Stopughing! He was serious!¡±

    ¡°I heard the rumor and bought the first edition and read it. Didn¡¯t you tell him all the detail? Creating from nothing, many stories of beings are too familiar.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s stop talking about Lewis.¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice sank even more than before.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­okay. Anyway, let¡¯s get back to the main point. Won¡¯t you join us? Even more, if you are interested in people again. All of this is ultimately for everyone in the world.¡±

    ¡°Give me time to think. Yet, I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯ll be able to trust you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. I know enough about the conditions to earn your trust.¡±

    The conversation between the man and the woman was cut off for a while, and by the time Matt and the other agents began to feel nervous, the man spoke again.

    ¡°Well¡­I hope you make a decision as soon as possible, Alice. We¡¯re so short of hands right now that we¡¯ve sent in an army of apprentices to serve our guests, and they¡¯ve been turned down.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re still doing something pathetic.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s very important. For this world.¡±

    ¡°¡­I admit it. I won¡¯t need long to think about it.¡±

    They then exchanged goodbyes. After confirming that the conversation was over, Matt took off his headset and threw it in a fury.

    ¡°What kind of nonsense is that?!¡± He eximed.

 Chapter 54

    Condition of Trust (9)

    ¡°Ah, the conversation continues again? Well, it¡¯s over now.¡±

    ¡°What was it about?¡±

    He would listen to the recorded one again anyway, but he was asking just in case.

    ¡°When he asked if she would like him to see her off, the woman refused. She said she had a ride ready.¡±

    ¡°Nothing much.¡±

    The employee who was eavesdropping with him turned around andughed, still wearing the headset.

    ¡°She came here suddenly in the middle of the night to have a talk, but we don¡¯t have anything worth finding out about. I think he¡¯s trying to scout someone he originally knew, right?¡±

    ¡°It is unlikely that they will talk about PMC or alien races openly in the office¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true.¡±

    The employee shrugged in response.

    Meanwhile, Matt and his team focused on the traces left near the El Paso branch and found something suspicious. The traces of the invasion of an unknown force into the branch were very clean. Still, the trails left after entering the building and the traces left outside the building while retreating with Eraser were as if they werepletely different groups.

    It seemed as if they becamepletely different people before and after the invasion. It was possible to specte that they escaped with him after being brainwashed by Eraser. Perhaps the hypothesis was that they weren¡¯t the helpers of Eraser but were brainwashed while trying to capture Eraser from thepany. Matt¡¯s team discovered the existence of a PMC (Private Military Company) after intensively digging into the traces left behind; apany whose business owner disappeared several years ago has stopped official activities, judging from external data alone.

    However, as a result of the investigation, it was discovered that there was a secret and steady movement in the meantime and several borrowed-name ounts associated with them were tracked ording to the flow of money. As a result, it was found that there may be a connection between an ount used to sponsor this PMC and any private foundation financially.

    There was no conclusive evidence yet, but it was a discovery that was sufficient to change the investigation¡¯s direction. Matt began to dig deeper into the foundation, which he couldn¡¯t even imagine sponsoring the PMC when he looked at their publicly known activities. As part of that, it was the fifth day since he started eavesdropping on that man.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know who she is, but that¡¯s a bizarre talk. Did she said someone wrote a novel featuring the main character named Alice, whether it was her dead boyfriend or her husband?¡±

    ¡°How do you investigate personal information with such a hint? If we wait, she wille out of the parking lot, so just take a picture of her car number.¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it¡­wasn¡¯t Louis, the author of Alice in Wondend? Louis Carrol.¡±

    ¡°Hey, when did Louis Carroll die?¡±

    ¡°¡­Hasn¡¯t it been more than 100 years ago?¡±

    ¡°Are there only one or two novels featuring the main character named Alice? Stop talking nonsense and keep an eye on the entrance. Since that room is the only ce that lights up in that building right now, I¡¯m sure the woman with the sweet voice will be in the next car. I¡¯m going to smoke.¡±

    Matt checked the camera footage outside the truck. After confirming that there were no passers-by, he carefully opened the door, went back into the alley, and lit a cigarette. It had been a few days. Did he make a mistake?

    Soon he cut off his own thoughts and shook his head. No matter how much he looked at it, there were too many suspicious parts. With a cigarette in his mouth, he lifted his head and looked up at the building. The name of the foundation, which used this building, sparkled in the light of a neon sign. Matt read after it realizing it.

    ¡°Global Initiative for a Better World¡±

    It was alsomonly known as GIBW. It was one of the most famous social-aid foundations in the world. Their ads were often exposed on TV, and there were rumors that the size of the aid fund being rolled was close to the level of a globalpany. The target of which Matt and his team members had been eavesdropping illegally for days now was the Foundation¡¯s chairman, Eugene D. Wright.

    Even this morning, he stepped inside the building, smiling at the people around him, revealing an incredible baby-face despite being in histe 40s. And he was stuck in the office until almost midnight. Matt had been bugging him all day, but he hadn¡¯t been able to find any usible content. Why did the foundation specializing in drilling wells, distributing food, andying roads in Africa, have to make aplicated circumvention to the PMC and make deposits ofrge sums of money?

    And the conversation he had in there¡­it couldn¡¯t be said that it wasn¡¯t suspicious at all. There were too many awkward contexts for an ordinary scout offer. How many times did the word family repeat? It was also meant to say that he was rejected while trying to invite a guest.

    ¡°Huh¡±

    As if trying to clear up hisplicated mind, he breathed in the cigarette smoke deeply, but Matt¡¯s gaze fell toward the top and stopped in one ce. The chairman¡¯s office was the only one in the building with the lights still on. From the open window, he could see something small flying up.

    Was it a bird? In the middle of the night? He thought birds were flying to such a high floor. It seemed to have been sitting in the gap of the open window and then took off again. He also thought he saw a small dot on the bird¡¯s back glistening, but he felt it was insignificant because of the light leaking out of the office.

    The cigarette burned, the deep scarlet light burning through the night.

    Maybe it would be a long-term battle, right? Asking so, Matt exhaled cigarette smoke with a deep sigh.

    * * *

    The wind blowing in the winter night sea was cold, so it was still unpredictable. I regrly conjured warmth around my body and looked at the approaching dark figure.

    ¡°This is thest time.¡±

    On the night when the moon didn¡¯t rise, another body was pushed up on the beach of Yeong-jong Ind, where darkness fell. The summoner pushed the man¡¯s body and pulled it up to the beach, then looked at me while still half-soaked in seawater. I spoke to the summoned creature, which threw its eyes as if asking if there was anything else to do.

    ¡°Now go back.¡±

    I opened the Channel on my chest, and the sea snake-shaped creature, which had rescued dozens of corpses from the sea of ??Yeong-jong Ind, returned to its original dimension. I approached the corpses scattered all over the sandy beach. Although I prepared my mind in advance, it was the first time I saw a drowned body with my own eyes. It seemed that he tied a pouch full of scrap metal and sand to his ankles, then went out on a boat and jumped into the water.

    I tried to keep myposure and carefully shed Mana on the bodies. The reaction came back quickly. Most of the artifacts were made in the form of jewelry, such as earrings and rings. As the Fake God said, if someone who wasn¡¯t the owner touched or attempts detachment, it was supposed to self-destruct. The absence of a wrist or head among the corpses appeared to be a sign of the Fake God¡¯s failure.

    It was a peculiar magical pattern, but it wasn¡¯t as untouchable as the Fake God thought. This level could be analyzed by myself without asking Parvache. I borately sent out my Mana to remove all artifacts¡¯ self-destruct function. Then I began to search the bodies directly. Not only had all artifacts been retrieved, but I also searched for items that could identify them. Most of them had things like wallets and passports on their bodies. I didn¡¯t know if the ID card was real, but I needed to secure it first.

    It had been damaged considerably by seawater, but I needed to try somehow. These belongings weren¡¯t the only ones damaged by seawater. I looked down at the bodies and asked Parvache.

    ¡°If they were alive¡­wouldn¡¯t we have been able to reveal their identity by somehow pressing the Fake God?¡±

    Having died like this, it was difficult to get the information out of their head.

    [I don¡¯t know what kind of magic it was that made the memory invisible, but if your skill level was about this artifact, it might have been possible to destroy the spell.]

    ¡°Right. After that, we could have threatened Fake God and shed their memories. Making everyonemit suicide¡­it¡¯s frustrating.¡±

    There would be limitations to revealing the identity of this organization with only artifacts. The best thing was to interrogate the parties involved directly. Still, I couldn¡¯t immediately think of a way to get information from the dead. I didn¡¯t learn the magic of that line in the first ce. Even if I started training now, it would take too long.

    Anyway, I decided to retrieve all of these bodies as nned. The corpses were loaded into a container and thenpressed for a few days in a carefully prepared order. Having lost both its original weight and volume, I picked it up with two fingers and put it in my backpack.

    ¡°I have to find a way somehow. How to find out who these guys are. Why did they attack the Fake God? What about the scale and power of the ascetics¡­and, what the hell are they trying to do to regenerate the Dragon?¡±

    Parvache nodded.

    ¡°Now, let¡¯s go back.¡±

    * * *

    ¡°The moon is so bright.¡±

    It was a full moon. Mrs. Pearl, with her head out of the window, was facing toward the snow this time. While being engulfed in light, she watched the scenery passing by quickly, far below.

    ¡°Is there any way to further improve this technique, Daejong-maek?¡±

    ¡°What is there to improve?¡±

    ¡°If there was a way to fly so far in the first ce, I don¡¯t think Brother Garam and I had to suffer a few months ago.¡±

    ¡°Mrs. Pearl, are you saying it because you don¡¯t know how hard the elders worked toplete this technique?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that, but¡­¡±

    Mrs. Pearl seemed like she couldn¡¯t shake her regret.

    ¡°It¡¯s a technique that wepleted after working on both the White Deer and the Han River for almost a month. If it weren¡¯t at the level of moving the whole vige, we would never repeat this technique. Elder Mago told us that we would never move the vige again while you were alive.¡±

    ¡°Is there any way to improve it so that it is not just possible to move the vige, but also existences like us?¡±

    ¡°ording to the principle of this technique, whether it is a vige or you, Mrs. Pearl, there is no big difference in the amount of effort it takes.¡±

    At that time, Garam, lying in his original main body on the heated floor with his stomach facing the sky, turned over to their side. He pointed at Mrs. Pearl with his long nose.

    ¡°Mrs. Pearl, you fainted thest time you flew with Brother Yu. Do you need such a technique?¡±

    She responded with a blush.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t see it because I was out of my mind, but at that time, didn¡¯t you almost be half-dead, too?!¡±

    ¡°No¡­well, it was the first time I ever flew so fast.¡±

    ¡°If you look at that, isn¡¯t this technique really great? Even though it is flying at the same speed as then, it doesn¡¯t strain my body, and I feel less dizzy.

    ¡°Would you like to take some Maek¡¯s Iron if necessary? If you nt it in the center of the house to be built, the utility will increase when you spread the technique around the house.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­no. I know that Maek people use it that way¡­ I¡¯m okay.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl forcefully refused with a smile. It was called by a usible name, such as Maek¡¯s Iron or Maek¡¯s Copper, but as long as she knew how to make it, it was ufortable toy atop it.

    ¡°Ah, I understand. It is an idea that is familiar only to our people, but to others¡­¡±

    Yusuughed bitterly as he said so, but Garam suddenly got up from his seat as if he thought of something.

 Chapter 55

    Condition of Trust (10)

    ¡°Right, Brother Yu. Thest time I stayed at the house of that Yoon Min-joon guy, didn¡¯t I eat a lot of this or that unusual kind of metal? Perhaps because of that, aftering back, the strange nature of Maek¡¯s Iron and Maek¡¯s Copper came out. Now, I put them in the Maek¡¯s house¡¯smon warehouse, but when I think about it, it would be right to give them back to him. Although all the Gold has been omitted, it would be useless to humans anyway, and the use of the material itself will be found. How about passing this together when delivering the second aid?¡±

    Yusu nodded his head.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Take care of it.¡±

    ¡°Ah, well¡­Daejong-maek.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl intervened with a darkplexion.

    ¡°Even if you hand them over¡­why don¡¯t you just exin it to the extent that it is a metal created with Maek¡¯s Mana? I don¡¯t think we need to exin how you made it.¡±

    ¡°¡­Let¡¯s do that.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I think we¡¯re almost there now.¡±

    Garam approached the window, and he said, ¡°I can see the river far away.¡±

    Looking at it, next to him was Mrs. Pearl, who said, ¡°Ah¡­I can see Yoon¡¯s house over there!¡±

    ¡°So, have the elders concluded that we would no longer be wary of Yoon?¡±

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible to believe him?¡±

    Yusu thought for a moment, then shook his head. More than a month ago, when the battle broke out with an alien from another world, Parvache refused thepany of Garam and Mrs. Pearl. Both were at the level of a few hundred years old, and the Fake God could brainwash them. Because of that, the two couldn¡¯t see the crack in the open space on Yoon Min-joon¡¯s chest. Yoon Min-joon refused to exin it in detail to Yusu. After Yusu returned to White Deer, he informed only a small portion of the story to the vige¡¯s elders.

    ¡°Can trust be built up in a day like that? As long as we havepleted the contract¡¯s text, we believe in the coercion applied to each other. However, it would be of great significance just that this rtionship was built based on goodwill and cooperation, not evilness or hostility.¡±

    ¡°Trust¡­¡±

    ¡°But this is the whole vige¡¯s perspective, and personally¡­ isn¡¯t he my lifesaver? Without him, all my strength would have been helplessly deprived by the demon. And even if that¡¯s not the reason, I think I can trust him.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl heard from Yusu about what had happened after he returned to White Deer. The alien races¡¯ abilities were of a kind she had never imagined¡ªthe ability to manipte the mind by erasing their most trusted entity and recing the object with oneself. If she had a seed of domination in herself, what was the target? Could trust unmarred by doubt toward another person exist in her own heart? Even if it existed, what was the point of a mind after all if it copsed in an instant due to a technique?

    Having suchplicated thoughts, Mrs. Pearl suddenly asked Yusu, ¡°What about the report?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s it. There will be no more things to report or instructions with this.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl nodded. She and Garam wrote a lengthy report a few weeks ago and presented it to the elders. It was all that she observed after seeing Yoon Min-joon. In Garam¡¯s case, it was apanied by an analysis of Yoon Min-joon¡¯s dream. Like most dreams, the dream scene couldn¡¯t be interpreted as urate because of its improbable connection and hard-to-understand symbolism. At least it was possible to grasp only the extent to which it seemed that he had been in contact with something powerful and fearful as a child.

    As long as the contract was revised after the case ended and the collection of dreams against each other was forbidden (there was a strong protest from Yoon Min-joon in the process, and in return, the size of the support product increased significantly), it would remain the only observation record of his dream. The elders weren¡¯t very satisfied with the report¡¯s contents produced through this process. Still, they seem to have stopped digging into his identity any further.

    Mrs. Pearl quietly asked herself. In this situation, to create a usible trust between the two groups, what conditions must be further satisfied? Even if not enough to be the seeds of domination. Feeling the altitude going down, Mrs. Pearl woke up from her brief thought.

    * * *

    ¡°Hmm¡­hu-hmm¡­¡±

    I was sitting on the terrace at home and staring at myptop. The white ones should be filled in, the ck ones should have been filled out, but the ck strokes on the screen I was looking at were just too short.

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s been a long time since I have graduated from school, and I realized it again ¨C I¡¯m not good at writing!¡±

    [¡­Is that so difficult? I don¡¯t think you can easily recall memories before the age of seven.]

    ¡°No, there are more events I remember than I thought. But I keep getting stuck because I try to exin it in detail.¡±

    I had to admit it: it was moreplicated than I first thought!

    ¡°Well¡­so, after I moved to Ulsan¡­how old was I when I came back to Seoul?¡±

    I was writing a word file in chronological order while squeezing my memories. From the first memories left in my head to the year before I met Parvache, this amount was the range set by Parvache and myself. I wasn¡¯t sure how the story would work if I actually summoned him and signed a contract. I typed words one by one with the feeling I was trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

    Parvache asked insistently.

    [Isn¡¯t it sad? Looking at how short your memory is.]

    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me that.¡± Without taking my eyes off the monitor, I responded, trying not to have a gloomy voice.

    ¡°I already made up my mind. I¡¯ll do everything I can.¡±

    [¡­]

    ¡°And it¡¯s okay. I can write it down like this. I¡¯ll read it, memorize it, and remember it again.¡±

    [¡­Okay.]

    ¡°What we need to worry about now is if this doesn¡¯t satisfy it. Shouldn¡¯t we be happy if we seed at this price?¡±

    [All right. I won¡¯t bring this up anymore.]

    That¡¯s how Parvache shut his mouth and began to focus on what he was doing again. Time had passed. I felt the spirit that I had been waiting for.

    ¡°Oh, it has begun.¡±

    I closed myptop and got up from my seat.

    My eyes were getting dim, too¡­ I would have to stop working here today.

    [It¡¯sing.]

    I nodded and gazed at the night sky beyond the veranda window. The cool light emitted by the full moon burned the shadows of the clouds. But my gaze wasn¡¯t on the moon but on something else flying in the night sky. I saw hundreds of meteors moving across the sky, bright, clear, full-colored tails, so the moonlight was colorless inparison. A magnificent sight that ordinary humans couldn¡¯t see. I followed the group of lights that went down to the Han River, leaving behind a beautiful scene just beyond my sight.

    ¡°My neighbor¡¯s life will not be long¡­ but I have to go and get the rice cakes. Now that the relocation is over safely, I have to ask them to release the second batch of aid products as soon as possible.¡±

    After that, all that was left was to learn the magic of using dreams, which I was putting on hold for now. There was something I had been working on these days. Even if I knew the dimensional coordinates, it was quite tricky to use them to set up an existence¡¯s first call-up.

    [In fact, isn¡¯t that street too far away to be called a neighbor?]

    ¡°Because it is within the range of the Mok-dong barrier anyway. Well, even if the barrier got removed after the preparation ispleted¡­¡±

    As I said, it wouldn¡¯t be long for the White Deer Vige and me to stay as neighbors. As for the contract details, it was essential to maintain the barrier in the Channel, but it didn¡¯t matter whether or not the Mok-dong barrier was maintained. All of the rted phrases were about opening the way for a while when they started the great migration.

    ¡°I won¡¯t live here anymore, so there¡¯s no need to keep maintaining the Mok-dong barriers.¡±

    Knowing the possibility that the Fake God¡¯s actions had been exposed to at least two groups, I decided to move as far away from Mapo Bridge as possible. There was no evidence that the country would reveal the individual identity for them. Hence, it wasn¡¯t a matter of great urgency. However, it was judged that we didn¡¯t need to continue to hold on because interest in this area would be more concentrated now that the secret was leaking out.

    Although the Mok-dong Barrier was a waste, I would take this opportunity to upgrade the barrier¡¯s nature and function and make it a new ce. It wouldn¡¯t happen right away in a few days. I was nning now wasn¡¯t the kind of oblivious blocking as it was now but establishing a barrier that strengthened the boundary function and selective response. It would take quite a long time just to write that spell.

    The problem was persuading my mother and my younger sister to move. How to solve this problem now was the most troublesome issue I had on hand. I was thinking of a way, and I was surprised to find myself thinking, ¡®If I were a Fake God, I would be able to induce two people to move.¡¯ And I felt terrible that I was now consciously avoiding such thoughts.

    No matter how much I sought my family¡¯s safety and mine, there was a bastion that shouldn¡¯t be touched. Even if I don¡¯t use it that way, I think I could somehow find a way to persuade or induce them to move. I do not have to abandon my humanity to get my family to safety.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The subject of my thought changed, and I quietly observed the anger that filled my heart and rose.

    [¡­Min-joon?]

    Parvache, seeing the change in my eyes, called my name but stopped talking when there was no answer. Have I ever had any time in my life bursting out of insane anger? Have I ever felt the murderous intentions when the blood all over my body boiled furiously?

    How about the Truth-Seeker? It seemed to me that the fear was more remarkable because it was a subject close to a tremendous natural disaster. Rather than be angry with earthquakes and typhoons, I would have been frustrated and mad at my fate that had been swept away by them. But now, I was feeling new emotions I had never felt before.

    Hundreds of dimensional portals had opened in this world, but I think I can live with that fact somehow. In any case, I would even run away to the dimension of the Dell Giants. The Earth had be a mess, but I still felt that it was a safer environment for me than before. The supernatural fear that threatened me, the Earth, where the transcendent Truth-Seeker¡¯s existence had been erased. But¡­ now I knew. The fact that guys were trying to bring back the horror that I thought I had run away from after decided it would no longer have anything to do with my life.

    If the Truth-Seeker came to me alive, I could prepare for it and learn the dimensional leap again. Until I have mastered the magicpletely, I could either avoid the power of the Echo of the Truth-Seeker and keep the barriers on Earth, or I could live with barriers on another dimension in case he risked the penalty and threw the power of the anti-Magic all over the. But¡­what if I could stop it in the first ce?

    It was unknown how the Truth-Seeker¡¯s regeneration was possible. But at least what was sure, those who directly n and carry out the process of regeneration wouldn¡¯t be the dead Truth-Seeker himself. I felt a rage of unknown depth toward the ascetics of the Earth, who had only now recognized its existence.

    Without knowing, I clenched my fists to the point where the blood disappeared from under my skin, and my hand became a pale white color. I will use all possible means, even if there was a limit to throwing away something precious because of that.

    And I would use all avable targets, regardless of whether there was trust or not.

    Yes, as Parvache said, I was a coward, an idiot. But I was an idiot who learned the sweet taste of liberation. If there were those who tried to bring that horror back into my life, they too would see how violent and enraged a liberated idiot like me could get.

    I wasn¡¯t going to let anything threaten my life again.

 Chapter 56

    The Soul Flows High (1)

    ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡±

    In the studio on the lower floor without a window, the reverberation of my voice returned coldly. In front, there were twenty-nine bodies lying side by side. Some of the corpses collected from the beach in Yeong-jong Ind some time ago had been burned, and that was what was left. In the meantime, the preservation magic was ced on them, so no further corrosion or damage urred.

    I nced at Parvache.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start.¡±

    The robot nodded, and I closed my eyes. Enormous Mana was concentrated in my chest, and it extended through the junction of the Dimension connected across the Channel. The density of Mana was entirely different from when I opened a Channel to a random dimension.

    Just before the Seed Channel was fully opened, an unfinished crack that could lead to any dimension absorbed the Mana. At the same time, the dimensional map stored in the unconscious was awakening. Compressed information shot like an arrow from the deepest sections of my mind to control Mana¡¯s flow. Power began to pave the way.

    In the chaos, where countless dimensions ovepped, the Channel moved to find the exact destination. As such, the spearhead of power, which found the Dimension, sensed my contractor and opened the door in front of it.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    I recited the spell. Through my soul and beyond the Channel, the promisednguage floated and conveyed the will to the other¡¯s consciousness. Finally, I felt the other party in the contract agree to my call and step into the Channel which was opened before it.

    -Ghooooooong!

    As the contractor entered the door across the world, a long forefoot covered with ck hair popped out from the Channel of my chest. It was a little longer than my waist height. It checked the floor several times with thin legs about as thick as bamboo, and its head was out of the Channel. Then it slowly took the rest of the feet and crossed over entirely.

    Before long, the atypical animal pulled its entire body out of the Channel. It looked at me as I deactivated the Channel after the summoning.

    =¡­Ah, already?=

    I nodded my head. At first nce, the summoned creature looked like a wolf with a very long snout. However, where the upper and lower lips should be, a sharp beak grew, and its two ears were like palm tree leaves. They appeared to be of the same material used by insects to make cocoons. Compared to the size of the body, the legs were long and slender. Standing on the ground with all four legs, its height reached up to my eyes.

    The name of this species was Yodmo, thetest sessful summoning I signed.

    ¡°Then, ording to the contract¡­¡±

    I pointed to the body lying neatly on the floor.

    ¡°Eat their memories. All you have to do is give me the memory of the group they belonged to just before they died.¡±

    Yodmo¡¯s eyes were looking at me¡­unenthusiastically. I tried not to show confusion on my face and pondered the reasons for such a reaction.

    Why? ording to the knowledge I gained from Parvache, the race called Yodmo always suffered from hunger. Even when I first called it out to sign a contract and had a conversation through its soul, I could feel the urge of terrible gluttony that was deeply seated in its mind. However, the atmosphere I felt today was totally different. A bit of annoyance now stood in Yodmo¡¯s eyes. What was the reason?

    Despite its mood, Yodmo epted my request ording to the contract.

    =¡­Good.=

    It walked with its long, slender legs, making a slow, grunting noise, and stood in front of the nearest body. Its legs bent slightly, and its neck stretched, bringing its long snout in front of the corpse to sniff it.

    ¡°Will it be okay? I¡¯ve preserved the body, but they were already dead for quite some time¡­¡±

    =Let¡¯s give it a try.=

    Yodmo opened the tip of its snout slightly and stuck out its elongated, pale pink tongue like a snake. It moved its tongue by drawing a vertical line against the body¡¯s philtrum with the tip of its slender tongue. The line was drawn by the tongue, which started in the middle of the body, passed through the nose, brow, and forehead, then turned around the body¡¯s scalp and continued to the upper part of the head that touched the floor.

    Yodmo left a fine line on the body¡¯s head with the fluid collected at the tip of its tongue, then put its tongue back in its mouth and waited for a few seconds. And¡­

    Geeck!

    The head of the body, which had been left still on the floor, split from side to side with an intense sound. The cross-section of the broken skull was smooth as if cut masterfully with a knife. The ce where Yodmo¡¯s tongue passed created this borate crack. The brain was revealed through the open skull. At first nce, it was in poor condition. However, Yodmo didn¡¯t mind and stuck its beak through the crack.

    -Slurp slurp, slurp.

    When I heard the creature suck the brain up, my expression distorted with unease. Yodmo moved slowly, never in a hurry. It opened all twenty-nine heads and ate all the brains present inside them. After therge meal, Yodmo approached me.

    ¡°Will it take some time to sort them?¡±

    =It¡¯s already done.=

    Yodmo chewed and spat out an opaque bead. It didn¡¯t fall to the floor but floated in the air, hovering around its mouth.

    =Out of 29 memories, only information on the group that they belonged to until the time of their death was sorted and put together. Most of them belonged to several duplication groups, but the ces where they truly felt a belonging were all the same. But the problem¡­=

    Yodmo continued speaking, striking the bead with the tip of its nose.

    =There are memories damaged over time after death, but it looks like something was caught in magic. Due to its influence, some parts were vtilized at the time of death. The remaining memories are notplete.=

    ¡°I guessed that already.¡±

    That¡¯s why we had to destroy the spells while they were alive. It was best to destroy the spells before they died, then press the Fake God to make them confess with his power. If the Fake God didn¡¯t obey my threats, then I could have signed a contract with Yodmo and pulled out all of its memories alive.

    Unlike the Fake God, Yodmo could extract memories from dead creatures. However, the power seemed to be less effective than when targeting living and thinking creatures. Still, using this bead would reveal more information than the Fake God found. Yodmos were real specialists when it came to retrieving memories.

    ¡°Then¡­the first request ends here. Return to your original Dimension¡­¡±

    =Wait a minute.=

    ¡°Well?¡±

    Was there anything else? The Yodmo looked at me for a moment with its unmotivated eyes, then teased his mouth and again spat out another opaque bead. This time, the size was muchrger.

    =All memories except for the memories that were ssified earlier. It contains both superficial and unconscious memories. This is from the 29, too.=

    ¡°What, you don¡¯t need it?¡±

    Yodmo quietly nodded its head.

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t mind it, but originally, the terms of the contract were that I would take the memories that I wanted, and you eat the rest for each call, right?¡±

    =It was.=

    Yodmo responded drowsily. This was a little strange, no matter how much I looked at it. A race called Yodmo was the superior entity that crystallized and consumed memory. For them to be satisfied, they must eat the enormous memories of beings that had lived for a very long time, and this race didn¡¯t have the power to deal with such a long-lived species.

    Therefore, they mainly hunt for lower-level beings who were weaker than themselves and ate away their memories. Even if they eat the memories for such a short time, it is said that they didn¡¯t always grow full. That was why most Yodmos were always starving and suffered from hunger that was close to madness. This Yodmo contracted with me was no different. Until the moment when the first contract was signed.

    =¡­In fact, even though you didn¡¯t ask for a few days, I was trying to get the first request on the very day of the contract.=

    Yes, it was a few days ago that I signed the contract with this Yodmo. After signing the contract, I asked for a few days before making the first request. This was because it took time to restore the deviated corpses to their normal state by applying the preservation magic.

    =Usually, it doesn¡¯t feel like I eat anything even though I ate the memories of a human-like you for several years.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    On the day I first called it, Yodmo demanded two kinds of prices from me. One was the price for the act of signing a contract with itself, the superior being. The other was the price that I had to pay every time I called out and requested. What Yodmo, who first appeared in the world, requested as a price for a contract¡­was my memory as the summoner, as Parvache expected. This was like a kind of ritual procedure.

    And the discussion about what memories to pay in return had already been done with Parvache. I didn¡¯t want to categorize the memories to hand over. For example, if I say take only useless memories, the standard was unclear. If Yodmo randomly ssified and passed the memories that shouldn¡¯t be lost, there was a risk of affecting the magic.

    So, we decided to set the period in which the memory was umted and agreed to cut it. Losing memory after meeting Parvache was dangerous. It went without saying any more about the memories of learning magic. So, I decided to give Yodmo all the memories from birth to the year I met Parvache, the year I was seven, in return. This memory¡¯s scope included memories that I could consciously ess and those that had sunk in the deep swamp of oblivion in the subconscious.

    That memory was too short, so Yodmo looked unpleasant (at first, he asked for more than 20 years of memory!) Still, I convinced it that it was a third of my life so far, and it barely signed the contract. As a result, I now had no memories of until the age of 7 in my mind. Before summoning the Yodmo, I made a record in advance. Of all the memories until the age of seven, everything that could have been remembered was documented before summoning the Yodmo. Maybeter, something difficult might arise because of the memory loss.

    After signing the contract and losing my memory, I first opened myptop and checked the files. And I encountered an unfamiliar childhood record. It must have been a document I wrote, but I couldn¡¯t believe what I thought about writing this document. All of the past events described in this document felt like someone else¡¯s life. Yodmo¡¯s power was so sophisticated that I still had memories of writing this file. Still, no memories of the memories I would have had in my head as I typed the document. Not only the memories umted until the age of 7 were deleted, but all the memories that hade to mind after the age of 7 were deleted.

    Yodmo spoke, looking at me with obsidian-like eyes.

    =If I look at the object, I can see how much memory it is. At first nce, you had about 20 years of memory. Combining the conscious memory and the unconscious memory.=

    It was saying something simr to what the Fake God told me.

    =What I ate out of your memories¡­it was definitely only about six years. So, I waited for the first request. Expecting how many humans would have been prepared. Since you signed a contract with me, I hoped you would prepare for two or three hundred if you hadmon sense.=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    =But¡­things gradually changed over time.=

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    Yodmo said, pushing the crystal with its nose.

    =Anyway, I¡¯ll give you all the memories of 29 humans. I will not eat this.=

    ¡°Yodmo refuses to eat?¡±

    =Yes. I didn¡¯t know I was going to say this. It¡¯s my first time feeling it since I was born, but¡­=

    Yodmo looked at me.

    =I¡¯m so full right now.=

    * * *

    Yodmo was¡­full?

    Parvache and I were staring at it, dumbfounded. Looking at us, Yodmo continued.

    =I obviously cut your memories up to 7 years old, crystallized them, and swallowed them. It usually takes a few minutes to digest. I checked the size with my own eyes.=

    Tapping the bead of memory the size of my fist floating around its mouth, it added.

    =The size that crystallized your memory is far less than this bead. It was tiny and insignificant.=

    It made a groaning sound, expressing subtle feelings that seemed to be half mixed with satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

    =But while the crystal was being digested in my stomach, something strange happened. Even now, the phenomenon of The Vial of Adelegos is urring.=

    Yodmo cited the divine relic, which collected and stored sounds of all dimensions. The vial was said to have created rivers and streams where sound flows in A-Verdag because the bottle¡¯s size didn¡¯t meet God¡¯s greed.

    =In the process of digesting the tiny crystal, memories of unknown identity are continually being released and filling my stomach. Your childhood memories are already digested and over. This is a memory like a ck fog that I cannot interpret. It looks like it waspressed and embedded in a size smaller than dust in the deep bottom of your memories before the age of 7 years. It seems like it¡¯s recovering the original size while I digest it. However, even if I digest this, there is no end.=

    Then Yodmo said, pointing at me.

    =I knew you were a unique human. Opening doors to multiple dimensions, bringing in an entity like me, and signing a contract, it seems that there was a side effect, right? This enormous amount of inexplicable memory is probably not yours. The fact that memories that are not yours are piled up at the bottom of your mind is a phenomenon that I saw only in high-level wizards a long time ago¡­anyway, I am very full, thanks to that.=

    I couldn¡¯t understand Yodmo¡¯s words well. Since it said it was sorge, I thought that the dimensional map under the unconsciousness was judged as memory, and some of it was taken, but it seems that wasn¡¯t the case. I checked the map when I summoned it a while ago, but there were no signs of damage. Most of all, the map was imnted into me after I met Parvache. There was no reason to have dimensional maps mixed with memories before the age of seven.

    Yodmo looked at me before continuing.

    =Since you often sign contracts of souls with superior beings, theirpressed memories have likely flowed into your subconscious. It can¡¯t be your real memory, can it?=

    Hmm? That was also a bit strange. I started the summoning after meeting Parvache. How did the memories of the superiors¡¯ blend into my memories before the age of 7? Yodmo signaled me to reopen the Channel without worrying about my upset expression.

    There were many more questions I would have liked to ask, but Yodmo had done all of his work, so I had to follow the other person¡¯s intentions ording to the contract. And the Yodmo was hoping to go back right away. I opened the Channel on my chest, and Yodmo looked back at me as if it had something on its mind while trying to get into it.

    =Thanks to that, I learned the feeling of being full. Even if it were a memory shared by a superior person, it would be over if I digested it for a few more days, but it would be better to givepensation.=

    Perhaps because it was reluctant to be penalized because the contract was interpreted as unfair, Yodmo stopped its steps going back. Then it cuts off part of its ear without touching it. In the inner wing-like ear of an insect, one of the numerous branches was cut off and slowly flew to me. I held it in my hand.

    =Ask the spirit who advises you what it is for.=

    With those words left behind, Yodmo returned to its original Dimension.

 Chapter 57

    The Soul Flows High (2)

    I felt ufortable, but I decided to ask for more details when I called Yodmo next time. I had other matters to attend to first. After I heard the purpose of Yodmo¡¯s ears from Parvache, I headed to the warehouse to store it and take out what I needed.

    -Wooong

    The door that read my Mana pattern opened automatically. As soon as I entered, I headed straight to the area where the items received from White Deer were stored.

    ¡°Ah¡­it¡¯s ufortable to keep these things piled up like this, and there¡¯s no way or time to dispose of them¡­¡±

    Countless items were stored in arge space that was several times the size of ??my existing warehouse. Items that weren¡¯t artifacts and weren¡¯t rtively easy-to-cash precious metals such as gold or jewelry do not fall under any category. I had to go through this to get to the area where the White Deer¡¯s artifacts were kept.

    I recalled what Yusu said.

    He said ¨C ¡°it was a bonus given in the hope for continual cooperation in the future.¡±

    Actually, these things don¡¯t even belong to the support I¡¯d been asking for. Human items obtained through interracial-level exchanges with humans before the agreement or that they secretly brought after the previous agreement. Were they some of the things that their people kept as a kind of ¡°hobby¡± to remember the old days?

    The most considerable quantities were items such as bronze swords, jewelry, and mirrors. There were many things made of gold, but they were sorted separately in the precious metal section. I thought that I saw many knives among them, but the color was silver, unlike in the photos. So, it took some time to search for memories until I realized that it was very simr to what was on the cover of a national history book when I was in school.

    It came to my mindtely to wonder how they fought with these fat, bumpy knives. Although the proportion was rtively small, there were endless handicrafts made of ss and iron, ceramics, incredibly soft fabrics, paintings, weapons, old books, and wooden furniture. Honestly, I had given up on converting them ??right now.

    ¡°I have no intention of disposing of them right away, but¡­¡±

    The problem was that I had no knowledge or understanding of these things. I didn¡¯t have awork, so I wasn¡¯t sure how to dispose of them. Still, there was no reason to ask those people to take them back, so I took them. I was even taking the trouble of expanding the warehouse. I walked through a section where all kinds of bronze items were stored. I passed a section where melon-colored ceramics were gathered with a very ambiguous structure to wash dishes. I reached the destination I wanted after turning around the wall with dozens of portraits of the king, whose face was visible.

    It was an area located quite deep inside the warehouse. This was where the artifact-ss items received from the White Deer were collected and stored.

    ¡°Oh, where did I put it?¡±

    After wandering for a moment, I found what I was aiming for and then brought it out into the living room.

    ***

    What I put down on the living room floor was a vast te made of silver about the size of my body. I poured water from a two-liter bottle and infused Mana in it. After a while, the water gathered in the concave groove trembled. It spread around, forming a shallow water film over the entire te covering it. Then, a familiar face floated over the surface of the te.

    It was Yusu. The te even conveyed his voice.

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s been a long time. Master Yoon.¡±

    ¡°Long time no see.¡±

    This artifact came over to me, although there were only a few, even in White Deer. White Deer people were so ufortablemunicating with me because my message magic system waspletely different from theirs, so I asked for something useful ¨C an artifact meant formunication.

    ¡°It has already been a month since the move was over. Are you almost finished with the cleanup?¡±

    ¡°Thanks to you. Now, my hands are a little free, too, and I have nothing to do except for the regr rituals. Anyway, I¡¯m listening to the news. Garam was terrified that you were learning the Maek¡¯s technique at a ridiculous pace.¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t even reached the implementation yet.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about the implementation, but in the first ce, this technique has no history of being mastered by any other race than the Maek.¡±

    I now knew why. The magic that Maek used was only possible when the nature and pattern of the natural Mana of the race was the basis. However, while Garam stayed in this house before, the hidden observation magic everywhere recorded everything about him. It wasn¡¯t just his physical body but the entire movements of his inner Mana. Parvache studied all the collected data, then solved the problem by merely teaching me how to copy his Mana.

    ¡°Moreover, it¡¯s not normal to go all the way to the stage of collecting dreams. Even for Maeks, it takes years of training¡­ but it¡¯s just amazing.¡±

    Yusu shook his head as if he couldn¡¯t believe it. Parvache¡¯s virtues were also great for the speed of learning. During Garam¡¯s ss, Parvache, who was listening to the magical principle, thoroughly analyzed and reinterpreted it with the magical theory that I was familiar with, making it easier for me to learn.

    Once I converted it to a form I knew, the rest was easy. It usually took less than a month for me to learn a single spell. Instead, in the case of this magic, the progress was slow due to the preparation of summoning Yodmo. Nevertheless, it seemed to be a tremendous speed to Maek¡¯smon sense. At the beginning of the ss, Garam¡¯s consistent expression with the attitude of ¡°How dare a human to learn this?¡± became distorted day by day. In the end, it was quite exciting to watch him deny the world in a corner.

    ¡°By the way, I know there is no ss today. What¡¯s going on? Shall I call Garam?¡±

    ¡°No, I have business with you today, Yusu.¡±

    It was said that seeing the soul was the characteristic of the Maek, so it was possible to call Garam. Still, no matter how much I thought about it, Yusu was more reliable. In fact, Parvache¡¯s interpretation of the soul was also much more urate.

    ¡°Would you like to stop by my house? I have a favor to ask you.¡±

    Yusu looked at me with an odd look, and I exined to him what I wanted. He pondered for a moment, then nodded and agreed.

    ¡°Okay. I will visit you.¡±

    Then, he continued as if he suddenly remembered something.

    ¡°Well¡­by the way.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I had something I wanted to ask, and it¡¯s good to hear from you, Master Yoon.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    In Yusu¡¯s eyes, a little irritation passed by.

    ¡°Is there anything big that has happened to human society these days?¡±

    When ites to big things, there was one thing that came to mind.

    ¡°Why has the number of humans jumping into the Han River increased suddenly since thest few days? Gatekeepers cannot watch humans drown, so they bring them to the vige, which is a big problem.¡±

    Ah. I nodded my head.

    ¡°Moreover, we can¡¯t just let the people whoe into the vige go away, and we can¡¯t hurt them, so we erased their memories one by one and sent them back, which is very troublesome.¡±

    Um, well, that¡¯s a tough job. Still, seeing that they didn¡¯t hurt the humans who hade to know the vige¡¯s existence, I could roughly see how they treated ordinary people. They didn¡¯t want to reveal their existence yet, and they didn¡¯t want to get involved with people, but that didn¡¯t mean they would take human lives with their own hands.

    ¡°Moreover, there is only one elderly who can use such a technique in the vige; Elder Mago is about to explode. She had a hard time moving the vige, and now she tried to rest a little, and it¡¯s like a bolt out of the blue.¡±

    ¡°I see what¡¯s going on.¡±

    ¡°What on earth is the reason?¡±

    I struggled, scratching my chin. How did I exin this?

    ¡°There is a country called the United States. It¡¯s a country on another continent thates out after a very big ocean.¡±

    ¡°What does it have to do with that country and the humans jumping into the river on thisnd?¡±

    ¡°Washington¡­the capital of that country, was terrorized a few days ago. Oh, what I mean terrorized is¡­anyway, the building exploded, and many people died.¡±

    To be exact, it wasn¡¯t downtown Washington, D.C., but it was located less than 10 kilometers from the White House. A week ago, at night, the warehouse site, which had a radius of several hundred meters, was bombed. Everything, including the bodies of victims who worked at night, was burned down, leaving no trace behind in the wake of the explosions. The federal government quickly released the investigation results that a gas explosion caused it. Still, a different public opinion arose from the media and the Inte.

    Photographs and remaining samples were taken at the site were leaked to the press despite strict federal control. It was impossible to exin why volcanic was formed at the fire caused by a gas explosion.

    ¡°There was no seismic activity at that time to see it as a volcanic eruption, and they can¡¯t exin why it became a rocky area in that short amount of time.¡±

    ¡°Sure, I suppose so.¡±

    What¡¯s more, people¡¯s reactions were inevitably heated because rumors spread that the area was one of the ces where the federal government¡¯s wizards were secretly trained.

    ¡°The fact that some countries foster wizards is an almost open secret.¡±

    ¡°Well¡­what is the action of the human authorities to prevent social chaos?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly. It seems to be the purpose of concealing power¡­¡±

    The governments of each country had repeatedly put forward the stance of ¡°nothing has been confirmed.¡± However, there was no way it would work. Evidence revealed in various ces, such as videos and photos taken by individuals, people who rush to go missing overnight after rumors of psychics spread, and consistent testimony provided anonymously instilled confidence in the public. It was enough.

    ¡°I understand so far, but what does this have to do with humans jumping to death?¡±

    ¡°Oh, from here on, I have to give you a moreplicated exnation. It¡¯s also a field that I¡¯m not familiar with¡­¡±

    Even after the outbreak of the channel crisis, the United States, maybe because of the help of heavenly luck, had only experienced cases where the level was far lower than that of the U.S. military. Either no response had been made, or there were no significant threats of domestic Channels. I don¡¯t even know how the Fake God managed the media when he escaped from the intelligence agency, but it hadn¡¯t hit the news at all.

    For people around the world who believed that everything was under the control of the U.S. government, this terrorist incident came as a devastating shock. The result was a major crash in the world stock market, which was barely regaining stability. The aftermath came to the Korean market, and White Deer Vige seemed to be getting troubled by jumpers trying to kill themselves on the Han River Bridge.

    No matter how little damage had been done to the country, I don¡¯t understand well that the world had reached this point or how such a market has continued to exist. I heard that this was an opportunity, and when it fell to the floor, people who pick it up and aim for cold water continue to flock. Yusu¡¯s expression became serious after hearing my exnation.

    ¡°Is it also caused by an alien?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ it could be the alien things¡­ or it could be apletely different organization. However, since the motive is unknown, there is no meaning of spection.¡±

    Saying so, I slowly added a word.

    ¡°When you visit this time, you may be able to approach the truth.¡±

    ***

    Unlike before, Yusu visited my house in a very human way. He came from Han River Park by taxi. It was excellent progress in a short time. I asked them not to fly because of my concern that they might be caught in people¡¯s eyes as I couldn¡¯t be sure of the stealth they used. In such a situation, some of the gold I received from White Deer was disposed of, and I gave them some cash. Of course, it was like a drop in the bucketpared to the total I received.

    ¡°Wee.¡±

    After I brought Yusu into the house, we went downstairs together. It was a huge tank where he and I stopped in the lower floor¡¯s room,pletely enclosed without a single window.

    ¡°This is the essence of memory.¡±

    I showed Yusu a pair ofrge and small beads.

    ¡°What I¡¯m asking today is actually something that has nothing to do with the contract. In return, I will share the information.¡±

    Yusu nodded.

    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll get started.¡±

    Having said that, I reached out for the tank in front of my eyes. The green liquid filled the tank was a substance made by mixing many things with magical freezing liquid. With my gestures, the figure locked in it slowly rose upward.

    -Wooong!

    As the shackles attached to the hands and feet floated into the air, the body of Fake Good, locked in the tank, came up. Yusu, who saw it, groaned a little.

    ¡°Alien¡­¡±

    All of the clothing worn over his body had been removed, and the Fake God was unconscious and tied up. All twenty-three eyes were sewn with a wire made of enchanted magic metal. He was also immersed in a solution that absorbed all his Mana. The solution also functioned to sustain the Fake God¡¯s life by excessively slowing the Fake God¡¯s biological activity and providing minimal nutrition.

    As soon as his body emerged out of the tank, the Fake God¡¯s biological function began to normalize. His chest rattled as he began breathing, and he began telepathizing with a harsh cough.

    =Ah¡­ aaaaaaaah! Am I still alive¡­? I am alive¡­!=

 Chapter 58

    The Soul Flows High (3)

    The telepathy was full of despair and fear. He was trembling in fear with his view blocked. Even while being treated like this, he never attempted tomit suicide in a normal state of mind. It is said that people could kill themselves by bursting their circtory system with their own will even if their hands and feet were tied together due to their physical structure. Nevertheless, I made him regain consciousness because I knew he wouldn¡¯t be able to try.

    =¡­What else are you going to ask today?=

    The Fake God, who managed to settle his mind, closed his emotions and asked me, but I noticed the extreme tension he couldn¡¯tpletely hide. If you were a contractor of the demons, you would be crushed by the weight of the fear of death that couldn¡¯t be avoided. After the day that I suppressed the Fake God, I woke him up like this once a day, interrogated him, and knocked him out again.

    =¡­There is nothing more to say. Until when will¡­=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The suggestion to tell me everything you know didn¡¯t work. Concerned about some of the truths that hadn¡¯t yet been revealed to me, I continued to interrogate him and kept adding new questions for nearly two months. As time went by, the Fake God became more terrified. At first, he groaned in front of me on the hillside and burst into anger, but gradually he realized his situation.

    The Fake God must have been afraid every day when he fell asleep in the tank. He wondered if I would take his life while he was unconscious. Would he be able to open his eyes again? By the time his freedom of thinking came back, he would already be dead, and his soul would be in the hands of the demon. And now, after I had finished talking to Parvache, it seemed that almost all the information I could get from him had been taken.

    =¡­!=

    The Fake God¡¯s eyes trembled; his anxiety rose when there was no answer. I carried two memory crystals in my hand. Initially, I nned to use only the memory crystal for the organization those people belonged to. Still, there was no reason not to use all the other memories that had been obtained. I believe that Yodmo had skillfully cut out the memories. Still, I thought there was a possibility that there could be some useful information in the big crystal.

    So how did I use these crystals? I stretched out my palms and lifted the two beads into the air. Slowly, it flew towards the head of the Fake God. I wasn¡¯t a Yodmo. I couldn¡¯t eat the crystals to check this memory¡¯s content or nt it in my mind. If I did that, it would be mixed with my earliest memories, and I would stop existing as my original self.

    ¡°You said that you just have to touch it near the brain, right?¡±

    [Yes.]

    My memories of a dozen years and the lives of 29 people. Even if the bnce wasn¡¯t right, it didn¡¯t fit well. But just in time, I had already secured an existence that already had over a thousand years of memory. If you were familiar with that amount of memory, you could likely withstand it even if you were injected with dozens of additional human memories. Moreover, there was a suggestion that the truth should be told.

    I looked at Yusu. He had already heard my request and wasn¡¯t taking his eyes off the Fake God. The two opaque beads were soon absorbed into his head.

    =Aaah, aaaaaaaah, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahskdyigj!=

    My head seemed to be broken by the telepathic scream from the Fake God, who had epted the memories. I waited for a while with the receiver system circuit closed. The Fake God constantly twitched and trembled. The feeling that the memories of 29 people¡¯s lives were absorbed all at once would be insufficient to express as mere pain. Violet essence flowed from eight gill-like organs on his stomach. It said that when transparent body fluid came out, it was really a sign of death.

    =asdfgsaaaaahpleaseenotagainqwtywrwy!=

    Although I prepared my mind, it wasn¡¯t afortable sight. No matter if he was an alien, seeing him in front of me, tightened my heart. However, oveing the urge to avert my gaze, I gave strength to my eyes and looked at the scene. I asked Yusu to observe the soul, but I also kept my eyes on him. In that state, his cramps gradually calmed down after some time, fortunately, without any concerns. His trembling stopped, and I sighed with relief. After confirming that his breathing had stabilized to some extent, I spoke.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    The Fake God, who sensed the telepathy delivered by Parvache, barely raised his head and answered. Even though the memories of dozens of people raged inside him, the nted suggestion continued to apply.

    =Me¡­, I¡­, asfdfjhgjkd¡­=

    ¡°My name is Brendon Elliot¡­¡±

    =What are you talking about?! What? These memories?=

    ¡°I¡¯m Tamim Al-Hammad¡­ no, Anna Hawkins¡­¡±

    =What did you do to me?!=

    ¡°Umberto Bellomo!¡±

    =Noisy! I¡¯m asdkjgkjh¡­=

    ¡°¡­Chris O¡¯Neill¡­ no, David Moriyama¡­¡±

    =Stop!=

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ aaaaahhhh!¡±

    He used telepathy and his voice at the same time and began to pour out numerous names. In each memory, he spat out the truth. Many of the names he spoke of voice didn¡¯t match the passports. It seemed that they were fake IDs. All 29 people whose memories were absorbed were from English-speaking countries, and thenguage that the Fake God spat out was English. Hearing that, I infused Mana into the Speech Dissolving Beads that I had prepared in advance. Who knew that I¡¯d be using this for an alien interrogation. Having confirmed that the memory was absorbed, I decided to move on to my question.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll ask.¡±

    Now, even if the memory inside him was answered in English, I could understand it. I checked what I was most curious about. I wanted to hear a definite answer through the memories of those who actually belonged to that organization.

    ¡°Is your group working on a n to resurrect the Dragon?¡±

    The Fake God¡¯s memories gave the original answers he could, through telepathy.

    =¡­I have no group to which I belong¡­ Ah? This¡­you nted their memories in me!=

    Suggestion affected all memories, and 29 of them answered my questions with force, even when they were confused. Perhaps because the same answer was derived from all the memories, they answered me, which was a standard speech method for those memories, without any confrontation with each other.

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    As expected. Damn it! I asked one after another.

    ¡°What is the name of the organization?¡±

    The telepathy answered because of coercion, even though he knew it wasn¡¯t a question asked to the memory of Fake God.

    =I¡¯ve been independent and alone for hundreds of years¡­!=

    And, the information I wanted to hear came out through his voice.

    ¡°We are¡­Guardians of the Great Convention.¡±

    That¡¯s it. My eyes shone at the thought of finding a clue to focus on.

    ¡°What is the purpose of the organization?¡±

    He answered.

    =I don¡¯t know more about the organization of these guys beyond what I said the other day.=

    ¡°We are ordained to defend the Great Convention as those chosen by Him. Bing his limbs, we pursue, recover, dispose of humans who use the power of miracles, guard the continental borders, and monitor those who have crossed the wall to implement the Convention.¡±

    Calling Yusu here today was also to make him a witness. If I checked the memories of those 29 people alone and conveyed them in words, White Deer¡¯s decision-makers might not believe it. Yusu, who was listening closely to the words, nodded and spoke.

    ¡°Continental borders¡­I see what the Great Convention is. It seems to be referring to the agreement that the Dragon made after the war with the beings who crossed all the walls of the world. As a result, we were restricted from entering thend at the ethnic level and interacting with humans.¡±

    This was a story I had already heard of.

    ¡°Even if some individuals enter thend ore into contact with humans, it has been forbidden to pass on magic techniques or reveal their identity. I guessed they were the Dragon¡¯s eyes and limbs to monitor this, but I didn¡¯t know it was a human organization.¡±

    Then he tilted his head.

    ¡°But, that¡¯s weird. The Dragon has already died, and it has been confirmed that the agreement has returned to nothing. Why do you want to protect it?¡±

    As he conveyed his questions, the Fake God¡¯s memories answered.

    =I don¡¯t know.=

    ¡°¡­We do not recognize the termination of the Convention. Until the day of His resurrection, we will continue to carry out his mission. At the same time as He will rise again, the coercion of the Convention will also be restored.¡±

    That¡¯s as if it were natural to be resurrected.

    ¡°How on the earth is the group called Guardians of the Great Convention trying to save the Dragon?¡±

    The answer was disappointing.

    =I don¡¯t know.=

    ¡°We do not know.¡±

    Of course, the memories of the Fake God wouldn¡¯t know about it, but why do memories of those 29 people say they didn¡¯t know the answer to their organization¡¯s existential purpose? Was this knowledge that only a few of them guarded closely? When I asked about it, the answer came back.

    =I don¡¯t know.=

    ¡°Only the executives know the n in detail. This was information that wasn¡¯t allowed for apprentices like us.¡±

    I questioned again, ¡°Tell me all the names and whereabouts of the executives you know!¡±

    Then their memories borrowed Fake God¡¯s mouth and spat out several names and ces. Most of them were closer to nicknames than real names, and the site wasn¡¯t in the proper address. It was roughly said to be somewhere. The more I continued to interrogate, the more I learned. The Guardians of the Great Convention¡¯s rank and file seemed to be made up of a thorough point organization. These guys, called apprentices, had little knowledge of the useful information.

    After the ritual of baptism (which was more of a magic brainwashing), it seemed that only repeated training and mission execution was performed ording to themands from above. They didn¡¯t even know where the headquarters was located, and they were only quick about the organization¡¯s injected ideals and goals. I continued to ask about the part that kept bothering me. What did they do with humans using the power of miracles? There was a strong conviction that this organization might have been involved in terrorism in the United States.

    ¡°You said you were disposing of the human wizards? Did you really kill them all?¡±

    The Fake God responded with a low, suppressed voice.

    ¡°The apprentice retrieves the human wizard. The disposition after that is the responsibility of the executives¡­we do not know.¡±

    ¡°Why are you doing that?¡±

    ¡°Because exercising the power of miracles is the same thing as a sin for humans. As human beings, only the Guardians of the Great Convention, whom He acknowledged and directly controlled the number of, were allowed to use magic!¡±

    In the end, they said that they could be one, but others couldn¡¯t. It was possible to presume that human wizards were already mixed in their organization ranks.

    ¡°Why is it a sin to learn magic?¡±

    ¡°The practice of magic grows the soul and expands the spirituality.¡±

    ¡°¡­?¡±

    I didn¡¯t expect that word toe out of his mouth. That was the basicmon sense that any wizard knew.

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s right, but what?¡±

    ¡°Growing the soul is something that is not allowed for the human race.¡±

    ¡­I was gradually falling into abyrinth.

    ¡°We stop it. One of the sacred missions that have been around for many years.¡±

    [That¡¯s a little weird.]

    ¡°Yeah. It couldn¡¯t have been a long time¡­it¡¯s like there wasn¡¯t a human wizard before the Channel opened.¡±

    ¡°¡­Not like that. A significant number of human wizards have existed in the world for a long time since the Great Convention. A few human beings born with talent despite the shackles of the species.¡±

    He flinched as if he tried to resist coercion, but he couldn¡¯t win and continued to talk.

    ¡°Most of them end their lives without awakening their magic, but very few of them radiate their power with strong origins without a proper spell.¡±

    It seemed rare for being a wizard only with talent before the Channel opened. But what he was specifying now appeared to be a case like me, who seeded in actually implementing magic.

    ¡°Dangerous people use magic instinctively without teaching. They can create miracles unconsciously.¡±

    Right. There were a handful of geniuses who opened the Mana circuit with their own power. Come to think of it, it was weird. Was I the only one in this long history who was born with such qualities? The Fake God continued to answer me after receiving my question.

    ¡°The strange phenomena, such as the body floating in the air while sleeping, or the burning of a healthy tree while screaming. They spread easily and soon became our targets.¡±

    ¡°Oh, my God.¡±

    That wasn¡¯t someone else¡¯s story.

    ¡°And they disappeared, quarantined and concealed, even before they were even recorded in human history. We have yed a role in filling the voids where the species¡¯ shackles did not reach their power.¡±

    [Min-joon, it was fortunate that the magic you triggered when you were a child summoned me in a room where no one was present. If by any chance it was seen outside¡­]

    In my heart, I agreed with Parvache. What if my first summon took ce in front of people instead of sleeping? And what if the one summoned wasn¡¯t a mental body but a flesh body? It didn¡¯t stop there. The danger has always been around. When I had no concept, and Parvachecked information about the world, what would have happened if the words I was talking about at school weren¡¯t treated as a child¡¯s delusions? From the time Parvache was able to move its body, it also had knowledge of this world, and it forbade me to say and do such things. But by any chance, what if I broke its words and exposed it to the outside?

    Eventually, I would have been recovered by them, too. In the end, it meant that they had prevented the creation of proper wizards among humankind in that way. I calmed my mind and pointed out that I couldn¡¯t understand the meaning of the words he said.

    ¡°What do you mean by the species¡¯ shackles?¡±

    He responded with his voice.

    ¡°After the Great Convention, the races that crossed the wall were expelled from the continent. At that time, most of the inds were poorly popted and did not meet the conditions as the birthce of civilization¡­¡±

    The voice began to twist.

    ¡°He forbade those expelled from passing on magic to humans. And he withdrew all the magical knowledge from humankind.¡±

    Now gradually, I felt like a picture of what happened in this world was beingpleted.

    ¡°And finally¡­by using direct power, he put magic-repressing shackles in the genes of the human species. And the shackles have continued until recently.¡±

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s power was to suppress magic. There was something I could guess as soon as I heard it. However, with the knowledge I had so far, it was merely the power to deny and destroy the magic that was activated. I couldn¡¯t even imagine that it would be possible to suppress the human race¡¯s magical possibilities.

    No, wait. If he had used power on such a ridiculous scale, he would have been beaten up by a tremendous reaction¡­what made him do that?

    [¡­What the Truth-Seeker had to bear would have been a tremendous reaction indeed. The penalties will be weaker for the power to nullify the entire¡¯s magic, which we were worried about before. While doing that, what did the Dragon want to do with the humans in this world?]

    Parvache was right. In the end, it was said that the Truth-Seeker of the Earth had been trying to prevent the spread of magic in human civilization for a long time, even at the expense of such damage.

    ¡®No, but Parvache, isn¡¯t it possible to detect the power of echo of the Truth-Seeker? If something like that was nted in human blood, why didn¡¯t we know about it?¡¯

    [I do not know. Maybe it¡¯s because it¡¯s a tiny fragment of power nt in a gene¡­anyway, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ve been connected to your mind many times and shared sensations, but I never felt that there was such a thing in your body. Now that the Truth-Seeker is dead, of course, there will be none.]

    This world where the talents of wizards were scarce. It seemed that I could now understand why the situation suddenly changed after the Truth-Seeker¡¯s death. It was because power was extinguished upon his death.

    The ¡°power of anti-magic¡± that he sowed upon humanity ages ago.

 Chapter 59

    The Soul Flows High (4)

    After that, he only repeated simr words and seemed to know no more details. While trying to get the direction of the question, Parvache suddenly interrupted.

    [Min-joon, let me ask them a question.]

    Parvache directly asked questions telepathically.

    [Do you have any traces of the Dragon¡¯s corpse or whatever kind it is?]

    The memories receiving the questions were answered.

    ¡°We do not know.¡±

    [Okay¡­then let¡¯s change the question. If there is any trace of the Dragon, which ce is most likely to remain?]

    I knew what Parvache was thinking. I didn¡¯t know what kind of resurrection they¡¯re aiming for, but they may need a medium. The easiest thing to think of was the body, the vessel of the soul. However, I wasn¡¯t sure if this concept worked for Truth-Seeker either. What if we find the location, destroy it, or get our hands on it?

    ¡°¡­There is only one ce that would be possible. His nest.¡±

    There was probably a high possibility that they would answer that they didn¡¯t know again, but I asked.

    ¡°Where is the Dragon¡¯s nest? If you don¡¯t know, what is the most likely ce for that location?¡±

    He paused for a moment as if looking back on their memories.

    ¡°¡­An executive said once. He said that He enjoyed staying in a ce simr to his originalnd¡­¡±

    ¡°A little more detail.¡±

    ¡°The world environment in which He originally lived¡­the dry atmosphere and high temperature. And thend of the lonely.¡±

    It seemed that the memories were referring to desert terrain.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    It was better than nothing at all, but it wasn¡¯t a very helpful hint. How manynds in this world could be ssified as deserts? Howrge was that area? After that, the questions and answers continued for a long time. I continued to ask questions about finding the executives of this organization while continuing to derive information that could be a clue.

    As a result, I found out that their hands were closer than I thought. The wizards had increased since the Channel opened. They already had a rough grasp of the scale. The wizards that the Korean government secretly fostered were also within their target range. On the other hand, we also learned that the rank ssified as apprentices were all given simr artifacts.

    How much time had passed?

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    [Min-joon, look at that.]

    Parvache called me to see if I have found the same thing. Body fluids began to flow out of the body tissue, simr to the Fake God¡¯s nose.

    ¡®I should wrap up the interrogation for today.¡¯

    He could gopletely insane if we overdid it anymore. Just because he answered well didn¡¯t mean his mental state was calm. He was just giving a quick answer because the suggestion was taking precedence over any confusion or conflict. I threw telepathy that only Parvache could hear.

    ¡®Let¡¯s ask questions about the Channel on my chest¡­when Yusu isn¡¯t here.¡¯

    [Yes, I agree.]

    I didn¡¯t know if there would be any information in these lower ranks¡¯ memory, but I wanted to check it out. Did this organization know that the Dragon had opened a Channel on my chest? If they knew, I wanted to ask why. Had he ever done this to anyone other than me? Had the Dragon ever opened a Channel on the body of any kind of other creature? Usually, the Truth-Seekers do that to their ascetics¡ªa kind of medal for those who serve themselves.

    I would like to know. But¡­that was all for today. I reached out and lowered the Fake God¡¯s shackles back into the magical freezing fluid.

    -Woooong!

    The Fake God¡¯s body began to sink into the magic solution in the tank. He would like recovery in there, and then we could continue againter. Whether he felt his body immersed in the liquid, the Fake God, whose sight was sealed, spread telepathy in all directions.

    =Until when¡­ you¡­ keep¡­=

    Desperation, despair, and pain mingled in his will. I didn¡¯t evade it but epted it into my brain. Now, frowning or suffering from cheap guilt was nothing but a mental escape. As long as he was already in my hand, I would use him as much as possible. He tried to brainwash or torture me to open the Channel to A-Verdag and be a Truth-Seeker on his own. I was aware that he had quite a bit of detailed knowledge on how to torture humanoid creatures.

    =Uuugh!=

    I didn¡¯t know if this alien race signed a contract with the demons before or after he realized my existence. Was the reason to find a way for A-Verdag to ovee the fear of death felt as a contractor of the demon? Or was it that he inevitably signed a contract to subdue me like a step towards A-Verdag? Either way, it made no sense anymore. I had been asking countless questions to the Fake God so far, but I had never asked about this.

    This was for sure. He wouldn¡¯t be a Truth-Seeker. However, I was nning to prevent the loss of his soul to the demon. At least for the entirety of my life. The Fake God¡¯s body continued to descend, and finally, his head waspletely immersed in the tank. At the same time, he lost consciousness and drooped.

    ***

    ¡°Phew, I¡¯m dying.¡±

    It was the well-groomed brte man. He roughly buried his body on the couch in the corner of the lounge and slowly released the bow tie with one hand.

    ¡°You¡¯re joking too much, Mr. Wright.¡±

    The chief secretary, who thought that the word ¡°dying¡± didn¡¯t suit this situation and the man, blew a critic. The man nced at a taller ck woman than himself, and he shouted bah and snorted. Then hey down without taking off his top as if he didn¡¯t want to care.

    ¡°If you just lie down like that, your tuxedo will wrinkle.¡±

    ¡°Then what?¡±

    The man responded in a withering manner. The secretary, who was looking down at the scene, asked just in case.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to leave like this, are you?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I think.¡±

    Grace, the man¡¯s secretary, sighed. Then she approached him as if she had decided something.

    ¡°Eugene, wake up. At least say hello before you disappear. Again, if you¡¯re going missing in the middle again, Ang will be hysteric.¡±

    The secretary who called both her boss and the First Lady of the United States by their first name soon frowned at him. It was because Eugene closed his eyes as if he wouldn¡¯t listen to her anymore.

    ¡°It will be ufortable throughout the administration if we continue to hate like this. Ang is rumored to have been working on this charity party for weeks.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s less than two years away. For someone my age, that time will pass quickly.¡±

    ¡°But Benjamin must be running for re-election. He¡¯ll announce his candidacy when springes. And the approval rating is good.¡±

    ¡°Then I won¡¯t let him get re-elected. How about a sex scandal?¡±

    At the joke that her boss threw, his secretary shook her head as if there was no chance.

    ¡°That didn¡¯t work even 20 years ago. In today¡¯s social atmosphere, it¡¯s even more¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, really, people these days are so open-minded. They have no dignity.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, if you¡¯re going to disappear and be hated, you¡¯d rather bite her.¡±

    ¡°I absolutely hate it! She¡¯s not my taste.¡±

    Grace looked down at the grunting Eugene.

    ¡°¡­Anyway, if you¡¯re really going to leave like this, let¡¯s talk about work before that.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t what we are talking about also work? Did Ie here for the party? I came to work.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not that. It¡¯s about real work.¡°

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The man quietly raised his upper body. He threw his eyes as if he was about to speak. Grace stood up and opened her palms. Simultaneously, the sound and music of people¡¯s conversations leaking from outside the lounge¡¯s closed-door were cut off.

    ¡°The Disaster Response Project Team members entered Mauritania yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Did you get an intermediate report?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Grace nodded. In the spring ofst year, a Channel that appeared near Nouakchott, the Mauritanian capital, was flooded with criminal-type races, less than even 1m in height. It was a race ssified as HSN-R6-T18 ording to the United Nations¡¯ Table of Alien ssifications.

    The meaning is as follows.

    -Hostile

    -Supernatural powers such as magic, etc.

    -Non-intemunicable ability tomunicate with humanity

    -Risk Level 6: Need national-level armed response excluding nuclear options

    -Technological Civilization Level 18: Technology equivalent to the 18th century in human history (presumed to be capable of mass production at a low level)

    This was one of the bad cases among the alien that coulde out of the Channel, but fortunately, there weren¡¯t many. Also, because they fought them with firearms, the Mauritanian army sessfully eradicated the disparate alien race and sealed the Channel¡¯s vicinity. However, the problem was that the level of closure was insufficient.

    Since their initial appearance, there had been two other invasions, the most recent of which urred a month ago. Nouakchott has be a ghost city, and refugees from the old capital were all over the country. The neighboring countries refused to ept refugees. The government, which quicklypleted the relocation of the capital, had been shouting for a while that Mauritania can solve its own situation even though the country has reached its tipping point. Though the concept of sending U.N. troops or overseas troops has already disappeared, they had refused even to show signs of countries with minor or no damage.

    But only after the incident a month ago did they ept outside help. Nevertheless, they refused U.N. channel-rted disaster response organizations to enter the country. Only the Global Initiative for a Better World (GIBW) disaster response team was allowed to enter the country due to ack of religious background among private aid organizations, and rted personnel arrived in Mauritania yesterday.

    Their main task was to go around refugee camps, distribute aid, and provide medical services. However, some of them entered the country for apletely different purpose.

    ¡°¡­Alice did the executive move with the group, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. This is what her children learned from refugees.¡±

    Grace disyed the document on a tablet P.C. and handed it over to Eugene. Eugene, who was skimming the contents, raised his eyebrows as if the document had exceeded his expectations.

    ¡°Howe in a country where there is no changeable infrastructure and no alien groups to be used as instructors?¡±

    ¡°There is a high possibility that the information itself, the ones we could not secure¡­is wrong.¡±

    ¡°Get off from the sight of the United States? This small country?¡±

    Mauritanian troops were mobilized in Nouakchott¡¯s third interracial invasion a month ago. Among them, there was a group that stood out. Apparently, they were wearing the same uniform but moved separately from the other units, and crucially they didn¡¯t use firearms. General soldiers saw a scene where they poured cold air from their hands to freeze the alien races. This story seems to have spread among civilians, despite strict military control.

    ¡°I see why they epted our support and refused the entry of the U.N. aid team. Are they worried about leaking information? If it¡¯s practicable¡­it means they¡¯ve already fostered a great army of wizards, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. The refugees say they are gathering and training in a ce not far from the relocated capital. Alice has already confirmed the location.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s fast. As expected¡­¡±

    Grace looked into Eugene¡¯s eyes and asked.

    ¡°Then, what should we do?¡±

    The man shrugged his shoulders and answered.

    ¡°What do we do? Withdraw the wizards¡¯ power? It looks like they¡¯ve gotten a little bit bigger and even trained inbat, so this time, like in Washington, instruct them to move alone without an apprentice.¡±

    Since El Paso¡¯s painful experience, he had been refraining from using apprentices.

    ¡°The old ways don¡¯t work anymore.¡±

    Instead, they couldn¡¯t make fun of these wizards forever, so the work to improve and strengthen the apprentices¡¯ supplies was in full swing¡­ but until it waspleted, the executives would be busier for the time being.

    ¡°Tsk.¡±

    The manined in a small voice. The times had changed so strangely, and now the executives had to do the work themselves, so they had no choice but to run out of hands. The secretary nodded her head, picked up the phone, and made a short call. The code she spat out would be passed on to the local rescue team in Mauritania, and soon it will be passed on to Alice.

    ¡°By the way¡­¡±

    After finishing the phone call, Grace looked at her boss.

    ¡°What are you going to do in Seoul?¡±

 Chapter 60

    The Soul Flows High (5)

    It was believed that the majority of the apprentices who were sent to retrieve the False God entered Korea as a bunch. He collected information independently for two months via the United States. Still, the traces had been cut off like there was nothing from the start. If he didn¡¯t know the alien¡¯s abilities, he would be suspicious that they were caught and imprisoned by an organization like the CIA.

    Presumably, the CIA was only mistaken for controlling the species. The alien must have been entrusting his body to get information. Moreover, now that information had been acquired, there would be no more reason to be deliberately caught by humans.

    ¡°Is there any clue about what happened after entering the country? Still? It¡¯s already been two months.¡±

    Grace nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. He is presumed to have eaten a whole cult and then discarded them away.¡±

    Hundreds of dead bodies were found in a religious organization building in Seoul without any signs of resistance, which caused the Korean society to turn upside down about two months ago. ording to the information obtained, the body had simrities to some U.S. intelligence agents found near El Paso. Rapid aging, as if they had aged decades at once.

    It was sure that they were somehow rted to the Fake God. It was still unclear whether the body naturally aged when brainwashed or whether something else had been applied. Eugene stumbled on his memories.

    ¡°The purpose that he has gone so far¡­is it because of the unidentified flying creatures discoveredst spring? That was the information thest interviewer found out.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s most likely. Anyway, would those disgusting thingse from Korean channels?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s probably just that people haven¡¯t seen theming over. Because they can turn invisible.¡±

    When the giant was consumed and disappeared, the creatures were seen transparently melting into the atmosphere.

    ¡°I can¡¯t help but wonder if someone in this world has done it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s an overwhelming idea.¡± Eugene shook his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s not something that those who have crossed the wall can do. Isn¡¯t the response so immediate at what happened in the human city? Moreover, the timing was right after the channel opened. Well¡­no way humans could have synthesized such living things, right? No matter how much you look at them, they¡¯re magical beings.

    ¡°That¡¯s true, but¡­¡±

    ¡°If a human wizard of that level hadn¡¯t been recovered, and we didn¡¯t know until now¡­our necks would be blown away because of neglecting duty¡­well, even though the one who can directly cut off our heads is no longer here right now.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re pretty confident.¡±

    Eugene jumped to his feet with a long sigh, ¡°When we tried to retrieve that alien, we should have sent an executive.¡±

    That¡¯s what Grace agreed with. Eugene turned the me to the CIA.

    ¡°Those stupid guys, they couldn¡¯t properly grasp the ability of the creatures they were holding, and they made a report on it.¡±

    ¡°We should retrieve the bodies of the apprentices who disappeared together with that alien. I want to sweep that country¡¯s CCTVs, but our voice isn¡¯t reaching them.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    Eugene was worried for a moment.

    ¡°Either way, it¡¯s right to retrieve that alien. We don¡¯t know when we will see another race that has a way to contact the Truth-Seeker in their world. And the apprentices and artifacts that disappeared together should also be retrieved.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Just, we aren¡¯t ready yet.¡±

    Compared to two months ago, the conclusions hadn¡¯t changed.

    ¡°If we send additional apprentices to Seoul now, and they are brainwashed again, we will only pour water in the bottomless pit. After the artifact reinforcement work is finished, let¡¯s put it in with the executive.¡±

    After groping for a moment, he asked what he was thinking of.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s a different mission, but we have an apprentice in Seoul, right? How is the progress?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been a while since they started training, but the level is still sloppy. It can¡¯t evenpare to the school in Washington. Since the number that was collected is also less than 200¡­it seems that it is too early for us to intervene.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. If there are 200 people, all the wizards of that country haven¡¯t been gathered yet. There is no such thing as a dangerous wizard that needs immediate disposal. We have to wait for it to get bigger and level up. With it in our sight.¡±

    After the withdrawal, the n was to disguise it as a violent assault of a mad wizard. Still, if the overall level were too low, it would just garner suspicion. For example, it was strange that the Earth melted, and hundreds of people were wiped out only because a wizard who was barely burning fire ran out. If people notice a group was targeting wizards, they would be frightened and dig deeper into the shadows.

    ¡°Ah, in the past, if we asked the king, we could control the country at our will. Why is it soplicated in human society these days?¡± He frowned.

    ¡°Moreover, in the past, the country heads weren¡¯t tested for blood as often as they are now. All of them weren¡¯t recorded as government records, and photographs weren¡¯t taken in the media several times a day. Many things cannot be arbitrarily decided!¡±

    ¡°Stop making it obvious.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­I miss the absolute monarchy. Everything is a mess in the New World.¡±

    ¡°¡­I don¡¯t think the New World is a problem anymore. Hmm¡­anyway, let¡¯s go back to the main point. However, it cannot be helped to dy the timing. What if the aliens collide with other people in the meantime? Like the Korean government.¡±

    ¡°It might be better. No, it certainly will. When people with power find something unknown, they are supposed to be greedy first. Traces and clues will be revealed.¡±

    ¡°Because the Korean government¡­would pretend to covet something that they couldn¡¯t get without some measures.¡±

    ¡°Yes, even the external guests. Magic, too. Those with power shouldn¡¯t be greedy. But they will never give up. We have to make them give up on their own. Humans have always been.¡±

    ¡°It once said¡­human greed is an incurable disease, and you deserve to be wary of it.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Is it from Ptahhotep?¡±

    Recognizing who she was quoting, Eugene shook his hand.

    ¡°It¡¯s bold of you to say that. You can¡¯t even guess¡­how damn greedy he was.¡±

    Reminiscent of an Egyptian dignitary who lived in the 25th century B.C., the manughed, baring his teeth.

    ***

    I checked my wristwatch in the dark. It was 3 a.m. It was the time that everyone would have fallen asleep, even more so if you had to wake up at 6:00 every morning. I concentrated my mind while hiding in the concealment barrier. A parking lot near Hun-neung marked as a hill on the map app. There were low buildings lined up in front of my eyes.

    My magic target was a five-story building located 300 meters away. No, to be precise, all the people¡­and non-human species were asleep in that building. As the magic unfolded, one by one, mental energy began to fly to be¡ªa different sight than when Garam used magic. The size of each energy cluster was literally the same as a piece of grain. The number of light points that broke through the building walls and flocked toward me gradually increased.

    After a while, it seemed as if over a hundred fireflies were flying to me.

    [Good. At this point, even if someone is awake, they won¡¯t be able to notice it.]

    Parvache sent telepathy as if he was satisfied. I continued to use the magic while being careful not to break my concentration.

    Actually, this was the part where Parvache and I had the most trouble. Even if I used Garam¡¯s magic without improvement, there was no way that ordinary people would notice their dreams being extracted. The problem was that many of the people there weren¡¯t ordinary people. It was estimated that at least 4 to 5 months had passed since the wizards¡¯ training started in that building. That was enough time to activate the Mana circuit of the eyes. It was even considering the fact that the level of the magic of the instructors wasn¡¯tparable to that of Gramperi.

    Because of that, I was unable to extract the dream as it was, as Garam did. Eventually, Parvache and I improved this magic.

    -Wooong!

    It detected the dreams of those sleeping inside andpressed them to make them easy to conceal. Only then did we draw out the dream with a cover-up to avoid the eyes of the wizards. As a result, the flight of those tiny light sources shining like starlight was now visible to no one but me. Even if the instructors who were nurturing those wizards were awake, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see these dream fragments floating away. The clusters of dreams that flocked to me were absorbed into the dark yellow metal in my hand.

    ¡®Um¡­there are 103 dreams collected this time. It is better than the one at 1:00 a.m. It means that two-thirds of the people out there are dreaming presently.¡¯

    I decided to stop there for today. It was said that ordinary people dream about 4-5 dreams when they sleep, so it would be possible to extract them using magic once more around 5 o¡¯clock. The problem was that the storage capacity of the Maek¡¯s Copper I was holding seemed to be limited. After I put it in my backpack, I quietly left, hiding in the dark.

    ***

    When I got home, I took out a fist-sized piece of Maek¡¯s Copper in my backpack and ced it on my desk in the studio. It was a heavy object, so you wouldn¡¯t know how hard it was for me to reduce the weight to make it easy to carry. This was one of the two metals I received as a gift from Yusu. After studying it, I found that Maek¡¯s Iron had the property of amplifying Mana. Maek¡¯s Copper had the property of absorbing Mana.

    Besides Mana, Maek¡¯s Copper had the power to absorb something other than just Mana, and that was dreams. Maeks don¡¯t use Maek¡¯s Copper because they can attach the dream to their body after collecting it, but I couldn¡¯t. As an alternative, the dream-collecting magic was transformed to be stored in this Maek¡¯s Cooper when I used it. I felt like I was going to die from fatigue, but I had to do my job.

    ¡°Now, let¡¯s take a look at them one by one.¡±

    I started working. All 87 dreams I collected at 1 a.m. and the 103 dreams I collected at 3 a.m. were stored in the Maek¡¯s Copper. It wasn¡¯t normal to go through them one by one. I was angry at Garam, who collected my dreams without my permission, so I modified the contract with White Deer and got more for it. The fact that I was secretly spying on a hundred or so people¡¯s dreams seemed to be a childish acquisition.

    But it couldn¡¯t be helped. While I have already decided not to do this, I couldn¡¯t even feel remorse for this. Now that I felt guilty, whining was just a luxury. Tsk, if they want to swear at me, just do it. Of course, they would have no way of knowing that I had stolen their dreams, so they wouldn¡¯t have a chance to swear. Moreover, seeing dreams was just the beginning.

    ¡°Well¡­is everyone dissatisfied with their needs? Why are there so many erotic dreams?¡±

    [¡­]

    Well, since they were only training with almost no contact with the outside, could we regard it as an environment simr to the army? Instead of erasing useless dreams, they were transferred and stored in arger Maek¡¯s Copper. There was no ce to use it right now because I hadn¡¯t yet reached the stage of enchanting and absorbing dreams. The realization of dreams was still impossible, but it was unnecessary to realize something like¡­well, an erotic dream.

    Anyway, now I had no ability, no time, no reason. I erased the useless thoughts from my mind and quickly continued sorting. In the meantime, I checked a dream that stood out.

    ¡°Oh, this is one of the instructors¡¯ dreams.¡±

    It was a view of another dimension in the dream. I shared my senses and showed Parvache what I was seeing.

    [Typical Kaifu race.]

    Perhaps it was a memory; it had a warm color of longing. I could see the scene where the alien I saw for the first timemunicating with each other. The level of technological civilization seemed to be very low. As a result of my observation of the curriculum for a few days, the magic theory had clear limits. When I saw this, I realized again how abnormal Earth was.

    At first nce, the degree of magic that adjusted gravity wasn¡¯t umon globally, which didn¡¯t even reach civilization¡¯s levelparable to the Middle Ages on Earth. However, it was crude but not unusual. On the other hand, the concept of magic hadn¡¯t been established until recently on Earth, where civilization had developed to the point that it couldn¡¯t bepared to anything else.

    Anyway, which country channel did this Kaifue from? It was a race that had never been reported in the media. What was the price that had been paid for going all the way over here? And which route did they take to get there? I felt like I would have to dig in more detail when I got the chance, but I didn¡¯t have time to keep looking at this. I threw the instructor¡¯s dream into the Maek¡¯s Copper and then picked up dreams one after another to check them out.

    Then I discovered something that stood out again.

    ¡°This guy.¡±

    This dream showed extreme anxiety. The protagonist in the dream was found secretly hiding behind the scenes. He was always running away and being chased. The pursuers gradually narrowed the distance, and he gasped in fear that his heart was about to explode.

    ¡°Hmm¡­there isn¡¯t much of use here.¡±

    It was a pretty big nightmare. I watched the dreams until the end, but only feelings of anxiety and fear were transmitted, and I couldn¡¯t find any relevant information. In fact, most dreams were shaped like this, no matter who the dreamer was. It was rare to list your story logically in a dream. In most cases, the suppressed desires orbinations of everyday memories just appeared without any probability or cause.

    ¡°Let¡¯s keep it for now.¡±

    I kept this dream well. Although it was a dream that didn¡¯t have much value as information, I thought I could use it after mastering the implementation stage. And I kept searching again¡­

    ¡°Wow, Parvache. Look at this jackpot!¡±

    Yes, this was the kind of dream I was looking for. Should I call it the narrator of the dream? The main character was a boy who is just over twenty years old¡ªthe same age as me. In the dream, this guy was ying¡­a genius wizard. Parvache, who saw this dream together through my senses, mumbled as if it were absurd.

    [¡­How many Ashpim giants is he trying to catch with that many lightning strikes? And, why is the lightning ck in color?]

    It seemed that the Ashpim Giant had be synonymous with hostile alien species among Koreans because of the past incident on Mapo Bridge. The protagonist of the dream was beating the Ashpim Giant with magic. That too¡­with hundreds of dragon-shaped ck thunderbolts protruding from his fingertips!

    ¡°Wow¡­ the name of the spell is Draconic Dark Lightning Storm!¡±

    Initially, I couldn¡¯t read the detailed conversations and thoughts in the dreams. Still, the media in my dreams aired a special program that analyzed his magic, and I, after reading the broadcast subtitles, got to know the name unwillingly. Anyway, the boy in the dream became the hero of the country after annihting the Ashpim Giants.

    The development of the dream was incredibly fast. Our protagonist, who had achieved magical achievement at a speed that other wizards couldn¡¯t dare to achieve, soon surpassed even his mentor¡¯s magic level, the Kaifu, and became the best wizard on Earth. He then swept and killed the monsters (mostly Ashpim Giants with a little imagination) that were continually pouring out of the Mapo Bridge Channel and sold the corpses to gain enormous wealth.

    And then¡­

    ¡°Huh? Isn¡¯t that Lee Seo-rin?¡±

    Among the women surrounding him, our customer¡¯s face was stuck. The guy in the dream was now enjoying his joyful life by marrying six beauties. Then again, the scene changed sharply, and the dream ended while the U.S., who was wary of his powers, was caught trying to kidnap his family and was backtracked by him. It seemed that I collected this dream at that critical moment.

    Looking at the still image of the ¡°Gigantic Fire st¡± spell pouring into a U.S. military fighter named Rapper or Raptor, I spoke to Parvache.

    ¡°If he dreams like this, he has a clear sense of purpose to spread your horizons with magic, right?¡±

    [¡­It can¡¯t be denied.]

    ¡°He seems to have a narcissistic tendency.¡±

    [Seeing the dreams makes it clear, his mental barrier is also low.]

    And¡­most of all, although detailed surface consciousness cannot be read, the concepts and attributes of emotions felt in dreams could be recognized. What I felt in this dream was a very intense desire rted to magic. A certain degree of selfishness to make something different from others, and never share it with others.

    I nodded.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s target this guy.¡±

 Chapter 61

    The Soul Flows High (6)

    ¡°Phew, it¡¯s over.¡±

    Deep in the night, I closed the connection and opened my eyes. In front of me, Garam was sitting with a devastating look, as if he were looking at something ridiculous.

    ¡°No way¡­I don¡¯t think you¡¯ll seed already.¡±

    The technique of Dream-Present, which I had seeded in, was lower-level magic than the technique of Dream-Travel that it was used only by the top level. It was magic that made the user appear in the form of dreams, intervene, and deliver a message. When Garam used this magic, he could only appear in the dream of his fellow Maek. So, what would happen if I used it as a human?

    The results were as expected. In my case, I had now confirmed that it was possible to deliver a message by appearing in other humans¡¯ dreams. If the opponent¡¯s mental barrier was low, I could manipte my reflection as I desired.

    ¡°This is¡­nonsense! When I first learned it, I failed dozens of times and barely managed to seed!¡±

    I remembered what Garam said the day he started the ss. ¡°It¡¯s not a technique that humans can learn anyway, so let¡¯s not waste time with each other. I can¡¯t go back right away because they will notice. So, I¡¯m going to watch TV here.¡±

    Didn¡¯t he say that? I think he fits my aptitude so well beyond the race. Of course, there were circumstances that he didn¡¯t know, and Parvache¡¯s help had a decisive impact. Still, it was refreshing.

    ¡°Is this much easier than enchanting or embodying the dream?¡±

    ¡°There are a lot of Maeks who find it more difficult to do this¡­¡±

    ¡°No, this magic is simpler for me. It was simr to imagery magic that projects memories.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, but you¡¯re a monster anyway.¡± Garam shook his head. Then he looked at me with a strange expression.

    ¡°Anyway¡­seeing you intervene in human dreams, it¡¯s clear that you¡¯re human.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it obvious?¡±

    It seemed that they could appear only in the dreams of their race because it was easier to assimte into the spirit world of a soul with the same pattern. I couldn¡¯t help but seed in targeting humans.

    ¡°Even though Mrs. Pearl and Brother Yu had already guaranteed, I honestly have been suspicious again these days. How can you learn Maek¡¯s tricks at this speed? I thought you might be the offspring of the beings who crossed the wall¡­¡±

    ¡°What would you do if I wasn¡¯t human? It sounds useless.¡±

    Anyway, because it was sessful, today¡¯s ss ended with a feeling of relief and aplishment. I felt tired, like I was about to faint, but my mind was rxed.

    ¡°Well, would you like something to eat?¡±

    I called him this dawn for my circumstances. It was my first attempt, so I needed a guide. Unlike me, Garam somehow didn¡¯t seem to have a problem even if he missed sleep for a few days. As expected, he didn¡¯t refuse. I took Garam to the kitchen and sat him down at the table. Then, I brought a moderate amount of mixed magic metals from the warehouse.

    ¡°Oh, what is this orange metal? I feel a pretty peculiar power.¡±

    He picked up a piece, sniffed it, and asked.

    ¡°By any chance, when you make these, did you also use Maek¡¯s Iron and Maek¡¯s Copper as the ingredients?¡±

    When I said no, he dly started eating. Come to think of it, he always asked that before he ate metal, he had never seen before. However, since Maek¡¯s Iron and Maek¡¯s Copper were useful metals with many uses, they weren¡¯t put out as snacks.

    ¡°Hmm? It¡¯s unique. It tastes strange.¡±

    ¡°Oh, really?¡± I responded heartlessly.

    Actually, I recently removed one of the 23 eyes of the Fake God. That orange magic metal was made after experimenting with an elegant, magical crystal. There was a unique and new magical pattern, but I still hadn¡¯t figured out how to use it. Well, I didn¡¯t have to tell Garam about that. First of all, it was confirmed that contact and ingestion didn¡¯t affect the mind, let alone have a harmful effect on the mind. It was aplete experimental failure.

    So even if he ate it, it would be harmless to his body.

    ¡°Hmm¡­it¡¯s strange, but it¡¯s okay. It¡¯s peculiarly spicy.¡±

    Focusing on the fact that the eyes were used as an essential medium when brainwashing, I studied it thinking that it couldpensate for myck of mental maniption magic. However, there wasn¡¯t much progress in that domain. Parvache asked me while Garam put and rolled the magic metal in his mouth, tasting it happily.

    [Does he really listen to you?]

    ¡°I¡¯m not 100% sure yet. But even if he wakes up tomorrow morning, he won¡¯t forget this dream. He will try what he learned in his dreams while training during the day. Even if it were me, I¡¯d try it out of curiosity¡­I will do something so that he doesn¡¯t think it¡¯s just a dream.¡±

    I nned to revisit Hun-neung tomorrow morning. Once I was sessful, I didn¡¯t need Garam to watch from my side anymore. From there, I had to ess the wizard trainee¡¯s dream once more and deliver an additional message. Next, I intended to leave evidence on the subject¡¯s body so that the experience wouldn¡¯t be considered an ordinary dream.

    ¡°By the way¡­do you even sleep?¡± Garam, who was chewing, asked while looking at the dark circles under my eyes.

    In fact, I was a mess right now. He nodded with a bitter smile, ¡°You seem to be quite busy.¡±

    Two months after defeating the Fake God, I was really busy. When I looked back when I spent half a year idle after confronting the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest and the helplessness that weighed on me, I was so busy that I started to feel self-hatred beyond regret. I wasn¡¯t supposed to be ying around like that.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll be busier in the future.¡±

    I said while being aware of the artifacts in my inner pocket. It was one of the items recovered from the bodies. Garam¡¯s eyes shone strangely as if he heard the story from Yusu.

    ¡°After all, I heard it was all a trap.¡±

    ¡°Right. Come to think of it. I haven¡¯t heard back from Yusu yet.¡±

    Not long ago, I questioned the memories of 29 people using the Fake God. Sending Yusu back to the vige, I told him to share everything we heard with the vige elders and let them know the results. The fact that a group called White Deer had hostility toward Dragons was inevitable. If the Dragon returned, they were the ones who would face as much frustration as me.

    Two months ago, Yusu also heard the Fake God saying that a group sought to resurrect the Dragon. Nevertheless, the relocation of the vige was carried out because of the determination they had made. To get help in holding back themon enemy, maybe we could use that power together.

    ¡°I also heard the n of The Guardians of the Great Convention to withdraw all wizards who have soared recently. There¡¯s even a simr work going on in this country, and I¡¯ve already found evidence.¡±

    I took the ring off my arm. The self-destruction magic was removed, but the unique magical wavelength remained.

    ¡°But it isn¡¯t clear whether the abduction of human wizards has anything to do with the Dragon¡¯s resurrection¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. But I¡¯m trying to approach it in a slightly different direction. I don¡¯t know if you heard it. After exining the Washington incident to the memories, they said it was definitely an executive.¡±

    The situation in the United States happened after the deaths of the 29 apprentices I interrogated. After exining the situation and asking a question, the memories of the 29 people spoke together. They said that the ce was a private institution where the U.S. government fostered wizards, a training centermonly referred to as a school. Was it on the organization¡¯s target list, and they set off the explosion?

    When I exined the terrible destruction, they said that it was undoubtedly the work of an executive. I even heard spections about the executive¡¯s identity.

    ¡°Unlike what those 29 people experienced in their lifetime, at least in the case of the United States, it is evidence that the executives have stepped forward to withdraw the wizards. Those who know more about the Dragon¡¯s resurrection. Even here¡­and by that time, an executive might enter Korea.¡±

    Garam nodded quietly, ¡°Once you get that executive in your hand¡­¡±

    Now that I had some experience, I had some tools for effective interrogation. I even got help from Parvache.

    ¡°Once I get him in my hand, I¡¯m confident in extracting information.¡±

    Garam¡¯splexion was clouded by what I said.

    ¡°¡­I heard from Brother Yu what was going on in the lower-floor that cannot exist under this space where I am sitting.¡±

    ¡°Well, anyway. Are you sure discussions are going on inside the Vige?

    Garam replied, stirring his hand, ¡°Don¡¯t even ask about it. These days, the elders gather day and night, and that¡¯s all. Brother Yu also seems to be in that ce.¡±

    ¡°Is there any reason to dy the decision? The resurrection of the Dragon must be prevented even for White Deer.¡±

    ¡°A decision has been made in the direction of stopping the Dragon¡¯s followers somehow. The reason for the lengthening of the discussion¡­it seems that opinions are divided as to whether or not to follow your n or not.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because¡­¡±

    Garam frowned, ¡°¡­The ce is less than a mile away from the vige. There must be a lot of elderly people who think it¡¯s dangerous to lure them to such a close area.¡±

    Ah, what the hell. I was so annoyed at that moment that I tried to say something sharp. Maybe they weren¡¯t as desperate as I was. Why? Didn¡¯t it matter if they get kicked again after they finished moving to thend? Or had they not yet doubted that the Dragon¡¯s resurrection was possible?

    I looked straight into his eyes, ¡°Well¡­if you say you don¡¯t want to go ahead, I¡¯ll have to do it alone.¡±

    ording to the current contract, they weren¡¯t obligated to join my n. But they couldn¡¯t disturb it either.

    ¡°But, as I told Yusu, I hope there are good answers. And I think¡­if you want to lure them anyway, wouldn¡¯t it be advantageous to y in a more familiar ce? It¡¯s a stage where you can prepare things in advance.¡±

    And, as Mrs. Pearl once said herself, now my existence had be quite crucial to White Deer. It meant that if I ever go wrong and disappeared, White Deer would be in trouble.

    ¡°I agree with that. Anyway, I¡¯ll convey your words to Brother Yu once again.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Besides the relocation and vige maintenance, I think the scope of cooperation can be expanded as much as possible.¡±

    As long as there were shackles that kept us from stabbing each other in the back. I smiled quietly, pushing the te closer to him. With his gaze fixed on my face, Garam made aplicated expression.

    Then he muttered in an audible voice, ¡°¡­Something has changed.¡±

    The chubby little child¡¯s hand picked up a piece of metal the size of a fingernail and munched on it like it was a carrot.

    ***

    The invisible hand, created by Mana¡¯s cohesion, lifted a lump of metal as big as a calf.

    ¡°Ah¡­no way¡­!¡±

    One of the onlookers shouted. A Mana measurement metal weighed a few hundred kilograms. The metal cube created by the aliens escaped gravity constraints and rose into the air like it wasn¡¯t real.

    ¡°Uuugh, kuuuuugh¡­!¡±

    A young man was standing in front of the metal, sweating, with both hands outstretched forward. It seemed that the veins of his eyes were about to burst at any moment.

    ¡°¡­Ah, shit!¡±

    The body cramped little by little. Then he spat out swear words as if they were unbearable. However, his stance didn¡¯t copse, and the metal floating in front of him also continued to rise. Words and actions in the training grounds were strictly controlled, and the curse that the young man expressed would have been subject to reprimand if it were normal. The other trainees witnessing this scene and both the human and non-human instructors all just watched this scene without a word. No one even thought of stopping him.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t something weird? That guy¡­it¡¯s been less than a month since he entered the school! How can he gather so much Mana?¡±

    ¡°I heard that even people who stay longer in this training camp barely lift 20 to 30 kilograms¡­¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t Kyung-hwan stronger than that frog instructor?¡±

    ¡°Shh! He will hear that. He hates being called a frog. He utterly hates it!¡±

    But fortunately, the conversation of the trainees didn¡¯t reach the instructor¡¯s ears. Because he, too, was in awe when he saw this ridiculous sight.

    ¡°Ugh¡­now¡­it¡¯s the limit!¡±

    His knees were bent, and the young man sat on the floor. Simultaneously, the lump of metal that had risen in front of him lost its strength and fell to the floor.

    -Baang!

    Along with the fall, a roar swept through the training camp. There was no damage because there was a unique material for shock absorption on the floor. But the crashing sound produced by the massive metal was like a loud hammer falling on the ground.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s crazy.¡± Everyone murmured as if they were mesmerized.

    ¡°Huuuh¡­huuh¡­!¡±

    The young man sitting down on the floor was sweating profusely. He immediately raised his head and eximed with an exalted look at the alien instructor looking at him.

    ¡°Did you see? Didn¡¯t I say it was possible? You must keep your promises.¡±

    The instructor, who could hear and understand the Korean, but couldn¡¯t pronounce it because of the vocal organs¡¯ limitations, responded telepathically. A cluster of meanings without borrowing the form ofnguage was delivered to everyone¡¯s head in the training ground.

    =¡­I see. Really¡­that¡¯s excellent, Mana. With this level of Mana, you are well qualified to learn second-ss magic. Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan will be transferred to Tentra ss. Starting from tomorrow.=

    Having said so, he made eye contact with a human instructor who performed the overall administrative work and supervision. He, too, nodded his head as if he agreed with the opinion of the alien instructor. However, Kim Kyung-hwan wasn¡¯t satisfied there.

    ¡°The weight of that cube was 0.5 tons. Since I moved that, the instantaneous maximum output of my Mana is 5,000 mergs! Didn¡¯t it say that I can learn 5th-grade magic if I have more than 5,000 mergs?¡±

    That was possible in theory. However, the alien instructor firmly refused.

    =There is no level 5 course yet established in this training center, but that could be solved with private lessons. But, trainee Kim Kyung-hwan, you haven¡¯t adequately learned the first-ss magic theory. The basic theory isn¡¯t very different until the second-level magic ss, so I will somehow put you into the course. Still, it sounds ridiculous to say that you are in the fifth ss! =

    Kim Kyung-hwan listened to the words and stumbled inside.

    ¡®The basic theory isn¡¯t that different? That person said that the theory you guys teach is like a crappy kid¡¯s joke. Even if I skip a few steps and learn that 5th ss right now, I can understand it, right? Because I can ask that thing in my dreams!¡¯

    Anyway, he would skip the grade starting tomorrow. And it was the first time that such an action was taken only a month after being admitted. Kim Kyung-hwan barely repressed the desire to shout out of joy at any moment. The future unfolding before his eyes was bright, and a sense of superiority overflowed in his heart.

    The trainees were looking at him with their dumb eyes. Their expressions were mixed with feelings of surprise, disbelief, and jealousy. It was fun to watch that sight, and he wanted to burst intoughter.

    ¡°Guys, you shouldn¡¯t be surprised this much already. I have more to show in the future.¡±

    He was different from other people because he was¡­the chosen human!

 Chapter 62

    The Soul Flows High (7)

    ¡®Second-ss magic? He¡¯s talking like it¡¯s great, but in fact, it won¡¯t be much.¡¯

    But the words were swallowed up inside.

    =Is there anyint? Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan?=

    ¡°No, but I want to ask you a question.¡±

    =What?=

    Kim Kyung-hwan held a challenging gaze.

    ¡°Now in the tentra ss, level 2 magic is the highest level, right? But what if I learn all the second-ss magic alone?¡±

    =What did you say?=

    There was a mixed feeling of incredulity in the response of the alien instructor¡¯s voice and expression.

    ¡°Then, would I be the only trainee who is qualified to master the 3rd ss magic? Would you like to open a one-on-one ss, as you just said? You said you were noble, so I believe you will not take back your words.¡±

    =Do you think second-ss magic is so easy?=

    ¡°Honestly, the first-ss magic theory that we are learning these days isn¡¯t that difficult. In a world where people be aristocrats just because they understand the theory and have Mana¡­if I was born there, what would I be? A Grand Duke? Well. I think I can get a title like that.¡±

    Without knowing the meaning of the words he put in his mouth, Kim Kyung-hwan spoke as he had heard it before. Upon hearing that, the alien became swollen under his chin. As the flesh grew like a giant balloon, a fishy smell spread throughout the room. It was an odor that causes vomiting. Theplexions of the people gathered in the training ground turned pale, and some quickly covered their noses. The human instructor also quickly grabbed a stick-shaped device in his hand while breathing through his mouth.

    The tiny device sensed the biogas emitted by the alien into the atmosphere. Theponents were analyzed and matched with the database. The results were then disyed on a small disy. He read the text that floated on the screen.

    ¡®I want to rip off that [b adjective} 1. cheeky, 2. arrogant, 3. tongue longer than 2.495 meters] human¡¯s [b noun} 1. a type of appetizer served at nobles¡¯ dinners. 2. word for the meat on a mammal¡¯s cheek] and use it as a feed for [inexplicable].¡¯

    The database was still iplete. There were quite a few words that hadn¡¯t yet been listed. If there were no words that matched, the trantion wasn¡¯t neat, and there were long-winded exnations like at the present moment. But the human instructor was convinced of this, ording to the self-talk that the alien secreted just now, that he was very offended. The expression itself seems to be a kind of swearword. He cut in quickly.

    ¡°Of course, trainee Kim Kyung-hwan. If you show the possibility that you deserve it, I can give you any support. Private lessons can also be suggested. But it is too early to say that from now on. It¡¯s not toote to ask for the results after you¡¯ve actually shown them.¡±

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s right.¡±

    He sent telepathy as if he didn¡¯t like it.

    =There are no human trainees who have acquired all 17 second-ss magic yet. There are a few trainees who have learned five at the most. This is also a great thing, and I think it is the scope of genius.=

    Unpleasant feelings were mixed into the consciousness.

    =Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan, I understand that you have gathered Mana at a tremendous rate over the past month. It is also rare for our people. I¡¯m honestly surprised, I admit it. But¡­the ability to umte Mana and understand the theory of magic are different things. It¡¯s not toote to be cocky even after mastering the second-ss magic properly!=

    After that, he bulged his chin again as if he was annoyed. He called his attendant, waiting in the corner of the training room. He secreted harsh words. As the gas spread, the trainees¡¯plexion deteriorated once again, and the human instructor checked the LCD screen.

    ¡®[b Interjection} a word used by nobles to refer to people below them]! What are you doing now? Get up and bring [b noun} 1. water, 2. life, 3. emotional stability, ¡¤¡¤¡¤click to see 38 other meanings] right away!¡¯

    The servant, who was dozing off, got up in fright. He shuffled as he was still unfamiliar with Earth¡¯s gravity. Then, he presented a small fish tank to the furious alien instructor. The tank was full of water. The alien instructor put his right hand in it. Then, through the mucous membrane between the fingers, he breathed in water to calm his irritation.

    -Tack, Tack, Tack.

    However, he struck the floor with his feet which were made of broad mucous membranes. Everyone saw his difort and displeasure. The two individuals alternately emitted gas to hold a conversation between them. At the same time, the alien instructor telepathically announced that the ss had ended. As soon as they received that, all the trainees ran out. As soon as they came out of the door, they exhaled wildly.

    ¡°Wow! I thought I was really dying!¡±

    ¡°Oh, it smells like fish mixed with shit and food waste! Oh, that¡¯s terrible!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not fishy. It¡¯s froggy.¡±

    ¡°No matter how you smell it, it just smells the same, but how do theymunicate with it¡­gosh.¡±

    The human instructor, who was watching the scene, quietly passed through them. Then he grabbed Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s shoulder as he walked out. Moving alone without mixing a word with the other trainees, he turned his head and looked at the instructor. The instructor in the suit took Kim Kyung-hwan and quietly moved to a remote ce. Behind the backs of the two, the other trainees¡¯ eyes were sharply drawn. Kim Kyung-hwan enjoyed that sense of attention that he was drawing.

    ***

    The instructor who took Kim Kyung-hwan to the corner opened his mouth.

    ¡°Hey, I know you¡¯re doing great these days. But didn¡¯t you hear that during the entrance training? The Kaifu instructors are all aristocrats in their world. He has high self-esteem. Try not to scratch his nerves on purpose!¡±

    ¡°Yes. I understand.¡±

    Seeing the reaction of the human instructor in a ck suit, Kim Kyung-hwan was convinced. It was a case that they could have given him a penalty. But for now, they only gave him a warning. Trainees were afraid of the penalty because of the details of the contract with the country before admission. This was an area that trainees were very sensitive to because the umted demerit points could reduce the range of benefits given to family members and rtives andpensation and pensions to be receivedter.

    That instructor, who knew it obviously, didn¡¯t mention it on purpose. Kim Kyung-hwan understood the current situation in a pleasant and straightforward way.

    ¡®This instructor doesn¡¯t want to offend me either.¡¯

    Even the instructor understood the amount of Mana he just showed was enormous, unlike what could be found in this training camp. Moreover, it took only one month to umte. Today¡¯s incident would be reported to high-ranking people. Then the government would also see him as a valuable resource. Kim Kyung-hwan puffed inside.

    ¡®If they keep annoying me, I will threaten to immigrate. Then they will be crawling for me, right?¡¯

    It was thrilling just to imagine. He tried to pretend to be indifferent and calm in front of the instructor. Yet still, his mouth had already begun puffing in arrogance without his knowledge.

    ¡®He said that my talent is the strongest on the. He said there are wizards in other countries, but they can¡¯t even fall at my feet. If they know my worth, they will never try to let me go¡­well? But suddenly I¡¯m worried. How do I know that I¡¯m really the best in history?¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan felt that his question was usible.

    ¡®Somehow, in Korea, information is slow and a little clumsy. When you look atics or novels, they always go to the U.S. after hitting a wall.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan suddenly became worried. Maybe the government of this country didn¡¯t know the level of wizards in other countries at all? Then they might not be able to realize his genius properly. It was frustrating.

    ¡®Hmm, what should I do. Would it be better to go over to the U.S. after a while? The U.S. is probably the best for this, right?¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan was in a happy daydream as the instructor continued.

    ¡°Anyway, avoid antagonizing them with unnecessary words. You don¡¯t have to be out of the sight of the instructors. Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan, it will be your own loss. This is all for your own sake.¡±

    Then he slowly added.

    ¡°And¡­I¡¯ll set up a separate table soon. I need to talk about many things with our superiors. Maybe a good offer wille, more than what the contract guarantees now can be discussed. You know what I mean, right?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan managed to control the corners of his mouth, which were trying to rise.

    ¡®Pretend to be indifferent! Pretend to be cool!¡¯

    ¡°¡­Well, that¡¯s good.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll set a date and let you know.¡±

    Then the instructor asked again, ¡°Anyway, I rmend that you treat the Kaifu instructors as politely as possible. That way, why don¡¯t you pay more attention and ask an exnation of it in detail?¡±

    ¡°But the exnation wasn¡¯t that difficult.¡±

    The instructor shook his head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know yet, but if I go in earnest, the magic theory is said to be very difficult. It is said that it is difficult to understand without the help of an instructor. That¡¯s why it works best with alien instructors.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan nodded his head, pretending to be unable to win, whispering inwardly.

    ¡®I don¡¯t need any special treat for those frogs! I only have to memorize the spell technique in ss. Once I have memorized it and then sleep, I will understand it in my dreams. Excluding all unnecessary stuff, he teaches me to make it easier to understand!¡¯

    The one he met in his dream said the highest level of magic that Kaifu treated as a 10th ss was only about 3-4 out of 10 by the standard of magic he knew. When he heard that, it felt like a waste of time to learn the magic of Kaifu¡¯s 1st and 2nd ss. He wanted to learn the real magic in his dream even right now. However, if he suddenly learned advanced magic that he hadn¡¯t learned at the training camp, he would soon find himself at that level.

    ¡®Yes, let¡¯s think about everything in the United Statester. It¡¯s important to do what you are told.¡¯

    The existence in the dream taught Kim Kyung-hwan what to do in the future. First, by deliberately revealing that his Mana has increased, learn Kaifu¡¯s magic as quickly as possible. At a speed that general standards couldn¡¯t imagine! After taking the step up, acquiring spells, and being recognized as the ¡°first genius wizard in the history of the earth and the greatest genius wizard of mankind,¡± he would then begin to learn real magic from the existence in his dreams.

    Yes, that was also possible for Kim Kyung-hwan, after the reference was firmly established in the heads of the alien race and those involved in the Korean government.

    ¡®Yes, let¡¯s be patient. I have to master the crappy magic the frogs teach us.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan repressed his impatient heart. If a wizard who had been learning magic for a little over a month suddenly created a new magic concept, it would be impossible to avoid suspicion. No matter how much he was wearing the shell of genius. With a little more patience, he could learn real magic. That was the promise of a twenty-three-eyed alien race that he met in his dreams.

    ***

    One day when the energy of spring had cleared up, I stood in front of the Mapo Bridge Channel. The level of vignce of the Korean troops surrounding the Channel was no different from before. There was no action to detect magical means. I had a question. I understood that the Korean government invited the Kaifu people to teach magic. But was that really all about the exchange with that race?

    ¡®I mean, at that level of magic, they could make barrier artifacts. Isn¡¯t that right, Parvache?¡¯

    [It didn¡¯t make sense to be limited to one training camp after contacting a whole new civilization.]

    ¡®There weren¡¯t many geniuses among the wizards we collected right now. It¡¯s kind of weird to suck your fingers while you wait for them to grow, right? They also have a way to trade in exchange for many kinds of magical items.¡¯

    [It is strange that there was no vignce against the wizard. They seem to notice that other countries are also raising wizards¡­]

    ¡°Before they are wary of wizards from other countries, they never know when another hostile race will cross the Channel, right?¡¯

    In the end, it seemed to be one of the two. The Kaifu people were wary of humans and weren¡¯t unpacking items of a threatening level, or negotiations were dyed because humans couldn¡¯t offer a reasonable price for the specialties the Kaifu could offer. So, what did the government suggest in exchange for teaching magic at the training center in Hun-neung?

    And before that, it was a question that wouldn¡¯t be solved. How did the Kaifu peoplee into contact with the government in the first ce? They were absolutely not from Korean Channels.

    I moved secretly, sharing one spection with Parvache without being seen by anyone.

    I created a crack in the seal of the Channel and pushed my body into it. Shortly after the sh nced over my body, I stood on the dark purple ground.

 Chapter 63

    The Soul Flows High (8)

    After crossing the dimension, I looked at the condition of the barriers installed here. A rtively sizeable Enchanted Wood tree branch was plugged right next to the Channel. A translucent membrane was covering and blocking it from the outside. The barriers installed in the Channel of the Han River were serving the purpose to block human ess than preventing the Ashpim Giant., because of concerns, the Korean Army woulde over here and touch the anti-Ashpim barrier, which I had installed.

    ¡°The Mana I recharged at the end of the year was almost not consumed at all.¡±

    Looking around for a moment, I could see the bodies of Ashpim Giants scattered outside the barrier. Arge number of mummifications were in progress due to the high temperature and dry desert environment. It was a scene caused by when they were struck by the attack magic that protruded from the barrier while they were approaching this Channel connected to the Earth.

    ¡°It seems like there¡¯s no attempt to approach these days?¡±

    There seemed to be no new corpses. All of them looked old and shriveled.

    [Yeah, the story must have spread to them as well. It¡¯s an area they can¡¯t ess.]

    That was what I was aiming for. I also looked around the seedlings grown by germination of the Enchanted Wood seeds nted around the Channel. It grew to my waist in less than a year. That was a hell of a speed. It was mysterious how they grew rapidly in such a drynd. In a little while, these seedlings would beponents of the barrier, which would help me make the space where I recharged my Mana.

    After checking that the overall condition was okay, I came out of the barrier. I moved in a straight line toward the Dell Giant¡¯s forest without wandering as I did when I first camest year.

    ¡°If I had mastered the realization of dreams, I could have been able to flyfortably. I have dreams that I have just collected.

    [That¡¯s right.]

    Instead of flying, I moved at the same speed as I ran with some magic on my body. After that, I recovered my stamina by inhaling the intermediate elixir I had brought for moments when I tired out. Although it is a waste to consume several bottles of this potion, which was close to a panacea, for the same purpose as a nutrient tonic, it was unavoidable due to my schedule.

    ¡°Aah, it¡¯s bitter!

    I frowned while emptying another bottle. We didn¡¯t know how long it will take to process our business, so we needed to shorten the travel time as much as possible, and this was one way to do it.

    ¡°When I go back, I¡¯ll make a new intermediate elixir. If I drink them like this, I won¡¯t have any left to send to my mother and younger sister next month.¡±

    [But we don¡¯t have any ingredients left to make the undiluted solution?]

    ¡°I should summon it again. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve felt a penalty for breaking the contract. Oh, life is really tough. It¡¯s hard.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have time to spend a few days here like before. This time, I nned to finish all of the schedules within one night and two days. I had to deal with Hun-neung affairs, I was anxious about taking my eyes off the Fake God on the lower floor, and I was afraid of what would happen to Seoul while I was away. I had ced several times more vignce and protection for my family than usual. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious.

    I thought I would ask Yusu and the other White Deer residents to observe and protect them, but I quickly erased it from my head. No matter how friendly the rtionship was, exposing the existence of my family was too risky. After a while, I passed the Ashpim Giant area boundary, which I had figured out before.

    [Min-joon! There!]

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s been a long time?¡±

    In the distance, there was a group of Ashpim Giants: their number was a little over ten. When I saw the Enchanted Wood staff, there was also a wizard among them.

    [Isn¡¯t it better to just leave them and go the way you were going? We¡¯re busy, after all.]

    I thought for a moment and shook my head.

    ¡°How about digging from them as well? Maybe they know something different from the Dell Giants?¡±

    [Hmm. Yes¡­different knowledge may be passed down by race.]

    ¡°Yes, because these guys are also residents of this dimension.¡±

    [Furthermore, their area was surrounding that ce. It is also the closest.]

    I stopped all magic, including the magic of concealment and the magic of increasing body movement speed. I began to store Mana in my body. Then, I deliberately approached them.

    ¡°I wonder if it is watching again? If it drags us right now, that will be frustrating. I¡¯m not ready.¡±

    [Unless it¡¯s God, it wouldn¡¯t always have the whole world. When the Dark Kirin opened seeds near it, it must have watched with interest.]

    After a while, when I entered their sight, they started talking to each other at high speed. There was still some distance that remained between us, but their original decibels wererge so that I could hear them from that distance. I asked Parvache what it meant.

    ¡°What are they saying, Parvache? Is it the same line again?¡±

    Ah, human, what a windfall! Was it like that¡­? Parvache interpreted it as if reading a book in a dry tone.

    [¡®It is human. But is he from another dimension? Maybe he is that guy?¡¯]

    Something was going strangely. They didn¡¯t run toward me like before. Parvache interpreted the response of a giant who appeared to be a wizard among the crowd.

    [¡®The old Channel waspletely blocked because of an unknown barrier. There¡¯s no way that a human being woulde over. It is clear that he is the human being of this world.¡¯]

    Following that, the wizard affirmed that I had no Mana, that I wasn¡¯t a dangerous target. Its level was too low. It wasn¡¯t able to read the hidden magical power I hid internally. After having had such a brief discussion, the Ashpim Giants group finally concluded that I could not be from a different dimension. And then¡­

    ¡°Mmmmmwaaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    They screamed and started running at me.

    ¡°¡­Howe they don¡¯t make any progress at all? Anyway, I¡¯m thankful that they moved exactly as I thought they would.¡±

    The group of Ashpim approached me, creating a cloud of dust. It wasn¡¯t until they moved a certain distance that I held out one hand in that direction with Mana in my hand. The wizard¡¯s mouth opened wide after confirming it.

    ¡°Mgwaaaa!¡±

    Perhaps that meant to stop, and the warriors who ran into me were confused and stopped. Some slipped on the ground without being able to ovee the inertia of jumping and running. Some bumped into each other and rolled on the ground. There was an uproar in the crowd. The wizard shouted loudly.

    I asked Parvache while preparing the magic.

    ¡°What did it say?¡±

    [¡®Great Mana. Besides, the clothes are weird up close. Isn¡¯t that guy¡­the Massacre Wizard?¡¯]

    What? What wizard?

    [¡®¡­Oh my God, the evil wizard who called a flesh-splitting storm and a monster that¡¯s crazy about ughtering! Everybody, run away. We are all going to die. Ah, God. Everyone, run away right now.¡¯]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [¡­]

    Apparently, what I did here in Mayst year had spread all over the ce. They turned their backs and started running away again at the same speed as they ran up to me.

    ¡°Huh¡­¡±

    However, if they run away like that, there was no point in luring them. Also, I couldn¡¯t let the information that I¡¯m here spread. What if the grudge umted on me was big enough to warrant a further attack? They gathered several hundred and tried and were wiped out, so this time they might try to gather thousands or tens of thousands of them.

    ¡°The Chains of Thermios!¡±

    Dozens of opaque fog chains stretched out from my right hand and tied the limbs of the Ashpim giants that were running away. Their big, elongated heads were effortless targets. They were dragged into my direction with two or three body parts tied together.

    ¡°Mmwaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Each of them was screaming and struggling, but they couldn¡¯t break the magic. Not long ago, I made a sacrifice to Thermios, so the spell¡¯s power was sufficient and overflowing. There was no magic as useful as this as a means of capturing. However, I couldn¡¯t use other magic in this state. It would befortable to simply stun them with mental magic, but the spell on that side was still a big wall for me. However, it might be necessary to lose at a particr voltage so that they wouldn¡¯t die and only pass out.

    ¡°Maaaaaa! Khaaaa!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a hell of a mess.¡±

    No matter how hard they struggled, the shock couldn¡¯t reach my body. I put my free left hand into my backpack. Every time I removed my hand, a few pieces of bamboo kes filled with unreadable letters were picked up and came out¡ªartifacts based on antiques received from White Deer.

    -Whirling!

    The magic of restraint that was initially unfolded was fixed to this artifact. Then I threw it and tied their bodies down.

    ¡°Mmwaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    The items received from White Deer had excellent qualities to make them into artifacts. The energy that resided inside, theary energy that hadn¡¯t yet been enchanted, was very high. The effect was iparable to a stic soju ss bought at a convenience store or made with Go stones sold cheaply on the Inte.

    That item was also chosen because it was quite efficient. Come to think of it, I didn¡¯t know what the letters were written there were. It looked like something simr to Chinese characters, but it was very crooked and rounded. Anyway, my hands were free now, and the restraint magic continued without direct control with my will¡ªa state in which other magic could be used.

    [How are you going to interrogate them? The suggestion won¡¯t work. If they don¡¯t open their mind as he does and do the trick first¡­]

    The suggestion to Fake God was close to a counter-attack. Parvache¡¯s mental body entered me (Iy sick for several days due to the after-effect) and used his magic in reverse. It was only possible due to the ovepping of several special conditions.

    ¡°Not that; I just remembered how to kill two birds with one stone.¡±

    [Well?]

    ¡°Is there a way to stop spreading information about us and get the information we want?¡±

    It sounded like a joke, but Parvache understood the meaning.

    [Ah¡­right.]

    ¡°Even the same information will be asked in a friendly and polite way to Dell Giants, but for these guys¡­¡±

    I could use means other than conversation. I took out a gold censer from my backpack. This was also one of the antiques I received from White Deer. I don¡¯t know how old it was, but it was something I had been paying attention to. Being made of gold, it was quite efficient. I put a piece of Maek¡¯s Iron and a part of Enchanted Wood inside this toplete the artifact. Of all the magic items I have made so far, I put quite a bit of effort into it.

    -Wooong!

    When the Mana was applied, a powerful cognitive impairment barrier was created around me. Although the effect was a little different, it was barrier-ss magic created in the past to avoid the Power of the Echo. Because I still remembered the rumors of A-Verdag that I summoned a Dark Kirin in this world.

    Only after preparing like that, I opened the Channel on my chest. The giant wizard¡¯s eyes, who witnessed the portal¡¯s opening on my chest, first widened, and the rest of the giants also trembled when they saw somethinging out of the crack. They did not know what this being was, but they instinctively realized that it was something dangerous.

    The higher being, who brought his whole body to this dimension, looked at me and spat out its will.

    =¡­Again? Already?=

    I looked at Yodmo and responded.

    ¡°It¡¯s been tens of days? But well, it is¡­¡±

    I looked around Yodmo¡¯s body. The silky, glossy ck hair hadn¡¯t changed from before. However, the body shape of the Yodmo it covered and the curves the body drew had changed slightly.

    ¡°Huh¡­?¡±

    So, in a word¡­this guy, somehow, had gained some weight?

    ***

    The moon¡¯s light was getting lighter and closer to pink. It was a sign that the sun would soon rise. I had to finish up and go into the woods.

    ¡°You¡¯re not full, are you?¡±

    =¡­=

    Yodmo didn¡¯t answer. No way. Then it said it with its own mouth. A few more days would be enough to digest. The sleek wolf didn¡¯t suddenly gain weight to the point of bing a pig. The line on the back had just be smooth, the legs were a little thicker, and the ribs outline wasn¡¯t visible anymore. And his eyes were even more drenched in boredom and lethargy.

    I pointed to the Ashpim Giants.

    ¡°Look, they¡¯re all alive. There must be more memories than when targeting the dead. And the average life expectancy¡­ I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    Yodmo shrugged and looked around the giants lying on the floor bound by magic.

    =The average memory capacity for each individual is over 100 years.=

    ¡°Oh really? Isn¡¯t this enough?¡±

    Yodmo didn¡¯t answer again. What was wrong with it? It looked at me and said.

    =What the hell are you?=

    ¡°What?¡±

    =Are there any demigods whom you have contracted?=

    Instead of answering right away, I scratched my chin.

 Chapter 64

    The Soul Flows High (9)

    A demigod¡­there was an object of such suspicion.

    ¡°Why? You really haven¡¯t digested it yet?¡±

    I talked to Parvache that day about Yodmo¡¯s remarks of ¡®I¡¯m very full.¡¯ The conclusion was that it might be right. It was only Yodmo¡¯s spection that through the contract, the soul of the summoner and my soul were in contact, and part of that memory was transferred to me. Nevertheless, the reason it couldn¡¯t be ignored was that there was no other race of experts like Yodmo in the field of memory.

    Yodmo spoke slowly.

    =¡­I¡¯m still digesting the memory like a dark fog in my stomach¡ªevery day. Still, there is no end in sight.=

    Without realizing it, I looked at Yodmo¡¯s stomach. I couldn¡¯t see its belly because of the drooping hair, but it seemed swollen more than before. Yodmo silently epted my gaze and asked, pointing at my chest with its nose.

    =Have you made a contract with the Truth-Seeker who nted the seed? If it were a Truth-Seeker, it would be among the oldest ss of demigods.=

    I shook my head. As a child, only vague memories remained of my contact with the Truth-Seeker. But I had never made a contract or anything. That was for sure. If I did, the token would remain in the corner of my soul. Just like the traces of contracts made with Yodmo and other summoners and other beings remain.

    =¡­It is unknown. I don¡¯t know.=

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it good to be full?¡±

    =It was good at first. But¡­it¡¯s getting more and more ufortable.=

    Was it getting ufortable?

    ¡°Why? A hunger-like void was the fate of your race. You¡¯ve been out of that hunger for a while. Isn¡¯t it quite rare?¡±

    =Now this state is quite rare¡­that figure of speech isn¡¯t enough.=

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Yodmo rolled its pupils in its narrow open eyes.

    =Speaking in units of time that are familiar to you¡­the month has changed several times. In the meantime, I haven¡¯t eaten a single memory. To fill my stomach for such a long time, I would need a long, countless memory. However, I haven¡¯t heard of a Yodmo, who ate memories of beings like Kirin, Phoenixes, and Dragons. Therefore, I am probably the first to have experienced this¡­=

    ¡°¡­That much?¡±

    =Yes.=

    Yodmo nodded its head.

    =There is a suspicion close to certainty these days.=

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    It looked at me with a half-mixed look of drowsiness and difort.

    =¡­Probably, I am the first in the history of the race, and I am the one Yodmo who suffers from indigestion.=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [¡­]

    Was it full and not feeling well?

    =This is also the first time I feel it. I can¡¯t digest it because my stomach is full.=

    ¡°Ah¡­then what should we do?¡±

    I said while looking at the Asphim Giants.

    ¡°The only thing I will give in return on the contract is part of the memory¡­¡±

    Yodmo sighed deeply.

    = Let¡¯s¡­just do it.=

    It seemed that it would grant a free request this time as well.

    =I¡¯ll take out all of these guys¡¯ memories and hand them over. I don¡¯t want to eat even a day¡¯s worth of memories.=

    Yodmo approached the Ashpim Giants. Suddenly, a line of thought passed through my head.

    ¡°Wait a minute! It¡¯s a big deal to take all the memories! Please sort it out.¡±

    =¡­How?=

    I made a request that I had initially considered.

    ¡°In their memories, sort out information about the Truth-Seeker in this world and make them a separate crystal.¡±

    =¡­Okay.=

    ¡°And I hope you don¡¯t put together the memories of multiple guys into one crystal, but sort out one crystal each.¡±

    =Well, that¡¯s good.=

    The only ¡°tool¡± that could adequately use this crystal now is the Fake God. He had already absorbed a considerable amount of memory, and I was worried that he would be going crazy if I added too many memories at once. Yodmo stretched out its snout to the Ashpim Giants, who were rolling on the ground. As they instinctively noticed their destiny toe, the giants struggled more intensely.

    The fog chains dug into their mouths. It had already blocked their ability to speak. The sound wave attack was also blocked because the air couldn¡¯t pass through. They just stared at the Yodmo as it approached, with eyes full of despair.

    =Can you keep the back of their head on the floor so that they can never be moved? And make it so they can¡¯t even control their head.=

    ¡°Wait.¡±

    I added more Mana to the artifacts that were blocking the giants.

    ¡°It¡¯s done now.¡±

    The conditions were tricky. This was why memory hunting seemed impossible for creatures that were stronger than themselves. Yodmo climbed onto the vast head of the Ashpim Giant as if climbing a high staircase. Just a little hard. Then it looked at the face of the giant under its feet. It stuck out its pale pink tongue. When the subject was dead, it absorbed memories by cutting through the skull and eating the brain. However, it seems that the method was different if its targets were alive.

    =Ummm¡­ Is this the nose?=

    Yodmo put its tongue into the giant¡¯s nostril, pierced over the dull skin without a bridge of the nose. Fluid dripped from the tip of his tongue, condensing. It was a liquid with a blue, fluorescent light. Soon it fell into the hole.

    Drip, drip, drip.

    It kept running down for a while, like water dripping from a faucet that wasn¡¯t fully shut. Looking at the color and viscosity, it seemed that it was a differentponent from the body fluid used to split the skull. After the injection, the guy waited for a while, riding on its head. After a while, the Ashpim¡¯s body began to mutate.

    ¡°¡­Ah, I see a lot of things I can¡¯t see these days.¡±

    From the two nostrils of the Ashpim Giant, something mixed with yellow and pink color stuck out. It seemed like a scene where sausages were being pulled out of a factory machine.

    [¡­It is to extract only the part responsible for long-term memory from the brain of the target. When you die, brain damage starts right away, so it only takes out the food part while leaving theponents necessary to sustain life.]

    ¡°Hmph¡­!¡±

    [Even if the shape changed like that, it was extracted without destroying a single cell. It seems to be for the purpose of eating the memories in aplete state.]

    There was no cellr damage even though the brain was stretched like a sausage and pulled out. I could feel the species¡¯ willingness not to miss a small memory. It was the power of tenacious and desperate gluttony. After eating it, Yodmo climbed one after another over the heads of the rest of the giants. After it pulled out and ate 11 of them, it approached me and groaned. Then it spat out 11 crystals. The size of the crystal was tiny. Was it because of the memory of an object that they wouldn¡¯t ever have faced? It was iparably smallpared to the crystal taken from the Guardians of the Great Convention before.

    =The memory of each giant about the Truth-Seeker, 11 pieces.=

    I quickly put it in my backpack. Looking at me like that, Yodmo asked.

    =¡­Shall I share the rest of the memory?=

    He looked very annoyed about it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care. There is no use anyway, so you can just eat it.¡±

    When I took the memories of Guardians of the Great Convention, I used all their memories because there might be clues mixed up. However, the memories of the Asphim Giant¡¯s life couldn¡¯t be used when I was concerned about the capacity the Fake God could handle. But my suggestion didn¡¯t seem to be worth it. When the guy snorted, it sounded like a flute. Then it spat out a new chunk of arge crystal.

    ¡°Excluding the information about Truth-Seekers, this is the lifetime memory of 11 Ashpim Giants.¡±

    Oh, this was really useless. There was no need and no way to use it.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you take it with you even if you¡¯re not hungry? You can eat it when you are hungry¡­¡±

    =The memory crystal disappears over time.=

    ¡°Or you can share it with your own people¡­¡±

    [Ah, that¡¯s¡­!]

    Parvache intervened as if stopping me, but Yodmo¡¯s answer was quicker.

    =Now I know for sure. Summoner¡­you can¡¯t directly ess the Akashic Records, can you? The spirit certainly gives advice because he directly reads the record, not you¡­otherwise, you wouldn¡¯t say that to a Yodmo.=

    What? Did I make a mistake? Yodmo said no more details. I opened the Channel as it wanted and returned it to the original dimension. I was thinking about what to do with the huge crystal of memories it left behind, but I took it for now. I looked at the giants scattered on the floor. Instead of struggling anymore, they were staring nkly into space.

    ¡°Can we just leave them like this? We don¡¯t have to kill them.¡±

    [¡­It might be better to kill them.]

    ¡°Let¡¯s just go. I rather not use Mana for nothing. If I kill them with clumsy magic, traces remain on the body. However, it takes a lot of effort to incinerate them without leaving a single piece of flesh.¡±

    Upon hearing that, Parvache turned its green stic eyes to me and stared for a while.

    [¡­Are you aware of it? Min-joon?]

    ¡°What?¡±

    [After passing all the memories of infancy to Yodmo, something has changed.]

    ¡°¡­Well, it can¡¯t be exactly the same.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to think deeply because it made me feel bad.

    [I know that the human race¡¯s experiences before the age of 4-5 have a significant influence on personality formation. What happens when it¡¯s wholly exterminated rather than forgotten? Hmm¡­]

    ¡°Don¡¯t say useless things. Let¡¯s go on our way.¡±

    When I think deeply about what I¡¯ve already lost, it only grewplicated. Parvache and I left the half-mad Ashpim Giants intact. Then we resumed our movement at a rapid speed. After some time, we arrived in front of the tall bone tower in the jungle, the Dell Giants vige. Before the tower was visible to the naked eye, I let the search magic sweep around me several times. They noticed our approach.

    It was a white tower built with the bones of their ancestors. In front of it, two familiar-faced furry giants were standing out to meet us.

    ¡°Wow! Yoong! Why do you look so tired? Do you keep doing it three times a day?¡±

    This young giant was still interested in the frequency of human sexual activity.

    ¡°Haha, was that world took over by other races from another dimension? Are there some terrifying guys you can¡¯t handle?¡±

    The old giant made a joke but showed a questionable look. There was quite a lot to exin to answer their questions. But before that, I looked up at the two giants and responded to the greetings they threw at me.

    ¡°It¡¯s nice to see you after a long time, too. Hickham and Ghur.¡±

    ***

    As I entered the tower, the giants surrounded me as if they had been waiting for me.

    ¡°Wow, that human wizard! He came again! Did he bring any incredible artifacts this time?¡±

    Everyone talked excitedly. I would have to show some goodwill at first. I took out what I had prepared in my backpack.

    ¡°Yoong, what is this?¡±

    Hickham¡¯s eyes widened when he saw the wooden box I put down on the floor. It was a square box a little smaller than a ser ball. The ck wood was decorated with various patterns of silver and shell powder. This seemed to have been made recently among the antiques I acquired. I checked it before converting it into an artifact, but the energy contained there was little.

    ¡°Everyone, step back.¡±

    The giants who tilt their heads moved ording to my words. I spat out the prepared spell. Simultaneously, the wooden box on the floor opened, and the stuff inside poured out. It was a considerable amount that couldn¡¯t normally fit inside that small thing. There was a small mountain in front of me.

    ¡°What¡¯s all this? How are so many big things in that little box¡­!¡±

    After all, they didn¡¯t seem to know the magic of dealing with space. Even Ghur stuttered. Everyone was looking at the scene with their mouths wide open. As I approached, I picked up a red-colored roll and exined.

    ¡°Well¡­this is a very soft fabric. Please touch it.¡±

    Hearing me, Hickham stumbled over and touched the fabric. Then he was surprised and pulled it out.

    ¡°Huh¡­huh! What is this¡­I¡¯ve never touched something so soft since I was born!¡±

    Then he rubbed it on his face.

    ¡°Wow¡­this is so good! It¡¯s cold, soft, and fluffy!¡±

    Then the other giants crowded around and touched it, and there was an uproar. Maybe this was silk? It was kind of like that. It was one of the items that White Deer gifted me in huge quantities. So much so that I had a nearly unextinguishable stock. I couldn¡¯t wear it myself, and I didn¡¯t know how to sell it. You could go to a gold and silver store to sell gold or jewelry, but what on earth could you do with that kind of fabric?

    I was thinking about what to throw as a small gift for the Dell Giants, and this came to mind. I remembered that their clothes were mostly coarse leather, and there was a story I had heard of. There was a lot more piled up in the warehouse, so that even if I took this much, it didn¡¯t lessen my stock in any manner.

    ¡°You said that humans in this area were extinct, so there¡¯s no soft fabric supply, right? That¡¯s why older people suffer from ack of good underpants. Try it on after making it with this. I picked out colors.¡±

    ¡°Oh, this is something the elders would love!¡±

    Yes, that was what I was aiming for. Ghur nodded his head and continued.

    ¡°Maybe when the elders find out, they¡¯ll give you their neckbone after they die.¡±

    Perhaps that was the expression of the Dell Giants¡¯ kindness. I said with a twinkle in my eyes as Ghur told the story.

    ¡°So, I mean¡­can I see Elder Kapal right now?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? Sure. It would be better to take this with you when you go up.¡±

    That¡¯s what I wanted.

    ***

    Ghur led me to Elder Kapal¡¯s room. It was also my second time visiting her room. She was the elder who oversaw the storage of records and the education of magic in this vige. She was also a genius wizard, who I taught how to create a barrier-forming artifact.

    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s been a long time. Nice to see you.¡±

    She greeted me with a smile. And after a brief greeting, she touched the cloth I put out. Her eyes opened wide as expected. Only after the elders in charge of clothing and other products came and struck a riot could I return to the main point. Only Ghur, Elder Kapal, and I remained in the room. When they listened to the long exnation I prepared, their expressions became serious.

    ¡°The record of the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest.¡±

    Elder Kapal scratched her white-haired cheek. Whenever the tip of the pointed nail passed, the stiff hair wasid down and then stood up repeatedly, leaving a mark.

    ¡°Haven¡¯t you and Ghur met it face-to-face already? Honestly, you two will be the only ones who have had such an experience among the mortals who are still breathing. What more information do you need?¡±

    ¡°What I want to know is not its appearance or ability.¡±

    ¡°Then?¡±

    I think I need some exnation.

 Chapter 65

    The Soul Flows High (10)

    ¡°I want to see all the records of the contact between the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest and the Dell tribe in history.¡±

    ¡°Why do you bet there will be such a thing?¡±

    A faint smile caught on Elder Kapal¡¯s mouth. Rather than having bad feelings, it was more like a feeling of interest in how I knew about it.

    ¡°You said when you first came to this tower. Silver Forest is called the forbidden area. It¡¯s an area that you should never enter.¡±

    ¡°I see. Except for you two, there is no precedent toe back alive after stepping in, regardless of whether it¡¯s Dell or Ashpim.¡±

    ¡°When I heard that, I thought this way. This world¡¯s Truth-Seeker hates or is reluctant to contact the mortals. It must be a sign of rejection that it never wants others to enter its territory.¡±

    But I couldn¡¯t feel any of that.

    ¡°It was different from what I expected when I saw it face-to-face. It didn¡¯t seem to mind at all. No, should I rather say that it enjoyed the conversation?¡±

    I knew it was curious about the Channel on my chest. It was also possible to assume that it didn¡¯t kill us exceptionally because of its origin and the Dragon¡¯s background story. However, the mixed feelings of its sentiments were clearly mixed with more joy.

    ¡°Ghur, do you remember? The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest said this. ¡®Even if mortals be extinct because of the Channel, I will not intervene. I just feel sorry for them.¡¯?¡±

    ¡°It must be because human is such an insignificant existence to it.¡±

    ¡°Yes. But is it weird? For saying that, it had a pretty long conversation, right? Even exining this and that kindly.¡±

    Ghur nodded his head as if agreeing. I think its attitude wasn¡¯t just because my Seed stimted its nostalgia. Profiling in its own way¡­even if the other person is a low-level creature with no cell scraps, the impression of being a chatterbox who wanted to have a conversation once it was interested in someone was still there, right? Of course, it was my overestimation, and everything could be the whims of a nearly immortal being. But¡­

    ¡°I still doubt it. If there is no reluctance to contact with mortals, why can¡¯t all those who entered the Silver Foreste back?¡±

    ¡°Okay, look. The phrase entered the Silver Forest itself has a meaning. Surrounding Silver Forest is a barrier made of tens of thousands of trees. It¡¯s a powerful barrier whose purpose is unknown. However, there is no power to block entry from the outside, right?¡±

    The Elder and Ghur nodded.

    ¡°Aside from Ghur and me, has anyone who has stepped into the Silver Forest died immediately? Or did they go deeper and then lose track?¡±

    ¡°I heard it¡¯s thetter.¡±

    ¡°Look. If it didn¡¯t want any visitors in the first ce, The Truth-Seeker could just add more physical properties to the barrier, but it didn¡¯t. Maybe there is some other reason for their disappearance other than the Truth-Seeker¡¯s hostility.¡±

    Unless the Truth-Seeker had a hobby of enjoying meaningless killing, it was a little strange to leave the door wide open as if it wanted people toe in as much as they want and kill them when they actually went in there. Perhaps what happened in it was something else that had nothing to do with the Truth-Seeker¡¯s will? In our case, the Truth-Seeker directly intervened in the entire process of calling and returning us back. However, it was questionable whether the same consideration would have been given to all other visitors. Visitors whom it didn¡¯t have interest in were simply neglected, and the result was they went missing?

    And, what was that massive barrier for in the first ce? I made a barrier that detected the approaching Ashpim Giants with one of the Enchanted Wood a little taller than me. That killed them with a magic attack. With just one branch. However, what purpose was the barrier that the Truth-Seeker created with tens of thousands of Enchanted Wood trees, which was far more powerful than mine? Ghur described him as azy guy stuck in Silver Forest who didn¡¯te out anyway. Was it because Truth-Seeker spent most of its time in the forest simply because it waszy?

    ¡°Anyway, if the Truth-Seeker had such a tendency, I guessed that there would have been another case like me. I wondered if there were any records of the Dells¡¯ contact and conversations with the Truth-Seeker.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. That¡¯s a good guess. There¡¯s a record. It¡¯s an ancient, old record before the Silver Forest was created.¡±

    I knew it! My prediction was right.

    ¡°But how did you guess? In other words, the fact that our kind has it. We¡¯re not even close like the Ashpims.¡±

    I didn¡¯t dare to tell them that I had taken out the Ashpims¡¯ memories instead of trying to talk to them in this way.

    ¡°I felt it while we were talking to each other in the past, and you knew really in detail about the Truth-Seeker. Knowledge, such as the kind of power the Truth-Seeker possesses, isn¡¯tmon. Even in another dimension.¡±

    In particr, given that the level of magic was falling behind, I also swallowed up the words that the level of information is abnormally high. I guess Dell¡¯s distant ancestors heard this information directly from the Truth-Seekers. Was the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest always the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest? From the moment it first appeared in this world, had it been stuck in Silver Forest and avoided any contact with mortals?

    If that were true, there was no way this detailed story would be passed on to Dell, to those who didn¡¯t seem to have had many interactions with other dimensions. If this was what Elder Kapal and Ghur both knew at the level ofmon sense, I thought that some of the information left in their literature might contain more details. The more in-depth and more detailed information that the Truth-Seeker gave itself.

    ***

    Elder Kapal went to the next room to get the scroll of rted records. I wondered if she would ask for something in return, but there was no such hint. Did she like the silk I gave her so much? Ghur also moved to help her. While I waited, Parvache delivered his thoughts to me.

    [Honestly, I am in doubt, Min-joon. Could he have even told them the sensitive topic of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s death and resurrection?]

    ¡®I think the possibility is half and half. It thinks they¡¯re too insignificant, that it could have told them everything.¡¯

    [Hmm.]

    ¡®Anyway, it¡¯s going to take a little longer for our keyman, ¡®The Greatest Wizard of All Time¡¯ Kim Kyung-hwan, to do his part, right? There is nothing bad about trying.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know when the executive would be in my hand and how much they would know. It was ambiguous to wait for Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s growth. In the meantime, what if he suddenly resurrected? I should dig as many burrows as I could.

    ¡®The resurrection they are aiming for maybe a characteristic of a Truth-Seeker. Isn¡¯t the person who knows that the most another Truth-Seeker?¡¯

    [Well. However, it is impossible to go to Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest and ask it. No matter how light-mouthed it is, we cannotfortably hold its throat. It¡¯s a being that can leave us powerless at a moment¡¯s whim.]

    ¡®No. So, Parvache. Why can¡¯t you see information about Truth-Seekers in the Akashic Records? If that¡¯s possible, we don¡¯t have to be like this in the first ce.¡¯

    [If I could open all the information, I would not be Purbagios¡¯s staff, but the god itself, you idiot.]

    The ess to Akashic Records was said to be the power of the priest who enshrined Purbagios. Purbagios, whose true name was ¡°A Scripture without the Last Chapter.¡± A contradictory god that existed as scripture that recorded faith and praise for something greater than itself and at the same time was a god itself.

    Parvache was both a wizard and a priest who served Purbagios before the Spiritualization. It was said that some of the power at that time continued even after the Spiritualization. However, he was no longer a priest now.

    ¡°You have been waiting for a long time.¡±

    The wait was much longer than I thought. A few hourster, Kapal and Ghur came out with several scrolls each. Was it more than I thought? Both spread them all on the floor.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t think there would be so many?¡±

    ¡°In history, this town has been one of the strongest groups of Dells around. Rather than others looting their records, they were mostly looters.¡±

    That means not all records were produced here. I couldn¡¯t read their characters. Parvache walked around the scroll and looked at it for me. It was a unique color, so I tried to touch it with my finger. It was leather that was much more discolored than the map I borrowed earlier. It was quite long, but there were no stitching marks.

    ¡°What kind of animal skin is this?¡±

    Ghur responded calmly.

    ¡°Is there any other creature like this around? Of course, it is the head of the Ashpims. The skin from the forehead to the back of the head was cut vertically and thinly.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°If you catch one, you can get many scrolls of this length. You know, their heads are cone-shaped, right? After picking the neck, make a long vertical cut with a gap. Then grab it under the chin and pull it straight out to peel it out. Like peeling off a Gardabit.¡±

    Parvache gave a supplementary exnation. Gardabit was a fruit that resembled a long melon.

    ¡°Now it is close to the lull in the war¡ªthe war between Dells and the Ashpims. But in the distant past, fierce battles raged on. At that time, it would have been much easier to get an Ashpim¡¯s head. It seems like many of these scrolls were made in those days.¡±

    ¡°¡­Oh, I see.¡±

    At that time, Parvache, who had finished reading, came to me.

    ¡°Do they have a record of that?¡±

    [¡­Hmm, I see one thing.]

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    [The Truth-Seeker of the Silver Forest, that guy really gave these people all sorts of information from a long time ago.]

    ¡°Can you read all the oldest records among them, Spirit?¡±

    Elder Kapal asked. I couldn¡¯t understand what she said.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you read all of this?¡±

    She shook her head.

    ¡°Some of the old scrolls have different texts. Still, the word Truth-Seeker wasn¡¯t forgotten even after time passed so that I could guess it like this. However, in the records that are over a thousand years old, there are also phrases that I cannot interpret. It is preserved by magic, but the older the record, the more interpretation methods have been lost.¡±

    Thanks to this, a rare sight unfolded in Elder Kapal¡¯s room. A spirit from another dimension read the text left by Dell¡¯s ancestors. It was then interpreted to the descendants of the recorder. Although the scrolls were made at different times, Parvache first read the record describing the farthest past.

    =This is a story told through an old Dell song. A long time ago, a time when a shaman and chief named ¡°Hot Tree¡± ruled the tribe. A great being whose head reaches the sky visited the tribe. It spoke without making a sound.

    ¡°The number has increased considerably. Sing the song that is delivered to you.¡±

    Hot Tree came forward and sung a song to pray for a lot of prey to be caught.

    ¡°It¡¯s like a prayer to Mother Nature. It¡¯s primitive. I came too early. Is it the same with othernds?¡±

    Hot Tree shouted before the great one disappeared.

    ¡°Great Being, who are you?¡±

    It answered.

    ¡°I am the Truth-Seeker of this world.¡±=

    Parvache moved on to the next record.

    =xx days of xxx.

    A great entity that all of Dell¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t capture visited the vige. The frightened chieftain ran out of the vige. The shaman knew that it was the god named ¡°Truth-Seeker¡± in the record.

    ¡°Oh, Truth-Seeker God! Have mercy on us!¡±

    It answered.

    ¡°What bullshit are you talking about. Am I God? If I had already be a god, would I be doing this here?¡±

    The shaman trembled with fear and cried.

    ¡°I¡¯m not connected with any gods yet? Well, it is still too early for the apostle toe.¡±

    ¡°Truth-Seeker God! If you are not a god, who are you?¡±

    He answered.

    ¡°Okay, listen. What is a Truth-Seeker?¡±

    The shaman was amazed at the story it had told and made a real change. They were transcendental beings that open the door to the world. The great one who stood on the threshold to be a god.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting. You guys finally made up the text. Since the time has passed, the story that is handed down has be richer, right? Sing a song. Recite a poem.¡±

    In a hurry, the vige elders gathered to sing songs and recite poems.

    ¡°¡­You all are still immature and unintelligent. I willeter.¡±

    The Truth-Seeker disappeared, clicking its tongue.=

    Parvache read that far, and then it skipped several scrolls. Most were said to be duplicates of simr content. Then he stopped at a point.

    =xx days in xxxx.

    The Truth-Seeker, who was only handed down in the record, appeared in front of the tower. The elders left all the little ones and warriors in the tower, and they decided to go out on their own. Twelve elders representing the vige stood in front of the Truth-Seeker. That there was no meaning of resistance could be seen from the sense of Mana and presence.

    ¡°You who has jurisdiction over the gates of the world, what is the great one who dwells closest to the divinity doing in these trivial viges?¡±

    The Truth-Seeker responded telepathically, expressing a feeling of great joy.

    ¡°Oh, the rhetoric is quite advanced? I¡¯m curious about your literature. Recite a poem.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The elders couldn¡¯t talk easily.=

 Chapter 66

    The Soul Flows High (11)

    =They were flustered, but they couldn¡¯t even afford to gather and discuss. The elder in charge of the records came forward and recited some of the best-known poems. The Truth-Seeker heard it and spoke.

    ¡°It¡¯s rough, but it has a strange taste. I¡¯ll keep this poem by heart. But try to refine it a bit more. You¡¯ll need more time. I wille back in just two hundred years from now.¡±

    ¡°Wa-wait a minute!¡±

    The elder in charge of the record gathered up the courage of his life and spoke.

    ¡°ording to old records, you, the Truth-Seeker, described yourself as the one who opens the door to the worlds. For a long time, we had no way of knowing the meaning, but now things have changed.¡±

    The elder went on with his trembling legs.

    ¡°A wilderness that can be reached in a few days from here. The blue door opened there! Through the door that suddenly appeared several decades ago, different races continue to cross over. Giants with long hair!¡±

    The Truth-Seeker answered.

    ¡°Oh, it is said that the name of that race is Ashpim.¡±

    ¡°Ashpim! Could you please close it? Those giants have the weird ability to burst flesh without using their hands, and they are huge; they are always threatening us!¡±

    The Truth-Seeker looked at the elder.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care how mortalse and go between dimensions. I will neither help nor stop them from moving.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­you are the Truth-Seeker.¡±

    ¡°No matter how you and the Ashpim interact, how you die or kill each other, that is none of my business.¡±

    ¡°Then why did you open that door?¡±

    ¡°¡­If I gave that answer to you mortals, it could be annoyingter on¡­but I¡¯ll tell you because you¡¯re the first kind who recited a poem that I like. In fact, the door wasn¡¯t opened by me.¡±

    The elder couldn¡¯t understand at all. The Truth-Seeker said that it was the one who opened the channels, but he didn¡¯t open this particr Channel.

    ¡°What? What do you mean by that?¡±

    The Truth-Seeker paused for a while, as if thinking, then telepathized again.

    ¡°The door was opened by a Truth-Seeker in the dimension where the Ashpim live. Apart from civilization¡¯s level, if youpare the world¡¯s age, that dimension is much older than yours. There is no difference, so the Channels aren¡¯t connected. However, the soul price is higher in the other dimension if youpare it. Therefore, I have no motivation to open the door to that dimension. Because the soul is supposed to flow high.¡±

    None of the elders in the ce understood the Truth-Seeker¡¯s words. The Truth-Seeker seemed very happy and disappeared after telling a few more stories.=

    ¡°Oh, the word of mouth that the Ashpim wasn¡¯t originally from this dimension was true!¡±

    Elder Kapal was impressed, striking her thigh with her palm. The interpretation provided by Parvache had cleared many doubts and assumptions.

    ¡°There is one more justification for us to catch and y them, Elder Kapal. After all, aren¡¯t they just invading our world?¡± Ghurughed, revealing his teeth.

    [Hmm¡­I think that¡¯s why the war between the two races began in the first ce¡­]

    Parvache muttered only to me. On the other hand, my head grew moreplicated with the list of stories. I didn¡¯t know what the hell was going on anymore.

    ¡°No, is there any information we want? Like how a dead Truth-Seeker is resurrected.¡±

    [No such thing here.]

    My head hurt.

    [I knew when it always brought up poetic concepts, but I guess it¡¯s a crazy fan of poetry. Well, it¡¯s not umon for a Truth-Seeker to obsess over strange things.]

    ¡°What about the scrolls you haven¡¯t read yet? What is it about?¡±

    [After that, it appeared once again¡­asking for a poem and listening to it. The visit cycle has been shortened. At that time, the Dell race also got information. It¡¯s a personality that says he doesn¡¯t care how they die or kill, but it¡¯s just spraying out information when it¡¯s happy. Or maybe it¡¯s just an indulgence for the Truth-Seeker.]

    Well, I also received such information as well as the branches and seeds of the Enchanted Wood. Parvache continued to walk through the scrolls.

    [The Truth-Seeker gave information such as the world¡¯s principles and the Truth-Seeker¡¯s abilities while also teaching Magic to the Dell tribe. So, it seems thatter, the elders who had jurisdiction over the records would take the jurisdiction of magic knowledge as well.]

    ¡°Oh, from there, it is written in anguage that I can be interpreted. The elder, who ys the role of reciting poetry to the Truth-Seeker, received the magic transfer, so naturally, he was also in charge of Magic.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­then, is the founder of Dell¡¯s magic the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest?¡±

    ¡°To some extent, yes. But its teachings are really¡­they say they were iprehensible. Our ancestors didn¡¯t even know what he meant. Even now, as far as I can see, the magical theory we use is problematic, and the connection is unnatural. Should I say that many parts seem to memorize only the conclusions and write the conclusions without the intermediate process¡­¡±

    Listening to the story, it seemed like a civilization that had been around for quite a long time. Still, strangely, the level of Magic had fallen. I guess there was another story like this. At that time, Parvache stopped walking in front of the scroll and asked.

    [By the way, ording to the content here, the Truth-Seeker left a message that he will being again soon? If it was xxxx, it was 500 years ago in this world time. Why is there no record afterward?]

    Elder Kapal answered.

    ¡°It was before I was born, but I heard it for sure. Five hundred years ago, the Truth-Seeker suddenly showed a different behavior than before. And then they stoppeding to our people.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    She looked me in the eye.

    ¡°In the middle of the wilderness, it made a forest of the Enchanted Wood tree and became secluded in it. Since then, no one has ever seen it face to face¡­until you and Ghur met it not long ago.¡±

    ***

    After spending the day at the Dell Giant¡¯s Tower, I set out on my way home in the early evening. I headed out of the woods with Ghur seeing me off. When I came here, I was covered with concealment magic and movement speed, increasing Magic to move with the wind. I had a telepathic conversation with Parvache in case that my voice might cause trouble.

    ¡®What? In the end, only a waste of time!¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t a waste of fabric, but it was a waste of two days and one night, given how busy I was these days.

    [Still, we got a lot of knowledge that you can¡¯t see in Akashic Records, right?]

    ¡®What kind of knowledge? That the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest is a fan of poetry? No, didn¡¯t it seem a bit like that in the first ce, that it¡¯s a being who collected mortals¡¯ poems?¡¯

    [No, not that¡­]

    ¡®Then what? Do you mean about the Asphim Giants, who are extradimensional species in this world? That¡¯s very useful knowledge, Mr. Parvache.¡¯

    [No, wars between indigenous species aremon. Then, if civilization is changed a few times, people will not even know who the alien is in the first ce.]

    I think I heard an expression that bothers me, but there was something else I wanted to say.

    ¡®Then what are you talking about?¡¯

    [Don¡¯t you remember what I interpreted? It said that the soul flows high¡­maybe the phrase has a clue about the rtionship between the Truth-Seeker and the Channel. I don¡¯t know if it is the literal meaning or the literary expression of the old Dell Giants.]

    However, it was more urgent for me to get rid of the shit on my way right now than to break down the secrets of the universe and dimensions. I was trying to respond, but I saw the Channel leading to Earth from a distance. I put away what I was trying to say and picked up speed.

    ¡®We¡¯re almost there. Let¡¯s go quickly.¡¯

    I approached the barrier and created a crack that could fit my body. And I stepped inside. And, there was an unpleasant sensation flowing through my whole body.

    ¡°¡­!¡±

    [Hmm? What¡¯s wrong?]

    I couldn¡¯t answer back to Parvache. It was like unfamiliarity and confusion as if I were seeing something for the first time since birth. A vague awakening, as if encountering something that had been long forgotten. These twopletely contradictory thoughts wandered around in my head. Debris of fragmented thoughts and one that couldn¡¯t be found seemed to flow roughly through the blood vessels of my brain. I froze in front of my mind-struck presence.

    [¡­Min-joon? What¡¯s wrong?]

    Parvache asked from inside my backpack. I gritted my teeth. Parvache¡­it said it would be impossible for God to observe the whole world! Then what was this?! It was only then that Parvache shouted as if it had noticed something.

    [¡­That¡¯s!]

    There was a gaze looking at me. Just as I felt pain when I burned my hand in hot water, I felt the other person¡¯s feelings as soon as I was exposed to that gaze. Confused, funny, restless, boring, surprising, curious, wanting to stop, expecting, cruel, indescribable, miserable¡­also, among the emotions I had experienced, a mass of unrealistic emotions that I had nothing topare with passed through my skin. Parvache spoke in confusion.

    [Uh¡­ how? What¡¯s on your chest is not its Seed, so the Power of the Echo will not work¡­!]

    At that moment, there was someone who cut off Parvache¡¯s consciousness and spoke to me in my head.

    =Oh, are you here again?=

    Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

    =It looks like you came over while I was sleeping. Well done. Why don¡¯t you see me for a second?=

    As its words echoed in my heart, the ground on which I was standing began to drift away under my feet.

    ¡®¡­!¡¯

    I screamed silently in my heart. I realized that I couldn¡¯t breathe anymore. Losing all the senses, my body rose to an altitude of hundreds of meters and flew as if it were being sucked in. I managed to check the direction. North. It was self-evident what would be at the end of this pull. I could see it in my eyes as it rose in the absurdly high sky¡ªa destination by others, initially within a few days¡¯ walk.

    A vast silvery forest was covering the horizon.

    ***

    It waste at night, and the moon shook coldly on the river. For the first time in a long time, Yusu came out of the water and sat on a bench in Han River Park. He wasn¡¯t familiar with the kind of trick to hide his body. Although it was a rare ce, he brought hispanion just in case. It was a drinking friend who was good with concealment techniques.

    The barrier hid the bench they sat on side by side. Yusu lifted a bronze wine ss with a long nose while the crane filled the cup. The long beak opened, and a solemn voice flowed out.

    ¡°The wind is full of painful burns and smells of iron, and the light of the stars in the sky is as shabby as debris. The only thing I enjoy as a snack is that moon, and it¡¯s been a sad time.¡±

    Yusu received a toast from the crane. They both shook off what was in their sses. As they emptied the cup, the crane asked.

    ¡°By the way, why are you staring at that one without responding to my words?¡±

    After all, there was no answer. Instead of rushing to speak, the crane moved quietly. One feather was pulled out of the upper left wing among the three pairs of finely folded ck wings, and it was trying to bring it close to the mouth of the bottle.

    ¡°¡­Brother Song, it would be better to put that ugly thing back in.¡±

    Yusu said so without even turning his gaze toward the crane.

    ¡°I¡¯m afraid your mouth will open when you get a little tipsy¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need it. How could I drink alcohol to lose my mind?¡±

    Hmm, it thought he wasn¡¯t watching. The crane swallowed its words inside. Then it made a nonchnt expression and shed its feathers in the wind. The wind on the river was so strong that the feathers flew to the Han River¡¯s edge and fell on the water. Then the feathers crumbled like a ck cloud and melted into the river. The purification started by Yoon Min-joon¡¯s artifact judged it as a pollutant. The crane spoke, feeling the soft Magic rising from the bottom of the river.

    ¡°That treasure is a little stupid. When there is something as good as liquor, it just makes it into in water like that.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the feather that just melted made by quite a bit of liquor? Isn¡¯t it something that normal human beings would lose their mind if they drank just a drop? It¡¯s not impossible to judge it as poison. But don¡¯t even think about mixing that weird thing into what we drink.¡±

    ¡°Okay. Okay.¡±

    Then it suddenly thought of something.

    ¡°So, is it true that that terrifying master went into that space?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. The gatekeepers who were patrolling the river said they saw it.¡±

    ¡°Is it anxious to keep watching?¡±

    Yusu finally took his eyes off the crack in the space he was looking at.

    ¡°It¡¯s a scene I want to show to you, Brother Song. But unless you¡¯re a Maek, you won¡¯t be able to see it¡­¡±

    ¡°Are you saying you were looking at the soul right now?¡±

    Yusu nodded.

    ¡°I can see it in my eyes when I concentrate my mind. No matter how high Master Yoon¡¯s skill level is, it seems impossible to create barriers that block the movement of the soul.¡±

    ¡°With no bottom or end, is that what you mean?¡±

    ¡°Not long after we moved to this ce, didn¡¯t Elder Hamun say some strange words? So, I kept it in my memory and looked at it carefully. So, it looks obvious.¡±

    Yusu¡¯s eyes became more serious.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what the reason is for so many souls being sucked into the crack in that space.¡±

    ¡°If you say that only the soul is sucked in, they won¡¯t be alive. Are you quite old now? Can you see the souls of the dead?¡±

    ¡°At my level now, it¡¯s only possible by concentrating my mind and trying. Elderly Maek, who have lived for a very long time like an elder, seem to see the flow of all the souls around them at a nce.¡±

    ¡°I think it will be a little ufortable at that point. Anyway, the souls are sucked in? Aren¡¯t they joining the ring of reincarnation in this world? What happens then?¡±

    Yusu responded by shaking his head.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure either.¡±

    The crane quietly tilted its head and raised its ss.

    ¡°Anyway¡­¡± Its voice was low.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how many souls are being sucked into that world¡­but I should at least pray for them. So that they can join the ring of reincarnation without any fuss in that world.¡±

    ¡°Maybe not? Unless there is an evil lurking in there, like the Dragon.¡±

    The crane bumped its ss into the Maek¡¯s. Yusu thought while holding its liquor in its mouth. The strange things that urred when the Dragon disappeared¡­was this series of events an unusual phenomenon caused by the absence of the Dragon, or should it be viewed as part of the process of returning the world to normal due to the disappearance of the Dragon? The answer was unknown.

    Recently, he had been asking God for every ritual. The reason for the cataclysm that was taking ce in this world. But the answer didn¡¯te back. Yusu mumbled inside.

    ¡®I¡¯d rather have a question about Dragons to God. I¡¯vee back with the same answer every time.¡¯

    White Deer¡¯s ritual was a time of historical question and answer. When the priest asked a question, God answered. Yusu asked at each ritual like a custom. How long must the being who cross the wall live under the Dragon¡¯s agreement? What was the Dragon¡¯s identity? When would that Dragon die and disappear so they could return to thend?

    And at that time, the same answer that came back to the numerous priests of its previous generation was often heard by Yusu. Yusu muttered the answers of the god he had always heard.

    ¡°Is it encroaching? Evolving or not. The moment you qualify to stand at this crossroads, you will have all the answers in your hands, my priest.¡±

 Chapter 67

    Heart Fish (1)

    My body, which was flying at tremendous speed from hundreds of meters in the air, gradually lowered its altitude. There was a forest full of Enchanted Wood trees. Seen from above, it was like a silver sea. The closer I approached, the more I could make out the individual trees. I was nervous and wanted to shrink my body, but my body couldn¡¯t even move.

    While descending, I saw something. It was a bit of scenery I hadn¡¯t seen when I was pulled in by the Truth-Seekerst time. Looking down from the sky, there was a blue light in my eyes. It was the center of Silver Forest. I could see a smallnd that the densely lined Enchanted Wood trees didn¡¯t take over. There was dry soil that hadn¡¯t grown a single de of grass. A familiar color of light fluttered above it.

    It was a Channel.

    The Channel, located deep in the forest, was surrounded by dozens of extraordinary giant barrier trees at a distance. Somehow it was like the center of the barriers. However, within a few seconds of having the sight in my eyes, my body¡¯s height dropped as low as possible. I descended as if I was reaching the top of a long stretch of Enchanted Wood tree¡ªthe moment just before the collision. Even if I tried to close my eyes reflexively, I didn¡¯t move ording to my will.

    At that moment, the same thing happened as before. My body passed through the barrier tree like an illusion. The vast tree that should have pierced my forehead and ribs passed by me without any physical shock. My vision was so dark, and my body was buried underground. How long did I descend in such darkness?

    Finally, I arrived at the colossal cavity I had visited before. The surrounding area was a tight space. However, there was a subtle light; most of my gaze hit areas covered with dark shadows. My body casually touched the ground and stood in the corner of that dark pit. It felt like being ced by someone. The paralysis over the body was relieved with the perception that there was no further movement.

    ¡°Cough¡­ Cough!¡± I coughed up and sat down on the ground.

    ¡°Croup, croup!¡±

    It felt as if my whole body was losing strength. While being pulled like this, I couldn¡¯t move a single fingertip. If the one who did this kind of thing had only made up their mind, my life would have been blown away within a split second. I was breathing hard, but the familiar Mana and presence crushed my body. This was why it isn¡¯t easy to maintain my mind. It seemed to be more potent than before. I managed to open my mouth and talk to the being in front of my eyes.

    ¡°¡­A little bit, please take a little.¡±

    =Oh, I tried to adjust. Is it too much? By the way, why don¡¯t you grope everywhere with Mana this time?=

    The firm will resonate in my head. At the same time, the power that weighed on me weakened.

    ¡°Phew¡­!¡±

    Sighing deeply, I barely raised my head. My whole body was covered with sweat. The other day, when I came with Ghur, it wasn¡¯t this bad.

    ¡°¡­Nice to see you again, The Truth-Seeker of this world.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know the etiquette when meeting a Truth-Seeker. In the first ce, it may not mean anything to them. Whether the mortals bow their heads, bend their limbs to the ground, or dance. But I couldn¡¯t just say, ¡°Why did you call me again?¡± without greeting it, could I? So, I greeted politely.

    =Ah, yes. Nice to see you again as well.=

    A tentacle covered in the shadow wriggled up. Was that a kind of greeting?

    =You came across earlier than I thought. Have you moved to this dimension?=

    In the wills of the Truth-Seeker who spoke those words, I could feel a variety of emotions. This was also a different part from thest time I came. At that time, even if I recognized its telepathy, I could only vaguely feel two or three emotions. It was quite different now. Every time the Truth-Seeker talked, many immeasurable emotions prated my mind. Some were interpretable, and some were unfamiliar, which couldn¡¯t be interpreted by my cognitive scope.

    ¡°¡­I didn¡¯te to migrate.¡±

    =Then what did youe to do?=

    I thought I didn¡¯t have to say my purpose as it was. If I told it, it would only spread rumors to A-Verdag, wouldn¡¯t it? In the first ce, it wasn¡¯t a good idea to ask the Truth-Seeker directly how the Truth-Seeker¡¯s resurrection is possible and how to prevent it.

    ¡°I havee to trade with the people of this dimension.¡±

    To be precise, I tried to give silk and get information. However, there wasn¡¯t much achievement. The Truth-Seeker seemed to be convinced.

    =Surely, I see the reason for blocking the Channel that connects with your world. Was it a measure to monopolize information and wealth from trade alone? It¡¯s understandable.=

    Cool sweat flowed down on my back.

    ¡°¡­Well, did it offend you?¡±

    I understood that the Truth-Seeker had no interest in the interaction of mortals through the Channel at all. Blocking the Channel was also done under the assumption that Truth-Seekers would tolerate it. Actually, there were cases in other dimensions as well. Just like the Channel in Phdelphia, USA, weren¡¯t the beings on that dimension blocking human ess? Despite all the assumptions, I asked the question, but the Truth-Seeker¡¯s answer was as expected.

    =I don¡¯t care.=

    Well, if it were unpleasant, it would have destroyed my barriers earlier.

    =Whether youe and go, or whether you control those whoe and go, it doesn¡¯t mean anything to me.=

    Then the tentacles reached me. I immediately jumped up from my seat and suppressed the urge to throw up Adelegos¡¯s shock storm.

    =And anyway, the barriers you have made¡­no, no mortals will be able to make any barriers that will offend me.=

    The outward sense of doubt was mild. But there was a reason why I had to be nervous. Underneath it, much of the interpretable emotions were covered with negative colors. I could tell even though the object of the emotion wasn¡¯t directed at me. I could feel it. The mncholy caused by the boring waiting, the loathing of something I didn¡¯t know, and the cold anger watching

    But at the same time, I could feel the feelings toward me. Mostly not bad. A curiosity that I think was unexpected. The joy and fun of expecting something¡­

    =In fact, speaking of mortals who can offend me¡­it¡¯s only one kind.=

    Another kind of negative emotion was mixed in its words now. That was¡­definitely hostility. It wasn¡¯t for me, though. It¡¯s strange. How can I get such detailed emotional analysis? And how could I interpret these feelings so skillfully? By distinguishing up to even the rough direction of the emotion.

    =While I was sleeping, there was something to be called a disaster concerning it. So it is, Mortal.=

    Its will was more empowered.

    =What do you want from the trade?=

    ¡°¡­Information.¡±

    =What kind of information?=

    I chose my words carefully for a while and then answered.

    ¡°Information about this new world connected with Earth. Furthermore, the knowledge of the source of the dimension. I am seeking the truth of the universe that cannot be read in the Akashic Records. I thought that this kind of people might have knowledge that our dimension does not.¡±

    After all, information about Truth-Seekers was also included in the universe¡¯s truth, so it wasn¡¯t a lie. The Truth-Seeker listened before speaking.

    =Really? So¡­among them, there must be something that I can provide.=

    ¡°¡­What do you mean by that?¡±

    =It means to make a deal.=

    I didn¡¯t understand. Why did such a transcendental entity deal with a dusty human like me? Wasn¡¯t it just necessary to coerce me the way you want? Of course, in the case of the Fake God¡¯s dimension, the Truth-Seeker was said to enjoy trading as a game. Was the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest the same after all? However, in the midst of this, of course, I didn¡¯t respond like, ¡°Just press me with your strength. Why are you trying to make a deal or something like that?¡± If it wanted to y with me, I could just hang out with it. There was no other option.

    ¡°¡­Is there anything you could get from me?¡±

    =Oh, well. Something was quite difficult.=

    It said that it was difficult, but there were no worries mixed with the sentiment¡ªjust a constant hatred for something. And there seemed to be some expectations from me. It was really amazing. How did I make this distinction?

    =Sometime after your world and the Channel were connected¡­I went to sleep. But about half a day ago, I suddenly woke up from a long rest. I felt that people were running through the barriers I made within the forest.=

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    About half a day ago, it was when I was sleeping in Dell¡¯s vige.

    ¡°After all, was this Silver Forest a barrier of sealing?¡±

    =Yes.=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s feelings deepened.

    =Did you know a species called Heart Fish?=

    ¡°Roughly.¡±

    I had heard it from Parvache. It was named like that because it was known to eat the host¡¯s heart. But to be exact, it was a creature that eats souls while being parasitic. A peculiar species that spanned the boundary between matter and non-matter. It was different from a spirit like Parvache. Parvache had intangible energy called the mental body surrounding the soul, while the Heart Fish hadplete unity of soul and body.

    It was also different from an ordinary soul. The soul couldn¡¯t be divided, but the Heart Fish bred. Also, they never moved on the ring of reincarnation. Upon death, it disappeared as it was and returned to nothingness. Considering that they weren¡¯t being reincarnated, they couldn¡¯t be regarded as ordinary mortals.

    =This forest of Enchanted Wood trees is a barrier to iste Heart Fish from the outside and kill them.=

    That was why those who entered this forest didn¡¯te back.

    ¡°But, was the Heart Fish originally from this dimension? I heard that it could only be seen in a dimension that was beingpletely engulfed by a divine being. This dimension doesn¡¯t look that way¡­¡±

    Suddenly, I had a thought that passed my mind.

    ¡°Ah, by any chance? Are they from the Channel in the middle of the forest?¡±

    =Did you see it?=

    The Truth-Seeker continued its words in a mean way.

    =A Channel opened a few hundred years ago. Sadly, the other side was a habitat for the Heart Fish. Once opened, the Channel cannot be closed, and they kepting over here. I had no choice but to create a barrier around that Channel to prevent them from leaking out.=

    ¡°¡­Are you trying to protect the mortals?¡±

    If so, the front and back do not fit.

    =No, to be precise, to protect the souls of mortals in this world.=

    It didn¡¯t protect life, but protected the soul? I kept this information in mind and asked again.

    ¡°Why are the souls of mortals so important to the Truth-Seeker?¡±

    =Nothing to know.=

    Damn it.

    ¡°At least¡­I understand that Heart Fish is a harmful species to Truth-Seekers, right?¡±

    =That¡¯s right.=

    ¡°That¡¯s weird. Why did the Truth-Seeker of the world connected to Silver Forest¡¯s Channel leave the Heart Fish unattended? And, knowing obviously, why did it break the Channel into this world?¡±

    =You just said. The dimension in which the Heart Fish dominated is the dimension that waspletely engulfed by the divine being. I will reply by saying that the information isn¡¯t wrong.=

    Unpleasant feelings were powerfully revealed in the Truth-Seeker¡¯s will.

    =Anyway, as soon as they ran out of the forest, I sensed it and woke up. And then I took the groups who ran away at random and killed them. But in the meantime, there was a group who escaped through a Channel outside the forest.=

    ¡°¡­It doesn¡¯t matter if they went to another dimension anyway, right?¡±

    =Because there is an assumption that the egg will beid in that dimension, and the number will be increased, and then they will return to this side. These guys are the exception to ordinary mortals. They can¡¯t be left unattended. Because of that, I have an offer for you.=

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    =In fact, those who have moved to another dimension will be handled by the Truth-Seeker of that dimension. I have already put a message through A-Verdag. I don¡¯t have to worry about theming over this way again. But¡­the problem is your dimension. Human.=

    After the movement of the tentacles, presumed to beughter¡­

    =I¡¯ve already looked at that barrier. There was no such thing as a function to reject spiritual beings, right? The Heart Fish are like souls.=

    In the first ce, I couldn¡¯t even make such a barrier. Don¡¯t tell me¡­?

    ¡°Are you saying that they have already passed into our world?¡±

    =I have already found traces. They have passed.=

    The barrier wouldn¡¯t have been able to prevent the existence of soul-like beings. No matter how much I wandered around the Mapo Bridge Channel, I couldn¡¯t detect it with my magic. And eventually, are you saying that the Heart Fishes were wandering around just a few kilometers from my house? No, they may have already found a host and started parasitism!

    Oh, this was driving me crazy!

    =If there were a Truth-Seeker in your dimension, I would have contacted him and asked him to take care of the Heart Fish. If they startying eggs there, it makes a problem for both dimensions. However, isn¡¯t that world about to have an unprecedented situation due to the vacancy of Truth-Seeker?=

    ¡°If so¡­is it what you want from me?¡±

    =Exactly.=

    The Truth-Seeker sent me an affirmation.

    =It would be inappropriate to call you¡­the agent of the Truth-Seeker, but anyway, you should do my favor on behalf of the Truth-Seeker of the Earth. I hope you kill all the nted Fish that have passed into your world. Let me pay the right price.=

 Chapter 68

    Heart Fish (2)

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest added a word.

    =Anyway, it¡¯s also necessary for you. If you let them continue to reproduce, eventually, it will end in the copse of civilization. You¡¯ll survive somehow, but humans usually don¡¯t. You¡¯re not good at living alone in a world that¡¯s gone, are you?=

    Parvache quietly whispered in my consciousness.

    [That¡¯s right. By the way, please pass on my question.]

    When it heard Parvache¡¯s question that I passed in, the Truth-Seeker answered.

    =The original dimension that existed before the Heart Fish came over is in a state where life forms with ordinary souls are extinct. They will be starving.=

    The Truth-Seeker rted words with emotions that I couldn¡¯t interpret.

    =There will be no Truth-Seeker like me who will interfere, so as soon as they pass into your world, they will find a parasitic target. They won¡¯t move far. You can search around the Channel first.=

    Ah, wait a minute. I felt a line of cold sweat flowing down my back.

    =So, what kind of ce is the Channel that connects this world and your world located in your world?=

    ¡°¡­It is in an area where the poption density is extremely high.¡±

    Despite the outbreak of the Channel crisis, the poption of Seoul only slightly declined.

    =You better go quickly. There might have already been a parasite around it. As a piece of advice, they are supposed to target high-spirited beings first.=

    ¡°¡­Yes.¡±

    =The most dangerous target is a wizard who doesn¡¯t know the spell of mental defense but has strong power. Parasitic against such guys can be tricky to deal with, even at your level. But¡­as long as there are no great wizards gathered near that Channel¡­um? What¡¯s wrong?=

    ¡°I have to go right now!¡±

    The White Deer Vige was right under the Channel! Wizards who use powerful techniques that were iparable to humans on Earth! Do they know the spell of mental defense? I¡¯m incredibly anxious!

    =Ah¡­ yes. I¡¯ll send you back to the Channel. But before that, take this.=

    As the Truth-Seeker wriggled its tentacles, a small pocket suddenly appeared in front of me.

    =Apparently, you don¡¯t know the magic of extracting or sealing souls, do you?=

    I nodded my head.

    =It is tough for a wizard who can¡¯t handle the soul to kill Heart Fishes. Do you know that?=

    I said how Parvache taught me.

    ¡°¡­Because the host must be killed before the Heart Fish leaves.¡±

    As the Truth-Seeker beckoned his tentacles, a pocket floating in front of it came to me.

    =If the host seems to die, the Heart Fish will quickly run away. It¡¯s harder than you think to kill it without giving time to do that. This will help.=

    The Truth-Seeker showed me the purpose of what was in it.

    =Now, then. I¡¯ll send you to the Channel. Catch the Heart Fishes and kill them. Then,e back here. I will give you the right price.=

    At the same time, my body soared through the ground and flew into the sky.

    ***

    I put on the magic of concealment and stepped into the Channel leading to the Earth. I was in a hurry. I should get in touch with Yusu right away. Could the Heart Fish ever invade the White Deer Vige? Did that barrier that surrounds White Deer Vige really have the power to defend against even the beings close to the soul?

    I should warn them. If the Heart Fish ate souls like the White Deer people, they would have tremendous power. I immediately tried to go home to contact Yusu. I couldn¡¯t enter White Deer Vige unless they apanied me. I should contact Yusu in advance through artifacts at home. But I soon realized I didn¡¯t have to. I could feel a familiar wave of Mana nearby. The residents of White Deer¡­I went straight to the ce where I felt the power. Then, I saw two beasts sitting on a bench in Han River Park.

    The first thing that caught my eye was a ckbird with six wings. And the other creature sitting face to face with him and tilting its ss¡­was a familiar Maek. They were in a concealed barrier to avoid people¡¯s attention, but they couldn¡¯t avoid my eyes. I stepped inside so easily without breaking that barrier and then uncovered my body.

    ¡°Huh¡­w-what?!¡±

    The ckbird looked at me in amazement. By the way, it smelled of alcohol? Come to think of it. It seemed that the bird¡¯s eyes were a little loose. However, Yusu looked fine. He shouted after recognizing me.

    ¡°Ah, Master Yoon!¡±

    ¡°Just in time, you came out.¡±

    As I tried to continue, the crane came to me with a staggering step. Then it spread out all three wings on the right and stuck them to me. What? This guy¡­

    ¡°Oh¡­you are Guru Yoon! Hail Guru, well met! No, nice to meet you! Humans say hello like this these days, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­You only have to shake hands with one hand.¡±

    However, the crane shook hands three times in turn with three wings.

    ¡°You¡¯re wee! Would you like a drink?¡±

    A small table was ced on the bench, and sses and bottles were ced on it. What were they doing in a ce like this?

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m in a hurry to tell you something. Next time¡­¡±

    ¡°Huh, good! I¡¯m the only one who can enjoy this good drink! Yusu doesn¡¯t want to drink at all.¡±

    The crane plucked a feather from its wings and put it inside the bottle. Soon a rumbling sound came up inside the bottle. Yusu looked at it and murmured low.

    ¡°¡­How many times is it? You ruined all the good drinks. I won¡¯t even put this in my mouth. Brother Song, take care of it yourself.¡±

    I cut off their conversation and spoke quickly to Yusu.

    ¡°Yusu, I have something to tell you.¡±

    The Maek¡¯s eyes, filled with questions and curiosity, and the cranes¡¯ eyes, which were bloodshot, looked at me simultaneously.

    ***

    After hearing all my exnations, Yusu¡¯s expression became solemn. He spoke, scratching his chin.

    ¡°Are you saying there are parasitic beings that feed on the soul? Is the principle simr to being possessed by demons?¡±

    ¡°Can you and other Maek see the soul? Please return to the vige and observe the residents. Maybe some people are in a different state from their usual soul.¡±

    ¡°I will. I have to go right now.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will use my own method to find out if any of the humans have been infected. Oh, and do you know the spell of mental defense? It¡¯s like this.¡±

    When I taught the principle and demonstrated it, Yusu soon nodded.

    ¡°Not everyone in the vige can use it, but I will tell them to defend themselves in advance if possible.¡±

    Yusu ??hurried the grinning crane and cleaned up the table. He greeted me after getting ready, and I suddenly remembered something, so I asked.

    ¡°Did you happen to see a strange souling out of the Channel? The Heart Fish doesn¡¯t look like a parasite. They are more likely to look like souls to your eyes.¡±

    ¡°Well, you know, because I¡¯m not looking at the crack in that space all day. Still, you said that it happened half a day ago, so I¡¯ll ask if there was any Maek walking around at that time. But¡­even if they were looking at that crack at that time, it would have been hard to distinguish¡­¡±

    ¡°What do you mean by that?¡±

    Then Yusu answered.

    ¡°A huge number of souls are usually being sucked into the crack in that space. Even if some of those strange souls flow in the opposite direction, I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll stand out.¡±

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    Yusu told me about what he saw on the Channel. After listening to the exnation, my expression hardened. While I was lost in thought, Yusu sat the crane on its back. When it tried to clean up the table, the crane took all the leftovers from the bottle at once, and it seemed like it was really drunk.

    ¡°This world is crazy! There¡¯s a hole in the air, the Dragon suddenly disappeared, and the humans have done something to thisnd! It smells like shit everywhere! This strong odor!¡±

    ¡°Gosh, Brother Song. Don¡¯t be so hard on me!¡±

    Even after seeing Yusu and the crane off, I stood at the banks of the Han River for a while. The I learned this time began to settle down in my head, looking for their own connections. First, mortal life was meaningless to the Truth-Seeker. Still, their souls were an essential factor, and the Heart Fish that devoured the souls of mortals were enemies to the Truth-Seeker. Second, as soon as the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker, the Dragon, died, the dimensional barrier disappeared, and hundreds of Channels were opened.

    Third, the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker left the saying, the soul flows high, and the Earth was probably a dimension younger than most of its counterparts. After arranging up to this point, a specific hypothesis was established in my head. Even when I sat in the taxi heading home, I frequently exchanged telepathy with Parvache. No matter how much I thought about it, the conclusions had to be gathered together.

    The Truth-Seekers tried to break through the Channel in a rtively young dimension, and when the defense failed, a Channel was created. As a result, the souls of the younger dimension flowed out to the other dimension. Truth-Seekers created Channels to win the soul, and the Earth¡¯s soul was probably spilling out to countless dimensions.

    This conclusion, again, could only lead to a question. So, what were the Truth-Seekers trying to do with the soul?

    ***

    The soft notes produced by the jazz band resonated in the lobby. Lee Seo-rin was resting on a leather sofa in a hotel lounge bar.

    ¡°The air conditioner is generous in Southeast Asia, after all.¡±

    She lifted a mojito ced on her table and put the straw in her mouth. She took a deep sip.

    ¡°Yes, this is a real break.¡±

    She declined all the rmendations from her fellow actors who came to Bangkok. Instead of going on a Bangkok city tour or going to a hot rooftop bar, she stayed at the hotel all day long.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    At that moment, a man came into her eyes. What? She thought she had seen him somewhere.

    ¡®Oh! Oh my God!¡¯

    She barely endured the urge to jump from the seat. Lee Seo-rin¡¯s eyes grew wide. That blond, handsome man¡­Jonathan Powell! He was her favorite Hollywood actor. Why was that man in this hotel? Did hee to Bangkok for vacation? But something even more incredible happened. He made eye contact with her, and he began to walk her way without hesitation.

    ¡®No way, no way? Is heing to me now?¡¯

    Jonathan looked at Lee Seo-rin with profoundly fascinating eyes.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you for a while. You like being alone. Is there anybody you are waiting for?¡±

    ¡°Ah, no¡­no one.¡±

    What? Strange. She couldn¡¯t speak English. But how could she understand this person? And how did she respond? But when she saw his blue jewel-like eyes looking at her, Lee Seo-rin¡¯s suspicion melted away.

    ¡°It¡¯s because I like you. If you don¡¯t mind¡­¡±

    Jonathan put one of his business cards on the table where Lee Seo-rin sat.

    ¡°Please feel free to contact me. I¡¯ll be in Bangkok for the rest of this month.¡±

    Then he disappeared. The name and phone number were written on the business card. Here, Lee Seo-rin once again raised her question. Did a foreign cell phone number start with 010? Lee Seo-rin was restless with the phone number in her hand.

    ¡°What? Why didn¡¯t he just sit down and talk with me? Why did he just give me his numbers? No, the fact that he gave the number means that he is interested in me, right? Ahhh! What am I supposed to do!¡±

    The joy was greater than the embarrassment. Speaking of Jonathan Powell, he had been her favorite actor since middle school. His heyday had been a while, but the face she had just seen had no traces of time. Rather than the video interview on T.V. recently, he seemed to be younger. He looked the same as when he was in his prime.

    ¡°Oh, my God. Would it look too urgent if I called right now? How can I endure it until tomorrow? Oh, wait. I¡¯m going to Seoul tomorrow! I need to call the manager right away. I¡¯ll tell him to change the flight time!¡±

    At that time, she had someone talking next to her.

    ¡°Wow, Jonathan Powell? It¡¯s surprising. Isn¡¯t he past his prime?¡±

    Was he a Korean? It was unpleasant, but Lee Seo-rin tried not to react. If she turned her head, it became annoying if she met his eyes. Because if he found out she was a celebrity, it would get bothersome. However, she thought his voice sounded familiar to her ears for some reason. Where did she hear it?

    ¡°My dearest customer, were you a fan of him? The memory correction effect is not a joke. Is he handsome? Actually, it wouldn¡¯t be that good in real life, right?¡±

    Customer? At that moment, goosebumps came across her body. Lee Seo-rin eventually couldn¡¯t take it and turned her head. She apparently sat around in a secluded seat with no people around her. But there was another sofa right next to her. A middle-aged man was sitting. Yes, these days, that person always appeared as that face. She was forced to endure her desire to scream. She said while clenching her teeth.

    ¡°¡­How did you know and follow me to Bangkok? You have never done this before.¡±

    ¡°I have a little urgent work. However, I didn¡¯t follow you to Bangkok¡­but there is a stamp on your soul that I can identify. No matter how far away you are, I can sense it. Once I detect it, I can intervene. It¡¯s convenient magic.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t sure what he meant.

    ¡°¡­You sound like a devil. I thought you aren¡¯t one.¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯m not a devil, after all?¡±

    The middle-aged man smiled and pulled the contract out of his arms.

    ¡°We¡¯ve implemented the contract in our souls. I¡¯ve already confirmed that it¡¯s still avable. Then¡­I would like to use the right to request again.¡±

    The man floated the contract in the air and started muttering¡ªblue light fluttered and gathered. Lee Seo-rin screamed out of breath for a moment.

    ¡°No, aren¡¯t you crazy? People are watching!¡±

    But the man didn¡¯t stop talking.

    ¡°Here is the term of request.

    Point 1. ¡®B¡¯ checks out the personal information of those who meet the conditions suggested by A with the best effort and reports it to A daily.

    Point 2. The conditions presented by A are as follows. Found in downtown Seoul and Gyeonggi since yesterday, 1) a person who fell into aa due to an unknown cause, 2) a person who was seen vomiting green mucous and bubbles with unknown ingredients, and 3) who have expressed superpowers whose principles have not been identified.

    Point 3. The method of obtaining the information is free. Still, in the process, when the contents rted to this contract are disclosed to a third party, the penalty for vition of confidentiality obligations specified in Article 5 (3) will be applied without any restriction or dy.

    End of request.¡±

    Lee Seo-rin was stunned.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not an E.R. doctor? How do I organize a list of people who are in aa? And number two or three, how can a person like me know¡­¡±

    However, contrary to her protest, her unconscious recognized this as a viable range. As the contract was shining, the contents mentioned began to be inscribed as an appendix.

    ¡°Every time I see it, it¡¯s amazing. Does it apply exactly the same as in reality here?¡±

    ¡°¡­What does that mean? Reality?¡±

    ¡°Anyway, it was recognized as a contract, so please update it once a day. I know that you can do this, so I made the request.¡±

    After hearing those words, Lee Seo-rin¡¯s eyes trembled anxiously, but they soon became sharp.

 Chapter 69

    <ol> <li> Heart Fish (3)</li> </ol>

    Without worrying about her expression, the man continued.

    ¡°Probably, there are no cases for number 1 and number 2 yet.¡±

    Then he mumbled in a small voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s too early toy eggs.¡±

    ¡°What eggs?¡±

    ¡°Anyway, there won¡¯t be any information about numbers 1 and 2 right now. But number 3 is different. Isn¡¯t there a lot on the inte? Witnesses of those with superpowers.¡±

    She also agreed. People were talking about that a lot these days.

    ¡°Even if authenticity is uncertain, don¡¯t separate or exclude it. All you need to do is organize everything and give it to me. The important thing is that it started yesterday. I don¡¯t need the cases before that.¡±

    Lee Seo-rin¡¯s eyes sparkled. Why did he need this information? Maybe there was a clue to reveal the man¡¯s identity. In fact, she even thought that he might be involved in the Channel outbreaks around the world. Right now, the world had be ustomed to the bizarre, unusual ability and the aliens to some extent. Still, now this man had been showing up since a few years before the Channel crisis.

    ¡°Is there any chance people with unusual abilities suddenly appeared fromst year? Does this have anything to do with you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not because of me. I don¡¯t have the ability to do that.¡±

    She couldn¡¯t shake the suspicion. Just as her body changed after taking the medicine that this man gave her, she wondered if he was involved in those who suddenly gained superpowers. What if there was a reason they couldn¡¯t refuse, such as an incurable disease like herself? Could it be that all those with superpowers signed a contract with their lives as coteral? The man waved his hands.

    ¡°I see what you¡¯re guessing; you¡¯re full of delusions. It¡¯s not like that anyway.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t mean to argue. I¡¯m just curious. Have you signed a contract with those people with superpowers¡­those who were called wizards? Is their power the price of the contract?¡±

    She asked, being careful not to sharpen her tone. But instead of answering, the manughed. Listening to hisughter, Lee Seo-rin felt something different from before.

    As always, his tone of the speech was a bit lighter, gentle, and he never frowned, let alone bing angry. He was smiling even now. However, she thought that there was something cool in the man¡¯s eyes as he regarded her. She knew the line to back down. Instead of sticking to the end of the story, they went back to the real matter.

    ¡°¡­How do I deliver the investigation? E-mail?¡±

    So far, Lee Seo-rin had never contacted him first, and she didn¡¯t know how to do so. The man in front of her always bizarrely contacted her first in ways that she could never imagine.

    ¡°Of course not. All you have to do is print out all of your research and bring it to the ce I tell you. It doesn¡¯t matter if you deliver them yourself, Ms. Lee Seo-rin.¡±

    The man gave her an address, and after confirming that she had memorized itpletely, he got up from his seat.

    ¡°Then I¡¯d better get going. I¡¯m sorry I interrupted your good time.¡±

    Then he looked around.

    ¡°No. The good time is over anyway. If I go out¡­everything will copse. I¡¯d rather reduce the confusion.¡±

    ¡°¡­What are you talking about?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s sudden, but don¡¯t you think it¡¯s unexpected? How does that Hollywood actor speak Korean so well?¡±

    Lee Seo-rin froze for a moment. Did Jonathan Powell just¡­speak Korean? The middle-aged man continued, pointing his finger at the business card in her hand.

    ¡°The number, read it.¡±

    Lee Seo-Lin did what the man told her without knowing.

    ¡°010¡­¡±

    It was weird. She obviously could see the numbers but couldn¡¯t read them. A strange phenomenon that could be seen but not recognized. The man said with a smile.

    ¡°Unconsciously rejected. It must feel awkward. Now, it¡¯s time to wake up¡­ Lee Seo-rin.¡±

    And the world copsed.

    ***

    ¡°Kyaaaahhh!!¡±

    Lying in her bed, Lee Seo-rin woke up and iled her limbs. In her sleep, she forgot to control her strength. And¡­

    -Thump!

    -Thump!

    Unfortunately, the power of her struggling limbs was beyond the realm of the average adult woman. The wooden bedhead hit by the back of her hand was dented and cracked.

    ¡°Ahh! It¡¯s hurt!¡±

    She screamed and clenched her fists. Then she fell to the bedroom floor and rolled. After a fewps, she jumped up and checked what she just did. Her face turned pale.

    ¡®¡­It¡¯s driving me crazy. There¡¯s a crack in the wall?¡¯

    The impact of her fist, and precisely not the clenched fist, but the back of her hand affected not only the bed head but also the wall beyond it. Small cracks were forming, and cement crumbs were falling. A situation in which an ordinary person¡¯s hand could have cracked a bone. She looked at the back of her hand. The pain disappeared quickly, though it was slightly scraped.

    ¡®Somehow¡­I think I¡¯m gradually surpassing people¡¯s physical abilities.¡¯

    Of course, there was something to be spected as to the cause. The magical potion that the ¡°devil-like man¡± gave her once a month. She knew that her own terminal cancer was curedpletely and that her body gradually changed after that. She had never experienced another cold, her muscles had increased abnormally, and she was never fatigued at all. She had no choice but to continue to depend on the man¡¯s words that her cancer would recur if she didn¡¯t consistently drink the potion. It was clear that there were unexpected symptoms other than cancer suppression.

    There was no peculiarity even after having a physical examination. If she were careful, it wouldn¡¯t interfere with her daily life.

    ¡®It¡¯s not that important now.¡¯

    Lee Seo-rin opened the hotel safe. The contract she brought all the way here. She looked over the contents in a hurry.

    ¡®He¡¯s driving me crazy. It wasn¡¯t just a nightmare¡­¡¯

    The contents they just talked about in her dreams were added as an Appendix.

    ¡®¡­Was his ability even upgraded? Now hees into other people¡¯s dreams? Did he also renew the contract in my dreams?¡¯

    Lee Seo-rin felt anger and fear at the same time. She gritted her teeth and muttered without realizing it.

    ¡°What the hell¡­is it?¡±

    She soon shook her head and cleared up her thoughts. This wasn¡¯t the time to be doing this now. He clearly told her to report once a day. That meant she had to start preparing for tomorrow. Lee Seo-rin wasn¡¯t a docile person, but she wasn¡¯t stupid either. The other person was a supernatural being of an unknown identity. It was impossible to refuse or act against a magical contract whose principle cannot be rejected or vited.

    If there was a way to revive herself, which wasn¡¯t promising with modern medicine, there must be a way to retake her life. She picked up her cell phone and made a call somewhere. After a short time, the call is connected.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    When the contract was signed, Lee Seo-rin had her way. She protested in her dream, but she actually knew herself.

    ¡°¡­Yes, Dad. Bangkok now. No, it¡¯s not hot at all¡­don¡¯t worry¡­yes. Yeah.¡±

    The call continued for a while, and then she brought up the main point.

    ¡°But can I ask you a favor?¡±

    Even though he was the director of a university hospital, the experience of having to look helplessly at his dying daughter remained as trauma to her father. In the end, he couldn¡¯t refuse his daughter¡¯s request. Lee Seo-rin guessed. He wouldn¡¯t believe her ridiculous excuses, saying that she was asked by the ward coverage documentary program¡¯s PD. Her father agreed to pretend to be tricked.

    ¡°¡­Yes, it¡¯s not an ident, and it¡¯s a patient who didn¡¯t have a disease but suddenly came in aa¡­thank you. Dad.¡±

    In the case of patients brought to a hospital other than her father¡¯s, it would be unreasonable to ask for detailed personal information. In that case, she asked him only to ask if there was such a patient. Once she knew the location, there would be a way to find out the new information by a different route.

    ¡°Whew¡­¡±

    She hung up the phone and sighed. This was clearly illegal. But¡­soon, she clenched her teeth. So what? She had to live. She had lived on a shoestring. Whether it was the devil or anything that brought her back to life, she had to survive to wonder what it really was.

    Whenever she renewed the contract, she made a habitual protest. A counter-question of ¡®how I can do it.¡¯ It was more of a self-admonition to persuade the unconscious. She was wondering if that would increase the likelihood of being judged as ¡°something she couldn¡¯t do with her abilities.¡± In fact, when the contract judged that it was impossible, the devil gave up and lowered the difficulty of the request or sometimes canceled it.

    But¡­it ended the judgment as possible today, and as long as the contents were written, she was prepared to do anything.

    ¡®I can¡¯t do that thing again.¡¯

    She didn¡¯t want to fall back into despair, while her hair fell, her stomach was swollen, and her organs were slowly losing their function. When she struggled with illness, shey in bed all day long and couldn¡¯t lift a finger. But now, there were specific ways to avoid death. There was also the freedom to move about.

    She made another phone call right away. Over the phone, she could hear the voice of a reporter she knew. She carried on the phone with a cheerful voice.

    ¡°¡­Yes, Mr. Seo. You know, there are people in yourpany who run around the police station and people who monitor the inte and social media, right? Yeah, the local news team? Inte news team? Yes, something like that¡­ Yes, please check through that side. Just e-mail me right away. It would be better if there were a little awkward content to report. Yeah, something like a name or address. You¡¯re going to go on-site coverage, right? Yes, I¡¯ll take care of you, so you don¡¯t feel bad¡­yes, will you please?¡±

    After taking all these actions, the exhausted Lee Seo-rin fell on the couch. Then she gritted her teeth.

    ¡°Telling me many things, but in the end, he is asking for at least a hundred bucks more than thest time. This rotten guy.¡±

    That green bubble thing was a kind of superpower, after all. Unless it was unusual, he could share the content of the coverage. She would give him as much money as he wanted so that the effect would be more significant. Then she came up with a question. The story of superpowers had been continuously flowing sincest year. But why was he looking for a case that had been witnessed since yesterday? What happened yesterday? In deep thought, Lee Seo-rin couldn¡¯t fall asleep again that night.

    ***

    ¡°¡­This is the end for today.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan nodded at my words.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    Now I was in his dream. As soon as I entered, the sight I saw was a small room with a bed. For Kim Kyung-hwan, he had no time to imagine other households. Hence, I broke in when he was dreaming 19+. It wasn¡¯t something that happened once or twice, so I proceeded to ss after organizing the scene skillfully. If I changed the background of his dreams, I would consume a lot of mana, so I made only two chairs and sat face to face.

    No, he was like that. When I tried to intervene in this guy¡¯s dream, he dreamed those things at least one out of three dreams. Although he was the same age as me, he was really healthy. Indeed he was. Kim Kyung-hwan was also confused and embarrassed at first, but these days he wasn¡¯t even ashamed. Perhaps the shame is fading because the appearance he saw was very different from humans.

    Ah, he was pretty disappointed, too. ¡°Ah, what is it. It was a dream, too! That¡¯s right!¡±

    Hmm, why did I feel sorry to say this for some reason? But I thought that it would get paid for. I threw my eyes to his hand.

    ¡°If you wake up in the morning, you will have another Mana charge.¡±

    ¡°Wow, it¡¯s been a while!¡±

    The guy looked at the back of his hand with joy. There was aplex magic circle that only he and I could see. The shape itself was a meaningless picture I made by roughly listing the diagrams of the stars, the moon, the sr schematics, and other pointless things. I saw that he liked that from his dreams ¡ª it was a design to increase his immersion.

    ¡°Did you understand everything you learned today?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! Sure. It¡¯s so easy if you exin it, Eraser. But why are the frogs exining soplicatedly¡­¡±

    ¡°As I already told you, there are so many useless forms in their teaching.¡±

    If you look at the magic taught to these guys while saying it¡¯s second-ss magic or third-ss magic, the level was terrible. Moreover, the form was unkind and crude from a human standpoint.

    ¡°What is the reaction of the Kaifu these days? You have learned almost all of the 3rd ss magic.¡±

    ¡°The frogs are turned upside down every day. This is ridiculous.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan began to pour out words as if they were a topic he had been waiting for.

    ¡°Even the frog in that world called an Archmage hadn¡¯t mastered magic at this speed? Oh yeah. It¡¯s crappy.¡±

    ¡°The rumors must have spread among trainees.¡±

    ¡°Absolutely! Now, I don¡¯t have anything to do with them, and we don¡¯t have to take sses together. Because I now take all my sses as private one-on-one lessons with the frogs. They should be at my level to do the ss together.¡±

    ¡°What is the reaction of the human instructors?¡±

    ¡°They are so busy taking care of me. Ah¡­and maybe next week we¡¯ll have dinner with high-ranking officials in the government. It¡¯s not fun to eat with those old people. I hate to go, but I can¡¯t help it, well.¡±

    Saying that he doesn¡¯t want to go was a lie. When he came back from the unofficial asion, he was busy talking about how impressive the government¡¯s high-ranking officials treat him and how many things were promised this time.

    When I thought about it, I felt like this. When I was born again, I wanted to live like Kim Kyung-hwan. I wasn¡¯t kidding. He didn¡¯t seem to have any concerns about living. Everything was peaceful.

    ¡°Although I request, you should never speak of my existence. You shouldn¡¯t look ridiculous as it is a contract made in a dream. Watch out for the penalty.¡±

    ¡°Of course, why would I?! I know that much.¡±

    That guy shrugged.

    ¡°You are a race from another world that our government hasn¡¯t yet contacted. What if they notice that I wasmunicating with you like this every day? Of course, I will be in trouble, too. No matter how important a resource I am.¡±

    Then he looked at me and said.

    ¡°¡­But, Eraser. It¡¯s a random question.¡±

    ¡°Well?¡±

    As if nothing was wrong, he suddenly thought of it and tried to talk to me as if asking a question, but I felt the feeling of being careful.

    ¡°The human that you chose¡­am I really the only one?¡±

 Chapter 70

    Heart Fish (4)

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°I can see a wizard¡¯s potential. I¡¯ve looked all over the world, but I couldn¡¯t find another talent like you. I¡¯m sure you are the best.¡±

    His mouth was twitching again. He¡¯d ratherugh out loud.

    ¡°It is the mission of my race to spread our magic to another dimension. The principle in the process should be passed on only to those who are qualified.¡±

    I opened all twenty-three eyes of my fake image created in his dreams and watched Kim Kyung-hwan for dramatic effect.

    ¡°Thank you for your cooperation as always. If you didn¡¯tply with the contract, you might have had to vite our people¡¯s beliefs. I might have had to choose someone inferior to you, who is the best suited in this dimension as champion¡­¡±

    ¡°Gosh! Don¡¯t say that. Do you know what the level of the trainees is right now? It¡¯s a mess. It¡¯s awful. You¡¯re going to explode trying to teach them.¡±

    It seemed that he thought that his progress was only because of his ability. He was learning through a private lesson in the dream with me, got his Mana recharge, and rewrote the form of spelling in a 1:1 ss. Was that called cognitive dissonance? Except for Kim Kyung-hwan, the other trainees were also slow because of the Mana problem. However, the decisive reason was that the Kaifu magic form and teaching method were designed to ignore human thinking and cognitive abilities.

    For humans ustomed to speech and textualnguage, forms based on anguage that was recorded in color couldn¡¯t be easy, even if it went through telepathic trantion. Therefore, I was teaching Kim Kyung-hwan by adapting the content of their teaching to suit human thinking. He kept whining without even knowing my thoughts.

    ¡°Now Baek Woon-gyu has only learned the 8th of second-ss magic. It¡¯s a waste of time to hold and teach such stupid people.¡±

    An unfamiliar name came out of his mouth.

    ¡°Baek Woon-gyu? Was he the next fastest guy after you?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. But¡­¡±

    Instantly, a light of anxiety fluttered in his eyes.

    ¡°That person is at a standstill. There has been no progress in several months. He has only memorized three more spells since the time I entered the camp. I¡¯ve learned dozens in the meantime!¡±

    He said dozens of spells. By Parvache and my standards, it was about transforming and improving several spells into dozens. Mostly they were Kaifu¡¯s magic. Actually, Kim Kyung-hwan wasn¡¯t a man of no genius. He was definitely one of the best. The Korean government didn¡¯t recruit all of them to the training camp because they showed a wizard¡¯s talent. All were carefully selected. But I couldn¡¯t even see him as a great genius. ording to Parvache¡¯s and my standards, he was barely eptable?

    ¡°It took him more than a month to learn the corrosive slime spell. He¡¯s crappy. He¡¯s not someone you will care about. That¡¯s what second ce looks like. He¡¯s a total failure, not like me.¡±

    Did he seem to be quite conscious, considering how he was treating him?

    ¡°Are you close to him?¡±

    ¡°No. Not at all.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, be careful when talking to other trainees. As stated in the contract.¡±

    I gave strength to the eyes and added.

    ¡°You must never speak of my existence. The fact that I am helping you.¡±

    The guy nodded along.

    ¡°In this world, the power of the group called the state is too strong. It will be a lot of trouble if I get caught by the rulers. It is better to say that you created all of the magic you will learn from meter, Kim Kyung-hwan. The fact that you are such a genius will be testified by the Kaifu people who taught you.¡±

    I kept talking.

    ¡°If I get caught, I could be asked for something other than magic. I could also be involved in the choice of the victor for political reasons. Such a thing doesn¡¯t conform to the beliefs of my species. There could be a case where I should first transfer magic to the criminals designated by those in power other than you. Please understand that we have no choice but to proceed in secret, Kim Kyung-hwan.¡±

    That was a poor excuse. If Kim Kyung-hwan was genuinely the best genius on the, there was no need for the government to intervene and blow him up. However, Kim Kyung-hwan¡­

    ¡°Of course, I understand! It¡¯s right to choose the best person.¡±

    He believed in it.

    ¡°But, if the momentes when you are threatened with your life. If anyone who has found out the magic circle on the back of your hand asks the sources, then, as stated in the contract, tell them everything about me. There will be no contract penalty.¡±

    He swept the magic circle on the back of his hand. Just because the patterns on the outside were meaningless didn¡¯t mean that the magic circle was fake. The marking itself worked like a spell, and it actually functioned. It resonated with the micro-artifact embedded in the back of Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s hand. I applied some power to my voice.

    ¡°What is my name? What do I look like? In the meantime, it is okay to state all the trivial information, such as how many eyes I have. You must not get hurt or lose your life while rebelling.¡±

    Gulp, Kim Kyung-hwan swallowed dryly.

    ¡°Losing a talented wizard like you in vain would be a huge loss for this world as well as for all dimensions. I would rather choose to expose my existence to the state. As a result, a hand of pursuit will reach me, but it will be my responsibility.¡±

    I wanted to bite my lips here, but the Fake God¡¯s face has no lips. Instead, I closed all 23 eyes as if I was in agony.

    ¡°¡­I got it!¡±

    His voice rang out loudly.

    ¡°¡­Thank you for understanding. Last but not least, we need to elerate the pace of learning Kaifu¡¯s magic now. Once you have conquered all the magic they can teach, you will be regarded as an ¡°Instructor Wizard¡± by their standards. When the timees, it won¡¯t seem strange even if you have developed new magic; I will pass on the magic of our kind to you. I look forward to that day. How much more will you surprise me?¡±

    Now he couldn¡¯t control his facial expressions.

    ¡°That¡¯s why to meditate as soon as you wake up in the morning. You have to fill in even a little more Mana.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan touched the back of his hand with a sparkle in his eyes. He still didn¡¯t know that a few months ago, while he was asleep, I nted tiny artifacts on the back of his hand. For purposes only, it wasn¡¯t much different from an attached hormone capsule on a cow. From the cow¡¯s point of view¡­no, from Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s point of view, I didn¡¯t say anything because I would feel bad if he heard about it.

    What did the artifact do? It was a kind of Mana recharge. It was a work made with a lot of effort to avoid being caught by the Kaifu or other beings. Speed was the key to growing into a remarkable wizard of the Guardians of the Great Convention. However, no matter how poor the Kaifu¡¯s magic was, it would be impossible if basic Mana weren¡¯t supported. I was regrly replenishing it so that this guy could use it like his own.

    If the instantaneous Mana consumption were below the standard that affects the concealment magic, the artifact¡¯s presence wouldn¡¯t be detected. And that guy¡¯s Mana circuit wasn¡¯t anywhere near the stage of consuming that much, so there was no worry.

    ¡°Oh, and¡­¡±

    Well¡­let¡¯s stop telling him the story he wanted to hear.

    ¡°The one I ask for? Any news?¡±

    ¡°Not yet.¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°There are no trainees in aa, no trainees vomiting weird things. If that had happened, the story would have spread all over the ce. Because everyone is locked up, rumors spread so quickly.¡±

    Here at the magic training center in Hun-neung, the number had steadily increased so far. Now a little over 200 wizards were being educated. It was like a tasty banquet table for Heart Fish. In White Deer¡¯s case, some people used techniques simr to the mental defense spells I used, but this side was entirely defenseless.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t there anybody who suddenly showed weird superpowers?¡±

    ¡°Absolutely. That¡¯s a phenomenon that only appears before you learn the proper magic.¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m saying this because there¡¯s a reasonable situation.¡±

    When the Heart Fish began to eat the soul, the soul instinctively tries to counter it¡ªa phenomenon that urred separately from human thought, self, or consciousness. As the soul¡¯s attack continued, magical things happened around the host. Then that host lost their mind for a moment, or windows around them would break, or they¡¯d float while sleeping. This wasn¡¯t a sudden blooming of their talent as a wizard but rather a sh of souls struggling and consuming vitality. Therefore, in other dimensions, the Heart Fish host may be misunderstood as a preliminary wizard.

    I kept talking.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if this is the case. When you are sleeping, you suddenly see a faint alter ego that looks just like you.¡±

    ¡°What is that? Is it something like an out-of-body experience?¡±

    ¡°To be precise, it¡¯s a soul in the fluid. Either one of the limbs is missing, or half of the head is gnawed. It must be in this situation. Avoid those who have such experiences if you can, and let me know right away in your dreams.¡±

    ¡°¡­Why does that happen?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s like a distress signal from the soul.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan asked as if he didn¡¯t know the word.

    When the soul felt an extreme sense of crisis, it didn¡¯t stop in the above case and even escaped from the body altogether. If the soul escaped, of course, they would die. It was the soul¡¯s desperate attempt to escape from the ring of reincarnation, even if it was prepared for that. They were struggling to avoid disappearing altogether. However, the Heart Fish didn¡¯t release the string connecting the body, and the soul stuck out from the body. The fluid that was trying to escape would be pulled back into the body. Into the hidden body of the Heart Fish that was waiting to eat.

    This was a typical symptom of the Heart Fish parasite. These things happened without the parasite¡¯s host even noticing.

    ¡°Anyway, I wish you could keep your ears open carefully.¡±

    ¡°¡­Yes, I understand.¡±

    When a Heart Fish parasitizes a wizard, things grew veryplicated. The soul was powerful and could be gnawed for a long time. The quality of food was good, so it would have a lot of eggs. When such a heavily packed egg began to hatch, it really became a problem. Therefore, the worst-case scenario was that the parasites reached White Deer because it was the best group of wizards in thisnd except for me.

    The less-worst one was for them to parasitize the instructors or trainees in Hun-neung. It would be nice if Yusu could see the souls of trainees daily and sort them out, but that wasn¡¯t possible, so I closely monitored the situation through Kim Kyung-hwan. What if they had parasitized on other people? What if they lived on a person who wandered freely, unlike the White Deer people and the trainees in Hun-neung? There was a high possibility that someone would witness it when the phenomena urred.

    Moreover, the level of the soul wouldn¡¯t be high. The Heart Fish would soon eat up the soul andy a small number of eggs. I felt sorry for the parasitized person. Either way, the traces could only be revealed quickly. I waited for that time.

    ***

    ¡°Oh, what are you doing, Soo-jin? Go in and sleep.¡±

    The woman, who had just filled a cup from the water purifier, btedly found a ck figure in the corner of the kitchen. Late at night, in the light-free kitchen. Under the dim light created by the home appliancemp, all objects looked like shadows. She could faintly see her daughter¡¯s face.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even hear a sound. You¡¯re not saying you want ice cream at night, are you? Let¡¯s eat tomorrow. Go back to your room.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°Choi Soo-jin?¡±

    There was no answer.

    ¡°¡­Soo-jin?¡±

    She intentionally threw the words as if nothing was wrong. She tried to ignore the anxiety in her heart. However, she was forced to face the possibility she could no longer ignore. No way, again? She didn¡¯t think so. Pressing her trembling heart as she repeated herself, she wanted to jump in right away and shake her daughter¡¯s shoulders, but she held back.

    After taking so few steps closer, the mother stopped as if she were frozen. She reflexively covered her mouth with her hand. She couldn¡¯t scream because Soo-jin might be surprised after waking up. It¡¯s just passing by. This was going to pass, too. There was a reason her daughter¡¯s face was hard to see. There was no shadow on the child¡¯s body, standing tall in the shadows. Her daughter¡¯s naked body, which was translucent, looked hazy like a mist soaked in the darkness as it floated in the air.

    ¡°¡­Uh, heump.¡±

    She clenched her teeth so that she wouldn¡¯t lose her mind. If she fell like this, she couldn¡¯t take care of her daughter. She didn¡¯t know what¡¯s going on right now, but she had to return her daughter to normal. It was a few days ago. When her daughter was absent-minded in kindergarten, she said that puzzles for children she was ying with were floating in the air. There weren¡¯t many kindergarten teachers and children who saw the scene. The couple packed some simple luggage and left the house in Mok-dong, and moved to her family as if running away.

    The parents thought it was something that they had only heard about. Transformation into a wizard, a superpower with more power than an ordinary human. They were familiar with the rumors about people who were said to have gone missing after such a phenomenon. The couple didn¡¯t let their daughter out of the front door. After that, there were times when she lost her mind a few more times. Then the wind blew indoors, or a haze rose under her daughter¡¯s feet.

    But as before, when her daughter regained her mind, all the weird phenomena would disappear. Now, this would also go back to the way it was when Soo-jin woke up. The mother thought so, trying to reach out her hand to wake her daughter. She would sweep her forehead. And she would hug her, just like when she woke her up in the morning so that she won¡¯t be surprised, very naturally. Then the gaze stopped on one side.

    ¡°No¡­!¡±

    Without knowing, it leaked out of her mouth. Without knowing what she saw now, she repeated it with her heart and mouth. No, it couldn¡¯t be. The woman couldn¡¯t even sweat.

    On her daughter¡¯s forehead, which she tried to touch, the gruesome traces of the dark in the kitchen remained. Like an apple eaten by a bad magpie, there were traces of something eating at the center of her face. A terrible scar left on that little face. Seeing the figure tinged with a shadeless solid color, the woman felt her legs weakened. If it had stayed still, she would have been hesitant. But there was a hand gesture that prevented her from falling.

    ¡°¡­Soo-jin?¡±

    A hoarse voice came through the woman¡¯s lips. Her daughter¡¯s hand was reaching for her. To the woman¡¯s eyes, it appeared as her daughter¡¯s gesture for her help.

    ¡°Soo-jin! Hold mom¡¯s hand!¡±

    Her hands shook her in the air as if passing through the phantoms. She touched her daughter¡¯s palm, but it passed in vain. Only then did the mother see the thread connecting her daughter¡¯s body. And sooner orter, the thread was pulled taut.

    ¡°Soo-jin!¡±

    Her daughter¡¯s body jumped out of the kitchen in no time. An afterimage remained in the woman¡¯s eyes. Her daughter¡¯s waist. She finally couldn¡¯t stand it and screamed at her.

    ¡°¡­Soo-jin!¡±

    The direction her daughter was pulled was towards her sleeping room. She couldn¡¯t even breathe, and she ran and opened the door as if breaking it. She kneeled in front of her child¡¯s bed, not even thinking of turning on the light. The daughter was sleeping as if nothing had happened.

    ¡°Soo-jin! Soo-jin!¡±

    She touched her. Now her daughter has reached her hand.

    ¡®My baby is here, my baby.¡¯

    Her daughter¡¯s forehead is convex and warm. She cried, bursting with tears. She constantly touched her daughter¡¯s face with her hands. It was fine. There was no wound.

    ¡°¡­Mom? What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    The daughter woke up, feeling the touch of her mother¡¯s wandering trembling. The mother¡¯s face, which was already covered in tears, soon burst into tears. In such darkness, the cries of a mother and daughter continued for a while.

    ***

    ¡°Parvache.¡±

    [Hmm?]

    ¡°I think I finally found it. Traces of a Heart Fish.¡±

 Chapter 71

    Heart Fish (5)

    I spoke to Parvache as I put down the A4 paper I was holding.

    ¡°Based on this, doesn¡¯t it look like a kid? Hmm. This is¡­¡±

    Several people had witnessed ¡°something¡± walking through the hallway in an apartment building in Seoul. I checked the CCTV footage afterward, but the only thing recorded in the video was a witness who fainted while alone, causing him to fall.

    However, there were too many witnesses for it to be regarded as mere illusions or hallucinations.

    Parvache approached the pile of paper I had put down on the floor and used all of its body to turn the pages. The robot, which was skimming the contents, spat out admiration.

    [She¡¯s getting better and better. Every time you order something, the quality of the result goes up.]

    ¡°She didn¡¯t run into the scene and investigate it herself. I¡¯m sure she would have asked it somewhere. It looks like some journalism notebook.¡±

    Some of the documents contained manuscripts that are assumed to be the first draft of the article. The author prepared a spective article asking if it was part of a Channel outbreak rather than considering it as an interesting event since it was an era when scary stories are no longer just ghost stories.

    However, there was a part where the author bumped against the wall during the logic development. I saw a memo simr to a monologue. It was because of the shape of the eyewitnesses speaking with their mouths. It was strange to say that it was a race from another world, and it was awkward to dismiss it as a trace of a newly appeared wizard.

    The object resembled a human girl whose neck had been ripped off.

    ¡°Some testimonies say that the jaw was visible, and others say that the neck was gone¡­ But the time of each witness is two days apart.¡±

    [It¡¯s pretty slow.]

    ¡°It¡¯s slow to eat, and there is plenty of delicious souls right next to the Mapo Bridge Channel, so I wonder why it flew there.¡±

    [There are many possibilities. if there is the power to interfere with the spiritual beings in the barrier of White Deer¡­]

    ¡°Did they drive out the Heart Fishes with barrier magic even though I can¡¯t?¡±

    [It may not be magic. If there are any beings that can see the soul, maybe some races are born with the ability to block the ess of the soul?]

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    [Or maybe it¡¯s because White Deer¡¯s souls are strong and high in quality that is beyond the Heart Fish¡¯s power. Well, I don¡¯t know which one.]

    ¡°If the value is moderately high, it¡¯s a good meal, but if it¡¯s too high, it won¡¯t be enough to get their teeth in.¡±

    [There¡¯s no way we can see the soul, so it¡¯s a pointless guess.]

    Parvache looked up at me instead of turning the pages.

    [Well? It was found just yesterday?]

    ¡°ording tomon sense, if the rumor spreads like this, it¡¯s possible to move away from people¡¯s eyes.¡±

    [But it¡¯s been witnessed for days. Maybe¡­ the host is now in a state of being immobile.]

    I guessed the reason.

    ¡°Did ity eggs already?¡±

    [It would be better to visit today.]

    I nodded.

    ***

    I moved as soon as the night came. After arriving at the destination, an apartment building, I went up to the 16th floor.

    ¡®¡­Ah, I¡¯m tired.¡¯

    Nowadays, I lived with the change of day and night, and I could only get used to it. However, the fatigue that weighed down on the whole body was not going away at all.

    It was the paleplexion I encountered in front of the mirror every day¡ªdark circles under the eyes. Elixir or magic couldn¡¯t solve this human issue.

    ¡®I think it¡¯s this way?¡¯

    I walked through the hall. With my detection magic, there was no way to identify the location of the Heart Fish. However, I had something that the Truth-Seeker lent.

    Something wriggled in the little pocket in my hand. Then one side rose along.

    I kept walking in the convex direction. Passing through the doors lined up in the hallway one by one. And when I stepped in front of the door marked 1608, my pockets slumped.

    ¡®¡­ Here it is.¡¯

    The other part of the pocket that was sticking out suddenly changed direction and pointed toward the door. This time, there weren¡¯t one or two pointed parts. It tantly tried to stretch out like a wave in one direction so that anyone could notice it.

    ¡®Ah, I hate opening the door the most. Look at this. It¡¯s even got a door lock.¡¯

    [I can¡¯t help it. There was no lock of this kind in the world I lived in, after all.]

    ¡®Well, expecting the magic to unlock door locks is too much.¡¯

    There was also a way to blow the door entirely. However, such a radical measure was still too early. We should proceed as quietly as possible. I hope there would be fewer people flocking until the work is done.

    Only afterpleting theplex process of creating a noise-isting barrier and a power induction barrier, I applied a limited-range electric shock to the entire door. This was a procedure to disable security sensors and door lock rms that might be active.

    Then, a slight airwave was blown through the gap in the door. The deadbolt on the front door handle that functions has been crushed.

    ¡®We¡¯reing in.¡¯

    [Okay.]

    I turned the handle. The front door opened silently inside the barrier. I followed as the pocket guided me and stepped into a room.

    A girl was lying on the bed, and an adult woman was lying on a mattress next to it. She must be her mother, right?

    The closer I got to the child, the more upset my pockets were.

    ¡®All right, all right.¡¯

    I didn¡¯t know if she had passed out or if she had fallen asleep because she was exhausted. I could see that the Heart Fish alreadyid eggs, and a trace of green mucus was visible on the child¡¯s mouth. She must¡¯ve thrown up little by little after falling asleep.

    This was the step of repeatedly fainting and waking up before the eggs hatched.

    I reached out to the bed to take action, and then I had to stop.

    ¡®Well, what is it. Is she awake?¡¯

    [But I don¡¯t think she¡­ can see us]

    The child¡¯s eyes were out of focus at first. In principle, her body¡¯s condition would be fine, but shecked the absolute power to maintain her will.

    But after a short time, the light returned to the girl¡¯s eyes, and her gaze was looking at me urately.

    At first, I thought it was an illusion. I was sure I was wearing invisibility magic right at that moment. It¡¯s not a high-level cover-up, but it couldn¡¯t be seen in the eyes of ordinary people.

    However, I quickly realized that it was not an illusion.

    ¡°Mom¡­ Mom!¡±

    She trembled softly and managed to make a sound. The kid called the mother sleeping next to her. Even so, she didn¡¯t take her eyes from me¡ªa reaction to seeing a ¡®masked man¡¯ who suddenly appeared in the room while sleeping.

    ¡®Of all things, it¡¯s just¡­ coincidental that we get spotted here.¡±

    I looked closely at the girl. At the same time, as she regained consciousness, a gentle sway began around her body.

    It was a Mana circuit that was more sensitive than ordinary people¡¯s. Even when it is closed, it fluctuated to open itself in response to thes¡¯ energy spreading in the atmosphere. That sway was showing resonance.

    What¡¯s more, I could see that some of the circuits had already opened by themselves.

    [¡­ It¡¯s a wizard¡¯s talent. It¡¯s also very high.]

    ¡°Soo-jin? Soo-jin, it¡¯s okay. Mom is here. Everything is okay.¡±

    Her mother woke up to hear the child calling. Even in the dark, I could see her face was very pale.

    It seemed that she probably hadn¡¯t slept properly for a while. There was a basin filled with water next to her bed. Lying without a nket, she soaked the towel in water for a while, and then muttered something like a spell, wiping off the green liquid from her daughter¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, Soo-jin. Mom is here. It¡¯s okay.¡±

    As I was looking at the scene, I remembered the childhood memories stored in myptop, the records.

    When I was seven years old and was sick of a high fever, it was said that my mom took care of me by the side all night. The wet towel that my mom put on my forehead was really cool. It was a memory I kept remembering because I could see how much she loved and cared for me.

    ¡°Mom¡­ There, there!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? What do you say is here?¡±

    Unlike her daughter, the mother whose eyes¡¯ Mana circuit wasn¡¯t open didn¡¯t see me. She put her own face on the cheek of her child, then patted her daughter.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­ No one is here. It¡¯s just Soo-jin and Mom. Everything is okay, it¡¯s okay, Soo-jin.¡±

    The woman¡¯s voice was soaked in water.

    Looking at it, I quietly sent telepathy to Parvache.

    ¡®My mother, too.¡¯

    [Hmm?]

    ¡®My mother must¡¯ve been worried about that a lot when I was sick, right? Among the memories I recorded¡­ It was about the time I was seven years old.¡¯

    [¡­ that must¡¯ve been the case. However, it was before I was summoned.]

    ¡®Um, but¡­¡¯

    I took one more step toward the bed.

    ¡®Isn¡¯t it natural?¡¯

    [What do you mean?]

    I responded telepathically.

    ¡®Isn¡¯t it natural to take care of a child when he or she is sick? I don¡¯t understand.¡¯

    [What?]

    ¡®I don¡¯t understand my feelings before I lost my memory.¡¯

    [¡­]

    Yodmo took my memories before I was seven years old. All of the recorded memories of my thoughts and feelings disappeared as well. The record itself urred after seven, but everything rted to the lost memory disappeared together.

    ¡®Of course, you love and care for your child, right? If your child is sick, you will take care of them if you are a parent, right? But why did I put so much effort to record such a natural event?¡¯

    [¡­]

    ¡®I understand that I tried to describe all the remaining memories. But is that an event that needs to be written along with a whole page? It would have taken me a long time to write that much with my messy writing skills. There was so much to do at the time besides recording memories. I think I wasted my time.¡¯

    [¡­ Min-Joon.]

    I reached out to the girl. The child¡¯s eyes widened, holding her gaze at me while lying down.

    ¡°Mom¡­!¡±

    Rather than responding to her child¡¯s words, the mother, who had her cheek to cheek, hugged her daughter¡¯s body more tightly instead of turning her head to where her child¡¯s gaze was caught.

    I sent my doubts to Parvache.

    ¡®What a pity. Of all things, it sticks to a little child.¡¯

    Parents would be worried and heartbroken even if their child is sick, but would it be too much in this situation? What¡¯s more, if she had seen what¡¯s going to happen¡­

    With that in mind, I gathered Mana in my outstretched hand. First of all, I had to make her pass out. It wouldn¡¯t be a sight to behold with her eyes open.

    The haze-like smoke from my hands spread through the room. As soon as it touched the skin, it turned into a magical substance that caused paralysis. The woman lost her strength and drooped.

    ¡°Mooooom!¡±

    Her child¡¯s face turned whiter. I thought it wasn¡¯t right to let her keep shivering in fear like that, so I tried to stun her as well.

    ¡®Hmm?¡¯

    [It doesn¡¯t work.]

    Even though the magic that I unleashed touched the girl, she did not lose her mind.

    ¡®What if I use stronger magic here¡­?¡¯

    [I don¡¯t rmend it.]

    There were other ways of using magic that could apply directly to the mind, but it was a problem because I wasn¡¯t good at it.

    Eventually, leaving the girl intact, I moved her mother, who was drooping by her side, out of her room. Then I closed and sealed the door. The little girl watched me shivered in fear.

    That¡¯s why I felt like a bad guy.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡±

    I regretted it right away after saying that. Unless this kid was an idiot, wouldn¡¯t she worry that I told her not to worry in this situation?

    It was better for me to get it done quickly than to beme. I reached out to the girl and gathered Mana again.

    I then used it to unseal the pocket.

    -Goooooong!

    The pocket opened. Something shook like crazy inside, and dozens of bronze tentacles came out of the mouth!

    -Whirl!

    ¡°Kyaaaah! Kyaaaaaaaaahh!¡±

    In an instant, her body was tied to a bunch of tentacles. The girl couldn¡¯t stand it, causing her to scream.

    ¡°Will she listen to me?¡±

    I used the pockets of my hands as a root to convey my will to the stretched tentacles.

    ¡®Hold her mouth shut.¡¯

    The tentacles wrapped around the girl¡¯s body and lifted it, but she didn¡¯t budge. As it was, it showed no further movement.

    -Wooooong!

    On the surface, it stopped moving, but the flow of energy moving underwater is not. I felt an unknown power gushing from this strange creature.

    ¡°It¡¯s not Mana.¡±

    Parvache, who shared my senses, affirmed.

    [It is power.]

    The girl who couldn¡¯t withstand the strong presence flowing from the tentacles fainted. Well, the real event started from that moment.

    ¡®Parvache. You said the way to get rid of Heart Fish is to get rid of the host in an instant before giving it a chance to escape from the host, right?¡¯

 Chapter 72

    Heart Fish (6)

    The only way for me to kill a Heart Fish was by killing the host, after all. In the state of being parasitic, the Heart Fish would take on the properties of matter.

    Then, to carry out the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest¡¯s request, the hosts of the Heart Fish parasites must be found, and their lives should be taken one by one.

    ¡­ If it wasn¡¯t for those tentacles.

    [It¡¯s really odd. What principle is used to stimte the Heart Fish?]

    ¡®I don¡¯t know. Anyway, if I leave it as it is, it will start, right?¡¯

    Then¡­

    -Gulp! Gulp!

    The girl¡¯s body twitched and the abnormalities began. The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest said that tentacles couldn¡¯t do anything about that. It means I had to deal with it.

    I clicked my tongue.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t supposed to work just by covering her mouth.¡±

    The reason I am trying to cover the kid¡¯s mouth was not just to make it harder to hear her screams. I wondered if I could stop the eruption if I closed her mouth.

    But the scene in front of me was telling me that it was my mistake. The girl¡¯s eyes, nose, and mouth were overflowing with dark green mucus.

    ¡°Ectosm!¡±

    A substance that the Heart Fish vomited again was the soul that was eaten. It was a defense mechanism that dposed the non-material soul and converted it into anti-matter.

    There were two reasons to spit out the swallowed soul again. When it created small amounts in advance to protect the eggs, and when it felt threatened and attacked the enemy as it is now.

    [Min-joon!]

    Parvache sharply shouted. But I was preparing in advance. I floated my body in the air with a floating spell. If I touched them, both my body and soul will be ragged.

    My head hit the ceiling. The mucus filled up the floor in an instant, and it slumped and swelled under my feet.

    ¡®Is this too much?¡¯

    It would have eaten only a part of her soul. That amount meant that the host¡¯s soul is quite high. This little kid? Why?

    ¡®Ah, I can¡¯t settle it quietly.¡¯

    I saw the girl with tentacles wrapped around her, floating in the air, following me. Her eyes were still upside down, spouting mucus-like tears.

    The ectosm flowed not only on her face and body but also on the entwined tentacles. I know they won¡¯t damage the host¡¯s body, but were those tentacles fine, too?

    I adjusted the range and unleashed the magic.

    ¡°The Sigh of Melcos!¡±

    A deep chill filled the room in an instant. Frost fell on the wallpaper, furniture, and the floor. The extremely low temperatures concentrated under my feet, and the ectosm swayed below froze for a while. But¡­

    -Crack!

    As if the surface of a frozenke had cracked, the ice cracked. The mucus began to flutter and dance again.

    -Whooooooooh!

    It waved with a strange sound. An unpleasant green wave that was several times darker than green algae was like the vomit of a crazy drunk man who ate a lot of moss.

    All sorts of things and nkets were swept away by the flow. The princess-like doll that was stained with dark green was turned over, and only the ankles floated.

    ¡®The freeze doesn¡¯t work. If it goes out of this room, all the people in this apartment are going to die.¡¯

    The wave formed an increasingly distinct shape with bubbles and swelled¡ªthe traces of the souls eaten before passing over to this world.

    I frowned. ¡®I can¡¯t beat it up here.¡¯

    Besides the apartment residents, I also had limited magic that could be used in such a small room.

    ¡®I have to pull her out.¡¯

    [How?]

    Instead of answering, I chanted the spell.

    ¡°Tornado of Dryflos!¡±

    The finely tuned and concentrated airflow smashed the wall!

    -Whooong!

    A huge amount of dust and debris sttered when the wall was breached, but it was swept out like a whirlwind.

    I drew a picture of one wall facing the corridor in advance. Not only did the magic broke ayer of walls, but it also smashed the exterior walls of the apartment over the hall. Through the hole, I could see the night sky outside the building and the building next door.

    And as the wild Mana was seethed, the invisibility magic surrounding my body broke.

    After all, it doesn¡¯t work as expected. When ites to ectosm, I expected it to be the same size as the girl.

    Therefore, that was the first n of the countermeasure. After freezing the ectosm, I would open the Channel on my chest and connect it to any dimension. Then, I would slide in the lump of frozen mucus and close the Channel. The end.

    However, unexpectedly, there were too many eruptions, and the power was too strong, so it doesn¡¯t freeze.

    In this case, it was ¡®n B.¡¯

    You had to use firepower to destroy thatpletely.

    ¡®I have to change my appearance.¡¯

    I chanted the spell, and my facial muscles twisted strangely. My size had also grown a little.

    -Boom!

    After the transformation, I took off my mask. It was no longer inevitable that the attention was focused on this incident. Instead of raising suspicions about what was behind it, it was better to throw a solid game.

    And threw the traps as well.

    I cast the same spell again, only lowering the pressure.

    ¡°Tornado of Dryflos!¡±

    Ectosm existed in a state that was best defined to be between matter and non-matter. In other words, it meant that my magic worked on it.

    As it was weaker than before, there was no destructive power. A whirlwind swept the whole room. Then it poured everything that was inside, out of the apartment!

    The enormous amount of slime remaining in the room and the lumps that were slowly flowing into the apartment hallway through the pierced wall werepletely washed out by the strong wind I created.

    -Wheeiiing!

    Tied by the tentacles that stretched out above my hand, the girl¡¯s body fluttered in the wind and swayed in the air. In the meantime, the ectosm that kept blowing out was caught by the wind and poured out.

    I held the tentacle pouch in my hand and ran, standing in front of the hole in the outer wall. The girl, bounded by tentacles, floated in the air and followed me as I moved.

    In that state, I looked up at the sky.

    -Wheeeiiiing!

    toys, dolls, books, and nkets flew above the night sky. Along with it, a lumpy, mucous ectosm floated upwards. From the point where the wind was exposed outdoors, the wind turned upward.

    Eventually, the ectosm flowing out of the girl¡¯s body stopped. The mucous matter rising in the far wind was gathered together andpleted its transformation.

    And I, with the appearance in my eyes, barely suppressed the rising difort.

    Because it¡¯s gross? That expression wasn¡¯t enough. Rather than the disgust of the appearance imitated by the green mucus, it was more¡­ what was it? Extreme reluctance to the existence itself.

    The shape created by ectosm was a pair of giant wings that covered the sky.

    ¡®The Channel located in the center of Silver Forest¡­ Did the Heart Fishes eat the souls of those creatures in the world beyond that?¡¯

    [It¡¯s possible if hundreds of thousands or millions of them attacked and ate it¡­]

    The wings were wide and huge. It was like an eagle flying in the sky. Except that there was no torso.

    ¡®It¡¯s not real. It¡¯s just imitated. That¡¯s it¡­¡¯

    With the tentacle pocket in my hand, I threw myself out of the apartment¡¯s exterior wall. A pile of tentacles with floating power and a girl tied to the end of it also flew with me.

    It would appear that a person is tied to a pile of vines that stretched out of my hand from a distance.

    -Wheeeeeck!

    The wind was tearing my ears.

    I soared along with a mass of mucus that was drifting high into the sky. As the flight distance increased, I felt the Mana slipped away like a bottomless pit.

    But that doesn¡¯t mean I could explode it on the ground where there were many apartment buildings. I couldn¡¯t help it. I took out the ring in my left hand and held it.

    [The shape isplete.]

    Parvache said inside the backpack that I carried on my back. I looked up and transformed the ectosmic mass while being swept away by the tornado I created.

    That was the ability to recapture the power of the soul that the Heart Fish had eaten and turned into ectosm. It might¡¯ve been a small fraction of the original¡¯s power, but that alone wouldn¡¯t be easy to deal with simple magic.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s pretty real?¡±

    As if hearing me, it spread its wings that took up most of its body.

    Each feather has a sacred letter engraved on it. When the roots of the two wings met, there was a small, sideways, elongated muscle mass instead of the trunk.

    It opened its lips and stuck out its tongue covered with blisters reminiscent of the back of a toad. The abnormal movement of bursting and rising again continued on the tongue. Each blister burst and screamed in praise of God.

    ¡®¡­ Which apostle of God would he be?¡¯

    [I don¡¯t know.]

    How the hell was that the dimension that the Heart Fish came from?

    ording to Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, the number of Heart Fish would have soared exponentially and eventually destroyed normal life. Then the Heart Fish left in the world ate up the apostles¡¯ spirits on the ground after suffering from hunger.

    Either the Heart Fish or apostle must have been the creation of a god who engulfed that dimension.

    ¡®In the end, it¡¯s the result of a team kill, that¡¯s it.¡¯

    [Hmm¡­ Was it apletely abandoned world?]

    At that time, ectosm, which mimics the apostle, began to infuriate, and I heard the ¡°words¡± ringing in my head.

    =Listen to me/I have the duty of preaching the word of the Holy God/Believe in the distant blessings/Praise/By bowing down to Him/Get out of the pain of being repeated 100 billion times.=

    It read the scriptures of God and said that it was served, just like when it was alive. The Heart Fish couldn¡¯t even touch its mental barrier since it was a sacred imitation. It was just unpleasant.

    ¡®Isn¡¯t it pretty good? It also sends telepathy.¡¯

    It must have recognized me as I approached it closely, so it turned to me and started pping its wings. The mucous bullets wereing from all over its body like a storm on me!

    ¡°The way it attacks has nothing to do with the apostles! It¡¯s just ectosm!¡±

    [I took advantage of it and borrowed only the power of the soul itself. There is no divine power of the apostles.]

    I blew the Mana into the ring in my hand.

    -Wooong!

    A translucent shield appeared around me. Thanks to pulling the tentacle pile as close as possible to the body, the girl, all the tentacle stems, and I came inside. On top of it, green masses pour, bump, and explode. But I didn¡¯t care and focused on narrowing the distance further.

    While holding me in check with a storm of slime, the soul that was left on the Green Apostle continued to act faithfully.

    =To fall asleep by His side/ to be obedient/ to worship under your name/ to praise/ to ¡®The Mist of Metallic Gray.¡¯=

    It was the true name of a familiar god.

    ¡®It was Thermios.¡¯

    Approaching the right distance, I held the ring and aimed. In the meantime, the pping of the wings became strong, and the mucus that collided and clipped on the shield increased.

    And, the moment I grasp a stable trajectory, I didn¡¯t need a starter. I didn¡¯t even have to put in a shout.

    ¡°¡­ It would take more than a month to make this again.¡±

    I just muttered bitterly and opened my hand, holding the ring. A thread of Mana was now marked in the center of the slime apostle¡¯s body. The ring flew along the trajectory.

    The ring, which flew into the air in no time, hid in the darkness of the night sky.

    I reversed the direction of the flying magic and got as far away from the mucus as possible. I put the pocket under my armpit and covered my ears with both hands. As the position changed, the tentacles touched my bare neck¡ªa soul touch. The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest was a transformative animal, after all.

    I nced at the girl bound by tentacles. That might have burst her eardrums. I needed to close her ears somehow.

    -Slurp.

    ¡®Huh?¡¯

    At that moment, two smaller, thinner tentacles sprouted from the tentacles that tied the kid. It was simr to the scene that the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest showed in front of me. It also created a pile of tentacles in this pocket in the same way as the huge tentacles on its body.

    Two thin tentacles, which had sprung up, blocked the girl¡¯s ears naturally.

    ¡®Huh, what is it. Did this guy have intelligence? Did it do what I told it to do?¡¯

    [What did you tell it? Did you send telepathy to the tentacle now¡­?]

    ¡®¡­ No. Come to think of it, I just thought about it in my mind. How can it get such a good timing?¡¯

    However, my thoughts couldn¡¯t continue anymore.

    In the night sky above the apartmentplex, a storm-like raging sun rose.

    -Krrrrrrrr!

    The intense heat scratched the atmosphere. At the moment, a blinding light shed, and then a glowing heatwave covered the sky. It lit up the darkness as if it was daytime.

    -Wheeeing!

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The craze affected our flight. My body shook violently, but I managed to keep my bnce. Even though the shield was absorbing a considerable amount of heat, a hot wind came in.

    The artifact that I had just exploded wasn¡¯t just magic that caused huge explosions. What if the explosion blows it all up? In the meantime, I had to live first, right? Considering that, it was the Mana that was stored together in the ring. Physical defense and magic defense barrier equivalent to the ninth system. Once activated, the artifact would persist even after it disappears.

    And what happened up there right now was the same level of explosion magic. I focused my Mana on my eyes. Violent fireworks embroidered the sky.

    ¡°That¡¯s how my 350 million worth of material goes up in the air.¡±

    [¡­ It¡¯s money. You just need to dispose of the stuff you got from White Deer.]

    Yes, it¡¯s money. Among the ingredients, only those that could¡¯ve been bought with money are worth it. I was thinking about thebor and my time for what I can¡¯t get with cash.

    Still, that was the best if I wanted to burn those big chunks all at once. I didn¡¯t want people to gather because the battle got longer. The flying magic was consuming a lot of Mana as well. It¡¯s safety first.

    I put magic around my eyes and observed the center of the explosion. The mucus was swept away and burst in it, then gradually burned and disappeared. After a while, I could see that it exploded and evaporated.

    Then¡­

    I slowed down the fall speed and observed the girl. Let¡¯s do it!

    -Wheeeck!

    One of the thick tentacles surrounding the girl fluttered in the air for an instant. A rough and hostile movement that waspletely different from when it blocked the little kid¡¯s ears a while ago. Then, it made a ring shape as if holding something transparent.

    ¡®Caught it!¡¯

    When it felt its ectosm disappeared, the Heart Fish felt anxious and tried to run away from its host.

    The inside of the O-shaped ring made by the tentacles in the air begins to turn bronze. Looking closely, thousands of tentacles, which were thinner than needles and hair, were eroding inside. a scene of microvascr growth

    The coral-like tentacles that infiltrated the body of the Heart Fish they had snatched soon created a shape.

    Looking at it, I was convinced of one thing.

    ¡®Is the body of the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest able to ess a spiritual being?¡¯

    If it were possible for the Heart Fish, souls would be likely, too.

 Chapter 73

    Heart Fish (7)

    The movement of ink spread on the transparent paper. Tiny tentacles stretched out in the air.

    I couldn¡¯t see the Heart Fish that was already out of its host. After I saw the shape of the encroaching tentacles, I could know by analogy what it looked like.

    ¡®¡­ I¡¯ve seen a lot of things I can¡¯t unsee these days.¡¯

    [This is the first time I have seen anything visualized like this.]

    The captured Heart Fish struggled. Its mouth was like the spout of a sea cucumber.

    To describe the appearance in the squishing tentacles¡¯ light movement, should it be called an elliptical mass of intestines? It was simr to whether it was the crumpled egg or the intestines in the pock soup. However, it had fins on its back, sides, and tail.

    ¡®Is it getting smaller?¡¯

    The shape of the Heart Fish gradually shrunk. After absorbing everything, the tentacles that had wrapped around seem to had be a little plump.

    [I think this solves the Heart Fish problem.]

    ¡®Then, the egg¡¯s problem.¡¯

    The tentacles didn¡¯t betray our expectations. A simr force emerged from the tentacles when pressed the Heart Fish to vomit ectosms in the bedroom. There were no more ectosms to protect the eggs. The Heart Fish¡¯s egg lost its bond with the soul and began to erupt outward.

    I frowned and gazed at the ck grape-like things spewing out of the fainted kid.

    ¡®If all of this had hatched¡­ it would have been a disaster.¡¯

    I could see if the egg waspletely non-material. I gave up trying to count them.

    [Toy eggs like this, the soul¡¯s level must be quite high. Didn¡¯t it eat just one head?]

    Wandering the corridor with her neck down was a phantom that linked the invisible soul body and the soul. If there was no head, it meant that 10%-20% of the soul was eaten.

    How could it haveid so many eggs after only eating that much?

    The tentacles swallowed the egg one after another. I couldn¡¯t see anything like the mouth, and it just seemed to be absorbed by its skin.

    When it finished eating the eggs, the tentacle went back into the pocket as if it hadpleted its work. The girl¡¯s body was now floating in the air. The spring night breeze was still cool. I put a magical warmth around the child.

    [I see why it was aimed at her for food. Even though the Heart Fish ate only part of the soul, it was enough toy so many eggs.]

    At those words, I observed the girl again.

    ¡®I understand that her Mana circuit is excellent, but she didn¡¯t build the Mana and train it in earnest, right? How high is her natural spirit?¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t a question that the answer woulde out anyway.

    Putting aside the question for a moment, I looked at the apartment wall with a hole in it. There was definitely a CCTV in that hallway that would have well recorded the scene of me running out of the hallway.

    A video of arge, tall, alien race with more than ten times the number of eyes of a normal human being tied the young girl to the tentacles and jumped out of the building.

    ¡®I don¡¯t know if the video I was shot will go through the press or not.¡¯

    [At least we should hope it flows into them.]

    ¡®It¡¯s enough to find out where the Fake God went from America and raid it, so we¡¯ll have to count on their intelligence.¡¯

    It was best to retrieve the Heart Fish and go back quietly. However, I predicted that things were wrong and a situation like that would happen. If I work in a city like that, I would¡¯ve attracted the attention of the Guardians of the Great Convention anyway.

    So what? It was a trick to confuse if it attracts attention. So, I transformed myself into Fake God and left a trace.

    For now, I wanted to get rid of the assumption that there was an ¡®unknown and powerful human wizard.¡¯ And I wanted to make all the pursuits focus on the Fake God, the one who was locked in my tank right now and couldn¡¯t even walk around outside.

    ¡®Kim Kyung-hwan should study harder. It will be faster for them toe to Korea.¡¯

    [However, even if theye to Korea for the Fake God, you must somehow lure them to the training camp, right? To proceed as nned.]

    ¡®If Kim Kyung-hwan is judged to be threatening enough, they will find him on their own even if we don¡¯t encourage them. If it doesn¡¯t work, we have to create a better link between Kim Kyung-hwan and the Fake God and spill them.¡¯

    [Hmmm.]

    ¡®It would be nice if they go to the training center whileing to catch the Fake God. But I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ll move as we want. It would be good to create a suitable motive.¡¯

    That being said, I looked back at the fainted girl.

    To go along with my scenario, it had to be a twenty-three-eyed alien that caused this mess with that slime monster. Not a human man in a ck mask.

    Seeing the girl who saw the invisibility magic and looked at me with both eyes, I scratched my head.

    ¡®Well¡­ what should we do?¡¯

    [She will regain consciousness..]

    ¡®Then she will testify of what she witnessed¡­ About seeing me. And the tentacles also.¡¯

    [It would be nice if everyone who listens believes it is a dream¡­]

    ¡®Things more than a dream just happened. They won¡¯t be ignoring it because she is a child.¡¯

    The testimony of a human man in the room and an alien race was recorded on the corridor CCTV. These two different kinds of information will lead to different reasoning. But I don¡¯t want to leave unnecessary suspicion in the minds of the Guardians of the Great Convention and the government.

    I hoped there was no room to think about the possibility that an unknown human wizard could transform into the Fake God. The Fake God could transform into a human or the existence of a human wizard who was brainwashed by the Fake God or cooperated with him.

    Putting that possibility into the scope of the ident could change the density and method of tracking. It was a more unfavorable condition for me. Unless that kid didn¡¯t testify, there was no guarantee that it would be ignored even if she did.

    [Covering her mouth?]

    I answered through my backpack.

    ¡®There is a way not to kill her, but there is no need to kill her, right? Gosh, a child like this.¡¯

    I looked at the small, thin object in my hand¡ªopaque material such as dragonfly wings. The shape was like a palm leaf with a shortcut end.

    It was the ¡®ear¡¯ that Yodmo gave me as a gift. I plucked one of the leaf-like branches.

    ¡®You said this is the smallest unit that can be effective, right?¡¯

    [Yeah.]

    I put a small branch in my hand near the girl.

    Yodmo was not a very strong creature when it came tobat power. Therefore, they couldn¡¯t hunt for the mighty long-lived species to give them a feeling of satiety. However, even if they were not aiming for food, there would be times when such a race threatens them.

    Yodmo¡¯s ear in my hand was a kind of weapon, or at least that¡¯s how others used it.

    I put a piece of the ear that I held on my finger over the girl¡¯s philtrum. And when Mana was applied, the pieces began to vaporize. I watched the smoke get sucked into the girl¡¯s nose.

    [It¡¯s supposed to be sprayed everywhere like fog.]

    ¡®Well. In the middle of running away, it can¡¯t do it like this now.¡¯

    The power to destroy a part of the other¡¯s memory instead of giving up the memory gluttony when an opponent whose brain cannot be extracted tried to harm itself. It gets rid of what it couldn¡¯t eat anyway. Such power wastent in Yodmo¡¯s ears.

    Even for the most powerful enemies, if the memory of the immediate past disappears in an instant, not only that, but if the memories of thest few years are lost all at once, of course, they would have fallen into confusion. Yodmo took advantage of the gap and ran away.

    [I don¡¯t know how much memory it¡¯s going to reverse and erase.]

    ¡®You said it was proportional to Yodomo¡¯s ability, right? Usually, it would have ended with losing memories of a few days¡­ The only memory that needs to be erased is the scene that just urred.¡¯

    But unfortunately¡­ The Yodmo I contracted was a fairly high-ss individual of its species. I don¡¯t know how many memories that kid would lose, but it would be at least a few years.

    ¡®It would be nice if we could fine-tune the minimum memories that disappear¡­¡¯

    [There is no way. There is nothing we can do.]

    I nced at the sleeping girl¡¯s face.

    ¡®How old is she?¡¯

    [Who knows.]

    ¡®If you look at the items in the room, it is certain that it was before school entrance.¡¯

    [Let¡¯s say she is seven years old at most.]

    What a coincidence. The memories I lost were until the age of seven.

    I muttered inside as I looked at the child. I couldn¡¯t help it. That was the only way I could save her.

    -Sweeesh!

    Depending on the direction I controlled, the vaporized smoke flowed into the child¡¯s nose without leaking elsewhere.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be a little confused when you wake up, but you¡¯ll get used to it soon.¡±

    Compared to the whole life you would be living in, your life up to now would be only a small fraction. Even if the power of those ¡®ears¡¯ was so strong and if you lose all your memories, it won¡¯t be something you can¡¯t bear. It would be fine. It was only a memory, and you could just make more of them.

    Looking back on the memories I had at that age; there wasn¡¯t much of importance. It was the same for me when I read the file I wrote.

    I had lost all that much memory right now but look; I am still alive, ain¡¯t I? Without any major problem.

    ¡°Because I was fine, you should be fine.¡±

    I waited for Yodmo¡¯s ears topletely disappear and be absorbed.

    And after stepping on the ground, I waited for my Mana to stabilized and used the invisibility magic again.

    I put the child down in the back of the security room. Then, I made it as if she grabbed the phone box in a surprising incident and made a loud sound with magic so that the mindless guard could hear it. Then I quietly escaped as I watched the security guard hurriedly running over to find the childid down.

    ¡®Ah, I¡¯m tired.¡¯

    ¡®Parvache.¡¯

    [Hmm?]

    ¡®I wish the two remaining hosts had a lower spirit than this one. To make this mess two more times¡­¡¯

    [No matter what, it won¡¯t be very easy. In the absence of a ring, to produce that level of firepower, the consumption of Mana would be severe.]

    ¡®Right.¡¯

    Fire trucks and ambnces crowded around the apartment building I broke in. Looking at the sight, I added a word again.

    ¡®And¡­ it would be nice if the remaining two are not young.¡¯

    [¡­ Yeah.]

    ***

    The two remaining parasites discovered afterward were those who met the conditions I had hoped for. Both were found in Yeouido, and unlike the Heart Fish that lived in the girl, they were tired of hunger and could not go outside Yeouido, and as soon as they left the Channel, they seemed to be parasitic to a person nearby.

    One was working in the office building nearest the Channel, and one was living in an apartment nearby. They also showed a strange phenomenon in which the eggs wereid and quietly subdued, much easier than in the first case.

    After dealing with all three Heart Fishes, I crossed the Channel of Mapo Bridge again.

    This time, I was waiting without sleeping. But as I stepped on thend of the Dell dimension, I was summoned by the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest.

    Now, after the familiar apnea flight¡­

    ¡°Cough¡­! Cough¡­!¡±

    Just like before, I was sitting in an underground cavity and breathing a rough breath.

    ¡°¡­ What you asked for.¡±

    The familiar answered.

    =I know without exnation. As soon as you moved to this dimension, I felt your presence. =

    I was quick to see what the Truth-Seeker was saying. I didn¡¯t even use my own hands, but a familiar pocket pops out of the backpack. It was stored in a sub-space connected to the bottom of the backpack. However, I was amazed that the Truth-Seeker¡¯s power could intervene there.

    The mouth of the pocket that flew in front of Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest opened. Bronze tentacles that matched the color of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s body poured out from within and were attached to its body.

    =You ended it sooner than I thought.=

    ¡°As you said, they didn¡¯t run far away. They were found close to the Channel.¡±

    Even during the conversation, the tentacles returned to the Truth-Seeker¡¯s body were pressed several more times. And¡­ contrary to my expectation that it would keep sticking to it, they fell from the Truth-Seeker¡¯s body again.

    I tried to think about whether the act of germinating and separating the tentacles was close to reproduction or spontaneous amputation of the limbs. Still, it seemed to be simr to reproduction. Seeing that they read my mind and moved, they seemed to have a certain degree of self-will.

    Of course, if there was the ability to give ego to the cut limbs, it might¡¯ve been another story.

    Come to think of it, I was curious. Was the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker¡¯s ability, which I had seen so far, the native of its race, or was it its strength as a Truth-Seeker?

    If it were the power to have as a Truth-Seeker, it was terrible to think that the Earth¡¯s Dragon had done something simr.

    =I¡¯ll give this to you. It is given separately from the price you wish for. =

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s words were once again to confuse my earlier spections. Wasn¡¯t it a reproductive activity?

    What it meant by what it would give me was obviously referring to the tentacles and pockets that I had borrowed for a while.

    ¡°Is this tentacle¡­ part of your body tissue? Or is it some kind of reproductive activity?¡±

    Before I could finish what I said, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s joyful, fun, and dying fluctuations of emotions were conveyed to me.

    =Reproductive activity? That¡¯s an interesting idea. However, it is difficult to exin this concept with themon sense of the human species. These guys also have some ego, but it isn¡¯t authentic reproduction. It is correct to think that separated parts of me were smaller than the dust of existence. It¡¯s an entity I created, separate from me, but not descendants from my perspective. Growing up like this doesn¡¯t mean they can be like me. =

    The tentacled pockets quietly flew to me. I picked it up, looked at it for a moment, and asked again.

    ¡°If so¡­ does this tentacle also have a ¡®soul¡¯?¡±

    My question was answered by thepositionist nonverbal will first. When ites to human beings¡­ the emotions seem to be screaming andughing.

    =Yes, but you have a lot of suspicions about me, don¡¯t you? I can¡¯t even read the detailed flow of thought. =

    Having said that twice, I quickly reinforced my mental barrier. Did it read my thoughts? Was this also the power of a Truth-Seeker?

    It was driving me crazy. How far in the world could it go, and how far was impossible?

    = Anyway, you¡¯ve epted my request, so I¡¯ll have to pay the price. I don¡¯t have to worry about Heart Fish in your dimensions where the Truth-Seeker is lost. That¡¯s a good thing. So, did you say you want information? =

    ¡°¡­That¡¯s right.¡±

    I asked a question I had prepared in advance.

    ¡°I would like to know how the Truth-Seeker in our world died. I want to know what happens to the dead Truth-Seeker. Will he be reincarnated? Will the soul of a Truth-Seeker who has undergone reincarnation be born again as a Truth-Seeker?¡±

    The Truth-Seeker didn¡¯t answer for a while. Then it came to its senses again.

    =As expected, you are unique. Interesting. =

 Chapter 74

    Heart Fish (8)

    I swallowed saliva in tension.

    In fact, what I wanted to know the most was how to prevent the resurrection of the Truth-Seeker, but I was reluctant to ask such a question to the Truth-Seeker, so I turned it around.

    =Well, it¡¯s a pity.=

    It continued.

    =There is a mixture of questions that ¡®I¡¯ don¡¯t have an answer to and questions that shouldn¡¯t be answered ¡®to you.¡¯=

    I had an ominous feeling.

    =What happens to the dead Truth-Seeker? You don¡¯t deserve to know it yet. First, you have to cross the wall. And when you take another step and get ready for the final choice, you will naturally know.=

    ¡°¡­¡­¡±

    I couldn¡¯t speak right away when I interpreted its will because I was angry at the answer without realizing it.

    =Hoo, are you mad at me now?=

    Second, it was because I was bewildered by the words of the Truth-Seeker who read the afterimage of my inner feelings, which I don¡¯t know- were my feelings or thoughts.

    [Cross the wall? Get ready for the final choice?]

    Lastly, it was because I didn¡¯t know what to ask back.

    And one more thing¡­

    [Wait. Cross the wall? That¡¯s what White Deer¡¯s guys always talk about¡­]

    Parvache¡¯s telepathy was mixed with confusion.

    Yes, it¡¯s a very familiar expression.

    From the moment they first met me, the White Deer people said they had crossed the wall. They were fighting the Dragon, who was the Truth-Seeker of our world and isted from humankind.

    Could this be just a coincidence?

    Until now, whenever I asked them what they meant, they hadn¡¯t given me any further exnation that it was the words the god they worshiped was calling them for. Would it be?

    ¡°So, what does it mean to cross the wall and get ready for the final choice?¡±

    =Hmm.=

    Instead of responding to my question or refusing to answer, the Truth-Seeker took a moment.

    =It¡¯s a little vague. Wait for a moment. I need to ask for some advice. =

    What?

    As I was panicking, I felt something strangeing and going from the top of Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker¡¯s far-high body.

    No, I need to correct it. Could I express it simply with the word power? Something like an afterimage of existence that was neither Mana nor power.

    After focusing on the feeling for a while, I quickly realized what it was like.

    It was very simr to what I felt whenever I opened the Channel on my chest and when I crossed the Channel into this world.

    The energy simr to the Channel¡¯s presence gathered and, in a few seconds, more. The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest looked at me.

    =As expected. I wasn¡¯t the only one who thought you were unique.=

    ¡°¡­¡­¡±

    =Actually, there is nothing special when looking only at your physical body or Mana. Even though you had excellent talent, you have not yet crossed the wall, and discussing qualifications is pointless. By that standard alone, you are just an ordinary mortal. But! =

    The Truth-Seeker spread a pleasant feeling around me.

    =Nevertheless, more than half of the Truth-Seekers who have just answered my question told me. =

    It hadn¡¯t even been a few seconds. Was it saying it had already asked many Truth-Seekers, questions and even heard answers?

    -Gulp¡­

    =The situation of the dimension you belong to¡­ Traces of Truth-Seekers left on your chest. The peculiarity you show by contacting me this time. The usefulness was demonstrated by your sess in disposing of Heart Fish, although with my help. And above all, your soul. =

    I felt that the Truth-Seeker¡¯s gaze pouring over my body became more intense. The tension seemed to be stiffening my blood.

    =These anomalies were enough for all of us to feel great interest. So, the conclusion is this. Strictly speaking, you fall short of the standard. Nevertheless, in the future, you will be considered a different entity than any mortal. =

    I just asked a question. Why was the introduction so long, ominous, and heavy? It was even more confusing because I couldn¡¯t understand the meaning.

    But at that time, the Truth-Seeker threw an unexpected word.

    =And I decided to remember ¡®you.¡¯=

    ¡­What?

    =What is your name?=

    My heart pounded. I didn¡¯t know why, but I suddenly had this feeling. I think that would lead to an oue that was never good.

    ¡°¡­Name?¡±

    =Yes. Now, instead of remembering ¡®an interesting human with a Channel on his chest,¡¯ I decided to remember ¡®you.¡¯ What is your name?=

    I couldn¡¯t refuse to answer the Truth-Seeker¡¯s question.

    ¡°¡­I am Yoon Min-joon.¡±

    Then, the Truth-Seeker wriggled his tentacles as if it were ridiculous.

    =No, not that name. What is your real name? Your world¡¯s Truth-Seeker left a Channel on your body. Didn¡¯t he give you a name? =

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    =That¡¯s ridiculous. If the Dragon had nted the seeds with such care, he would have tried to find you again someday. For him, it means that you were no longer one of the ordinary mortals, and he should have given you a name. Hey, spirit! =

    I turned my eyes behind my back without realizing it. And the Truth-Seeker¡¯s gaze also followed me into the backpack.

    Thus, the spirit, who received the gaze of its own disciple and the gaze of an another-dimensional Truth-Seeker at the same time, moved the body of an innate toy andpletely slipped out of the backpack.

    Then it climbed over my shoulder and faced the Truth-Seeker.

    =Do you belong with him? Since you¡¯re a family and a mental body, you must have looked into the heart of this guy. What is this human¡¯s name? =

    [¡­Still, my words won¡¯t reach the Truth-Seeker. Min-joon, tell him what I¡¯m saying.]

    ¡°¡­ Yeah.¡±

    [As I confirmed as I became his family, Yoon Min-joon has not yet received a real name.]

    When Parvache said that, the Truth-Seeker twisted one tentacle intricately. When ites to people, it feels like it¡¯s clicking its tongue.

    =What the hell was the Dragon thinking? He nted a Seed in your body, but he was not interested in the human himself? It can¡¯t be¡­ Hmm¡­=

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker said to me after thinking about it for a while.

    =As long as you have no real name, you are like dust to me. Even though you¡¯re interesting and listening well, dust is still dust. Hmm, I can¡¯t help it. I will give you a name. =

    Suddenly I didn¡¯t know how or where things were going.

    =What is the meaning that can best imply you? Let¡¯s see. Then, a little deeper than before¡­=

    And, there was a wave that was bigger than any pressure I had ever felt in front of it before.

    =Look at your deep bottom. =

    The whole body hardened as if being dragged into this forest. The Truth-Seeker¡¯s gaze, looking at a point close to the root of my mind, dug in.

    I couldn¡¯t move and stood still. Even though it was a short time, my whole body felt disorganized, and everything seemed to lose speed.

    =What is it? There is something on the bottom of your heart? ¡®Absolute trust?¡¯=

    A word from a Truth-Seeker who seemed puzzled. As soon as the words fell, Parvache vomited a strange thought. Whenpared to the human voice, the reaction seemed to be swallowing instead of trying to speak.

    Before I could even react, the sharpness of a knife stuck in my head hit me. A short sh that seemed to be split again even at the moment.

    =It indeed affected you, but this is not the real you. =

    With those words, something broke through my deep bottom.

    -Bump!

    I heard the sound of cracking and tearing as if thick and previously sealed things were being removed. A cool breeze blew deep in my heart.

    =Well, almost¡­=

    However, the gaze looking at me didn¡¯t stop there. The gaze went deeper and deeper.

    =Yeah. I see it more clearly. Your soul. =

    The Truth-Seeker must¡¯ve been looking at my soul from the moment I first met it.

    Until now, it wasn¡¯t just because of its presence that it was difficult to withstand when I received its gaze. It must¡¯ve been the fear of seeing through my existence¡¯s roots, a great power outside of my own perception.

    And its gaze was now closer than ever. The overwhelming power of unknown depth swept my mind and body.

    Eventually, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s wriggling feelings reached my mind.

    =Looking closer, it¡¯s even more spectacr. Even though you¡¯re a wizard, your spirit is too high-level. It¡¯s extremely umon. At this point, you should have crossed the wall earlier. But you didn¡¯t. =

    The gaze of the Truth-Seeker who was looking deeply into my soul was finally distant again. My whole body was drenched with sweat, and I breathed faintly. It stretched its tentacles towards me and continued its words.

    =Even though it is high enough, the soul has not yet evolved to the next level. No, it wasn¡¯t that you couldn¡¯t do it. Are you avoiding it on purpose? Your soul doesn¡¯t want to be revealed. Why do you hide your existence? =

    After making such mysterious remarks, the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker said to me.

    =I found the true name that suits you. =

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s will, as if sentenced, echoed.

    =I, ¡®Song of Chaos,¡¯ as a person who haspleted two evolutions and is qualified to prepare for the final choice, will give you a real name. From now on, I will call you ¡®Reclusive Soul¡¯. Until you finish your next evolution and give yourself a name for yourself, this will be your name. =

    The moment it spoke, I felt like something was being carved into the deep bottom within me.

    So, my real name was decided.

    ***

    After giving me a name, the Truth-Seeker said.

    =You got a name, but it¡¯s still not enough to get an answer about the Truth-Seeker¡¯s death. The thing that you haven¡¯t crossed the wall hasn¡¯t changed yet. But I can tell you a story about the birth of a Truth-Seeker. As it rtes to the answer to thest question you asked. =

    Thest question I asked¡­

    -Swoosh

    It shed a ray of Mana. The flow, which started calmly, hovered around us and became a huge flutter that could no longer be observed.

    =To cross a wall is the first to cross the limit of a species. This is more than just the evolution of genes and bodies. It refers to beings whose souls have continued to rise and finally broke the frame and evolved to the next level. Look at this. =

    The underground cavity where Parvache, Truth-Seeker, and I were located suddenly disappeared. No, precisely, the darkness and shadows were instantly covered with

    ¡°Oh¡­ uh¡­!¡±

    The Earth was moving farther down there. But this time, it wasn¡¯t flying. The Truth-Seeker was now showing me a scene using all the surroundings.

    The projected scene gradually increased in altitude and became a distant sky. Under my feet, I could see two huge continents that covered most of the stars. Then, a point began to expand as if zooming in. I knew that thend was a different continent than where we were earlier.

    =Now, this is a record from long ago. The unit of time has lost its meaning at your level of consciousness. =

    -Khaaaaash!

    The jungle. There was another world that was different from the ecosystem I had seen in that world. However, looking at the color of the light and the moon¡¯s shape, I could see that the stage that that fantasy illuminates was the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker dimension.

    -Kraaaahhh!

    The beasts, all covered with white fur, ran before my eyes.

    They seemed to be hunting. It was an animal that resembled the Earth¡¯s tiger. The Truth-Seeker said, looking at it with me.

    =That¡¯s a species called ¡®Crasset.¡¯ The ones that flourished long before Dell became civilized in this world. =

    At the forefront, thergest one roared, revealing its fangs. Unlike other individuals, I felt that there was a mystery in its eyes.

    What the Crassets were chasing were giant reptiles that could be several dozen times their size. The lead Crasset points at the horns raised in the forehead. I wondered if white light was gathering around it, and dozens of shes came out. It hit the giant reptile¡¯s neck right in front of it!

    -Pweing!

    Sharp sound waves were spreading through the atmosphere. The rays scratched off the neck, and it fell off. The enormous body lost its power and tilted away.

    -Khooog!

    A short earthquake passed over the Earth.

    Crassets who were following it in a group gathered. They surrounded the reptile¡¯s corpse and began to bite. However, the leader looked at its people¡¯s meals, which had stopped breathing, and then turned its head as if he had lost interest.

    =We moved back a little bit too far.=

    Time passed with the Truth-Seeker¡¯s words. Simr scenes were repeated. The Crasset, which appears to be the head of the group, was getting bigger and bigger. The power of the light emitted from the horns also became stronger as the hunting continued.

    =What that leader of Crasset uses is actually a kind of magic. =

    ¡°What? But at first nce, there seems to be no civilization enough to organize the theory of magic.¡±

    There was no indication of a civilized race from the Crassets. They were beasts.

    =Magic is not possible only when civilization develops, and theory is established. Even you humans, aren¡¯t there any uneducated wizards that unconsciously show their abilities? =

    I nodded.

    =Civilized races can use various means to control magic. It is much easier to learn magic from an advanced being, and you can develop it yourself. They makeplex spells and forms and even make sacrifices to gain strength. It develops and spreads magic within the framework of learning, and as a result, many wizards are raised. =

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    =But very rarely, individuals realize how to gather Mana by themselves without such a civilized means and can use magic freely whenever they intend. It is very rare, but it does happen. =

    When I listened to the Truth-Seeker, I was confused.

    ¡°That¡¯s different frommon sense that I know. What an untrained wizard can use is unconscious magic that is not controlled. So, regardless of the intentions, all they could do is make a fire, fly in the air and that sort of mundane things.¡±

    If you¡¯re really lucky, you could summon a harmless mental body with an open Channel on your chest.

    =As I said, this is a very rare case. Overwhelming talent is pioneering an unprecedented path. That Crasset is the case. That individual developed magic in the realm of instinct, not learning. It opened all the magic circuits by itself and continued to raise the magic level, and the spirit of the soul rose. Thanks to the enormous strength, it has lived dozens of times the average Crasset life. The result of such a long life¡­=

    The scene changed, and the Crasset sat on the cliff. It was quietly facing the wind and looking down. I knew that the mystery in those eyes had risen to apletely different level than before. It¡¯s like¡­

    Yeah. A sense of mystery that I felt in the eyes of Yusu and Garam, who returned to their original body. And the high spirituality that I felt from the high-level summoners that I called out on the Channel was contained in those eyes.

    =That¡¯s how mortals cross the wall. =

    Now the Crasset has traveled across the continent with a force that couldn¡¯tpare to earlier. The Truth-Seeker continued the exnation.

    =Whether it¡¯s a civilized race or a ferocious beast, in theory, any species could break the wall. It¡¯s the first evolution of the soul. The evolution of the soul affects the body as well, and the meaning of life is lost to those who cross the wall. In the case of that Crasset, it has already lived much longer than the average life span of the species, but from the point of crossing the wall, the distinction between short-lived and long-lived species is meaningless. But more important than that¡­=

    I kept looking at the Crasset over the wall. Instead of wandering around the continent, it suddenly looked for something as if it had an intuition that the time hade.

    Then it found a female Crasset. Unlike itself, it was an ordinary beast who couldn¡¯t cross the wall. The Crasset, who had crossed the wall, abandoned the female immediately after mating.

    After wandering the continent alone for a while, the Crasset gave birth to several cubs. And I noticed the peculiarities of all the babies which were born.

    =The most important thing is that the offspring will also be born beyond the wall. At the moment of birth, the soul has already evolved. No matter what kind of existence they were in the past life. =

    Does it mean that it evolves under the influence of a body inhabited by a soul that receives new life through reincarnation?

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense!¡±

    It¡¯s a story that I don¡¯t really understand with mymon sense.

    =But the evolution of the soul does not end with this. =

    The scene passed quickly.

    The crowd of Crassets who crossed the wall didn¡¯t increase very much for a very long time after that. Most of them bred by sharing their rtionship with ordinary Crassets and then giving birth to offspring that crossed the wall. The offspring born grew very slowly and didn¡¯t reproduce well after reaching adulthood by their standards.

    =Let¡¯s move the time zone a little more. =

    Mountains and rivers moved. That long time passed again. Nevertheless, the crowd of Crasset that crossed the wall were still hundreds.

    How many years have passed? Another unusual Crasset was seen in our sight. Considering the rtionship with the ancestors of the race, it was an individual equivalent to its great-grandchild.

    As it grew, its strength became stronger than the first Crasset who crossed the wall. It was a growth rate that ignored the gaps of a distant time. That¡¯s why I could guess that the soul was also getting higher.

    And one day, the moment finally came.

    -Woooong

    ¡°Channel?¡±

    A huge Channel was opened over the head of that Crasset, the great-grandson who transcended the first generation. But when I saw it, I felt a sense of incongruity. Looking at the shape and waveform, it was definitely a Channel, but¡­

    [Ah, that¡¯s¡­ It can¡¯t be!]

    Parvache¡¯s consciousness shook with confusion.

    Every Channel I¡¯d seen so far had been in the form of a blue light source. However, that huge Channel that I could see now was a pitch-ck light ¨C like a far abyss.

    ¡°Where is that Channel connected to?¡±

    The Truth-Seeker responded with a soft smile.

    =A-Verdag.=

    The Crasset flew into the air and entered the dark Channel.

    =In there, the second evolution of the soul proceeds. And you qualify as a person who gets ready for the final choice. =

    ¡°That means¡­¡±

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest confirmed my guess as a fact.

    =Yes, being reborn as a Truth-Seeker. =

 Chapter 75

    Invitation of White Deer (1)

    Interior without a single window. Various objects were listed under cold lights. Each of them was stacked in a pallet and lined up with dozens of intervals in arge space, resembling a logistics warehouse, and materials were piled up in about 1 square meter.

    Its facades include a variety of metals, wood, stics, rocks, and even living creatures.

    And a young man was standing in front of them, reaching out for the dozens of lumps listed.

    ck mist-like energy gushed from his hand. It moved precisely ording to the gestures of the young man.

    -Sheeehh

    The fog surrounded the test subjects and condensed in turn. The exposed material began to melt as appointed.

    The most responsive thing was living creatures. A pig who was crying while bound on a wooden frame. As the smoke wrapped around, the whole stomach disappeared, leaving only four ankles fixed to the chain.

    Only the blood of melted flesh, bones, and intestines remained in ce.

    No matter how hard the material was, it couldn¡¯t avoid the effect of the deadly fog made by the young man. Even steel piled up to 1 square meter turned into a bizarre color and melted down. The observers who saw the scene were busy. They were standing beyond the clear ss, observing and recording what happened between the young man and the objects.

    After most of the material had melted, the young man looked behind him and shrugged his shoulders.

    ¡°Shall we stop here?¡±

    The man in a white gown replied behind the ss wall. His words resonated through the speakers in theboratory.

    ¡°Yes, Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan, thank you for your hard work. Please retrieve all toxic substances left inside before performing the venttion procedure.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    -Sheesh

    Kim Kyung-hwan reached out his hands and sucked up all the ck smoke that was still flowing near the object. The ck smoke, which had just eaten the pig without leaving any shape, was sucked into his palm without leaving a scratch on his hand.

    After he gave the ¡®OK¡¯ signal, the internal venttion began. The door of the room where the observers were located opened, and Kim Kyung-Hwan entered it.

    Looking at him, the Alien said.

    =¡±4th ss Melting¡± magic is nowplete. Excellent. =

    Kim Kyung-Hwan smiled, revealing his teeth.

    ¡°After all this verification, I get it. That¡¯s really powerful. The strongest attack magic I¡¯ve ever learned?¡±

    The Alien looked displeased.

    =Do you like that strange ssification of magic? What is the meaning of the tags that say attack magic, defense magic, and assist magic? =

    Actually, it was. The magic that Kim Kyung-hwan learned right now was used by the Kaifu tribes, its ancestors, to engage in warfare, but often used it for nonbat purposes.

    In the Kaifu civilization, ¡®nobles¡¯ who could use magic were not just the rulers. Through miracles that were difficult to achieve without magic, they contributed to the country¡¯s development and prevent wasting resources.

    Instructor Kaifu, who taught this spell to Kim Kyung-Hwan right now, used this magic in his world mainly to create mines.

    Through the precise moving of the melting fog, hundreds ofmoner Kaifu¡¯s were able to drill and reinforce the mine in less than an hour, which usually required years of running.

    ¡°Well¡­ how will I use this magic I learnedter? I¡¯m not sure what the people here will think.¡±

    Saying so, Kim Kyung-Hwan looked around the government employees around him. Most employees in gowns fixed their gaze on the monitor, pretending not to hear his words.

    It was a human instructor in a ck suit who responded to his words.

    ¡°As I have said before, the purpose of running this institution by our government is never about developing human weapons.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan muttered inside. Yes, yes, it is. Absolutely.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Magic is a whole new realm that humanity has never experienced. This technology will be the key to the 5th Industrial Revolution.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. As you said.¡±

    ¡°Our government¡¯s ultimate goal is to find new future projects that create high value-added products through magic passed on by you, Kim Kyung-hwan, and eventually restore the vitality of the industrial economy to achieve prosperity and happiness of the people.¡±

    ¡°Gosh! I know! I know!¡±

    It was a boring story that he repeatedly heard from the beginning of his admission.

    ¡°With such good intentions, I wonder why you run the training center so thoroughly and secretly¡­¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s it!¡±

    The human instructor began exining what he said, but Kim Kyung-Hwan shed one ear. He heard it so many times that he had practically memorized that narrative.

    ¡°I really like this magic anyway. I should make this my ¡®signature spell.¡¯¡±

    =¡­Whatever. =

    The instructor dered the end of the ss and immediately disappeared from the spot.

    Kim Kyung-hwan also came out of theboratory whistling. He was ready to eat and headed to the canteen.

    His heart was rxed. He received a judgment from Instructor Kaifu that the magic he learned this time was also perfect. Now there were only a few 4th ss magic left to learn.

    Kim Kyung-Hwan slowly entered the canteen. When he encountered trainees passing by, they showed the same reaction. Their gaze stayed on his face and then flowed beside him.

    ¡®I know; I¡¯ll just close my eyes.¡¯

    It¡¯s been half a year since Kim Kyung-hwan entered the training center. Among the trainees who entered earlier than him, none of the trainees showed achievementsparable to Kim Kyung-hwan.

    ¡®The rank next after me is also clumsy.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s rapid performance was a hot topic among all personnel at the training center. The rumors that he had an informal luncheon with the president were already no secret.

    He hung around the buffet food section and put the food on a te. And¡­

    ¡°Give me a green juice.¡±

    Frighteningly, the juice corner staff ground kale and apples in a blender. For some reason, he seemed to be getting faster when Kim Kyung-hwan asked than when other trainees ask.

    Kim Kyung-hwan picked a table with no one and sat down with a te in one hand and a cup of green juice in the other. Everyone nced at him, but no one would approach him.

    At first, of course, trainees were twisting around him. They wanted to take a look at Kim Kyung-hwan, who showed overwhelming achievements and wanted to know the secret of his rapid growth.

    But Kim Kyung-hwan kicked them all out. He always refused to engage in any interaction with other trainees.

    Kim Kyung-hwan opened the wet wipe wrapper on the table and watched the 95-inch TV in the canteen¡¯s corner. The news was on the TV.

    ¡°¡­It¡¯s been almost a year since the Channel crisis that shook the world happened. On the other hand, today marks the second month after a huge explosion over XX apartments in Seoul and the damage to the apartments¡¯ exterior walls. The investigation is ongoing, but no usible results have been found yet. Following the mass deaths of religious believers in Novemberst year and abnormal earthquake activities on Jeju Ind earlier this year, there is a high concern that the cause of the explosion of XX apartments may be buried unknown. In the National Assembly, the ministerial and opposition parties demanded a thorough investigation into the case. Meanwhile, the Blue House has stated that there is no significant evidence regarding the connection between this incident and the Channel¡­¡±

    While listening to the news, Kim Kyung-hwan snorted.

    ¡®They just couldn¡¯t find any evidence. I wonder if that has anything to do with the Channel!¡¯

    As Kim Kyung-hwan cutmb ribs on his te, he recalled what happened a week ago.

    As soon as the apartmentplex explosion became known, they dered an emergency inside the training center, and the alert was reinforced several times. ording to the rumors heard, the measures were taken by suspecting that it was a terrorist attack by a foreign wizard or an alien race from foreign Channels.

    As time passed, there were no signs of abnormality on the Hun-neung side, and sses resumed again after a survey showed no casualties caused by this explosion. However, the alert level was still very high.

    On that day, Kim Kyung-hwan asked as soon as he met Eraser in his dream whether he knows anything about this case.

    Then, surprisingly, Eraser¡­

    ¡®He said he did it. That huge explosion.¡¯

    The damage to the exterior walls of the apartment was actually nothing. What made the citizens uneasy and thrilled Kim Kyung-hwan was the huge explosion in the sky.

    A huge me and craze that was not known how it originated. The explosionsted a long time, and numerous witnesses recorded the scene. Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s heart skipped a beat when he saw it on TV.

    ¡®I can learn soon. Such real magic. Instead of the crappy magic used by Kaifu!¡¯

    Since then, rumors had circted within the training camp.

    The government, frightened by this incident, asked Kaifu to cooperate with the investigation, but as expected, they maintained that they couldn¡¯t do any cooperation except for ¡®magical lessons.¡¯

    The government even reached out to the Chinese government to get the Gramperi¡¯s help, but the answer that came back was ¡®it is impossible without room for negotiation.¡¯

    But the government didn¡¯t give up.

    ¡®If the trainees showed the video to one of the frogs. So, they admitted it as a kind of ¡®lesson¡¯ and gave limited information.¡¯

    It was clearly a magical phenomenon in the form of an explosion, but it was impossible with Kaifu¡¯s magic.

    ¡®It was caused by apletely different system of magic from Kaifu.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan read the meaning hidden in the nk of the answer.

    ¡®In the end, the Kaifu¡¯s can¡¯t do this at their magic level, right? Yes, this is really strong magic!¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan finished his meal with a grin. And he walked without hesitation toward the canteen entrance. As expected, the gazes stuck behind his back.

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t nce at them. He had a sense of the chosen people that his level was no longer at the same level as these crappy guys.

    Meanwhile, there was another reason that Kim Kyung-hwan kicked those people out.

    ¡®In the end, the purpose of those who kiss my ass will be trying to get advantages. It¡¯s obvious.¡¯

    Also, there was anxiety that if he slipped his tongue, he would shed a small clue about his secret rted to Eraser.

    As he was walking, someone spoke to him from his front.

    He¡¯s a man who looked around his early 30s. He looked at himself and approached with a smile.

    ¡®Baek Woon-gyu¡­¡¯

    ¡°Ah, Kyung-hwan. Is the ss over?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan responded bluntly.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°I heard from the instructors. They said you almost mastered the 4th ss melting magic? Did you practice that again today?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan groaned inside.

    ¡®It looks like he cares a lot. Is this a rivalry? Wow, he¡¯s an idiot who doesn¡¯t even know where he is.¡¯

    Baek Woon-gyu is a trainee who won first ce before he entered the training center.

    ¡°Well, but what¡¯s the point of practice? It¡¯s a measure of the magic effect. And I was certified master.¡±

    ¡°Already? The instructors predicted that it would take another week¡­¡±

    ¡°Is it only once or twice that frogs pick the wring leg with me?¡±

    ¡°I feel it every time, but you are really amazing.¡±

    Baek Woon-gyu looked astonished, and he smiled brightly and tapped his shoulders. Kim Kyung-hwan tried to frown on him for a moment and put up with it.

    Who¡¯s this scumbag touching?

    Of course, he didn¡¯t say that out loud.

    ¡°How about you? Are you still learning second-ss magic?¡±

    ¡°Right. I¡¯m working hard, but I think I hit a wall these days. I¡¯m not making any progress.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan replied, careful not to reveal his real feelings.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be too impatient and do it step by step. It feels difficult right now, but if you look back after having mastered all the second-ss magic, would you think it was really nothing? It¡¯s not even the real magic yet if it¡¯s level 2.¡±

    If you change the meaning of that word, it meant that Baek Woon-gyu struggled at a level that wasn¡¯t even true magic.

    However, whether Baek Woon-gyu didn¡¯t notice Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s sarcastic feelings implied by the words, or whether he knew but pretended not to know, he replied by tapping his hand on Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s shoulder a few times.

    ¡°Yes, I can do it step by step. Thank you for your words.¡±

    And Baek Woon-gyu took his hand off his shoulder, and Kim Kyung-hwan identally looked at the hand with his side-eye. Ring of an unusual color. Did he say that was a wedding ring? It looked like he¡¯s allowed to bring that. Anyway, all belongings were inspected at the time of admission.

    ¡°If your head is stuffy and doesn¡¯t work well, why don¡¯t you go on vacation once? I heard you¡¯re married.¡±

    And he made insidious remarks inside.

    ¡®Instead of bothering me.¡¯

    After Kim Kyung-hwan entered the training center, Baek Woon-gyu was second in thest year. Even the difference in level was so great that Kim Kyung-hwan was taking all sses as private lessons.

    Kim Kyung-hwan was convinced that what he was talking to himself now was the purpose of getting help by building up a rtionship.

    ¡®In the end, you¡¯re sticking to me because I do it well, you bastard.¡¯

 Chapter 76

    The Invitation of White Deer (2)

    Kim Kyung-hwan recalled his life before entering the training center. He then checked again the thickness of the wall that was like the iron wall in his own heart, and he strengthened it even more.

    ¡®Baek Woon-gyu is the same. He wouldn¡¯t have had anything to do with me if I didn¡¯t have my best talents. When they y with each other or when they are friends, they are busy breaking each other. Even if I look a little less than them, they will look down on me andugh. Those jerks.¡¯

    He stared at the sudden rise of his heart and then shed it off.

    ¡®Anyway, I will go further and higher. I don¡¯t have to talk with these crappy guys.¡¯

    The people there had nothing but value as an audience who admired and envied him.

    ¡®Just that¡¯s good enough.¡¯

    To be honest, he wanted to talk to Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s face right away.

    ¡°Don¡¯t mess with me for nothing. It¡¯s annoying.¡±

    However, if he said so, it could lead to reports that he had a personality problem. Still, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do it recklessly, and he didn¡¯t want to wear a badbel.

    He was the person who would be great. There would be a big difference between the records of ¡®didn¡¯t get along well with the trainees¡¯ and ¡®he spoke to the trainees at the level of insulting.¡¯

    He needed to manage his image. Later, when the government announced the wizard¡¯s existence to the media, and when he began to show his performance, he would have an interview or something like that.

    He couldn¡¯t leave a dark history. Kim Kyung-hwan thought so.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go home and get some fresh air?¡±

    Basically, that training center had a system simr to the army. So, they stayed together, but there was a system simr to vacation. That was under the premise that even a family member who already knew the fact that he or she had been admitted must keep the details inside.

    He heard that Baek Woon-gyu never went out after entering the training center.

    ¡°No. I have to work hard. Because I have my own goals.¡±

    Instead of asking what the goal was, Kim Kyung-hwan answered half-heartedly.

    ¡°But you should go home once. Don¡¯t you want to see your family?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Baek Woon-gyuughed like it was boring. Somehow, he thought that there was something different from Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s facial expression, but Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t pay much attention.

    The two broke up after a short greeting. Baek Woon-gyu was no longer the object of interest. He had been caught in the eye before, but the level difference had widened, and now just, well¡­

    Soon, Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s head was filled with things to ask Eraser today. It didn¡¯t take a few steps until his thoughts about Baek Woon-gyupletely disappeared.

    ***

    One day between thete spring and the beginning of summer, I heard White Deer¡¯s answer.

    ¡°It took disgustingly long.¡±

    ¡°Please understand. If the elders want to decide something¡­¡±

    I heard too much about that.

    ¡°Then will the date be okay at this time?¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    That was how detailed adjustments were made.

    I poured metal from the warehouse on the te. That was the metal te for Maek in my house. Some magical metals had unusually high weight and energy, so ss tes or stic tes were easily broken and ruined.

    Yusu and I were now trying to have a simple tea time. To be precise, I¡¯m the only one drinking tea.

    ¡°By the way, are you still very busy?¡±

    He asked while I was sitting at the kitchen table facing him as he examined myplexion. I nodded and smiled bitterly.

    ¡°I heard through Garam that the day and night of Master Yoon¡¯s life changed, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s just that much. I have good medicine, so that I will send it to you through Garam next time.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know how good the medicine would be, but it wouldn¡¯t be as good as the elixir I made. Still, there was no need to refuse the gift, so I just answered.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Yusu smiled and poured a piece of metal from the te into his mouth.

    Maek¡¯s diet was grasped a long time ago. In addition to ordinary iron and copper, a variety of magical metals were also being served. The number of precious metals received from White Deer was quiterge, so these were prototypes made by mixing Mana.

    Of course, there was still an enormous amount piled up, so to that extent.

    ¡°By the way, I¡¯m sorry to have bothered you. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re here to tell me that. But you even ept my personal request.¡±

    ¡°Haha, isn¡¯t Master Yoon my lifesaver? Saying it like that makes me feel shy. Just leave that word alone.¡±

    Today¡¯s prominent visit was to convey the intention of the elderly to invite me to White Deer. After hearing those words, they finally decided that they would ept my proposal, but he said they would like to discuss the details directly in White Deer.

    I epted the offer.

    After talking, Yusu and I went to the tank on the lower floor.

    I woke up the Fake God. That was to transnt memories rted to ¡®Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest¡¯ extracted from the Ashpim Giants a few months ago.

    The reason I pulled out this memory from them was to find information about Truth-Seeker. However, the Dell tribe didn¡¯t know the information I wanted; namely, the keyword of Truth-Seeker¡¯s resurrection and the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest refused to answer. It was unlikely that Ashpims would know about it. So, I didn¡¯t have to transnt it and left it alone.

    The problem was that, as Yodmo said, memory crystals disappeared long after extraction. I couldn¡¯t let go of my mind just in case. Was it okay to throw away the memory crystals that had already been extracted?

    So, I awakened the Fake God while Yusu came today and imnted the memory. I got some unexpected information, but nothing I was aiming for.

    The Fake God fell asleep again in the tank with some of Ashpim¡¯s memories imnted. It felt like he had be a kind of external hard drive to me now.

    ¡°But fortunately, what we were concerned about didn¡¯t happen. Even today, he didn¡¯t try tomit suicide.¡±

    I nodded at Yusu¡¯s words£®

    The most worrying thing while transferring memories to the Fake God was when hemitted suicide in confusion. He was originally a demon¡¯s contractor who wouldn¡¯t choose suicide no matter how much he suffered. Still, we couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility that his knowledge would be obscured or overlooked due to a mix of memories.

    ¡°If that guy dies, it doesn¡¯t just mean that the memory storage device disappears.¡±

    I was wary of it since I didn¡¯t know what principle the process behind recovering the soul of a dead contractor to the demons was.

    ¡°If he dies like that, as a result of a contract involving the power of Kaidemos¡­ the Fake God¡¯s soul would be summoned by the demon in another dimension. Even if he didn¡¯t have a handful of Mana.¡±

    I am suspicious that it would connect this dimension and the dimension of the demon.

    Wouldn¡¯t there be a kind of passage that borrows the power of God in the process of retrieving the soul? Then, as when the demon¡¯s spirit was summoned, there would be a passage through which only souls coulde and go.

    Something different from Channels.

    ¡°I am worried that the demon might infiltrate the soul into this dimension by taking advantage of the open passage. When the summon was lifted, it would have returned to its original body, but it won¡¯t feel good about me.¡±

    Of course, there was no basis for that hypothesis.

    Yusu nodded.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be nice to keep it as it is now so that the alien never dies?¡±

    It was just as Yusu said. It was safe to keep taking it out and putting it in a solution without risking it as it had been. I think it was right to keep him in that state and tied the soul together.

    ¡°That way, we won¡¯t be able to interrogate using memory crystals at all. Hence, that time, I thought about it a bit. Should I just throw away those memories¡­¡±

    ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s obvious that he¡¯s still breathing, but the soul of that alien is not going anywhere right now, and it is well attached to the body. There was no sign of a soul passing over from another world.¡±

    I nodded.

    I asked Yusu to observe it so that he could find it in advance if the soul of the demon came over.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you just suggest not to kill himself?¡±

    ¡°It is impossible to suggest more than this.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ it went like this in the end.¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    Yusu¡¯s eyes, who nodded, reached one ce.

    ¡°By the way¡­ did you bring in a new pet while I haven¡¯t heard from you for a while? Probably from the world over there.¡±

    My gaze followed where Yusu looked, then the one crawling on the living room floor stopped walking and turned to us.

    The main body was a pocket smaller than my fist. From there, dozens of bronze tentacles protrude. Some acted as legs and some as hands. At first nce, it looked like arge legged spider.

    That guy looked at us and blinked its eyes.

    ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s it.¡±

    Yusu was surprised to hear that it was a separate entity from the Truth-Seeker of the other world.

    ¡°Then you mean that it is the Truth-Seeker¡¯s child after all?¡±

    Yusu and the inhabitants of White Deer now knew the concept of Truth-Seekers. The ¡®god¡¯ they asked the question had never given them detailed answers to the principles of dimension and the Truth-Seeker so far.

    But, through my exnation, they knew roughly what the Truth-Seeker was and that the dead Dragon was originally the Truth-Seeker of this world.

    ¡°No, it says it¡¯s not its offspring again.¡±

    As Yusu and I caught our eyes, the tentacle pocket also took its eyes off us and started walking again. It approached the veranda, opened the door by itself, swam like an octopus swimming in the sea, crossed the threshold, and closed the door again.

    It looked like it¡¯s going to sunbathe. That guy liked to look out the window while receiving the sunlight. I left it because it couldn¡¯t be seen from the outside anyway.

    After briefly exining the tentacle pocket, I asked Yusu.

    ¡°Can you see its soul?¡±

    Yusu nodded his head.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    It seemed that the Truth-Seeker¡¯s saying that there was a soul wasn¡¯t a lie.

    ¡°How is it? Is that soul, the soul that has crossed the wall?¡±

    Yusu shook his head firmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a high-level, and of course, it didn¡¯t cross the wall. It¡¯s just an ordinary mortal soul.¡±

    That was the part I was curious about. When beings who cross the wall gave birth to offspring, they were said to be born with an already evolved soul. So, what about Truth-Seekers? Could they reproduce? If they gave birth to offspring, would that soul be born as a Truth-Seeker?

    It seemed that what dwells in that tentacle was an ordinary mortal soul that hadn¡¯t even evolved in the first stage. Was it perhaps because they were not normal offspring? But if it wasn¡¯t a descendant, how was that tentacle to be defined?

    My head wasplicated.

    I thought about the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest for a long time, and then I asked Yusu what I thought of.

    ¡°Oh yeah, Yusu. Do you keep performing rituals these days?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    Currently, I also knew what the memorial service meant. It was said to be a ritual to ask questions and received answers from the God they served.

    However, when I heard it, it seemed that God didn¡¯t answer the question that was so important that I wondered why they were doing the memorial service. It didn¡¯t even tell them that the Dragon was a Truth-Seeker.

    ¡°Do you still ask questions about the Dragon¡¯s identity these days?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t. Because now we know what Truth-Seekers are.¡±

    I asked without expecting much. I guess they had already tried it.

    The fact that some seek Dragons¡¯ resurrection had already been conveyed to White Deer through Yusu. That was a threat that they couldn¡¯t ignore. There must¡¯ve been an attempt to obtain information through God.

    ¡°As for the question of the resurrection of the Dragon, have you already asked God? About how that would be possible.¡±

    I recalled a scene where I met Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker a while ago.

    ***

    =There is currently no Truth-Seeker who can answer how the Dragon died. =

    Instead of the cosmic providence that the Truth-Seeker¡¯s death implied, I asked again if it could answer specifically the death of the ¡®Dragon.¡¯ The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker answered.

    I actually expected it. It said it didn¡¯t know the reason at the first meeting, and it still seemed the same as it did after some time.

    =There is no way to know what happened to him after leaving A-Verdag in a dimension that a single Channel couldn¡¯t prate. He doesn¡¯t seem to have had interactions with other Truth-Seekers. =

    ¡°¡­ Yeah.¡±

    =But maybe I can share my guess. =

 Chapter 77

    The Invitation of White Deer (3)

    The Truth-Seeker continued tly.

    =Now that the Channels are open, it can be seen by outside Truth-Seekers like us. There are only a few divinities connected to your dimension, and the influence of God isn¡¯t great. It¡¯s a dimension where it can¡¯t happen naturally because of the Heart Fish. Also, the dimensional barriers of the world were very powerful. Therefore, it can be said that there was no ¡®outside factor¡¯ that could threaten your Truth-Seekers. =

    Its answer contained some iplete information.

    ¡°¡­ You said that as if God is the enemy of a Truth-Seeker. But aren¡¯t Truth-Seekers those who aspire to be gods?¡±

    When it first saw Ghur and I, I remembered our conversation about the smell of sweet divinity.

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker gathered its eyes and stared at me, and answered.

    =Tyranny of those who have and those who don¡¯t have it happens in any dimension, even by raising the level of existence. I would rather name the phenomenon the providence of the universe. =

    ¡°¡­¡±

    A certain amount of resignation mixed in the will to answer, but I felt the deep anger that lies within it, so I trembled a little.

    =Anyway, if the Dragon died in a world without such external danger, wouldn¡¯t it be the ¡®internal risk factor¡¯ that could cause it? =

    ¡°Internal factor¡­¡±

    The range that the word could mean was too wide. However, I thought that the Truth-Seeker¡¯s answer wasn¡¯t meaningless.

    First of all, it seemed that there was no external intervention in the Dragon¡¯s death, which meant that it was difficult to assume that another dimensions¡¯ Truth-Seeker or God influenced it.

    But there was something that grabbed my attention. Obviously, there was no ¡®Truth-Seeker¡¯ who knew how the Dragon died.

    What if there was a higher-level being than the Truth-Seeker?

    Maybe God knew the answer?

    I already knew that there was a priest in our dimension who worshiped a God. It meant that although its influence was weak, it wasn¡¯tpletely out of the hands of God.

    Even if God didn¡¯t cause the Dragon¡¯s death, was it possible to observe it even when it was impossible for Truth-Seekers?

    ***

    Yusu nodded.

    ¡°Thanks to Master Yoon, we learned that they were trying to resurrect the Dragon. Of course, I asked questions about it to God. But the answer came back the same as before. No matter what the content was, it was just giving us enigmatic answers to questions about Dragons.¡±

    Even God didn¡¯t tell them that the Dragon in this world was dead but that an elderly named Gon had found it out by prophecy. It was said to be a magical prophecy that had nothing to do with the power of God.

    In my mouth, I chewed the words of the God that Yusu gave me.

    Was it encroaching or not encroaching? Evolving or not? The moment you qualify to stand at this crossroads, you would have all the answers.

    [It probably means that even the residents of White Deer who have crossed the wall are not yet qualified to hear the answer to the Dragon¡¯s identity. If it¡¯s a higher level than that, I think it means a Truth-Seeker.]

    ¡®Does being qualified to stand at a crossroads mean bing a Truth-Seeker? Well, yeah! The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker said that it was the one who gets ready for the final choice, right?¡¯

    [Maybe there is a connection between ¡®to stand at the crossroads and ¡®the final choice.¡¯]

    I thought it would mean that you should stand at a crossroads and choose something if you became a Truth-Seeker.

    Then the meaning of God¡¯s words could be something like this. The question asked by Yusu was that you would get an answer once you became a Truth-Seeker? All those questions about the Dragon.

    ¡®You mean in the end; it¡¯s not going to tell them with its own words?¡¯

    There was a willingness not to give any information about Truth-Seekers to the priest who served it, and even that priest was the one who had alreadypleted their first evolution. Instead of asking God, it could only be interpreted as saying to evolve on your own and find the answer.

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest was rtively generous to me about this information. It informed me as soon as we met. Our world¡¯s Truth-Seeker was a Dragon.

    It was awkward.

    ¡®What¡¯s certain is that if we ask more questions about the resurrection of the Truth-Seeker to God, we won¡¯t get the answer we want.¡¯

    [That¡¯s right.]

    ¡®I¡¯m not sure if the trait to not give information about the Truth-Seeker is limited to that God, or if all the gods are the same. But it might be worth trying a different route. In parallel with the n to capture the executive of the Guardians of the Great Convention.¡¯

    [Do you mean you want to get information from other Gods?]

    ¡®Of course.¡¯

    [To whom?]

    Upon receiving its telepathy, I looked at Parvache. When I kept silent, Yusu continued to empty the te without speaking to me. He thought I was in deep thought.

    [¡­ Don¡¯t tell me, ¡®Purbagios¡¯?]

    ¡®Yeah. The scriptures without a final chapter. The owner of Akashic Records. The God that you have served as a spirit will be perfect for information.¡¯

    [But the information of this world itself is not recorded on Akashic Records! Even if you ask how the Dragon died¡­]

    ¡®Can we at least ask for an overview of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s death and resurrection? We don¡¯t even know what this keyword itself means right now. We can¡¯t find anything like this in Akashic Records either.¡¯

    Parvache still had the power to browse Akashic Records. The problem was that it couldn¡¯t ess information about Truth-Seekers. It was unknown whether that was because of God¡¯s rejection or Parvache¡¯sck of power, but that road was blocked for now. So, I hadn¡¯t thought deeply about that until now.

    However, listening to Yusu¡¯s words, that possibility passed my mind. If you don¡¯t have permission to view Akashic Records¡¯ information, why don¡¯t you ask the owner of Akashic Records directly?

    [It takes two things once. One is the possibility that Purbagios deliberately banned the information from mortals. What if the reason I cannot read is not myck of ability? And another thing¡­]

    It blurted the end of its words, but I could guess what was omitted.

    Parvache was still Purbagios¡¯ staff. In other words, those who reached the bookmark of the scriptures without thest chapter, the Akashic Records, can be read.

    Before the Spiritualization, Purbagios stamped a seal on its soul, which still functioned as the key to opening the Akashic Records.

    But, Parvache was no longer a pure Purbagios priest. After bing a spirit, it lost its divine power, leaving no power to see God directly and ask questions.

    ¡®I¡¯m not asking you to see and ask the God, Parvache.¡¯

    [Then? You cannot be its priest. Because Purbagios¡¯ apostle has not yete down to this dimension.]

    ¡®It¡¯s not Kaidemos. It¡¯s not like you have to be a priest to get God¡¯s help, is it?¡¯

    [You mean you¡¯re going to make a sacrifice and get a spell?!]

    I answered with a sense of positivity, and Parvache snapped back at me in surprise.

    [It¡¯s too dangerous!]

    ¡®Why?¡¯

    [It is theoretically possible. You can get a question-and-answer spell. But I don¡¯t know what it will ask for ¨C as a sacrifice. It won¡¯t be as good as other Gods! It¡¯s not the one who deserves it in the first ce.]

    ¡®If I don¡¯t take someone else¡¯s life as a sacrifice, you mean it¡¯s going to take something out of what I have?¡¯

    [It is very likely.]

    Hearing Parvache¡¯s answer, I wasn¡¯t worried too much. Suddenly, I also thought of that.

    At that moment, I wondered what else would be worthwhile among the things that I had in my hand.

    I fell into deep thoughts, and my thoughts continued until Yusu coughed with an empty te in front of me.

    ***

    A few dayster, on a deste night, I met Yusu at the Han River Park.

    ¡°Then we will go.¡±

    Yusu, in the form of a human, whistled as if calling for someone. Then I saw something ck approaching below the surface of the Han River. It was steadfastly wearing the concealment magic. Unlike Yusu, it seemed to be skilled at the other magics.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    [It¡¯s a barrier that follows the wizard.]

    At the same time, it floated on the surface; Yusu and I also naturally entered the hidden barrier that was unfolded. The appearance of popping out of the river would¡¯ve been invisible to anyone outside the barrier. As soon as those insides stepped on the ground and saw me, they expressed joy with all their bodies.

    ¡°Oh oh! Human Guru! Human Guru!¡±

    ¡°Long time no see! Nice to see you again, Human Guru!¡±

    ¡°Come to y more often!¡±

    ¡°Oh? The smell has changed a little. Where did you get hurt? Human Guru?¡±

    Walking out of the river were two dogs of enormous size, likely several times my height.

    It was only incrediblyrge, but the appearance wasn¡¯t very different from a normal dog. It was a huge version of a normal yellow dog and a ck dog.

    Both talked endlessly, pushing their heads ¨C the size of a rock. Unlike ordinary animals and humans, they had four eyes with a subtle sense of mystery. However, the mysterious energy in their eyes and their active words and actions were one thing.

    ¡°Human Guru, what are you doing today? Are you going to meet the elderly again?¡±

    ¡°Wow, where have you been around like that? There are a lot of smells I¡¯ve never smelled some of them before!¡±

    ¡°Right! Really! Oh, wee. Tell me the story! I¡¯m curious!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s in that bag? It smells different from when you came before. It¡¯s bothering me! Anyway, I¡¯m d you¡¯re here! Wee!¡±

    It had been a while since I had such a wee like this, so I didn¡¯t know how to react. Come to think of it, the most recent person who said, ¡°Nice to see you again¡± to me was¡­ it wasn¡¯t people. They were Dell Giants out there in the other dimension.

    I suddenly thought that if I made a list of those I had made new acquaintances with in thest year, I thought there would be more alien races from other dimensions and of this dimension than Earthlings.

    ¡­ Was it a little sad?

    ¡°Gyo, Yun, you can greetter. Take us to White Deer first.¡±

    The yellow dog named Gyo and the ck dog named Yun answered happily.

    ¡°Yes!¡±

    ¡°Okay!¡±

    They then came up and bit Yusu and me, putting us on their necks, and we traveled along the path opened by the gatekeepers of White Deer.

    The gatekeepers jumped into the water and descended for a long time. I know that the Han River was originally deep, but enough time had already passed to hit the bottom. Still, Gyo and Yun continued to descend as if they were running onnd.

    At some point, I couldn¡¯t even feel the energy of the artifacts that I had sprayed on the river. I felt the gatekeepers entered into a certain barrier when opening the road at first, but at that moment, I felt like we had entered apletely different space.

    The gatekeepers asked me as they ran through a dark cave where I couldn¡¯t feel anything in the water.

    ¡°Hey, Human Guru! How are things outside these days?¡±

    ¡°Fewer people are jumping into the river these days! Is it worth living for humans now?¡±

    ¡°But as if they forget their worth, they just jump in once!¡±

    ¡°Every time, we bite and bring them to White Deer.¡±

    The gatekeepers didn¡¯t even give me a chance to answer anything, and they constantly poured out words among themselves.

    ¡°I think humans haven¡¯t changed much in the past or now? I don¡¯t know how many years I¡¯ve lived, and they¡¯re trying to die by themselves. I really don¡¯t understand.¡±

    ¡°Hey, Human Guru. Are you the same? Do you want to die, too?¡±

    Do you want to die, too? The way they said it sounds like a threat if one heard it without context.

    I answered with a bitter smile.

    ¡°Why do I want to die? I¡¯m struggling like this to try to get a life.¡±

    The gatekeepers who heard my answer said cheerfully.

    ¡°Right. Don¡¯t die. It¡¯s pitiful to die!¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s pitiful!¡±

    ¡°Even if you don¡¯t like this life, it¡¯s stupid to die in anticipation of the next life.¡±

 Chapter 78

    The Invitation of White Deer (4)

    After sitting down on the ground, the gatekeepers gave us a short greeting. They then jumped right back up and disappeared beyond the surface.

    -Creek

    As soon as we stepped into the vige, Yusu returned to his original form and stretched out his back.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m going to live now.¡±

    I asked him, ¡°Well, it would be ufortable to be a human being, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    Yusu replied with crackling its long nose.

    ¡°Exactly. It feels like I¡¯m wearing something that doesn¡¯t fit.¡±

    I knew because there were times when I transformed with magic. If I changed into a person of a simr body type, it was okay. Still, if I changed into the Fake God with a big difference, the ufortable sensation heavily pressed my body. I get tired easily.

    Parvache exined that the nervous system was easily exhausted. I had to move a foreign body after all. Moreover, for a Maek that had a different body from humans, the fatigue would be greater.

    ¡°The gatekeepers knew our destination and only took us to the vige entrance. I think it¡¯s still scary to get close to Elder Mago.¡±

    ¡°What? Why?¡±

    ¡°Because they used to get hit a lot.¡±

    Ah¡­

    Yusu looked around for a while, checked the location, and asked me.

    ¡°Do you have any dreams of flying in the sky?¡±

    Yusu asked, who knew that I could now realize the dreams. I shook my head.

    ¡°It¡¯s very useful, so if I collect it, I¡¯ll use it right away.¡±

    It was especiallyfortable when going to and from Hun-neung.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything good to collect right now either. These days, everyone sleeps outside¡­ so I can¡¯t help it. Let¡¯s walk a little.

    Yusu and I headed north. In the distance, I could see the magnificent mountains surrounding the vige like a folding screen. Our destination was there.

    ¡°It¡¯s still impressive, this scenery,¡± I said as I stepped inside the vige.

    ¡°That¡¯s what your city looks like to us.¡±

    There was an alley full of old-fashioned buildings. The eye-catching walls were lined with murals and sculptures of energy flows from a single tiled sculpture. In the area corresponding to the intersection, towers simr to those in national history books were often seen.

    Even though we continued to walk through the vige, no residents were visible.

    ¡°It¡¯s very quiet.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s still daytime, so most of them will be meditating or practicing.¡±

    ¡°There are many people who have transformed into humans these days and go outside, right? There must be a reason why there are a lot of people out. I can¡¯t tell if they go too far, but I can see them moving around the Channel.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Many of these days, those capable of turning into human beings are busy wandering around this country. Of course, not everyone went out to y. It¡¯s also a survey.¡±

    ¡°You mean the Guardians of the Great Convention?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. Even if you are an excellent master, wouldn¡¯t you be able to monitor the whole country?¡±

    That was the part that had already been talked about.

    ¡°But I can¡¯t deny the fact that you and I both supported and dash out for the reconnaissance.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Still, it would be amazing.¡±

    ¡°Most of the residents have no experience in human society except for those who were called elders, who were born as the first or second generation to cross the wall before the Dragon appeared. It¡¯s something you need to understand.¡±

    It was said they had to stay only on the ind after fighting the Dragon. I nodded.

    ¡°Some of these people, like Mrs. Pearl, are unique. She was born and living as an ordinary mortal in the age of Dragon. She crossed the wall by herself onnd. In particr, Mrs. Pearl has lived in human society for a while after crossing the wall.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ so she said she had a rtionship with humans.¡±

    ¡°She did. Anyway, except for the elders and people like Mrs. Pearl, many residents spent most of their lives in White Deer.¡±

    ¡°Including you?¡±

    ¡°Yes, including me.¡±

    I thought Yusu had lived a very long time since it had Daejong-maek and priest¡¯s title, but I guessed he wasn¡¯t that old yet.

    ¡°Therefore, I aming and going to the human world from time to time, whether the journey is long or short. Except for those who y an essential role in the vige, such as the elders or the gatekeepers, which are not good at transforming, or those who are reluctant to go out for

    When I heard that, I was curious at the moment. I quietly turned to Parvache.

    ¡®If they go around like that, would it be impossible to call this vige¡¯s economic activity? Oh, are they races beyond that anyway?

    [It doesn¡¯t seem that the Maek here alone needs a lot of food constantly like ordinary mammals.]

    I agreed with Parvache. Garam said something simr.

    [Excluding essential things, food, and vige affair¡­]

    ¡®Either way, magic will solve it to some extent.¡¯

    [Yes. After production, maintenance will be almost perfect, so there will be no need to rebuild constantly, and the consumption of resources will be slow.]

    If they didn¡¯t care about fashion, they could make a suit and wear thousands of years and even houses. All of the artifact-level items I received were in excellent storage conditions.

    [Even so, if there are insufficient resources, it will be enough to find them all at once¡­ and I can¡¯t call that it¡¯s an essential economic activity that we need to focus on the vige for a long time. If they have confidence in the town¡¯s defense, there¡¯s no need for more people to stay.]

    I asked Yusu, ¡°Then don¡¯t you want to go outside more often and freely?¡±

    ¡°I still have work to do, after all.¡±

    Yusu seemed to be a part of the ones who yed an essential role in the vige among the ss it exemplified.

    ¡°As a priest¡­ do you take care of many things?¡±

    ¡°Because the priest of White Deer is the only one who can hear the word of God.¡±

    Actually, Parvache and I were guessing that the reason it refrained from going out was besides ceremonies. I nced down at the dirt I was stepping on.

    We were now walking on arge field out of a densely popted area. I could see cows grazing in the distance. Those were ordinary livestock that slept over the wall and had nothing to do.

    Even that wide nature was part of the realm of White Deer.

    ¡°I felt it thest time¡­ but the air here is really nice.¡±

    I took a deep breath and exhaled. The sun was warm, and the air was cool. The temperature was just right for living things. The air was so clean that it felt nice and couldn¡¯t bepared with downtown Seoul.

    ¡°When we go outside, we feel such terrible burns and smells.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s understandable.¡±

    I thought it was the first time since I was born to walk on suchnd on Earth and not in another dimension.

    But¡­

    ¡®It¡¯s also awkward.¡¯

    This vast but in-lookingnd was sunk at the bottom of the Han River. If the town was narrower than this, and if it was a dusty, smellynd left under magical lights, it wouldn¡¯t have been this strange.

    It was understandable that this vige was concealed and quarantined by barriers. The barriers surrounding that space were magical. It was said to be created with the power of the elders in the vige.

    The unexinable part was the ¡®existence¡¯ of this vige beyond that barrier.

    Thend that extended beyond the horizon. That vastnd, which could be seen to be 4-5km in radius, is within the Han River¡¯s width?

    Even before, it was located in Baengnok-dam. Inside that crater, whether it was about 500 to 600 meters in diameter.

    Yes, I could see it as the power of magic that controlled space.

    What was even more strange, however, was the strange pleasantness the vige showed.

    -Wheeng

    Once again, a refreshing breeze blew. I looked at the sky, sweeping the sweat on my forehead.

    The sun didn¡¯t rise, but I could feel the sunlight. The wind was blowing, the soil smelled good, and the river of unknown origin flowed and gathered into theke.

    No magic could maintain an environment isted from the outside in such a good condition. As I had confirmed, that space wasn¡¯t an illusion, it exists, and it wasn¡¯t connected somewhere outside the river through space distortion. That was an isted space located on the bottom of the Han River.

    All that being said was one thing after all.

    That vige must¡¯ve borrowed the power of God.

    I thought it had to be the power of the God Yusu served. Perhaps the role of the priest of White Deer wasn¡¯t limited to simply exchanging questions and answers with God, but the maintenance of this vige was in contact with the priest¡¯s ability.

    Yusu was a priest who served the God whose real name was ¡®the Land of Blood and Oil.¡¯ He was also the only active priest among the vige¡¯s priests.

    ¡°Today, you will not meet all the elderly people in the vige as you did before.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    ¡°Today, only Elder Mago will meet you, Master Yoon.¡±

    ¡°Aaaah.¡±

    Mago. It was a name that remained in my memory. No, I couldn¡¯t forget it even if I wanted to.

    After a while, we stopped at the foot of the mountain.

    ¡°Are you sleeping?¡±

    The Maek, who was humming, cleared its throat.

    ¡°Elder Mago!¡±

    The cry rang out.

    ¡°Cough! Elder Mago! We are here!¡±

    Yusu shouted towards the top of the mountain. Then it responded to the call¡­

    -sh!

    The mountain opened its eyes.

    -Khhhrrrrrr!

    It wasn¡¯t a figurative expression. The mountain was located at the end of the in behind the vige. At some point on the mountain¡¯s foot, which was falling apart in a smooth curve, the ground cracked and narrowed, and two eyes appeared looking at us.

    The enormous eyes contained pure and clear light.

    -p! p! p!

    -Chirp! Chirp!

    -Clomp¡­

    Mountain birds flew from all over the ridges made by trees. Wild animals roared and threw through the forest.

    The long-stretched foot of the mountain wriggled little by little.

    -Khhhhrrrrr!

    Now the shape was clearly recognized. A part of the mountain in front of us was lying on its side and looked like an old woman with her chin in one hand. An old woman, whose body itself had be part of the mountain, looked down at us.

    The irregr wave of the tree that seemed to be nted was a wrinkled forehead. It was only after the contours of the rocks and dirt moved that I knew it was her lips.

    She opened her eyes and mouth while lying down and made facial expressions. She made the movements that were noticeable only on her face.

    The old woman with the face of the mountain finally told me with a zing voice.

    ¡°Child. Have you thought about it? What do you think? Are you ready to serve the God we serve?

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It was a question that came in without even saying hello.

    ¡°¡­ Good to see you, but I have no intention of bing the priest of any God.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    I repeated the previous answer.

    gods and have taken spells. If I be a priest of a god, my rtionship with all other gods is cut off. All of the spells will disappear.¡±

    Mago slightly frowned. At the same time, dirt rose above in the distance.

    ¡°How long are you going to stick to those imperfect rtionships? The way you borrow God¡¯s power now is a temporary means in exchange for a sacrifice. Would it be much more efficient to borrowsting power through the divine heart and actions of faith and obedience, prayer and praise?¡±

    Then Mago continued. A huge echo was stirring around us.

    ¡°Just because you¡¯re a priest doesn¡¯t mean you can¡¯t use magic. So, do I, and Yusu here. You can freely use any method except the one that borrows strength from other gods.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m aware, of course.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a waste, so I keep asking. You said you now know the meaning of ¡®to cross the wall¡¯? I really can¡¯t guess why you haven¡¯t crossed the wall yet with that kind of soul. What if you be a priest now and induce rapid growth of your soul? You may qualify to be a resident of our vige.¡±

    Magic was the most effective way to elevate your soul, but it wasn¡¯t the only way. Being a priest could also help increase the level of the soul.

    If magic grew the soul in stages ording to the speed of acquisition, in a priest¡¯s case, the level rose rapidly at the moment when the divine seal was imprinted on the soul. Of course, it was a problem because it had side effects.

    ¡°I think it would be better to learn magic slowly. It is unclear whether I can cross the wall right away by bing a priest. Thanks for the offer, though.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. I wondered if there would be ¡®first generation¡¯ of human origins, except for me in our vige.¡±

    Elder Mago crossed the wall before the Dragon appeared in the world and was now the only human-born resident in the vige. She sighed with a regretful voice.

 Chapter 79

    The Invitation of White Deer (5)

    ¡°Let me know if ever you change your mind, Child.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I will.¡±

    I thought the possibility of that happening was very low, and Mago looked around my chest and said, ¡°I can¡¯t see it with my eyes.¡±

    ¡°I hid it well.¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Anyway, let¡¯s get to the point. In the meantime, we¡¯ve thought about your proposal.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    It was the expected procedure, but I felt nervous without realizing it.

    ¡°Child, it was the crack on your chest that made us worry until the end. Yusu saw it with his eyes, but you haven¡¯t given us a clear exnation for a while.¡±

    Last fall, when we fought against the demon in the hills. Yusu witnessed the scene of me swallowing the body possessed by a demon through the Channel on my chest.

    ¡°After hearing your exnation, it felt like we fell into abyrinth. Why did the Dragon open a crack on your chest? What does it mean to be chosen by the Dragon? It¡¯s not something to let go of. But you don¡¯t even know the answer.¡±

    ¡°I already told you, but I don¡¯t know why he chose me. I¡¯m just guessing.¡±

    Why did he choose me from among so many people in the world?

    When it came to the specificity I was born with, there were two main things¡ªthe quality of the soul and talent as a wizard. However, Parvache was skeptical of thetter reason. No matter how excellent it was, it wasn¡¯t enough to catch the eyes of a Truth-Seeker. In the end, the weight was bound to the first reason.

    ¡°With this mystery unsolved, we made a decision after a long collection of opinions.¡±

    I swallowed my dry saliva.

    ¡°We ept your offer. For the capture of the group that seeks the resurrection of the Dragon, we will provide support ording to your n.¡±

    Good.

    Without knowing it, I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt like I was carrying a big load which was now lifted off my shoulders.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Mago continued, making a loud noise.

    ¡°Priest, the contract.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Yusu stretched its nose to its back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, a magical processed paper. Only my signature and White Deer¡¯s seal were left on the nk paper.

    As Yusu blew Mana into the paper, the contract¡¯s contents flew out as if the tape recorder was turned on.

    The two voices that read the covenant resonated like a wire and a string thatplemented each other, repetitively, as they went forward and backward. If the patterns and drawings engraved on artifacts were shape-based magic, this contract was a form of magic created using sound.

    Mago nced at the contract that Yusu put in the air and spoke.

    ¡°Looking back, what you proposed to sign this contractst year was a truly exquisite move.¡±

    ¡°Pardon?¡±

    ¡°In a way, we¡¯re able to draw this conclusion because of this contract.¡±

    The biggest point of the contract signedst fall was that it prohibited hostilities against both sides.

    ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for this contract, we might have concluded that you are a follower of the Dragon because of the circumstances in which you return. Then things would have be more troublesome.¡±

    I see.

    ¡°There was so much room for doubt. Actually, you have too much power for a human born in the age of Dragon. The soul that Yusu confirmed is also unusual. Moreover, it is said that only the Truth-Seeker, the Dragon himself, can make the crack in the space on your chest. We had no choice but to doubt what kind of rtionship you might have with the Dragon. Based on these facts alone, there was a strong possibility that you were in the same group.¡±

    ¡°But you already know. I can¡¯t be controlled by the Dragon or a follower of the Dragon.¡±

    ¡°Yes. I am well aware of the power of this contract. Even if the Dragon himself vites the contract, he is bound to be banned. You, who signed it, cannot be a follower of the Dragon.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Because signing itself while sharing a will or subordination with our enemy, ¡®Dragon¡¯, is a vition. Because of the prohibition, I mustn¡¯t be able to stand here.¡±

    I see. They had been thinking about it that far.

    ¡°It¡¯s still unclear why the Dragon did that to your chest, but it was guaranteed that you couldn¡¯t be our enemy and couldn¡¯t stand on the side of the Dragon, at least as long as there¡¯s a contract. Then there is one thing left. That¡¯s why you should be enemy to the Dragon.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°I also exined the reason.¡±

    ¡°Yes, the reason why you should prevent the resurrection of the Dragon, oddly enough, is because of the crack on your chest?¡±

    Earlier this year, I told Yusu that what was on my chest was an iplete Channel called ¡®Seed¡¯ and that the Truth-Seeker had nted it while I was asleep.

    Through Yodmo, I absorbed the corpses¡¯ memories and knew that the enemy¡¯s power was greater than I thought. And after deciding that I need White Deer¡¯s help to capture them using the Hun-neung, I thought it couldn¡¯t be dyed anymore as it was the scene that Yusu witnessed.

    There was another reason to reveal that fact. It would be nice to have amon purpose of preventing the Dragon¡¯s resurrection, but I thought I would be more suspicious if I didn¡¯t tell them why. That¡¯s why we desperately needed to stop the dead Dragon from being pulled out of his grave.

    When a suspicious corner-filled human wizard suddenly approached, I thought it would be unconvincing to say, ¡°Let¡¯s work together to prevent the resurrection of the Dragon!¡± without revealing any direct motive.

    I nodded, making eye contact with Mago.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The act of nting this seed was done without regard to my intention. I wonder what he will do with this if the Dragones back to life. I¡¯m wary of that.¡±

    ording to Parvache, the nted seeds would grow into adults. Assuming that the Channel¡¯s purpose was to absorb souls from another dimension, am I supposed to be a portable soul collector?

    After that, I wouldn¡¯t be able to die on my own until the moment the Truth-Seeker became God.

    Mago, listening to my answer, frowned for a moment. Along with the sound of murmur, there was a sound of rolling rocks in the distance.

    ¡°Do you mean that your intention to prevent the resurrection of the Dragon is only to protect yourself and your free will?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    When she heard my answer, Mago pondered for a moment. After keeping her silent for a while, she finally opened her mouth.

    ¡°I asked again what I had already heard of. I wanted to hear the answer directly from your mouth.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°This was the final verification process. I have neither the ability to read the human mind nor the ability to see the soul. But I have seen humans for a very long time. I can judge the degree of truth in what you say.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Even though she knew I wasn¡¯t one of the Dragon¡¯s, did I need a final check?

    ¡°Your heartbeat, breathing, body temperature, and trembling of your muscles as you stepped on this ground, everything passed on to me. And all those reactions¡­¡±

    I gulped and swallowed my saliva again.

    ¡°It¡¯s pointing out that what you¡¯re saying is true.¡±

    Of course. While standing there, none of the words I said were mixed with lies.

    Meanwhile, as soon as I listened to her, I had no choice but to nce under my feet. Was she saying that if there was any creature that was stepping on the earth of White Deer, she could grasp the details to that degree?

    The power of the priests they had was indeed awe-inspiring¡­

    ¡°I understand. It became clear that you weren¡¯t part of the Dragon. Nevertheless, I was worried that something else might be mixed with the intention to be with us. I wonder if you¡¯re nning something that we don¡¯t know without being hostile to us. We had been doing some research on this contract.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    ¡°But I don¡¯t have to doubt anymore. You are trying to stop them only to survive. It is unlikely to have a heart that is purer than the will to survive. All right, I understood.¡±

    Then, a strange light came into Mago¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Apart from my personal feelings, do you understand that it was an inevitable procedure as one of the people carrying this vige?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that bad. I did more when Garam and Mrs. Pearl stayed at my house.

    ¡°Yes, I understand.¡±

    Looking at me, Mago spat out a powerful word.

    ¡°Good. Let¡¯s renew the contract.¡±

    It was done at that moment.

    I nodded and took out the contract I had kept in my arms. Mago and I read out what each party wanted. The two contracts then began to be renewed simultaneously.

    -Woooong!

    ¡°It¡¯s done.¡±

    Currently, the White Deer and I were in an alliance for amon purpose to stop the ¡®Guardians of the Great Convention.¡¯ Although we worked together in surveince and other areas, the details had been officially put into the contract.

    It also left a basis for taking more aggressive responses and specified the extent to which we could support each other under this alliance.

    In fact, the most important thing to me was just one line of text among the updated contents. ¡°It is impossible to cancel or dy the support promised to each other without good cause.¡± Once I have all the boards open, I would be in danger if the White Deer suddenly pulled out their feet.

    As the light faded, I put the contract in my arms and spoke.

    ¡°I will contact you as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll wait. By the way, have you discovered their tails since then?¡±

    I shook my head, ¡°Not since the first guy I caught.¡±

    ¡°When are you going to collect the traps? You said it was at that you needed full-fledged help.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Iid the ground bait a few times, but I still have no catch.¡±

    Over the past year, there had been several incidents of terrorism of unknown origin worldwide. Rumors were spreading on the inte that it was a runaway event of wizards at the wizard training center. The Guardians of the Great Convention must have intervened.

    Kim Kyung-hwan was also learning magic quickly, but there was no response to the Hun-neung side. Wasn¡¯t that enoughpared to the wizards who were secretly nurturing in Washington and elsewhere?

    Moreover, even though I was filmed on CCTV intentionally in the form of the Fake God, there was no movement. I don¡¯t think the footage I took didn¡¯t leak to them.

    At that moment, I had received the promise of support from White Deer. I thought I could give it more stimtion. I had thrown a few jabs so far¡­ I thought I could expose a big chunk that they couldn¡¯t help but rush from there.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to throw a bigger bait this time.¡±

    After hearing my exnation, Mago said goodbye to me after telling Yusu what he needed to do.

    ¡°Let¡¯s call it a day. I should go to bed. I wish you could cross the wall on the day we meet again.¡±

    ¡°Yes, farewell.¡±

    She acted as if she would fall asleep at any moment, but Mago stared at me again.

    ¡°¡­ Is there anything wrong?¡±

    ¡°The Maek¡¯s children all said the same thing. Like Hamun and Yusu next to you. About the high level of your soul.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I heard so.¡±

    Was she going to try scouting me as a priest once again?

    However, her subsequent words were unexpected.

    ¡°Whatever you do, hurry up. It¡¯s been a long time since I have a connection to a human child, so I keep thinking about it.¡±

    I first learned that the faces created by trees, grass, stones, and soil could create a faint expression. But, the appreciation for this discovery was quickly erased from my mind because of her words that followed.

    ¡°I think it would be better to cross the wall as soon as possible before the end of your life. I can¡¯t shake off my anxious mind. After death, it has be a world where there is no guarantee that you will be born again in this dimension as before.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I have heard that the souls are being sucked into another world since the creation of the Channel.¡±

    ¡°After crossing the wall, you will have a long life, too. It seems that it makes sense just to avoid dying from old age in this changing world. Since the Maeks haven¡¯t seen all the cracks in this world, isn¡¯t it hard to see how many are being sucked into another world? It¡¯s also unclear what happens to the sucked soul, but the more I think about it, the more I have an ominous feeling.¡±

    As soon as I listened to her, the bronze tentacles that were catching the Heart Fish came to my mind. And Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, who seemed to ¡®transmit¡¯ something by contacting the tentacles that had germinated.

    ¡°I am worried about you that I have seen you twice. That¡¯s why the connection itself is a scary thing. Be careful, Child.

    ¡°¡­ Yes, thank you.¡±

    -Krrrrrrhhhhg

    Once again, a huge reverberation from the mountain was heard, and Mago closed her eyes.

    As she fell asleep, Parvache whispered telepathically to me.

    [Except for your mother and me, the first thing that worried about you and asked you to ¡®be careful¡¯¡­ is a mountain. What a strange thing.]

    ¡®Shut up.¡¯

 Chapter 80

    The Invitation of White Deer (6)

    The eyes that were looking at me disappeared, and there was a huge mountain that stood up without a word. As if we never had a conversation at all. I looked at the mountains in front of me for a moment. It was hard to see at first, but at that moment, it was visible¡ªthe old woman lying on her side.

    As I looked back, I could see more things I hadn¡¯t noticed.

    The foot of the mountain behind Mago¡¯s shoulders looked like a crouching tiger with its head on both forefeet. Of course, if there were such big tigers in the world, it would be a disaster. There was another one. The ridge that looked like a toe must be Mago¡¯s body, but the ridge beyond that seemed like a bird¡¯s head. It was also not an ordinary bird, but a bird with three heads in one body.

    Yusu talked to me with a smile of unknown meaning, who couldn¡¯t draw attention to that appearance for a while.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go back now.¡±

    ***

    Yusu and I walked back on the path that we had been before and shared words of blessing. It was the obvious talk of being d that everything went well and asking for a lot of help in the future. That was a conversation that I would¡¯ve heard only on TV, something I had never done before the channel crisis.

    It was awkward when I realized that I was doing what I thought adults would do in social life. I never really had this conversation with humans before.

    After walking for a while, we entered the vige again. It meant that the point where the gatekeepers first put us down wasn¡¯t far away.

    Even though it was the road I walked a while ago, it felt different just because the direction I looked at was changed. In the artistic sense, even to my outsiders¡¯ eyes, the town itself felt like aplete artwork. Interestingly, even though various paintings and reliefs were lined up, nothing stood out, and it was all-natural.

    Still, the alleys were quiet.

    ¡°You said most of the vigers were practicing or meditating during the day.¡±

    ¡°Yes. The routine of most of the beings who have crossed the wall is practicing.¡±

    ¡°Who makes them do that?¡±

    Yusu thought about it for a moment, then shook his head ¨C ¡°No one. It¡¯s a natural thing. Except for our breaks, most of us focus on the development of techniques and our ability.¡±

    The more I listened to the story, the more I knew it was as I talked with Parvache. A society in which the necessity and frequency of production activities had be extremely low.

    It seemed that resources that could only be obtained from outside (especially food for Maek) were procured inrge quantities by roaming around Jeju Ind once every few decades to avoid human eyes.

    ¡°When we were in Jeju, going out was all about going to and from the ind for procurement. And then suddenly that vast world appeared before us, and no Dragon was a deterrent.¡±

    Today, many residents were wandering outside the vige instead of remaining in the vige, striving to strengthen security through surveince and satisfy their intellectual needs.

    The poption was quite smallpared to space, so that was why the vige feels emptier.

    I suddenly got curious about something while thinking.

    ¡°But I heard from Garam before that the reason you moved the vige to thend was that White Deer was already saturated. It¡¯s a lot more space than I thought.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ the word saturation does not mean that space is filled.¡±

    ¡°So then?¡±

    ¡°As the vige settled in Baengnok-dam and the number of inhabitants increased, the earth also had to be stronger and stronger. As you may have noticed, thisnd is more than just ¡®supporting¡¯ this vige.¡±

    An essential element for survival. For example, it seemed to be talking about the power to maintaining air, water, and light.

    ¡°As the number of inhabitants increases, the power needed to maintain the vige grows exponentially. As the power of the earth of White Deer became stronger, Mount Ha¡¯s energy, which was beholden, rapidly declined. It wasn¡¯t enough to provide all the power on its own, so we had to borrow it. I¡¯m sorry to say, but it¡¯s like a dead mountain that has almost lost its energy.¡±

    That energy was probably referring to primitiveary energy. The energy that became the material of Mana.

    ¡°Huh? Then Han River will also¡­?¡±

    ¡°Exactly, the river bed in this area¡­ I think it will be the same after many years.¡±

    After that, we talked for a while about future ns, and Yusu suddenly said.

    ¡°Would it have been confusing to see the Elder making the same offer, Master Yoon?¡±

    ¡°You mean the offer to be a priest, right? It¡¯s not an easy choice for me.¡±

    What were the benefits of being a priest of ¡®the Land of Blood and Oil¡¯?

    The possibility of obtaining the necessary information was far from high. Now, even Yusu said it didn¡¯t want to share any information about the Truth-Seekers.

    In the end, only divine power was gained in exchange for losing all useful spells.

    Should I think about it after that world was ruined? If there was a situation where I was isted from the outside world with my family, I had to be stuck in an ideal ce for survival.

    In return, however, I might cling to the ideal I had created in the distant future, and I might be in a situation where I couldn¡¯t even move an inch. Was Yusu also preparing for such a future? I recalled the image of Mago I had seen a while ago and the foot of the mountain in the shape of animals around it.

    ¡°Elder Mago seems to have liked you, Master Yoon. That¡¯s why she offered you two times in a row.¡±

    ¡°Ah, yes.¡±

    I was immersed in my thoughts and answered what Yusu said halfheartedly.

    ¡°I would like you to know that the only reason she is proposing again is that she feels bad about you. It¡¯s not like she desires to increase one more priest.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Anyway, I hope you can understand that Elder Mago encouraged you with pure concern.¡±

    ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t get it wrong.¡±

    ¡°And anyway.¡±

    Then Yusu muttered something that seemed to be hard to understand.

    ¡°When we were convinced that we had neutralized all the remains of the Dragon and when enough time passes to reveal our existence to humans¡­ Maybe we don¡¯t have to keep this vige anymore.¡±

    His face seemed to hang with a mixture of some reflection and some hope.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you the only priests currently active in White Deer?¡±

    Yusu nodded his head.

    ¡°Exactly.¡±

    Our deep conversation continued for a while, and I could hear more stories. Several priests in White Deer worship the same God, but they were all retired priests except for one of the current priests, Yusu.

    I once again recalled the situation on the mountain behind Mago.

    ¡°It means that Yusu is the only active priest. So, is Elder Mago like a former priest?¡±

    ¡°More than that. She was the very first priest of all.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ Then it meant that she had a face-to-face with the apostle.¡±

    ¡°Yes. She said it came right after she crossed the wall.¡±

    The apostle Mago met a messenger of the God who emerged without being restricted to the Channel even in those days when this dimension was isted. She received her order from the apostle and became the first priest on earth to serve ¡®the Land of Blood and Oil.¡¯

    Her faith in service was the first to take root in the world.

    ¡°I kept wondering, but it feels like there is no other name of that god in White Deer.¡±

    Instead of calling the true name of the God who had been connected to a name, the wizard who received the spells or the priest who offered faith used themon name that civilization used instead. The generic name went beyond the meaning of a simple nickname and functions as a spell.

    In my case, the name I called to borrow the power of the ¡®Swimmer of the Star Winds¡¯ was Dryflos, and the name that Parvache put in prayer when it was a priest of the ¡®Sacred Scriptures Without the Last Chapter¡¯ was Purbagios. These were all names that already existed in Parvache¡¯s original dimension.

    We had to do this since we had to keep a reasonable distance for as long as we somehow had a rtionship with God. The purpose was to avoid being involved more than necessary by invoking the true name recklessly.

    On the other hand, the case of the ¡®Land of Blood and Oil¡¯ had no known generic name since it wasn¡¯t served in Parvache¡¯s dimension. It was through Akashic Records that we learned it was the true name.

    I asked because I thought perhaps there was a generic name that White Deer used to call it. But surprisingly, Yusu ??shook his head.

    ¡°I mean the other name other than the real name.¡±

    ¡°Nothing.¡±

    Since there were no other Gods who were in contact with them, was it unnecessary to be distinguished?

    Parvache sent me a sense of doubt.

    [It¡¯s like a monotheistic under this limited group.]

    ¡®It¡¯s not like the residents here didn¡¯t know the existence of other gods, right? Yusu knew you to some extent. Didn¡¯t he call you the one who touched the bookmark of the scriptures without thest chapter?¡¯

    Nevertheless, the reason why they didn¡¯t make a generic name to distinguish it was that except for the ¡®Land of Blood and Oil,¡± the Gods probably didn¡¯t care if they called them using their true name. They don¡¯t serve those Gods, after all.

    [It could be¡­ Ah. Wait. Come to think of it.]

    At that time, Parvache asked, conveying its intention to reach Yusu.

    [How did you know the true name of the God I worshiped the other day? Its apostles had never been down in this world. You can tell from the fact that that world wasn¡¯t connected to Akashic Records.]

    ¡°I asked the God I was serving.¡±

    When Garam and Mrs. Pearl were staying at my house, Yusu seemed to ask God about our identity through a ritual at White Deer.

    By the way, it seemed that it gave a helpful answer to the question about the other gods¡¯ information while it zipped its mouth to the question of Truth-Seekers?

    [What did it say about me?]

    ¡°It told me about the true name and that the elder received power from it.¡±

    It referred to the power to ess Akashic Records.

    [And?]

    Yusu seemed to think about it for a moment, then he said carefully.

    ¡°¡­ It also said that the power remains, but it is an iplete fragment as a priest.¡±

    It seemed to refer to how Parvache lost its divine power as it became a spirit.

    [Anything else?]

    I remember what Yusu said. It said, ¡®A person who stands at the end of the history of a certain world.¡¯ Now I know the meaning, too. That means¡­

    ¡°¡­ It said that the elder¡¯s world of origin does not exist anymore.¡±

    Parvache remained silent for a moment, then replied with relentless determination.

    [Right. Even if the connection is weak, it doesn¡¯t seem to interfere with the observation. No, precisely, it¡¯s highly likely that it¡¯s paying attention to us because you asked a question. It¡¯s just looking at us once to figure it out. After all, it¡¯s still a God.]

    The feelings buried in its reply were unexpectedly calm. Was it because it¡¯s been too long?

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker once said that when it heard the generic names of the gods¡¯ Dryflos¡¯ and ¡®Adeligos,¡¯ Civilizations in which thesenguages ??were spoken were said to have perished a long time ago.

    It didn¡¯t mean simply the fall of civilization. Parvache told me after that happened. It was said that the parental dimension he was born and raised in has already disappeared. It became a spirit and flowed to another world and had existed until now.

    It wasn¡¯t until the day when I met Parvache and a decadeter that I found out.

    ¡­ Hmm?

    But now that I thought about it, it was strange. Why didn¡¯t Parvache told me that story for so long?

    Oh¡­ wait a minute.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The strange thing didn¡¯t stop there.

    Parvache had taught me magic, telling me about its origin dimension hundreds and thousands of times. In the meantime, was it normal to never tell me that the world didn¡¯t exist now?

    Didn¡¯t Parvache hide the facts from me no matter how much I look at it?

    Parvache and Yusu continued to have conversations about answers from God. But it didn¡¯te into my ears properly.

    I¡¯m confused. I doubt it. And the greatest sense of contradiction that overwhelms all these questions¡­

    How am I ever wondering about this fact, or had I ever doubted Parvache?

    Rted thoughts continued after another, and I felt as if it swept through my brain like sand in my mouth. It was awkward and unfamiliar.

    ¡®Do I doubt Parvache?¡¯

    This self-talk sits heavily in my mind like a wound drawn on the skin that had not ripened yet. A terrible sense of incongruity. The door to the basement that I had never opened opens. A ray of self-awareness pierced sharply through the damp darkness.

    I realized at that moment. From the moment I first saw Parvache on that day at the age of 8 until now, that I had never doubted Parvache.

    I remembered the day when the Truth-Seeker of the Silver Forest gave me a name. As it searched my memories, its will resonated in my mind. And immediately after that, I recalled the feeling that something was torn off from the bottom of me, and a cool breeze was blowing.

    -Let¡¯s look at your deep bottom.

    -What is it? There is something on the bottom of your heart? ¡®Absolute trust?¡¯

    -It indeed affected you, but this is not the real you¡­

    I walked silently without saying anything for a while.

 Chapter 81

    The Curtain Rises (1)

    It was around 2 p.m. when the creatures appeared in the sky of the Hun-neung.

    Without any signs, they appeared as if they were water nts that rose above the water. They were ck-winged flying creatures appearing like a haze in an empty space.

    Flying about two to three meters above the surface, they weren¡¯t detected by radar. The discovery was through the naked eye. The soldiers standing on the guard noticed first, and a warning sound rang sharply all over the Hun-neung.

    -Emergency! Emergency!

    They had dark brown bumps on their tail. A murky liquid flowed from the end of it constantly while flying in the sky. The liquid that fell on the defenselesswn quickly decayed the living creatures.

    ¡°No¡­ that¡¯s¡­!¡±

    The instructors who checked the creature¡¯s appearance through CCTV in themand-and-control room groaned without realizing it.

    That creatures¡¯ form was very familiar.

    After the outbreak of the channel crisis, an analysis of alien creatures was conducted. Although the information was insufficient, educational materials were created based on the obtained video records and analysis results. Most human instructors in themand-and-control room came from officers or public officials in specific positions and had alreadypleted the training.

    The most intensive education subject was the white giant, who appeared three times through the Channel in Seoul. Records of the battle wherein the Korean Military forcespletely subdued were also retained, and above all, there were enough samples of the body.

    The Korean government almost understood giants¡¯ biological mechanisms and even identified its weaknesses through the research so far. There was even a usible field manual in case the battle situation urred again.

    However, among the alien creatures that appeared in Seoul, other species were yet to be studied. That was the raw creature that human instructors saw through CCTV.

    ¡°It¡¯s crazy!¡±

    Raven-like wings. A huge chunk of flesh connected to the end of the wings. Monster creatures that look like skin-colored leather pockets roamed the skies of the Hun-neung, making an ominous sound.

    ¡°The giant-eating flying creature¡­!¡± One of the instructors said, convinced of the identity.

    The unidentified creature appeared at the site of the giant¡¯s first invasion near Mapo Bridge, melted one whole, ate it, and disappeared, appeared here again.

    ***

    ¡°What is the air defense unit doing?!¡±

    ¡°Their altitude is too low!¡±

    The action had to be taken in advance to get them down. There was no way for the air defense unit on the rooftop to shot down a target that suddenly appeared from the height of the building¡¯s 2nd or 3rd floor. The soldiers deployed in the main building fired with rifles, but there was no change in the monsters¡¯ appearance to the extent that it was doubtful whether the bullets would really ¡®touch¡¯ them.

    The moment a siren rang in the building, the Blue House and nearby military units also received signals simultaneously and recognized that it was an emergency. They had to buy some time somehow. The instructors rushed all troops on the ground to the main building.

    The monsters that skipped the intermediate process of movement suddenly appeared in front of the main building ¨C the heart of the Hun-neung. No detection equipment or radar could detect them in advance. When the troops stationed outside Hun-neung moved to the main building in a hurry, all the instructors who watched CCTV doubted their eyes.

    One of the instructors shouted with his face burning red.

    ¡°What?! Who the hell is that?! Get him inside right now!¡±

    A sound close to a scream erupted from his astonished mouth. Swearing and shouting echoed across the ce.

    From the moment the siren rang, all trainees and Kaifu instructors in that area should¡¯ve moved to the underground bunker. It was a prepared protocol to evacuate outside of Seoul through an underground tunnel in a prepared vehicle. Their mission was to hold on to the enemies until they escaped safely. In the end, it was to buy some time.

    However, a man wearing a trainee¡¯s uniform was currently seen walking out of the garden in front of the main building.

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy¡­! That¡¯s Kim Kyung-hwan!¡±

    ¡°Is that kid crazy? Why is he doing that all of a sudden?!¡±

    He wasn¡¯t even running away. He was walking in the direction of the flying creatures, keeping an eye on the sky. In front of him, the grass and trees were rotting in ck and white. The speed of decay was so abnormal that it could be observed with the naked eye.

    ¡°What the fuck is wrong with you?!¡± The on-duty instructor shouted over his head.

    It was a huge issue no matter how good an ordinary trainee does, and Kim Kyung-hwan was a talented person among the talents who even the President closely watched. If that child did anything wrong, he would¡­

    ¡°Ah, that stubborn bastard!¡±

    He quickly connected the line to an external speaker and shouted.

    ¡°Kim Kyung-hwan! Hey you bastard! Come in now!¡±

    The fire fell; he didn¡¯t even try to filter his words. Kim Kyung-hwan, who must have heard the sound, didn¡¯t even look back. The on-duty instructor changed the subject of the order. He instructed the troops in charge of the main building.

    ¡°The guard squads! Get that crazy bastard into the building right now¡­¡±

    It was then¡­

    -Wheeeeeck!

    As if they weren¡¯t affected by the bullets poured on them so far, the flying creatures flew over the main building garden and made a delicate turn.

    They stopped moving at once and turned toward Kim Kyung-hwan, who was approaching them. The long, dangling eyes stretched out towards him.

    The creatures remained indifferent without responding to the shooting soldiers who were paying attention to the young man. Bullets weren¡¯t a threat at all, but was Kim Kyung-hwan different?

    The instructors¡¯ face turned white.

    Then¡­

    -Wheeeeck!

    Three monsters spewed out a murky white liquid at once!

    Three strong streams were distinctly different from the previous ones, and Kim Kyung-hwan stood at the destination it was heading for.

    The on-duty instructor screamed.

    ¡°No!¡±

    But his scream was soon buried by the shouts of the instructors who followed.

    ¡°What is that?!¡±

    ¡°¡­ Huh?¡±

    ¡°Instructor Shin, what is that? Did Kim Kyung-hwan learn such magic as well?¡±

    The human instructor who managed Kim Kyung-hwan on a one-on-one basis, the man who was just called Instructor Shin, shook his head with a puzzled look.

    ¡°¡­. Ah? No? Such a thing¡­¡±

    As soon as the monsters sprayed the liquid, the scene that came to the instructors¡¯ heads was Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s body being struck and melted into rotten fish.

    However, what they saw on the screen now seemed to bepletely different from what they expected.

    Kim Kyung-hwan stretched out his hand, and the green slime in front of him created a hemisphere to protect his body. The size wasrge enough for several people, and none of his clothes got wet.

    The slime retained its shape while making the wall. The white decaying liquid poured over; it failed to break through the barrier and flowed down the wall like a raindrop hitting the window. The instructors confirmed that the green slime leading to the floor rose as thick as a kind of tform. Kim Kyung-hwan was on top of it.

    ¡°What¡­ is that?¡±

    It seemed clear that Kim Kyung-hwan used that magic. Shortly after, all Kaifu instructors in that area had been informed that evacuation to the underground bunker waspleted.

    They didn¡¯t even expect from the beginning that Kaifu¡¯s would help and fight together in this situation. Whether the invading enemy was human or not, Kaifu must never go into battle and evacuate safely with the trainees.

    That was the terms of the contract, and it was also the point where the interests of the Korean government and Kaifu instructors coincide.

    In the end, it was unlikely that Kaifu was involved in the green slime membrane that protects Kim Kyung-hwan. It was cast directly by Kim Kyung-hwan himself.

    ¡°But he has never learned such a magic¡­ ah!¡±

    Instructor Shin muttered, talking to himself confused, and spat out a sigh for something that suddenly came to his mind.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ my God. Yes! That¡¯s the magic Kim Kyung-hwan learned!¡±

    Hearing that, the on-duty instructor turned his head. Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s growth was the concern of all human instructors. The on-duty instructor knew what kind of spell he had learned.

    ¡°What do you mean? As far as I know, none of the magic taught by Kaifu is like that¡­¡±

    ¡°No, there is!¡±

    Instructor Shin said in a trembling voice.

    ¡°That¡¯s 1st ss magic!¡±

    ¡°What? No way!¡±

    There was a joke that human instructors only jokingly said among themselves, referring to the 1st ss magic taught by Kaifus.

    Stationery magic.

    Looking at the process, it would be obvious that it was magic. However, looking at the result could be reced with a tool sold in stationery without using magic. Instead of magic, it was easy to buy a pair of scissors from stationery, cut it, or buy a thumbtack and make a hole.

    From the human perspective, Kaifu¡¯s 1st ss magic was only an introductory stage to move on to the next stage, rather than having any utility in itself but¡­

    ¡°What do you mean that¡¯s a 1st ss magic?!¡±

    Instructor Shin replied with a trembling voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s a 1st ss adhesive magic!¡±

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    The magic created a sticky slime the size of a palm. In terms of its utility, it was possible to rece it with glue sold at stationery stores.

    Originally, it was a small amount of slime produced, not even a handful. The weight that could be adhered to and supported was also insignificant. But, Instructor Shin was convinced that the barrier that appeared to be the ¡®protective magic¡¯ used by Kim Kyung-hwan was the adhesive magic.

    Because, out of all the magic Kim Kyung-hwan learned so far, the only magic that created slime of that color was the 1st ss adhesive magic.

    It was said that the magic that became the reinforced type of first-ss adhesive magic was in the 5th ss. Kim Kyung-hwan was still in the 4th ss. If so, that must¡¯ve been the 1st ss.

    ¡°Is that¡­ is that possible? Even in Kaifu¡¯s 1st ss magic, the size of a human palm was the limit. But now that¡­ it¡¯s a few hundred times more than the amount normally produced!¡±

    Someone questioned it, but no one responded.

    ***

    ¡®As expected! Eraser is just like that!¡¯

    Hiding behind the slime barrier created by magic, Kim Kyung-hwan sang with delight inside. He had been preparing that magic before he left the building in the first ce. He was waiting for the siren to ring, in a remote area where there were no other instructors or trainees, but in the right ce where he could quickly go out to the main garden when the signal came.

    If he were in a dorm as usual or around other humans, he would have to move to the underground bunker after the alert rang immediately, so he had to remove himself in advance.

    ¡®Eraser was right about everything. After all, He¡¯s great. He¡¯s the best! He can even predict. The magic of his race ispletely different. I don¡¯t think these frogs¡¯ magic is even magic.¡¯

    Those winged monsters appeared at the time that Eraser predicted. Invaders were targeting the Earth. They sensed the wizards¡¯ location, and they came there to eat Kim Kyung-hwan and other trainees.

    ¡®He even knows the future. He¡¯s really the best of the best, right?¡¯

    It was a powerful magic that no one in that world could match. Plus, he knew in advance what would happen in the future. With Eraser on his side, no one could stop Kim Kyung-hwan in the future, and he truly thought so.

    He was so happy and excited that his lower head was prickly. There was no fear of a monster for the first time in his life. Instead, tension and excitement were exploding in his head like firecrackers.

    -Wheeeeck!

    A white stream hit the wall and flowed down. It was difficult to survive if he came into contact with that decaying solution. In particr, it would take less than a minute for small creatures like humans to meltpletely.

    Did Eraser call them Waterbirds? No matter how much Kim Kyung-hwan looked at them, there seemed to be no reason to call them birds except for their wings, but Kim Kyung-hwan did so since Eraser called them that way. Anyway, the Waterbird¡¯s decaying liquid was fatal once it came in contact, but it wasn¡¯t an unstoppable attack.

    Decay liquids without contact with protein-based organicpounds were no different from ordinary liquids. Did he say that the pressure to pump out the liquid was a little weaker than a fire hydrant? If it was right, it hurts to get pushed, but it wasn¡¯t enough to prate.

    With proper Mana distribution and reconstruction of the spells, it was sufficiently prevented by a wall of adhesive slime that was muchrger and thicker than its original purpose.

    Kim Kyung-hwan looked at the green slime that was protecting him with amazement.

    ¡°Who would have imagined that this runny waste could be reinforced like this and used as a barrier?¡±

    When he learned it, it was the magic that made him snort. Where the hell would he use the magic to make a sticky, runny nose?

    However, Eraser hadpletely improved this magic. He still hadn¡¯t learned the real magic of Eraser¡¯s race, but Kim Kyung-hwan was thrilled and happy to learn and use the version that evolved the frogs¡¯ sloppy magic in that way.

    Kim Kyung-hwan recalled Eraser¡¯s words in his dreams.

    ¡®At this rate, you may not be able to stop those monsters. Looking at the magic taught by Kaifus, there are strangely a few kinds that can be used immediately in the battle. So I¡¯ll give you some help.¡¯

    ¡®Oh! Then finally the real magic¡­?¡¯

    ¡®The magic of our kind is not yet avable. They won¡¯t believe that you developed it. They will be suspicious. However, it will be convincing to say that you have improved the magic you have already learned from Kaifus. They know you¡¯re a genius. They will understand it to the extent that you are a genius who is far better than expected.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan grinned behind the shield. Eraser said those monsters couldn¡¯t move while spraying the decay liquid. He said I had to aim for that moment.

    Kim Kyung-hwan prepared the next spell behind the shield. That, too, was the improvement of Kaifu¡¯s magic. Eraser said he couldn¡¯t kill them, but he could chase them, and everyone would see it.

    He defeated those unidentified monsters, which even the other world¡¯s giants couldn¡¯t do.

    Kim Kyung-hwan smiled satisfactorily.

    ¡®Today¡¯s battle, this ce, is the first step I take as the savior of mankind!¡¯

 Chapter 82

    The Curtain Rises (2)

    Kim Kyung-hwan extended his hands andbined his magic. The 4th ss melting magic waspleted. It was a spell that he received a master judgment not long ago.

    It didn¡¯t matter whether the object of magic was living things, inanimate objects, or any substance. An indiscriminate, ruthless spell that melted with a strong acid. It was a spell that Eraser even took care of.

    -Sheeeeeek!

    ck smoke gathered from the tips of his fingers. As time went by, he wriggled in apletely different way than he did in theboratory.

    At that time, it was a thick fog that spread slowly. It was alsoid low on the floor, but the ck mist made now¡­

    Kim Kyung-hwan shouted as he threw away what was gathered at the tip of his hand.

    ¡°Get off!¡±

    The ck lump rushed like a tornado. It bypassed the shield and stretched out into the air!

    -Wheeeing!

    A pitch-ck tornado spun at high speed and melted its targets. Looking at the scene from behind the shield, Kim Kyung-hwan sang joyfully.

    ¡®Wow, it¡¯s fucking cool.¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t believe he made that thing.

    Due to Kaifu¡¯s magical nature, there was no need to shout out the starter with a voice, and because of that, Kim Kyung-hwan swallowed up regret. This magic had already been given a name.

    ¡°Acid Hurricane of Darkness.¡±

    -Wheeeck!

    A strong acid tornado that melted even steel like water hit the monsters.

    -Cheeeek!

    -Kheeek! Kheeeeeek!

    Gray smoke rose from the wings of the Waterbirds that brushed against the magic.

    ¡°It¡¯s roughly hit! Don¡¯t make me keep hitting more!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan focused his mind and swung the tornado that stretched out of his hand like a whip. The maneuvering wasn¡¯t as smooth as the big fish grabbed the fishing rod. The spells that Eraser improved were all that he unfolded in his dream and studied the theory. It was the first time to try it in reality.

    ¡°Ah, tsk.¡±

    It rarely hit well. Kim Kyung-hwan was impatient. Support from nearby military units would already be on the way. There wasn¡¯t much impact with their help. It was his actions that he wanted to show to the world.

    Kim Kyung-hwan, who had a crazy thought so far, changed his strategy.

    ¡°Somehow, it would hit right!¡±

    He eventually gave up his sophisticated aim and began to swing the tornado like crazy. A threatening sound ripping the air spread throughout the garden. Originally, it was a reckless exhibition of magic, a million light-years away from how to use magic taught by Eraser.

    Hence, a short chase in the sky followed with winged monsters running back and forth. A ck gust of wind chasing like snow. The magic was driven, bent, and attacked the Waterbird ording to Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s gesture.

    ¡°Oh, it won¡¯t hit!¡±

    The back of his hand was burning like fire since he was running the spell roughly. From the magic circle engraved on the back of his hand, he could feel the Mana draining like a bottomless pit.

    Kim Kyung-hwan looked at the back of his hand. A faint light that any wizards could see wasing up.

    That magic circle was a Mana source nted by Eraser for himself. Traces of alien race that were well hidden to avoid the eyes of the wizard. The concealment magic was temporarily broken by drawing more than the allowed amount of magic. It was fortunate that there were no Kaifu or trainees around to notice.

    -Wheeeing! Wheeeimp!

    A sudden storm blew in the main building garden. Whenever the ck whip passed through the concrete wall, there was a chirping sound. Then, smoke and poisonous bubbles flowed down the wall.

    There was also a security squad member staggering due to the harmful gas filling the surroundings. Judging that there was no room for ordinary soldiers, the instructor on duty retreated them indoors.

    -Kheeeng!

    Waterbirds also attacked as hard as they could. A brown bump on the end of the round flesh, and it constantly spewed off the decay liquid from the end. The murky stream of water flowed down without breaking through Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s shield or was caught in a tornado of the acid and poured down like a fountain in the whole garden.

    -Dang dang!

    -Cheeeeeeeeck!

    Strong water droplets poured out as if caught in a summer typhoon, and a sharp breeze scratched right afterward. A tree covered with gray and ck stains was struck directly by magic and fell with nasty smoke because of the decay fluid.

    It¡¯s rotten, stained, and melted with strong acidity.

    The confrontation between Kim Kyung-hwan and Waterbirds began not long after. The flower beds and gardens, which had been well-organized for a short time, quickly turned into a dark and thick swamp that seemed not to be a scene of this world.

    A groan leaked out of Instructor Shin¡¯s mouth, who was witnessing the scene in themand and control room.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    He never thought even in his dream that Kim Kyung-hwan would¡¯ve improved magic in that way. The original spell wouldn¡¯t have been able to counteract the flying Waterbird.

    ¡®I know he¡¯s great, but it is worth praising that he achieved such achievements alone without anyone knowing¡­¡¯

    Instructor Shin looked at the screen. Meanwhile, half of the CCTVs were destroyed, so there were many dark disys.

    The still-live footage was illuminating the vicinity of the main building, which had turned into hell. It showed monsters avoiding magic and ck whirlwinds that chased one or two beats slower than their movements.

    The size of the tornado was enough to cover a monster even at first ncepletely. That was a good chance to hit them at once identally.

    Thinking so, Instructor Shin muttered unknowingly.

    ¡°¡­ Really, you can¡¯t aim so badly .¡±

    Instructor Shin nced at the white-faced on-duty instructor¡¯s expression. Much of the exterior wall of the building had already melted. Waterbird¡¯s decay liquid was only effective for living things, so that damage was all Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s skill.

    ¡°Shit!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan repeatedly spat out abusivenguage. Stunningly, he didn¡¯t get hit.

    In the end, he had to admit Eraser¡¯s words. He said Kim Kyung-hwan couldn¡¯t kill those monsters anyway. Nevertheless, he was greedy, and he was using all of his Mana more than necessary through the magic circle on the back of his hand. He wanted somehow to kill one of them with his own hands.

    ¡°Tsk.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan noticed that the trajectory of the fleeing monsters became very unstable. It was a sign that Eraser said. The monsters gave up hunting. Just a little more like this¡­

    -Kheeeek! Kheeeek!

    -Kheek! Kheeeeeek!

    The Waterbirds began to exchange signals between themselves. Even at first nce, it was a different cry than before.

    And finally¡­

    -Kheeeeeeek!

    After making a long scream, three monsters melted transparently into the atmosphere at the same time.

    ¡°Tsk, it¡¯s over.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan couldn¡¯t hide his disappointment.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t catch them in the end.¡±

    There wasn¡¯t much the Korean government knew about that weird creature. It could fly in the sky, spray decay liquid, and could turn invisible.

    However, Kim Kyung-hwan knew one more piece of information that no one in the world knew. Needless to say, its source was Eraser.

    ¡®The ability of invisibility is not powerful. He said they couldn¡¯t spray the decay liquid while invisible!¡¯

    That was because it wasn¡¯t pure body secretion but a magical ability.

    Casting invisibility at that moment meant giving up any more battles. As expected, he felt the Mana of those weird things gradually faded away in the distance. The monsters ran outside towards the hillside.

    ¡°End of situation.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t catch and kill them as if he was greedy, but somehow he saved the training center from the crisis.

    When he thought of it, his steamy heart disappeared, and joy rose again. Kim Kyung-hwan smiled triumphantly. It was such a quick emotional change.

    He shook his hand and entered the building again.

    The main building couldn¡¯t be seen as a decent building anymore. The center, which was protected by special magic near themand and control room, the building¡¯s shape remained intact, but other ces were perforated like bone suffering from osteoporosis.

    ¡®It¡¯s a sign of a fierce battle.¡¯

    Whether the tornado hit the porch and the painting on the wall, the original giant barley field¡¯s remnants were mixed with fragmented bronze sculptures and melted. Kim Kyung-hwan stepped inside carefully, not to step on them.

    Some fallen soldiers had ingested the mist, and there was a scene of emergency measures surrounding them. As Kim Kyung-hwan approached, those attached to their mind looked at him with a pale face.

    Looking at them, Kim Kyung-hwan realized that the ce where he stepped on was reality. It wasn¡¯t the kind of fantasy world he dreamed of.

    In addition to heroes like him, ordinary people lived in that world. Those soldiers had no talent or power. They often get involved in the fights of the Transcendents and suffer damage, and those ordinary people were literally real people, not those who could be turned away by treating them as extras.

    ¡®But if I weren¡¯t there, all of them would have died because of the Waterbirds.¡¯

    They wouldn¡¯t die from ingesting gas. It was an unavoidable sacrifice and inevitable damage.

    At the same time, Kim Kyung-hwan had a contradictory thought.

    It was so good that that ce where he gained strength was real, not delusional. Nevertheless, it would be better if this ce was mixed with some very few unrealistic elements. It would be nice if it were unrealistic enough that there was no need to feel guilty while watching the people who were caught up in their fights and suffered damage.

    Okay, what about the other dimension? Wouldn¡¯t my guilt be a little less if non-earthly races were caught up in it? Kim Kyung-hwan vaguely thought it might be so.

    ¡®Anyway, this is reality.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan deliberately paid attention to his walking and posture. He tried to pretend to be calm. He wanted to create a sense of daily life as if he were going back to his dorm after lunch.

    ¡°Kim Kyung-hwan!¡±

    From the elevator hall, he saw human instructors rushing in.

    What he was doing was an arbitrary act of not following the evacuation instructions. However, there were other emotions in the eyes of the approaching instructors.

    ¡®Yes, that¡¯s it.¡¯

    He muttered inwardly. It was so exciting and pleasant to see the expressions of people who were amazed by his ability.

    Kim Kyung-hwan murmured with pride.

    ¡°It was too nd for the first stage. There are too few witnesses. The opponent was too bad for ¡®Transcendental Mage¡¯ Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s debut monster.¡±

    Transcendental Mage.

    Yes, he had already made his own nickname.

    ***

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that pretty good for the first stage? There were also many witnesses.¡±

    In the dark forest near the Hun-neung, I met the Waterbirds returning in their transparent state.

    -Kheeeeeek! Kheeeeeek!

    Their pain and frustration were conveyed through my connected soul.

    ¡°I can¡¯t take the penalty.¡±

    Instead of following my instructions, the contract¡¯s terms with the Waterbirds were to bring them to that dimension and feed them. Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s magic even wounded them, but if I returned them withoutpensation, the penalty I had to deal with was too great.

    I opened arge container that I had prepared in advance.

    -Kheeeeeek!

    -Mooooo!

    The sound of three monsters and three earth animals crying in the noise-blocking barrier could be heard.

    Three cows tied up in it were frightened when they saw the monsters outside and twisted their bodies to escape.

    Lee Seo-rin also has quite a few years of experience. When I suddenly instructed her to get a few cows in ate-morning dream, they would be delivered within hours. I couldn¡¯t even guess where on earth live cows could be bought near Seoul?

    -Moooooo!

    The cows were overwhelmed by the ominous energy from the Waterbirds. In front of their eyes, it kicked back like crazy. They were looking outside with red, congested eyes. Because of the violent shake, the string that tied the neck broke through the flesh. Four legs were shaking, and poop and urine spilled on the bottom of the container.

    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    It would¡¯ve been nice if they had passed out. However, waterbirds like to rot the conscious creature alive and then suck on the melted flesh.

    ¡°I hope it ends soon.¡±

    I let the three Waterbirds into the container, then closed the door and sealed it lightly. It wasn¡¯t a perfect vacuum, but it was enough to prevent liquid from leaking out. If the spoiled liquid leaks out, it was troublesome to clean it up.

    -Moooo!

    -Kheeek! Kheeeek!

    Containers rattled, cracked cows screamed, decayed liquid melted flesh, and squeaky Waterbirds¡¯ cries were faintly heard. The feelings of the Waterbirds who were very satisfied and joyful, were transmitted through my soul.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    I felt a little guilty. It was something a little different from remorse. Sorry, don¡¯t be born as a cow next life¡­

    Ah, well. Now that they were dead, would their soul be sucked into the other dimension?

    Were they going to be reborn as a Dell Giant or an Ashpim Giant? Or as an animal in that world? Otherwise¡­ Was it in the hands of Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest?

    Still, what was next?

    ¡°Just like the tentacles sucked up the Heart Fish, is the Truth-Seeker absorbing that cow¡¯s soul? If that¡¯s true, then this world has be a hell of being preyed upon for every edible animal, whether alive or dead.¡±

    [Hmm.]

    Even if I thought about it, the answer didn¡¯te out.

    I shrugged my shoulders.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

 Chapter 83

    The Curtain Rises (3)

    I waited for a while and opened the container door again. Expecting the rotten smell, I covered my nose.

    -Kheeeeeek!

    Three Waterbirds came out of the door, exuding satisfaction.

    Just because its physiology was like a wild animal didn¡¯t mean that its intelligence was also at the animal level. Waterbirds of Decay had enough intelligence to understand the terms of the contract and demand the price. They hovered around me and asked to return.

    In response, I opened the Channel on my chest and returned the Waterbirds to their original dimension.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    I looked around inside the container where the remains were scattered and thought. If the decay persisted, it would be dangerous since the container was filled with gas.

    ¡°The Sigh of Melcos!¡±

    Rotting meat fluids and dposed tissues that were left throughout the container froze in an instant.

    ¡°Have those guys already been absorbed into the Mapo Bridge Channel?¡±

    Parvache listened to me and replied.

    [¡­ I don¡¯t know how many souls get sucked into the Channel. Even after being sucked in, there is no basis for concluding that the Truth-Seeker will eat the souls. There could be other uses. It might be aiming at increasing the total amount of souls in that dimension.]

    There was nothing for sure.

    I closed the door again after checking the inside that became a freezer container. Then, I made it small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

    ¡°It will be bothersome to clean.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t easy to stretch and shrink objects that size at will. Although that container might seem in at first nce, it was a pretty expensive artifact. I couldn¡¯t throw it away after using it once. I¡¯d wash it well and use it again.

    The container that was going to be used to transport the Guardians of the Great Convention¡¯s bodies and to decay and dissolve three cattle alive fit into my backpack.

    ¡°Today¡¯s work ends here. Let¡¯s go home.¡±

    I pulled out the artifact made of Maek¡¯s Copper and rummaged through the dreams stored in it. There were many kids in the apartmentplex in the new city where I moved. It wasn¡¯t umon for little children to dream of flying in the sky.

    The residents of this neighborhood, where I had newly built a nest, might have begun to realize that they hadn¡¯t been able to dream well these days. Actually, they couldn¡¯t remember that they had a dream.

    That got me thinking if we should use it that day.

    While I was extracting the dreams in the Maek¡¯s Copper, Parvache spoke.

    [There should be a response this time.]

    ¡°If there isn¡¯t any, we¡¯ll be in big trouble.¡±

    If the Guardians of the Great Convention had no response even after such an uproar, there were preliminary ns for the situation. But that wasn¡¯t the scenario I wanted. They had to take the bait here slowly to make my move easier. It would make my stage appearance neat and tidy.

    ¡°We¡¯veid enough double track for Kim Kyung-hwan. Even though he¡¯s far ahead of others, now that he has sessfully finished his debut stage this time, we should move on to the next one.¡±

    All the leading actors gathered, and the script was written. The curtain would rise on the next stage in the scene where the audience gathered in Hun-neung with the aim of Kim Kyung-hwan.

    [Fortunately, it ended well without an ident.]

    ¡°Yeah. No matter how much Imunicated with my mind, I couldn¡¯t control every drop or two of the decay liquid. Fortunately, Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t get hurt, and it ended well.¡±

    I¡¯d worked so hard, so I¡¯d be in trouble if he got hurt or died.

    [I didn¡¯t know he would move so easily like that.]

    Yes, Kim Kyung-hwan was really satisfied today. That guy was a good actor¡ªa great actor who didn¡¯t even realize that he was moving ording to the script.

    [He even had no fear. As soon as the cows saw the Waterbirds, they were terrified. But even if he got your help, how can he step out in front of them without knowing that his life was worth it?]

    ¡°Well, he must be crazy?¡±

    [Hmmm¡­]

    ¡°Honestly, it¡¯s strange that Kim Kyung-hwan believes in ¡®Eraser¡¯ so much that he has no doubts. Objectively speaking, he¡¯s from an unknown alien race that appears in his dream. He indeed taught Kim Kyung-hwan magic, but still¡­¡±

    [I¡¯m d he¡¯s a simple-minded guy. I can¡¯t believe he follows so well just by stimting the desire we saw in his dream.]

    ¡°Do people end up believing what they want to believe? Still, if I were him, I would have doubted it once.¡±

    Yes, if it were me, I¡¯d be suspicious, especially when an alien race appeared out of nowhere in my dreams and turned me into the most talented wizard on Earth, only to make me do their bidding.

    Kim Kyung-hwan was different from me.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably because he has so much desire. Sweet words sway him, and he can¡¯t see the reality.¡±

    I, who didn¡¯t believe anyone that much, was built with a way of thinking that started with suspicion. Why hadn¡¯t I ever doubted? I looked sideways at Parvache as I realized the dream.

    The timing was so exquisite in the first ce.

    One night a Channel opened on my chest. Unfortunately, before the night was over, the magic that I unconsciously unleashed was the summoning magic. The one caught in that magic was the one who reached the extreme of magic, the one who knew how to get out of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s reach, and the one who had ess to the Akashic Records. The spirit without flesh.

    It said that I had tremendous magical talent, and I faithfully followed it to do whatever was instructed. In this regard, I was no different from Kim Kyung-hwan.

    I was eight years old at that time, so I had no choice but to believe. However, ten years had passed since then. Until the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest touched the bottom of my consciousness, I never had doubts.

    [Anyway, the subject was amazingly chosen.]

    ¡°You¡¯re right. Howmon in the world would be a promising Transcendental Wizard in the future?¡±

    While responding, I recalled what Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker had said to Parvache.

    -Do you belong with him? Since you¡¯re a family and a mental body, you must have looked into the heart of this guy. What is this human¡¯s name?

    Parvache was bound by a contract of authority with me. He had ess to my heart because I had already allowed it. There had also been times when it took control of my body for a while in my consciousness. Most of them were taken to protect me when I lost my mind and was left defenseless.

    I was paying attention to two facts now ¨C Parvache, who could see into my heart, and ¡®Absolute Trust,¡¯ which was underneath my heart.

    Would believing that there was no connection between the two really be rational?

    And as my thoughts on Parvache deepened, I could feel another new question grabbing my head and shaking.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back, Parvache.¡±

    Parvache. I silently repeat the name in my mouth.

    Soul Warrior Parvache. It was a name from a cartoon I liked when I was young¡ªa fictitious name created by humans.

    As a child, I thought that the spirit in my toys was Parvache, and I had been calling it by that name. I didn¡¯t remember the details, but it seemed that Parvache had never even asked for a different name.

    Then¡­ what the hell¡­

    What was Parvache¡¯s ¡®real name¡¯?

    ***

    The moment a new dimension emerged, the soul was already there in a vortex that enabled cirction and the repetitive basis of life for the mortal. It was a huge system that absorbed, erupted, and repeated the reincarnation of souls, watching the birth and disappearance of life existing in that world.

    Often referred to as the ring of reincarnation, it was an early providence that neither Truth-Seeker nor Gods could understand or touch its principles.

    When a dimension was created, the absolute total amount of souls given was different. The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest recalled when it first stepped into this ce.

    As soon as it crossed the dimension and the sky¡¯s color changed, it identified the ring of reincarnation. And it was forced to shudder with the rising disappointment and despair.

    In front of its eyes, it could see the native races that would be the founders of civilization, but there was no room left to look at them in detail at first.

    It wasn¡¯t until it thought about it much that the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker realized that it had already woken up.

    ¡®Why? Why did I wake up already?¡¯

    It turned its gaze inside and made its body artificial. It checked the condition, and it was curious, knowing that it needed more sleep.

    It soon noticed why. What made the Truth-Seeker¡¯s consciousness, who had not yet awakened, clear again was the energy of some change felt outside.

    ¡®Did the Heart Fish run away from the barrier again? No. It¡¯s not that¡­¡¯

    The Truth-Seeker found the answer.

    ¡®A Channel is closed.¡¯

    What was closed was not a Channel created by it, but a Channel that a Truth-Seeker who upied a higher dimension than this ce broke through the dimension barrier and forcibly opened.

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker quit since it became annoyed after remembering how long ago the Channel had been created.

    It didn¡¯t matter when it opened. It wasn¡¯t important to guess how many souls had been stolen through that Channel so far. The only thing that really mattered was the simple fact that the Channel was closed.

    It was evident that Channels that had already been opened would be closed.

    ¡®That dimension has evolved one step further.¡¯

    There was adder connecting the first and second floors. If the difference in height between the two floors were reasonable, thedder would be firmly supported. What if the height of the first floor remained the same and only the second floor rose high? Thedder can no longer hold and fall.

    That was what happened at that moment.

    ¡®It means the other side¡¯s level has risen to the point it can¡¯t be connected to this side by a Channel anymore.¡¯

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest felt a rising emotion. A lot of emotions passed by, but the thickest of them was jealousy.

    ¡®I thought that if I lived in the same time as eternity, all my emotions would wear out and be gone.¡¯

    A long time ago, it thought so. However, the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker now knew. Some feelings got stronger as they exist for a longer time. That was usually the case with negative emotions.

    ¡®Another step closer to the deity, the Truth-Seeker on that side.¡¯

    The feelings of jealousy and envy were sticky and fragrant as always. They didn¡¯t disappear once they were in its heart.

    Sometimes, the thoughts, emotions, and sensations were mixed and confused throughout the distant years of existence. The Truth-Seeker couldn¡¯t tell whether it was physical pain, an inexcusable thought, or a desirable and dizzying feeling that had been felt before, or if it was all three.

    ¡®When will divinity be allowed to me?¡¯

    After all, it threw the question in its mind that had been repeated for so long. It had reached a point where counting the number repetitions had be meaningless.

    It focused its mind and felt the ring of reincarnation that supported its dimension. It couldn¡¯t touch its roots, but it could take it away as long as it didn¡¯t interfere with the activity. In the meantime, the soul had grown considerably. Excluding all the useless souls, it was the same even if it counted the souls of the native race.

    The Truth-Seeker put down its feelings of wealth for a moment andughed happily.

    It wanted to absorb the increased amount right away, but it hadn¡¯t finished expanding its bowl yet.

    ¡®I need more sleep.¡¯

    The ring of reincarnation that it witnessed first uponing to this dimension was originally too small and shabby.

    The number of mortals that could be born on this level was bound to be limited. The only thing that could increase the poption indefinitely with reproduction was low-level life without the soul¡¯s concept.

    Under these conditions, creatures that satisfied their level would naturally evolve toward low fertility levels. The absolute number of individuals developing to the level of the native race would be small. Thus, the small number would hinder the development of civilization. The rate at which the soul grows slows.

    The same was true even if a native race with high fertility was brought from another dimension and released. The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest had already seen the case of the Ashpim Giant. It would be gradually assimted under the influence of the rings of reincarnation in that dimension.

    As soon as the Truth-Seeker realized that, it stopped thinking of doing anything with the creatures here.

    From then on, the mortals in its own dimension weren¡¯t the interest of the Truth-Seeker. No matter what civilization they formed, how they died and killed each other, whether or not alien races from different levels invaded, the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker cut off all his interest.

    He directed all of his interest to collecting poems and songs every now and then to relieve his sense of boredom that had existed for a long time.

    So, Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest, ¡°The Song of Chaos,¡± realized that it had to get into the fight. Through precise control of the dimensional barrier, a long work of increasing the soul of the dimension by defending the outflow and elerating the inflow of the souls.

 Chapter 84

    The Curtain Rises (4)

    For those who couldn¡¯t obtain divine nature and weren¡¯t free from time and space, the length of time was a pain in itself. The Truth-Seekers were also desperate to find a way to relieve their despair.

    ¡®The lucky ones can gain divinity just by rolling a given dimension with an invulnerable wall, but not me.¡¯

    By strengthening the dimensional barrier to the limit, the Channel couldn¡¯t be opened by itself. But, it could also prevent the Channel from being forcibly opened by other Truth-Seekers. If that dimension were rich in souls in the first ce, the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker would¡¯ve made the same choice as the Earth¡¯s Dragon.

    ¡®If this dimension were rich in souls, there wouldn¡¯t have been a need to be greedy for other dimensions.¡¯

    Since there was no need to covet others, the Dragon would¡¯ve chosen to disconnect himself. As a result, it was impossible to take any soul away, but no soul was taken.

    ¡®What I don¡¯t understand, though, was how he nted that seed in the human body just a few years before his death. From the Dragon¡¯s point of view, all he has to do is maintain a strong defense. Then why?¡¯

    It might not be to absorb souls of another dimension.

    ¡®The only value of the existence of seeds is to evolve into an adult Channel. However, the meaning of creating an adult Channel is to weaken the dimensional barrier, leaving the possibility of an attack. It isn¡¯t worth as much as a nail for a Truth-Seeker in a dimension where the soul overflows.¡¯

    The beginning and the end were at odds, and the sentences were contradictory. The intention was unknown.

    ¡®What the hell was the Dragon trying to do?¡¯

    Earth¡¯s Dragon.

    It thought of the being who was the Truth-Seeker of the Earth.

    The long and frequent sleep was mainly due to the connection between the Earth and the Channel. More souls had been absorbed than any other Channels that had been connected. It had to devote itself constantly to expanding its bowl.

    ¡®Because the guy who was so lucky somehow dies, so many souls are randomly plundered in. It¡¯s a really unfortunate thing.¡¯

    It was a great opportunity.

    The Heart Fish flowed into that dimension and almost ruined it. However, the Truth-Seeker is d it stopped it.

    It was also feared that Heart Fish would multiply on Earth and backflow to this side, but what was even more threatening was the possibility of affluent Heart Fish entering that dimension and ruining it all. The real reason it didn¡¯t stay on that day.

    Deep thoughts continued biting the end of the tail. Thinking about the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker, it was now thinking of a human being.

    The Truth-Seeker thought of a useful mortal¡­ to be exact, a ¡®hidden soul¡¯ who had captured all the Heart Fish that had flowed into the Earth, a human who even gave it a part of its body, even though he has no true name yet.

    He entrusted such a task even though he was still a human who couldn¡¯t cross the wall and could be food for Heart Fish, and he seeded in a faster time than expected.

    ¡®Why isn¡¯t he crossing the wall even with that kind of soul?¡¯

    The curiosity didn¡¯tst long. Anyway, now the priority was to go to sleep.

    -Sheesh

    It pulled out one of the countless souls flowing in the spirit vein of the body, a distant number of souls that were high enough to be born as a native race and had not yet crossed the wall. And it united some of its body and then blew the soul into it.

    The body end of the Truth-Seeker, who had been united, wriggled. As soon as it waspletely separated from the main body, it fell to the floor.

    -Tuck

    Compared to the main body¡¯s size, it was a newly born creature with dozens of strands of tentacles clumping together. It fell to the ground, wriggling and making a cry.

    -Growl, growl

    The creature created by the sprouting method instantly had a shape simr to the bronze tentacles previously handed over to Yoon Min-joon. However, the only difference was that a living tissue in the center could be called a mouth.

    It instilled necessary knowledge and intelligence before separating it from the body. Its psychology mixed moderate separation anxiety and dependence disorder. In an instant, the ¡®separated body¡¯ or interiorized piece of the body, whichpleted itself, spoke to the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker in Dell Giant¡¯snguage.

    -Great One, I know why you created me, so please allow me to serve you so that I can achieve the purpose of my life.

    The Truth-Seeker knew it was a childish imitation, but it was one of the entertainments it could never throw away. Like an apostle serving God, the Truth-Seeker looked at the creature that looked at only himself and longed for affection and attention. The Truth-Seeker felt the waves of emotion emanating from the separated body.

    Pity me, guide me, do not go far, love me.

    It floated items of the alien world in front of the separated body. A gift from a secluded soul recently a while ago. At that time, the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker was willing to receive it and paid the price to Yoon Min-joon.

    There was no waste of a few Enchanted Wood trees made by its magic. However, it didn¡¯t know what kind of barrier he was trying to create.

    The Truth-Seeker said to the separated body.

    =Read it. =

    The separated body began to turn the page using its tentacle when the book was ced in front of it.

    He said that he directly tranted texts from his world that were not recorded in the Akashic Records into Dell¡¯s text.

    It was titled in the tranted Dell¡¯snguage.

    Modern British and American Poetry.

    As set by the Truth-Seeker, the separated body¡¯s squeezed mouth read aloud with the sound pressure and refraction that was the best to hear. There was no knowledge of the region in the title, but the taste of unfamiliar expressions had its vor.

    It was art enjoyed by the native peoples of another dimension. The Truth-Seeker appreciated the decoration ofnguage that mortals created with limited senses and thoughts.

    The joy that the Song of Chaos felt stemmed from what itcked. The unexpectedness created by the author¡¯s senses, limitations of thinking, and a narrow view of the world. It always sparked the Truth-Seeker¡¯s interest.

    The reading of the separated body continued for a while. After the Truth-Seeker fell asleep, that creature would continue reading the book as directed until it stopped breathing.

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker thought while listening to poetry from a strange world. The poem was about a crossroads. He thought over what the sentence meant.

    ¡®Do you regret the possibility you didn¡¯t choose?¡¯

    It was a concept that didn¡¯t apply to itself.

    The Truth-Seeker appreciated the contents of the poem by putting it into its situation. Couldn¡¯t the higher-ranked beings project themselves onto the consciousness of the lower-ranked beings? The answer was, they could.

    Truth Seekers made another evolution even after crossing the wall. They were those who were qualified to stand at thest crossroads. In the very far future, it would make its final choice. The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker was sure of the direction of its decision that day.

    Evolution.

    Evolution was the only thing.

    It wasn¡¯t the way not to go for it. The choice of other beings was also meaningless. The Truth-Seeker¡¯s consciousness slowly plunged into the swamp of sleep while enjoying the echo of the sound that the separated body read aloud. Even in the dim consciousness, the Truth-Seeker thought.

    It would never overturn its original will.

    When it gets a sweet ¡®divinity,¡¯ it drew a scene where it made a choice, and the Truth-Seeker fell asleep.

    ***

    In a small city in Tomsk, Russia, a huge building on the town¡¯s outskirts was burning. Residents watched the scene with anxiety from afar. Less than a year ago, people suddenly came and went to the abandoned factory site, and a fence was built.

    Originally, it was a building that was used as a cable manufacturing nt decades ago. Local Citizens wanted to see what was going on. Out of nowhere, employees of a foreignpany gathered to use the ce as an R&D center.

    The number of people working was quiterge. Most of them settled their amodation and lodged in the dormitory inside the fence, but they drunk with a crooked nose once they went out to the city. Residents engaged in the food service business had no choice but to worry that the ie source would disappear eventually.

    -Hwaaaaarck!

    -Kwzzzing! Boong!

    Also, beyond the fire barrier that prevented satellites¡¯ observation with unknown force were the gazes of residents. R&D center employees were loyal regrs and cash cow of expensive restaurants and bars in the city. Many of them were in the worst crisis of their lives.

    However, there were also quite a few who had already been freed from danger. There was only one way. The worst crisis in life lost its meaning due to the end of that life.

    -Kwuazzik!

    Invisible hands crushed the head like a walnut; blood and brain flowed down. There were pressed marks on the head of the body. The body was in a white gown, and the marks looked like the palm of a person. Simultaneously, a desperate body was thrown on the floor while a voice flowed out of the air where no one was there.

    ¡°This saint had to move like that little thing, but it¡¯s pretty much annoying.¡±

    It was bloodstaining in the air that spoke. Two red gloves were floating in the air. When it shook its hand, the fluid that was flowing down sprinkled in the air. The shape of the hand-painted red gradually became smaller and finally disappeared.

    The voice of the air continued.

    ¡°Do you feel something?¡±

    Instead of answering, the other party to whom the invisible entity spoke opened its mouth wide and vomited a white sh.

    ¡°Kwaaaaaahhh!¡±

    -Khoobang!

    A blinding sh passed by, and a hole was made in the wall. However, the object of destruction wasn¡¯t concrete. Remains of soldiers approaching from across the wall rolled on the floor, scorched. Due to the sh height, most of the upper waist turned into bloody dust, and the cut legs were covered with dust and scattered.

    ¡°The only thing that I detected in front of me was those ordinary humans.¡± The snake¡¯s head spoke, looking at the human pieces.

    The other snakehead, which noticed something by sticking its tongue out, backed those words up.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, those worms that went from behind me aren¡¯t wizards!¡±

    The invisible being said.

    ¡°I beg you, but you should never kill the wizards. Remember?¡±

    The serpent nodded.

    ¡°I made a promise with Eugene. Humans with high levels of the soul must be captured alive without harming them.¡±

    The head of a snake sticking its tongue struck the other.

    ¡°What bullshit! It was me who promised Eugene, not a tail like you!¡±

    ¡°Huh! Can¡¯t you shut up? I¡¯m still insisting on the fact that I am the head and you are the tail!¡±

    ¡°Hey, this idiot snake tail! Don¡¯t you know the front or the back?¡±

    ¡°Shut up! The head-on the front is a noble sculpture in which the body¡¯s beauty is concentrated, so how do you ask questions under the sky even after seeing me? The beautiful direction I look at is the front, and I am the head! Stop talking nonsense!¡±

    ¡°Crazy bitch! If your eyes are still working, look at your twist. What with scales like dandruff on that chewed bean-like side? Beautiful? With that fucking look, you¡¯re trying to pretend to be the head, this pissing tail!¡±

    ¡°Huh! This vulgar guy is definitely¡­!¡±

    Thus, the two snakeheads began to fight, raising their voices to each other. A small sigh came out of the invisible corner.

    ¡°¡­ Damn, I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m moving with you guys. That little bitch would have been much better.¡±

    The invisible being shook its head that no one could see.

    The creature fighting in front of it was in the form of a four-legged snake. The peculiar thing was that the left and right sides were perfectly symmetric around the body, so the feet were each extending outward, and the two long necks on the body were connected to the left and right by the same length.

    To the invisible being, the heads of the two snakes, each attached to the ends of their long necks, looked the same no matter how much it tried to differentiate. It was perfectly the same shape, so it was difficult to tell where the trail was and where the head was.

    That way, the man stepped in to stop the old fight, iming that he was looking and heading forward.

    ¡°Hey, Amphisbaenarades. Please stop and lead the way quickly. If I knew it would be like this, I should havee with Alice, even if it was too much. She¡¯s got one hell of Mana induction after all.¡±

    The snake¡¯s heads looked at each other disgustingly, and then they turned their heads with a long snort. The head of the two with the rougher mouth began to stick out its tongue. After some time, the guy eximed.

    ¡°This way!¡±

    Then they set their direction to move. Neither of the two heads was in the head¡¯s direction, but the side, which couldn¡¯t be called the front or the back, began to move forward.

    -Doodoodooodoooo!

    -Aaaaaargh!

    -Bang bang! Baaang!

    Not far away, there was the sound of apprentices fighting a battle. The size of the troops deployed to defend this base was enormous.

 Chapter 85

    The Curtain Rises (5)

    The sound of engagement and screams rang from all directions.

    ¡°It seems to be finished to some extent over there.¡±

    The snake nodded and answered.

    ¡°As expected, but the defense is stronger than we thought. There were so many humans in such a small space.¡±

    After listening to the serpent¡¯s words, the invisible man, Noel, counted inside.

    How many of these battles were taking ce in this country today? Just counting the range that he was aware of, there must be at least ten.

    The boss didn¡¯t want to provoke the Russian government¡¯s vignce by destroying secret bases scattered throughout Russian territory one after another. After spending long-time gathering information, they finally knew all the ces located across the country and then chose to strike simultaneously.

    Thanks to that, almost all the ¡®Guardians of the Great Convention¡¯ executives were mobilized today. The number of apprentices moving together was also huge.

    In that scene, it was necessary to take the risk and mobilize the executives as much as possible to take the top priority over all the other piled-up issues.

    It meant that what Russia was up to was as dangerous as the organization judged.

    Noel and Double-Headed Serpent entered deep inside the secret base that was disguised as an R&D center.

    -Sheessssh!

    One head of the snake spoke with its tongue sticking out.

    ¡°There¡¯s another bunch of idiots behind it.¡±

    Where they stopped was a blind spot where the hallway was broken. The ce the snake pointed to was the space beyond the wall. The other side of the head was already aiming before it finished talking. It opened its mouth wide and took a direction.

    A white light shed through its mouth, and it spurted out hard!

    -Bang bang!

    A dazzling sh struck the wall of the building. The ground shook violently, and dust blew. Bloodied soldiersy scattered behind the rubble of the copsed building.

    ¡°Aeeeeghh!¡±

    ¡°Kaaaaarghh!¡±

    The screams of the soldiers who saved their lives resonated in chaos.

    While entering, more soldiers gathered than before to see how prepared they were. Luckily, not only did they save their lives, but some of the soldiers with a decent body pushed their guns at them.

    ¡°You monster! bastard!¡±

    ¡°Kill it!¡±

    The muzzle breathed fire.

    -Bang bang bang bang bang bang!

    However, the soldiers didn¡¯t notice. As soon as the survivors were identified, the snake¡¯s eyes shone blue as it snuck its tongue around, then an invisible shield was created in front of the Double-Headed Serpent.

    -Peepeeeeng! Peengpeeeng!

    When the magic curtain bounced off all the bullets, Noel ran out, bypassing the shield.

    The warrior, hiding in the air, jumped among the enemies. He saw the face of a terrified soldier. Noel¡¯s hand cut the wind, making a sharp sound.

    -Poock!

    ¡°Humph¡­!¡±

    The face distorted in fear, was crushed effortlessly, and blood sttered.

    Seeing him hit by something invisible, the other soldier opened his mouth as if he was trying to scream. However, before he could even scream, Noel smashed his neck with a kick and crushed his heart with a fatal punch.

    The soldiers defending the base suddenly copsed one by one as if being beaten by an invisible hammer, and the meat scraps burst out. It took less than a few seconds to deal with all the soldiers present in the vicinity.

    ¡°This was thest line of defense.¡±

    There was a thick iron gate behind dozens of corpses. That was probably the destination.

    Noel looked at the Double-Headed Serpent.

    These two heads, which shared a body, hadn¡¯t given a name to distinguish each other over the years. They referred to themselves as ¡°Amphisbaena¡± when asked about either of them, and that name was only useful when they were called an individual of the body.

    Thus, the Guardians of the Great Convention hade up with nicknames that distinguish these heads. Many nicknames had been given over time. However, on that day, in the 21st century, the nickname one that emitted white sh from its mouth was heard.

    ¡°ster, please.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    The head on the side called ster nodded. Then it opened its mouth and began to gather strength with it.

    ¡°Khaarrrghhhhh!¡±

    -Boom!

    A ray of light that had just made humans into the bloodied mess was emitted from its mouth, and the iron door was crumpled and burst like it was made of paper. They stepped inside without hesitation, and the view of the interior came into their eyesight.

    ¡°¡­ These crazy guys.¡±

    The man spat out a curse word.

    Today, the Guardians of the Great Convention mobilized arge number of personnel to raid these secret workces all over the country at once. In preparation for a runaway, Russia didn¡¯t drive training centers in one ce but distributed them throughout the country. So, it took longer to figure it out.

    ster spoke unpleasantly.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s so vicious. It¡¯s a scene you can¡¯t see with your eyes open.¡±

    The invisible man frowned unwittingly. He wasn¡¯t as good as the snake right next to him, but he was confident he was lived quite a while. However, no matter how much he watched this scene, he didn¡¯t get used to it.

    What unfolded before his eyes was a site for quenching to give maximum pain without inflicting a threat to life. The targets being subjected were those who had already received basic training as wizards. Among them were the personnel selected by the

    Flicker, who shared the body with the ster, was another snakehead who spat out swearing.

    ¡°Wow! Oh, shit, I can¡¯t see it. Why do humans continue to do that after thousands of years? They¡¯d rather eat it! They¡¯re not even going to eat it. What the hell is that?¡±

    ¡°What do you mean? You were ¡®born¡¯ a few decades ago, not thousands of years ago? It sounds as if you¡¯ve seen humans for that long, so it¡¯s ridiculous.¡±

    ¡°Sigh! Yes, you rotten bastard. Thanks to you, this side of the head was torn off 40 years ago. Thank you for reminding me, but my memories of my past life are almost all in my soul.¡±

    Noel frowned as he watched the snakeheads fighting again.

    ¡°All of you are a problem, but fighting each other until this moment is the biggest problem. Shut up!¡±

    The man looked around inside. There was an operating table in a row of people confined naked on top of it.

    It smelled of blood and grime, like a surgery room which wasn¡¯t cleaned ¨C ever.

    Some had electrodes plugged into all mucous membranes and holes in their body, others had long cuts from the neck to the genitals, and the organs inside were clearly visible, while others had their heads and brains opened and pierced through with something sharp.

    The man watching the scene asked the Double-Headed Serpent.

    ¡°¡­ What do you think? Is it what Eugene said?¡±

    Flicker replied with its tongue hanging out.

    ¡°¡­ Right. They just don¡¯t react. All of them are clearly conscious. Even if they can¡¯t move, their body and senses are alive. It¡¯s magic.¡±

    The man frowned invisibly.

    It was like awakening during some kind of anesthesia. They couldn¡¯t even lift a single finger despite feeling the extreme pain that vited their body.

    Reflective reactions such as screams and scuffles would have a mild pain-dispersing effect, but unfortunately, those who were there weren¡¯t allowed to do so. Humans couldn¡¯t make even a tiny sound even though their flesh was shredded and torn alive. There was deep despair in the sight that couldn¡¯t express one¡¯s pain in any way.

    ¡°ording to Eugene¡¯s guess. It¡¯s not just about causing physical pain!¡±

    Noel agreed with ster.

    ¡°¡­ Right. Its purpose is to make them fall into bottomless despair. But it¡¯s weird. They¡¯d go crazy in less than a day if they were treated like this.¡±

    The man looked around him for a moment, and he said as if he was sure of something.

    ¡°I see. They can always recover.¡±

    ster asked back.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°All the humans caught here are wizards, and even from the government standpoint, if they die or go crazy, it will be their loss. Given that, the torture going on here is too intense. Let¡¯s say they¡¯re splitting up his stomach. If they put an awl in his brain like that, he won¡¯t be able to recover with human technology.¡±

    Another scene that convinced the man was a wizard who had his toes burning on a torch. He seemed to be in his early twenties. The blond young man, whose body was fixed on the operating table, felt extreme pain as if his brain was melting, but without even a slight convulsion, with an expressionless face, only tears dripped from his eyes.

    Rather, if the leg was cut cleanly, it could be reattached, but it couldn¡¯t be revived ever with human technology if it was burned that way.

    Yes, with human technology.

    ¡°They¡¯re not abandoning the wizards here. Paradoxically, they¡¯re doing that forter use. However, it is difficult to electrify with permanent obstacles left in the body. Then, in the end, whether they have be a body or a spirit, they can ¡®recover¡¯ it.¡±

    Neither that level of medicine nor that level of magic was present in humans on Earth.

    Flicker stretched its tongue and pointed in one direction with the tip of its tongue. Noel looked at it, and he measured the direction and distance and jumped off in no time.

    An invisible blow hit the shadows in the corner of theb.

    -Boom!

    The concrete floor was dented, and a bizarre creature cried out in a shady corner where no one had looked before.

    -Kweeeeeeeeeck

    There was a hole in the shoulder of the alien that revealed its hidden appearance. Noel slowly lifted it, piercing its body with his transparent arm.

    The alien opened its three mouths and screamed constantly. At the same time, it attempted tomunicate telepathically.

    =Stop! =

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Noel didn¡¯t care and gave strength to the arms that pierced the body of the alien. The muscles swelled and the holes erged. Beyond the concept of simple blood, fluorescent liquids of together, it was a race that carried out biological activity through several kinds of circting fluids.

    Liquids flowed down over the flesh of the alien and the transparent skin of Noel. Now, Noel¡¯s body looked like a CG dummy describing the nervous system in a medical documentary.

    -Kweeeeeeeeeck

    The alien screamed and then threw up telepathy again.

    =Stop! Your actions are now interpreted as a vition of the mutual cooperation agreement concluded between the Earth dimension ¡®Russian Federation¡¯ and the Kalyshkhum-Deaum Dimension ¡®Yamgireum Apostolic State.¡¯ And you notified us that this ¡®training center¡¯ may be subject to Russian public authorities¡¯ punishment! =

    It rolled the meaning of telepathy, which was transmitted roughly and quickly, in its mind, and in the end, Flicker asked as if it couldn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°What bullshit are you talking about?¡±

    Noel answered its question without lowering the arms that raised the alien.

    ¡°It is said we¡¯re all over with the Russian government to make and run this mess.¡±

    =Y-Yes! =

    Whether it was judged to be a conversation partner, the urgency and a little bit of hope were mixed in the alien race¡¯s telepathy.

    =ording to the agreement, the Russian government is required to punish humans at the global level who havemitted any hostilities against this ¡®training center.¡¯ In particr, it is strictly forbidden to do any harm to saints like us! ording to the agreement, you will be punished more than allowed by Russian domesticw, so please withdraw immediately before increasing any more sins! =

    Noel, who was enjoying the telepathy, responded.

    ¡°¡­ Hmm, what about this? We are not citizens of this country¡­¡±

    The alien race shot it as if it had expected it.

    =Whoever you may be, the Russian Federation will bring harsh retaliation! =

    It continued to say whether it concluded that Noel, who didn¡¯t show up, and Amphisbaena, who didn¡¯t appear to be an ordinary Earth creature, were from a different dimension.

    =I don¡¯t know which country on Earth you are connected to, but ording to the agreement we made, the Russian Federation will punish no matter who it is¡­=

    ¡°¡­ Hey.¡±

    Noel, who was listening, calmly blocked the telepathy of the alien race. Then he spat out his words coldly.

    ¡°That agreement, is it fair?¡±

    =W-What do you mean?!=

    ¡°Is the Russian government properly aware? The purpose of this experiment.¡±

    Noel looked around. Human wizards were suffering from irresistible pain.

    =¡­ This is something the Russian Federation government has already agreed on! Reinforcing mental power through extreme pain is a vision thates down to our Yamgireum Apostolic State! =

    ¡°By giving pain and destroying the body right before death, then recovering it, and rebuilding the mind when going crazy?¡±

    =This is the way to develop quality wizards faster than any other country on Earth, and there are already sessful cases¡­=

    Noel once again cut off the thought of the alien, and he spoke to the alien race in a colder voice.

    ¡°Have you just exined that? About this filthy thing of trying to ¡®cross the wall¡¯ by stimting the soul with pain?¡±

    =¡­=

    The alien stopped screaming like it had forgotten the pain. It opened its three mouths at that moment because of the horror, and it spat out a confusing thought.

    =Uh¡­ how could you?!=

    ¡°If you had been quietly building schools, sending instructors, and raising wizards in a normal way just like other alien races in other countries, we would not have flocked together like this. Why are you bothering me by doing this useless thing? Do you know how much work has been pushed by other countries for cleaning up Russia now?¡±

    The alien trembled as if it was unbelievable.

    =That¡­ that¡¯s¡­=

    At that time, apprentices rushed into theboratory; they had cleaned up all the secret base¡¯s external forces.

    Flicker turned its head towards them and instructed.

    ¡°There is only one alien that was hiding here. Start collecting!¡±

    The apprentices took the wizards from all over theb. They moved them outside, following the executive¡¯s instructions, and even when it saw it, the alien didn¡¯t dare resist and was shivering.

    Looking down at it, Noel said quietly.

    ¡°The really annoying part of you guys¡­ this method is dirty, but it¡¯s not another method that makes any difference at all. Other than those temporary reinforcements that the Russian government manipted as a sess¡­ There may be people who cross the wall, although the odds are really, really low¡­ After all, our boss is a man who thinks that the risk is either 0 or 100 only.¡±

 Chapter 86

    The Curtain Rises (6)

    Noel looked down at the alien and spoke. ¡°Okay, then. Youe with us.¡±

    =¡­W-What?!=

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to be interrogated here. Many of our colleagues are full of inquiry and creativity.¡±

    He paused there and looked at the wizards being carried out by the apprentices. Most of them were hard to call people¡ªthose who escaped from the silent torture chamber and entered the organization¡¯s hands.

    ¡°The reason I made those humans like breathing bodies that cannot speak¡­ is because the purpose isn¡¯t an interrogation. But don¡¯t worry. Our colleagues will be very loyal to the original concept of torture.¡±

    No one saw Noel¡¯s eyes, smiling like a crescent moon.

    ¡°We have so many things we want to hear from you. Eugene couldn¡¯t find out all the details. Why do you have toe over to this dimension and do this experiment¡­ What is the purpose of forcing them to go over the wall?¡±

    The alien groaned, and its mouth was wide open.

    ¡°You have three mouths. You can scream as much as you want. There¡¯s nothing to prevent telepathy, so scream as you please and scream with your brainwaves. You¡¯re an alien, so we must wander a little at first. If we pierce and cut you here and there with a faithful inquisition, we¡¯ll soon know where the pain is most sensitive.¡±

    =Ugh! =

    The will of the alien was mixed with fear.

    Looking at it, Noel continued, ¡°And, you¡¯d better look forward to it. Our specialists are more inspirational when unfamiliar materialse into their hands.¡±

    =How are you dealing with theter problem? =

    ¡°Theter problem?¡±

    =If you do that, there¡¯s room for conflict between dimensions. Kidnapping and torturing a saint! I don¡¯t know what dimension you used to live on, but the Apostolic States will surely find you and retaliate! =

    The alien stuttered his six arms while continuing to express its thoughts. Among them, the two movements on the back were strange. Two arms stretched at apletely different angle from the four arms on the sides. Flicker said, looking closely at the dance-like movement of the finger.

    ¡°Noel.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°The two longest arms on its body¡­¡±

    Noel pointed his finger at the part that Flicker was talking about. Then the snake nodded.

    ¡°Yeah, that thing on its back. Tear off all the fingers at the end.¡±

    The body of the alien hardened in an instant.

    =¡­W-What?!=

    The reaction was unusual, but Noel didn¡¯t ask Flicker¡¯s words back. He didn¡¯t even ask why Flicker said that. He quickly pulled out his hand, which prated the alien¡¯s shoulders as soon as the serpent¡¯s words fell.

    =This¡­=

    The alien body, which was struggling in the air, fell to the floor with a thud. Before twisting or turning over, Noel put one foot on the back. The weight of the body was loaded and pressed gently to lock it in ce.

    -Kraaaack!

    The saint struggled, suffering from the weight pressing the thorax. Noel¡¯s transparent hand approached. Noel grabbed the wrists of the alien. Then he grabbed six smooth fingers with his other hand. All six were wet on the surface, but Noel quickly realized that they were surrounded by tough armor outside.

    That wasn¡¯t going to work with normal force, Noel murmured inside. The fingers were as hard as metal.

    On the other hand, the alien felt that something that couldn¡¯t be seen touched the end of its body. At that moment, its whole body began to twitch. The alien was terrified watching its fingers lean up.

    =Now, wait! Stop! It¡¯s my fault! I¡¯ll stop right now! =

    Noel pulled out six fingers at once without a single word of mockery.

    -Zheeeeck!

    The steel-like exoskeleton of the fingers burst out and tore off. The screams that tore through the air echoed with no time difference.

    -Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaak! Kwaaaaaaaaaarrrgh!

    The saint¡¯s body shook like a fish that was just taken out of water. Fluorescent bubbles leaked out of the mouth. As if body fluids were spewing out of the skin like sweat, the clothes it was wearing began to stain without distinction between the upper and lower bodies. As the garment¡¯s color became darker due to the secretions, the unpleasant smell filled the room.

    ster grumbled, trying to vomit in vain.

    ¡°Hmm! It¡¯s disgusting. Is it a race that excretes through pores? That¡¯s why it is peeing shit right now.¡±

    Flicker was taking the word as if it was fun.

    ¡°Wow, it shits all over the body? It looks like shit. Does it take off its clothes every time it does business?¡±

    ¡°Since the skin is the excretory organ, so maybe it can get rid of it together when it washes its bodies.¡±

    ¡°Hahahaha! What a real headache! Does it take a shit every time it takes a shower?¡±

    The snakeheads started joking around with each other. Meanwhile, the alien couldn¡¯t ovee the pain and hit theboratory floor like crazy with his head, making cracks on the concrete floor with a thumping sound.

    -Khuaaaaaraaaaaaaaaaaagh!

    =Kill me! Please kill me! =

    It was a violent reaction that wasn¡¯tparable to when the shoulder was pierced.

    ¡®Is the finger on the back a vital point? They¡¯re unusual.¡¯

    Along with the screams, the telepathy of the alien resonates. Noel looked at the six fingers in his hand without any hesitation.

    The hard shell burst out, but it wasn¡¯tpletely cut off despite his great power.

    Noel frowned at seeing a long stretch of stic cartge that was utterly different from human finger bones. Six thin milk-colored strands dangled from the fingers held by Noel and the hands of the alien.

    Flicker was asking to pull out its finger, which Noel interpreted as perfect cutting was needed. His des cut through the air.

    =¡­ No!=

    Simply enough to make the alien scream. Six tubes were cut off andpletely separated the fingers from the body.

    -Kwaaaaaaaaargh! Kwaaaaaaaargh!

    =It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts¡­! =

    Pink and white liquids were mixed and flowed down from the cut-out tubes.

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    ster looked at the madman as if it were interesting, and its eyes suddenly stopped to the human wizard who was carried beyond it.

    At the peculiar strange scenery, ster murmured inside. There was a young wizard with blond hair on a stretcher. He was the one whose two feet were being burned in the torch me until a while ago. His body was still paralyzed, so he was facing forward with the stretcher raised and his head bent.

    An expressionless young man was lying on the floor on his cheek. His eyes were facing toward the alien, which was rolling on the floor.

    ¡®It said that his senses are all alive, and his vision must be fine, so he must be watching this very well.¡¯

    ster found the situation extremely interesting. What would it feel like to see the alien, who had been torturing in silence so far, screaming and struggling with pain?

    ster curiously guessed what the wizard, who couldn¡¯t move his body but still had his senses and thoughts, might be thinking. In the meantime, the alien screamed sharply and choked up.

    -Uuuuuugh¡­! Uuuuuugh¡­!

    All three vocal cords were ruptured, and at that moment, it was barely making any sound.

    He begged telepathically.

    =It hurts! Please! Stop it! I¡¯ll tell you everything! It hurts! It hurts! How could you break the Holy Armor with force like that? I¡¯ll tell you everything!=

    The alien was quick and eager to share its thoughts.

    =We had no choice but to conduct this experiment because all the other native tribes were destroyed in our dimension! It¡¯s not that animals can¡¯t cross the wall. Still, in probability, the higher the intelligence, the higher the probability of crossing the wall, so we turned our eyes to another dimension! That¡¯s why we¡¯re targeting humans of this dimension¡­=

    The alien acted instinctively in terrible pain. In a half-distracted state, it vomited information it knew to stop the torture. At the same time, it moved its back finger to use a trick to escape from the spot. It was an attempt it wouldn¡¯t want to try if it had a calmer mind.

    One head of the Double-Headed Serpent told him to pull out its fingers since it had already figured out the function. However, the alien, whose reason had been blurred, couldn¡¯t even think about it.

    Noel¡¯s hands were already moving before Flicker urged him.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless to tell me here. We have specialists. Have a friendly secret talk with them.¡±

    Noel began to pull out the rest of its fingers with all the information it had poured out in his head.

    =Stop! It hurts! It hurts! Please! I¡¯ll tell you everything, please! We needed a sacrifice! I needed a sacrifice! To dedicate the spirit that crossed the wall to the apostle. God wants a noble soul! The soul that did not cross the wall is meaningless to God¡­ We wanted to offer more sacrifices. More¡­ and more¡­=

    The alien race, who were confused by pain, began to pour out all the information they wanted beyond simple plea. It wanted to stop this pain somehow. Sadly, Noel intended to pull out all of its fingers, as Flicker said, no matter what information it gave or didn¡¯t give.

    Noel¡¯s hand moved without hesitation.

    -Craaack! Craaaaack!

    All remaining fingers were also pulled out and cut off.

    =Kheaaaaaarghhhhh!=

    The alien race screamed out of its mind.

    The snakeheads also listened to the information, but they knew there was no change in the justification for removing the fingers. Flicker spoke.

    ¡°Every time it moved its finger on its back, the Mana vibrated slightly. It seems to be the kind of magic that forms a spell with the movement of its fingers. It was wonderful.¡±

    ¡°Huh, huh, what?¡±

    ster asked back as if he was dumbfounded. It was apletely different system from theirmon sense, which constituted spells by voice. Noel didn¡¯t know why he had to do this until he pulled out all 12 fingers in both arms. Noel nodded his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s a strange race. It is protected by exceptionally thick outer armor. It seems like a vital spot among the vital ces when we see such a violent reaction after it¡¯s damaged. But why the fingers?¡±

    Noel, who was muttering like, suddenly stopped talking. He observed the body. Four arms were raised on the side, and two arms were raised behind the back. Only the two arms¡¯ fingers removed at that moment were exceptionally long and wrapped in solid material.

    ¡°Ah¡­ they are not your arms? Not even your fingers?¡±

    ¡°Huh? What are you saying?¡±

    Noel carefully expressed his spection.

    ¡°No matter how much I look at these two on its back, I don¡¯t think they will function as a hand. Andpared to the arm on the side, the shape is a little different, and the fingers are different¡­¡±

    Flicker tilted its head.

    ¡°If they are not hands¡­¡±

    Noel took the serpent¡¯s words.

    ¡°Any vital spot that is sensitive to pain and protrudes outside the body, then its function is usually¡­¡±

    Currently, the same answer passed through the heads of Noel and the two snakes.

    ¡°Ah¡­ this can¡¯t be¡­¡±

    Noel looked at the twelve fingers in his hand with a terrifying expression.

    ¡°Ah, shit!¡±

    He threw them on the floor as if he had touched something dirty. To ster¡¯s and Flicker¡¯s eyes, those looked like fingers in the air seemed to fall out of the air suddenly.

    Even in Flicker¡¯s eyes, who had the highest Mana level in the ce, Noel wasn¡¯t seen. However, Flicker read Noel¡¯s expression through the vibrations of the air.

    Flicker burst outughing pleasantly.

    ¡°Puahahaha! That¡¯s amazing. So that bastard eventually built-up spells by swinging ¡®that¡¯ instead of its fingers?¡±

    After the moment of pain passed, and the alien, who had barely started to regain its reason, barely shed its thoughts, spreading on the floor under Noel¡¯s feet.

    =¡­You, devilish bastard¡­=

    Noelughed at him and replied.

    ¡°Are you back to your senses?¡±

    =Euu¡­=

    ¡°We have also disabled the magic, so let¡¯s go.¡±

    Noel dragged the alien along. ster muttered behind him.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe they make people crossing the wall by stimting the soul with the negative feeling. It¡¯s a method I¡¯ve never imagined.¡±

    Noel answered back.

    ¡°If it seeds, it will be iplete because it isn¡¯t the proper method¡­ Still, I couldn¡¯t have looked at Eugene¡¯s personality. Imagine the sight of human demons who cross the wall from this support.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    ¡°What would the Great One say when he sees the scene after being resurrected? ¡®Human¡¯ who has crossed the wall should not increase a single one since he came. This is a strict rule.¡±

    ¡°Even if it¡¯s an offering to the god of diarrhea.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s see if what it has just said is real. Even if everyone who crossed the wall was kidnapped to its dimension, what if some of them stood out?¡±

    The alien, who was listening to their conversations, ground its teeth to see if it was graduallying back to its senses and asked,

    =What the hell are you¡­! =

    Noel nced at it and replied.

    ¡°Hmm. You don¡¯t know, but our policy has been like this so far.¡±

    =What do you mean?!=

    ¡°Avoid all-out war with the alien races.¡±

    =¡­=

    The exception was an alien race with mental abilities. It was going around alone without a group and came into the hands of the U.S. government. They tried to intervene and get it out of there. Unfortunately, the result was a failure.

    ¡°In the case of other countries, if there is a mix of alien race instructors¡­ We would just let them go because we don¡¯t want to make an enemy. When a human wizard pretends to be on a rampage, most of them will run away while hiding instead of intervening. It¡¯s dangerous to get caught up in a crazy wizard. After that, there were many cases where the contract was automatically canceled, and they returned to the original dimension¡­ But the story has changed a little about your people.¡±

    He continued his words as he moved on.

    ¡°Do you know how we¡¯ve been managing these humans in this dimension over the years? It was enough to erase the existence of magic from its history. Will the soul rise? I¡¯m afraid about that. We¡¯re also in a bad temper with the magic that has been spreading out little by little. These bad methods to force the soul to evolve? It sounds like a big deal.¡±

    Hearing the transparent beings¡¯ words, the alien realized something was different from their own guesses. What on earth were these people?

    To the confused, self-proimed saint, Noel said withughter.

    ¡°Anyway, congrattions. All of your race that havee over to this dimension will not be able to die easily.¡±

 Chapter 87

    The Curtain Rises (7)

    ¡°The VIP is taking this very seriously, too.¡±

    The man in the suit said with a serious expression. His hair was grey, and his voice was stuffy, as if he had caught a cold.

    Kim Kyung-hwan thought while looking at the wrinkles engraved on his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth. His cheeks and forehead were firm, but he couldn¡¯t fool his age. That old man must be an incredibly high-status person. That person was old enough to be considered among the agents he had seen since admission.

    ¡°This is thest thing to behave dangerously without following the controls. Also, if this kind of thing happens again, I won¡¯t let it over. Be careful.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwanughed inwardly. What if he didn¡¯t let it over? He replied half-heartedly, thinking so.

    ¡°I will be careful.¡±

    So, thest interview ended. He closed the door and went out into the hallway.

    ¡°Ah¡­ I¡¯m bored. It¡¯s barely over now.¡±

    Interviews thatsted several days were devoted most of their time to persistent questions about how he improved his magic without Kaifu¡¯s help, rather than rebuking idental behavior.

    ¡®If this kind of thing happens again¡­ he said?¡¯

    He repeated the words to himself. The man with grey hair referred to as ¡®this kind of thing¡¯ assumed that Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t obey the control. However, Kim Kyung-hwan was drawing a different situation.

    What if another raid urs in front of him again?

    Of course, he had toe out like that day andy it all down with magic!

    ¡®Isn¡¯t that the role of the main character?¡¯

    He had a sense of superiority that only he was chosen. Joy was like a drug. As the threshold rose, it coveted more stimtion. Kim Kyung-hwan wanted a stronger thrill.

    Some more, a little, some more!

    Deep emotions swirled and burned red. Kim Kyung-hwan thought.

    ¡®Ah somehow¡­ I hope more bad guyse in in earnest than this so that I can go wild as much as I want. No worries because Eraser will inform me in advance and teach me how to deal with it anyway. I don¡¯t know if other monsters are aiming at wizards other than those Waterbirds. Are there any more guys aiming here?¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t imagine himself going into a dangerous situation as long as he had Eraser. It felt like the goddess of luck was pushing him behind him back. Well, it wasn¡¯t like a goddess, but an alien race with dozens of eyes.

    -Wheeeeeng

    The wind fluttered through the open window in the hallway with the scent of greenery mixed in it. It was the beginning of summer.

    Kim Kyung-hwan imagined while blowing a whistle. A massive raid on a scaleparable to a few days ago could drive this base to the brink of destruction, and how he once again rescued the training camp from that crisis. The daydream continued.

    ¡®So, don¡¯t they at least reward me? Instead of talking like they¡¯d like to let it get over this time?¡¯

    The thought follows one after another.

    ¡®VIP is taking it seriously? Huh, if it¡¯s not the president, so what? Even if the army managed to take care of the white giants of the Mapo Bridge, they would be helpless if the Waterbirds came in droves? They have no choice but to rely on me.¡¯

    He said sarcastically, recalling the agent¡¯s words.

    ¡®In the movie, the aliens blow up the White House first. In there, the president of the United States is a very extreme job. I don¡¯t know why reality is so peaceful. If it were me, I¡¯d break the Blue House as soon as I cross the Channel. Once they get confused, they¡¯ll take the wizard more preciously, right? It¡¯s an investment in the future.¡¯

    He keptining as he walked.

    ¡®The alien races beyond 300 Channels need to work harder. What are they doing? Get to work. An alien race, let¡¯s confide at the White House right now. That way, other countries know that they are scared and that wizards are valuable.¡¯

    The young man¡¯s fantasies continued. In the picture in his head, the monsters were now invading the White House, not the Hun-neung training center and the Blue House. At the end of his actions, the other dimension¡¯s invaders were annihted. Then, the U.S.President praised himself up as a hero in front of the crowded reporters.

    Kim Kyung-hwanughed as he drew a scene where he and a middle-aged white man he saw on TV shook hands. He started to seriously think about whether to study English as soon as possible.

    ***

    The sunset glowed red above the border of the entangled clouds. There was a garden filled with people. The words of the public affairs office staff echoed through the speaker.

    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, please wee the President of the United States of America, Benjamin Greenwood, with a round of apuse.¡±

    Participants seated at an outdoor table stood up at once. The sound of apuse resonated in the rose garden. A brown-haired man, walking in the background of people¡¯s wee, stood in front of a podium on thewn.

    As he gave a light greeting, the attendees sat around a circr table covered with a white cloth. The president¡¯s weing speech followed.

    In a little while, it was time for the sun to go down, but no matter how much it was outdoors in early summer, Eugene D. Wright grumbled inside and looked at the senator sitting on the left. A heavy woman, who likely weighed twice as much as him, was wiping sweat flowing through her folded flesh with her stretched handkerchief.

    Eugene turned his eyes, and he looked at the secretary sitting at his right this time. She was sitting upright in an ivory dress that contrasted her brown skin. This kind of party always gave Grace, who followed as a plus one, a sense that people around here won¡¯t hear.

    ¡®Who on earth did this cement?¡¯

    Grace replied with a soft answer.

    ¡®It must¡¯ve been done by the public office, well.¡¯

    Eugene slightly frowned. The two constantly exchanged telepathy while the president stood on the podium and continued.

    ¡®Tell those stupid people to look at this intertwine if they have eyes. Senator Conway is big enough to eat three ordinary people. The table that seats that person needs to be taken out of two chairs to fit the space. Does it make sense to have six full seats like this right now?¡¯

    Eugene gritted his teeth while feeling the senator¡¯s original smell that he wouldn¡¯t be able to detect due to the strong smell of perfume like a normal human being.

    ¡®As they arrange our seats, we get to sit tightly! The smell of her sweat is going to rot my nose, and I¡¯m going crazy because she¡¯s wearing perfume¡­¡¯

    ¡®If you don¡¯t like the smell so much, kill her. Then at least you won¡¯t encounter them at the next party.¡¯

    ¡®Don¡¯t talk nonsense.¡¯

    Senator Conway and Eugene continued sitting next to each other. She was very favorable to the foundation run by Eugene.

    The in-house lobbyist Eugene puts on Conway was using his specialty to attack her body and mind faithfully instead of the most persuasive andmon means of money.

    Anyway, Senator Conway was one of those useful tools. It was a waste to kill her just because her smell was terrible.

    While Eugeneined a few more words to his beloved secretary, Suddenly Grace stopped his boss.

    ¡®Ah, wait a minute. Eugene.¡¯

    ¡®Why?!¡¯

    ¡®I got a contact.¡¯

    ¡®Who?! What is it about? For what?!¡¯

    Grace¡¯s willingness made the boss¡¯s telepathy, which was mixed with irritation, stop at once.

    ¡®The executives, from the real business, are reporting the progress.¡¯

    Eugene¡¯s eyes sank seriously.

    ¡®¡­ What did they say?¡¯

    ¡®Russia, the cleanup isplete.¡¯

    ¡®Is it?¡¯

    Eugene¡¯s face, which had hardened, was bright as if it had been. He grinned for a moment with a very satisfied look and soon gave a series of brief instructions.

    ¡®Tell them to go back to the headquarters, get some rest and regroup to do their homework. There¡¯s no need for all the executives to be involved in the information process, right? The top priorities are Germany, Mozambique, and Korea.¡¯

    ¡®The designated name?¡¯

    Eugene called the names of executives to be dispatched to Germany and Mozambique, respectively. And on the Korean turn, he hesitated for a while.

    ¡®I¡¯d like to bring the guest along while we¡¯re on our way there. But, I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s still there.¡±

    ¡®If he were there half a year ago and were seen there even a month ago, wouldn¡¯t he be more likely to stay in Seoul right now?¡¯

    ¡®Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t know what kind of gold was buried in the neighborhood. Anyway, now that we¡¯re out of breath, we should pay attention to that guest. I want to get the brainwashing ability even if it¡¯s a bit too difficult.¡¯

    Grace nodded. ording to the original organization¡¯s policy, the priority response to the alien race was to investigate and defend. However, the individuals presumed to be in Seoul were outside the list. His boss still hadn¡¯tpletely given up on him.

    Eugene looked at the president in front of the podium.

    Since the world had changed, one person couldn¡¯t move the country freely just by asking one of the nation¡¯s rulers. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t that simple to make an incumbent president anti-immortal.

    Due to frequent media exposure, physical changes were immediately noticeable. The White House Medical Unit (WHMU) performed as the neighborhood¡¯s priority once in a while, and the results of regr health check-ups were all in government records.

    There were so many reasons why Eugene wouldn¡¯t bite Benjamin Greenwood, other than the extremely close to personal preference that he didn¡¯t want to push his teeth into the neck of a human male in his 60s.

    But what if he could brainwash him in a way that didn¡¯t involve physical changes? It was a fascinating scenario to manipte his mind without touching his body. Moreover, what if he could brainwash not just the president but many key positions in the government and the parliamentary?

    God Bless, America. How many people in this country could serve as food for Eraser? Anyway, if he did that, everything would be a hundred times easier now.

    Grace told Eugene.

    ¡®Then¡­ it means that we will collect the Korean wizards and collect the guest as well.¡¯

    ¡®Right. The human wizard is the main dish in terms of back and after. Did you hear what happened recently?¡¯

    Grace sent her affirmation. Eugene scratched his chin for a moment, then said as if he had finally decided.

    ¡®There are a lot of suspicious things, there are a lot of targets to be captured, and we need an inquiry. Let¡¯s send Alice to Seoul because the number of people seems to be important. Her children will be of help.¡¯

    ¡®Apart from Alice? Are we sending only one executive?¡¯

    ¡®Of course not. Choose moderately among the remaining hands. Anyway, it¡¯s not the ability to influence and receive influences no matter who you match, right?¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s true.¡¯

    Grace nodded. And this time, to make a usible reason for what she should use for GIBW, the Global Initiative for a Better World, to enter Korea, she was deeply contemted.

    Meanwhile, Eugene¡¯s gaze continued to stay toward the president. Having finished his greeting, he now sat down at the table. The president closed his eyes before eating and prayed with his hands together. His expression was very reverent, and his prayerssted longer than anyone else sitting there.

    ***

    The longsting prayer-like spell was almostpleted. A high-dimensional terminal that didn¡¯t know whether it was the will of God or an alter ego responded to my call.

    I was on my knees in the clean, most magically stabilized chamber.

    -Woooooong¡­

    The air vibrated little by little.

    The preparation waspleted. I muttered only inside without making a sound out of my mouth. Even a handful of unauthorized sounds in this ce might be considered irreverent and might ruin the ritual.

    A powerful and magical white cohesion formed a magic circle in front of me. On top of it, a creature shining in a transparent blue color sat quietly.

    Its body resembled a deer, its head resembled a cat, and its forehead had buffalo-like horns. It was a race called L¨¹er. A creature that justpleted a contract and was invoked through the Channel on my chest.

    I promised L¨¹er clean and pure Mana as the contract¡¯s price, and I had already handed over the Mana cohesion to L¨¹er. The time hade to return it to its original dimension as the contract was made.

    If it was a normal case as usual, yes.

    I quietly opened my mind and measured the soul of the other person. It was possible to peek because there was a connection between the contractors¡¯ souls.

    Yes, this is fine.

    -Wooooong!

    I realized the time hade. I was careful not to let my emotions leak out and hardened my mind. I was about to unterally terminate this contract soon and bear all penalties for it.

    I lifted the ck dagger in my hand and looked down at the creatures of the higher dimension. The summoner looked up at me and made a noise.

    ¡°Kwoooong?¡±

    The emotion I felt was curiosity. It¡¯s pping its nose. In its clear eyes, I could see myself raising a dagger. The face reflected in the pupil showed no emotion.

    As I prepared to break my contract with the summoner, I continued the ceremony of establishing a rtionship with God. The highlight of the prayer-like spell that continued for a long time. The most important sentence was spit out of my mouth.

    ¡°¡­ Therefore, to the Great One¡­¡±

    I vigorously cut down the sharply forged dagger.

 Chapter 88

    The Curtain Rises (8)

    -Pugh!

    The dagger, which looked like a sharp edge on a ck stone, struck L¨¹er¡¯s neck. Blue blood flowed like crazy, and my hands were instantly stained with sticky blood. There was a familiar smell in the room. L¨¹er¡¯s blood smelled like a peach.

    As the Mana at the tip of my hand increased, a foreign force began to intervene in the room. This space was already in contact with the sculpture of God. The ritual was in progress and could no longer be taken back.

    It fell, looking up at me. L¨¹er died without a single scream, and its pupils began to rx toward me slowly.

    ¡°¡­ Keugh!¡±

    I barely swallowed a scream.

    It was a pain that shook the soul. It hurt. A different kind of pain from the physical pain drove me to pieces.

    The penalties given by the soul contract are terrible. If you couldn¡¯t deal with it, you could go crazy, and the reaction was proportional to the other party¡¯s soul. Ipleted my prayer, taking care not to lose my mind.

    ¡°¡­ I hope you could drop the spells, Dryflos.¡±

    The blood and flesh of the sacrifice began to be sucked into the center of the dagger that took L¨¹er¡¯s neck. I won¡¯t leave a drop of blood as usual.

    The pure energy overflowed since it was a higher-level being. However, it was a creature that was just good for a sacrifice because its soul was insignificant. Thanks to that, I was able to endure the penalty. If I had to break the contract with White Deer in this way, I would¡¯ve gone crazy at once.

    As time passed, the top of the white magic circle turned clean. The dagger ate all the remains.

    Thatpleted the tribute of the offering.

    Then, that time, as if rainwater dipped the dry and cracked earth, I felt the divine spell charging inside me. When the power that had risen within was condensed and stabilized. The foreign energy flowing in the room disappeared at once as if it had never been there before.

    Satisfied with the offering, God ced the spells on the wizard. That ended the ritual.

    ¡°Uuuugh!¡±

    I sat down because my knees were shaking. I gasped violently. Even if I go through the penalty of breaking a contract over and over again, I could hardly get used to it.

    I got down on my knees for a while, thenid down on the floor.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m going to die¡­ I¡¯m going to die¡­¡±

    I said, groaning. I should stretch out a little more. I barely raised my trembling hands in the aftermath of the shock and looked up at the summoner¡¯s blood-stained in the palm for a moment. L¨¹er¡¯s blood dried quickly, and the scent got thicker as it hardens.

    Even with a headache, like a woodpecker beating on my temple, I thought with hope. Ah, I wanted to eat peach-vored yogurt.

    ¡°The reason Dryflos loves L¨¹er is because it¡¯s delicious¡­¡±

    As I muttered that, I heard a will of doubt outside the door.

    [Are you done?]

    Parvache, who was approaching, opened the door to see if it had sensed that the ceremony was over.

    [This time, it ended quickly.]

    I hesitated and answered.

    ¡°Uh, as you can see.¡±

    From that point of view, Parvache taught me what should be offered for some gods. As it was now, for example, Dryflos was offered several creatures that meet certain criteria.

    Ironically, however, in terms of whether or not God needed this offering, it said that a species like L¨¹er, which was offered now, wasn¡¯t a snack from God¡¯s point of view. It said it was giving spells even though they were practically meaningless, right?

    Nevertheless, it was so tricky to meet the ¡°minimum¡± level that expresses sincerity. It was enough to open a Channel to a higher dimension and lure the creature there.

    Moreover, since that dimension had a short history, there were no creatures that could match the taste of Dryflos. Without the Channel on my chest, the ritual would¡¯ve been more difficult.

    [Are there enough spells charged?]

    ¡°It¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve had such a big charge since the day I got my first order from Dryflos.¡±

    A fight with an unpredictable enemy was ahead. The more preparation, the better.

    Parvache looked down at my white face and spoke.

    [¡­ So, why don¡¯t you take a rest today?]

    ¡°No, I have to collect more dreams.¡±

    Maek¡¯s magic could be helpful in an emergency. I needed to at least collect enough dreams, considering I hadn¡¯t made a new one after using the Ring of the me Storm.

    But¡­ I was exhausted, so I had to rest for an hour before starting.

    After lying down for a while, the back of my head got sore. I turned my head to the side. My face reflected on the white-coated marble floor. Dark circles that seemed to advance to the bottom of the nose stood out.

    Without knowing, I spat out, swearing inside.

    Kylgeniapros¡ªthat lunatic bastard.

    Dryflos was a noblemanpared to that bastard. It was easy to get the spells if I made a proper sacrifice. Given the absorption of the offering in the dagger, it probably devoured both the offering¡¯s body and soul. It was questionable whether it was useful.

    But Kylgeniapros, the God I first received the spells about half a year ago, demanded apletely different offering from me.

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t take it back at that moment¡­ damn it. But it was taking so much.¡±

    Not so long ago, Yusu, Garam, and even the Dell Giants asked me about my condition when they saw me. It meant that the bnce of my body had copsed to the point that it was visible. It wasn¡¯t just because of overwork.

    Unexpectedly, it was White Deer¡¯s two gatekeepers who approached the truth. I could remember what they said.

    ¡°Oh? The smell has changed a little. Where did you get hurt? Human Guru?¡±

    Feeling the exhaustion that weighed on my whole body, I thought the tribute of offering ritual was quite terrible. When a part of the body was offered as a sacrifice, the record was stored deep in the soul. It couldn¡¯t be reproduced in any way¡ªloss of body that didn¡¯t recover after drinking a few elixir bottles.

    Of course, I could recover through elixir when my physical strength was exhausted by moving my body violently. The problem was, I was in a situation where the maximum level of my physical abilities itself was down.

    After knowing the enemy¡¯s identity, there was a spell that had to be obtained this way.

    ¡°There is no god like Dryflos.¡±

    Parvache seemed to have noticed what I was thinking.

    ¡°It¡¯s harder to bear the penalty than before. I think it definitely affects my physical condition.¡±

    [¡­ Min-joon.]

    ¡°Last time is the first, andst I did. In the future, I will never ask a spell to a god who demands the caster¡¯s biological tissue as a sacrifice.¡±

    [¡­ The price was a bit high. I guess it would be asking for something that belongs to you¡­ but not such an explicit sacrifice.]

    ¡°I¡¯ll never recharge after consuming the spell this time. Damn, what¡¯s the value of ordinary human intestines? Why did it ask for something like that? Can¡¯t it just take it in moderation like other gods? It¡¯s just teasing me to get fucked, that dickhead.¡±

    Just as Yodmo asked for my memory (as expected at the time) as the contract¡¯s price, it would have some meaning to ask for the caster¡¯s body tissue. However, it only hurt and annoyed me from the point of being taken away. I poured myself into God¡¯s lust.

    It was a hundred times better to take away meaningless childhood memories. Later on, I saw the file saved on myptop, and it was really nothing.

    I made up my mind. God was also another thing, but I would never leave the people who created the reason for me to do that in the first ce.

    The time wasing. Not long ago, I sensed the magic unfolding in the Hun-neung. It was obviously the magic of the message system. He must¡¯ve been confident that he cheated the eyes of Kaifu, but he couldn¡¯t escape my eyes.

    The bait that I spread through Kim Kyung-hwan was finally bitten.

    I muttered inside.

    Now, be strong, Mr. Kim Kyung-hwan. The high ground was right before your eyes.

    Analyzing the messages that they sent, it seemed that it wasn¡¯t far from here. I¡¯d wait for a little while¡­ I thought something good would happen.

    ***

    ¡°Oh, Kyung-hwan? Anything good happened?¡±

    It was an unexpected timing for him to talk.

    Kim Kyung-hwan, who checked the man¡¯s face, frowned as if his excitement had cooled down. His expression, who was drowning in daydreaming, hardened in an instant. When there was no answer, Baek Woon-gyuughed and continued his words.

    ¡°You look happy after all.¡±

    Why was he pretending to be so close to me these days? And¡­ how can we meet again here? Kim Kyung-hwan wondered if he was waiting for himself here. It was exquisite timing for a coincidence.

    ¡°¡­ Why?¡±

    ¡°The interview must have ended well, right? How was the atmosphere? Didn¡¯t you get scolded a lot?¡±

    Thinking he was the second ce in thest year, it sounded as if he wanted to receive even severe reprimands. It was like that to Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s ears.

    That guy looked at himself with anxious eyes, but it was only terrible for Kim Kyung-hwan to feel. Who cares who? Was that really true right now?

    It was just funny and the same.

    ¡°Being scolded? Well, no way.¡±

    During the long period of the interview, Kim Kyung-hwan exined the spell. In the process, he used only the concepts he learned at the training center, as Eraser told him, and the Kaifus were shocked and once again guaranteed Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s genius. Government agents looked mixed with expectations, surprises, and worries.

    Baek Woon-gyu nodded when he heard Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s insincere answer.

    ¡°That¡¯s how it ended up? What a relief. By the way, we were all so surprised! The magic you used, you came up with it by yourself. I heard that it was a way that Kaifu had never tried before.

    ¡°¡­ Ah, yes, well.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s really great. Beyond the originator of magic. You¡¯re the pride of all of us.¡±

    Saying so, Baek Woon-gyu tapped Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s shoulder with his left hand. The feeling of the ring on the finger hitting his shoulder des was strangely unpleasant. It didn¡¯t hurt, but an ufortable feeling of unknown reason spread to his body.

    Who did he dare to touch? Kim Kyung-hwan thought that the cause of the unpleasant sensations was the attitude of Baek Woon-gyu, who seemed to treat him as a subordinate.

    ¡®How many years older are you to act like a superior? Youme old man.¡¯

    Has he been in his early 30s? Come to think of it, Kim Kyung-hwan never asked for his age. Whether or not he saw a hardened expression, Baek Woon-gyu said with a smile on his mouth.

    ¡°I¡¯m really d. The instructors deny it, but if you weren¡¯t there, it might¡¯ve been a big deal, right? Thanks for saving us all. It was a relief that you stepped up at that time.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, well, yeah.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan tried to get out of there after saying goodbye. The other person seemed to want to continue talking more, but he ignored it and continued walking. He heard Baek Woon-gyu quietly talking behind his back.

    ¡°¡­ Thank you for stepping up, Kyung-hwan.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t respond.

    After being alone again and walking for a while, he was forced to stop again.

    Another trainee was approaching him.

    ¡®What day is it today? It¡¯s an idiot party. What¡¯s wrong with her again?¡¯

    Today¡¯s interviewsted quite a while. He wanted to wash and sleep quickly. He will meet Eraser in his dream and learn new and improved magic. He is in a hurry to go to the room.

    It wasn¡¯t very pleasant to see a person who he usually looked down at seemed to had another business with him in such a situation. Kim Kyung-hwan nced at the person in front of his eyes with a slight grimace.

    Although she had her long hair down, it couldn¡¯t cover all the ugly burn marks. He thought he was reluctant to look around the left eye of Hwang Soo-rim, which was distorted in dark red. Did she say she had a car ident before the Channel incident?

    ¡°What is it, Hwang Soo-rim?¡±

    Usually, among trainees of simr age, older people were called old brothers and old sisters. It was a natural culture among trainees, mostly in their 20s and 30s.

    He remembered that Hwang Soo-rim was two or three years older than himself. Still, he didn¡¯t want to call her old sister since she was a person he had alwayspletely ignored.

    ¡®They said she¡¯s still struggling in 1st ss, right?¡¯

    Hwang Soo-rim was walking straight toward him. Looking at it, Kim Kyung-hwan traced his memory.

    It said that she learned her magic at a remarkable pace in the early days of her admission. Her speed was so phenomenal that she was even told as a talented person that might threaten Baek Woon-gyu, who was number one at the time. Then one day, she suddenly bumped into the wall of growth, and the magic didn¡¯t increase any more as she has never been in the first ce.

    Unfortunately, she had been like that since Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s admission. So, she was in a state of sluggishness for about half a year.

    ¡®Wouldn¡¯t it be better to just get her out of here?¡¯

    Eraser and Kaifu instructors both said that mental power was also an important factor in learning magic. Kim Kyung-hwan thought that Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s sudden stop while growing rapidly would eventually be a matter of willpower.

    ¡®Is she desperate because she got stuck? If you want to live like that, you need to be mentally strong. I¡¯m sorry, I pity her.¡¯

    While thinking about it, Hwang Soo-rim came in front of him and stopped walking. Kim Kyung-hwan raised his chin as if he wanted to say something. Hwang Soo-rim looked up at him coldly. A cold and straight will leaked out of her exposed pupil.

    ¡®What?¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan thought in a moment of confusion. No matter how much he looked at it, it didn¡¯t look like the eyes of a desperate person. Was she the type that initially looked at people in this way?

    However, as soon as he heard the first word she brought out, Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s confusion cooled down as if pouring a bucket of water. As soon as he listened to Hwang Soo-rim, it was terrible irritation and anger that blossomed in his mind instead of confusion and curiosity.

    She suddenly said.

    ¡°The magic you used when fighting the monsters, did you really create it by yourself? You didn¡¯t, did you?¡±

 Chapter 89

    The Curtain Rises (9)

    Fierce anger hit the brainstem and came up.

    ¡®This bitch!¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan himself wasn¡¯t sure. Of course, he didn¡¯t think that he conjured the magic on his own. He knew well that it was like putting a spoon in his mouth, which Eraser served. Therefore, it wasn¡¯t due to resentment that he was so angry.

    It wasn¡¯t because her words disgusted him with what he wanted to hide from her. Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t feel a bit of shame or disgrace for the lies he spat out. He knew Eraser¡¯s existence in the first ce because he was chosen, and he thought others didn¡¯t deserve to know the truth.

    Therefore, the point of Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s angerid somewhere else.

    ¡®How dare this idiot!¡¯

    The low-level, first-ss magic trainee dared to doubt ¡®him,¡¯ the hope of humankind. It was an arrogant and irritable attitude.

    It was no longer important to him that her spections were true, and the grounds and clues of the suspects were unknown, but that the direction was quite urate. Cognitive disorders were almost incurable in men like him.

    ¡°What bullshit are you talking about?¡±

    He barely endured more tant swearing but couldn¡¯t hide his distorted expression.

    The atmosphere became harsh, but Hwang Soo-rim didn¡¯t avoid his eyes. She was looking confidently at her opponent with one eye. Kim Kyung-hwan nced at the traces of her left eye hidden behind her hair without realizing it.

    Behind her draped ck hair, a disfigured and scarred skin reflected. The left eyelid had a yellow scar instead of the pupil. It was even more disgusting to see it in such proximity.

    ¡®I don¡¯t know how the ident happened, but her eye looks like shit. Did she hit her eye on the stick while driving manually?¡¯

    The scar was impossible to recover even with Kaifu¡¯s magic. Usually, he would avoid looking at it from consideration for her, but Kim Kyung-hwan had nothing to be rough. He spoke bluntly with his gaze fixed on the burn marks.

    ¡°Suddenly, what nonsense is that?¡±

    However, Hwang Soo-rim continued, regardless of his hostility toward her.

    ¡°It¡¯s strange. You said you practiced alone with the knowledge taught by the Kaifu instructors? Whilebining magic in a new way, have you never sought advice from those who are actually guiding you? Why are you doing such inefficient things?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan gritted his teeth and said, ¡°¡­ Because I didn¡¯t have to ask.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Even if they made this magic first, they couldn¡¯t think ofbining it the way I use it. They¡¯re stuck in stereotypes. I think it¡¯s just frustrating to discuss the intermediate process with those guys¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s ridiculous. The stereotype is more than half broken just by you telling them a new concept. Besides, you take all the sses one-on-one, right? Why don¡¯t you ever show off that newbination you¡¯ve devised even when you¡¯re doing one-on-one training? Does it make sense that it was to avoid a frustrating debate?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s face turned red. She was going too far. Kim Kyung-hwan responded by grinding his teeth.

    ¡°Hey, Hwang Soo-rim. I don¡¯t know why I have to tell you this, but I¡¯ve already finished talking with Kaifu as well as human instructors. I was nning to show it after making a morepleted and polished form of thebination.¡±

    He was huffing and talking.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this personal? Not all people in the world live thinking like you. Isn¡¯t it so childish to think that everything is wrong if it¡¯s different from your thoughts?¡±

    ¡°No, that¡¯s also weird.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim squinted her right eye.

    ¡°When was thatplete version made?¡±

    ¡°Are you interrogating me now?!¡±

    ¡°When was thatbination-stylepletely made? No Kaifu instructors knew of it until the day the monster attacked this base. When you were thinking about whether or not to tell the Kaifus afterpleting the new spell, and the monsters were attacking us, was it the perfect timing for the perfect coincidence?¡±

    That question was already addressed in the interview. Kim Kyung-hwan responded sharply.

    ¡°No! Right, I used it to fight Waterbirds, but I¡¯ve been working on it! I¡¯m going to stabilize it, and then I¡¯m going to reveal it to the Kaifu instructors¡­¡±

    Because of his excitement, he wasn¡¯t aware that he used the word ¡®Waterbird¡¯ instead of the word ¡®monster,¡¯ and Kim Kyung-hwan continued full of emotion. Hwang Soo-rim cut off Kim Kyung-hwan with a low voice.

    ¡°But it¡¯s not like that? Isn¡¯t it alreadyplete?¡±

    Was that bitch really crazy?

    Kim Kyung-hwan frowned and became irritated.

    ¡°Ah, what are you talking about?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim added words with sharp eyes.

    ¡°During the interview, thebination you revealed was posted on the training center intr. All instructors and trainees checked on that. I saw it, too. That¡¯s an unfinishedbination?¡±

    ¡°Sigh! What the¡­¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwanughed in vain; he was dumbfounded.

    ¡°Hwang Soo-rim, aren¡¯t you really a genius? Well¡­ it¡¯s not just a form that makes sense once you see it.¡±

    Eraser also trained him by injection method. Even though he was in a hurry to memorize it, it wasn¡¯t abination whose logic and principle he could digest 100 percent. There was no way to understand even if she saw through it.

    ¡°Whether it¡¯s done or not, it¡¯s not something people like you would know, Hwang Soo-rim. That¡¯s bluffing. That¡¯s enough. Just think whatever you want. I¡¯m going.¡±

    Beggars get tangled up and make people feel bad. Kim Kyung-hwan turned around, grumbling inside. Suddenly Hwang Soo-rim reached out her hand and grabbed his wrist with a strong force. Kim Kyung-hwan, who was angry to the end of his head, turned his head and shouted.

    ¡°Ah, fuck, are you really crazy?!¡±

    ¡°Talk to me more.¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s over!

    Kim Kyung-hwan roughly shook his wrist.

    Hwang Soo-rim couldn¡¯t hold up and stumbled over her body due to the difference in weight and missed his hand.

    ¡°Ah really, you lunatic bitch.¡±

    He swore openly and looked at his wrist, which had been grabbed. It seemed she was wearing a ring on her finger that held him. As he released his hand, he saw a scratch. Kim Kyung-hwan gritted his teeth when he saw traces of red, although it wasn¡¯t enough to bleed or scar.

    ¡®She wouldn¡¯t be able to get married with that face, but why is she wearing something like that even though it¡¯s not a wedding ring? It¡¯s ridiculous.¡¯

    He stared at her and spoke.

    ¡°You must have some kinds of delusion, so don¡¯t go around like this ¨C and go to the infirmary quickly. There is a psychiatrist there.¡±

    Although he was shooting back at her violently, Hwang Soo-rim did not change her expression. Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t like to see her gaze peering on his face. Other than a mix of jealousy and envy that he was used to and enjoyed, he had another feeling.

    ¡°Tsk¡­¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan clicked his tongue and turned his back. And without self-consciousness, he got out of the spot with a faster pace.

    ***

    It was a little past midnight. Early on, I was up in the mountains surrounding the Hun-neung early on. I was about to wander around the foot of a mountain that was several kilometers in a radius. It was time for thest check around its perimeter.

    I looked around once during the day, but since it was a very sensitive magic circle, it was easily affected by Mana¡¯s distribution around it. I wanted to look at this game one more time ahead.

    ¡°Phew¡­¡±

    I wiped the sweat from my forehead. Although the eleration magic was applied, the burden on the body seems to build up to some extent.

    Mrs. Pearl looked at me with eyes that reflected worry.

    ¡°Are you okay, Yoon?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this is good enough¡­¡±

    I shrugged my shoulder as if there was nothing to worry about. Then I took out a bottle of elixir from the backpack and drank it. The lost body couldn¡¯t raise the limit of the human body¡¯s ability, but at least as much stamina as consumed could be restored.

    ¡°Ah, they¡¯re all here. This is thest one.¡±

    I nodded as I looked at the ce where Mrs. Pearl was pointing. Her dark hair shone smoothly under the moonlight while transforming into a human.

    ¡°Ah, thank you very much.¡±

    I greeted inside the hidden barrier. The answer came back soon.

    ¡°Master Yoon?¡±

    It was Yusu¡¯s voice.

    It was the 12th one. I arrived at thest altar hidden in the mountain.

    The door of the barriers opened as if guiding us inside. There was a small magic circle after passing through the concealed barrier. There was a branch of an Enchanted Wood tree shining silver in the center of the magic circle.

    Compared to the Enchanted Wood¡¯s size seen from its origin, it wasn¡¯t huge, but what was important was the nature of this tree. That Enchanted Wood was an excellent artifact created by the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker with magic principles, which was much higher than Parvache or mine.

    It ys a significant role in getting things going today.

    I approached and checked the status of the magic circle. After all, there was nothing wrong. All eleven altars were fine.

    ¡°The magic circle has no problem¡­ how is everyone¡¯s Mana?¡±

    Yusu nodded at my question as if it was obvious, ¡°No problem.¡±

    White Deer were also gathered at this altar.

    Except for the residents of White Deer who couldn¡¯t physically leave the vige or go out the skills and magic that could be helpful in today¡¯s work were selected. I knew most of them through practice. I quietly greeted them.

    Among them, a viger who looked like a wolf spoke to me. I remember the face, but I didn¡¯t know the name.

    ¡°But are you sure? That they¡¯re showing up here today?¡±

    Did that person¡­ no, did that wolf lived only for being tricked? I tried not to show my expression and responded.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve been stealing what they¡¯remunicating with magic. It is today. It¡¯s also very soon.¡±

    The wolf nodded quietly. I looked around the residents and continued talking.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s nothing else I can exin to you here, right? Mrs. Pearl will give you a signal. Then as we¡¯ve practiced, you can put Mana into this Enchanted Wood. Then the Mana will move along the route I¡¯veid out, and I¡¯llplete the barrier in the center. That¡¯s it.¡±

    Twelve altars looked the same. Each had an equal distance between them and surrounded the base of Hun-neung in a circle like a siege.

    After that, Yusu and I chatted for a while. Then we waited for the night toe in silence.

    It was a lie if I said that I wasn¡¯t nervous because today was the first contact between them and us. There were also many difficult conditions, so yes, I was worried.

    We didn¡¯t just shoot magic at random and killed them, but we needed to capture the executives alive. Although it was possible to extract memories through Yodmo even when they died, the problem was that a tool to output those memories wasn¡¯t good. The Fake God in my tank seemed to be almost saturated. Once captured alive, the interrogation was the top priority at that point.

    The magical eyes detected a truck approaching from a distance we had nted after a while.

    Parvache, who confirmed the appearance through the senses I shared, spoke.

    [Min-joon¡­]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    [¡­ Be careful.]

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    In Parvache¡¯s mind, there was a rare mixture of deep worries.

    What was it thinking now? The doubts I set aside these days about Parvache was about to sprout again, so I tried to suppress it. That wasn¡¯t the right time to be distracted.

    There were too many variables due to the beings whose abilities were unknown. But now, I couldn¡¯t even take a step back. How much had I already gave up for that moment today? Also, how much more would I have to lose if I didn¡¯t make it that day?

    I got up from my seat with a firm mind. I could see puppets getting off the truck in the dark. They were moving quickly to a training camp deep in Hun-neung.

    It was time for the curtain to rise on the main stage.

 Chapter 90

    Hunting Time (1)

    In the deep night, the apprentices infiltrated the base with darkness. The little figure who was watching the scene from behind said.

    ¡°Then I will go straight to the dorm. All the wizards will be there at this time. I have memorized the map.¡±

    Listening to her, a tall man looked up in the direction the voice came from. The woman, who had just spoken, was sitting on a branch. To be more precise, she was riding behind the neck of a scarlet parrot sitting on a branch.

    It didn¡¯t even look right in that darkness. The man, Hessler, spoke in a thin voice.

    ¡°Are you going to ride that bird?? Now that center is a bloody battleground where bulletse and go. What if you took such a cute kid and got shot? How can you be insensitive? I¡¯d rather lend you this one I¡¯m riding now, so why don¡¯t you take it?¡±

    Hessler, who couldn¡¯t see her face well, muttered in his heart and put magic in his eyes. Through the darkness, he could see a parrot sitting on a branch, and there was a small entity on top of it, a person smaller than his thumbnail.

    With blonde hair hanging down, Alice was sitting on the neck of a bird and looking down. With a distorted look.

    The object of that unpleasant gaze was Hessler himself.

    Ah, that kid, she really hated me like I was a bug, Hessler mumbled into his heart.

    Alice, looking at Hessler, subsided her anger, which had risen in a moment. What was heughing at? She wanted to shoot, but she barely endured. There was nothing to gain from arguing here.

    However, Hessler¡¯sst words made her emotions even more intense.

    ¡®How about riding this one?¡¯ he said. He¡¯s such a lunatic.

    She looked down at Hessler, frowning heavily.

    The white dress shirt shone in strange colors under the moonlight. The buttons weren¡¯t fastened properly; Alice could see the unruly chest hair underneath. He had a tall, muscr frame that was over 190cm.

    Besides that, his face was covered with thick makeup that would be considered excessive even for a woman. A purple eyeshadow, a touch of a shocking pink cheek that was toned with magic, and a bright red lipstick looked like a cat biting off after eating a few mice.

    His appearance was bizarre even during the day and at night.

    But no matter how he dressed or put on his makeup, Alice was ready to tolerate it. What made her angry was the ¡®ride¡¯ he was riding.

    ¡°Ouuuuuh¡­¡±

    Hessler¡¯s ride was a human carriage in which two men, who were ordinary humans, crossed their arms and forcibly sutured the other¡¯s shoulders.

    What was even more upsetting was that the two apprentices were in good shape up to ten minutes ago. However, as soon as he saw the mountain¡¯s foot, Hessler said it was troublesome to walk up, and he randomly selected two apprentices, twisting the two bodies with magic and fusing them.

    Then he got on the human carriage made of their arms and shoulders and rode his way above.

    ¡°Huuuugh¡­¡±

    They were striving to hold on somehow, but their legs were already shaking. Looking at it, Alice said coldly.

    ¡°When this operation is over, I¡¯m going to be hard on Eugene. Doesn¡¯t that mean you use apprentices like this on every mission? This kind of ¡®usage¡¯ can create unnecessary fear among apprentices. In the long run, it will degrade its function.¡±

    Hessler replied with a shrug.

    ¡°Well, today alone, we brought over a hundred people. Of those, I only use two of them, but by the way, Alice, you don¡¯t seem to know because it¡¯s been a while since you joined us, but these kids are just consumables. It doesn¡¯t matter how we use them.¡±

    Then there was a voice in the air where no one was there.

    ¡°But it is an old story that we used them as we please regardless of the quantity. It¡¯s not easy to increase apprentices since the Great One has been away because there are no executives who can make a contract of the authority. And so, does the boss.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­ yeah. Okay, Noel. In today¡¯s holy mission, I¡¯m not going to touch other kids other than these ones. If possible.¡±

    Noel couldn¡¯t trust him at all when he heard that. How did that guy got stuck in the Korean team? Noelined inside. He thought it would be convenient to move with Alice, and a bomb was attached.

    Some of the executives who had unstable evolution under the Great One¡¯s guidance had asional side effects. Hessler was also one of them, and his mental state wasn¡¯t normal. He was a person to whom Noel was reluctant to get close in one way or another.

    Besides consuming apprentices carelessly, the rumors heard were very ugly. Did it say that he was a dangerous person with both autophilia and necrophiliac tendencies?

    The tendency to feel sexual desire toward himself and the tendency to feel sexual desire from dead bodies were very disgusting due to meeting high-level bio-magic. Even executives who had lost interest in general ethics and morals over the years frowned upon listening to Hessler¡¯s leisure activities.

    The act of creating a lifeless pile (a piece of meat) that duplicated his own body in the first ce and then releasing his sexual desire with it was a crazy thing that Noel didn¡¯t even want to imagine.

    Noel spoke to the two as if to draw attention.

    ¡°Then, let¡¯s go. Let me know by telmunication immediately. I don¡¯t think so, but if a dangerous situation arises, use the teleport ring. Again, because the boss made a new request this time.¡±

    Hessler responded dryly with a sigh.

    ¡°Okay¡­ I got it.¡±

    ¡°In the current situation, it is almost impossible to increase the number of executives. Unless it¡¯s a special case like Alice, it¡¯s a big deal if one of the executives goes down in an unexpected situation.¡±

    The answer came back from the tree.

    ¡°Okay, Noel. Then I¡¯ll go first.¡±

    The scarlet parrot carrying Alice flew up in the sky. The sound of the wings gradually faded away.

    Hessler, looking into the air, hummed like he was singing.

    ¡°Huh¡­ Let¡¯s see. Alice captures the wizard. Noel, you take care of the Kaifu Instructors. And you said I was the external perimeter? Half the apprentices are on guard with me, and the other half will wipe out the soldiers around?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Then, we have to hit the barrier first.¡±

    Six spheres the size of bowling balls floated around Hessler, and then, drawing a breathtaking orbit, they began to circle him.

    Knowing what was inside each of the pink crystal spheres, Noel observed it carefully. After a while, the Mana resonated between the spheres, and Hesslerpleted the spell.

    And at the same time, an intangible barrier waspleted that enclosed the entire base of Hun-neung.

    ¡°Shazam¡­ Look at this. I put all this base in range in no time. Can anyone make such a detection-type barrier? And also, this quickly? Well, anyway, Ipletely covered the driveway. Whether they¡¯re curious kids passing by, or the soldiersing for support, I can notice as soon as they get close. Go inside and work with confidence.¡±

    Noel kept silent for a while and asked.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it better to just build a physical barrier so that they can¡¯t get inside?¡±

    ¡°Baby, I have to blow up half my Mana to build this kind of barrier. Do not worry. If they get any closer, I will go after them and turn them into the blood. Whether it¡¯s building barriers to block entry, or I¡¯m going to kill theing guys, the results are the same, right?¡±

    Noel thought it wasn¡¯t just because of Mana¡¯s consumption that the detection-type barrier was created instead of the physical defense barrier. But he decided to focus on the mission first. Leaving Hessler behind his back, he headed for the ce where Kaifu instructors¡¯ private residence was gathered.

    Two executives left, and Hessler, who was left to guard, scratched his chin and muttered.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ Is it going to be fun today? Wouldn¡¯t it be fun? Right, it won¡¯t be fun. Alice is a neer, so she always puts the principal first¡­ because Noel has no interest other thanpleting his mission in the first ce. Ah¡­ it¡¯s not fun. Would someone please touch my barrier? Then I would run there right away. I¡¯ll be very d¡­ to meet you.¡±

    Hessler hoped Alice and Noel¡¯s mission would not end too soon. At least, he hoped that it would take some time until the reinforcements from the government came in.

    -Tremble!

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Hessler tilted his head and looked down. The bodies of two apprentices who supported him were shaking and trembling. A disgusting smell came up from below. It was too much to bear Hessler¡¯s weight, which was much heavier than the average human being.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ what is it? Why are you so bloody?¡±

    Hessler sat tight and bounced into the air. Two apprentices, shocked by a sudden drop, entangled with each other and copsed. Their upper bodies were sealed together, so they rolled on the floor without bnce.

    Looking at the apprentices rolling around on the ground, Hessler said, flicking his fingers lightly.

    ¡°Necrosis Breath.¡±

    The apprentices couldn¡¯t even scream and melted like meat porridge on the spot. Hessler hummed as he looked at the trail.

    ¡°Sigh~ Is there anyone here? Anyone who can y with me?¡±

    At the same time, he felt envious of Noel and Alice, who jumped into the scene. In the dark, he heard gunshots of the apprentices engaged in a battle.

    Hessler, who couldn¡¯t be part of the group, muttered in regret.

    ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s time for hunting.¡±

    ***

    ¡°It¡¯s here.¡±

    Alice flew to the dorm window and opened the window using magic. Her scarlet parrot flew into it.

    Alice came down to the floor and took out a small ss bottle from her arms, and she inhaled its contents. Gulp, she grew by a span every time her uv moved.

    As she grew bigger and bigger, her height, which was smaller than a human¡¯s nails, grew to a typical girl¡¯s height.

    ¡°Well, yes. This size is perfect.¡±

    As she looked at her limbs, a sharp siren echoed.

    -Wheeing! Wheeing!

    -Emergency! Emergency!

    She heard humans rushing from afar. It was just after Alice grew up to the size of a human being.

    ¡°What? That¡¯s pretty fast? Well, we¡¯ll have to bump into each other anyway.¡±

    Soldiers and agents flocked around her in an instant. Alice greeted them with an expressionless face.

    ¡°Hello?¡±

    The answer that came back was sharp.

    ¡°Raise your hands and get down on the floor!¡±

    The soldier in the lead shouted, aiming his rifle at the girl¡¯s forehead. But Alice, with the guns in front of her, responded calmly, without any hesitation.

    ¡°I can¡¯t speak this country¡¯snguage. But I know what you¡¯re trying to say by the mood. Kids, let¡¯s not live meaninglessly in this world. Can¡¯t you guess at a nce?¡±

    In English, with a rhythmic British ent, she continued her words.

    ¡°By your standards, it¡¯s sure enough for a child came in here without interruption. I blink calmly even though the soldiers are aiming for a siege, trying to shoot me right now. By the way, this ce is a wizard training center that is operated in this country as a secret. So, what do you think?¡±

    Among those confronting her were not only soldiers but also special personnel, and one of them was Instructor Yoon.

    She understood all Alice¡¯s words, and she had no choice but to fall into confusion.

    ¡°If I knew this would happen, I would have returned to work a littlete¡­ Damn it!¡±

    She was a female agent who had just returned to work without taking her maternity leave properly. She applied for work at the magic training center since the additional allowance was several times the original sry in exchange for limited freedom. She had been separated from her baby for several months, but she thought of applying for a transition after a few more years.

    But, why¡­ on the same day she was on duty today, things like that happened¡­

    She clenched her teeth and looked at the blonde girl in front of her eyes. No matter how much she said, she was suspicious. Was she a wizard from another country? Or was she an unknown alien race?

    Instructor Yoon shouted in English while aiming her pistol.

    ¡°Raise your hands and get down! If you refuse, we¡¯ll shoot!¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes stayed with a woman agent with her short hair tied back.

    ¡°Yes, Darling, you speak English. Tell these kids.¡±

    Although she had a child¡¯s voice, her speech was like an elder teasing her granddaughter.

 Chapter 91

    Hunting Time (2)

    ¡°Why am I doing this leisurely? For your information, it¡¯s not because I don¡¯t know what stuff you¡¯re holding.¡±

    Alice continued her words by pointing her finger at the rifles the soldiers were holding. She didn¡¯t look intimidated at all. Witnessing the scene, Instructor Yoon swallowed the saliva which had dried in her mouth ¨C she was growing anxious.

    ¡°The answer is obvious. It¡¯s because I know what you do. You guys can¡¯t even touch the tip of my hair.¡±

    Deep boredom was buried in the eyes of the girl who added, ¡°I¡¯m not interested in kids like you who don¡¯t have a handful of Mana anyway. So, if you step back at this point¡­¡±

    Instructor Yoon interrupted her and shouted sharply.

    ¡°This is thest warning! Get down right now!¡±

    The reason why the base¡¯s troops, including her, didn¡¯t immediately fire because of the suspicion she couldn¡¯t erase in her mind and the psychological resistance that the opponent in front of them was a child.

    Alice sighed, realizing that the wills of humans in front of her wouldn¡¯t break. She murmured, her voice soaked with fatigue.

    ¡°As expected¡­ humans. You guys are just like Lewis, after all.¡±

    Instructor Yoon, who didn¡¯t listen to the girl properly, was nervous. She doubted that the opponent in front of her was a wizard and was chanting a spell. However, her words that followed were heard, and she understood the meaning, but she couldn¡¯t understand the context at all.

    ¡°Lewis was reckless like you guys; he was intelligent and foolish. His given lifespan was as short as a bug, but he was fearless.¡±

    The girl, who briefly sighed with her head down, lifted her face again. As soon as she met her eyes, Instructor Yoon and the soldiers felt the pressure tightening all over her body. It was the first time they had ever felt a sense of fear ¨C something like being thrown in front of a wild predator.

    As the thought of something wrong passed through everyone¡¯s head, Alice continued.

    ¡°And he, like you guys¡­ didn¡¯t listen to me.¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes shed coldly. Everyone in the ce felt an unknown fear.

    ¡°You could have gone an easier path. Yeah, Lewis and you, too.¡±

    And, terrifyingly, as soon as she finished speaking, tiny pimples began to sprout on the girl¡¯s skin. The little things rose from her cheeks, neck, and exposed arms as if stretching. They then flew into the air.

    All around, the girl¡¯s body was filled with shadows like tiny grass bugs in an instant. The little raw things that filled the space quickly roamed around and fluttered.

    -Khrrrrrr! Oh my, where is this? Mammy! Mammy!

    -Hello everyone? It¡¯s a good day. Who are you? You¡¯re really ugly.

    -When the baby sneezes~? Let¡¯s beat it while swearing~? That way, we can eat pepper~?

    -I want to eat goose! If it¡¯s in front of my eyes now, I¡¯ll eat all the bones and beaks!

    -Wow, look over there! A bunch of humans! A bunch of people with stupid expressions!

    Inspector Yoon realized that they couldn¡¯t dy any longer.

    ¡°Shoot!¡±

    ording to her instructions, dozens of guns fired.

    -Bang bang bang bang bang!

    The bullets poured into the girl, but one of the rings Alice wore on her finger shimmered.

    -Phiing!

    A transparent shield was created surrounding her. The bullets couldn¡¯t reach her and bounced off.

    Meanwhile, the things born from her skin were constantly chattering and singing, flying at high speeds inside the shield. Alice pped twice and said to them.

    ¡°Now, pay attention.¡±

    The little things stopped flying, and the fuss stopped on the spot and looked at the girl.

    The mucus that had covered them all over their body was almost dry while flying. Their hair, which was wet and looked dark brown, also regained its natural blonde.

    All the raw things flying around looked like Alice¡¯s miniature version, the girl who created it. Numerous individuals all had the same blonde and the same face. The only difference in the mother¡¯s body was that two pairs of translucent wings like dragonflies were attached to the back of her naked body.

    Looking at their appearance, they were like the fairies from a fairy tale.

    Alice saw the children who were waiting for her to speak, with the same face as herself. They held their breath and carefully listened while floating in the air. It was full of anticipation. A tiny, intermittent giggle andugh leaked out of their mouth.

    Alice stretched out one of her fingers and pointed to the humans shooting across the defensive barrier.

    ¡°All of you, y with them.¡±

    The children¡¯s eyes widened as they bared their sharp teeth.

    -Yeah! Mammy!

    -Good!

    -Let¡¯s y! Let¡¯s y with humans!

    Like grasshoppers covering the barley field, the children flew in. They pped their opaque wings and attacked the humans. All of them were full of innocent smiles on their faces.

    ¡°What, what!¡±

    ¡°Shoot! Shoot!¡±

    However, they were too small to aim at with a gun. Several soldiers fired in the air, but none were hit. The winged children burst out like daggers with madughter.

    -Khrrrrrr!

    -Let¡¯s y! y with us!

    ¡°Ahhhhhhhhh!!¡±

    The soldiers swept away the fairies attached to their bodies with their hands, but they couldn¡¯t stop them. Boasting unimaginable strength and durability for their small size, Alice¡¯s children constantly dug into the humans.

    ¡°Kill them! Kill them!¡±

    ¡°Oh my¡­!¡±

    Screams burst from all over the ce. The fairies rushed in like insects attackingrge prey. Despite the harsh human resistance, Alice¡¯s miniatures dug through a soldier¡¯s eyelids and bit his eyeballs.

    ¡°Khaaargghhh¡­¡±

    A soldier let out a spine-chilling scream and rolled on the floor. He covered his eyes with his hands, but he couldn¡¯t catch the creature that had already dug into it. The fairy churning in his eye for a long time held a piece of the cornea in its mouth. Its whole body remained wet due to the sticky lens and blood.

    It crushed one of his eyes and spat out the cornea that it had bitten in its mouth.

    -Fun! It¡¯s fun to be soft, warm, and smooth! It feels good when it touches my body!

    It spread the liquid on its bare skin and its forearm as if it was interesting, and then it brushed off its wet wings a few times before flying back into the air.

    Then it found its next prey.

    ¡°Eaaaaarrrgghh!¡±

    The method spread like a fashion to other children. One soldier sumbed to the pain and dug his own eyes with his fingers to bring out the infiltrating fairies. However, the children who were messing deep in his eye sockets bit his fingers when they came in.

    The fairies had phenomenal powers that their size couldn¡¯t exin. Their sharp teeth cut bones and flesh quickly. The finger inserted through the eyes to dig and bring out the fairy was cut off instantly.

    ¡°Huaaaaarrrghh!¡±

    The soldier rolled over the floor, screaming as if his throat would burst. Suddenly, at some point, he flinched and stopped moving. It was the moment when one of the fairies dug deep into the eye and bit the meninges. Bubbles flowed out of the soldier¡¯s mouth for a while, and then it stopped as time passed.

    ¡°Krrrrrrrh!¡±

    The soldier trembled and immediately stopped breathing while looking at the sky.

    The fairies then came out of the soldier¡¯s eyes, which was messed up as if a bird had dug them up. Their whole bodies were stained with the brain, lens, and blood. The children groaned and inserted two of the cut-off fingers into the dead soldier¡¯s empty eye holes, rooted down, and then flew back into the sky.

    Those little things with wings raged everywhere. The soldiers rolled on the floor while they were biting their vital spot. Even their guns were rendered useless as the little beings dug through their battle suits and their flesh.

    ¡®This is crazy¡­ It must be a dream!¡¯

    Instructor Yoon rolled on the floor while shaking off a fairy that was digging into her neck.

    ¡°Ouuugghh!¡±

    Her mind was on the verge of panic, but she instinctively moved to survive.

    ¡°No!¡±

    In the meantime, another one that flew bit Instructor Yoon¡¯s lips and drooped. Hot blood spurted out and flowed.

    She closed her eyes tightly, and then while biting her lips, she gave strength to her hand that held the drooping fairy. She ripped it off at once.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    The flesh of her lips that the fairy was biting was torn off. Blood poured out of the indented wound, and her chest was getting wet. She held back her screams and crushed the fairy in her hand.

    If it were a simr-sized bug, its whole body would¡¯ve burst and died at once. Whatponent were those bodies made of to not show any changes at all?

    ¡°Huh¡­! Uuuuugh¡­!¡±

    Her grip had been developed through hard training. Still, it didn¡¯t work on the fairies. Her clenched fists cracked, and the tiny creature slipped out. It flew up with a grin. There seemed to be no scar on its body. Even its weak-looking wings were intact.

    As soon as she managed to take one off, another fairy rushed in again. She barely rolled her body to dodge. It passed through her chest and suddenly sniffed her nose and shouted.

    -Guys! Look here!

    Some of the children, who were attacking the other soldiers, stopped moving and looked at the shouting entity. The fairy, who caught their attention, pointed to Instructor Yoon and spoke.

    -It smells sweet!

    The other fairies began to roar.

    ¨CWhat? What? What was that smell?

    The fairy cried out with its face full of joy.

    -This human smells like milk!

    ¨CWhat¡­ what?!

    Instructor Yoon felt goosebumps all over her body.

    -What?! Really?!

    -Where? Where is it?

    Their reaction was explosive.

    Some of the fairies flying around her swooped at her, tasting her again. Instructor Yoon felt a sense of crisis, so she crouched and protected her whole body. She couldn¡¯t even get up and run away since her ankle was already bitten.

    -Sweet scent! It smells good!

    -Good! Good!

    -It will be delicious if you mix it with blood!

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaargh!¡±

    Instructor Yoon twisted her body and resisted, but the fairies overpowered her with terrifying strength. She curled up with her back in the air like a turtle, but several fairies had attached to her arms and legs and turned her body upside down. Her limbs were caught in the air, and with her stomach up, she screamed.

    ¡°No¡­ Noooooooo!¡±

    A desperate scream tore through the air.

    Alice stared at the scene with no emotions in her eyes.

    ¡°Well¡­ is this enough?¡±

    She thought that the humans who had gathered wouldn¡¯t be able to interfere with them anymore. Just as she had made countless children just before, she prepared to bring out another creature. After her body grew, she could no longer ride a crimson parrot.

    Alice put her left hand forward. Unlike before, however, her whole arm was shaking. A long, flesh-colored mass fell beneath her feet, and her left hand returned to its original form.

    The lump that fell on the floor was crushed and smudged on its own like flour dough, and then it swelled enormously. Its size increased and made a distinct form. The white skin turned dark blue, and countless hairs sprouted over it. It was the head of a giant cat, and it was as big as her body.

    The head floated in the air with no lower neck. It had two Amber eyes with brown pupils, which were split vertically. Countless teeth were protruding from its small open mouth.

    Alice frowned.

    ¡°Close your mouth. It stinks.¡±

    The cat¡¯s head responded.

    ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you make it smell good in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°You always talk back to me¡­¡±

    The cat said, rolling its eyes, ¡°Then, why don¡¯t you make me answer obediently? I¡¯m one of your divided consciousness after all.¡±

    Alice thought there was no point in arguing anymore.

    ¡°Get the body under your neck.¡±

    It was made to be ridden, but just the head alone made for a precarious ride. Still, the cat obediently followed Alice¡¯s words. Its body appeared faintly below its neck. Its chest, two front feet, belly, and two rear feet gradually appeared like shadows rising from a fog.

    ¡°Stop, I don¡¯t need the tail. It bothers me when it swishes behind my back.¡±

    As she said, the cat who was just making the base of the tail stopped its activity. Only roots were left, like a rabbit¡¯s tail. Alice climbed up behind its back. The cat¡¯s four paws were floating shallowly in the air, never touching the ground.

    Alice gave the cat instructions.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go over there. I can feel it¡¯s full of Mana inside.¡±

    The cat ran in the air, leaving behind the screaming humans and joyful fairies.

 Chapter 92

    Hunting Time (3)

    Their hunt had begun, and lights shed all over the base in the distance. I could also hear the binges and screams vaguely. I knew it was time to start.

    -Bang bang! Bang bang bang!

    I transformed the shape of my body, and after some time, the man in his twenties disappeared. In his stead, a tall alien with multiple strange eyes stood in front of the twelfth altar.

    ¡°¡­ Oh my God.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl and other the White Deer residents who saw the Fake God¡¯s appearance for the first time had their jaws dropping when they saw me.

    ¡°It¡¯s really an odd-looking race.¡±

    I nodded and said, ¡°Pleasee to my home sometime. There¡¯s a ¡®real Fake God¡¯ in my basement tank.¡±

    Even after speaking, I thought my words were a little weird. Mrs. Pearl nodded, keeping her gaze focused on me, though it was unknown if she listened to me properly.

    ¡°¡­ Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡±

    Two people approached ording to my gesture. One was Mrs. Pearl, and the other one was a resident of White Deer who turned himself into a middle-aged man.

    Since the time hade, most of the residents at that altar had returned to their original form. Only those two were waiting for me there at the twelfth altar, remaining in their human form.

    They were selected residents who would head to the center with me, moving with me while the rest of them worked hard there ¨C on the Mana Shuttle. Since they would naturally be exposed to enemies, it had been pre-arranged to make them look like human beings. That was because the real identity shouldn¡¯t be revealed ¡®until the conditions were met.¡¯

    Seol, a viger wearing the form of a middle-aged man, asked me a question.

    ¡°Are you going to fly?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl and Seol would protect me for a short time while Ipleted the spell.

    At first, I thought of calling a summon to entrust that task to. I just had to open the Channel and call it up before entering.

    However, if I tried to call a demon-type summon like a Waterbird, it would be difficult to respond quickly unless I controlled them individually. Therefore, I had to call an entity with high intelligence and highbat power. The most suitable summon was the one that met the Dark Kirin conditions, which had previously ughtered the Ashpim Giants in the dimension beyond the Mapo Bridge Channel.

    Sadly, however, she refused to be summoned at that time. There was a good price for the Enchanted Wood tree seed, but she didn¡¯t like the contents of the mission I requested.

    She¡­ well, damn! She rejected my request since we wouldn¡¯t kill the other person and would capture them alive. It was easy to tear everything up and kill them. Did it not suit her temper, taste, and profitability to fight by discriminating whether or not the opponent was breathing each time she hit it?

    ¡­ Who said the bullshit that Kirins were peaceful herbivores?

    ¡°Mrs. Pearl, Seol, a little more this way.¡±

    As the two got closer, I stretched out my arms several times the length of my actual arms and wrapped them around their waists at the same time.

    ¡°Oh my!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl checked the texture by touching my skin with her finger as if noticing something strange in the world. Seol murmured and shook his head slightly as if he experienced all sorts of things in his life.

    I took out Maek¡¯s Copper with my other hand and lifted it. My dream of flying in the sky became a reality.

    Half-flying, I greeted every resident who remained at the altar.

    ¡°I look forward to your kind cooperation.¡±

    Yusu responded, ¡°Pleasee back safely.¡±

    I took those two people in one hand and soared into the air. I quietly flew as the feast of sts and ughter continued under the shrouded darkness.

    ***

    Her name was originally impossible for humans to express. Humans conveyed meaning by vibrating the air, after all. Meanwhile, her racemunicated with the nds under their chin, releasing abination of various organicpounds.

    Anyone of the same race could recognize the type and amount of secretion. The meaning ofnguage was created ording to the able to follow that high-qualitymunication method.

    ¡®Humans¡¯ sensory organs are too primitive to interpret this borate and artistic dialogue in the first ce¡­¡¯

    So, her race and humans studied it head-to-head, creating a chart that matched Kaifu¡¯s secretions to that world¡¯s characters.

    Humans pronounced her name ¡°Atemd,¡± based on the letter map that humans call ¡°the Rosetta Stone that connects dimensions.¡±

    In fact, in the process of converting gasponents into letters, it looked like a long name that exceeded 60 sybles for humans, but only the front part was cut appropriately.

    Atemd, the Kaifu tribe¡¯s dispatched instructor to Earth, swelled up under her chin and ¡®said.¡¯

    -Hey!

    She felt a response to her call. The ¡®reply¡¯ of gas from her fellow rtives from the corner of the room touched Atemd¡¯s skin. Upon contact, her brain interpreted and recognized the meaning.

    -Yes, Master!

    Another Kaifu in the room was Atemd¡¯s attendant. A faithful ve who had served her since before she came to Earth.

    Initially, he was a servant of a nobleman¨C a wizard¨C who ruled an adjacent territory, but he was sold to her when his master died. Atemd didn¡¯t like the fact that he was old enough and fell asleep all the time. Still, he was quick-witted and quite agile because he had the rhythm down.

    Atemd turned her head and said to her attendant.

    -Get me ready for bed.

    -Yes, I see, Master.

    The attendant turned around the corner to the bed and turned on the faucet, and then it started getting water inside.

    While he was preparing, Atemd sat in a chair and waited. It was a product especially made by humans to match her body. Atemd was one of the best among the Kaifu tribes, and her hips were over two meters in human metrology.

    She let herself ponder for a moment, dipping her hand in a special water ss for Kaifu.

    It had been quite a while since she came over to Earth. As the king signed a contract with those men, she had to stay at that dimension for a few more years.

    At least, that country was good for Kaifu to live in,pared to the area where the Channel connected to her parent dimension was located. The air in that country was too hot, and it didn¡¯t match well with the Kaifu tribe.

    Was the country¡¯s name Congo? It had been a while. Still, she had a few memories.

    Atemd and her other colleagues came to that country by ne as soon as they reached that dimension. Arrangements were made in advance, after all.

    Airne.

    Atemd once again found herself in admiration. Such an object could hardly be found in her dimension.

    ¡®It¡¯s a tool that takes so many Kaifu, humans, and other cargo into the sky at once without using any Mana!¡¯

    Such technology would bring great progress to her dimension. Atemd was honestly ufortable.

    Magic was the point of reference between nobles andmoners. Nobles were worshiped since they had different abilities thanmoners. But if that world¡¯s technology of creating ¡®magical¡¯ things without Mana spread in her world¡­

    Atemd wondered what the hell was the king up to. The king was the most outstanding wizard and had passed on his abilities from generation to generation. Even from his standpoint, the advent of technology that threatened magic shouldn¡¯t be weed.

    She muttered inside.

    ¡®Even at this moment, humans will be spreading basic knowledge in our dimension, which is the root of technology. It¡¯s like we¡¯re sent here to teach magic.¡®

    As she pondered continuously, she fell into thoughts about tomorrow¡¯s ss. Currently, she naturally wondered about the only student she was in charge of.

    It was an unusual case for an instructor to be in charge of only one student, but the human named Kim Kyung-hwan had such a surprising talent that he was allowed to receive such exceptional treatment.

    ¡®If he was born as Kaifu in our dimension and continued to grow up as he does now¡­ I hate to admit it, but he may have be king. He could¡¯ve brought down the current king and established a new dynasty.¡¯

    He was learning the spells separately, but he had already achieved much.

    In particr, thebination of magic that he showed when fighting the strange creatures who were supposed to havee from the third dimension was surprisingly enough to make her lose her mind.

    Atemd had already delivered the scenes she witnessed and the new form he invented to her home country. The answer that came back was to continue careful observation. That was because that genius wasn¡¯t amon racial trait among humans in that dimension.

    ¡®What is the king going to do?¡¯

    It was a cautious word from her attendant that broke her thoughts.

    -Well¡­ Master. Bed preparation ispleted.

    -Oh, yeah.

    Atemd spread her hand wide in her water ss. The inlet between the suckers sucked in the water, and the ss bottomed out.

    At that moment, she heard a strange sound from outside.

    -Hmm? What is it?

    She focused her mind outside for a while. But, the ce where the sound was heard seemed to be far away.

    -What¡¯s all the fuss about at this hour?

    -Shall I go out and find out?

    -No, it¡¯s good.

    One of the trainees who was practicing magic untilte at night had an ident. It wasn¡¯t very unusual. Atemd regained her short interest.

    After emptying the ss, she got up and headed for bed. It was a puddle made of soft rubber and was full of water. She stood in front of the attendant. He was knelt, clenching his head.

    -Raise your head.

    -Yes, Master.

    The attendant carefully did as instructed. The two eyes protruding above her head looked at him with a spacious expression and green skin, which the human beings unpleasantly described inparison to the less-evolving amphibians(did they call it a frog?).

    She reached out her hand, which was still wet. She put the sucker on the tip of her finger against the convex chin of her attendant.

    -Serve me tonight.

    The attendant trembled for a while and tightened up again.

    -Alright, master.

    The attendant wiped his hands and feet and carefully went into the bed and immersed himself in the water. After that, Atemd also followed him. It was one of the natural duties of an attendant to serve the nobles at night. The long career and his abilities in the field of attendance were both satisfying.

    Atemd soaked almost entirely in the water and stood in front of the crouched attendant, and the moment she slowly lowered her body¡­

    ¡°Oh my God¡­ are these frogs mating right now?¡±

    A voice came from the air where no one should be.

    =Who is it?!=

    Atemd was astonished and sharply used telepathy. The attendant that was squatting in the water freaked out. She blew a quick, sharp secretion at the sshing, struggling, and plopping servant.

    -Don¡¯t be stupid and run out the door quickly!

    The attendant panicked after showing his belly and flipped over, but he soon came to his senses and pulled himself out of bed. Dripping water on the room¡¯s floor, he began to pack his clothes. However, at that moment¡­

    -Thug!

    Atemd couldn¡¯t believe her eyes.

    Only the attendant and she were in that room. But the head of her attendant who just got out of bed¡­ why was it like that?

    -What¡­ what¡­ what¡­

    In a panic, unfinished secretions flew into the air. Atemd¡¯s words filled the room iprehensively.

    While she was confused, the attendant fell to the floor. There were dents on his head as if someone had taken him down. His blood flowed out like a fountain.

    At the end of his life, the attendant also randomly spewed secretions and left a screaming will. The gas produced by the introduction of death was mixed in a jumble and spread out in the room.

    -M-master, please save me. It hurts so much. I don¡¯t want to die, no, I want to live, please¡­ I want to go back and live¡­ I want to live with my master¡­ Why am I in this ce, mom¡­ I¡¯m scared¡­

    -This¡­ oh my¡­!

    The devastated Atemd looked at the body of the attendant, who was cooling off into oblivion. The attendant flinched and convulsed onest time, then his breathing stopped.

    A voice that seemed to be fed up came suddenly from the air.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, but¡­ it smells like my nose is going to rot.¡±

    Atemd quickly rolled her head, cooling off her irrational anger. Thatnguage wasn¡¯t thenguage used by humans in that country. It was anguage called English that was on her list. Did a wizard from another countrye after them? For what?

    However, the words that followed were beyond her imagination.

    ¡°The one that died has no Mana. Then he must be a servant. If so, you¡¯re the instructor who taught that guy, Kim Kyung-hwan, right?¡±

 Chapter 93

    Hunting Time (4)

    She sharply shot her thoughts.

    =What bullshit!=

    In an instant, the instructorbined spells and hit the ce where she heard the voice from. However, the ck acidic liquid poured on the wall without any interruption and burned it in the bubble.

    And that time, a voice came from the opposite direction.

    The enemy was still invisible.

    ¡°¡­ There is a lot of evidence of lies in your thoughts. I checked just in case, but it¡¯s you.¡±

    She didn¡¯t have to turn her head thanks to the convex eyes above her head. She turned her eyes to a 360-degree ne and checked thendscape of the room. Windows and doors were locked tightly¡ªa closed room with only two Kaifus.

    She recovered herposure and found something strange. Even if she couldn¡¯t see it because of the invisibility magic, there had to be a hole in the first ce. But there couldn¡¯t be anything like a secret passage in this room. She had thoroughly examined it when she was assigned to a private house.

    To locate the enemy¡¯s location, Atemd quietly sprayed Mana into the room. She slowly explored until she found a reaction. Unsure if the opponent moved again, somewherepletely different from where she heard the voice, she felt a Mana shape simr to a human figure.

    As soon as she realized that, she prepared a spell. The 7th ss dposition magic that she had never used sinceing to Earth.

    =This guy¡­!=

    Atemd turned and activated her magic. The air was distorted, and the crystallized sand of Mana swirled. A storm of ck and blue particles poured ahead.

    -Swiiiiiiing!

    -Khrrrrrrrrrh!

    The sand breeze of ck and blue rubbed with a sharp sound. Everything that had been swept away was eaten, dposed, and destroyed. Her magic broke through the wall and erased a whole part of the building. The side of the house copsed, and a night breeze blew into the room with dust.

    There was no reaction from the enemy. It probably avoided the offensive.

    ¡®Let¡¯s run away!¡¯

    The room was connected to the outside. Atemd¡¯s choice of that magic was to secure an escape route.

    She struggled to remove her eyes from her attendant¡¯s body. She killed her emotions and turned outside. The moment she put strength on her legs just to escape, she noticed something strange.

    The outside scenery caught her eyes. mes were burning everywhere. Convection of hot air was felt outside. Screams and explosives were the noise in the air.

    ¡®¡­ What¡¯s going on?¡¯

    For a very short moment, she paused because of the unexpected sight. The intruder didn¡¯t miss the gap.

    -Wheeck!

    ¡®Gosh!¡¯

    Atemd moved as soon as she heard a sibnt sound, quickly inting the muscles in her legs and jumping up. As long as the walls had copsed and space was secured, it was possible to escape using her body¡¯s leap power.

    She jumped up quickly, but¡­

    -Thug!

    =¡­Eaaaaahhhh!=

    Both her legs were caught in burning pain. The scream of thought continued for a long time through the mind she left open. Atemd fell to the floor, holding her ankle. She struggled in her pain with her body stuck on the floor.

    ¡°Where are you going to run away?¡±

    A dry voice was heard in the air.

    Instead of responding to it, she barely lifted her upper body and twisted it. Her opponent was invisible, but she could feel the sensation of two hands holding her ankle. She also checked the shape and size of the enemy¡¯s body with her Mana.

    The opponent who used the magic of invisibility was obviously a human or a human-like race.

    Atemd changed her mind while trying to shoot her magic near her ankle, which was held. Even her own feet could get caught up in her magic.

    =Die!=

    She fired her magic at the height of the chest, where the vital organs would be gathered. It was an angle calcted by guessing since she couldn¡¯t see the enemy.

    -Wheeing!

    Again, the storm poured down, but¡­

    Her chin was stiff. The magic she created passed through the wind in vain.

    =It¡­ it¡¯s ridiculous!=

    From the angle, she had to be right¡ªthe shape of the fingers holding her two ankles and the tilt of the body. The enemy must be standing right behind her, where the magic swept away. But¡­ even so, Kaifu¡¯s magic couldn¡¯t hit anything.

    Just because the enemy uses the invisibility magic, it didn¡¯t mean that the body would return to nothing. Judging by the sense of how he was holding Atemd¡¯s feet, he was clearly a being with a physical body.

    But why¡­

    In the air that just swept away by magic, she heard the voice again.

    ¡°The timing was close¡­¡±

    -Thug!

    =Keaaaaahhhh!=

    Her ankles were crushed once more. Atemd screamed, feeling the ankle that changed like a straw that had been bitten and chewed. It was so painful that she couldn¡¯t prepare the spell. She realized her own fate and trembled.

    Atemd mmed her head as she struggled. Her protruding eyes allowed her to see thendscape towards her back, even with her head down. She crawled on her floor and looked behind her back because of fear.

    As her magic broke the bed, water was flowing all over her room. She saw a strange scene, and suddenly, a human¡¯s bare footprint appeared on the room¡¯s floor where the water had umted. The sense of the hand that grabbed her ankle remained unchanged.

    Was that transparent entity floating in the air for a while and then descending to the floor? High enough to avoid magic?

    No, it wasn¡¯t. The moment the footprints were taken, the hand¡¯s height that caused her pain remained unchanged at all.

    All of those facts resulted in an iprehensible conclusion. The human body right behind her disappeared for a while and then reappeared. But, even in the meantime, the two hands, which were squeezing her own ankles, remained.

    Looking into Atemd¡¯s eyes sobbing in panic, Noel, the transparent man, said.

    ¡°Your bodily liquids¡­ are really sticky.¡±

    As soon as he spoke, Noel raised one leg and brought it down with all his strength.

    -Crack!

    =Keaaaargh!=

    Her shoulders were broken, and her whole body wa stunned. Noel lifted the drooping body of Atemd with his arms and hung her over his invisible shoulder.

    ¡°What a pity. Not you, but all the people here that are running hard now. We opened the retreat and drove them in one direction after all.¡±

    It was a necessary step to make them not join the wizards. The man spoke toward the wriggling Atemd.

    ¡°They are all the same. When something happened, instead of getting entangled, they didn¡¯t even look back and ran away. Even before they scaled the power, they don¡¯t even care whether the human disciples they taught die or not.¡±

    Perhaps there was a protocol for a course of action in a different dimension regardless of race. Was itmon sense for the disparate races of civilizations who had cross-dimensional experience?

    If left unchecked, the alien race chose to escape instead of resist, so they didn¡¯t touch each other, but that alien race was different. The boss wanted to talk with the Kaifu.

    With Atemd on his back, Noel came out of the building. The surrounding area was empty without any people or aliens.

    Noel asked a question in his mind.

    How on Earth did she teach a human to achieve such high achievements in such a short time?

    It wasn¡¯t just because he was a genius, but the boss suspected that maybe he had other factors involved.

    Instead, it was understandable that the natural qualities were excellent just as long as he learned the teaching spells quickly since he had good Mana as in the case of the United States and some other countries. But it was said that the guy named Kim Kyung-hwan made a new spell bybining what he learned, right?

    Perhaps they had done something to his mind to speed up acquisition and understanding or engraved magical principles and enlightenment in deep consciousness, or they might have the ability to intervene in the human mind somehow.

    It seemed like the boss wanted to kidnap all the Kaifu instructors here. Still, if that happened, it might lead to retaliation from the whole Kaifu race. It would be better to leave only one or two objects missing.

    Noel hurried to walk with the Kaifu instructor on his shoulder. If there were any witnesses, they might¡¯ve seen arge frog with a crushed ankle and shoulder floating in the air.

    Every time he stepped, the injured alien¡¯s body shook helplessly.

    ¡®Where¡­ the hell¡­ are you going to take me?¡¯

    Atemd was losing consciousness in pain. Before she lost her mind, she recalled thendscape of her hometown. She even remembered the face of her attendant who died before her.

    ***

    -Wheeeing!

    Flying through the air, I reached the sky above the center of Hun-neung.

    ¡°We¡¯re going down,¡± I said while watching Seol and Mrs. Pearl.

    Seol nodded calmly, and Mrs. Pearl replied with a slightly pale face.

    ¡°¡­ Yes, Yoon.¡±

    We flew pretty quickly, but the distance was rtively short. Maybe it was because she was nervous in advance that Mrs. Pearl didn¡¯t faint as she did back then.

    I descended slowly, and we stopped just before the barrier of the Mana theyid out.

    Mrs. Pearl muttered.

    ¡°Barrier¡­¡±

    I searched for intangible barriers with subtle Mana. When they retrieve the wizards, they often use a blocking ess method by surrounding the building with mes. But, the view unfolding in Hun-neung today was different.

    I quickly found out what the barrier was. A detection-type barrier that delivered information to the caster if anyone was approaching it. I looked around. Its scale surrounded the entire base.

    ¡°They are apanied by a wizard who can maintain this barrier¡­¡±

    The barrier unfolded with pure magical power without any separate physical medium. It was much more difficult to activate.

    In the magical message I had stolen, only the date and preparation required to execute the n were given. It wasn¡¯t possible to know what kind of skills the executives had. It probably was because it was a piece of information that didn¡¯t need to be given to the apprentices nted in Hun-neung.

    ¡°That¡¯s a detection-type.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ then what should we do? Yoon?¡±

    ¡°What should we do?¡±

    I continued the descent casually. Aplex technique unfolded in my head. Mrs. Pearl¡¯splexion, who didn¡¯t know the situation, hardened. Meanwhile, Seol was looking down silently without any changes in his facial expression.

    ¡°But if it¡¯s detection-type¡­ just touching it will make our position¡­!¡±

    But she soon stopped talking. Even though my toes touched the barriers they unfolded, the Mana was calm as the surface of a peacefulke. I lowered my altitude more like that and entered the barrier quickly without any alerting reaction.

    ¡°¡­ not be discovered?¡± She muttered as if she were despondent.

    ¡°They made it with great care¡­ but well?¡±

    Having made the barriers useless, I looked down. I could see the air defense unit on the roof of the building. The bodies of soldiers who had to operate it were scattered throughout. Looking at the traces left, it seems that there was a firefight.

    ¡°The apprentices have already swept them away.¡±

    We sat down on an empty rooftop. I took out some artifacts from my backpack, sprinkled them on the floor, and drew a magic circle. Thanks to breaking through the detection barrier without being noticed, we earned some time to build an informal altar there.

    After a few minutes, I finished my preparations without any interruption. There was no indication that our location had been discovered yet. Surrounded by a pile of artifacts, I threw a nce at Mrs. Pearl and Seol.

    The thingsid around me at that moment were items that would act as the core of a huge barrier. There were no defensive artifacts on my body and around me to avoid interference with those. If I get beat, I¡¯ll die immediately.

    So, I needed Mrs. Pearl and Seol. I wanted to bring dozens of people, but it wasn¡¯t easy to move secretly and decisively. Many people had to work hard to draw their magic.

    Moreover, I discovered unexpected facts from the residents of White Deer. Despite the long years of training and strengthening their power, those who specialize inbat could be counted with fingers. I could see why they had no choice but to lose the war against Dragon in the old days. Well, these two were selected, at least.

    Yes, it made rain even on dry skies¡ªthe ability to predict the future from an unspecified point of view and make a river path. Everything was great. It was magic that I couldn¡¯t even use at that time. But what was the use of that power in the midst of the death and a murder right in front of you?

    I told them.

    ¡°Please¡­¡±

    The two who nodded at my words protected me. The Mana emitted by the White Deer residents during the spell creation would gather to the ce where I stood. As soon as they felt it, they woulde after us. Mrs. Pearl and Seol could buy me time before my spell is invoked.

    I whispered in my heart, ¡°Just hang in there for a second. Don¡¯t die.¡±

    [Do as you practiced before.]

    In the backpack, Parvache said with its will. Instead of answering him, I opened my lips and said.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get started.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl sent a signal to the ring in her hand. It was delivered at the same time to the residents distributed across the altar.

    Branches of Enchanted Wood trees were inserted in the twelve magic circles surrounding the Hun-neung. Among the materials used by the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest to trap the Heart Fish, the coreponent enchanted its own Mana. I got some of them.

    That kind of preparation was necessary for today¡¯s barrier.

    -Woooong!

    I did the technique on the roof. The air shook, and enormous power began to flow from the altar.

    I couldn¡¯t even handle the amount of Mana I needed that time alone, and if I poured that amount myself, I wouldn¡¯t have any fuel left to fight afterpleting the barrier.

    I decided to borrow power from others. From the only friendly force from my perspective, White Deer¡¯s inhabitants had umted Mana by devoting themselves to training for many years. They were now putting Mana into the barrier tree with all their might.

    -Rumble! Rumble!

    ¡°Ugh¡­!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl looked overwhelmed by the breathtaking density. Mana flowed down like a sticky swamp in all the spaces the eye can see, and I stood in the center of the enormous power that created the barrier.

    The Mana absorbed by the Enchanted Wood was circled mainly, and its radius was approximately 2km. The detection barriers they made were lightly overwhelming. It was arger barrier that enclosed the barriers they had constructed entirely inside.

    Yeah, speaking of barriers, shouldn¡¯t it be in kilometers by default? What if it only covered a few buildings and left even a few of them?

    -Brrrrrrrrrrhhh!

    The force stretched, shook, and revealed its existence. There was no way they couldn¡¯t notice that flow.

    A strange shadow flew over the rooftop.

    ¡°What are you guys doing? No, that¡¯s not important. Thanks to you, I won¡¯t be bored today.¡±

    A strange voice resonated in the night air. It was a reluctant voice like the noise of a violin that made fun of a bow.

 Chapter 94

    Hunting Time (5)

    It was clear from the Mana I felt. It was an executive, and it seemed that the apprentices arrived before they even reached it.

    What appeared in front of us was a man with strange makeup. Thebination of colors, which was a mess even to me, was drawn like graffiti over his face.

    He approached us leisurely. It was a light walk as if he were out on an outing. Mrs. Pearl and Seol quietly stepped forward and stood with me on their back.

    The closer he got, the more I felt the wave of his Mana. It was an unfamiliar waveform that I had experienced once when flying here. I quickly know that that man was the wizard who had unfolded the detection barrier.

    ¡°Huh~.¡±

    Apparently, he¡¯s human, but was it his real body? It was impossible to know. He unpleasantlyughed as he looked at me wearing the shell of Fake God.

    ¡°How did you break through my barriers? And¡­ what is it? How many eyes are there?¡±

    He then puckered his lips. Looking closely, he had an unpleasantly red lipstick moped with it.

    ¡°Alien? Oh, wait, I think I¡¯ve seen you somewhere¡­?¡±

    He pped instead of scratching his head for a moment.

    ¡°Right! You¡¯re that guy¡­!¡±

    He leaned his back and began tough like crazy.

    ¡°Kyahahahahaha! What is this? Why are you here? It¡¯s amazing. Are you that guy? The bastard who kidnapped our apprentices in El Paso and bounced off!¡±

    Yes, he recognized me right away, and I was d. Had they seen the photos and videos?

    I noticed that he touched the ring on his finger even though he was distracted by the barrier. Mana flowed faintly in a different way than before. Magical messages were delivered out of the base. He might be informing the organization of what he had witnessed there.

    As nned, the suspects in the incident there that day had to be an alien race. To exclude the existence of human wizards who could do that much and the assumption itself.

    ¡°It¡¯s going great. Is his soul really with us? How can I be so lucky?¡±

    He kept grinning andughing. It was a forcedugh in which there was a strange echo that wasn¡¯t natural, and the twisted sound felt awkward.

    ¡°Anyway, when this was over, we would¡¯ve had to search this country to find you! I¡¯m not going to wander around with that stinky bitch Alice. I found you!¡±

    While grinning, he approached us one step at a time. At that time¡­

    -Rumble!

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl quickly swung her hand forward. A white straight line was drawn on the cement floor, and a me barrier burned along the trajectory. He looked at the me wall blocking the front and whistled.

    ¡°Oh, what is it? What a strange way to turn the spell.¡±

    Regardless of the answer, Mrs. Pearl shouted sharply.

    ¡°Stay back! Before I burn all the skin on your face!¡±

    The cheerful expression disappeared in an instant, and deep hostility shone in his eyes. The wizard then responded with azy tone.

    ¡°What are you talking about? Are these humans the wizards you brainwashed, Alien?¡±

    As he reached out, six pink spheres the size of a bowling ball floated. They then went around him, drawing a breathtaking orbit.

    It was obviously an artifact. The Mana around him was unusual. I wanted to warn the two, but the formation of the barrier was in full swing. I couldn¡¯t move my lips even a little while processing the Mana of the residents.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of magic you guys arebining with this hideous magic, but¡­¡±

    At that moment, the six beads rotating around his body stopped moving.

    ¡°¡­ it¡¯s over once I cut it off before it¡¯s finished.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl bounced off before he even finished speaking. She noticed the spell the opponent was preparing.

    She floated high in the sky and exuded her power. The air around us soared like a haze, and an incandescent me that started flowing from her shoulders and forearms now circted around her body. Like the feathers of a bird, the fluttering fire emitted devastating heat.

    During her parabolic fall, her mes intensified and burned all her clothes. Fires entwined the naked body of a fox, which was turned into a human.

    To her, who had turned into the incarnation of fire, the wizard¡¯s eyes shed and shouted.

    ¡°Revenging lightning! Stamping pressure! Necrosis breath!¡±

    The Mana shook and fluctuated as he shouted a constant starter. The transfer was exercised by using the distortedws of physics as a driving force. The first thing that struck was red lightning that stretched out like a sharp branch.

    ¡°Where?!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl became a sphere of high heat and struck a magical trajectory as if hammering, drawing a ray of heat and shooting down the rooftop floor.

    -Bang bang!

    An eardrum-shaking reverberation. The cement and concrete floor melted and flowed. An enormous crater appeared near the impact.

    Sitting on the floor, she couldn¡¯t ovee her inertia, and she turned her body as if panicked. The tail of the lightning she tried to stop was stopped on the way. Outside the range of violence created by Mrs. Pearl, it breathtakingly stopped as if teasing her.

    Lightning with a fixed target?

    ¡°Kyahahaha!¡±

    The trajectory of lightning changed with his cheerfulughter. The lightning in a straight line turned at right angles as ifughing at her, then struck, bypassing her ¨C To me, who was building a barrier defenselessly!

    ¡°Oh my!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl hurriedly turned around, realizing that the target of lightning was me. But the wizard¡¯s spell struck her with a breathtaking time gap. The formless power that followed immediately attacked Mrs. Pearl.

    -Bang bang! Bang! Duaang!

    Sensing it ahead, she soared in recoil, causing a fiery explosion over her skin. The floor of the building was hollowed out by her pressure where she had just been.

    The yellow wind blew after her, but it was caught in the mes and disappeared. Meanwhile, the red lightning that flew at me¡­

    -Wheeeckk!

    Seol, who flew like the wind, blocked my view with his back. He was wise enough to believe what I told him. He received the thunderbolt with his body as if he had no fear at a safe distance that wouldn¡¯t affect the barrier¡¯s core.

    The lightning which had been changing its orbit stopped turning again. But in response to the approach of Seol, it extinguished with a roaring sound.

    -Crumbs!

    Seol, who looked like a middle-aged man, wore an artifact on his neck. The artifact I created shone brightly. The ne, which I didn¡¯t know from which era it came from, emitted Mana. The spreading lightning was extinguished, leaving only an afterimage of light.

    At the same time, I heard something crack.

    -Crack!

    I knew without having to look that one of the rubies on the ne shattered. Meanwhile, there was no burn mark on Seol¡¯s body.

    It was one with the item. I counted inwardly and kept hastening my spell.

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    Witnessing the sudden disappearance of lightning, the wizard made a suspicious look. Mrs. Pearl ran back at the same time. The mes that had faded for a moment shed like lumens and covered her naked body. It slid back with the power of the spell.

    ¡°Did the necrotic¡¯s breath burn in mes? Even so, that lightning¡­¡±

    His self-talk didn¡¯tst long due to Mrs. Pearl quickly approaching and narrowing the distance. mes flew in every breath of her as her eyes shed scarlet.

    Mrs. Pearl ran at full speed. Her entire body disappeared for a moment as if eaten by a pir of scarlet me. She was going to crash into the wizard!

    -Bang bang bang!

    ¡°Tsk¡­!¡±

    Seol clicked his tongue while watching the scene of the crash.

    Three spheres gathered in front of his chest as if protecting him and built an intangible shield. The me that had prated like an awl left only debris after the crash. It was a pretty quick spellpletion.

    Before the sh¡¯s aftermath disappeared, the remaining pink spheres that had fallen behind were engulfed in light. As if she had a hunch, Mrs. Pearl quickly moved back.

    ¡°Brutal shadow!¡±

    Seemingly scratched by a giant beast, four ck afterimages passed by where she was previously standing. Mrs. Pearl bounced close. There was a ck mark on the floor along her path.

    The wizard didn¡¯t stop there. By the time Mrs. Pearl justnded on the ground, he was already preparing the next magic. The spheres made the shield move out of its original position, creating and rotating a ring on his left wrist. He seemed to be aiming at her, and then his fingertips pointed at me again!

    ¡°Silent scaffold!¡±

    The invisible de of enormous Mana turned to me.

    It was Seol that first moved his body before I even realized it. When I noticed the movement of Mana, he was already running in front of me. It was a phenomenal reaction rate.

    Before the de reached the bounds of the barrier core, he put Mana around his body and bumped into it. No matter how strong the Mana was, it was a shock that would leave a lot of damage. But¡­

    -Clink!

    -Crack!

    There was a cracking sound in the air, and his magic was extinguished. Counting in my mind, I realize that that was the second one.

    That person looked at Seol again and muttered as if it was absurd.

    ¡°Again? What is that artifact?¡±

    His eyes were filled with a light of suspicion.

    ¡°It couldn¡¯t be a human¡¯s work. However, if you were a wizard who could make something like that, why were you caught by the U.S. government? You don¡¯t have to brainwash people like that¡­¡±

    -Rumble!

    The wizard couldn¡¯t end his words. While he looked away, Mrs. Pearl was already gathering power behind him. Not only was she burning herself in the form of a perfect me, but she was preparing to advance with fireballs floating in the air around her. At first nce, the number exceeded thirty.

    The wizard clenched his teeth and spoke.

    ¡°¡­ You¡¯re freaking me out.¡±

    She started running again. While a giant pir of fire in the shape of a human was rushing in, small mes flocked like a meteor and poured out, moving forward and backward.

    Just before the meteor shower hit the wizard, six beads floating around the man¡¯s body were gathered in front of his eyes as before, then crashed against it again!

    -Bang bang bang bang bang bang!

    -Hwrrrrrk!

    shing explosions and immense heat covered the rooftop. mes and smoke spread randomly.

    It was a big explosion that could transmit heat to the back of the shield created by Seol.

    Seol stopped all the sparks that bounced in all directions like the remains of a shooting star while I worked hard to keep my mind¡¯s concentration from being broken and formed the barrier. Due to the aftermath of the crash, the entire building shook.

    Even though the shattered mes obscured my view, I still saw what happened beyond. There were two opposing Manas. I realized that what he had made was sixyered defensive magic.

    Now, just a little more. Just a little more here!

    ¡°Ah really¡­ It¡¯s annoying! Bitch, if you keep doing this¡­ I can¡¯t kill you?!¡±

    He swore the words that didn¡¯t fit back and forth. He survived even under the attack. But that time, it seemed that the intense heat couldn¡¯t be stopped even with his shield.

    He wasughing, breathing in, and exhaling wildly. His face was distorted like a devil.

    The wizard¡¯s appearance after the sh disappeared was ugly. His eyebrows were all burnt out, and the makeup on his face was strangely shaped and melted like purple and gray soup.

    It brushed roughly his chest hair that caught in the fire and burned like fment with his palm. As if to had stimted his temper, his eyes were bloodshot, and he recollects his Mana.

    ¡°This rotten bitch¡­ I was going to use your body efficiently, but I changed my mind. I¡¯ll hold you bitch alive so thatter, you¡¯ll think, ¡®Oh, fuck! Why did I wake up that morning and walk around there instead of hanging myself!¡¯ I¡¯ll let you know that human lives are much tougher than you think. You will realize the mystery of nature, you motherfucker!¡±

 Chapter 95

    Hunting Time (6)

    He pulled in the crystal ball while spitting a constant stream of curses. The mes surrounding Mrs. Pearl¡¯s body weakened a little due to the great effort she had applied just before. It took time to chant the spell again.

    ¡°Sprouting hatred!¡±

    Yellow smoke spread around him. However, at that time, Mrs. Pearl¡¯s fire curtain seemed to have been rtively sparse. It wasn¡¯tpletely burned and was buried a little on her naked body. And the guy who witnessed it¡­

    ¡°Hahahahaha! It¡¯s over! You bitch!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl created a strong spark on her skin in contact with the smoke, perhaps because of anxiety caused by the madughter poured out. Still, it seemed to be one stepte.

    ¡°Eaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!¡±

    She twisted her body in confusion.

    From Mrs. Pearl¡¯s thighs that hade into contact with magic, flesh began to sprout in a strange form. The rough surface, simr to tree roots, swelled as if it sprouted from branches, and they were several times thicker than her thighs¡¯ original size. Their length also grew to the point of being dragged to the ground.

    ¡°No!¡±

    Seol, feeling the crisis, rushed forward, but the Wizard¡¯s attack was quick.

    ¡°Revenging lightning! Sextuple!¡±

    -Crackling!

    ¡°Keaaaaaaaarrrgh!!¡±

    Six spheres surrounded Mrs. Pearl, and red lightning struck her even more violently than before. She grounded her teeth and endured the pain that her whole body was getting hit with.

    In the hot me she created, the intact skin burned, and smoke erupted. The veins in her eyes burst, and she vomited blood on the floor like some form of ck resentment.

    ¡°Eeeeaaaaaaarrrghhhh!¡±

    -Kwoooooooooong!!

    Even looking at that, I couldn¡¯t do anything but wait for thepletion of the barrier.

    Now, the density of the Mana transmitted from the altar had been condensed close to the maximum. Soon!

    -Bang bang!

    Seol threw himself forward and jumped in the middle of the river of lightning. Without leaving any trace, the lightning that attacked Mrs. Pearl vanished. At the same time, another jewel of the artifact was broken. It was the third jewel that broke.

    There was no way he would miss that opportunity. As soon as Seol approached him, the Wizard prepared magic while aiming at me. However, Seol didn¡¯t stay still either. He collected intangible Mana in both hands and attacked the mage by punching incessantly.

    The Wizard also responded by returning the spheres around his body and created a shield to respond to the sudden burst of physical attacks. Mrs. Pearl that copsed behind¡­

    -Kheeeeeeiiiiik!

    ¡°Uuugh!¡±

    Unable to move properly due to the massive flesh on her thighs, she collected a mass of highly condensed heat in her hand. She was trying to make it like a dagger and cut off the roots that had sprouted from her thighs.

    The human body, made with a transformation technique, was no different from an actual human at that moment. As she gave her strength, the smoke burning her skin and muscles erupted with a nasty smell.

    Seol, who had been pushing the Wizard for a long time, discovered itter. He kicked his target with all his might, and the shock caused the Wizard to bounce back and around but soon stopped. It was thanks to the spheres that followed their owner.

    Seol, who made that momentary gap, looked back and shouted.

    ¡°No! You fool!¡±

    He quickly ran back and stood in front of Mrs. Pearl. Then, by sharpening her intangible Mana, she cut off the mass of flesh that had sprouted on her thighs.

    -sh!

    In the meantime, blood sttered like a fountain to see if it was connected to the blood vessels, then evaporated in high heat before it even touched her cheek. She gathered mes in her hands and halted the bleeding by putting it on the cut part ¨C a bloodied cauterization.

    -Cheeeeeeiiiiik!

    While she grounded her teeth and treated her wounds, Seol attacked the Wizard once again. As he continued avoiding the attack, he kept ncing towards me.

    Seol protected my surroundings closely and came to the front while Mrs. Pearl was stopping the bleeding. From that guy¡¯s point of view, it would be a great chance. At that moment, if there were a gap, even for a moment to shoot magic at me, I would be defenseless.

    -Bang bang! Bang bang bang!

    Seol¡¯s punches continued. Whenever he struck the Wizard¡¯s shield, the Mana wrapped in his fist exploded. The enemy kept firing magic at me in the gap, but Seol blocked it with his body every time.

    I noticed two more jewels on his ne were broken, and all five were used. Now Seol¡¯s life was gone. If he was hit directly by magic once again, it might be dangerous.

    After he died, then I was the top priority.

    It was dangerous.

    No¡­

    It could¡¯ve been dangerous, even if it was 10 secondste.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

    I could see it. Twelve branches of Mana covered the sky like a parab and joined together at the top of my head. The fused pir of power fell like a beam of light piercing the clouds. What I had been doing so far was controlling that Mana.

    As I observed the flow, I realized that the time hade.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

    I wasn¡¯t the only one that noticed that something had changed.

    ¡°This is it!¡±

    Realizing that the sensation was unusual, the Wizard reached out to me, but Seol blocked him again. After the bleeding ended, Mrs. Pearl also stood up. The moment he wriggled his finger toward me again, Ipleted the barrier.

    -Whooooooong!

    When the barrier waspleted, a unique wave wrapped around us¡ªa pleasant sense of closure. It was a neat feeling as if the pieces were all in sync.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s done.¡±

    I chuckled.

    ¡°This is¡­ fuck, what the hell have you done?!¡±

    I conveyed my thoughts to Seol via Parvache.

    [Seol! Step back!]

    Now his artifact was useless. Seol didn¡¯t question the telepathy delivered by Parvache and distanced himself from the Wizard. As if waiting, he yelled and pointed his finger at me. Mana was condensed, and red lightning spattered.

    -Stt!

    Perhaps she was concerned about the situation. Instead of Seol, Mrs. Pearl went in front of me and blocked it.

    Although she lit the me to stop the lightning¡­

    -Whirrrrr!

    The red lightning bypassed her and ran into her, as it had done before. However, havingpleted the barrier, I no longer had my hands and feet tied.

    I put Mana on my hand.

    -Crackling!

    Without a hitch, I struck the lightning with my bare hands.

    ¡°What¡­ what¡­¡±

    Even without defensive artifacts, once my hands and feet were free, that was nothing.

    The expression of the guy who noticed the meaning of the phenomenon seriously hardened. Various makeup and powder coatings melted away, and even ck ash marks remained dirty on the skin, but it felt like he had be pale.

    I breathed magic into the Speech Dissolving Bead, and I spoke in a voice of the alien race that was heard like a scraping iron.

    ¡°I see your spellbinations are incredibly fast, but it¡¯s too honest. I can deflect it off quickly just by reading the texture of the Mana.¡±

    ¡°What the¡­!¡±

    Looking at his distorted expression, I said, ¡°Not yet. It¡¯s not over.¡±

    That barrier,pleted with White Deer¡¯s help, was just the preparation for that game. But, it took quite a lot of time and effort to prepare.

    Space was created through the branches of the Enchanted Wood and cohesive Mana. That barrier¡¯s role was ¡®to draw a line¡¯ ¨C to put it in a little simpler way.

    The barrier itself didn¡¯t exert physical power. It just served to inform that that was the designated space. It essentially sent a message saying not to cross that line.

    Why was I collecting so much Mana when I was only drawing a line? That was because the one who should be deceived through that line was a very high-ranking guy.

    That line would y a role in limiting the scope of one spell to be changed now.

    The spell to be cast at that moment borrowed the power of God. There was no need for long chants, massive artifacts, or to draw magic circles.

    God¡¯s spell was a moment of action. With just one word, the power of God came to reality.

    All I had to do was call the generic name of the God I recognized. That was because the rituals corresponding to the calction of the spell¡¯s chant andplex forms were alreadypleted a long time ago.

    I poured out of my lips the spell I had already received half a year ago, the divine spell engraved on my soul in exchange for a part of my body.

    ¡°The Sanctuary of Kylgeniapros¡­¡±

    As soon as the spell waspleted, the nature of the space changed.

    ***

    ¡°What¡­ what is it?!¡±

    The guy looked around in confusion. The night sky, once dyed dark blue, had currently turned into red blood. The wind wasn¡¯t blowing anymore. I sensed an alien presence every time I inhaled and exhaled.

    The Wizard constantly spewed out Mana around him, using it to examine the space. However, the informationing back remained unchanged.

    The Mana¡¯s concentration and arrangement that made up the interior were no different from before I used the magic. The buildings remained the same, no physical movement was detected, and there were no abnormal reactions to the living things.

    Still, the apparent change that anyone could notice would inevitably lead to further confusion. The atmosphere that turned red in an instant as if you were on another¡­ a truly alienating presence that was different from Mana.

    ¡°What¡­ what¡­¡±

    The Wizard muzzled, speechless. Even Mrs. Pearl, who was already prepared, had her eyes wide open. Seol¡¯s expression was also shaking for the first time today.

    ¡°You¡­ how¡­¡±

    He looked at me with a blue face, but he kept fiddling with his ring. The direction the Mana was going to was outside. However, as time passed, his expression became gloomier.

    ¡°Can¡¯t the message magic pass outside?¡± I said while looking at him.

    He opened his eyes wide. As if he was stabbed to the point, his sweat was seen flowing down his forehead.

    ¡°There can be no message magic that reaches outside. Conversely, there is no way to contact or monitor this ce either.¡±

    Nomunication magic could leak out, and from that moment on, no matter what happened there, the Guardians of the Great Convention outside wouldn¡¯t notice anything. That was how much freedom of action I had.

    ¡°How¡­ how do you¡­!¡±

    ¡°If people look from the outside right now, this space will look like a red haze. They won¡¯t know what¡¯s going on inside. Even satellite images are useless.¡±

    The more he listened to me, the more serious his eyes became. Ah, I could hear it. I could hear his head rolling all the way here.

    There were strange magic, enormous Mana thatpleted the barrier, a strange presence around him, the ominous feeling that the whole space was ¡®changed,¡¯ and thest disconnectedmunication.

    Given all of this, the conclusion he would make was obvious. The way the Wizard thought was discernible, after all.

    I watched his hand fiddling with a different ring.

    ¡°Well? Have you made up your mind? Now, try running away.¡±

    When the thoughts were caught again, the Wizard trembled, but he smiled as if he had regained hisposure.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous, Alien. I don¡¯t know what the hell is this, but we¡¯re going to go today. Just wait a little bit. We¡¯ll be back soon¡­¡±

    At that moment, his smile broke. His white face was now horribly distorted. His lips with red lipstick were strangely twisted.

    ¡°¡­ What the hell¡­ what are you?!¡±

    An unknown joy was rising in my heart. Was it just those guys? Were they trying to resurrect Earth¡¯s Truth-Seekers? Was it them that brought me my stress, fear, and anxiety?

    And ironically, there was a cold wave of anger on the back of the joy filling my depths.

    ¡°Why? Why are you bothering me so much? Why did you touch me when you are trembling with such fear?¡±

    I replied with a smile.

    ¡°Is the teleport not working? It¡¯s weird. The artifact that you executives carry around with. It¡¯s an object that can return you to a designated ce by simply triggering it anytime, anywhere.¡±

    He breathed in quietly.

    ¡°It¡¯s even impossible to make it anymore. The artifacts were made and given to you by ¡®the Great One.¡¯ I heard that no matter how much the executives try, it¡¯s impossible to imitate that teleportation ring.¡±

    Watching that dizzy expression made me feel relieved. A perfect environment had been created, and at that moment, all I had to do was take action. I mumbled leisurely.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to hunt¡­¡±

 Chapter 96

    Superior or inferior (1)

    The wizard¡¯s eyes were filled with a murderous spirit.

    ¡°You brainwashed the apprentices to uncover information, but¡­ what if you knew beforehand? What did you do to make this nonsense possible?¡±

    At first, one might¡¯ve wondered what kind of fortune that was. It was a great opportunity to capture even ¡®Eraser¡¯ while they were looking for the wizards. But for the time being, something had gone beyond imagination.

    That guy was also feeling the sensation that filled that space.

    It was the gaze of someone looking seriously at oneself and the unpleasantness of being watched through the neck close enough to feel the breath. Taking it a step further, it seemed that the surrounding space had been encroached on by the being as if swallowed into the stomach of a great entity.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on right now is¡­¡±

    I whispered as if to reveal a big secret.

    ¡°¡­ That is exactly what it is, Seol! Mrs. Pearl! That is enough!¡±

    They undid their transforming technique as soon as my words fell off. It was no longer necessary to maintain their human forms. They returned to the body that could draw out all their power.

    Mrs. Pearl turned into an ancient little fox. Thest time I had seen her, the fur all over her body shone like ss, but now it was engulfed in a thick me, and the whole body was dyed with a yellowish-whiteva-like glow.

    Seol also returned to its original body. He showed tremendous reflexes and speed in human form, but he couldn¡¯t draw magic as much as Mrs. Pearl. Due to hisck of defense, I handed over the artifact to him. His human form was inferior to Mrs. Pearl, after all.

    Seol, who became a huge ck bear, cried out loud as if it had been waiting. Intangible Mana gathered and swirled around its body. The invisible power that freely transformed ording to its will was like a bone-breaking hammer, sometimes like a flesh-cutting knife.

    The wizard¡¯s face had be a spectacle.

    ¡°They are not human¡­ The primary evolutionary native species of thisnd? Join their hands with the alien? No. it can¡¯t be.¡±

    While the wizard was confused, I was trying to expand my senses for the first time.

    The one who filled that space at that time was very favorable to me since I was the one that activated the magic. Yeah, that was probably his first time in that dimension. I was sure there was no one else on Earth who received that spell.

    Perhaps that was why it easily epted my request. Every corner in that barrier, where it crept, was transformed into a sense of a thermal board that fitted in the human cognitive domain and could be seen by me.

    It was a different view from ordinary detection magic. Limiting the range of encroachment through barriers was a predicted result, but after recognizing it with a sense of reality, my body trembled at how we could seed.

    What kind of entity was Parvache, who knew how to construct such a barrier?

    Using its power, I was able to see vividly as if I existed everywhere at the same time within a 2 kilometers radius. I could feel everything big and small inside it. The realm of super-sensibility that I reached for the first time in my life was fascinating, and I couldn¡¯t help but be fascinated by the enormous amount of information flowing at my will.

    However, if it continued like that, I would soon hit my limit. Although it was a retrograde sensation to my level, I knew I couldn¡¯tst long.

    Again, the wish was raised, the range of recognition was reduced, and so was the target.

    Wizards were running from one ce to another, and agents and soldiers were most of the ones that had died. The Kaifu tribes wandered and were trapped by the barrier. The same happened to the apprentices driven to the end of the mission and puzzled by the sudden change.

    I realized that there were three beings in that barrier. I checked the locations of the executives, including the wizard in front of me. One was on the dormitory side, and the other was approaching that ce at high speed.

    I judged that all I needed was information that the executive level knew. Did I need more than a hundred apprentices who had infiltrated that space?

    The answer came back soon.

    ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t necessary.¡±

    Moreover, that transcendental sensation I borrowed was analyzing the nature of the wizard¡¯s Mana more than my original ability. I knew how he operated his Mana so far, how he constructed the spell, and that there were traces all over his body as if there were marks where the water flowed.

    The outstanding feature of this guy¡¯s magic was that it used living tissues. Even if I keep the apprentices alive, he would only use them as a magic material. The traces left on him taught me his battle pattern, and then I made a decision. There was no need for apprentices in that ce. If I didn¡¯t need them there, I could create the necessity by sending them to another location.

    Having hardened my mind, I narrowed my awareness scope once more and limited it to about a hundred apprentices and executives, then prayed.

    -Please hear my wish, give them a sign of recognition.

    It responded to my call.

    -Cheeeeiiiik!

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Smoke rose from his facial skin, and he knelt. The wizard, who was struggling with pain for a while, raised his head. Intricate patterns were seen covering his entire face. There was also a bizarre trace that seemed to portray some creature.

    Simr scenes were produced at the same time throughout the base. The same pattern appeared on the rest of the executives¡¯ and apprentices¡¯ bodies, and I saw them all twisting in pain.

    The peculiarity of beings that lent me power also applied there. Upon hearing my wish, it left a mark on the target¡¯s body instead of branding the soul, as it did on other asions. The only thing it was interested in was matter.

    I looked at the wizard¡¯s face and thought, ¡®Oh, that was what it looked like.¡¯ Even if I heard Parvache¡¯s exnation, I couldn¡¯t see it with the naked eye, so I didn¡¯t have a clue. Did Purbagios¡¯ stigma on the spirit¡¯s soul look simr to that?

    I continued to wish. Perhaps it wouldn¡¯t work for the executives, that was, the beings who had crossed the wall. I prayed with that fact in mind.

    -Please give my voice to all of them.

    It responded to my request with great pleasure. Everyone¡¯s ears, which had been the subject of recognition, were opened.

    I looked at their clothes, and there was amon military jackknife among the armed forces of the apprentices. I delivered my voice.

    -All of you here.

    The wizard¡¯s face hardened. His eyes were nk for a moment, and then he regained the light of reason. The same goes for two executives in different spaces.

    However, the response of the apprentices was utterly different.

    They all lost their will as soon as they heard my voice and stopped moving at once. They held their breaths and focused as if it were a signing down from heaven.

    Even the appearance of their surroundings was caught in my perception. Kaifu wizards, whom the apprentices chased, were staring at them in silence.

    -Everyone, hold the knife on your left waist¡­

    The wizard knelt, and his left hand flinched. It was also because he didn¡¯t have the item, but he was resisting my voice. As expected, since it wasn¡¯t the ¡®original,¡¯ the effect wasn¡¯t as strong.

    In most areas where my senses reached, something else happened. All of the apprentices stretched out their left hands, holding the knives, ording to my voice. There was no sign of resistance there.

    -Lift it¡­

    Following my orders, over a hundred arms stretched out into the sky as if moving in a long group dance.

    -Stab it in the heart.

    And rivers of blood flowed all over the base.

    Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab!

    I felt the movement of each arm, even the little restraints, piercing the heart. The wizard barely survived, but his whole body was covered in sweat after realizing he suffered mental damage. Recognizing the corpses scattered on the floor with super senses, I spoke to him.

    -I dedicate them to you.

    A silent will answered me.

    ¡°I will enjoy it.¡±

    The body was crumpled and twisted around the de that pierced the hearts of the corpses. At that moment, the body on the floor was entirely absorbed by the weapon and eaten. It was simr to when I dedicated L¨¹er to Dryflos.

    One more weight was put on that, and I made a little more time to keep that space. It must¡¯ve already noticed the fact that the scale of the dimension that it hade down was ridiculously narrow. Still, I made it wait a little longer by offering a hundred flesh beings.

    ¡°Now then¡­¡±

    I looked at the wizard and said, ¡°I¡¯m not going to do anything like emotional torture, as you said. I¡¯m sick of blood because of the sacrifice. So, do you want to surrender?¡±

    His face was distorted.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous!¡±

    Of course, it woulde out like that. Mrs. Pearl and Seol, who received the intention delivered through Parvache while I spoke with my voice, were already attacking him.

    ¡°Kwooooooooaaaaargh!¡±

    Mana boiled with Seol¡¯s roar. A cohesive force attacked around him¡ªdozens of sharp and heavy chunks of energy. Like missiles, the wizard was stuck in the ce where he was standing.

    -Bang bang bang!

    At that moment, his spheres stuck to his body. They lifted the wizard in the air as he modified his strategy to try and somehow escape from that ce.

    Unfortunately, there were no such retreat paths avable. He had ovee my voice, but there were still marks on his face. I spoke once more.

    -Come closer.

    ¡°Kugh!¡±

    His body didn¡¯t surge but staggered. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was affecting him. Toward such wizard, Mrs. Pearl, that had umted grudge, released her Mana.

    ¡°I¡¯ll burn you!¡±

    Nine tails rose, and mes raged. The pir of fire soared upwards as if blowing in the wind. Mrs. Pearl, who had a close fight before, was nowunching a different type of attack.

    With a sharp cry, branches of mes emanating from behind her back bent and stretched out.

    -Pwuuueeeeeey!

    The tail-drawing me struck the wizard, Being conscious of the protection magic that blocked the front, that time, the intention was to hit the target in all directions at once. The wizard gripped his teeth and looked down. Their eyes shed in the air, and¡­

    ¡°Damn it¡­ Silver mirrors for magic reflection!¡±

    Innumerable silver ne membranes surrounded the wizard. One by one, the firebombs made by Mrs. Pearl ran against the shield that looked like a round mirror. Some of them broke it and exploded together on the spot, but some bounced off! And some of them flew toward Mrs. Pearl.

    She snorted, even looking at it.

    ¡°Hump!¡±

    What the wizard attempted was a counterattack to return the spell, but the mes bouncing towards her faded in vain. When Mrs. Pearl stretched one of her tails, the ming bombs flying in the reverse direction were naturally absorbed by the fire barrier. As if returning to the ce where it was supposed to be.

    Meanwhile, the ming bombs that poured from angle. Some of them poured onto other buildings ornd and exploded violently.

    -Bang bang bang!

    -Khrrrrrgggg!

    The mes and heavy explosions bloomed all over the Hun-neung. A dizzying heat spread out.

    I constantly helped through my voice, and Mrs. Pearl¡¯s mes and Seol¡¯s energy bullets lit up the air.

    -Wheeing!

    -Bang bang bang!

    -Wheeerrrrrrgh!

    A binge sounded, and Mana stretched out pleasantly. The wizard was busy running away, but they focused their attack in that direction to prevent his escape.

    ¡°Necrotic breath!¡±

    He barely managed to create a spell and blew out an ominous yellow breeze¡­

    ¡°That again?¡±

    In the first ce, that magic had never hit today. The heat created by Mrs. Pearl burned and evaporated all organic clouds.

    ¡°Kugh¡­¡±

    To stop the spell, Seol pierced him with a spear of Mana. The wizard was exhausted. If he spent a little more power, we could catch him with a spell.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    And at that time, there was information that my senses told me. I quietly turned my head. I should get ready to greet other executives who would be arriving here soon.

    The person marked was approaching. The supersensory beyond my limits whispered to me the roots of the executive. He had what kind of power he had, what characteristics he had, and through the traces of his existence, every piece of information was transmitted to me.

    All of that was an area consented through the one, ¡®Kylgeniapros¡¯ who encroached on space.

    A few months ago, the incident in which Yusu ??entered my living room with the Dream-Travel technique remained unforgettable to me. At that time, my house was like an iron castle that couldn¡¯t be prated by any teleport spell based on my knowledge. Yes, in a ¡®based on my knowledge¡¯ method.

    Parvache and I became wary of the abilities we didn¡¯t perceive. I learned the principle by learning the leading technique myself, but I had to worry about how many magic and powers we didn¡¯t know in that world that wasn¡¯t recorded in Akashic Records.

    Moreover, what about ascetics who served the Truth-Seekers of the Earth? It was almost impossible to predict and prepare for that ability.

    Meanwhile, after searching the apprentice¡¯s body¡¯s memory through Yodmo, I found out that the executives all had teleport artifacts. That factor was a big headache in making a n. I didn¡¯t know if I could defeat them at once. What if they ran away in the middle of the battle?

    The purpose of targeting the executives was to obtain information, and if they ran away, I would be a dog chasing chickens. Therefore, I had to study the countermeasures for teleporting through artifacts.

    In mymon sense, teleporting could be interrupted. But here I was, trapped again, returning us to the same problem.

    Hence, I reached a conclusion. If I couldn¡¯t guess what my opponent would use, I could use powerful means to overwhelm all the way, the same as beings with a higher standard than anyone else, who used their power to cut the space altogether.

    And, the absolute concept that divided space I knew was the dimensions, while the highest rank I knew was God. As a result ofbining the two, my thoughts reached the spells of Kylgeniapros.

 Chapter 97

    Superior or Inferior (2)

    Kylgeniapros. Its true name as a god was ¡®the Edacious World.¡¯

    It was one of the most ancient gods among its fellow deities, and it had some distinctive features from other gods.

    One of them was that existence itself constituted a dimension. In other words, Kylgeniapros was both a ¡®god¡¯ and a ¡®world.¡¯

    At that time, the spell I had was the magic that brought some of Kylgeniapros¡¯ existence to that world. It was said to be the only spell it gave to mortals.

    [How much longer can Kylgeniapros wait?]

    ¡®About 20 minutes from now?¡¯

    The presence of God filling the space was getting bigger and bigger. The red light that covered the sky was also bing darker with an ominous color as time passed.

    [It¡¯s tight.]

    I muttered inside as I looked at the dorm.

    ¡®If we don¡¯t have enough time¡­ we still got insurance. I have to throw the appetizer again and make it wait a little longer for the main dish.¡¯

    [¡­ Hmm.]

    ¡®That being said, I have given more than 100 humans bodies, but the impact is not as great as I thought.¡¯

    Did it mean that a handful of my internal organs satisfied God more than 100 ordinary human bodies?

    No, I didn¡¯t think so. Apprentices would have a different meaning since they were offered after God¡¯s advent.

    I was the direct trigger that caused God¡¯s advent. As a result, in exchange for a part of my body, I called out a piece of God¡¯s body into that world momentarily.

    Objectively, the offering might seem insignificant and out of bncepared to the enormous result of advent. However, from the standpoint of the person whose organs were torn of, it was impossible to be happy that it was stopped at a low price.

    Back to the point, the fragments of God were summoned to that dimension for the first time, and it was, as expected, extremely pleased. If left as it was, it would¡¯ve randomly encroached that world to the limit allowed by causality, but I didn¡¯t want that to happen, so I prepared that barrier.

    As a result, the two-kilometer radius of that dimension called Earth was currently ovepping with a dimension called Kylgeniapros. Yet, they only ovepped.

    Of course, the dimension also had a value. Earth was a crappy dimension that couldn¡¯t even bepared to an ant¡¯s poop when it came to the Kylgeniapro¡¯s deity. What was the result?

    Yes, that space was currently obscured by God and disconnected from the original dimension. Neither messages nor teleports went outside. As time passed, the sequence after encroachment would begin, but for the time being, that was it.

    [Well? The one ising here right now. That is an unexpected ability.]

    ¡®Ah¡­ you¡¯re right.¡¯

    I wasn¡¯t just calling out the pieces of God but also using the power of its body. The realm of cognition allowed by God was transmitted to Parvache through my senses. The scenes I saw at that moment were shared at almost the same level.

    God didn¡¯t mind epting some of my little prayers before starting a full meal. It would be no big deal for him to lend a sense of perception or put a divine nature in my voice.

    Of course, it would befortable to ask it to hold onto them while I was praying. However, there was only one form of Kylgeniapros¡¯s direct influence on the physical world. It should begin after I had evacuated from that barrier.

    The opponent was approaching that way, carrying a Kaifu along with him. Parvache spoke, recognizing the intangible existence through the sense of God.

    [The reason it isn¡¯t visible is not invisibility magic. That body can cross the boundary between material and non-material. In the material state, it¡¯s transparent and hard, but it¡¯s basically a human physique. In the non-material state, it¡¯s simr to a spiritual body.]

    The whole body was transparent like air except for the Kylgeniapros pattern on the face. God intuitively grasped the reality, and information was naturally engraved in my brain.

    If it was a living thing that went back and forth between matter and non-material, we recently experienced it. I answered silently.

    ¡®Does the Heart Fish have a simr principle to that?¡¯

    Parvache hesitated and replied.

    [Speaking of the characteristics that aremon to both¡­ it would be possible to guess backward whether there is any link between the two, and what is the fundamental principle of this ability¡­]

    His intentions continued to be delivered.

    [Min-joon, please remember the information of that being through God¡¯s recognition now. If we do research based on this after today, we may be able to step beyond the principle ofposition of Heart Fish¡­ to a new concept that we have not been able to approach until now.]

    I nodded quietly.

    Parvache¡¯s words weren¡¯t just limited to that invisibility. The world that borrowed the eyes of God was wonderful from start to end.

    The subject of recognition had been drastically reduced now. However, a moment ago, when I put all the space inside the barrier into the range of my senses, it was the world I saw then. Many objects were briefly understood through a high-level framework that I never encountered before.

    I had to remember everything I saw at that moment. I thought that the use of that experience would change my perspective on how to recognize magic. It might be possible to raise the level a few more steps than it was now.

    ¡®It¡¯sing up to the roof.¡¯

    The one approaching at that moment was moving in a physically perfect blind spot. He might not know he was being observed that way.

    The guy approached right in front of the rooftop¡¯s entrance and put Kaifu¡¯s body down on the for. Still, there was no advantage in having a transparent physique if he moved while holding it. He would catch the attention of therge frog that floated in the air soon.

    I could feel the invisible body dematerializing beyond the door. He seemed to be aiming for a surprise attack.

    Despite erasing his existence from the physical world and turning into a spirit body, he couldn¡¯t escape from the gaze of Kylgeniapros. That didn¡¯t mean that colors or shapes that weren¡¯t visible suddenly appeared. It only clearly recognized that something existed there.

    He walked through the aisle wall connecting the stairs and the rooftop like a ghost. I made a fuss as if I didn¡¯t notice it on purpose. Seol and Mrs. Pearl hunted and pushed the wizard while I showed my back as if I was focusing on the sight.

    I asked into my chest.

    ¡®Hey, you can eat that, right?¡¯

    What was stuck on the edge of my clothes and around my chest wriggled in response to my thoughts. Not long after, it moved above my left chest.

    ¡®Looking at it, it¡¯s almost like a spiritual body. I saw it for a while with God¡¯s sense, and I think you can eat enough of that¡­ Do you agree? If you agree, wriggle once and if you don¡¯t agree, wriggle twice.¡¯

    Wriggle.

    The creature moved once.

    At first, I put it in my inner pocket, and only parts of the tentacles touched my bare skin. However, as time passed, it snuggled into the inside. It especially liked to stick to the skin above my heart. It seemed to want to feel the heartbeat up close.

    ¡®If you can eat it, you can touch it. Hey, eat just as much as I tell you, don¡¯t eat the rest; just tie it up. I¡¯ll give you a signal, and you¡¯ll get it right away?¡¯

    Wriggle.

    It moved its body once again.

    The creature gradually approached behind my back. Looking at thendscape beyond my back, I sent telepathy to Parvache.

    ¡®Because of dematerialization, the mark of Kylgeniapros has disappeared.¡¯

    When it had the property of a transparent material, a bizarre pattern remained on its face. As soon as it was dematerialized, it disappeared. It was correct to say that the influence was stopped.

    [Really, this God¡­ it has no interest other than matter. It doesn¡¯t need a spirit body.]

    ¡®My voice won¡¯t work in a non-material state.¡¯

    Slowly, a small creature started moving inside my thick coat. Its body came out of my chest and moved toward the sleeves. It then wrapped around the wrists inside my clothes, preparing a bundle of tentacles.

    The invisible body quietly walked out of its spirituality and stretched out one hand that couldn¡¯t be interfered by concrete objects approached from behind my back. It prated my chest cleanly, and came out in front of my chest. Of course, there was no sensation, let alone pain. It was like the soul; there was no physical contact.

    It was obvious what that guy was doing, so I prepared quietly.

    And, the invisible body suddenly converted only its left hand that pierced my body into a physical entity.

    If it were what he initially aimed for, the arm that suddenly appeared would crush my thoracic tissue and quickly killed me.

    Its materialized body was probably as hard as metal. It was natural to use that tactic. As nned, his arm would appear intact, and my heart, which upied the space, would have been shattered and crushed.

    But¡­

    ¡®You¡¯re in the wrong ce, you bastard.¡¯

    -Wheeeiiiing!

    The magical force field prepared in advance reacted within my body. The moment the two substances collided in the same space, a fight over which one owned it began, and the game was settled in an instant.

    The steel-like forearm that had to be substantiated through my heart failed to materialize due to my magic interference. Afterward, it was pushed out. The spiritual body¡¯s screams weren¡¯t heard in my ears. It couldn¡¯t interfere with the physical world, after all.

    However, the transparent body¡¯s forearm, which had already regained the material¡¯s properties, was clearly felt. Like a centipede that was torn apart, its body was broken in two with my body in the middle. My magical force field pushed the middle part of the forearm that tried to materialize in my body. It was crushed at both sides, and its arms were seemingly broken in two as if the other half disappeared.

    The invisible blood was fluttering. The sensation of hot invisible liquid sshing like a fountain in front and back of my body was very unfamiliar.

    The invisible body staggered, forgetting to dematerialize the amputated arm again. The materialized part must¡¯ve felt pain, huh? That was good news.

    Then, would the non-material part feel pain, too?

    Let¡¯s experiment.

    ¡®Now!¡¯

    Bronze tentacles popped out of my sleeves at my signal!

    -Wheeeeck!

    The creature, which captured even the Heart Fish, also wrapped around its invisible body at once. The tentacles overpowered him. The invisible guy soon became a mummy-like figure wrapped in a bronze bandage.

    The long eyes sticking out of my sleeve looked at me like a bent ring. It expressed quite a few emotions with its gestures and eyes. I met the eyes of the small creature, and there was only one thing it wants now.

    ¡®Eat only his arms and legs.¡¯

    The tentacle creature was excited and made countless tiny tentacles like capiries to prate the spirit body. Before long, his limbs began to be eaten by the tentacles, and the meal ended in no time. The piece of the arm that was materialized were separated and dropped like leftover food.

    Also, what remained on the floor was a body whose limbs were cut off like a ster statue found as a relic. The tentacle creature left only the fine stem that restrained his body and separated it from its body. Like chains digging through organs and muscles, the stem cells left in the spirit bodypletely suppressed his movement.

    And as time passed, interestingly, the whole spirit body that lost its limbs became materialized. The restraints of the separated delicate tentacles remained as they were. It seemed that it was originally a living being based on matter and its ability to transform into non-material. There had to be a time limit to maintaining it.

    Even after materializing his transparent body, he only breathed and couldn¡¯t even moan. It was because the tentacles pierced his tongue and vocal cords like a fine needle.

    Currently, we were done overpowering one executive like that.

    ¡°That¡¯s also in the final step.¡±

    I looked toward Seol and Mrs. Pearl. The wizard was shot down by their attack and came down to the roof again. Due to the strict checks of those two, he was running away without attempting to fly again.

    His movement had slowed down visibly. I guess we only needed to push one decisive attack.

    ¡®Put your tentacles in.¡¯

    Following my instructions, dozens of thick tentacles outside came back into my sleeves. Anyway, that guy saved me a lot of trouble. Although the magic that attacked spirit bodies existed, it would¡¯ve been a huge burden to use it.

    Come to think of it, should I give it a name or something? Thinking that way, I bounced toward the wizard.

    ¡°You¡­ you¡­!¡±

    The wizard¡¯s face turned blue when he saw me approaching. He might¡¯ve already noticed what the lump of tentacles left behind me meant.

    ¡°Noel!¡±

    With the name he spat out in his head, I triggered the magic.

    ¡°The String of Qu¨¦cadios!¡±

    A white ray of light came out of my clothes. It looked like a thin light ofser beams, which were soon divided into several branches as if it were loosening long hair and cut the air into a sharp and thin sh.

 Chapter 98

    Superior or Inferior (3)

    -Wreeeeiick!

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Seol and Mrs. Pearl, who noticed my attack, spread the distance. The wizard raised his hand in confusion. He collected six spheres, but his reaction speed had dropped considerably. He only had little Mana left.

    If he were in the condition when we first met him, he would¡¯ve been able to avoid it, but now¡­

    -Pyiiiing!

    A sharp sound tore through the air as dozens of metal fibers cut around the wizard.

    The power was weakened since it was in the realm of another god, but that was already enough. I wasn¡¯t trying to kill him in the first ce.

    ¡°Kugh¡­!¡±

    Metal threads that couldn¡¯t be exined bymon sense in that world moved and cut randomly. The six spheres that protected the wizard¡¯s body couldn¡¯t endure it.

    ¡°Ah, no!¡±

    There was a devastating cry as if the soul was escaping, and then¡­

    -Shrieeek

    The spheres floating in the air were cut out with a diagonal line. The six damaged artifacts fell on the roof and rolled over, causing its contents to spill out a wet brain dyed in pink.

    ¡°Somehow, the spell speed is fast. So, you use the brain from which the soul has escaped as an auxiliary operator device.¡±

    He trembled as he looked at the crystal fragments and brain pieces.

    ¡°No¡­ Do you know how I collected these brains¡­¡±

    He shouted with a bloodline around his neck as if it was unfair.

    ¡°How hard it has been?! When a genius who will remain in history among humans is born, I wait and wait for the best moment¡­ for all these years!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl didn¡¯t wait for the wizard¡¯sining to end. The bullet of mes she emanated hit his chest!

    ¡°Kuaargh!¡±

    The wizard fell to the floor, vomiting blood, and Seol jumped on him and constantly inserted the intangible ring on the floor. He was stuck and couldn¡¯t escape.

    Hmm, but that wasn¡¯t enough. What should we do if the wizard tore off the floor?

    I pulled out the tentacles again and tried to tie him up, but the tentacles refused. If there was nothing to eat (a spirit body), it didn¡¯t seem to like it.

    ¡°It¡¯s up to you.¡±

    I sighed. I had to recycle the magic left in my hands. The sharp fibrous metal was now clumped together like a tiny white thread. A magical metal that was transformed using the power of Qu¨¦cadios. It was called ¡°Qu¨¦carditon¡± in Parvache¡¯snguage.

    Qu¨¦cadios¡¯ spell was based on transforming any material into that metal. My sleeves were shortened by one span now since they were softened to make the metal strings used in the attack.

    But it wasn¡¯t enough. Should I cut more of my clothes?

    No, I didn¡¯t need to. I grabbed a broken, rolling sphere on the ground. I noticed that that crystal was a material that contained quite a lot of Mana. I thought it was almost as good as the clothes I was wearing.

    Even the additional material in my hand was transformed into metal and fluttered. I spoke to Mrs. Pearl.

    ¡°Please put some heat here.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl asked back if it would be okay. I urged her with reassurance as I was protecting my body, and she applied thepressed heat onto my hand. The Qu¨¦carditon instantly changed like the iron in the furnace.

    I poured that hot liquid metal over the wizard¡¯s arms and legs.

    -Cheeeeiiik!

    ¡°Humph!¡±

    He was convulsing, his eyes flipping upside down.

    I took action before his limbspletely melted. The metal cooled at the right timing at my will. It burned the skin of the wizard¡¯s limbs, prated the muscles, and cooled down in the breathtaking moment when the bones melted. To be precise, it absorbed heat from the surface and crystallized it inside.

    As a result, the Qu¨¦carditon made the ball hardened and half-fused with the wizard¡¯s limbs and muscles. It was like handcuffs that dug deep into his skin.

    I put a simple spell on these handcuffs to freeze his Mana. It was a substance that entered his body, so it worked efficiently. On the other hand, the shape of the molten metal was distorted and adhered to the living tissues, so it wouldn¡¯t even cut off easily.

    Currently, another executive was finished.

    After finalizing my work there, I immediately flew to the dormitory to catch another executive and looked at an unexpected intruder.

    ¡°Hey, there. It¡¯s okay, so you don¡¯t have toe all the way here. Stay right there.¡±

    I noticed the approach due to the super-sensitivity while using the Qu¨¦carditon, but Seol and Mrs. Pearl seemed to be distracted by the wizard. They both followed my eyes in confusion.

    The alien was crawling desperately through the open rooftop entrance, and the face resembled a frog. Both ankles were crushed as if they were stepped on and damaged to a t gum on the floor.

    Yes, that was the one that the invisible body was carrying on the shoulder earlier. I thought it just woke up after fainting earlier.

    The alien shed a yellow bubble around its mouth, presumed to be blood. Yet, it was barely approaching. A long line of yellow fluids trailed along where it crawled. Its body was in a mess, but there were strangely strong emotions in both eyes. While moving forward ufortably, its gaze poured out intensely.

    Seol said in a low voice, ¡°Is this an alien who taught the humans here?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a race called Kaifu.¡±

    I looked back at the giant frog and spoke. ¡°We¡¯re a little busy right now, but we¡¯ll treat you. So, stay still.¡±

    Treatment was an excuse, but I had to erase its memories first. I was d to bring Yodmo¡¯s ears. It didn¡¯t matter if it saw only me, but I couldn¡¯t leave a witness about Seol and Mrs. Pearl¡¯s main body. It was good for those two to remain as human wizards that I brainwashed and carried around.

    ¡°Well? Can¡¯t you understand?¡±

    The Kaifu kept crawling over to that side without stopping whether it heard me or not.

    And then, I felt ufortable. Kaifu¡¯s crawling track was a bit strange. I thought it wasing to ask for personal protection from the righteous alien who punished its enemy.

    On the path of the Kaifu crawling towards us, a transparent body with a limb cut off. The separated fine tentacles were densely embedded so that anyone could see its location.

    Wait a minute¡­ that guy, I thought it was crawling towards us, but that was not it?

    And at that moment, the Kaifu¡¯s magic began to move in a strange form. My keen senses noticed what magic it was.

    ¡°No!¡±

    Oh, shit, it couldn¡¯t be happening!

    I reflexively reached out my hand and united my Mana. However, the magic of the Kaifu, who had reached the spell operation¡¯s end while crawling near the invisible body, was quicker.

    The Kaifu¡¯s spirit opened up, and its intentions were conveyed to everyone here. If it were in the human voice, the desperate feeling poured out like a torrent of blood.

    It cried out, spilling a blue liquid from its eyes.

    =It¡¯s¡­ my precious revenge!=

    Even small movements didn¡¯t return from the paralyzed invisible body, and then¡­

    -Bang bang bang!

    The Kaifu¡¯s body exploded with a sh of light.

    ¡°Oh, shit!¡±

    I spat a curse and created a shield in front of us. The building shook, and a storm of heat raged. After time passed and the violent event faded, I checked the remains in front of my eyes.

    ¡°¡­ Self-destruction magic.¡±

    It didn¡¯te to ask for help in the first ce. The Kaifu¡¯s purpose was the transparent body scattered across the floor.

    There were fragments of its body that were torn and burned all over the roof. It was the same with the invisible man that his body was shattered.

    ¡°The invisible executive¡­ he died!¡±

    The sense of Kylgeniapros told me. The Kaifu, who was crawling, and the intangible body caught in the explosion, were neatly killed immediately. Even the executive¡¯s body, which was as hard as steel, couldn¡¯t withstand the final spell that burned down all Mana and vitality.

    Honestly, it didn¡¯t matter what happened to the Kaifu, but unexpectedly, an executive died. Aiming to secure all three, I fought while being careful not to kill, but one flew out of my grasps.

    Fortunately, the wizard was alive and well within my bounds, but I still felt like it was in vain.

    I thought I had prepared everything, but the moment I noticed the Kaifu approaching that way, I should¡¯ve just killed it, whatever the intention!

    That crazy frog, what kind of grudge did it have to blow that guy and itself like that? Was getting two legs split worth throwing away its life like that?!

    Mrs. Pearl muttered with a slightly blue face.

    ¡°That thought¡­ what did it mean? It¡¯s so desperate that I think my mind has been affected a little.¡±

    The feelings of the alien race were so intense that its intentions were notmunicated. I answered profoundly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Is it like something precious?¡±

    If it used magic, it must¡¯ve been an instructor. It would¡¯ve been a noble in the world over there. Was it a priceless cry for damaging the pride of a precious noble? Or maybe¡­ revenge for losing its two lovely legs?

    Either way, it was crazy. No, it killed itself for something like that? If it left us alone, I would¡¯ve taken its revenge well on my own! Of course, I wouldn¡¯t have killed him.

    Well, Kaifu couldn¡¯t have known such a situation. I didn¡¯t know why it had to kill the other person with its own hands.

    I looked down at one of the giant, charred frog¡¯s eyeballs rolling at my feet. I remembered itsst appearance where it was drenched in a blue liquid and looked forward with desperate eyes.

    ¡°¡­ Damn it!¡±

    I was so angry that I kicked the Kaifu¡¯s charred eyeball with my feet.

    ***

    -Eeeeooooooeeeeeeng!

    It was like turning back time at the time when Yoon Min-joon had just left the altar with Seol and Mrs. Pearl and flew up into the sky above Hun-neung.

    Sirens echoed loudly throughout Hun-neung.

    -Emergency! Emergency! All trainees, move toward the underground evacuation route ording to the emergency rules!

    Unknown troops suddenly appeared in the various parts of the base and began to engage the defensive forces of Hun-neung. The Hun-neung agents ordered the evacuation of the trainees first. ording to the instructions, the trainees struck by lightningte at night hurriedly moved to the dormitory basement.

    All of the trainees were anxious in an emergency that urred shortly after the winged monsters attacked.

    ¡°What, is this real? Aren¡¯t we training again?¡±

    ¡°Hey, you crazy bastard, can¡¯t you hear that gunshot? Shut up and move fast.¡±

    As he listened to the trainees¡¯ conversations in front of him, Kim Kyung-hwan thought with a firm expression.

    ¡®Invasion? Is it an alien race again? But why didn¡¯t Eraser predict this time?¡¯

    Busy with the guidance of the instructors, he continued to think.

    When the Waterbirds appeared thest time, Eraser informed him in advance, made a spell to respond, and even guaranteed that Kim Kyung-hwan could handle it.

    He could hide in an uninhabited ce in advance and then jump into the field without fear of being caught in the evacuation procession after the situation urred because he was confident of his victory.

    But¡­ What on earth was going on at that moment? His mind was confused.

    Kim Kyung-hwan looked around him.

    ¡®Strange. Why are there so few instructors leading us?¡¯

    When the Waterbirds appeared, many instructors and soldiers in the base gathered to protect the trainees and moved toward the evacuation route. Although that was deep nighttime, there had to be personnel standing on the dormitory¡¯s border.

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t know, and a few minutes ago, an intruder in the form of a girl was detected by CCTV.

    The shape of a person suddenly appeared in the hallway where no one was around. It was self-evident that magic was involved. Many of the on-duty personnel and soldiers in charge of the dormitory had been dispatched to the scene.

    ¡®Is the enemy an alien race? What¡¯s the ability? If I fight¡­ can I win?¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan was worried. He didn¡¯t want to see himself feeling very anxious and weak without Eraser¡¯s guidelines.

    ¡®Okay. I shouldn¡¯t be doing this. I am the hope of humankind. Do I follow them just because they want me to evacuate?¡¯

    He didn¡¯t like that situation. Running away, hiding, and being terrified¡­ were all things of the past. Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t want to suffer from the ghost of his past.

    ¡®I am different now. I am a different person than before. I am the chosen one!¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan made up his mind.

    He followed the trainees and pretended to move underground, then pulled him out to the rear of the procession and eventually escaped secretly from the instructor. Originally, the guides wouldn¡¯t have taken their eyes off him, who was a key talent, but it was possible as most human resources had disced and moved without hesitation.

    ¡®The soldiers who can¡¯t use magic are also fighting. I can hear the gunshot. It doesn¡¯t make sense that I¡¯m running away in the meantime. Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s life story should be perfect. I don¡¯t need a story about leaving a fight with amoner and evacuating.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan muttered inside.

    ¡®Today, like that day, I¡¯m saving this base.¡¯

 Chapter 99

    Superior, or inferior (4)

    ¡°Hey! Kyung-hwan!¡±

    A trainee who was evacuating from the back spotted him falling from the group and called him.

    ¡°I left something in my room. I¡¯ll take it and follow you soon.¡±

    ¡°What? This is not the time for something like that. If the instructor knows¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take care of my own business. Why are you so noisy?¡±

    The older trainees gritted their teeth as if the direct response hurt their pride. He then turned his head and hurriedly went where he was going.

    As if that bastard wanted to die, murmurs came from his mouth and were heard by Kim Kyung-Hwan¡¯s ears, whether it was intended or not.

    As usual, he turned away the trainees who would hold him back since they were worried. It was because, despite the attitude itself, Kim Kyung-Hwan didn¡¯t feel any affection.

    Kim Kyung-Hwan had relentlessly attacked those who approached him so far to build a friendship. All of them looked like leeches trying to suck up his spine.

    He wasn¡¯t attracted to the sweet words spoken by the others on his side. He would be constantly suspicious of it anyway. Wouldn¡¯t you stick your tongue out only in front of my eyes and swear at my back? Instead, it was better not to have them around him at all.

    There was no need to be close or to give a heart. It was enough to let them see him from afar and send the light of envy and longing.

    The inferior parasites always begged in front of the strong. The trainees were ipetent who would¡¯ve lost their lives to the Waterbirds without him.

    ¡°If it weren¡¯t for me, that jerk would have been hunted. Such an ungrateful bastard, humans are hopeless.¡±

    Even now, he believed it all. If it weren¡¯t for him, they would¡¯ve had a bigger thing because of the Waterbird.

    At that time, if they waited a little longer, reinforcements wereing, and the evacuation was going as nned. However, it didn¡¯t remain in his mind.

    ¡°All the same. You can¡¯t believe it.¡±

    Humans couldn¡¯t be trusted, and past experiences deeply rooted in consciousness, whispering to Kim Kyung-hwan.

    Yes, all I believed in was my ability and¡­ Eraser.

    After his thoughts reached that far, he felt uneasy again. It was okay to follow his words when the Waterbirds attacked. So, what about that time? How did he respond?

    He needed drugs to get rid of his anxiety. Kim Kyung-hwan recalled the video he saw during the interview.

    After the battle with the Waterbird, the instructor returned and showed the video of Kim Kyung-hwan using magic, again and again, asking him the principle of thebination form.

    The filmed scene was more dynamic and cooler than expected. Buildings and gardens melted down, ck storms raged, monsters pped their wings as if they were attacking, and self-driving spells were chanted behind a shield.

    In the future, when a program that retraced his actions was aired on TV, the video would surely be used as a material screen. There will be amentary. ¡®The video you are watching is the first monumentalbat record of the Transcendent Mage Kim Kyung-hwan¡­,¡¯ and that day¡¯s record would also be added.

    As he had a pleasant imagination, his fears subsided.

    His life had just begun. After that, there was a much more beautiful and honorable flower path. He rolled his head, calming his mind.

    ¡°If you go down now, I will meet the instructor who went before¡­¡±

    He pondered for a moment. He then decided to turn around and went up.

    ¡°Because all the people were moving underground, there will be no one on the way to the rooftop, right? I need to figure out how the situation is going in a ce where I can see everything.¡±

    When he organized his thoughts, he quite liked his n. Yes, it was a priority to figure out the enemies before going into battle. Even without Eraser, he was very proud of himself for making such a cool and rational judgment.

    Kim Kyung-Hwan began to move quietly in the opposite direction from other trainees who were being evacuated.

    He didn¡¯t notice the existence of a shadow that followed him.

    ***

    ¡°Now, we are almost there! Everyone, move calmly!¡±

    The instructor who entered the basement of the dormitory guided the trainees ording to the prescribed procedures. Behind the door hidden in the basement warehouse, an evacuation route was arranged in advance. It led to a secret tunnel connected to a destination outside the base. That was the prepared evacuation procedure.

    More than 200 trainees lined up and moved calmly. The training had been strengthened since the appearance of the Waterbird. Also, the frequency of evacuation training had increased, especially in recent weeks. The trainees¡¯ints piled up, but the instructors who knew the details didn¡¯t even listen.

    A few weeks ago, a shocking incident that wasn¡¯t reported in the media took ce in Russia. Fires and explosions urred in one day throughout the country. The media inside and outside of the country remained silent as if it had been promised.

    The instructor knew, and it was spected that the facilities were Russian wizard training centers. From that day, evacuation training in Hun-neung became frequent, and the number of guards on duty increased significantly.

    ¡°It¡¯s here!¡±

    The instructor who arrived at the door operated the device. The thick door opened.

    ¡°Okay, one by one through here¡­!¡±

    -Khuaaaaaack!

    The human instructor couldn¡¯t continue his words. A quick purple wind blew over his shoulders, leaving only an afterimage in his eyes. After a short time, the instructor¡¯s staggering body fell on the floor.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaahh!¡±

    ¡°Eaaaaaaaaarg!hh!¡±

    A scream erupted among trainees who had no practical experience. Next to the instructor¡¯s body, whose neck had been torn apart, a huge purple cat quietly licked its blood-soaked left paw, and it asked the girl who was riding on its neck.

    ¡°Is it okay to kill this guy?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he has no Mana.¡±

    The trainees, who were caught in fear, surprise, and unreality, couldn¡¯t even think of responding with magic. The cat wasrger than a human being. The girl sitting on it jumped down. Was she ten years old? Her blonde hair came down to her waist. She was wearing an old-fashioned white dress that appeared in the movies.

    It was a dead body of an instructor without a neck, a monster cat that didn¡¯t exist in reality, and even a foreign girl was here. It was abination that could hardly be matched.

    ¡°The apprentice was right. They said that if we wait here, everyone will gather.¡±

    The girl said in a calm tone with no emotion.

    ¡°You block the back so that no one can escape. Don¡¯t kill the wizard.¡±

    ¡°I know, I know.¡±

    The cat quickly erased its massive body from the spot. A squeaking sound continued from all over the ce, and a few instructors and soldiers fell right in their ces. Soon after, screams broke out from the back. It was driven to the end at a speed that was close to teleportation.

    ¡°Now, then¡­¡±

    The girl ¨C Alice, concentrated her mind. The children left in the hallway on the 5th floor of that dormitory building through the window. Those little things connected the scene they were watching to her mind.

    Stained with red blood, they looked like connecting parts of hell to that world. The little fairies wereughing, carving the bodies, and ying with each other.

    There were no more humans alive in that ce.

    ¡°The arrangement is over.¡±

    Alice counted. The remaining 50 or so fairies in the hallway were no longer needed. However, there was no reason to ask them to flew that way. The long-life creature, which was simr to the shape of a girl, made an efficient judgment.

    -The kids there¡­

    Alice¡¯s intention was conveyed to the beings on the fifth floor. In the hallway full of blood and intestines, the fairies answered. ¡°Yeah! Yes, Mammy! Yeah! I¡¯m listening!¡±

    -You all die there.

    ¡°Yes! Yes, Mammy! Yeah! All right! Let¡¯s die! We are all here¡­!¡±

    The fairies ran at each other and started to bite. With a tooth in its neck, the small entities pulled up its nails, tore the other fairy¡¯s wings, and pulled out the heart. After killing each other, thest remaining fairy said with a wide smile.

    ¡°Bye~! It was fun!¡±

    It then pulled out the thigh bone of its fellow fairy scattered on the floor and put it in its mouth.

    When all the individuals died and vanished, Alice felt the power she had used to make the fairies return to herself. She added a little extra power to make stronger fairies. Though clumsy, wizards were still wizards. More powerful entities were needed than when dealing with ipetent humans.

    Deep inside her, part of the subdued consciousness was separated and divided into numerous pieces. Each consciousness blended with her power again and became ¡®existences.¡¯

    Extinct people were long gone before crossing the wall. Individuals who borrowed the figure were born through her skin. They spread their wings and flew up. Fairies smaller than fingernails filled her surroundings like a swarm of mosquitoes.

    And up to that moment, the trainees were unable to respond. Alice thought inside. Would it end easily?

    -p, p. She pped twice,

    ¡°Now, everyone, pay attention.¡±

    Alice provided an exnation in front of the fairies. She stretched out her fingers and pointed to her own eyes.

    ¡°Here¡­¡±

    She lifted one of her feet slightly behind her to pinch her Achilles tendon with her fingers.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    She raised her head again and looked at her fairies, she said.

    ¡°You all tear these two ces. Don¡¯t ever kill them, okay?¡±

    ¡°Yeh! Yes, Mammy! Okay!¡± The answer that came back from those individuals was also passionate at that time.

    ording to the apprentice they nted, the magic taught at that base wasn¡¯t based on vocal spells. Therefore, it was unnecessary to tear off the wizards¡¯ vocal cords as they did in Mozambique. Alice thought.

    Instead, the magic of the alien race called Kaifu was activated only within reach of the gaze, so she had to dig into the trainees¡¯ eyes.

    ¡°Well, start!¡±

    The fairies rushed in at her signal.

    ¡°Keaaaarghhh! These monsters!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°S-save me!¡±

    At first, many trainees were helpless, but when the threat of life struck their noses, they began to respond with magic. However, the fairies flew at high speed and avoided attacks.

    As time went by, the number of trainees who crawled on the floor gradually increased as their eyeballs are dug up, and their Achilles tendons were cut off. Alice tilted her head while looking at the scene.

    ¡°Huh? Come to think of it¡­ where are the apprentices who infiltrated here?¡±

    She put her hand on her ring and put her Mana. She sent hermunication magic to the apprentices.

    -Where are you? Why aren¡¯t you here? Quickly bring other apprentices and get ready to move these kids.

    The answer came back soon.

    -Among the wizards, a peculiar target has escaped from formation and is being tracked.

    -A peculiar target?

    Alice soon realized who they were talking about.

    -That Kim-who kid?

    -Yes, it¡¯s Kim Kyung-hwan.

    -Ah¡­ really? Anyway, we¡¯re going to scan the base to see if no one has escaped after cleaning up here¡­

    Well, one of the apprentices¡¯ duties was to monitor the peculiar target. In any case, there was no possibility of sess in fleeing from the current situation, and the recovery was a matter of time. Still, she thought it wasn¡¯t wrong to chase him since he might fall into despair andmit suicide.

    -Okay, don¡¯t identally kill him while fighting. Lure him towards other apprentices. We¡¯re surrounding this building, after all.

    -All right.

    ***

    ¡°Huh? The Mana moves.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan, who was walking through the dark corridor, stopped walking due to a sudden sensation.

    ¡°It¡¯s from the basement¡­¡±

    A massive Mana movement was felt in the basement, where the other trainees were evacuated altogether. Kim Kyung-hwan himself didn¡¯t know, but he wasn¡¯t really good at Mana-sensibility. Nevertheless, he felt that change because such arge force was moving from below.

    It wasn¡¯t just one or two trainees, but as if hundreds of people were using magic at the same time.

    Kim Kyung-hwan agonized for a moment. What to do? Should he go down there?

    He suspected that the enemy might¡¯ve been underground. It would be meaningless to observe if he climbed to the roof.

    Yeah, let¡¯s go straight to the basement. The battle might already be in progress, and then it would be right to y an active part there.

    Organizing his thoughts, he turned around. The moment he changed his direction and retraced the path he had taken and moved to the basement¡­

    ¡°Eu¡­ eaaaaaargh!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan jumped up from his ce, frightened. Something moved in the shadow of the hallway.

    ¡°What, what is it?! What the hell?! Fuck!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan looked ahead, calming his heart which was beating like crazy in amazement. The shadows in the dark split and a human figure was revealed in the empty air.

    As soon as he recognized the identity, Kim Kyung-hwan shouted with a red-hot face.

    ¡°Ah, what¡¯s this?! You crazy bitch!¡±

    A woman covered the burn scars on her face with her long hair and stood right in front of him.

    Hwang Soo-rim.

    Kim Kyung-hwan thought, awfully surprised. Why did she pop out from a ce like that?

    He soon realized a sense of incongruity. Huh? Popped out?

    ¡°¡­ You¡­ What the hell.¡±

    There was tension in Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°How did you do that? I saw it. There was definitely nothing here. But how did you show up?¡±

    While receiving the mixed gaze of her opponent, Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s cold gaze didn¡¯t shake. She opened her mouth.

    ¡°Where are you going now?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Don¡¯t change the subject. I asked what you did just now.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim didn¡¯t care about his words and kept spitting out only what she had to say. Kim Kyung-hwan thought in the meantime that he really didn¡¯t like her arrogant look.

    ¡°Are you feeling that Mana and going underground? That¡¯s not allowed.¡±

    ¡°¡­ What bullshit are you talking about? Everyone is fighting downstairs right now. I don¡¯t know what it is, but the guys who attacked this base are now in the basement.¡±

    Then his eyes shed and spoke.

    ¡°You, it¡¯s weird. That magic just now¡­ It¡¯s magic that Kaifu never taught us. No, you¡¯re a bitch who didn¡¯t even learn all first-ss magic in the first ce. But were you hiding here so I couldn¡¯t even notice? What the hell are you?¡±

    She frowned for a moment, then sighed softly.

    ¡°I tried to exin, but we¡¯ve alreadye this far.¡±

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    ¡°Baek Woon-gyu ising here now. Sooner orter. You¡¯d rather move faster and go out on the roof¡­¡±

    They then heard a man¡¯s voice behind their back.

    ¡°Is there anything wrong with me, Soo-rim?¡±

 Chapter 100

    Superior or Inferior (5)

    The two turned their heads at the same time, finding a man walking in the dark. Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s face hardened after confirming who it was.

    Baek Woon-gyu appeared from the shadows and spoke.

    ¡°Kyung-hwan, you were here? I was worried.¡±

    That man raised one hand. Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s eyes stopped by the ring he wore. There¡¯s a very weak Mana in his fingers.

    It waste. She clicked her tongue and spoke to Kim Kyung-hwan after spitting out a small curse.

    ¡°Just now, he¡¯s usingmunication magic. He¡¯s telling them where we are. We don¡¯t have time!¡±

    ¡°Ah, what bullshit are you talking about?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan shouted with a face full of irritation. That was no way Hwang Soo-rim could detect the magic he didn¡¯t notice. He ignored her words, and she continued.

    ¡°Brother Woon-gyu! Since we met here, please help me. Hwang Soo-rim, this woman is weird. She used strange magic!¡±

    ¡°¡­ Strange magic?¡±

    Baek Woon-gyu made an ambiguous expression.

    ¡°Yes, she suddenly appeared in the air where there was no one before!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim narrowed her eyes and red at Kim Kyung-hwan. Only one of her eyes was exposed out of the hair, but she clearly conveyed her feelings.

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t like that gaze.

    ¡®What is it? Why is that bitch staring at me with those eyes? It looks like a mixture of contempt and disgust as if trying to say she has never seen such an idiot before?¡¯

    ¡°This girl is weird! She must be in the same group with the guys invading here now!¡±

    Baek Woon-gyu nodded.

    ¡°Well, she has been acting a little weirdtely.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re weird, Soo-rim. How many weeks has it been? You just skipped sses, went around the base without permission, and got stopped by the instructor. What¡¯s wrong with you these days?¡±

    Upon hearing that, Hwang Soo-rim responded quietly.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Hmm?¡±

    ¡°We aren¡¯t in the same ss, are we? You are in the tentra ss. Why do you know every move of a crappy trainee like me?¡±

    A strange smile was caught on the corner of Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s mouth. Hwang Soo-rim urgently turned her head, and she shouted at Kim Kyung-hwan.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this! Hurry up and¡­¡±

    ¡°Shit, shut up! I don¡¯t know what you are, but I can catch you first before going to the basement!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim was dumbfounded and made a distorted expression.

    ¡°Ah, you stupid bastard!¡±

    Sensing Mana gathering in Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s hands, she took one step back and got prepared. She also drew her Mana. The force prated through her fingers.

    And at that time, Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s words prevented the two from moving. His voice had a little confusion mixed in it. Kim Kyung-hwan could also feel the changing temperature.

    His finger was pointing to Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s ring.

    ¡°That Mana pattern. Where did you get that?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan shot up with a grimace.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, but once we catch her, she¡¯ll confess them all!¡±

    A ck storm raged from Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s hand. It was the 4th-ss melting magic used when holding the Waterbird. he created a whirlwind of the acidic solution in front of his hand.

    It was a smaller scale than back then, but it wasn¡¯t magic to use indoors in the first ce. Hwang Soo-rim jumped out andmented to herself.

    ¡®Ah, that idiot.¡¯

    -Pheeiiing!

    Compressed air exploded under her feet andunched into the air. The expressions of Kim Kyung-hwan and Baek Woon-gyu, who saw the scene, hardened at the same time. That was also magic that Kaifu never taught them.

    -Wheeeiiiing!

    -Cheeeeeiiik!

    An acid storm melted the corridor. The windows melted and flowed, and toxic gases spread low.

    Then Kim Kyung-hwan ran into an unexpected ambush. A space that is not enclosed but is a narrow corridor. When he inhaled the toxic substances, his lungs were sore. His head was dizzy.

    ¡°Ah¡­ ugh!¡±

    A mistake he wouldn¡¯t have made if Eraser guided him. Kim Kyung-hwan missed his footing for a moment. He noticed Hwang Soo-rim approaching for that opportunity.

    ¡°N-no¡­!¡±

    As soon as Kim Kyung-Hwan reached out to cover his body¡­

    -Whiirrrr!

    -Bang bang!

    He opened his eyes wide to a sight beyond his imagination. Net-like electricity stretched out from Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s hand, but an opaque protective membrane made by Hwang Soo-rim was blocking it. While approaching Kim Kyung-hwan, she saw his attack and turned her body to respond in an instant.

    ¡®B¡ªboth of them, what the fuck?¡¯

    With the magic that Kim Kyung-hwan had never seen or heard, the conflict between the two continued.

    ¡°I-I¡­¡±

    It felt like he was an extra. While ignoring Kim Kyung-hwan in the corner, the two executed magic against each other.

    Baek Woon-gyu eximed.

    ¡°You! That ring, where did you get it? Which country can make such artifacts? Where do you belong?¡±

    Instead of answering, Hwang Soo-rim calmly prepared her next spell.

    -Gwoooong!

    Sharp Mana gathered at the tips of her fingers, and the heat rays burned the air. A red sh poked like an awl along with where her finger pointed! However, Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s response was faster.

    ¡°Silver mirror for magic reflection!¡±

    With the shout, a palm-sized silver disc appeared around him, and the heat rays were deflected in the wrong direction as if reflected on the ss. Before the shield disappeared, Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s magic poured from another direction.

    Kim Kyung-hwan was staring at the scene with a puzzled look.

    ¡®What is this? What the hell are those¡­¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t help but feel it when he was that close. Mana gathered in an instant, and then it was activated inbination. That speed was something Kim Kyung-hwan had never experienced before.

    In teaching magic lessons, Kaifus didn¡¯t do it in that way. Hence, that sense of speed and the harsh response felt inevitably unfamiliar.

    Looking at the scene, Kim Kyung-hwan internally questioned himself.

    ¡®Can I make spells at that rate? Can I gather my Mana that fast? Can I naturally get the spell¡¯s connection like that?¡¯

    An answer that his pride didn¡¯t allow broke through the barrier of his ego and returned.

    ¡®No, I can¡¯t do that.¡¯

    It seemed that his eyes were turning upside down. Hwang Soo-rim cohesively threw 1st-ss adhesion magic into her hand. The speed at which the spell waspleted was less than a tenth of his own. Baek Woon-gyu, who blocked it with unknown defensive magic, responded by creating fire magic that was several times more powerful than his own spell.

    No. Something was wrong.

    ¡®The main character of this world must be me. I must be the most talented wizard in the world. I have to remain the best. I am the one who speaks contempt. I am the superior one. Such feelings of inferiority¡­ I don¡¯t have to feel it again anymore!¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan lost his mind for a moment and shouted.

    ¡°Both¡­ fuck¡­ don¡¯t look at me like I¡¯m shit!¡±

    Mana infested his hand. Kim Kyung-hwan operated Eraser¡¯s magic circle left on the back of his hand to the limit. What he was using then was the capacity of Mana that exceeded the limit set by the Eraser.

    The concealment magic was broken, and the artifact¡¯s identity nted on the back of his hand was clearly revealed!

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Baek Woon-gyu, who discovered what was on the back of Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s hand, shed his voice as if it was interesting.

    ¡°As expected!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s eyes widened when she witnessed the scene.

    Kim Kyung-hwan thought that their reaction was confusing because of his overflowing Mana. Hepleted the spell by collecting as much Mana left by Eraser as he could draw out.

    ¡°Both of you¡­ don¡¯t look down at m¡­!¡±

    -Shot.

    ¡°Uh¡­ huh?¡±

    The world tilted.

    Just as he was about toplete his magic, Kim Kyung-hwan felt the sensation of a sharp thing rubbing his leg and the searing pain that followed. It was bitter, and it was hot as if he was being burned.

    ¡°Eaaaaarrrrghhhhhh!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan rolled on the floor withoutpleting the order. Two hands wrapped around his right thigh, soaking his palms with blood. Something just brushed against his body and left a scar deep enough for a finger to go in.

    ¡°It hurts¡­! Huuuuuugggggh!¡±

    Tears filled his eyes.

    ¡®It hurts. It hurts too much.¡¯

    He was drooling and rolling over the floor. Kim Kyung-Hwan, who was distracted, didn¡¯t realize what just happened.

    While Kim Kyung-hwan was distracted by constructing the spell, Baek Woon-gyu raised his finger and aimed at his leg. Without interference, he would have prated the thigh muscles. It was Hwang Soo-rim who turned the orbit at thest minute.

    ¡®If you collect Mana for such a long time, you are only asking him to attack you!¡¯ as she thought it was absurd, she struck Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s finger, that was preparing to attack, withpressed air. Her head was pounding as she was calcting the spells one after another at a fast pace. She was reaching her limit, too.

    ¡°Ah¡­ this¡­ it fucking hurts.¡±

    Looking at his broken index finger bent in an abnormal direction, Baek Woon-gyu muttered.

    ¡°It won¡¯t work.¡±

    Baek Woon-gyu steeled his heart. The target was far worse than he thought.

    He didn¡¯t know what kind of trick it was, but his Mana was definitely remarkable. Thebination of unknown magic was also threatening.

    However, he had a sense ofbat and mentality that couldn¡¯t be used in actualbat. As evidence, he was lying on the floor and crying, rubbing his thigh a little. Kim Kyung-hwan was no longer his opponent.

    Hence, Baek Woon-gyu thought, ¡®Let¡¯s use the spell I saved to defeat Kim Kyung-hwan for Hwang Soo-rim. Even if she loses a few of her arms or legs, it will be fine for interrogation.¡¯

    -Ghrrrrrrrrng!

    Baek Woon-gyu poured Mana into his ring. The Mana¡¯s explicit harmony was different from themunication magic, but the speed wasn¡¯t evenparable to Kim Kyung-hwan. Another spell stored in the ring began to wake up.

    Hwang Soo-rim realized the power of the magic he was preparing, and she also noticed that itspletion would soon be upon her.

    Her highly trained brain thought in high concentration as if time had slowed down. She needed to be prepared to stop that attack. However, it took more time to use that kind of spell.

    Her brain had overheated from casting spells one after another, and she knew she wouldn¡¯t make it on time. There was a need for a response that didn¡¯t requireplex operations, but at the same time, it had to be powerful enough to defend her!

    Hwang Soo-rim quickly made up her mind. She reached forward as if responding, taking less than a few seconds to get there.

    Baek Woon-gyu rolled his tongue.

    ¡°me!¡±

    However, it was Hwang Soo-rim who shouted the starter first. It was faster for her lips to open in the first ce.

    After her voice finished, the ring worn by Hwang Soo-rim turned into a strange color. It stretched and wrapped around her fingers, then swelled up to several dozen times of the original ring¡¯s mass and swirled in front of her!

    ¡°Thornbush of Qu¨¦cadius!¡±

    As soon as her voice rang, Baek Woon-gyu saw dozens of des attacking before his eyes. Each weapon possessed condensed Mana.

    However, he couldn¡¯t understand. That ¡®metal¡¯ wasn¡¯t the material of that world. Such a Mana pattern couldn¡¯t exist on Earth.

    Sensing the de approaching his nose, the brain of the trained wizard continued to think desperately, even in that short instance. What was that spell?

    It wasn¡¯t even an artifact. It wasn¡¯t a precise control of Mana. As soon as the simple act of primitively drawing Mana without direction and the consciousness of shouting the starter was done, the result of the magic metal¡¯s ductility that should¡¯ve been chanted for a few minutes was turned into reality.

    That¡­ something was strange. No, something was wrong.

    The afterimage of an ident remained in Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s brain just before the de hit his head.

    -Stab! Stab stab!

    ¡°Ku¡­ Kugh¡­!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan, who was crawling on the floor, felt the air changed, but he couldn¡¯t see well because of the tears. He closed his eyes tightly and shed tears on his cheeks before looking ahead again.

    What happened in front of him was an unbelievable scene.

    The sharp ws stretched out from Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s hand. No, should he say it was a branch of metal? The de that stretched out at an arbitrary angle prated Baek Woon-gyu¡¯s entire body. Blood streams flowed from his two-legged, skewered physique.

    And he couldn¡¯t turn his eyes from the back of Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s hand, who used that magic.

    It was contrasted with what was on it. It wasn¡¯t a vast magic circle with the sun, moon, star emblems, and unreadable characters. It was a magic circle drawn with simplicity.

    The shape of the magic circle was different. However, the source from which Mana flowed was simr to his just before¡­

    Kim Kyung-hwan recalled his conversation with Eraser.

    -Eraser. It¡¯s a random question, but the human that you chose¡­ am I really the only one?

    -Sure.

    It was unfair. A feeling of defeat filled his head.

    -I can see the wizard¡¯s potential. I¡¯ve looked all over the world, but I couldn¡¯t find another talent like you. I¡¯m sure you are the best.

    -Of course! It¡¯s right to choose the best person.

    ¡­ Then what were those two?

    ¡®Was it not me? Was I just¡­ one of the mostmon extras in this world?¡¯

    No, it wasn¡¯t even an ordinary extra. Most people in the world lived well in peace, after all. Kim Kyung-hwan looked down the floor with a faintly shaking view. He saw a puddle created by his own blood.

    ¡®Getting beaten bothers me. I got hurt. It hurts. I¡­ In the end, I¡¯ll be the one to be beaten again.¡¯

    ¡°Hugh¡­ Hugh¡­ Huaaaargh!¡±

    He banged his head on the floor of the hallway. Covered with blood from his body, he cried out like a beast.

 Chapter 101

    Superior or Inferior (6)

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s okay to fall over and squeeze right now?¡±

    The voice went cold over his crouching back.

    Kim Kyung-hwan raised his head. He barely endured the pain because of the shock that made him go out of his mind. He asked Hwang Soo-rim.

    ¡°Who the hell is Baek Woon-gyu¡­ and who are you?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim frowned a little. As she moved her body roughly, he saw the distorted burn marks over her hair that stretched out in all directions. Regardless, it was no longer a matter of caring about such things.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have time, so I¡¯ll exin it shortly. As you might have guessed, Baek Woon-gyu is on the same side as the guys who attacked the base right now. He¡¯s their spy.¡±

    ¡°Then, you are¡­!¡±

    ¡°Of course, I am not on their side. Just look at the situation, and you know.¡±

    The voice was calm and with little emotion.

    ¡°No.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan stretched out his finger and pointed.

    ¡°You, what¡¯s that on the back of your hand?!¡±

    It was an artifact of Mana charging that Eraser gave to him. Kim Kyung-hwan had to be the only one who had such an object, so why did Hwang Soo-rim have that?

    There was only one answer that came to his mind, but he tried to dismiss that possibility.

    ¡°Ahh.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim nodded. She then responded one by one about the artifacts on the back of her hand and Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s hand.

    ¡°You know the answer, and I know the answer¡­ I was suspicious, but after confirming the facts, I can¡¯t believe it. There really is someone other than me.¡±

    ¡°As expected, your magic wasn¡¯t made by yourself. It was strange that he only pointed you out of these many trainees. The answer came out because he didn¡¯t care if the rest died. That¡¯s a big deal anyway. How can I run away with a stupid bastard like you just like that?¡± Hwang Soo-rim kept mumbling.

    Upon hearing her words, Kim Kyung-hwan crumpled his lips.

    ¡°T-Then¡­!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked with a dry voice.

    ¡°If possible, I want to save some Mana. Didn¡¯t you learn recovery magic?¡±

    ¡°What is that¡­¡±

    ¡°Did ¡®Eraser¡¯ teach you recovery magic?¡±

    ***

    It was fear that made him able to manage the copsed spirit. The purpose of the intruders, including Baek Woon-gyu, was unknown. However, Kim Kyung-hwan clearly understood that they were aiming at him. The pain that pierced his thigh remained a deep trauma as well.

    Hwang Soo-rim was a mystery, but the word ¡°Eraser¡± from her mouth shook his mind. The words provoked and exploded Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s sense of inferiority while also leaving behind a faint belief.

    ¡°Cough¡­ Cough¡­!¡±

    Even though hepromised, the sense of unreality tormented him as if suffocating his neck. Why am I doing that there? Why did I have to run away with Hwang Soo-rim?

    Kim Kyung-hwan couldn¡¯t believe that situation even though he was running with a tight breath. His body taught him how long it had been since he had been running with all his strength. His heart seemed to burst, and he felt like throwing up since he was out of breath.

    Unbelievable events were taking ce that day. It wasn¡¯t a big dealpared to the fact that Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s hand was shining, and the bleeding from his thigh stopped.

    He couldn¡¯t understand what was going on, but Kim Kyung-hwan had no other choice but to run. The pursuers¡¯ intention to capture them was unknown, but it was evident that they wouldn¡¯t be able to see good things after they were caught.

    ¡°How far on earth¡­!¡±

    ¡°Shut up and keep running! I know the route!¡±

    Just before, the two escaped from the dormitory through a broken window, and as soon as Hwang Soo-rimnded on the floor, she fired magic at the surrounding armed forces.

    Kim Kyung-hwan, who almost faced the second panic, also managed to counterattack against the attempts to attack him. He was desperate because of his experience of being injured by allowing one attack.

    During the confrontation, Kim Kyung-hwan realized again that it wasn¡¯t alien races. The intruders¡­ were humans.

    When he annihted the intruders in front of the dormitory building and ran away from the base with Hwang Soo-rim, Kim Kyung-hwan saw it all. Corpses of instructors and soldiers scattered throughout the base. It was obvious that they were killed after the battle.

    What happened to the trainees in the basement? Moving his shaky legs, Kim Kyung-hwan thought about their life and death for the first time.

    The Mana that was moving from below clearly meant that there was a battle. Could they have won against those who used such weird artifacts? Moreover, what if a wizard like Baek Woon-gyu was fighting in the basement?

    His head was about to explode.

    ¡°H-how far¡­ on earth?¡±

    To the barely spat question, Hwang Soo-rim answered coldly. She was out of breath too.

    ¡°Hold on a little longer¡­ if we run away and hold on¡­ the sky will soon turn red.¡±

    She was running around saying such incredible things, only to stop suddenly. They were passing by the canteen when a sharp cry was heard.

    ¡°The String of Qu¨¦cadios!¡±

    The liquid metal Hwang Soo-rim held in her hand was fluttering, and a stalk of thin thread sparkled in the air. The metal string that was extending out broke at the end. It went over the blind spot beyond the corner.

    ¡°Eaaaargh!¡±

    A scream was heard behind the building, and at the same time, a man fell forward. He stomped his body with a desperate scream. His two ankles were cut cleanly.

    Kim Kyung-hwan saw the unmarked military uniform he was wearing. It was one of the intruders.

    ¡°The other way!¡±

    However, men in the same clothes approached behind them. An armed gun caught Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s eyes. The weapon used to kill ordinary people weren¡¯t touched while chasing both of them.

    It was as Hwang Soo-rim said. They were trying to capture them somehow. There was an option to shoot an arm or leg, but they didn¡¯t even try to pull the trigger at all, perhaps because they were afraid of missing and killing the two of them.

    Pursuers somehow tried to save their opponents to capture them, and fugitives tried to escape by killing their opponents. The bnce broke down.

    -Wheeiiick!

    The spherical object held by the apprentice flew towards Hwang Soo-rim, drawing a parabolic curve.

    ¡°The Thornbush of Qu¨¦cadius!¡±

    A w-like metal pierced the sphere thrown by the opponent. At the same time as the impact, the artifact activated the magic power and¡­

    -Poop!

    A sticky liquid poured into the air. Kim Kyung-hwan saw a scene where the intruder whose foot stepped on the unexploded bomb was stuck on the floor, and then his throat was blown by Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s magic. Those artifacts were aimed to capture and arrest.

    Kim Kyung-hwan couldn¡¯t understand. Were they after Korean wizards? From which country then?

    ¡°Hey, will that magic bepleted within today?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim shouted as she was cutting another rushing apprentice with magic. Kim Kyung-hwan clenched his teeth and burst the Mana he had collected in his hand.

    -Wheeeing!

    The ck fog filled the field of vision, and the sound of burning flesh continued.

    -Cheeeeesh!

    ¡°Keaaaaarrrgggh!!

    The enemies rolled over the floor. The spell¡¯s power was weak since a lot of Mana was consumed while squandering in the dormitory. The apprentices didn¡¯t die immediately and only wriggled in the melting skin¡¯s pain because the amount of acidic solution produced wasn¡¯t sorge.

    ¡°Uugh!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan was cringing due to the way he suffered from the magic he had made and the terrible scream that dug into his head.

    -Crack!

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s magic cut off the apprentice¡¯s neck. The flowing blood burned as it mixed with the ck acidic liquid. She looked at the frightened Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s eyes for a moment less than a second. There was no sound, but he felt as if he could hear Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s words in his ears saying, ¡®Idiot.¡¯

    ¡°Run fast!¡±

    Once again, Kim Kyung-hwan ran after her as he couldn¡¯t afford to feel pain in his pride. Fear easily eroded his shrunken ego.

    Everything was like a dream. Until that afternoon, he couldn¡¯t imagine anything like that. He looked down at everyone andughed at them until he went to bed that day. Still, he was shabby, and his judgment was misced.

    ¡®After all, my life isn¡¯t good?¡¯ Kim Kyung-hwan thought while running in a hurry.

    The pride that he built up after entering that base was nothing but a fake one. Since it was fake, it broke easily. He held back his tears froming out again. Thoughts from a long time ago passed through his head. After bing a wizard, he was thrilled with the new life that would unfold before his eyes. Even that scene now felt like a lie.

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim stopped again and prepared her magic. Kim Kyung-hwan also clenched his teeth. They then heard footsteps and were surrounded again by intruders.

    At first nce, there were dozens of people. The number was iparable from the previous one. It seemed that they exchangedmunication with each other and shared their location. As time went by, they must¡¯ve gathered that many people.

    -Pheeeiiiing!

    Flying spherical artifacts covered the surrounding sky.

    ¡°Ugh¡­!¡±

    The barriers built by Hwang Soo-rim repelled them all. However, Kim Kyung-hwan felt that the Mana carried on it wasn¡¯t the same as before.

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s fingertips were trembling. Kim Kyung-hwanpleted his spell in a hurry.

    However, the opponent¡¯s response was different from before. One of the intruders wielded arge artifact in his hand. At the same time, Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s magic disappeared without even approaching them.

    ¡°Gosh!¡±

    ¡°Wizard!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim noticed he didn¡¯t use an artifact that was triggered by shock without magic like the previous pursuers. He was someone who could create magic by himself, like Baek Woon-gyu.

    -Rumble!

    Mana was gathered at the end of a long stick held by the opponent. Feeling an unusual momentum, Hwang Soo-rim was ready to soar upwards with a rush ofpressed air.

    -Wherrr!

    The spark generated at the tip of the stick was tiny, but it flew into the two at such a speed that they couldn¡¯t use their hands. The small flicker of light that narrowed the distance quickly widened its range and surrounded the fugitives in the form of a hemisphere.

    ¡°Evade!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim, who had been preparing in advance, jumped up, causing the air to explode, but¡­

    ¡°What¡­ what¡­!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan, who was standing outside her reach, looked devastated at the sight of the hemispherical light surrounding him. His face turned blue with his feet on the ground.

    Hwang Soo-rim gritted her teeth as she looked down. That Mana movement was probably¡­

    At that moment, the voltage hit the range of the hemisphere!

    -Whhiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrr

    ¡°Kaaaaaarrrrrgh! Ugh¡­ Uaaarrrghhhhh!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan fell back and convulsed. Even after all the light had disappeared, he couldn¡¯t properly hold his head. Smoke rose with the smell of burning flesh.

    Hwang Soo-rimnded on the ground again. She looked at Kim Kyung-hwan lying on the floor and the intruder narrowing the siege alternately.

    Should I abandon Kim Kyung-hwan? What about the penalty for failing the mission given by Eraser? If I leave him and try to run away now, how would I escape?

    Her head spun fast, but there was one more bad condition that made her hesitate.

    ¡®My Mana¡­ there¡¯s not much left!¡¯

    The reason was that she consumed it to treat Kim Kyung-hwan. If she had run away alone, she might¡¯ve survived somehow.

    ¡®I didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be this stupid!¡¯

    Should she just throw him away?

    She was determined to run away. It was said that in a little while, there would be a huge barrier there. She already knew where the ¡®exit¡¯ would be made.

    Over the past few weeks, she followed Eraser¡¯s instructions. She went around the base and did what she was told. If she had done her work correctly, the ¡®change¡¯ would start far from the exit. Therefore, it was necessary to move as close to the exit as possible.

    Yes, that would be great. It would be better to fail a mission than to die right now. She didn¡¯t know what kind of penalty Eraser would give, but¡­

    Hwang Soo-rim quietly prepared to counterattack while looking at the decreasing enemy. She collected all of her remaining Mana in her hand. She nned to kill and injure as many as possible with that single attack, then ran away.

    She had no choice. In fact, from the very beginning, that mission was unreasonable. It was hard for her to get out herself currently when she saw it.

    ¡°Uuugh!¡±

    She heard Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s groan under her feet, but she tried to ignore it.

    ¡°Kuuurrgghhhh¡­¡±

    When Kim Kyung-hwan, who was unable to ovee pain, barely breathed, Hwang Soo-rim drew all the Mana in her body.

    ¡°¡­ What is it?!¡±

    The air changed.

    ¡°Ah!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s face brightened. The intruders momentarily hardened by the sudden change.

    ¡°W-what¡¯s going on?!¡±

    The intruders exchanged words hastily in English. Some people held rings in their hands, and some were speechless.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ Uuugh!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan doubted his eyes. Did he saw nothing at that moment due to the extreme pain, or did the veins in his eyes exploded?

    It was seen by Kim Kyung-hwan, who fell with his head on the ground.

    The night sky, looking down on the noisy human earth, was dyed with a red light as vivid as blood.

 Chapter 102

    Superior or Inferior (7)

    What he felt all over the ce was a sensation that was so intense that even rational judgment was blurred.

    It was a difort that wasn¡¯t based on the body¡¯s sensory organs, but a gaze as if someone was very persistent and looking through inside.

    Whenever he breathed in, an unfamiliar feeling filled his lungs as if he was encroached on by a mysterious being. He got goosebumps since it felt like a massive breath of something was flowing through his skin.

    Nothing was added or subtracted from the surrounding area. Nevertheless, if there was a noticeable change¡­

    Hwang Soo-rim gave strength to her eyes and looked up.

    ¡°It¡¯s done!¡±

    The color of the sky has changed. The dark red light encroached everywhere. Soon enough¡­

    ¡°Do you copy?! Do you copy?! No, damn it! Communication magic doesn¡¯t work.¡±

    The intruder in the lead spat out a curse, then gave up and put the ring down. He was the only wizard among the crowd in that position. He spoke loudly as if instructing his colleagues.

    ¡°Continue to retrieve the wizard ording to the rules of action. Move to the nearest executive and receive follow-up instructions afterward!¡±

    As soon as he delivered his orders, the confusion among the intruders disappeared like a lie. She took up a stance and aimed her artifacts toward her.

    Hwang Soo-rim cried impatiently into her heart, even though she was poised to counterattack. The spot of the burned scar with destroyed pores heated up.

    ¡®Why is it so slow?! He said that soon after the sky changed color¡­!¡¯

    ***

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Alice?¡±

    The cat asked as it took a breathless soldier¡¯s backbone with its front paw and crushed it. Alice replied, tilting her head, ¡°Something is weird.¡±

    There was a terrible sense of incongruity. She couldn¡¯t see the scenery outside the basement without windows, yet something definitely happened.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Nothing has changed significantly, but on the other hand, I feel like everything has changed.¡±

    It was the sensation she felt for the first time even though she had existed for many years. Unfamiliar traces filled the space.

    Furthermore, she felt an unusual Mana flowing from the outside just before. At first, she thought it was the teleport magic used by the fleeing Kaifu race, but it was unusual that the location was on the main building.

    For the first time, she attempted to contact the guards in charge through amunication ring. He was a guy she didn¡¯t like, but Hessler, who would be outside the building, would know what was going on.

    ¡°¡­ What the hell is it?¡±

    Hessler didn¡¯t respond. She turned to speak directly with the headquarters personnel just in case, but that was also a failure.

    ¡°Is there anything wrong with my artifacts rather than a problem with Hessler?¡±

    She immediately shook her head.

    ¡°No. The Mana felt in the ring is the same, right? So, was there a sudden interruption inmunication?¡±

    She was anxious that themunication with the headquarters was cut off. That strange sensation that flew through her spine was also reluctant, but¡­

    Alice looked around. Wizards were lying on the floor with their eyes and ankles ripped off. She just finished cleaning up, and all she had to do was go outside and retrieve those who ran away.

    ¡°So, what are the apprentices doing so far? Are they still ying hide-and-seek?¡±

    At that rate, there was no significant difference of utility with when the executives move on their own. They said that they improved and enhanced the artifacts for apprentices, and in the end, it turned out like that.

    ¡°Well¡­ ¡®his¡¯ absence would have such a great impact.¡±

    He was the one who caused a great war over the world in the past. Humans on the battlefield at the level of a weak civilization weren¡¯t even aware of it. Countless ¡°beings who crossed the wall¡± from around the world stood up against him.

    Nevertheless, he was the winner in the end, a being that had such great power.

    ¡®Of course, one of the reasons for winning easily is that the beings who crossed the wall weren¡¯t able to unite properly. Everybody didn¡¯t join forces to fight on amon front and yed separately in each region, and in my case, I didn¡¯t participate at all.¡¯

    During that fierce war, Alice stepped back and watched.

    ¡®I didn¡¯t have any kind of people who crossed the wall, and the ones that were my kind before I crossed the wall have already gone extinct¡­ and, crucially, I already lived on the ind. I didn¡¯t have to fight.¡¯

    The biggest reason why the people who crossed the wall stood up was to protect their territory in which they lived from ¡®Dragons.¡¯ Still, at that time, Alice¡¯s territory was an ind, and it didn¡¯t belong to the continent that the Dragon dered as his territory.

    It was a war zone where you fight because you didn¡¯t want to be kicked out of exile, and it turned out you already lived in exile?

    ¡®I never thought I¡¯d be the part of the group that seeds the Dragon¡¯s will after he dies.¡¯

    It was something I saw after I lived for a long time, Alice thought.

    In Eugene¡¯s hand, it contained both justification and practicality. There was no reason to shake off that hand when the trust that had never existed was sprouting.

    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re really slow. I have to call the kids and get them.¡±

    Following Alice¡¯s gesture, some fairies giggled and flew outside. The cat threw its suspicious eyes at her and said, ¡°What is this strange feeling? Are you okay with this? Shouldn¡¯t we have to find the source?¡±

    Alice replied, thinking that that guy was a piece of her ego close to skepticism and cynicism.

    ¡°There¡¯s Hessler outside¡­ and Noel, too. The core of this mission is to retrieve the wizards. We have to deal with the important things first and in any case¡­¡±

    Alice looked at another ring in her hand. It was a teleport ring given only to executives.

    ¡°If I really need to, I can run away with this. Of course, it won¡¯t happen.¡±

    The moment she said those words so carelessly¡­

    -Woooong!

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Space was distorted, and the surrounding presence became more intense. Alice felt an unfamiliar sensation across her face.

    -Chiieeeeek

    What was that? What did they call that? It was awkward since it had been a long time since she had felt it. The feeling of a nerve cell standing up. The memory was faint, but the body reacted violently. Yeah¡­ what they said at that time¡­

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaah! It huuuuurts!¡±

    Alice fell to the floor and rolled over. She covered her face with both hands.

    ¡°Alice! What is it?! Hang in there!¡±

    The puzzled cat stretched its paws to Alice. The aftermath was also affecting the cat as Alice¡¯s mind became messy and unstable.

    ¡°A-lice! Ugh!¡±

    ¡°It huuuuurts!¡±

    Alice screamed and twisted her body. The fairies that flew in the air stopped at once as if they had made a promise to her. With their mouth shut and theughter disappearing from their faces, they shed their empty eyes.

    ¡°Alice!¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ ugh!¡±

    She barely managed to pull herself up and raised her head. The face of the cat she met hardened.

    ¡°You¡­ in your face¡­!¡±

    Her face was stamped with an unknown pattern as if it had been carved with an iron. It was a shape that seemed to portray some hideous creature that didn¡¯t exist in that world.

    ¡°A¨CAlice!¡±

    -Thump!

    Something broke in its mouth. Her bloodshot eyes ran into the cat, and blue veins rose from her neck. Her eyes, nose, and mouth were twisted like an evil spirit.

    Alice cried out loudly with tears on her face and melted skin.

    ¡°What-the-fuuuuuck-is-this-bastaaaaaaard?!¡±

    ***

    ¡°Uugh!¡±

    ¡°Eaaaaaaarghhhh!¡±

    The intruders who surrounded her copsed, covering their faces all at once. Smoke was rising through their fingers. Hwang Soo-rim sighed in relief. She didn¡¯t know what Eraser was doing, but it had seeded in neutralizing the intruders for the time being.

    In other words, that moment was the right time to run away.

    ¡°Hey! Wake up!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim reached for Kim Kyung-hwan, who had fallen on the floor, but currently, there was an echo that shook the air.

    -Woooong!

    ¡°Huh?!¡±

    She took a deep breath for a moment. A different kind of echo from the presence continued from the moment the color of the sky changed.

    A wave of unknown meaning spread out into the air. It felt like someone¡¯s voice, but she couldn¡¯t figure out what was being said.

    Yet, some people heard the voice very urately.

    -Chuck!

    -Shrrrrk!

    ¡°What?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim reached out her hand forward and prepared to shoot her magic. An eerie sight unfolded before her eyes. Dozens of intruders immediately pulled a knife from their left waist.

    ¡°Eraser¡­! You lied to me, too! You said their purpose is to capture and not kill us!¡±

    It was hard to think that a lot of those people were pulling knives at the same time to block their movement. They were instantly going to rush in and disfigure this stupid bastard and me¡­

    Huh?

    However, the movement that followed was far from her expectations.

    -Whoooong!

    -Shrrrk!

    Once it resonated again, all men raised their knives high in the sky.

    -Whooong

    Once again, the rumble passed through the air¡­

    -Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab! Stab¡­

    ¡°Hump!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim unknowingly covered her mouth with her hands. What unfolded before her eyes was a calm madness. Dozens of knives lifted without a hitch like a soldier¡¯s ritual movement. The movement of it digging into each¡¯s chest and stabbing the heart was also consistent. The crowd of invaders chasing them stabbed their hearts with a knife and fell to the floor with no one left.

    A river of blood flowed through the gaps between the ovepping and scattered bodies.

    ¡°¡­ This must be Eraser¡¯s doing, right?¡±

    She got chills in her spine. Could he do something like that?

    ¡®If he can manipte people at his own will and even make themmit suicide, why did he sign a contract with me and even make a penalty? He can just control me¡­¡¯

    The answer was unknown there. Hwang Soo-rim managed to calm her surprised heart, and as she saw the bodies of intruders filling the floor, she realized one thing.

    It would be beneficial for her own life to aplish the mission that Eraser gave.

    ¡°I have to take this bastard and run away at all costs!¡¯

    Hwang Soo-rim squatted on the floor and pped Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s cheeks alternately.

    -p! p!

    ¡°Hey, wake up! Quickly! We have to move right now! We have to get to the exit as quickly as we can!¡±

    No reaction wasing back. Hwang Soo-rim pped him harder on the cheek, and her nervousness put more and more power on her hands, and then¡­

    -Thug!

    ¡°¡­¡±

    She obviously pped him with her palm, but it made a sound of punching the face with her fist. A line of blood flowed down from Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s mouth with his head turned aside.

    Hwang Soo-rim clenched her teeth and spoke.

    ¡°¡­ Ah, Shit. It¡¯s really getting a lot of work. This bastard.¡±

    ***

    Alice was stuck in the basement, struggling to heal her face. How many minutes had passed already? It wasn¡¯t clear, as if the sense of time itself had be blurred.

    ¡°This is useless!¡±

    -Pyaaaaaang!

    When she threw the ss bottle that she was holding, it bumped against the floor and broke.

    she had and drank them. It was magical medicines that had the effect of recovery, but no matter what she used, the ugly wound and the stigma left on her face didn¡¯t go away.

    ¡°What the hell¡­ what is this?! Why doesn¡¯t it disappear! My face¡­ my face!¡±

    In front of her, who was struggling without knowing how much time had passed.

    -Bang bang bang!

    A wave of powerful Mana struck her without notice.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Alice barely escaped. A strangely twisted voice resonated in the basement.

    ¡°¡­ What happened to their eyes and ankles? You prevented them from running away, huh. In the meantime, how could you¡­¡±

    Alice didn¡¯t listen to her opponent until the end.

    ¡°It¡¯s you!¡±

    Her eyes shed, and before the faint existence beyond the dust could finish his words, Alice cried out screaming.

    ¡°That guy! Kill him!¡±

    Fairies flew along in the direction of her fingers.

    There were no more expressions on the fairies¡¯ faces. They raised their sharp nails, shed their sharp teeth, and flew in.

    The identity of the opponent was unknown. She wasn¡¯t even curious about what happened to Hessler, who was in charge of the outside perimeter. Just showing up there at that moment was a sufficient condition to turn out to be an ¡®enemy.¡¯

    The fairies attacked, following Alice¡¯s reflexive orders, but¡­

    ¡°The Sigh of Melcos.¡±

    -Whuiiiiing!

    As soon as a short word fell off, a cold wind blew and¡­

    -Thug! Thug! Thug!

    After the cold wind struck, the fairies fell to the floor, frozen. Even creatures that broke human bones with their bare hands couldn¡¯t resist in front of that magic that was activated in an instant. The fairies that turned like ice cubes lost their power, and like the dropping hail, they fell on the wizards¡¯ bodies scattered on the floor.

    ¡°Eeeeeek¡­!¡±

    Alice¡¯s eyes, seeing that sight, became bloodied and swelled.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill youuuuu!¡±

    The huge cat, who hadn¡¯t lost itsposure so far, drooled with its eyes turned upside down. There was no intelligence any longer.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaahh!¡±

    The roar that burst through the sharp teeth echoed through the underground passage.

    It was the shadow that was muchrger than ordinary humans who approached the cat. He was stuttering and walking in the direction of the cat and Alice.

    The cat, who could no longer hold back its anger, jumped into the air!

    ¡°Gyaaaarghhh!¡±

    The sharp cat¡¯s ws broke the wind. The shape in the dust kept walking forward, facing it, and just before the toenails touched the shape¡­

    -Poong!

    There was a loud bang that shook the space. The tall shadow never stopped walking.

    -Drop, drop.

    It rained in a dusty underground passage, and then, the cat¡¯s blood and flesh fell to the floor.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Alice clenched her teeth and pulled her hands together. She stared at what appeared in the dust.

    He had countless eyes that were staring at her. Alice quickly recognized who he was.

    ¡°¡­ Why here? No, what was Hessler doing that he couldn¡¯t catch you alone?!¡±

    ¡°Hessler? Other than Noel? So, that¡¯s the name of the wizard with makeup.¡±

    Alice¡¯s expression hardened. No way?

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. That guy Hessler is moving safely now. My ¡®colleagues¡¯ will bring him.¡±

    Alice muttered as if she didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Unfortunately, that guy named Noel is dead. So, I just need to make two more tanks in my house.¡±

    He then added in a small voice.

    ¡°Now, wee, Fake God¡¯s roommates.¡±

 Chapter 103

    Superior or Inferior (8)

    ¡°The Blue Flower of Reinaforce.¡±

    With the low murmurs of the alien race¡­

    -Wheeeerrrrrk!

    A blue me swept the spot she had just been in. It burned in motion and shapes which were far from the physicalws of that world. The motion repeated as if a huge tongue was taking the floor.

    Alice quickly dodged and rolled on the floor.

    ¡®The magic of another world?¡¯

    Looking at the mobilized Mana size, it would¡¯ve been possible to widen the attack range, but the mes swept and stopped. Alice could quickly see why, and the mes stopped right in front of the human wizards who fell on the floor.

    She thought as she dodged hurriedly. The alien¡¯s behavior of not killing humans was interpreted as only one thing in her mind. That alien was also trying to capture human wizards, but why?

    ¡°Why the hell are you bothering us?¡±

    She shouted in anger, yet its answer was calm.

    ¡°The question isn¡¯t for you¡­ but for me. The Footprint of Seygrazos.¡±

    It was a spell recited in a peaceful tone as if the conversation continued.

    -Kwoong-kwoong!

    ¡°Eaaaaaarrgghhh!¡±

    Alice screamed at the gravitational waves that pressed her lower body. The terrible pain climbed her spine. She managed to look down.

    The invisible giant seemed to have trampled her. She could see that her whole thigh was crushed, and her muscles and bones were shattered.

    ¡°Ugh! Why is another world¡¯s entity targeting the human wizards?!¡±

    She bore the pain and shouted, and like a beast, her pupils gleamed. The tall alien responded by gathering Mana in his hands.

    ¡°Another question, huh? It will take some time for you to get used to it.¡±

    ¡°There is no right for another dimensional being to interfere with us!¡±

    ording to the gestures of the alien, the gravity that pressed her lower body became stronger.

    ¡°Kuaaaaarghhhh! You¡­ you don¡¯t even know what we¡¯re doing!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to find that out from now on. The Chain of Thermios.¡±

    A silver mist clumped along with his hand and flew in the shape of a long rope. However, Alice¡¯s attempt to talk over and over again wasn¡¯t simply to express her anger.

    In the meantime, she sneaked out her potion bottle and poured it into her mouth.

    -Whreeeeck!

    Just before the foggy rope was wrapped entirely, her body shrunk as small as the nails. Simultaneously, she transformed her body and cut off her leg that became crushed by gravity.

    -Thug! Thug!

    ¡°Hugh!¡±

    She rolled on the floor with the power of her waist. She inhaled the recovery potion while enduring the pain that made her felt like she was about to faint.

    That alien was far more powerful than she thought. The organization had to be deceived or must¡¯ve misjudged due to limited information.

    Moreover, what if it was true that Hessler and Noel were killed?

    There was no way to confirm since themunication ring was dead. On the premise that it wasn¡¯t a lie, there was no reason for her to continue her confrontation and take risks alone.

    After organizing her thoughts, Alice eximed vigorously.

    ¡°Teleport!¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Stillness remained in the space.

    ¡°What?! Teleport! Teleport!¡±

    The ring of space movement assigned to her had been reduced to fit the size of her body. There should be no effect on its function. Nevertheless, there was no response to the starter.

    A huge shadow hung in front of Alice, who had be as small as the fingernail.

    ¡°The Little Melody of Adeligos.¡±

    The air¡¯s vibration started from his fingertip and was concentrated in a limited space. Sound waves were emitted within a conical area, just the right size to wrap around Alice¡¯s smaller body.

    The reaction came back immediately.

    ¡°Keaaaaaaarrghhh!¡±

    The vibrating wave burst her eardrums. Blood oozed from both her ears, and she was struggling in pain. Alice held out for a few more seconds and eventually copsed with a single scream.

    ¡°Phew. It¡¯s the end with this.¡±

    The alien picked up Alice¡¯s body with two fingers. He then weaved her arms and regenerative legs into a liquid metal about the size of a bean and hardened them, then the Mana froze.

    After putting her in the backpack, he looked at the wizards scattered on the floor. No one lost their breath; however, everyone was losing their mind or making a painful groan.

    [How much time do we have left? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to leave these guys alone?]

    Yoon Min-joon, who wore the Fake God¡¯s shell, shook his head in response to theing will.

    ¡®No, I¡¯ve calcted everything. There¡¯s plenty of time to clean this ce up.¡¯

    He took the miniaturized container out of the backpack and restored it to a size that that space could afford.

    ¡®Hmm. If they ovep, they all can go in somehow.¡¯

    With the magic of increasing muscle strength and increasing movement speed, he moved as fast as the wind.

    -Wheesh! Wheesh!

    As soon as his hand moved, he began throwing injured wizards into the container. It would be nice if there were a strong enough telekic power to control all of those people at once. Hemented in his heart.

    Yoon Min-joon knew through the sense of God. The non-wizard personnel remaining in the Hun-neung had already been annihted.

    As a result, only those who could use magic survived among the personnel residing in thatrge base.

    ¡®Should I say that they survived because they had the wizard talent? Or that they suffered this misfortune because they had the wizard talent?¡¯

    Although he was the person who induced that incident to take ce there that day, Yoon Min-joon thought that he couldn¡¯t help it since it was only a matter of time. One day, the ¡®Guardians of the Great Convention¡¯ would eventually raid that ce and retrieve the wizards.

    [At least in this ce today¡­ it must be said that they survived because they were wizards.]

    Yoon Min-joon responded profoundly while moving his body at an invisible speed.

    ¡®For humankind, the wizard talent must be close to an element of superiority. It helped them survive, didn¡¯t it?¡¯

    A man in his thirties, who was groaning and trembling, was thrown into the container, and Yoon Min-joon continued his thought. He heard the sound of the body ovepping and breaking, but he couldn¡¯t afford to pay attention so far.

    [But, since they¡¯re wizards, there¡¯s also a risk they¡¯re stuck with. Including those who attacked today.]

    ¡®Hmm¡­ let¡¯s just make sure these guys don¡¯t end up in danger.¡¯

    They would move forward with the executives captured that day as clues.

    [By the way, Min-joon, are you sure we got the time? Do we have to save everyone? It doesn¡¯t help anyway¡­]

    ¡®No! It¡¯s almost certain that everyone will die while staying here. I can¡¯t leave them.¡¯

    He cut it firmly with his will, and then he conveyed his.

    ¡®I know my mentality. If I leave these many people unattended even though I can save them, I will continue to feel guilty. I can¡¯t do that for my mental health.¡¯

    Parvache was silent for a moment and then answered Yoon Min-joon¡¯s will.

    [¡­ After all, the motive to save these humans¡­ is to prevent your mental suffering¡­]

    He didn¡¯t respond and focused on his physicalbor. After a short time, he finished all the work, and he stood at the door of the container. In the meantime, the dirt and blood spilled by the trainees were collected on the container¡¯s bottom.

    Min-joon frowned and mumbled, ¡°¡­ I¡¯ll have a hard time cleaning that again.¡±

    He closed the door and shrank the container again. After putting it in the backpack, he then moved out.

    ¡°It¡¯s starting soon.¡±

    [Yeah.]

    ¡°I¡¯m d Hwang Soo-rim did well as what she was told to do. Thanks to that, we bought some time. I looked around the base for thest inspection yesterday, and there wasn¡¯t much to do.¡±

    [Anyway, it¡¯s a great talent. She¡¯s not as good as you, Min-joon, but in general, if you say ¡®genius wizard,¡¯ that girl would be a suitable target.]

    ¡°Right. It¡¯s iparable to a guy like Kim Kyung-hwan. He¡¯s not a bad level here overall, but when Ipare it to Hwang Soo-rim, he¡¯s infinitely inferior.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s immersion in the past few weeks was a simple task, but it was a work that needed a sense since it was creating countless numbers of borated Mana patterns.

    To paraphrase it, it was a work that repeated the same act for a long time, such as putting tiles on the floor for a long time, but you need to be skilled when you put them on, and in that case, you even made borated tiles yourself, so the sense was essential.

    In other words, it wasn¡¯t something Kim Kyung-hwan could do.

    Yoon Min-joon could¡¯ve secretly infiltrated the base directly using hidden magic, but it was work that would take about a week, even if he did it quickly.

    ¡°Thanks to her, I was able to entrust this task in my ce. I didn¡¯t think about it until here, but I saved my hand because I found an unexpected ce to use it.¡±

    [I agree with that.]

    Yoon Min-joon nodded and stepped outside.

    ***

    -p! p!

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s palm pped his cheek as smoke rose and the smell of thick flowing blood permeated in the air.

    ¡°Hey! This bastard!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan was awakened,mented in a faint consciousness. All of that reminded him of a scene.

    ¡®In the end, am I going to end up like this?¡¯

    ¡°Huh? Are you awake? Seriously.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan was crying silently as he heard Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s absurd voice. A suppressed sound came out of his mouth.

    Pain awakened the memory he had buried deep in his brain. He was trying to forget the past himself. It was less than a semester after his enrollment, but that day was hisst day of school.

    Some guys beat him up on the ssroom floor. His other friends only watched from a distance, but none of them came forward. No one ran to the teacher¡¯s office. Even those who hung out with him for the first month after enrollment avoided him since they were frightened in making eye contact. It was unbelievable. Everything¡­ was unbelievable.

    He crouched on the floor, fists and kicks poured over him. Kim Kyung-hwan imagined whenever he was hit like that. As I saw in the book, I wished I had a superpower. I wished I could use magic. My imagination continued. I was going to throw a fireball at the head of that kid who was kicking my stomach. His head would burst and burn like a watermelon, and then the other guys would run away, crying and raging. I wouldn¡¯t miss anything.

    The bastard who spat on my face that morning would kneel and beg me to save him, but I wouldn¡¯t forgive him. I would grab his neck and electrify him. I would beat him until he peed in his pants, and the smoke would be fluttering like roast pork.

    I would kill them all. Kill them all¡­ kill them all!

    Kim Kyung-hwan became a superhuman in such a fantasy, and it happened often. If he ran away into his imagination, he could endure a little bit. However, that day he was forced to be pulled out of the world in his head.

    The person who always led the bullying giggled. He looked down at his swollen face and whispered, ¡°Hey, let¡¯s do something fun today.¡±

    One grabbed his leg, and the other pulled his arms behind his back. Kim Kyung-hwan twisted his body, knowing something unusual would happen, but he couldn¡¯t get out.

    The leader approached Kim Kyung-hwan, whose limbs were tied, and roughly lowered his pants. With fishyughter, he said, ¡°Fuck, it¡¯s so dirty. Let¡¯s burn all this.¡±

    He took the lighter out of his pocket and brought it to Kim Kyung-hwan.

    That day was Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯sst day of school.

    The attacker went to school confidently, and Kim Kyung-hwan, who refused to go to school, was stuck in the house.

    He lived as a socially withdrawn loner for several years. He deprecated himself and hid.

    ¡®It was because I wasn¡¯t good enough. I was weak because I was like that.¡¯

    It was the awakening of miraculous power that brought him out of the world.

    From that day on, he thought that his own life had changed. He had the intention to get revenge, but he tried hard to suppress it. He would seed and be the chosen one whom all people in the world were envious and jealous of.

    ¡®I wasn¡¯t the beaten one anymore. I was no longer weak. I wasn¡¯t weak, so you couldn¡¯t beat me again.¡¯

    Still¡­ what was that now? Why was he like that again?!

    Physical pain distracted his illusion and brought him back to reality.

    ¡°Hey, you bastard! Hurry up and get up!¡±

    He felt the pain diminished with the light that hung around his body.

    Hwang Soo-rim used her remaining Mana to heal Kim Kyung-hwan. It wasn¡¯t enough to cure himpletely, but it was enough to restore his bodily functions to some extent. Kim Kyung-hwan opened his eyes and¡­

    ¡°Kyaaaaaah! Huh, what else is that?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim screamed sharply. Kim Kyung-hwan followed her gaze with his dim eyes, and there¡­

    ¡°Hic¡­ hic¡­ hic!¡±

    Seeing the unexpected scene, Kim Kyung-hwan started having hups.

    Numerous corpses fell on the floor while knives were stuck on them.

    That wasn¡¯t all¡­ The bodies were gradually twisted, distorted, and began to be absorbed toward the center. The scene looked as if the dagger stuck in the chest was eating the whole body.

    ¡°Hic, hic!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan raised his body while crawling. Hwang Soo-rim grabbed the nape of his neck and pulled him up.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be like that in a little while! We need to get out of here. Hurry up and run!¡±

    The despair and self-help that messed up Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s head quickly disappeared in front of the life crisis. Not knowing what to run away from, he arose. He stumbled and wiped away his tears.

    The two started running again.

 Chapter 104

    Superior or Inferior (9)

    ¡°Cough¡­ cough!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim looked back several times while running.

    In the meantime, she made and marked all over the base with Mana. She actually couldn¡¯t understand at first what the ritual meant. It wasn¡¯t a proper magic circle, and she felt that herbined Mana had also disappeared over time.

    When she asked about that, Eraser replied. He said that no matter how long had passed and the Mana traces evaporated faintly, the ¡®great being¡¯ could recognize them.

    She was running towards the exit, the opposite side of where the change would begin. She looked back and forth over and over again to recognize the beginning of the moment.

    How long did she run like that?

    ¡°It¡¯s started!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim shouted sharply. Kim Kyung-hwan, who was barely running after her, also turned his head, then his face turned white.

    ***

    After finishing my business in the dormitory, I came out of the building, then I flew into the air and quickly moved toward the exit.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

    I could feel the distortion of space. I turned my head towards the source.

    ¡°It¡¯s started!¡±

    I sped up the flight.

    The pattern of Mana nted by Hwang Soo-rim was a kind of hymn dedicated to God. It naturally scattered away once nted in the ground, and the Kaifu or other trainees didn¡¯t notice it, but the senses of God could recognize it.

    The song of hymn marked on the Earth said that.

    -Dear God, please, take it slowly from that side in turn.

    In terms of rtionship with the mortals, Kylgeniapros stood in perfect opposition to Kaidemos, the ¡®Contract of Faith.¡¯

    Kaidemos was a god that gave no spells to wizards and only gave power to priests who offered their faith.

    On the other hand, Kylgeniapros didn¡¯t demand faith from mortals and didn¡¯t have priests. It gave a spell to anyone who recognized its existence and made an offering.

    Why was Kylgeniapros¡¯ spell only the ¡®sanctuary¡¯ alone? Why did God not mind the hassle of advent with only the low price of human intestines? It was too much for the favor given to ordinary human beings that were neither apostles nor priests.

    The answer was that Kylgeniapros was a god who ate all matter, including time and space. It easily responded to the summons since there was something it lusted for in the ce where it was summoned.

    I turned my head once again. From the farthest border, isted under the red sky, space was copsing.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

    The bloody sky was torn, the building and the ground soared into the air and separated like an ind. There was a crack in the air, and all the space was sucked into it. It was a scene simr to when the bodies of apprentices were eaten into the knives.

    The difference was that the dimension itself was the one being torn at that time.

    ¡°I¡¯m disconnected from the senses of God!¡±

    My two apprentices were waiting on the opposite border. The sense of detecting them disappeared. God reaped the favor he had given me. It was useless to pray anymore.

    That was the end of God¡¯s waiting. Momentarily it was only faithful to its purpose in this world.

    [A little faster!]

    ¡°I know!¡±

    As the speed increased, the wind hit my cheeks.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

    Its presence raged ferociously, but thanks to the preparation, the entire space was prevented from copsing at the same time. It was proceeding sequentially from a distance ording to the mark.

    The pattern created by Hwang Soo-rim conveyed a more primitive type of signal than human thought. In its origin, it was a god who had already closed its ears. Hence, it was starting to eat by following the hymn left on the Hun-neung.

    ¡°We¡¯re here.¡±

    When I reached the barrier, I got down to the ground. That was the exit. It was thest point that Kylgeniapros would eat ording to the mark.

    At that moment, we had to escape in less than a few minutes.

    ¡°You¡¯re here!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl was glowing and weing me. Seol held the wizard that lost his consciousness and looked at the distant sight with a firm expression.

    ¡°Now, let¡¯s get out of here.¡±

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

    The tenacious will I felt behind my back was even more violent.

    Did God had a higher reason? Was God reasonable, benevolent, and wise?

    I didn¡¯t know the definite answer to that question. However, God¡¯s apparent will that made my body throb gave me enlightenment.

    It wasn¡¯t willing to show its own higher reason, rational thinking, or benevolent and wise attitude to mortals like us, at least there and for the time being.

    It was like a beast, moving violently and instinctively following the guidance of the hymn.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrh!

    The sky sank, and the Earth broke. Space twisted and folded, and time flowed like raindrops.

    A whole five-story building rose to the sky and was divided into molecr units as if it was experiencing the weathering of tens of thousands of years of times. After a while, the entire building copsed like a sandcastle.

    The streetlight bent like malt and then copsed in the wind. The garden turned over, ovepped with the asphalt road, wrenched like a twist, and then evaporated to nothing.

    I looked at the movement of the reddish cloud with a tired expression. At first nce, it felt as if only clouds were moving, but in fact, the entire space that could be called the sky around it was distorted and folded.

    The greedy God¡¯s teeth hurt the dimension like tearing the flesh of its prey.

    The space the base existed until now gradually disappeared. Wherever the red energy of God passed, a miracle of extinction continued. The joyful emotions it felt rose like steam. I could feel that, even though I am no longer connected to God.

    ¡°Rather, it¡¯s a good thing to lose the senses. In this situation, if God¡¯s emotions contaminated me, I would have gone crazy.¡±

    Kylgeniapros, the ¡®Edacious World,¡¯ went beyond encroaching on the dimension in which it was summoned, and entered the next step, gluttony.

    The dimension with a radius of 2 kilometers drawn by the barrier was eaten entirely by that God.

    ***

    ¡°Eraser!¡±

    I heard a screaming cry from behind my back as I was getting ready.

    I turned my head and checked. It was Hwang Soo-rim and Kim Kyung-hwan, and fortunately, both arrived without dying.

    If the two died by being swept away by the sanctuary spell I cast, I would be the reason for their cause of death. It meant that I was viting the contract. With that, the burden of the penalty disappeared. Those two should be saved and let go.

    ¡°You are here. I¡¯ming close and waiting.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim approached me and confirmed the existence of the surroundings, then her face hardened.

    ¡°F-Fox?¡±

    Although the me was no longer around, the image of Mrs. Pearl was extraordinary. Each strand of her hair was shimmering like ss; at a nce, you could see that it wasn¡¯t an ordinary animal.

    Furthermore¡­

    Hwang Soo-rim looked next to her and murmured.

    ¡°¡­ Bear?¡±

    A ck bear held a heavily tanned man. Hwang Soo-rim sighed, capturing the image in her right eye.

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen all the bizarre scenes here today, but I didn¡¯t expect a fox and a bear.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim whispered with a bleak expression. Seol only looked at her lightly and didn¡¯t respond, while Mrs. Pearl giggled andughed as if saying it also didn¡¯t hear anything from me.

    I pointed to the two inhabitants of White Deer and responded calmly to Hwang Soo-rim.

    ¡°Neither of these are subject to mention to third parties. It¡¯s the same as me.¡±

    It simply meant that any information about Seol and Mrs. Pearl couldn¡¯t be told to anyone based on the contract. Those details were automatically entered into the contract linked to Hwang Soo-rim and Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s soul.

    Currently, there seemed to be a guy who cared about something other than a fox and a bear.

    ¡°E-Eraser!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan called me in a trembling voice. His face was messy, and it wasn¡¯t just about scars and burns, including facial expressions. Everything was messed up.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ you¡­ why the hell?!¡±

    There seemed to be a pile of things he wanted to ask me, but I lifted my palm and held him back.

    ¡°Wait. We¡¯ll talkter.¡±

    His face was distorted with tears on his face, and I was cold in my attitude, different from his usual dream. Hwang Soo-rim made a sarcasticment beside him. ¡°Hey, couldn¡¯t you make any sense? Couldn¡¯t you see that behind you?¡±

    After hearing her, Kim Kyung-hwan turned his head and confirmed with both eyes the phenomenon he had forgotten for a moment. The barrier line where the entire space copsed was gradually approaching that side.

    We had to escape before it got closer.

    ¡°Everyone be quiet.¡±

    I gathered Mana toward my chest.

    At that moment, the inside of the barrier was engulfed by another dimension. It waspletely cut off from the outside. It was hard to be able to walk safely while messages and teleports didn¡¯t go through.

    In order to escape, we shouldn¡¯t reap the barriers surrounding the Hun-neung. If the line copsed, Kylgeniapros would recognize the space beyond the barrier, then the scope of gluttony would spread widely in that world, and it was really unbearable.

    That was the reason why wizards couldn¡¯t use it efficiently, even though they could get the ¡®Sanctuary¡¯ spell and made the offering. It was good to have a god advent and borrow abilities for a while, but as a result, parts of the world were eaten.

    I wouldn¡¯t have been able to use that magic without the barriers that Parvache taught me. The barrier that yed such an important role shouldn¡¯t be touched.

    So, I decided to use another method.

    In response to the rushing Mana, a portal opened in my chest. The hidden spell was broken, and a blue crack was engraved on the body. The mouths of Hwang Soo-rim and Kim Kyung-hwan opened up when they saw the scene.

    ¡°Channel!¡±

    The color of light that didn¡¯t exist in that world might¡¯ve been familiar to their eyes.

    Mrs. Pearl saw that for the first time and observed it with curious eyes. Seol nodded as if it was interesting.

    ¡°Hoo¡­ it was opened like that.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s eyes grew even wider, and she muttered in a tiny voice.

    ¡°¡­ Does it know how to speak?

    Space began to change once more before she could even finish her words. The Channel on my chest turned into a circle and connected to an arbitrary dimension.

    The red sky created by Kylgeniapros and the dark blue night sky the Earth originally had crossed and mixed together.

    I muttered quietly.

    ¡°Good. It¡¯s done.¡±

    What I had done now was create a crack between the ovepping gaps.

    Originally, the Kylgeniapros dimensionpletely covered the Earth dimension and eroded it. The two-dimensional metaphor was childish, but the Earth was invisible since the red-colored paper called Kylgeniapros covered Earth¡¯s transparent paper.

    However, I created a crack called a Channel to create a floating gap between the two dimensions. The ovepping of the dimensions encroached on without a gap between the waters was disorganized, and a very small evacuation route was created for us to escape from.

    The Kylgeniapros dimension was shaken for a while, and the space outside the barrier was visible.

    I couldn¡¯t keep that for long. God would begin to encroach on that little space again.

    ¡°Everyone, run!¡±

    Everyone ran hurriedly, ording to my voice. The barrier itself had no physical force. It was already close to the border, so it took enough time to inhale and exhale to cross the line. As soon as everyone came out, the gap that had urred for a while disappeared again.

    The ce inside the barrier we were, until just before, was covered in a red mist so that we couldn¡¯t see inside.

    I sighed out loud.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s the end.¡±

    A cool sense of freedom swept through my heart.

    Mrs. Pearl approached me with a few tails and said in a faint voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m d it¡¯s ended safely.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim muttered, ¡°Hey, the fox also speaks. It¡¯s not surprising anymore¡­¡± as she stared at Mrs. Pearl.

    ¡°Tell everyone. We still need to maintain the barrier until the red mist disappearspletely.¡±

    ¡°Yes, everyone knows, but I¡¯ll tell them again.¡±

    We had to wait until the God who had eaten up all the space in there disappeared somewhere we didn¡¯t know.

    We hid into the mountains, cast the concealment magic, and waited. Soldiers and police who arrived btedly surrounded the barrier and observed, but there was nothing they could do. They were just observing the red fog outside the line.

    The time had passed¡­

    ¡°¡­ Ah!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan said in a trembling voice.

    ¡°What the hell is that?¡±

    It was the first time I saw it. I whispered to Parvache in my heart.

    ¡®Kylgeniapros, who had finished gluttony, has left this dimension.¡¯

    I thanked the Ancient God.

    Parvache responded to my mixed thoughts.

    [Yeah¡­ that¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen it too.]

    It had been a while? I kept his answer in my mind.

    ¡°Oh, My God.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl¡¯s shocking voice flowed through the wind.

    Nothing remained in that ce where Kylgeniapros ate that world as much as the sphere of the barrier. Perhaps the verb ¡®remained¡¯ wasn¡¯t an appropriate expression. Still, there was no suitable word in mynguage to describe the existence of non-existence, nor in Parvache¡¯snguage, who taught me magic.

    If I hadn¡¯t deceived the Kylgeniapros¡¯ eyes and drew a line with barriers, he would¡¯ve eaten the world at random, to the extent causation permits. However, thanks to the barriers¡¯ proper functioning, the world lost was only a 2 kilometers radius of space-time.

    A world that lost its part immediately triggered resilience, but there was one problem there. There could be no consequences where there was no cause. Where there was no possibility, certainty didn¡¯t exist. The world hadn¡¯t been able to fill the lost realm with a stabilized existence.

    ording to the theory of magic, as I understand it, nothingness was extreme instability¡ªuncertainty with no space, no time, and nothing. The world hadn¡¯t been able to close the gap between existence and non-existence, and the restoration had ended ipletely.

    As a result, filling the ce where the Hun-neung base used to be now was a sphere of chaos where time and space were mixed up in a mess.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen such a weird thing before¡­¡± Mrs. Pearl muttered.

    ¡°Obviously, these two eyes perceive it as a ck sphere, but in one corner of my head, it is felt like fifty thousand colors are mixed and flowing. Although the surface clearly looks smooth, on the other hand, it is perceived as a scene where strange and ugly beings unite and scream.¡±

    I heard Parvache¡¯s will and delivered them to it.

    ¡°We have been looking at it for so long that there is nothing good about it.¡±

    That female fox took her gaze as she listened to me. She might¡¯ve noticed that the nothingness already influenced her mind. Mrs. Pearl told my words to the residents waiting all over the mountain.

    ¡°Please tell them to avoid seeing that sight, and tell them that there¡¯s no need to maintain the barrier anymore.¡±

    As it was delivered, the Mana that filled the area around Hun-neung disappeared in an instant. The barrier vanished.

    Mrs. Pearl looked at me with shaking eyes and said, ¡°There¡¯s no way that ugly thing wille outside, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen. The chaos was filled only as much as the ce Kylgeniapros ate.¡±

    With that answer, I approached Kim Kyung-hwan and mmed him in the back of his head! That guy was coughing and rolled on the ground. It seemed that he kept looking at the chaotic sphere even though I told him not to and went to the brink of mental contamination.

    I looked around and said, ¡°Now, then¡­¡±

    It was a word I said to them, but on the contrary, it was also a word ofmitment to myself.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go back and get some rest.¡±

 Chapter 105

    Dragon¡¯s Name (1)

    ¡°Now, look at the next page. Human sociality is formed about five years after birth. We experience and learn about making attachments and trust-building, awareness of others, the endurance of needs, and sharing with others.¡±

    ¡°Of course, building an attachment with parentses first. The proposition that psychological rtionships with caregivers have a great influence on infant personality has already been proven.¡±

    ¡°Only then will infants grow as they learn social skills such as the ability to think from another¡¯s perspective and concessions. All of these are thought to be learned before the age of five¡­¡±

    -Click!

    I pressed the mouse button with a deep expression.

    The lecture on theptop screen paused with a click. A middle-aged female professor, standing in front of the ckboard, solidified with a still picture. What was captured was quite a humiliating and ridiculous look.

    In the header of the Inte window I opened, it said:

    OO Broadcasting and Communication University, Department of Early Childhood Education-(Major) ¡°Infant Development¡±

    Oh, I was sick and tired of it.

    Parvache came behind me and looked at the screen.

    It muttered, [You must be going crazy.]

    I replied with a pouting mouth.

    ¡°I have to emigrate or something. I can¡¯t live like this.¡±

    What I was doing currently was due to the notice of enlistment that was inevitable, as long as I was registered as a resident. To dy the enlistment date, I entered Korean National Communication University that year, and the first semester was almost set to F.

    Why was I suddenly taking a ss that wasn¡¯t my major that semester? Of course, I wasn¡¯t suddenly trying to be a kindergarten teacher. I didn¡¯t think it was the right choice for the children and me.

    It was just that something was bothering me. I was looking through the open ss regardless of my major, and that ss caught my eye.

    So, I was taking that after I roughly sign up for the rest of the courses. However, I didn¡¯t like the professor since she was only saying obvious things. I thought I would take a leave of absence soon.

    I rolled around on the sofa and turned on the TV.

    ¡°Shall I get a reexamination after cutting a few fingers? If so, I¡¯ll get an exemption, right? I then drink a bottle of advanced elixir and regenerate it. Am I genius?¡± I said after fiddling with the remote control.

    Parvache¡¯s answer was negative.

    [I hope you don¡¯t do anything that could damage your mind or body. Elixir is nothing but a catalyst for regeneration, but it¡¯s basically using your body¡¯s energy. You¡¯re already in a condition where¡­]

    I scratched my head.

    ¡°No. Maybe this way is better. I have to beat the Korea Tel.¡±

    [Hmm.]

    Parvache¡¯s difort was conveyed through its will. I listened to the sound of the TV and started surfing the Inte with my cellphone. In the search bar, I searched for the keyword ¡®exemption finger¡¯. How many should I cut? Could I cut 2-3 pieces?

    [By the way, Min-joon.]

    ¡°What?¡±

    [It seems like most of your age in this country are going to college?]

    What was that all of a sudden?

    ¡°Most of them also go for the army. But I can¡¯t just throw everything away and run to fulfill my defense duties, right?¡±

    [That¡¯s not what I meant. I am talking after all this has been resolved.]

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Parvache brought out that topic after a long time and talked about when I was stuck in the defensive barrier and only yed and ate all day, after hearing the Dragon¡¯s death from Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker.

    [After stopping the resurrection of the Dragon? Have you ever thought about what to do next? What kind of life will you live?]

    That was all nonsense.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even say useless things. It¡¯s enough to think about it after I¡¯ve beaten all the ascetic guys so that they don¡¯t even try to resurrect the Dragon again.¡±

    I stood up. I tried to take a break until that day, but I couldn¡¯t do it since it reminded me of my situation.

    I transformed my body while making a throbbing sound, then I said bluntly.

    ¡°And, do you need to think deeply? There are a few Channels open now. I should practice my magic hard, monitor the barriers in my house, and live while guarding the outside world every day. Who knows when an alien race wille in? What if another Fake God appears again? Then, if the Earth seems to be ruined, it should bounce to another dimension.¡±

    Parvache did not answer. I headed to the basement, and I heard the footsteps of a robot following me from behind.

    ***

    -Flussssh

    A shape emerged from a tank full of green liquid.

    ¡°Cough¡­ Cough!¡±

    The restraints tied to the hands and feet moved and appeared on the water. The alien race was choked and spat liquid out of his mouth.

    Slowly, he flinched to see if his consciousness came back. Eyes sewn with magic metal wires only move finely, while the pupils weren¡¯t exposed outside.

    Weak thoughts leaked out as if to indicate a confined mental state.

    =Cough! I am alive. Ah¡­ I¡¯m still alive. =

    The Fake God, still suffering from fear, trembled all over. Why did he sign a contract with the Demon if he would be like that to begin with? Well, I didn¡¯t need to know why.

    =Save me¡­ please don¡¯t kill me. =

    I replied bluntly, ¡°Even now, I still keep you alive. Who¡¯s going to kill you?¡±

    =Ah¡­ please send me back to my original world¡­=

    Due to the longsting encounter with fear, his mind was extremely weak. Perhaps that time, even if there was no suggestion deep inside his mind, his will only answered the truth.

    I wished that horror had spread to his roommates as well. There was no condition, so I couldn¡¯t even nt the suggestion on them. It was really troublesome.

    =Please, send me a bag! =

    His original self begged through telepathy, but other memories mixed in were also affecting his mind.

    ¡°Please kill me! Kill me!¡±

    The Fake God cried out the words opposite to his will. That was what the memory of human apprentices imnted in him said, and¡­

    ¡°Huh¡­ huaaaaaa! Huaaaaaaa!¡±

    There was also a strange sound that seemed intermittently scratching his vocal cords. The memory of the Ashpim Giants caused that phenomenon. Even though the vocal organs were different and couldn¡¯t be pronounced as it was, they tried to make the sound ording to the habit of life.

    In the case of the Ashpim Giants, only part of the memory was cut and nted. Still, therge capacity seemed to have a significant impact. Come to think of it, how many years¡¯ worth of memories were stored in that mind?

    ¡°From now on, I¡¯ll open only one of your eyes. Don¡¯t think about making a fool of yourself. Just do what you¡¯re told.¡±

    He responded simultaneously through mind and voice.

    =Yes¡­ okay¡­ please don¡¯t kill me¡­=

    ¡°Kill me! Kill me¡­ Ahhhhhh! Ugh!¡±

    He asked me to save him and then to kill him. He really went crazy.

    Still, among the mixed memories, the Fake God¡¯s original memory took the initiative so he couldn¡¯tmit suicide. The words of the soul recovered by the Demon were obvious.

    I flicked my fingers and shot Mana. One of the wires stitched through his twenty-three eyes broke. Since there was a high possibility that he had already lost his sight, I applied recovery magic to his open eyes. The alien race wept and blinked his eye.

    ¡°Look at the tank over there.¡±

    I pointed in one direction.

    The Fake God¡¯s eyes shook for a moment when he saw me looking like him but soon moved his gaze along my finger without asking anything.

    He judged that it was more important to do what I asked than to ask questions. Yes, very good.

    The Fake God trembled at the two tanks ced in the corner of the room.

    =Ahhh, this again! =

    ¡°Okay. You seem to see them well, so I¡¯ll ask.¡±

    I moved my finger.

    ¡°That ugly man.¡±

    I pointed my finger to the other side.

    ¡°And that girl the size of fingernails. Look carefully.¡±

    I then lowered my hand and looked at the Fake God.

    ¡°Those two, can you manipte their mind?¡±

    He found an answer in his mixed memories.

    =Ah, that man is in human memory! =

    ¡°It¡¯s an executive! Mr. Hessler! Who is the woman?¡±

    I shrugged.

    ¡°It seems like it remains in the memories of the apprentices, huh? That man is Hessler, and the woman is Alice. So? Can you brainwash them?¡±

    The best thing to do to get information was to brainwash them. I didn¡¯t know if they had the seeds of domination, but I thought it would be good to check.

    The Fake God responded telepathically. It seemed that it was possible to visualize the other person¡¯s mental world and judge how high it was.

    =Impossible, impossible! Sorry¡­ don¡¯t kill me! The man has seeds, but it is impossible for me because of the size of the mental world! Sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯m sorry!=

    Hmm, I scratched my chin. I thought there would be a high possibility of that. It said that Fake God was about a thousand years old.

    =In terms of his mind¡¯s size, the time he has lived is simr to or more than mine. However, it isn¡¯t normal¡­ there are many holes in the ego, abnormal impulses, and sexual desires, desire for destruction, perversion¡­ ah. I can¡¯t see the surface psychology, but just looking at the revealed color is not sane!=

    I said, cutting off his will.

    ¡°If there are a lot of holes, can¡¯t you try brainwashing him?¡±

    The Fake God shook his head hastily.

    =Impossible! Even if it is destroyed and crumbled, its size is absolutely¡­=

    In any case, that meant no.

    ¡°How about the woman?¡±

    The Fake God turned his eye.

    =That woman¡­=

    He hesitated, and the will continued.

    =That woman has no seeds of domination. What¡¯s more, an existence that has lived at least two or three times longer than me¡­ how do you kidnap such a long-living species? You¡¯re scary. Are you¡­ are you human? Or are you a demon, too¡­? Or something uglier?=

    ¡°Noisy. Are you saying that that woman doesn¡¯t have the seeds and is even older?¡±

    =T-That¡¯s right.=

    I nodded and muttered.

    ¡°It would be impossible to transnt the memory of such an existence to the Fake God. No matter how much I cut off a part of the memory¡­¡±

    The Fake God who guessed my thoughts poured out the original horror idea that wasn¡¯t verbalized: emotions reflected from one¡¯s painful experiences.

    Currently, that external hard drive had an overload capacity and couldn¡¯t be used anymore. The basic capacity was small in the first ce. The body of Fake God floating in the air fell back into the tank through my gestures.

    =¡­Please!=

    With a brief will, he lost his consciousness. I put concealment magic on the Fake God¡¯s tank.

    I confirmed that the brainwashing wasn¡¯t possible with Eraser¡¯s ability. Parvache¡¯s suggestion was also not possible since it wasn¡¯t conditional. The only remaining means were the most traditional methods.

    Parvache told me from behind.

    [I don¡¯t know if they are going to confess.]

    I answered by following the memories at Hun-neung.

    ¡°Fortunately, they both seemed to have amon sense of pain.¡±

    [Which one first?]

    I answered back, ¡°Starting with the one whose mind goes back and forth.¡±

    Hessler¡¯s body floated in the tank with my gestures.

 Chapter 106

    [Active: The mad druid¡¯s attempt to incentivize Community Unlock is straight 200 IQ lmfao¡­ releasing an extra chapter for the valiant effort.]

    Dragon¡¯s Name (2)

    [Let¡¯s stop. It¡¯s a waste, Min-joon.]

    ¡°Damn it. There are some suggestions at stake, huh?¡±

    I frowned. There was a man with his limbs restrained and floating in the air in front of my eyes.

    His body was covered with dark stains, but no trauma was visible. Under his skin, those ck stains moved like living creatures, and each time they did, the body convulsed, and an indescribable odor rose around him. It wasn¡¯t just the sweat dripping down his pores.

    His lips opened slowly, and a voice ofughter filled with poison came out.

    ¡°Kufufu¡­ Khufufufufufuf!¡±

    His face, whose dark make-up was removed, was surprisingly normal just by looking at it. It was kind of like Tom or Johnson, who was passing by.

    At first nce, he might be mistaken for an average person. Yeah, if he hadn¡¯t been smiling like that in that situation.

    ¡°Khufu¡­ humph!¡±

    He took a sudden deep breath, and his eyes sparkled. He then made a grunt, crushing the soft tissue in his mouth using his teeth. He bit his tongue again.

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t work.¡±

    How many times already?

    He acted like he couldn¡¯t control his tongue since he was only allowed to move his neck. It wasn¡¯t an expression of suicide but an expression of willingness to never give me the information I wanted. After all, he couldn¡¯t speak with his ragged tongue.

    I flicked my fingers. The elixir was injected along the IV drip connected to Hessler¡¯s neck. There were several barrels of that kind of magic solution around him, and what was injected at that moment was for repairing damaged living tissues.

    As time passed, he began to chatter again to see if his tongue had regenerated.

    ¡°Whatever you do, you won¡¯t hear the answer you want¡­ Khufufufu!¡±

    I frowned. Was that a strong mentality or madness to ovee the pain?

    Hessler¡¯s body, hanging naked, was stained with a strange color. That was due to the ability of metal Qu¨¦carditon which prated the body and stirred up the living tissue into a mess.

    Liquid metal corroded the blood vessels of the limbs, extremities, burned muscles, and burst organs. In particr, it was targeting the nerve-racking points.

    After the pain psed, the elixir was injected through the IV drip inserted in his neck, and the damaged body was restored. However, the remaining Qu¨¦carditon started moving again, and that process repeated for hours.

    That extravagant torture continued because I couldn¡¯t constantly use recovery magic. How many liters of elixir had been injected into that body so far? If I converted the value of the material into money, hmm¡­

    More than that was meaningless. It didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t feel the pain, but it seemed his mind was restricted. He never answered any questions about the organization.

    It was wasting time and materials. I groaned inside and moved my Mana.

    -Crack!

    ¡°Kugh¡­ Kuhuhuuugh!¡±

    The Qu¨¦carditon spreading in Hessler¡¯s body flocked to one ce ording to my signal. Organs that caused instant death were avoided, but the process seemed to be painful as well. His eye veins burst, and his teeth sharpened. His face turned blue and then swelled purple again.

    The liquid metal that had spread all over his body was concentrated in the left foot. As I watched his feet turn ck, I made a light gesture.

    -Crack!

    ¡°Hueeeerrrkk!¡±

    His left foot burst, and liquid metal slipped out.

    ¡°Khehehe hehehehehe!¡±

    Heughed again as if he didn¡¯t scream before. I wrapped the recovered magic metal around my wrist. While the enchanted Mana remained, I could use it more, but it seemed to be meaningless to that guy.

    ¡°Khufu¡­ I will kill¡­ I will kill you! I will kill you without faiiiiiil!¡±

    The air was ringing. Oh, it was noisy.

    ¡°I won¡¯t kill you easily. Heh heh¡­¡±

    I asked back dryly, ¡°Do you think those words are helpful in this situation?¡±

    Hessler didn¡¯t care andughed in a hoarse voice.

    ¡°Khufu! Just wait. I¡¯ll suture two drugged dog heads to both your thighs and then I¡¯ll make your groin constantly grow a huge chunk of meat. Yeah, just like that fox back then! The heads of dogs will go crazy and eat it. Don¡¯t worry. I will continue to heal you so you don¡¯t die as you did to me today!¡±

    Did it give me an idea to do that?

    However, knowing that the torture wouldn¡¯t work further, I decided to move on to the next step. I put Hessler back in the Mana freeze. He opened his eyes even though he was immersed in the solution, stared at me, and lost consciousness.

    ¡°I need to call it. Let¡¯s get some advice because that guy is a memory specialist.¡±

    [Yes, the interrogation on the woman will follow. It would be useless if there were the same suggestion.]

    I focused my Mana on my chest. Time passed, and the response returned from coordinates beyond a distant dimension.

    The response was so fast, almost as if it was waiting.

    The Channel on my chest drew a blue circle. The summoner slowly appeared out of it.

    It was Yodmo.

    Since Hessler didn¡¯t open his mouth, I intended to reveal his entire memory. The question was where to transnt it, and on that part, I would consult Yodmo¡­ huh?

    I felt a sense of ipatibility.

    -Thump!

    The summoner¡¯s feet came from the dimension beyond the portal on the chest. When it touched the basement floor, it made a thumping sound, and the ground rang.

    Wait, thump?

    What was it? In the past, I thought there was a light hoof sound when it walked.

    I looked down and saw thick legs covered in ck fur. Looking at its diameter, it might be simr to my thigh.

    That was originally about the thickness of bamboo, right? When I called it recently, it only got a little bit of weight, and not that much.

    The sound of thumping continued, and then the summonpletely revealed its appearance in the Channel on my chest. I raised my head while closing the dimension door. Standing in front of me was a noble figure with shiny ck hair.

    A p-pig?

    ¡°¡­ Yodmo?¡±

    I checked just in case. The other party, who had changed to the point where it was difficult to find the original shape when I first saw it, nodded and blew loudly from its nose.

    ¡°You¡¯re Yodmo, right?¡±

    Obsidian-like pupils looked at me, and its will reached me.

    =Don¡¯t you feel the presence of my soul through the contract? What useless question is that?=

    ¡°Ah¡­ that¡¯s right.¡±

    Thest time I remembered, Yodmo¡¯s head was a deer-like shape, but the Yodmo in front of me now wasn¡¯t a deer¡­ yes. It was rather close to a hippopotamus with ck fur.

    While the unexpected sight dumbfounded me, Yodmo suddenly blew up a firm thought.

    =You called at the right time.=

    ¡°What?¡±

    =I can¡¯t do this anymore. It¡¯s the limit.=

    My heart fluttered for a moment. The limit? Could it be that it was breaking the contract with me?

    Either way was possible, but why now? I needed Yodmo¡¯s wisdom at that moment.

    ¡°What are you talking about all of a sudden?¡±

    =I never expected that I would make this choice.=

    Complex emotions were mixed in both eyes.

    =I give up.=

    Ugh! What? That contract?

    ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on, but let¡¯s talk calmly¡­¡±

    Suddenly, Yodmo interrupted me and said.

    =I will give it back.=

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    Yodmo didn¡¯t even respond to my question and suddenly took a deep breath. Its bulky size had swollen several times and reached the ceiling of the basement.

    It was in a threatening posture, and I wanted to gather Mana to defend that time, but I endured it. Yodmo couldn¡¯t attack me because we¡¯re still in the middle of a formal contract cancetion process.

    -Wheeeee!

    Yodmo exhaled hard in front of me. A ck mist of dry, ice-like texture fell all over the room. It wrapped around my body in an instant.

    ¡°What?!¡±

    The smoke filled the room for a moment, and then it started to get sucked into my head in no time. I noticed something in the process. The smoke that filled that room was nothing more than an afterimage of the source. There was a tiny, dust-like grain that became the nucleus.

    A ck piece that I might not see. The ck smoke that filled that room was emanating from it.

    The moment that nucleus dug into my body, all the smoke followed and disappeared together in the room.

    [Min-joon!]

    Parvache shouted in a hurry. I checked my condition. Body? Nothing strange. Mental? There seemed to be no abnormality.

    With a slight reluctance, I asked Parvache with the will.

    ¡®Can¡¯t you see any signs of mental pollution?¡¯

    [There is no such sign.]

    I turned my head toward the summoner and criticized it.

    ¡°What are you doing all of a sudden?!¡±

    Yodmo, who transferred the ck core to me, looked veryfortable. The decade-old congestion seemed to have gone down.

    With a very relieved look, Yodmo replied to me.

    =I gave it back.=

    ¡°What?¡±

    =Your memory.=

    Cold sweat flowed down on my back.

    ¡°You mean you¡¯re breaking the contract?¡±

    It returned the memories it took from me?

    I soon then realized something strange. I still didn¡¯t have any memories before the age of seven. There was no actual experience left, and only the memory of the contents that I hadter organized into a word file remained in my head.

    =Breaking the contract? I am not willing to proceed with that cumbersome procedure.=

    ¡°Wait a minute. You said you gave it back, but I still don¡¯t have any memories before the age of 7?¡±

    Yodmo responded calmly.

    =I had already digested the memories you experienced from when you were born to when you were seven. I can¡¯t give back what I don¡¯t have.=

    The core of the memory that it just delivered to me was emitting ck smoke. I btedly recalled what Yodmo said before.

    =There was a condensed piece that couldn¡¯t be interpreted in your memories that I ate. The fragments were so small, and I didn¡¯t even notice if there was such a thing at first.=

    Ah, it was.

    =The little piece began to dpose like ck smoke as it was digested in my stomach. When I digest your original memory, I can read it, but¡­=

    Yodmo frowned.

    =The memory like the ck fog couldn¡¯t be interpreted even if I digested it. It only filled my stomach, and I gained weight, but I thought it would be resolved soon after some time. No matter how many memories are condensed, there is something calledmon sense, however!=

    Yodmo¡¯s will became a little rough.

    =It never ends! The digestion!=

    It snorted in front of me.

    =As the nucleus was digested, ck memories were created endlessly. To be honest, I was greedy. If I keep this in my stomach, I won¡¯t have to hunt for life, but¡­=

    It picked its words for a moment and looked at me.

    =I don¡¯t know I¡¯m going to say this, but I thought I might die because my stomach might explode.=

    ¡°So that¡¯s why you gave it back to me? That condensed memory?¡±

    =Not all. I returned about 90% of the condensed core left in the stomach to you. I left a little bit in my stomach, but now the amount of memory digested will be less than before. =

    I asked after checking inside again.

    ¡°Is there really no change in my memory?¡±

    =It is a memory that I couldn¡¯t interpret either.

    It would be impossible for you, too. It doesn¡¯t belong to you in the first ce.=

    So, whose memory was it? If it was the memory until the age of seven, then it was even before I opened the Channel. Hmm.

    =There will be no harm to you. What¡¯s different from before is that I digested it, so the condensation was slightly relieved. It¡¯s a memory that can¡¯t be interpreted any way so that it won¡¯t cause any confusion.=

    I said to make things clear as I nodded.

    ¡°Anyway, my normal memories of up to 7 years old are something you¡¯ve already digested, and you still keep the 10% of that strange memory condensed, so this contract is valid.¡±

    Yodmo nodded.

    =I agree.=

 Chapter 107

    Dragon¡¯s Name (3)

    Yodmo looked into my eyes.

    =Why did you call today? Why is that strange shell covered?=

    It pointed out how I had transformed into the Fake God. Instead of answering the question, I double-checked what It said.

    ¡°Did you just said if you eat memories and digest them, you can interpret the contents?¡±

    =That¡¯s right.=

    ¡°Can¡¯t you see the memory before eating it? Isn¡¯t it possible to separate and crystallize memories since you can see them?¡±

    When extracting the apprentices¡¯ memories, only the memories of the organization were separated, and in Ashpim Giants, only information on the Truth-Seeker was selected and crystallized.

    Yodmo shook its head.

    =When I crystallize them, the ssification of memories isn¡¯t something I do by looking at the contents. It¡¯s more like throwing a topic in a mass of memory. Is it a kind of cohesive catalyst?=

    It went on with its exnation.

    =For example, suppose the condition of ¡°the organization of which they belong¡± is thrown into the memory. In that case, the memory corresponding to it seems to be adsorbed and cohesive, separating the crystal.=

    Well, thest time I saw it, it didn¡¯t take a few seconds to make the crystal. It seemed that there was no thinking ability to understand and analyze hundreds of years of memory in that short time.

    I pointed to the figure in the tank.

    ¡°Can you interpret these two memories and answer my question after you eat them?¡±

    Since the external hard drive called ¡°Fake God¡± couldn¡¯t be used, I tried to use Yodmo, the extractor, directly.

    When I signed the contract for the first time, Yodmo suggested that I pick only the memories I wanted and crystallize them. Perhaps it was a morefortable way for it, but since there was no suitable storage medium for transnting crystals, I thought the method I suggested would be better.

    Yodmo narrowed its eyes.

    =But isn¡¯t it different from the contract?=

    An expression of reluctance. It was better to give the crystal quickly and went back. It seemed quite troublesome to follow my suggestion.

    ¡°We can renew the contract.¡±

    I pointed at its belly.

    ¡°You received a gift that you didn¡¯t expect at the time of signing the contract, didn¡¯t you? If the benefits are different, the contents of the request must be different. You said you left 10% of the unidentified memories in your stomach? Isn¡¯t that enough for a while?¡±

    =I suppose so.=

    Yodmo looked around. His gaze stopped at Hessler and Alice.

    =Do you want to extract their memories?=

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    =I don¡¯t think they¡¯re ordinary humans. How many years¡¯ worth of memory is it?=

    I told them their age, which the Fake God had guessed.

    =At that rate, it will take a couple of months to digest everything. Will you wait that long?=

    That was too long. I shook my head.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to spend time digesting all their memories. Can you extract the memories that I want?¡±

    I didn¡¯t need most of the things in their memory. It was inefficient to mix and feed such things.

    =I just have to throw out a few simple concepts like before and separate and eat the matching memories. Okay, what do you want?=

    I rolled my head for a moment. The most urgent thing was the keyword ¡® resurrection of the Dragon¡¯.

    ¡°The first thing I need is the memory of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s resurrection, then, with arger concept about the organization they belong to.¡±

    =Wait, wait. What did you just say?=

    Yodmo¡¯s perplexed consciousness was passed on.

    =What do you mean by Truth-Seeker resurrection? No way did it really died.=

    Come to think of it, Yodmo only ssified the memories of the apprentices and didn¡¯t eat them. It had no knowledge of that world.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    I exined very briefly what happened in that world. I couldn¡¯t exin it thoroughly, considering I didn¡¯t know the details about the Truth-Seeker¡¯s death. Yodmo tilted its head as if it was confusing, and then it looked around my chest where the Channel was opened and said¡­

    =I see. Are you an ascetic? You¡¯re looking for a way to revive the Truth-Seeker you worship. They seem to know the answer, right?=

    The Summoner who misunderstood my purpose nodded.

    =Right. Since you got a Channel in your body¡­ You¡¯re a kind of symbol of the cult. It isn¡¯t umon for the Truth-Seeker to enjoy imitation of God. Are you the head of this world¡¯s ascetic?=

    It kept guessing in the opposite direction from the truth.

    ¡°Anyway, if you eat their memories, you¡¯ll know. So, let me tell you, those two belong to the group of ascetics you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    =What? I can¡¯t understand. Why is the ascetic splitting with each other and even robbing the other¡¯s memories?=

    I answered roughly because I was reluctant to tell the truth.

    ¡°There are someplicated circumstances.¡±

    Yodmo and I were in a contract, and it was enough to pay each other a reasonable price. There was no need to seek understanding by exining my past and the motives of my actions.

    =Do you want to extract both memories at once? It¡¯s more efficient to digest the memory thates in first.=

    ¡°Then, eat the man¡¯s memory first. I will try another method for the woman and ask again if it doesn¡¯t work.¡±

    It seemed that it wasn¡¯t efficient to digest both memories at the same time. I took Hessler out of the tank andid him on the floor, and he woke up with his hands and feet tied in the form of a cross.

    As soon as he saw Yodmo¡¯s head approaching his eyes, he red and swore.

    ¡°Fuck, what else is this fucking pig¡­?¡±

    Even before he could finish his words, Yodmo lifted its forefoot and pressed Hessler¡¯s forehead. It put on its weight, and its hooves pressed against Hessler¡¯s head.

    ¡°Ugh! Can¡¯t you get rid of those stinky soles right now?¡±

    Yodmo stuck out its tongue without worrying about the reaction. It lowered its neck while holding the opponent¡¯s head with its legs. After that, Hessler giggled andughed and took his breath.

    -Spit!

    Instantly, a chill filled the room. Parvache and I were speechless. That bastard!

    -Slosh.

    A white liquid with bubbles flowed through Yodmo¡¯s eyebrows. That asshole spit on Yodmo¡¯s face!

    ¡°Kufufufufu¡­ khufufufufufufu!¡±

    Hessler, who could only move above his neck,ughed eerily as if he was mocking. Parvache spoke with its will.

    [He seems to push it to kill himself.]

    Was he doing that because he was crazy, or did he gave up and was trying to die quickly? I was confused.

    =Hmm.=

    The wind blew through Yodmo¡¯s eyebrows, and the stinging marks disappeared. The emotions weren¡¯t well reflected in its eyes. It stared at Hessler for a moment with deep glossy ck eyes.

    The Summoner calmly sent its thought to me in that state. It was telepathy infused with quiet, cold anger.

    =You said this cheeky bug is also an ascetic. Still, is he your enemy?=

    I nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    =After I suck up his brain, he will be a disabled person. Aside from the memories, is there any value and utility that this creature gives you? Is he a co-worker?=

    ¡°Not at all.¡±

    I didn¡¯t know if something like a hostage would work, but there was also Alice.

    =If so, I have one suggestion. Seeing this ce, I thought it would be possible. Can you take care of this bastard so that he ¡®can¡¯t die¡¯ after I have taken out his memory? It would be too much to say that for an endlessly long time. Well, as long as your life allows you to.=

    Yodmo raised its head. I saw an eerie glow in its eyes and understood its intentions, and dly said yes. It wasn¡¯t difficult to hold his breath so that he wouldn¡¯t die.

    ¡°Of course, it is possible. I will do that.¡±

    Hessler¡¯s expression hardens upon hearing our conversation.

    ¡°¡­What?¡±

    However, before his mouth could open again, Yodmo first stuck out its tongue. Drops of fluid drip from the tip of its cracked tongue. Blue fluorescent water droplets flowed into Hessler¡¯s nose at once.

    ¡°Kugh¡­ Kuoouuugh!¡±

    Hessler rebelled, shaking his neck, but it didn¡¯tst long.

    Soon, soft tissues came out of his nostrils. It seemed like seeing a pork mince machine at a butcher shop. Two stalks of brain mixed with light orange and pink.

    Even if the whole shape was like minced meat, the cells weren¡¯t damaged at all, and the connection of nerve cells that maintained long-term memory was also sustained. The Summoner who created such a miracle slurped what had beening out.

    Hessler, whose memories were brought out at once, lost his expression. In front of him, the Summoner groaned its mouth and spat out a crystal. They had to be sorted before it eats them.

    =This is a memory in response to the topic of ¡®Truth-Seeker¡¯s resurrection.¡¯=

    Soon it spat out a little bigger crystal.

    =This is a memory that responds to the concept of ¡®the organization they belong to.¡¯ These are the memories you want, Contractor.=

    I nodded. The information I needed was up there.

    However, Yodmo didn¡¯t stop there and spat out another small grain.

    =This is a piece of memory that this creature just spat on me. In addition to that, I aggregated several pieces of memory that could enable rational thinking. I will give this crystal back to this guy. I left some brain areas that control memory. Is it okay?=

    I nodded, then Yodmo put the little grain back into Hessler¡¯s head.

    Some of the memories that were stolen were recovered, and his expressions came back little by little.

    ¡°I¡­ I am¡­¡±

    A very confused expression as if he had enough memory to keep his ego perfect. As it saw him, Yodmo made a cold thought.

    =He must know why he¡¯s suffering so that he will constantly regret and despair. It¡¯s not just about physical pain. Mental pain is also important.=

    ¡°¡­ What, what?¡±

    Hessler, who couldn¡¯t organize his mind, suddenly looked distorted.

    ¡°Eh¡­ uh¡­ uh¡­.¡±

    A groan leaked out of his mouth. Yodmo¡¯s dry thoughts echoed in the room, using it as an apaniment.

    =Being able to extract only long-term memories from the brain means that in the end, I can know the structure and mess around with his own mind however I want.=

    ¡°Ah¡­ ah¡­!¡±

    Hessler¡¯s whole body got wet with sweat. Tears rolled down his cheeks as his nose became runny.

    =While extracting memory, the brain cells responsible for the sense of pain were left intact, and I made some modifications to the remaining brain tissues.=

    ¡°Uah¡­ hugh¡­¡±

    Hessler, who quickly recovered from any pain, was now crying with a broken expression.

    There were times like that and cases in which the brain was surprised because too much pain suddenly struck and couldn¡¯t detect it properly.

    However, after a short period of time, the pain rose like a tide. That reaction came since the brain wasn¡¯t aware of it. After all, it was too much pain. The real thing hadn¡¯t started yet.

    Hessler sobbed loudly. The tingling moment didn¡¯tst long, and in the next moment, I closed my ears.

    ¡°Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    A desperate scream I had never heard of until that moment resonated in the basement. I had never heard such a sound despite having met all forms of creatures. Listening to it made me feel goosebumps and made me shiver as if I had a de in my back.

    It took less than a minute for Hessler¡¯s vocal cords to rupture, but the elixir was injected immediately, and the vocal cords were regenerated. The screaming sound that was cut off continued again.

    I stared at Yodmo, covering my ears. It exined calmly.

    =It was manipted to feel the extreme pain that nerve cells in the brain can feel. It¡¯s a pain that is impossible to feel if a creature is born normally and dies. Across all dimensions, mortals who fall into that state must be counted in the hand.=

    That was definitely so noisy that I put some soundproof magic around Hessler. Phew, it was better now.

    ¡°What kind of pain is that?¡±

    I could feel Hessler¡¯s body copsing. If I left him there, he would die from shock. Still, before that, the IC drip was injected again. Endocrine substances were bnced, the heartbeat, blood pressure, body temperature, and breathing were temporarily controlled. Except for the painkiller effect, it contained all kinds of effects.

    =It is the most intense sensation that the creature¡¯s nervous system allows. It must be painful enough not to notice where the limbs are attached.=

    ¡°Hmmm¡­ Elixir would cost quite a lot to let him not die.¡±

    =Then let¡¯s call it a debt. I will pay the corresponding price.=

    ¡°Let¡¯s renew our contract soon.¡±

 Chapter 108

    Dragon¡¯s Name (4)

    Yodmo ate memory crystals about the ¡®Truth-Seeker¡¯s resurrection¡¯ and the ¡®Guardians of the Great Convention.¡¯ There was room in its stomach, thanks to returning 90% of the ck memory. As requested, it would digest the memories of the resurrection first.

    There was still another crystal left containing the rest of the memory since it couldn¡¯t even eat that much. It was a cohesion of all memories that weren¡¯t rted to the previous words. There might be little information like Hessler¡¯s personal history and hobbies. Where should I use that? If I just leave it, it would disappear.

    I looked at Hessler while thinking about that. Blood vessels all over his body were swollen and convulsed. He screamed, but I couldn¡¯t hear anything.

    I didn¡¯t know if Yodmo would have that ability. If I knew in advance, I would have asked it to torture him instead of doing it myself, even if it meant adding a contract.

    ¡®Oh,e to think of it, do I have to torture Alice?¡¯

    ¡°Hey, Yodmo. I have one suggestion.¡±

    I pointed to Alice in the tank and asked its opinion.

    =You want me to put the same pain that I gave him ¨C to her, then stop it, then repeat?=

    ¡°Yeah. So, she gives me the information I want.¡±

    If I kept that pain, she wouldn¡¯t be able to answer properly, so I would need to turn it on/off like a switch.

    =I refuse. It¡¯s a hassle to inject my fluid again and again.=

    Oh, right. It seemed that every time it changed the brain¡¯s structure, it had to inject that fluid from the tip of its tongue.

    =Moreover, think about how long I will be in this dimension if I did what you want.=

    That was how Yodmo turned down my offer.

    =Do you really need to interrogate the woman? Can you wait for the memories I have eaten to be digested?=

    ¡°I¡¯m going to check both of their memories andpare them.¡±

    There was no reason not to check the information in my hand. The amount of information they had might be different.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to eat her memories right now, right?¡±

    =It is better to digest the memories I have already eaten and then extract them. It¡¯s not efficient, and I have no intention of eating any more crystal now.=

    That meant it was full. It would then be better to take out Alice¡¯s memories after digestion had progressed to some extent.

    I returned Yodmo to its original dimensions at its request. I would call again when it had enough time to digest the memory of the resurrection.

    -Fluuush!

    Alice came out of the tank ording to my gesture. It was a bit like I was ying around until I called Yodmo again. The ball that floated in the air approached me and stopped moving while floating at the height of my chest.

    A girl, in the size of a nail, opened her eyes.

    I pondered for a moment. How did I put a drip needle there? I thought the needle would be simr to a vein¡¯s size if it were the body size right now.

    I made a restraint tool the size of a rice grain for Alice, but I couldn¡¯t prepare a needle and an IV drip suitable for that child¡¯s blood vessel size.

    It was difficult for me to continue using recovery magic. There was also a method of soaking her in the elixir and then taking her out as if she were in a bathtub, but it wouldn¡¯t be as effective as an intrabody injection. If I missed the right timing, I could kill her while torturing her.

    Her body was too small to inject Qu¨¦carditon. The area was so small that precise control was impossible.

    As they did with Hessler, they moved like razor des inside the body. Separating the dermis and fatyer, removing the fatyer from the muscleyer, and peeling off the skin without a drop of blood was impossible.

    Anyway, I was tired of seeing blood. Every time I offered a sacrifice to Dryflos, I was covered in blood.

    Instead of revealing those worries, I greeted her quietly.

    ¡°Did you slept well?¡±

    Alice answered.

    ¡°Here is¡­?¡±

    It was an unexpectedly calm reaction. She was different from Hessler, who poured out curses as soon as he opened his eyes. Hadn¡¯t she recognized the reality yet?

    She looked down at her lower body with an unconstrained free neck. Her lower thighs, which my magic had shattered, were deliberately amputated without regeneration.

    She looked at it and said, ¡°So you cut them, huh.¡±

    A tone like saying, you cut our hair. It was a pretty calm reaction to seeing the situation where both her legs were missing. It was in contrast to when she ran into me as if she had half lost her reason in Hun-neung. Her mental lid was let loose due to the pain of stigmatizing her face.

    Alice looked around the basement, and her gaze stopped at Hessler, who fell to the floor and convulsed.

    ¡°What happened to him?¡±

    ¡°Ah, over there now.¡±

    I flicked a finger to release the soundproofing magic. Hessler¡¯s desperate screams rang in the air. Even after listening again, I couldn¡¯t get used to it, so I frowned. I looked at Alice¡¯s face, but there was no emotion.

    Again, I shouldn¡¯t judge by appearance. The long-living being was said to have lived even before the beginning of the Western calendar.

    ¡°Because he didn¡¯t cooperate in providing information.¡±

    She might¡¯ve already finished grasping the situation. She looked up at me with an expressionless face.

    Based on her Mana pattern, which was examined with God¡¯s sense, the present small body was her original form. She was a human, but did her body be smaller as she crossed the wall? If so, it was the opposite of White Deer¡¯s Elder Mago. She had changed that way under the influence of God, but what was the reason for that? There was no sign of divine power.

    ¡°Why are you bothering us?¡±

    I smiled and responded, ¡°I ask the question. Now, can you tell me too? Information on the Dragon¡¯s resurrection you are nning. Everything else you know about your organization.¡±

    For the first time, an expression appeared on Alice¡¯s face. A little ridicule.

    ¡°The Dragon¡¯s resurrection. Knowing that you must¡¯ve brainwashed the apprentices to get keyword-level information, but Hessler doesn¡¯t seem to be brainwashed after all, seeing you torture him that way. Is there a limit to your ability?¡±

    I was referring to Hessler, ¡°Unexpectedly, is he a loyal dog? Somehow, he won¡¯t open his mouth. So now I¡¯ve touched his sense of pain. It¡¯s the limit of pain that his brain can perceive.¡±

    Alice shook her head.

    ¡°For Hessler, no matter how much pain you inflict on him, he will not answer that question. No, he¡¯s not supposed to. Even if he concluded that he would answer with his own thoughts and will, he couldn¡¯t take it into action. He can never spit out information about the ¡°Guardians of the Great Convention.¡±

    I asked, paying attention to the expression ¡®for Hessler¡¯.

    ¡°You mean the prohibition?¡±

    I was guessing that there was a device in his mind.

    ¡°Hessler signed a contract of authority. Those who have signed the contract are subject to a strong mental ban.¡±

    If it was a contract of authority, it was also signed between Parvache and me. When I was young, I made magic on the condition that ¡®the mental body of authority was bound by toy¡¯ unconsciously. It seemed that Hessler had magic that set a more detailed mental shackle.

    ¡°Is the Dragon the subject of the contract? But is he dead?¡±

    ¡°Before he died, he transferred the subject of the contract. A free helper could transfer that amount of magic but didn¡¯t sign a contract of authority. Until the Dragones to life, the subject of authority contract is passed on to the helper.¡±

    It felt good. She said everything.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think you have that ban. You haven¡¯t signed a contract of authority, have you?¡±

    Alice shook her head, ¡°I joined them only after the Dragon died. I¡¯m not under anyone¡¯s authority.¡±

    ¡°Then why are you moving with them?¡±

    She looked at me without saying anything for a moment and said, ¡°What you want is information?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the third time now.¡±

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember what I said at the training center? The question is mine.¡±

    At the same time as I said it, Alice¡¯s left hand disappeared.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!¡±

    Her calm expression copsed in an instant, responding quickly to the pain. No matter how long she had lived, was there a way to avoid agony? It was also possible that she might not have had such a pain in her life.

    After I cut her hand, I waited, looking at the clock.

    ¡°Now, it¡¯s been a minute.¡±

    I healed the cut by using direct recovery magic. I couldn¡¯t help it since I couldn¡¯t plug in the IV drip.

    A white light gathered where Alice¡¯s hand was. It stopped bleeding without regenerating. Since she was small, there was a little blood on the floor. It was better.

    ¡°Ugh¡­ kuuugh¡­!¡±

    ¡°Next time, it¡¯s two minutes.¡±

    As her pain disappeared, she raised her sweaty face and spat out curses, ¡°You fucking bastard.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t think that I¡¯ll cut this much next time just because I cut your left hand just now. There is a way to expand the cutting area.¡±

    Deliberately cutting her hand was simr to shock therapy. It was because one limb was cut off at a time, and she was already missing two legs. I hoped that she might feel a little more pressure.

    ¡°What did I ask? Oh, right. Why do you work with the Guardians of the Great Convention? You don¡¯t have a contract of authority, after all.¡±

    Alice gritted her teeth. Her eyes were full of poison.

    ¡°¡­ I made a deal with the helper I mentioned earlier. The price of helping is paid when the Dragones back to life.¡±

    ¡°What is the cost?¡±

    ¡°It was said that he would bring the kind of creatures that were simr to my people before I crossed the wall from another dimension and release them into this world. They¡¯re already extinct on Earth.¡±

    She wasn¡¯t human, but I focused on keywords that were more important than Alice¡¯s identity.

    ¡°If the Dragones back to life, you will get paid?¡±

    ¡°Because Dragon canmunicate with the beings of other dimensions.¡±

    It seemed to refer to themunication between the Truth-Seekers.

    ¡°So, you¡¯re also sure of the Dragon¡¯s resurrection. If he can¡¯t be resurrected, you can¡¯t get paid, right?¡±

    ¡°Resurrection is possible, and he has to be resurrected. That¡¯s the right thing to do. For this world.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    She looked at me and said, ¡°He¡¯s a Truth-Seeker.¡±

    ¡°I know. So what?¡±

    Alice distorted her face.

    ¡°In this world where the Truth-Seeker has died, countless Channels have been created. If it stays like this, all the souls will flow out to another dimension. Earth bes a world in which life can¡¯t be born. Only those who have crossed the wall of near-infinite life and low-level creatures without souls will remain. Humans who lead the civilization of this world will go extinct. Before that, we have to revive the Truth-Seeker.¡±

    It was within the expected range. If so many channels were pierced and souls were spilled there, all of them could be taken someday. Are they trying to revive the Truth-Seeker to prevent that?

    ¡°You say the Truth-Seeker has a way to stop the outflow of souls?¡±

    ¡°He said he had a way to close the Channel.¡±

    But¡­

    ¡°How long does it take?¡±

    When did the disaster begin?

    ¡°How long does it take before all the souls of this world are gone? A year left? Or ten years?¡±

    She shook her head.

    ¡°The Dragon expected two to three hundred years. After that amount of time, most animals in the world will be miscarried even if they conceive because there is no soul to dwell in that body.¡±

    ¡­ What?

    ¡°Ha, Bahahaha!¡± Iughed without realizing it.

    ¡°Ah, what is it. Are you kidding me?¡±

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    I endure what I wanted to scream. Not 20, not 30, what? Two to three hundred years?

    ¡°Haha¡­ What the¡­¡±

    So, it had nothing to do with me, right?

    Let¡¯s say the Channels were closed, and I didn¡¯t know how many people on Earth would be left in 200 years. We have 7 billion currently. Would it be over 10 billion? How many lives would the poption conceive at that time?

    If Alice¡¯s words were true, that was the future without closing the Channel. After some point, all humans could no longer reproduce. The potential of humanity ends. Tens of billions of¡­ perhaps even more, seeds of life that could¡¯ve been born in the future, as well as thest direct descendants of humanity, would go extinct. That was the story, after all. It was just that much of a story.

    I sent my will to Parvache.

    ¡®Ah, what is it. It¡¯s a story that has nothing to do with me.¡¯

    [¡­ Min-joon.]

    I made up my mind.

    ¡®After all, the Truth-Seeker cannot be allowed to be resurrected. Even if we can¡¯t close the Channels, that¡¯s better.¡¯

    That was better even if the price was humankind¡¯s extinction hundreds of yearster or if most ecosystems besides humanity were destroyed.

    That was a story hundreds of years from now.

    ¡®Who knows. What if there¡¯s a war before that? There is no guarantee that it willst a thousand and ten thousand years If I let it be.

    The lives of tens of billions of humans and even more animals that would be born in the distant future¡­

    The scales tilted easily.

 Chapter 109

    Dragon¡¯s Name (5)

    ¡°So, how is it?¡±

    I asked Alice.

    ¡°How are you going to resurrect the Dragon?¡±

    There was a strong will in her eyes.

    ¡°Why the hell are you trying to know that?¡±

    ¡°You really have no learning ability.¡±

    -Puck!

    There was a sound of flesh popping from the back of Alice, who was floating in the air. Small, red flowers bloomed on the white marble floor under the feet.

    She screamed.

    I waited for a while until the screaming had subsided.

    ¡°Uh¡­ ugh!¡±

    Alice swallowed her sound and opened her eyes. She didn¡¯t step back this time. Does this mean that she is so desperate about the Truth-Seeker¡¯s resurrection?

    ¡°That¡­ why must I tell you?! Why would you bother about this world?!¡±

    As Alice recognized from my appearance, I was an alien race from a different world. They might not know the detailed information except to the extent that I had brainwashing ability and were very interested in the ¡®Waterbird of Decay¡¯ appearing near the Channel.

    ¡°I have some circumstances, too.¡±

    As I yed the alien race, I brought my fingers.

    ¡°The Little Melody of Adeligos.¡±

    The air vibrations, slightly adjusted in intensity, surrounded Alice¡¯s body. At most, it would be like a hydraulic massage that pierced the whole body unless all the skin on her back was peeled off.

    I did something else for a while, leaving Alice in magic.

    I moved Hessler¡¯s body on the floor to another room. If I put him in the tank, he would lose his consciousness. It would be contrary to Yodmo¡¯s request. I would make the magic solution again with a kind that didn¡¯t lose his consciousness.

    I then came up to the living room and returned to my original shape. After being transformed for too long, it was burdening my body. Starting with Hessler, how many hours had it been now?

    I did a simple bare-handed stretch. I opened the refrigerator door and took a few sips of c from the bottle. I washed my face simply since my face was greasy.

    I looked at the clock. More than 15 minutes had passed since I cast the magic? I transformed into the alien race and then went down to the basement.

    I returned to the ce where the magic had been cast and saw Alice¡¯s face. I thought it was still bearable. After all, she was a strong, ancient being.

    Releasing the magic, I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I said it was 2 minutes, but I am a littlete.¡±

    Drooping, Alice gasped and stared at me. Under her feet was a small red puddle. She twisted her lips with a terrifying look.

    ¡°You¡­ bastard¡­¡±

    I replied, ¡°Now, can you tell me?¡±

    ¡°¡­ No. I can¡¯t believe you.¡±

    My throat was hoarse.

    ¡°So doubtful.¡±

    However, Alice seemed to had already predicted it. The fact that I wished to interrupt the resurrection of the Truth-seeker, not to contemte or help.

    Looking at the circumstances, that was understandable. She didn¡¯t think I would do something like that in Hun-neung with no purpose. The motive was weak for only revenge of the kidnapping attempt in the United States.

    ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t know what it is but stop. If the Truth-Seeker isn¡¯t resurrected, this world will end!¡±

    ¡°Well? It¡¯s not like that this will explode without a Truth-Seeker. You said it with your mouth. Beings who have crossed the wall and creatures without the concept of a soul will survive. Doesn¡¯t it matter what happens to humans? Seeing you at the wizard training center, you didn¡¯t have any hesitation in killing them, did you?¡±

    She spoke as if it was ridiculous, ¡°That¡¯s sophistry! It was an inevitable sacrifice needed for this world!¡±

    I snorted inside. I saw through God¡¯s senses that the beings created by Alice killed humans cruelly.

    Alice said, defending herself, ¡°It¡¯s a different thing to kill some of the humans who were there and to ignoring the extinction of over tens of billions of life!¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°I am a native of this world, too. I have lived in this world for thousands of years. I can¡¯t see the ecosystem of the dimension where I live copse!¡±

    She continued her words.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just the ecosystem. You¡¯ve also seen this city made by humans! The world that has achieved such a developed civilization is so vain!¡±

    ¡°No, wait. I¡¯m just curious about this. If this ce bes and where humans and other species can¡¯t be born, why not move to another world as a whole?¡±

    I tried to quote Noah¡¯s great ark, but I quitted since it felt awkward if I put it in my mouth.

    Even if you don¡¯t resurrect the Truth-Seeker¡­ yeah, humankind who was stepping on the Earth¡¯snd would be only extinct. Could you just move?

    ¡°There are many Channels. Don¡¯t you think there¡¯s one of them? It¡¯s a dimension suitable for migration. If you like human civilization so much, you can follow the humans.¡±

    ¡°Why shall humans move to another world? Why should I follow humans to another world?¡±

    Alice said in a hoarse voice.

    ¡°Both humans and I are the original residents of this world. We don¡¯t have to endure the absence of the Truth-Seeker that far to leave for another world. We need to resurrect the Truth-Seeker, and it¡¯s all over!¡±

    Regardless of other humans, I will be in trouble when he is resurrected.

    ¡°Okay, I understand. Why you guys have to resurrect the Dragon, then? Can you tell me? How does the Dragon¡¯s resurrection work? How much time is left?¡±

    I didn¡¯t know the exact schedule, but when I checked the apprentices¡¯ memories, an atmosphere within the organization would be finished in a few years.

    ¡°¡­ I can¡¯t even open my mouth unless you tell me what you¡¯re up to.¡±

    She again refused to answer and was so persistent.

    I found one thing while I was retracing what Alice had to say about her.

    ¡°Ah, I was wondering why you were so desperate. Didn¡¯t you say that the Dragon would bring simr races of another dimension to Earth? Is it because of that promise?¡±

    Her face distorted, and she didn¡¯t continue her words.

    It was said that her race of origin had be extinct. Was she thinking of bringing a simr race to Earth and forming a n again? Even if she mated with an entity that hadn¡¯t crossed the wall, she could have a baby.

    Well, I wasn¡¯t interested in such nasty stories.

    ¡°Are you not telling me because of that hope? Are you afraid that I will interfere with the resurrection?¡±

    As expected, there was no answer. I sighed.

    ¡°Do we have to start again? If we¡¯re done, let¡¯s keep your limbs intact.¡±

    Alice gritted her teeth and spoke.

    ¡°I am the first andst Aes S¨ªdhe to break through the evolutionary wall. I do not give in to pain or fear.¡±

    Was that really true?

    Parvache, who hid in the corner, sent its mind.

    [I don¡¯t think she¡¯s going to talk easily. Wouldn¡¯t it be better to wait for Yodmo to finish its digestion first?]

    ¡®It¡¯s a little disappointing for that. She said it with her mouth. There is no such thing as the ban.¡¯

    If I got even a little information before Yodmo finished digesting, my movement could be faster. A little more preparation could be done.

    ¡®It¡¯s like spending time here meaninglessly, so let¡¯s just do half a day more. Still, if she doesn¡¯t open her mouth, I¡¯ll give up and wait for Yodmo while doing other things.¡¯

    I concentrated my Mana on both hands. A zing me in one hand and a white sh of healing magic in the other.

    It seemed to be quite a difficult task.

    ***

    I had a nightmare.

    ¡°Khmp! Cough! Cough!¡±

    I was surprised and woke up. I got up and started coughing. I identally swallowed the saliva that had umted in my mouth while sleeping and made me choke. Duh.

    ¡°Cough! Cough, cough!¡±

    The cough barely stopped and continued for a long time. My ribs hurt, but I managed to lift my upper body and sit down.

    ¡°Are you all right? May I bring you a ss of water?¡±

    The flight attendant approached silently and asked.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s all right. It¡¯s okay.¡±

    I nodded with a red face due to coughing and showed a strange gesture of waving my hand from side to side. Oh, it was embarrassing.

    Anyway, it wasn¡¯t smooth from the start. As soon as I got on board and got into the seat, I grabbed the towel that the flight attendant handed me and then threw it out in surprise (it was much hotter than I thought). I was embarrassed that I couldn¡¯t find the ce to put the earphone jack in. Also, I couldn¡¯t get the table out of the armrest and almost broke it (eventually, the crew opened it up). At that moment, I woke up from my sleep and made a mess.

    My cough was finally going away, and then the flight attendant who was guarding me asked.

    ¡°There was a light meal service while you were sleeping. If you don¡¯t mind, would you like it ready now?¡±

    I checked the time on the monitor in front of my eyes. I didn¡¯t sleep much. I hadn¡¯t digested the meal before I went to bed. What else could I get?

    ¡°No thanks, that¡¯s okay.¡±

    Since I received the spell from Kylgeniapros, my meals had decreased dramatically. Among the living tissues it took, there were also quite a few digestive organs. Apart from simply eating less, it was difficult to digest those days.

    I pulled up my back after I sent the flight attendant. I was holding a remote control and fiddling with it while I was asleep. I still had more than two hours left until I arrived.

    ¡°It¡¯s not fun.¡±

    After rummaging around the movie, I stopped it. That year, I rarely saw fictional movies or dramas.

    I just turned on the news since there was no suitable entertainment among the videos I could see. It was 9 o¡¯clock news that aired yesterday.

    -U.S. President Benjamin Greenwood spoke of South Korea in a keynote speech at the U.N. General Assembly yesterday in New York. The incident, which took ce at a training center in Seoul, was said to be a very shocking tragedy, and expressed condolences to the injured, missing, and their families.

    -¡­ Also, the possibility that the Channel was involved in the rge ck sphere that induces mental disorders¡¯ that appeared in Seoul cannot be ignored. The United States, together with Korea, is ready to help study this monster and control it properly.

    -In order to prevent further tragedy, it is of utmost importance to find out the secrets of dimensions and Channels, and some countries that are blocking the sharing of such information will continue promptly¡­

    On the screen, leaders from all over the world gathered and talked with a serious expression.

    Parvache¡¯s will was heard from the luggagepartment above my head.

    [Did they exin that the base was a training center?]

    ¡®It looks like it¡¯s a newly built public service training center. The people on the inte already notice, and they are upset all over the ce.¡¯

    I answered back and looked at the screen while leaders of countries engaged in heated debates.

    How far did they know about what was happening on Earth currently? Since they were in contact with the alien races, they knew the concept of Truth-Seeker, right?

    I was lost in my thought for a moment. At that time, the top priority of the United Nations was to identify the Channel and respond to abnormalities, but their distant sessors might have to prepare Noah¡¯s ark.

    Humanity didn¡¯t know the corrtion between the Channel and the soul, but after that time, wouldn¡¯t they find out someday? They would find a way, move to another world, or some would survive.

    I remembered the dimension of the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker. In many aspects, it was an unsuitable dimension for human habitation, but the Earth¡¯s science and technology would be more advanced. Wouldn¡¯t it like to build colonies from science fiction movies? Even if they knew about it that time, there was no way to deal with it, but if it was the future, maybe¡­

    ¡­ Hmm?

    Ah? Yeah. Even if they knew about it currently, there was no way¡­ to deal with it.

    As I thought back to myself, my body hardened. That was because an unexpected possibility came to mind. I might be thinking too far ahead, but could the probability be really 0%?

    What if those who appeared on T.V. found out more quickly about the future of humanity?

    What if, for example, at that moment, they noticed the fact that if the Dragon wasn¡¯t resurrected, humanity would either perish from Earth or the only option left was to move into another world.

    I pinched my chin with my finger.

    Disaster would happen in the next two to three hundred years. What choices would humankind make for their descendants? How far could the elite leading that world take action for the future?

    In fact, their real heart didn¡¯t matter. The problem was justification and public opinion and the descendants who would live on that after the death of all humanity today. The choice was at stake in their fate.

    Even if they let their hand go, there was no physical damage to humanity at that time, but the justification was overwhelming. The higher the ethical superiority, the higher the voice would be. Public opinion would be sufficient to drive the world¡¯s leaders in one direction.

    I made up my mind. It shouldn¡¯t be known to humans, after all.

    I couldn¡¯t stop thinking.

    I remembered what Yusu said before.

    ¡®I think it could happen that you abandonedpassion and thought not to protect human beings in this country. For example, what if the humans of thisnd came together to oppress you? Or what if you were trying to do something so terrible that you couldn¡¯t even imagine? In the meantime, would you want to maintain that barrier?¡¯

    I had been lost in thought for a long time since then. How long had it been? An announcement was heard with a strange feeling of the aircraft descending.

    -Dear passengers, our flight will arrive at Dubai International Airport soon. For now, please fasten the seat belt for safety, and pull the seatback, and put the table in ce¡­

 Chapter 110

    Dragon¡¯s Name (6)

    The main building of the Blue House was the presidential office. The loud voice of a man holding the phone resounded.

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    He pressed down on his temple, frowning as if he didn¡¯t like something.

    ¡°Let¡¯s be objective. If we change our position, you will understand that it is an unreasonable demand.¡±

    An interpreter from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, connected by a multi-call line, tranted the words into English. Then, beyond the telephone line, the U.S. president¡¯s answer was heard, followed by a Korean interpreter.

    -I understand that. However, this case should be considered as a special case.

    President Kang Min-ki said with an impression, ¡°Unfortunately, it will be difficult. U.S. researchers can¡¯t be dispatched to Korea to interview survivors this time. However, as agreed upon in the first ce, you can cooperate with the Korean military to observe the site where the ¡®ck Hemisphere¡¯ was created.¡±

    He didn¡¯t know how long the U.S. scientists would survive without getting crazy, but he swallowed the sarcasm inside. For that reason, the South Korean government practically gave up both hands in the research. They just focused on blocking the surroundings and preventing civilian ess.

    If one looked at the disaster that covered the Hun-neung base site for a long time, there were symptoms of delirium without exception. So far, not a single person had missed.

    Due to persistent requests, U.S. researchers would be allowed ess ¡®for academic purposes,¡¯ but the apanying South Korean military forces would never look directly at the hemisphere, just like they had been doing so far.

    The American interpreter again tranted President Benjamin Greenwood.

    -It can¡¯t be helped.

    In the first ce, the interview would¡¯ve been close to trying to poke on their business. He continued.

    -Then, we will only focus on the observation of the ¡®ck Hemisphere.¡¯ This opportunity will be of great help in promoting a scientific understanding of what is happening on Earth. We doubt that the ¡®ck Hemisphere¡¯ is a kind of Channel. It¡¯s well worth digging into.

    President Kang knew why he said those words.

    There was very reliable intelligence that was recently obtained. It was said that Gramperi of China saw the video of the Hun-neung and said it was rted to the dimension. When he heard that, President Kang felt like he wanted to rush to China right away, grab the neck of the alien races, and yell at them to throw up everything they knew.

    The U.S. government might have obtained simr intelligence.

    -Absolutely. We have ack of information on Channels and Dimensions. China is now tightly controlling contact with Gramperi. This information imbnce is extremely undesirable for human development. Perhaps the study of the ck Hemisphere will be of great help.

    Gramperi appeared in Hong Kongst year during the Channel crisis. It was also said that they telepathically gave off academic concepts of ¡®dimension¡¯ on the spot. Since then, given the circumstances identified through intelligence, it was assumed that they had the most profound knowledge of Channels and dimensions among the alien races that have appeared on Earth.

    President Kang Min-ki thought, ¡®At least they are higher than the Kaifu.¡¯

    It was originally the border area of ??DR Congo that opened the Channel to the Kaifu¡¯s dimension. Observing the Earth, they coveted advanced science and technology, and the rebels in DR Congo earned a massivemission by linking developed countries with Kaifu. That deal was, of course, a strict secret. The U.S. and South Korea also ¡®imported¡¯ instructors. That was because both countries had failed to establish diplomatic rtions with friendly alien races through their own Channels.

    Kaifu¡¯s civilization level was about the Middle Ages of Earth. Compared to this ce where there was no knowledge at all, Kaifu was, of course, superior in magic, but there was no such thing as a deep knowledge of the dimension that the United States regarded as important.

    On the other hand, ording to information sources from all over the world that infiltrated China, Gramperi¡¯s parent dimension had achieved a technological civilization close to Earth¡¯s modern level. And their level of magic was so high that this dimension¡¯s location had been observed for a long time. After hearing this news, the United States turned upside down.

    Naturally, the U.S. obsession with keeping up with China led to going to be sent to Korea this time were part of the effort.

    After talks, the two presidents exchanged brief greetings and ended the call. President Kang Min-ki, who put down the handset, made eye contact with those sitting in his office. A handful of top government officials were listening to the call he had.

    The President asked a question as he washed his tired face.

    ¡°Are the survivors thoroughly isted from the outside?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are.¡±

    ¡°Is there any improvement in the condition?¡±

    The secretary¡¯s chief replied.

    ¡°They are almost impossible to move because of a mental shock.¡±

    Most of them lost both eyes and said it was impossible to recover even with Kaifu¡¯s magic. Even if it were possible, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to use them. All the surviving alien races ran away to DR Congo to return to their mother dimension. It was a right guaranteed in the contract so that it couldn¡¯t be prevented.

    The President frowned, and his head was burning. The Hun-neung project was, in reality, a catastrophe.

    The alien race and all non-wizard agents disappeared within the ¡®ck Hemisphere,¡¯ one of the trainees was missing, and most of the others survived but were found blind.

    The President asked, ¡°What is the state of trainee Kim Kyung-hwan? And the one that he rescued¡­¡±

    He hesitated, unable to remember her name.

    ¡°You mean Trainee Hwang Soo-rim?¡±

    He had met Kim Kyung-hwan face-to-face several times to talk. However, Hwang Soo-rim was an unfamiliar name. There were over 200 trainees, and he couldn¡¯t remember all of the names.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. Kim Kyung-hwan and Hwang Soo-rim¡­ those two are under strict surveince, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, they are.¡±

    The secretary¡¯s chief continued.

    ¡°Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan is being protected in a safe house after discharge. His injuries werepletely healed, and his anxious mental state has greatly stabilized. He is also very cooperative in the interrogations that are held for a while each day. He has also been practicing magic almost all day except for interviews and sleeping hours.¡±

    The President asked, puzzled, ¡°On his own? We don¡¯t even have a Kaifu instructor anymore¡­¡±

    The secretary¡¯s chief answered, ¡°As per the report you received, trainee Kim Kyung-hwan was at the stage where he couldbine the magic form alone. He is said to be studying spells based on what he has learned.¡±

    ¡°How about Trainee Hwang Soo-rim?¡±

    ¡°There are no injuries, but her trauma is great. She¡¯s showing extreme anxiety symptoms and is said to be able to sleep little at night. She also gets panic attacks several times a day. As a matter of fact, interviews are impossible to hold with her.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    ording to Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s testimony, the two didn¡¯t follow the agent¡¯s control, so they ironically didn¡¯t encounter the alien race. That was why their eyes and ankles were safe. Most of the other trainees who moved to the evacuation route encountered the alien race and suffered fatal injuries.

    Kim Kyung-hwan said that he realized that the base was being attacked, and instead of evacuating, he moved in the opposite direction to fight the enemy. It was the same behavior as when a flying creature with ck wings attacked the Hun-neung in the past.

    Then he found Hwang Soo-rim, who was terrified and copsed in the hallway without evacuating. He rescued her and retreated when space suddenly distorted, at which point he passed out.

    The problem came after that. Not only Kim Kyung-hwan and Hwang Soo-rim, but none of the trainees knew how they were moved out of the hemisphere. As soon as the enemies entered the area, CCTVs throughout the base were jammed, leaving no records on the internalwork.

    Some trainees that lost their sight testified that ¡®some being¡¯ intervened in the battle against the alien race. They were thrown by that being somewhere. However, the testimonies of whether everyone¡¯s mind went back and forth in extreme pain weren¡¯t credible.

    ¡°I doubt that only the eyes and ankles are damaged.¡±

    ¡°Yes, we will continue our observations for now.¡±

    The President¡¯s face was deeply submerged. There was some doubt, but there was no clear evidence. Could he really trust it?

    Regardless, there was no alternative. His mind becameplicated. Almost all of the trainees who were preparing with great care had be ruined by this incident. Hwang Soo-rim, who had no injuries, was also close to being unavable in terms of mental aspects.

    ¡°If so¡­¡±

    A dark light shone in the President¡¯s eyes. If he could trust it, it would be reassuring, but there were too many doubts in the context. Still, if he could believe it¡­ now there was only one ¡°powerful¡± wizard in this country: Kim Kyung-hwan.

    He muttered quietly.

    ¡°What the hell happened in there¡­¡±

    ***

    ¡°Hey. Sir?¡±

    The taxi driver spoke to me as I was closing my eyes and focusing my mind. Disturbed, I looked at the driver with an expression mixed with irritation. A driver from India spoke in English with a strong ent as if he didn¡¯t notice what I felt.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell me your destination?¡±

    Thirty minutes passed after I took a taxi from a hotel near the Dubai Airport and asked him to go west. We continued to run on the main road, getting farther and farther away from downtown.

    I opened my eyes once in the middle and looked around, but now I couldn¡¯t find any high-rise buildings around. All I could see were buildings that resembled warehouses and the wilderness covered with pale yellow soil.

    ¡°If we keep going like this, we¡¯ll get to Abu Dhabi.¡±

    Ignoring his words, I closed my eyes again and focused my mind. He had no idea, butrge-scale detection magic was unfolding along my path while I was sitting in the car.

    Parvache raised a question inside the bag.

    [Nothing caught yet?]

    ¡®Not yet. Alice said it was around this way¡­¡¯

    It wasn¡¯t a desert full of sand as I had imagined, but it was undoubtedly a destednd.

    A thought suddenly came to mind. Earlier this year, Parvache asked me a question while interrogating the apprentices¡¯ memories of the Fake God.

    -If there is any trace of the Dragon, which ce is it most likely to remain?

    Then the apprentice¡¯s memories replied:

    -There is only one possible ce¡ªhis nest.

    -He enjoyed staying in a ce simr to his originalnd¡­

    -The dry atmosphere and high temperature. The earth of the destend.

    Though I heard that, I couldn¡¯t search all the deserts of the world. It was then.

    But now I had the information to narrow it down and the grounds to look for. Certainly, the surroundingndscape was getting closer to what the apprentices¡¯ memories described.

    Alice, whose mind and body were torn apart, eventually confessed to me. Considering that she proudly dered that she wouldn¡¯t give in to fear and pain, she copsed quite quickly.

    The nest where the Dragon stayed when he was alive was somewhere in thisnd.

    Originally, his nest was where the Dragon stayed alone, and the ascetics didn¡¯t reside there. Now, after the Dragon died, they had only set a strict barrier as a precaution and left the interior empty. That was because the work for the Dragon¡¯s resurrection was carried out elsewhere.

    I wasn¡¯t going to the Dragon¡¯s nest right now for battle. Regardless, I had no opponent to fight even if I reached it now. All I had to do was sneak in and find something.

    I kept focusing my mind.

    How long had it been?

    ¡°I got it!¡±

    I opened my eyes and directed the taxi driver.

    And after another 20 minutes, and we ran into an unexpected situation.

    ¡°Hey, sir. We can¡¯t go in here.¡±

    A taxi stopped in front of a building that looked like a toll gate on a highway. A man in a uniform was walking out from inside.

    In English, I asked, ¡°What is this ce? Privatend? Military?¡±

    The driver shook his head.

    ¡°No, beyond here is the Free Zone.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡±

    The driver exined, looking back at me, who was sitting behind him.

    ¡°DWC Free Zone.¡±

    ¡°DWC? What kind of code is that?¡±

    ¡°Dubai World Central. It¡¯s a free trade zone. We can¡¯t go in there without permission.¡±

    I looked around.

    ¡°What? Free Trade Zone? This wastnd?¡±

    The only thing I could see was the wilderness.

    ¡®Are you kidding me?¡¯

    The taxi driver clicked his tongue and repeated his words.

    ¡°There¡¯s a lot of storage stuff in there. It¡¯s a bonded area. Is this really your destination?¡±

    I nodded. The magic that Alice taught me was a spell that emitted Mana in a kind of encrypted pattern. A destination that wouldn¡¯t have responded to regr search magic responded to my magic. I felt an unusual wave of Mana over there.

    ¡°You can only enter with a permit from thepany inside. Sir, who the hell are you trying to meet? Why don¡¯t you call thepany?¡±

    It was an unexpected ambush. There was no doubt that thepany that would answer my calls would be beyond that control line because my destination was an empty Dragon¡¯s nest.

    I said, ¡°let¡¯s go back for now.¡±

    The driver shrugged and turned his steering wheel around, muttering in Tamil something along the lines of, ¡®Today I picked up a crazy Chinese.¡¯ Of course, he thought I wouldn¡¯t understand.

    After getting some distance from the control line, I spoke to him again. It was just after confirming that the guard at the gate was out of sight.

    ¡°Drop me off here.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    The taxi driver turned around and looked at me, finding my remark absurd.

    ¡°Hey, look around. There really is nothing here!¡±

    ¡°I know, it¡¯s okay, so drop me off.¡±

    He pulled over for a moment and persuaded me, but I refused to argue. Instead, I silently handed him the bill. The driver pocketed the money.

    ¡°Hey, take this.¡±

    He gave me a business card.

    ¡°Do you have a cell phone? This is really in the middle of the wilderness. I can¡¯t wait for you here, but whenever you want to go back downtown, I¡¯ll be back with a little call.¡±

    Even after saying so, he checked several times to see if it was really okay to drop me off here. Finally, he left with a fewst words.

    ¡°No taxis are going around here. Don¡¯t wait stupidly and call that number. Unless you have the gift to fly in the sky, you have no choice but to call me.¡±

    I grinned and said goodbye to him. I then waited for the car he drove to disappear from view. When the car was finally out of sight, I applied stealth magic on my body.

    Afterward, I pulled out a piece of Maek Copper and burst the dream inside it. Both my feet floated in the air.

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve got a direction, shall I keep going?¡±

    I broke through the wind and soared through the wilderness.

 Chapter 111

    Dragon¡¯s Name (7)

    After crossing the barricade, I kept flying.

    There was a wide road that connected the destend under my feet. There were few regr vehicles on the road, and most wererge cargo trucks with containers connected to them. Trailers ran along the quiet road and lined up into a huge building that looked like a warehouse.

    I got off at the point where the Mana led me, then I stepped on the ground and looked around.

    ¡®Certainly, this ce won¡¯t be essible to the public unless it was decided.¡¯

    [It¡¯s a difficult location to pass by identally. Moreover, it is a restricted area.]

    The Free Zone was so vast that it was impossible to move on foot. However, I was standing so far away that I couldn¡¯t see the road, and the warehouse was also not in sight. It was a wilderness with nothing in the restricted area.

    [That¡¯s why he made the entrance here.]

    I nodded. The Dragon¡¯s nest itself had existed for a long time, but the entrance location had changed several times.

    In front of me was a square stone building with no curves on the entire building. The hidden magic was visible only to the wizards¡¯ eyes, and it looked like a building found in the wrong era.

    It looked like a historic site made of smooth stone walls without a single window. That was the gate leading to the Dragon¡¯s nest underground. It was said that the nest was currently empty and sealed. I looked at the barriers surrounding it.

    ¡®It¡¯s also earnest.¡¯

    The magic was surrounding the entrance tightly. It was different from the barriers Hessler made in Hun-neung. There was nothing that couldn¡¯t be dismantled, but it took time.

    Although the magic form wasn¡¯t extremely sophisticated, it had a magical pattern applied like a kind of construction work. If you solved that one by one, a day or two wouldn¡¯t be enough. It was what Alice told me.

    I looked down at the ground I stepped on. The Dragon¡¯s nest was a vast underground space that no executive knew the area properly. Moreover, it existed in a deep area that went far below the surface.

    After the Dragon died, the ascetics couldn¡¯t protect the entire wide area withplex barriers, and such barriers were made only at the entrance. That was because they thought it would be impossible to break into the nest without passing through the entrance and the connecting passage.

    The assumption that intruders dug hundreds of meters underground didn¡¯t seem to have been made at all. Well, if you started doing that, you would be noticed by the dug-up dirt, sand, rocks, or even by the passing time.

    However, if it didn¡¯t stand out, that was it.

    I created a concealment barrier around me. At that moment, no one could figure out what was going on there, whether it was a satellite or anything.

    ¡®I¡¯ll summon him.¡¯

    [Yeah.]

    Mana moved to the center of my chest, and the dimensional map in my head guided the gathered power. The dimensional contact point showed a gap in the calcted direction.

    The Mana had not lost its direction. After finding the destination, the Channel continued.

    -Whoooong!

    I chanted the spell, and the promisednguage conveyed the will to him. It sent a signal to the soul of the contractor as if knocking. The other party epted my invitation, and the door opened in front of his eyes.

    He entered the Channel from the other dimension.

    What popped out of the blue light source was a leg with shaggy brown hair. He was wearing shoes made of luxuriously colored silk, from turquoise to yellow to intense red. The dizzying color scheme was the same as the clothes he wore. In terms of humans, it was no different from sleeveless and shorts made with a childish pattern.

    The Channel was so narrow that he came out of the door whining. He folded his body in half, pulled out his waist, and touched the ground with his arms. He almost crawled out of the Channel.

    ¡°Oh, My God! Isn¡¯t this too narrow?¡±

    He grumbled and moved his elbows, crawling. My summon, who came out of the Channel, patted his back and stretched his body.

    ¡°Oh my, my back!¡±

    As he stood upright, my body was instantly covered by his shadow. He was about twice as tall as my height. Brown fur covering the arms and legs was exposed outside the garment.

    Compared to thest time I saw him, the most significant change was his fashion sense. These races were always dressed in rough, rugged leather, but he, who appeared in front of me that day, was wearing colorful violence that reminded me of a rainbow.

    He looked as if he was holding an exorcism at the moment. He wasn¡¯t even a shaman.

    He greeted me, ¡°It¡¯s been a while, Yoong.¡±

    I answered him, ¡°That¡¯s right, Ghur.¡±

    Iughed after a long time.

    ***

    ¡°By the way, why is this neighborhood so cold?¡±

    He said while shivering. I check today¡¯s temperature in Dubai on my smartphone. It was 38 degrees Celsius.

    ¡°Wee to Earth. It¡¯s my first time to summon you because I¡¯m busy. How does it feel to cross the Channel?¡±

    ¡°Well, it didn¡¯t feel much when I crossed the dimension. Rather, the feeling of calling directly to my soul was different.¡±

    Ghur said so and looked around curiously.

    ¡°No, I mean, this dimension is where so many humans live, but why is the environment so devastated? Why is it so cold? It¡¯s a terrible ce to live. Do I have to be a great wizard like you to survive in this harsh environment?¡±

    Well, it might be because of the environment, but not the temperature.

    It was thest time I visited his vige that I signed a contract with Ghur. The other party to the contract didn¡¯t necessarily have to be a higher-level entity. He had magic and knowledge that I didn¡¯t know about, and I thought he¡¯d be useful someday, just like that moment.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard a message through the soul contract magic, but you need a divine spell?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    I looked down at the ground.

    I could dig up the ground, too. It was just that the method was highly uneconomical. All I could do was break, split, and move. The by-products were piled up, and it was too hard to restore them again.

    I didn¡¯t want to inform the ascetics of the invasion here that day. Of course, I didn¡¯t want to leave any traces.

    The alternative was Ghur¡¯s magic, a spell borrowed from the power of a God called ¡®the Predator of the Earth.¡¯

    When he fought the Asphim Giants with me, I remembered that he moved the earth freely. His magic was to move the hard crust like y, like building up the ground to make walls, burying giants clean, clearing the ground, etc.

    If you wanted to do that by controlling your Mana one by one, your brain would burn out of overload while calcting. It was the power of God that made it possible, a divine influence that wasn¡¯t rted to me.

    I requested to Ghur.

    ¡°If you dig 500 meters down here, there is a huge cavity. Can you dig a hole there?¡±

    ¡°Twice is also no problem.¡±

    The giant nodded happily, and I took a small box out of my backpack. It was the price of the contract.

    ¡°It¡¯s silk and barrier artifacts. It has space magic on it, so when you open the lid, the contents will spill out.¡±

    It was a box smaller than my fist, but what was inside was enough to fill a room.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll dly use them.¡±

    I looked at his clothes as he received the box quickly.

    ¡°By the way, your clothes¡­¡±

    Thebination of colors was so free that it was breathtaking fashion. The furry giantughed, revealing his fangs.

    ¡°There¡¯s so much left after making the underpants for the elderly with the ¡®silk¡¯ cloth you gave usst time.¡±

    He snubbed andughed.

    ¡°Every one of the Dells in our vige wore a pair of clothes. Such a soft fabric, this is a revolution!¡±

    ¡°¡­ Are all the vigers wearing that way?¡±

    ¡°The more colors you use in your clothes, the more you get recognition from the vige.¡±

    He then shrugged. How could the cloth I gave them make a culture like that?

    ¡°Okay, then I¡¯ll start.¡±

    Ghur collected Mana in both hands. He had a powerful origin that transcended dimensions. Hence, his method of operating Mana was a little different from mine. It took a while to use a divine spell.

    [email protected]#[email protected]@%@@#@!¡­

    As soon as he shouted the starter, the circr earth surrounding us began to sink underground!

    -Grrrrrrrrrng!

    ¡°Ohhh!¡±

    I looked at the clean section made by the sinking ground. No soil, rock, or dust was pushed away even when the ground was falling. A clean trail as if a paper was pierced with an awl. We dug under the grounds smooth as an elevator going downstairs.

    After some time, our movement stopped, and Ghur told me, ¡°There¡¯s a huge space under the thickness of just half your height. I stopped here because there was a barrier.¡±

    ¡°Yes, thank you.¡±

    As Ghur said, there was a barrier in that underground. Still, it wasn¡¯t as terrible as the one surrounding the entrance. That was enough to prate without breaking it.

    I looked at Ghur. I didn¡¯t need him to go all the way down here.

    ¡°You can return for now, and please help me restoring the groundter.¡±

    Ghur nodded.

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll do it without a price.¡±

    I reactivated the Channel and sent him back to his original dimension.

    I looked under my feet and used magic to break the ground. The original detection barrier should work, but I silenced it. I made a hole for my body to enter and jumped inside. I reduced the falling eleration and sank slowly.

    So, I entered the Dragon¡¯s nest.

    ***

    ¡®It¡¯s not unfamiliar for some reason.¡¯

    I sent my thoughts to Parvache.

    The Dragon¡¯s nest was a huge cave located underground. A high ceiling of tens of meters ran above my head.

    I spread Mana in thatrge space to find the object I wanted. While expanding my senses, I realized the identity of the d¨¦j¨¤ vu I feel right now.

    ¡®Ah, it¡¯s simr to that ce.¡¯

    [Where?]

    I think of a ce that was so impressive that I couldn¡¯t easily forget.

    ¡®The underground cavity of the Silver forest, where I met the Truth-Seeker.¡¯

    [Ah ah¡­ indeed.]

    The feeling was quite simr except that there was no hazy light that filled the space.

    A year had already passed since the Dragon died. There was no such thing as a dark presence in that space, like when facing Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker. It may be just a feeling, but I naturally became cautious. Even though I knew, nothing was threatening me there at that moment.

    ¡®There is really nothing.¡¯

    The Dragon¡¯s nest was originally said to be a it was said that after he died, all the ascetics moved them outside. That ce was too remote and spacious for the ascetic to manage. That was why they chose a different ce other than his nest for the resurrection of the Dragon.

    I concentrated on my mind, and I set the direction in which the wave of Mana was leading.

    ¡®¡­ I think I found it.¡¯

    I made magical lights that lit up the darkness, and I moved quickly while using the leap magic.

    Most of the items in that ce were taken out, but there were exceptions. There were two reasons why the ascetics didn¡¯t take them. They didn¡¯t have to touch them, or they didn¡¯t have the ability to touch them.

    I moved at high speed, and finally, I reached the area I was aiming for.

    What I relied on were Hessler¡¯s memory crystal and Alice¡¯s testimony. Memory crystal and interrogation each had their own strengths and weaknesses. Yodmo, who digested the memory crystal, didn¡¯t lie to me. Still, it bothered Yodmo to have a long conversation, and Alice was able to be interrogated for as long as I wanted, but I needed to verify that the content was urate.

    So, once I interrogated Alice and found out everything I wanted to know, I checked with Yodmo to make sure it was true. There were some strangely different ranges that Hessler and Alice knew, but most of them were cross-validated.

    That was one of the contents that had been verified in that way. The thing that was left here¡­ a kind of ¡®garbage.¡¯

    I passed through a windingbyrinth-like area and came out again into an open space. I stopped walking.

    ¡®Here it is.¡¯

    [Should we dig the ground?]

    ¡®I don¡¯t think I need to summon Ghur again. It doesn¡¯t feel like hundreds of meters. I¡¯ll just use magic¡­¡¯

    I exchanged my thoughts with Parvache.

    What led me to that ce was the Mana that I scattered in the underground caves. I poured out the sense of power to search all the material inside like a precise radar, and I came there following the reaction.

    That was why I knew that that space was empty. The fact that there was no one to disturb me here and that there was no detectable entity.

    Therefore¡­

    ¡°How did humans get in here?¡±

    I heard a calm voice behind my back. I was surprised to the extent that my heart tightened.

 Chapter 112

    Dragon¡¯s Name (8)

    In any case, I fiddled with the ring on my left hand to use it.

    I reviewed the scenario in my head. I broke down the cave with the Ring of me Storm. As soon as it started, the shield was activated to secure space. While the opponent was buried in a pile of rocks, I summoned Ghur again and fled through the ground.

    I slowly looked back. The magical lights dazzlingly illuminated everything around me. The floor in the corner of the vacant lot was filled with rocks that reached the knees.

    The shape of the stone was smooth and perfect, and it couldn¡¯t be said to have naturally urred since it was stretched at regr intervals. It was unknown for its purpose, but it was probably a sight created by Dragons and ascetics.

    The lower part of the rock, which was the root, was joined together with the same material¡¯s stone floor without any gap. The ascetic seemed to have left things that couldn¡¯t be moved without destroying them.

    The scenery resembled a cemetery lined with tombstones.

    As I walked, I noticed a man sitting on one of the rock spheres and staring at me. I made eye contact with him in tension.

    With his upper bodypletely undressed, he was revealing his dark skin. There were many tattoos all over his body. It was a sequence of ck figures of unknown meaning, a bizarre pattern created by connecting several tiny triangles in a straight line.

    His dark hair was long and flowing down to the waist, depicting a t look. His cold silver eyes met mine. What was seen in his eyes was deep boredom and emptiness, but underneath it, I felt another kind of dark emotion burning in the shade. The air sat down coldly, and the sensation of having a beast in front of my eyes touched my body.

    I smelled terrible blood in his gaze. It was so disgusting that I had a headache. It was a remnant that must¡¯ve umted over the years, killing and killing countless times again. That judgment was based on a more fundamental sensory system, not a sense of smell.

    The silence hurt my skin. After a while, he opened his mouth again.

    ¡°Are you, an Ensi? Did humanse down to this deste southernnd and establish a country?¡±

    He spat out a strange tone of voice. The voice was apanied by the fishy sharpness of the metal and the extreme gravity of the leather.

    What I heard in my ears was an unidentifiednguage. The Dissolving Speech Bead in my arms interpreted his words, but thenguage¡¯s true nature was unknown. As I passed through the two airports, I passed by people who spoke various foreignnguages, and their words were sincerely interpreted to me.

    However, none of the foreigners spoke suchnguage. Hisnguage was also different from the Arabic spoken by native speakers around here.

    ¡°No, my memories are confusing. It¡¯s strange. Why is Ensi wandering around this ce alone? Have you been kicked out of your country? No, that¡¯s not it. That¡¯s not what¡¯s important now¡­¡±

    An expression came to his face for the first time. A feeling of great confusion. He squinted as if he couldn¡¯t remember something, and he thought about it.

    The man called me ¡®Ensi.¡¯ The Dissolving Speech Bead interpreted the word in three meanings and sent it to my mind. The first meaning was a monarch; the second meaning was a priest, and the third and final meaning¡­

    Wizard.

    He looked at me, raising his head as if his thoughts were a little clear.

    ¡°Ensi¡­ I have to kill every Ensi.¡±

    I pulled up my Mana.

    ¡°You are real. You¡¯re not a fake Ensi who doesn¡¯t have magic power but tricks the people to reign.¡±

    His gaze was stuck like an arrow. At that point, I should¡¯ve put magic on that face and ran away. Nevertheless, there was only one reason I was holding back.

    I nced at the magic lights floating in the air. That space, which wouldn¡¯t have been lit for a long time, was whitening. The condensed darkness, driven and chased by the curtain of light, painted a shadow in every corner. My shadow was hanging on the floor like a tall leg because of the light source¡¯s angle.

    I turned my eyes and looked at the stone floor near where the man was sitting. The shadow of the round rock sphere was engraved, and there was no shadow of a man sitting anywhere.

    ¡°Why is there no one in the nest?¡±

    The man put his hand on his forehead and continued his words.

    ¡°How much time has passed since we fell asleep?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t answer. There was no reference point for calcting the duration in his question.

    The man muttered.

    ¡°It¡¯s the first time I see it. It doesn¡¯t resemble any local clothes.¡±

    He stretched out his finger and asked me.

    ¡°Are your ancestor¡¯s migrants from the north? Seeing the ck hair, it seems like so. Is your ancestor¡¯s hometown Ki-en-girl?¡±

    I spoke quietly.

    ¡°Who are you?¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    He closed his eyes as if confused. He hesitated to answer for a moment, then said¡­

    ¡°I am one of my father¡¯s first offspring. My existence¡¯s reason and value are to kill Ensi and the people that crossed the wall out of thisnd.¡±

    He shut his mouth for a moment and then looked at me with calmer eyes.

    ¡°Until just before I fell asleep, there were very few real Ensi in thend. In contrast, the number of powerless humans has grown tremendously. Father, who hated the noise, moved his nest. Because there are so many humans in the northernnd surrounded by the river, we moved to the southernnd where they do not live.¡±

    When he referred to the southernnd where no one lived, it seemed to meant Dubai. When on Earth in the past was he saying?

    ¡°Yes, I remember. There¡¯s almost no Ensi left. Sometimes the only thing I could see was weak and unmatched things, but¡­¡±

    He pointed at me again.

    ¡°How can Ensi, who has such mighty power as you remain? How have you not been caught up to now, even with a high-ss soul? No matter how deep you hide, it¡¯s unusual that father couldn¡¯t find someone like you.¡±

    Instead of answering back to him, I asked.

    ¡°What Ensi you are talking about? Do you mean someone who uses magic?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Ensi is a man who can handle magic. When I was born, the northern countries were ruled by real Ensi. Later on, the number of Ensi decreased, and those without magic tricked and ruled the people by pretending to use magic.¡±

    ¡°Originally, the wizards ruled the country?¡±

    It was a story I had never heard of.

    ¡°Yeah. The human people feared and worshiped Ensi¡¯s transcendent power. Ensi made good use of their fear and named ordinary magic the power of God. The ignorant people believed it. The Ensi called themselves God¡¯s agents and became kings and priests who ruled the country.¡±

    He continued his words.

    ¡°When the number of countries that Ensi created became difficult to count with ten fingers, Father made us.¡±

    ¡°Father?¡±

    ¡°We are His first offspring. The first swords that carry on the will of the great being.¡±

    His eyes shone dimly.

    ¡°We killed and killed again. The Ensi, who were threatened with their lives, mobilized the people to start a war. In the meantime, countless numbers of non-Ensi died, but there was no other choice.¡±

    ¡°Why did you have to kill the wizard?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about killing. The purpose is what to do after killing. Our mission was to kill Ensi and retrieve the soul. Ensi¡¯s soul must not be returned to the ring of reincarnation.¡±

    He told the same story as Hessler and Alice¡¯s memories. I was able to gauge the identity of existence in front of my eyes.

    ¡°How many people did you kill?¡±

    ¡°Countless! It wasn¡¯t hard to kill ordinary human beings. Killing Ensi wasn¡¯t that difficult either. Even if they use magic, they haven¡¯t evolved yet. The hardest thing was to fight and kill those who have already evolved and crossed the wall. Oh¡­ yeah. I remember.¡±

    He frowned.

    ¡°Whether their origin was human or not, the beings who crossed the wall were so strong. We have died countless times. Father resurrected us who had died several times¡­ and eventually abandoned.¡±

    A bitter smile fell along his lips.

    ¡°There was a limit to us who was made by the fragments of Father¡¯s flesh. We were our father¡¯s first swords but soon became abandoned swords. Father eventually changed the way he built his troops.¡±

    ¡°By signing a contract of authority with a living creature that already exists?¡±

    ¡°Yes, so you already know. Are such detailed stories being passed on to humans?¡±

    No, it wasn¡¯t being passed down at all. I scratched my chin.

    After all, the man in front of me¡­ was the first-generation ascetic of the Dragon.

    At that time, he must¡¯ve killed the wizards and retrieved the souls, and I thought he also fought with beings who crossed the wall. However, it seemed to have been abandoned by the Dragon after some time due to poor performance.

    Eventually, the Dragon changed the way he made the ascetics. He captured the existence who had already crossed the wall or forced the evolution of the existence that couldn¡¯t cross the wall and signed a contract of authority. Even though he managed to prevent humans from crossing the wall in the future, he had no choice but to forge the swords in his hand.

    The authority that made such a contract seemed much stronger than the imperfect creatures he created artificially.

    Consequently, his choice was wise. In the end, the human wizard in that world was almost seedless. The Dragon won the war against the beings who crossed all the walls around the world. The transcendent survivors who barely saved their lives were cast out of the continent. The Dragon had long reigned in that world.

    ¡°But why is this nest empty?¡±

    He went back to his initial question.

    ¡°Did he move the nest? Did the fight against the transcendents be so fierce?¡±

    He then clenched his teeth.

    ¡°Those who have no chance of reincarnation even after dying. Are you still not giving up and against Father? Would you like to die so quickly and be prey to the divinity?¡±

    He moved his mouth and talked. No, he seemed to be talking, but I could see that his vocal cords didn¡¯t make any sound in my ears as I observed longer.

    The force created by the man vibrated the air in a particr pattern. It was the power of the pure will that reached its limit, the telekic power. He resonated the atmosphere with telekic power to make the sound as if speaking.

    There was a reason to use that method. Currently, the man didn¡¯t have a vocal chord to make his voice.

    I could see him before my eyes, but he was an illusion without substance. Ironically, just because he was an illusion, it didn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t exist. It was just that its existence wasn¡¯t based on matter.

    I told the confused man.

    ¡°What was yourst memory?¡±

    ¡°¡­ The appearance of Father looking at us. The memory of the day he abandoned us.¡±

    He covered his face with both hands.

    ¡°We are all buried in the ground. And very, very, many years have passed.¡±

    ¡°How long has it been?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell. Eternal years passed in the dark. It¡¯s been so long that all the bodies Father made are rotten and decayed and finally turned into dust.¡±

    Yes, the man¡¯s body went back to dirt a long time ago. What remained there was a mental body created by abination of strong will and soul with magic. It was the result of the soul not being absorbed by the ring of reincarnation even after the body died. Instead of the material body, the cohesion of the mind functioned as the house of the soul.

    Ghosts might not be very different from the man in front of me, given the basic concepts.

    Honestly, I didn¡¯t expect that situation. I didn¡¯t know there was such a thing on the trash I was trying to sneak.

    -Wriggle¡­

    A bronze tentacle full of desire and appetite took a ready position on my left chest with my signal.

 Chapter 113

    Dragon¡¯s Name (9)

    ¡°¡­ Father, where is Father? Why can¡¯t I feel anything?¡±

    I didn¡¯t know if the man had apletely mental body like Parvache or if it was a fragment of the mind left by the ascetic. If it were thetter, it would be quite weird.

    An ancient ascetic was created by a Truth-Seeker using fragments of the body. Once again, a mental body created by fragments¡¯ remained. Was that a fragment of a fragment?

    ¡°I don¡¯t feel connected to him at all. Even after being abandoned and buried, I could sense a connection with Father, and then I fell asleep, but now¡­ I can¡¯t feel anything!¡±

    He shook his head.

    ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve been sleeping for a very long time. Why did I wake up all of a sudden now?¡±

    It was said that thest memories were about to be buried in the ground, which meant that modern ascetics have never awakened him ever since. If so¡­

    At that time, I was also curious. Why did he just wake up now?

    Did he wake up because of me?

    ¡°Tell me, Father¡­ is he dead?¡±

    That seemed to be close to the confirmation after the situation had already been identified. He couldn¡¯t feel the connection to the Truth-Seeker, who was the source of his existence. Even if I lied, it was unlikely that it would work, so I quietly nodded. The man¡¯s eyes shook.

    ¡°Yes, I see.¡±

    A moment of silence¡­

    I told Parvache, ¡®No matter how much I look at it, it doesn¡¯t seem to be normal¡­¡¯

    The man opened his mouth before the will that would be sent out so that only Parvache could hear waspleted. As if he had made up his mind, a sound with determined strength resonated.

    ¡°Then I¡­¡±

    His eyes glowed eerily.

    ¡°If Father died, I have no choice but to continue to keep it. I have no choice but to follow the orders of the primordial, which is the priority.¡±

    Why did it end up there? I gave a signal to my chest. Again, one move came back as an answer.

    ¡°I can see why I opened my eyes at this point. To carry on his great will.¡±

    The chaos would pierce me.

    ¡°It was because Ensi entered this nest.¡±

    -Hiss¡­

    The atmosphere was ringing. The texture of the air began to change. The man muttered as he swept at his chest full of tattoos.

    ¡°Since Ensi appeared before me, I have no choice but to carry out my mission.¡±

    The surrounding atmosphere dried rapidly. A tiny drop of water clumped in front of the man¡¯s brow. The formed moisture crystals reflected the light of magical lighting and shone like a diamond.

    That wasn¡¯t magical. It was a telekic power. Moisture in the atmosphere was moved and aggregated in molecr units with the force of the will.

    The mental body created a physical phenomenon. It wouldn¡¯t be harmful to himself, but it couldn¡¯t be affected by a material being like me. I conveyed my intention to my chest.

    ¡®Let¡¯s finish it at once.¡¯

    The man whispered in the air and continued his words.

    ¡°So, I will kill you here. For the mission that I embraced from the moment I was born. And I will bury you here with my soul.¡±

    I answered profoundly and also changed my tone.

    ¡°Should you do that? Is there a point in being loyal? He¡¯s already dead, and he even abandoned you when he was alive.¡±

    I kept my senses sharp while saying it. The man¡¯s will was invading the space.

    ¡°Even Father, who abandoned me, is the origin of my existence. I still adore him.¡±

    The cool tentacles were wrapped around my arms, and then it flowed down my sleeves.

    ¡°Hmm¡­ why?¡±

    I replied sarcastically, ¡°That¡¯s a typical affection deficit symptom, an act of obsessing with the parents who abandoned them, trying to get recognition. I heard that children with many wounds when they were young grew up and craved unsatisfied affection like you. That¡¯s not what I made up. An authority on infant psychology development, a professor named Shin Kyung-ja¡­¡±

    I tried talking to distract him, but he didn¡¯t even pretend he heard me.

    ¡°Come on, beat him up.¡±

    Physical attacks through magic wouldn¡¯t work for that opponent, but there was no time to build a magnificent magic circle that could affect mental bodies. There was only one way¡­ I had to hit him at once.

    The man was ready to shake his power.

    ¡°I am here to carry on the will!¡±

    I gathered my Mana and muttered inside.

    ¡®You¡¯re out of your ce!¡¯

    -Pshh!

    The wind made by the man exploded. He fired water drop bullets with a strong force.

    -Ping!

    Yet, with a sharp noise, it bounced off the shield I spread.

    ¡°No!¡±

    The man¡¯s expression was distorted. The water bullets I blocked reorientated in arge semicircle orbit. They flew after me like a guided missile, but I was already reaching out for him. I shouted inside, ¡®Go!¡¯ and a bronze tentacle came out of my sleeve!

    ¡°Eaaaaarrrghhhhh!¡±

    Dozens of tentacles stretched out of the sleeves and pierced the man¡¯s mental body without mercy. His body became like a dummy on which an inexperienced surgical intern practiced suturing.

    -Phssswoong!

    In the meantime, the water bullets rushed back to me as if they were desperately focused.

    -Ping! Piping!

    They were blocked by the shield I made several times and bounced off. As time went by, the bullets were getting bigger. It kept collecting and coagting moisture from the underground. The surface was a dry zone, but there seemed to be moisture underground.

    ¡°The Blue Flower of Reinaforce!¡±

    He screamed a spell, reaching out the right hand where the tentacles weren¡¯t held.

    -Boosh!

    Flowing through my hand was a blue me that ovepped and burned. It was shaped like a flower that surrounded dozens of tongues in a circle. It was the shape of the tongue where each petal moved smoothly.

    -Tziing!

    The tongue made of mes evaporated by swallowing the water bullets at once.

    =Aaaaaaaaaaaaahh!=

    I could hear the mental scream that the man shouted. It seemed that he was so driven to the wall that he could no longer use the trick of vibrating the air with telekic power.

    -Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle¡­

    The body of the guy, which upied my left chest, kept flinching in excitement. It was very excited.

    Dozens of tentacles weren¡¯t only holding and tearing the prey but also chewing and swallowing it. Each tentacle terminal ate away the mental body. Like earthworms that swallowed humus to make a hole and dug a burrow, the tentacles prated the man¡¯s mental body and dug again as they ate it.

    I watched the progress carefully.

    A blue rope-like tentacle pierced the man¡¯s right eye, then came out through the left temple again. It then tied his chest around, crushed his chest, and then gnawed the position corresponding to the tailbone and prated again. The tentacles that went in pierced the man¡¯s navel again.

    That was the only movement of one tentacle that was transmitted through my senses. In that way, there were dozens of other tentacles that vited the man¡¯s mental body.

    =Uuuugh¡­ eaaaarrggghhhh¡­=

    Even the mental body felt the pain. It was a different level of pain from the physical pain. It felt like I was destroying the source I couldn¡¯t imagine myself.

    =I¡­ I¡­=

    ¡®Ah, that guy, he¡¯s full of motivation. Ipletely made him a rag.¡¯

    My detection magic couldn¡¯t even find the existence of the man in the first ce. I couldn¡¯t even guess what state he was in now. So, I asked Parvache, ¡®Can I let him die out?¡¯

    I asked myself. Was there any reason not to do that? Maybe he knew some useful information about the Dragon?

    However, I was concerned about the fact that his memory seemed to be iplete. Furthermore¡­

    Parvache shook his head.

    [Somehow, it seems that he was not aplete mental body from the beginning.]

    ¡®Ah, I knew it.¡¯

    [He barely opened his eyes while the concentration of the mental body was weakened. On the outside, he looks like a single entity, but he may be not. Perhaps he was created by gathering the crumbs of many ancient ascetic minds. Like a sand tower.]

    I nodded.

    [If you left him as he is, he will lose cohesion and disappear. Very soon.]

    The memory is iplete, and he will disappear even if I leave him anyway.

    So¡­ it would be better to fill that guy¡¯s stomach.

    I conveyed my intentions, and the tentacles started eating happily.

    There was a scene where the man¡¯s figure became smaller and smaller. The shape was gradually fading and being eaten by tentacles. After all, it didn¡¯t contain bones and organs like a real human being but mimicked only the appearance.

    =Ah¡­ I¡­=

    Fragments of ascetics served the Dragon for a long time. The mental body, presumed to be the remnant of the collective consciousness, reached its final moment.

    Even if it was a being created by gathering the fragments altogether, one soul became the core. What kind of person was he? In what kind of soul did it appear in front of me after all these years?

    =Yeah¡­ it ends like this.=

    He stopped struggling as if he resigned for his fate. It was a sudden change of attitude, as if when he tried to kill me. Maybe he expected that result from the beginning. Still, was it a kind of suicidal act to attack me?

    He threw his gaze nkly, and he looked at the bundles of blue tentacles that were tying up, piercing, and eating him away while floating in the air.

    =¡­ It¡¯s strange. You¡¯re not unfamiliar.=

    The tentacles didn¡¯t have a mouth, and they couldn¡¯t answer his words. Hence, it was only clear that they recognized his will. As they learned from me, they lifted a strand of tentacles and made a hook-like shape. It was a question mark and a way tomunicate with me.

    Whether he understood the tentacle¡¯s question or not, the man continued his will.

    =Ah, that¡¯s right. You are like me, but very young. Like a baby.=

    They seemed to be interested in his will. The tentacles stopped moving. They might¡¯ve stopped eating, but the speed of the man disappearing has slowed.

    =Fragments of a Truth-Seeker that I do not know. You are derived from a Truth-Seeker other than Father, but you¡¯re growing out in an Ensi¡¯s hands¡­ in human hands. What harmony is this? Has a new Truth-Seekere down to this world after Father died? Ensi, are you the ascetic of the Truth-Seeker who dominates this era?=

    I didn¡¯t answer. He silently closed his eyes.

    =Anyway, this era is not mine. It doesn¡¯t make sense to be curious.=

    He then raised his hand and touched the tentacles.

    =It¡¯s weird. Why are you so familiar?=

    Yes, that tentacle was also a creature made out of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s fragments. Was that why he felt the closeness?

    However, listening to the thought that followed, he wasn¡¯t just talking about that thing.

    =It¡¯s not just because of the way you were made¡­ Ah, that¡¯s right.=

    As if he realized something, he spread his bold will.

    =This is Father¡¯s memory. No, does the instinct of the species exist deeper than the memory? It¡¯s Father¡¯s instinct that hasn¡¯t disappeared even after he evolved twice.=

    He had a faint smile on his lips.

    =I don¡¯t know why, but I guess your race was closely rted to Father¡¯s. Familiarity and dness engraved in his instincts are directed at you.=

    Perhaps it didn¡¯t understand the man¡¯s will. It lifted four more tentacles and made a question mark for each. The left and right directions were wrong for one. It said it couldn¡¯t understand at all.

    =Yes¡­ is this also decided? I have lived by killing Ensi all my life, and in the end, I disappear at Ensi¡¯s will. And the de that destroys me is the flesh of the race that has been in contact with Father. You¡¯re even like me, a Truth-Seeker¡¯s fragment.=

    A calm feeling of relief lingered on his face.

    =Yes, it is today. Here in this ce.=

    Although the center of his palm was pierced, he gently touched the tentacles that pierced his forehead.

    =Yes, it will be meaningful as it is. It¡¯s an iplete piece, but a little power remains. It is a power that would have been distracted if the mental body disappeared after the loss of cohesion so that I can pass it on to you.=

    He then made a decision-making sound.

    =Eat me, Child.=

    Due to the man¡¯s warm will, it seemed to be confused for a moment.

    My chest was wriggling and moving because its tentacles swung outside. Its body that was stuck to the bare skin near my heart came out through my nape.

    Silver pupils without eyelids stared at me, and its eyes looked like it was asking me what to do.

    Ah, that guy was worried about it. In the meantime, it only resisted and fled from the predator¡¯s point of view. No one encouraged it to eat themselves like that.

    I smiled gently and said to the guy.

    ¡°What are you doing? Eat him up. I¡¯m busy.¡±

    The body of the fragments and tentacles made by the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest looked at me without any reaction. It then slipped itself on top of me, returned to its original position, and resumed eating through the tentacle terminal.

    The speed at which the man¡¯s mental body faded increased. He then said, just before I finally became unaware of it.

    =Ascetic who serves the Truth-Seeker of this era. I want your master to achieve what Father couldn¡¯t do. I wish you good luck in helping you fulfill his wishes.=

    He blessed my master, who didn¡¯t exist, without knowing what my purpose was. I would stop his Father from being resurrected. I would reject him from returning to that world.

    =May the new Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker seed. I wish you to survive until thest moment of your journey.=

    His figure was no longer visible to me. I felt the tentacles around my wrist were bit plumper. The mental body, which becamepletely invisible, sent thest word.

    =May your master¡­ walk on the road my Father, the ¡®ck Hermit,¡¯ couldn¡¯t walk¡­=

    The fragments of the mind left by the ancient ascetics were extinguished after spewing the true name of Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker, the Dragon, ¡®The ck Hermit¡¯

 Chapter 114

    114.The Second (1)

    I dug the ground with magic without summoning Ghur. I couldn¡¯t move the ground quietly and neatly like the magic he used, but I could split the ground and dig.

    Moreover, the object wasn¡¯t buried very deeply. After sending Mana under the ground, it was mined where the reaction came.

    ¡°Here¡¯s another one.¡±

    I could see a ck surface beneath the removed dirt, so I pulled it out of the way.

    A total of twelve objects were dug up. However, most of them weren¡¯t intact, and there were traces of cracks, fractures, or burns. There were old relics that couldn¡¯t be estimated how long they had been buried like the traces of Dragon.

    Still, there was only one thing that remained intact.

    ¡°Oh, this is fine.¡±

    I lifted it with both hands and then blew the wind to shake off the dust.

    ¡°It¡¯s not as heavy as I thought it would be, huh?¡±

    The top side was wide and t, but it got narrower as it went down and then fell into sharp edges, like a beast¡¯s w. It was quiterge but very thin and light. My face was reflected blue on the glossy ck surface.

    ¡°It was buried on these fine scales. The mental body.¡±

    [I think so.]

    I came to the nest to get my hands on that.

    While emptying the nest, the ascetics didn¡¯t touch that ce. That area was a kind of graveyard, thend where the first generation of ascetics who served the Dragon was buried a long time ago.

    I said while touching my chest, ¡°The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest had made this guy by pulling out tentacles from its body.¡±

    The pile of tentacles, which had been predated after a while, seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep. It didn¡¯t move around my heart.

    ¡°The Dragon must¡¯ve made an alter ego from the scales.¡±

    In Hessler¡¯s memory crystal, the Dragon called that ce ¡®garbage dump.¡¯ Those were tombs of ascetics who swept the Earth long before Hessler was born when the Truth-Seeker first stepped into that world.

    The first way the Dragon chose to make ascetics was to use pieces of his own body. As time passed, that old method was abandoned, and all the first generation of ascetics were buried in the ground.

    Hessler spected that the Truth-Seeker¡¯s power continued to be consumed during physical activities such as walking and fighting. Compared to those who signed the contract of authority, the strength was also weak, so there was no reason for Dragon to use them anymore.

    ¡°The scales were used as the cores to make the body of ascetics.¡±

    [After being buried in the ground, the body gets rotten and bes dirt, and only a fraction of the scales were left.]

    I nodded. The scales I dug were just over ten. The buried warrior was not only that much, but most of the scales were rotted and decayed, and only these many remained.

    I looked around, and there was an endlessly stretched rock sphere. I thought that each one was a kind of mark. If that was true, the Dragon probably had made hundreds of warriors and buried them in thatnd.

    Still, there was one hypothesis that I could think of.

    ¡°Is it impossible for the Truth-Seeker to create an alter ego and then absorb it back into the body?¡±

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker also seemed to receive something from a pile of tentacles that had eaten the Heart Fish, but it didn¡¯tpletely reunite the body. If the Dragon also didn¡¯t need them, there would have been a way to absorb these scales again. Instead, he buried them in the ground.

    ¡°And there seems to be some limitations or reasons to be reluctant to kill his alter egos. Or was there a reason to put them in a deep sleep for some time?¡±

    The Dragon didn¡¯t kill the alter egos and buried them alive in the ground. I don¡¯t know why he didn¡¯t kill them on purpose.

    The first ascetics were buried in the ground, slowly decaying and disappearing. Later their spirit began to disintegrate, and it seemed that they became a bizarre mental body fused with a single soul as a medium. In that condition, the scales were intact.

    I looked around at what I held in my hand and said, ¡°Because it¡¯s a Dragon scale, I thought it was something special, but it¡¯s nothing, right? I can¡¯t even feel a handful of Mana.¡±

    [It¡¯s probably because it¡¯s a dead shell.]

    Those modern ascetics had left that cemetery since they were useless trash and that the Truth-Seeker instructed the ce to be left untouched before his death. Most of the ascetics who signed the contract of authority were incapable of viting the Dragon¡¯s order.

    I could guess why the Dragon gave such an order. Perhaps the Dragon guessed that such a mental body was formed, and he wanted to avoid the situation where the current ascetics bumped into it.

    Not only did I not have to follow the Dragon¡¯s order, but I could also use that scale, which was just a keratin exfoliation useless to the ascetics.

    [We got both with this¡ªthe Dragon¡¯s body and his true name.]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    I nodded.

    When I was young, Parvache taught me the chase magic, but we failed to find Truth-Seeker¡¯s traces. After a long time and no progress, we eventually gave up on that method.

    But things were different now. Currently, I had a clue in my hand to chase the Truth-Seeker. I got the Dragon scales and discovered what his true name was from Hessler and Alice¡¯s memories. Those two clues would guide me.

    Until then, it was like finding a needle in the sand with bare hands, but at that moment, it was like holding something simr to a ma.

    A dragon who abandoned his own body and died, but his soul didn¡¯t join the ring of reincarnation as mortals did, nor was it called for a divine being like the transcendent.

    A spell that would lead me to the ce where the Dragon¡¯s soul awaited the resurrection. I carefully packed the Dragon scales, which would be the medium of magic, and called Ghur to go outside.

    ***

    ¡°Hey, Sir!¡±

    A Camry stopped in front of me.

    It was a straight road with nothing so that he would have seen me from a distance. I said a sentence that asked him toe back to the ce he dropped me off earlier, excluding all proper nouns. It was the surroundings¡¯ geographical characteristics that he coulde to that ce after hearing those words. Coming in the direction of the barricade, he had no choice but to meet me when he reached the control line.

    An Indian driver lowered the window and waved at me, and I put myself in the back seat.

    ¡°Yes, I knew you¡¯d call me back. There aren¡¯t really any taxis around here.¡±

    I nodded quietly. There was no traffic around, and there was no need to spend much Mana and stamina by flying that distance. I saw the business card I had received, made a phone call, and reunited with the driver who first took me there.

    The driver asked as he started his car.

    ¡°What have you been doing in this desert for hours?¡±

    ¡°¡­ I picked up some trash.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    He looked at me through the rearview mirror as if he doesn¡¯t understand. I shrugged my shoulders.

    ¡°Something like environmental protection activities?¡±

    I didn¡¯t respond. I was tired, so I leaned over and buried the back of my head in the seat.

    ¡°I thought you¡¯re a businessman because you were heading towards the Free Zone.¡±

    The driver nced at my face and kept talking to me. I turned back in the form of a middle-aged man that I used when taking the taxi for the first time. Until the immigration and hotel check-in, I went around with my original face reflected on my ID, but I had changed my face just before I got a taxi.

    ¡°But when I saw that you asked to go over the barricade without a permit, you didn¡¯t seem to have any knowledge there.¡±

    His gaze lingered over my face for a long time. He kept talking to me in a curious voice, but I didn¡¯t want to reply.

    Well, he kept talking to me on the way from downtown to the nest, perhaps because of his personality. When I didn¡¯t answer questions about my personal detail, such as my job, he changed his direction and began to talk about his details. As a result, I had to listen to the hardships of his life that I didn¡¯t want to know.

    Well, of course, I almost heard it.

    I thought the conversation would end if I kept silent, but he seldom stopped speaking. Instead of picking me up more that time, he suddenly asked an unexpected question.

    ¡°Come to think of it, didn¡¯t you have time to watch the news on your smartphone while picking up trash?¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°In the meantime, the news has gone crazy. It looks like another Channel was created.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t umon. Since that day in May ofst year, when more than 200 Channels were first created, sparse new channels had emerged.

    ording to the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest, at the momentst year when the Dragon was presumed to be dead. All Truth-Seekers who had Channels that had only grown into adults and hadn¡¯t yet connected the Channels to the Earth. That number is about 200.

    As their Seed Channel became an adult, all Truth-Seekers who meet the conditions broke through the Channel on Earth. There was no Dragon to defend, so if they hit that dimension, the sess rate was 100%. For the time being, the number seemed to be a little over 350.

    No matter how much you thought about it, it was fortunate that the Earth hadn¡¯t been destroyed so far.

    I answered slowly since I felt sleepy little by little.

    ¡°It¡¯s not even big news to have another Channel in the world these days.¡±

    ¡°No, it¡¯s different this time. There were two new Channels in a few hours.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    It would be just a coincidence.

    ¡°By the way, one of the two was opened in New York. So, my head hurts now. Although nothing hase out of the Channel yet.¡±

    ¡°Well? What does the Channel open in New York have to do with you?¡±

    The driver then looked back as if it was absurd and said, ¡°Hey, is your memory so bad? I told you when I was driving. My son is going to college in New York starting next year!¡±

    Did he talk about that? I yawned. He grumbled, turning his head forward again.

    ¡°I¡¯m worried. After dropping you off, I¡¯ll have to go home and Skype him. It must be early in the morning over there. His home now is far from New York¡­ but I don¡¯t know how things are going.¡±

    Ah. Come to think of it, I kind of remembered. Did he say that his son lived at his sister¡¯s house in United Stated and attended the school there?

    ¡°What if the city is blocked because of the Channel? If so, he can¡¯t go to school even after entering college, right? If the entire city is banned like Cairo or any other South American country¡­¡±

    He poured out his words for a long time, and I responded profoundly.

    ¡°There are many countries where nothinges out even when the Channel is open.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s true, but¡­¡±

    He then sighed deeply.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do if he can¡¯t get admission. There are so many unprecedented incidents since the creation of the Channel. What should new students do if the university that they passed the exam burns up the entire building or the city where the campus is located bes an off-limits zone?¡±

    It was a troublesome problem to hear, but I didn¡¯t want to be bothered thinking about alternatives with him.

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t happened in that long time, and why is that damn Channel-whatsoever newly opened in New York now?¡±

    As he talked, the driver¡¯s voice grew louder to see if his emotions were intensified.

    Yes, that was what I meant, Mister. Why did that mess happen while I was living in that world? Why would he do that to me? The Dragon.

    ¡°It¡¯s all because of my son that Ie all the way to Dubai and drive a taxi. He¡¯s very smart. I¡¯m going to graduate from college in the U.S. and get a good job. However, the admission might be canceled because of that Channel, so he has to consider another school¡­ it¡¯s reallyplicated.¡±

    I yawned a few more times and then stretched. I was transformed, but I didn¡¯t want to fall asleep defenselessly in front of a stranger. I answered half-heartedly while chasing my sleep.

    ¡°You said he was smart. Don¡¯t you think there¡¯s a ce to go if that school doesn¡¯t work?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right!¡±

    His face glowed again.

    ¡°Rakesh is something. He will be a sessful person. He¡¯s the first person in the family to go to school in the United States. It¡¯s a big deal.¡±

    He shared excitedly.

    ¡°It was unimaginable a few generations ago. Did you hear it before? My great-grandfather was a tenant farmer of colonial English, and my grandfather was a tenant farmer of thendowner who inherited it. They both worked so hard that they could skin their hands, but they didn¡¯t get any money.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t remember at all. Did he talk about that? By the way¡­ I¡¯m so sleepy.

    ¡°My father hated that fate, so he ran away to Chennai. And he worked in a leather factory. Being overworked is the same, but I made enough money to make a living. More importantly, I went to school in that city. So, I could learn English. Life has definitely improved in my father¡¯s generation,pared to the previous generation, right?¡±

    I nodded quietly.

    ¡°Also, I could find a job in Dubai because I could speak English. Do you know what the average sry of people working in Chennai is? It¡¯s 300 USD. The sry is $300. That¡¯s ridiculous money!¡±

    ¡°The ie you earn here is much better, right?¡±

    ¡°Of course! The taxi fare you pay for a round trip today is going to be about 600 dirhams ($160)!¡±

    Heughed as he said so.

    ¡°Of course, the money doesn¡¯te in my pocket as it is, but the units of money that are rolling are different.¡±

    A pleasant voice continued.

    ¡°Well, my son? That guy will live a much better life than me. He¡¯s been living in my older sister¡¯s house in the United States since middle school. Of course, I send him the money for monthly living expenses. He¡¯s a little anxious about the Channel, but he¡¯s going to enter college somehow. He¡¯s smart. My son doesn¡¯t have to suffer from a low sry in Chennai, and he doesn¡¯t have to drive every day without holidays in Dubai. He will live leisurely and rich in the United States.¡±

    It was a rhythm and ent that seemed to be humming a song.

    ¡°What¡¯s next? Our son¡¯s son, and that son¡­ will get better and better as we go through generations in this way because we¡¯ve always been like that. Perhaps a distant descendant, at this rate, the grandson of my grandson, will make our family rich?¡±

    There was strange energy mixed with his voice. He sincerely believed and didn¡¯t seem to have any doubts. His descendants would continue to prosper and continue through generations, and each would find happiness better than the previous generation.

    Although as I listened to his endless words, I had toe up with an idea.

    If one generation was 30 years¡­ Probably the great-grandchild of that driver could seed, but then what?

    I thought quietly as I gaze at the head of the driver, who happily continued his words. In the future, the time given to Earth was about 200 years. Until then, if humanity couldn¡¯t find a dimension to which they could migrate, then that man¡¯s hope wouldn¡¯te true.

    Whether life got better or not, regardless of the possibility, a new life wouldn¡¯t be born in the first ce, but at least that guy wouldn¡¯t be sad about it. When that time woulde, he would be dead, and his ego would be gone.

    I didn¡¯t think it caused direct harm to all the ordinary people who lived and breathed in that world at that moment.

    At least about their characters and selves that existed now.

    ¡°Oh,e to think of it¡­¡±

    There was a question that I couldn¡¯t ask because the driver kept talking.

    ¡°You said there were two Channels? Where is one other than New York?¡±

    ¡°Ah, about that.¡±

    The driver tilted his head a little as if he couldn¡¯t think of it.

    ¡°I heard it today, but I forgot it again. I¡¯m always confused. You might know it well.¡±

    He then brought up something I didn¡¯t expect.

    ¡°Other than the U.S., the country where the Channel was opened is Korea.¡±

    ¡­ What?

    I was wide awake. I tried to ask back with a stiff look, but the driver scratched his chin and asked me.

    ¡°By the way, this is always confusing. Hmm. Which is South Korea or North Korea? The one¡­ with the famous dictator who continues to rule from generation to generation?¡±

 Chapter 115

    115.The Second (2)

    I replied, ¡°It¡¯s North Korea.¡±

    ¡°Oh, so the missile-shooting country is the North?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    What? Was the Channel open in North Korea?

    However, the following words of the driver were different from my expectations.

    ¡°That¡¯s how I distinguish the two countries. ording to the news, the Channel was opened on the other side, not the country where the dictator fires missiles. So, in the end, it¡¯s South Korea?¡±

    My expression hardened as his words fell on my ears.

    ***

    In a tranquil space, the will that reprimanded me knocked my mind.

    [Are you really going to stop the Truth-Seeker¡¯s resurrection even though you know the consequences?]

    I raised my head. A long-haired young man sat in front of me. A blue tattoo on his white skin fluttered and slid as if it was dancing. He was looking at me with calm eyes.

    ¡°We¡¯re done talking, Parvache.¡±

    The figure looked close to his source. It was a dream.

    The question he asked was familiar. It was the beginning of the nightmare I already had again and again.

    [Didn¡¯t you change your mind after hearing what Alice said?]

    Considering that the small executive proudly dered that she would not give in, it didn¡¯t take too long for her to copse.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯m killing all the people who live now anyway. It¡¯s a story in the far future.¡±

    [You have changed. You weren¡¯t supposed to choose such a cruel method easily.]

    ¡°Is there a way to remain unchanged?¡±

    I didn¡¯t deny it.

    ¡°What will happen to me in the hands of the Truth-Seeker? You were the one who instilled that fear in me!¡±

    I shouted at Parvache. His gaze sank calmly. It felt like yelling at a wall, and I was very annoyed.

    ¡°What you always said in my dreams before, why did it stop these days?¡±

    I poured out those words.

    ¡°You have to run away and hide! You have to be prepared!¡±

    I was imitating him, being sarcastic. The words Parvache said in my dreams repeated to me.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you say that in my dream anymore?¡±

    [Min-joon, it¡¯s because what was nted deep in your heart has disappeared.]

    I clenched my fist tightly. Parvache stretched out his finger and pointed at his own body.

    [Did I ever tell you this? The reason why I¡¯m not a robot in your dream is that your soul unconsciously recognized me like this?]

    He twisted his mouth.

    [It wasn¡¯t a lie. I just didn¡¯t exin everything.]

    Parvache¡¯s words stuck into my skin like an awl.

    [Why do I reveal my source in your dreams? Min-joon, you¡¯ve seen a fragment of a mental body called ¡®Parvache.¡¯ The fragments that Parvache nted directly in your heart. Continue until the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker destroys it!]

    Ah, I wanted to stretch my hands and cover his mouth, but he was out of my reach.

    When the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest made my true name, it looked deep into my heart. There it found a fragment of Parvache and destroyed it.

    In the end, the one in front of me at that time¡­

    ¡°You are not a piece of Parvache!¡±

    What had already been broken couldn¡¯t appear before me. He easily epted my questioning.

    [Yes, there are no more fragments of Parvache left. Now I¡¯m just a pure dream created by your consciousness. It is because of your memory that I am in this form. It¡¯s just that. You¡¯re talking to your consciousness right now. It¡¯s just that you¡¯re confirming the facts you¡¯ve presumed or already confirmed in the form of Parvache.]

    ¡°Then get out of my sight right now!¡± I shouted.

    [Min-joon, you have changed.]

    ¡°Shut up!¡±

    [You are now weighing the future of humankind.]

    ¡°The future in two or three hundred years has nothing to do with me! I¡¯m not even alive until then. Even if the ecosystem was destroyed, the existences that crossed the wall and the soulless life will remain on Earth¡­¡±

    Parvache cut me off.

    [Why don¡¯t you ever assume that you¡¯re crossing the wall?]

    At that moment, it felt like my head was empty.

    [Think of what the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker said. Your soul refused to evolve and tried to hide. Think carefully about the meaning.]

    ¡°Who the hell are you?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t wake up even though I knew it was a lucid dream.

    That was my unconscious? That was my dream?

    Parvache held a mock in his mouth.

    [You took away other people¡¯s dreams as you please, but it seems you can¡¯t properly control your own dreams.]

    ¡®Damn it, wake up! Now open your eyes!¡¯

    [When Garam stole your dreams, you were very angry, but how many people¡¯s dreams have you taken so far? How about intervening freely in someone else¡¯s dream? Don¡¯t you have anything to say about intervening in Lee Seo-rin¡¯s dream? How about Hwang Soo-rim and Kim Kyung-hwan?]

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t help it because I had to live! Those three were fair deals. If I didn¡¯t give the elixir, she¡¯s dead. If Hwang Soo-rim and Kim Kyung-hwan were left as they were, they would¡¯ve been dragged away by the ascetics!¡±

    [Hwang Soo-rim and Kim Kyung-hwan! They are a representative example where their fate is twisted because of you. Should I say that they are fortunate that their limbs are fine? Better than other wizards in Hun-neung]

    ¡°I am the one who saved all the wizards and brought them out!¡±

    [In any case, you were going to kill them too, weren¡¯t you?]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    I couldn¡¯t respond.

    [The reason you used Hun-neung as a stage was actually to consume trainees, right? Human wizards, after all, weren¡¯t they some kind of insurance?]

    Parvache whispered as if it were fun.

    [You sacrificed the apprentices to slow down the gluttony of Kylgeniapros, but because of your personality, you needed a safety device. If you were dyed in overpowering the officers and your escape was close enough¡­ you were going to sacrifice all 200 trainees, right? To buy more time.]

    His sharp words kept pouring out.

    [Wizards whose bodies are stained with Mana¡­ A ce where high-value human beings are gathered as sacrifices! It was hitting two birds with a stone that you made the barrier in Hun-neung.]

    Even when I heard such words, I didn¡¯t feel cheap guilt. I was just annoyed.

    Something was weird. When I was awake, I felt no guilt. I thought that those emotional wrecks hadpletely disappeared after Yodmo ate my memory.

    But why am I having that dream at that moment? Was it the suppressed unconscious? It was a scene where you suddenly intervene in your dreams, talk, and lecture about your ethics. It wasn¡¯t even funny.

    The feeling of difort flowed through my body.

    Something was weird. Was that really a pure dream I¡¯ve created?

    ¡°Who the hell are you? Why do you me me for something I didn¡¯t do? In the end, I saved all those trainees.¡±

    I stared at Parvache, and he responded leisurely.

    [Because I am a dream?]

    ¡°Why do you want to nt guilt on me? I¡¯ve never had this kind of worry since that day. Why am I suddenly dreaming like this?¡±

    Parvache smiled profoundly.

    [It¡¯s like you¡¯re so scared that it doesn¡¯t matter what happens to someone else. It¡¯s ugly.]

    ¡°Then what am I supposed to do? You want me to sacrifice myself for hundreds of years¡¯ worth of human beings? Why should I? Why not the other way around. Does the value of life depend on a majority vote?¡±

    I huffed while talking.

    ¡°You told me all this fear in the first ce!¡±

    I couldn¡¯t stand it, and I screamed. If Parvache was really my pure dream, all the fantasies that my memory created were useless, but I screamed nheless.

    Soon the Parvache I made expanded its size and became a huge giant. Silver eyes were looking down at me from a distant height.

    [You have to run away and hide! Be prepared!]

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    It was no longer a fragment of Parvache to say that. He was mocking the words I just said.

    [Yes, it was Parvache who nted the fear of the Truth-Seeker.]

    There was a blue crack in my chest. It gradually turned into a circr dimensional portal. A light ring that almost covered my body. That was the size of my usual summons.

    However, it doesn¡¯t stop there.

    ¡°Ah¡­ no!¡±

    The giant standing in front of me was no longer Parvache. That night, a tall shadow was standing in front of me. The Truth-Seeker reached out to me. The Channel in my chest expanded more. It became an adult.

    ¡°No, no!¡±

    I could hear Parvache¡¯s will from somewhere.

    [Is it familiar? The future that Parvache taught you.]

    Suddenly, my body broke and crumbled. My ribs are pushed up, and my skull goes down ording to the swelling Channel¡¯s size. The spine was tense and eventually cut off. My body was being crushed to fit a circr channel expanding in the middle of my body.

    ¡°Ah¡­ ah!¡±

    My skin was stretched endlessly and eventually ripped off. My intestines were stretched out of my stomach, and it was dangling. Endocrine fluid flowed down my body, which had turned into a hoop.

    The Channel was eventuallypleted in the form of an adult about 10 meters. My body became a meat ornament that wrapped around the rim of the Channel.

    Even at that point, I was alive. My head, attached to the top of the Channel, couldn¡¯t be stretched to both sides. So, my skull and skin were all worn out. Two eyes rested on a nerve pile, each with a different focus. The lungs ttened to the distorted chest, didn¡¯t lose their movement.

    The Truth-Seeker reached out to me like that. The giant¡¯s big hand grabbed me and lifted it. As the ¡®border¡¯ moves, the Channel moved with it.

    I thought of Yodmo¡¯s words even in extreme pain. If you count the Truth-Seeker as a god, did you say that I was a symbol of the cult?

    As the light of myst reason was fading out, I saw the Truth-Seeker. The ck mist shook like a shadow. His mouth was smiling.

    ***

    ¡°Cough!¡±

    I opened my eyes. The sheets were all wet with sweat.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡±

    It was that dream again. Damn it!

    When did it start? Yeah, I thought it was the day I interrogated Hessler and Alice.

    I checked the watch. My God, I slept for more than twelve hours. I arrived in Korea yesterday and fell asleep as soon as I entered the house. It seemed that fatigue umted without my knowing.

    I had to eat something.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡±

    I woke up after doing some stretching while sitting on the bed. I opened the door to get out to the living room, and¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    I found something crouching in front of an open door.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    It was sitting in a circle in front of the threshold of the living room side of the door. The color of its body was changed to a slightly grayer color than the original bronze color. From what I had experienced so far, gray was a sign of dissatisfaction with something.

    ¡°Oh, sorry. I locked the door because I was tired.¡±

    This guy seemed to be at least as intelligent as a human child. It¡¯s free to open and close the door. While I was sleeping, I slept with a magically sealed door in case it would interfere with my sleep because when I locked it with a padlock, it kept finding the key and opens it.

    He approached me while moving his muggy body.

    -Shhhhrrrrrk

    Of the dozens of tentacles that had sprung out of the body, only a few of them extended upwards and reached me. It resembled a gesture as if a person was offering a handshake.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    I stretched out my left hand in the habit. Four strands of tentacles touched the tip of my finger, and the length gradually increased. They drew a spiral and wrapped it around as it climbed up my left arm. It had a cool touch.

    It looked at my arm persistently while it hadn¡¯t seen me for a while, as if it had to know what had happened. Silver eyes without eyelids stared at me.

    Come to think of it, Parvache¡¯s eyes that I saw in my dream were silver like that. It was almost the same. No, I couldn¡¯t say it was the exact same color. I remembered the nightmare I had just had, so I frowned without my knowledge.

    -Shhhhrrrrrk!

    It stopped moving its tentacles as if it felt my body tense. It then lifted the end of one strand to form a hook. It mimicked the shape of a question mark.

    ¡°No, I thought about something else for a second.¡±

    The guy who checked my answer kept moving again. He was currently hanging on my arm and lifting his body. His whole body was raised to my upper body¡¯s height and attached to my skin.

    Dozens of strands of tentacles wrapped around the top of the bare skin seemed to tie up a instead of clothes. The body was at the center as usual, just above my left side. It seemed to like my heartbeat and body temperature. The color of his body has returned to its original bronze color.

    ¡°Parvache.¡±

    I came out into the living room and called it.

    [Wouldn¡¯t it be better to sleep more?]

    A robot was walking toward me.

    ¡°This is enough.¡±

    I poured a ss of water and sat on the table. Parvache said, looking at the guy seated around my upper body.

    [He kept waiting at the door while you were sleeping.]

    ¡°Are you hungry?¡±

    When I asked to my chest, it wriggled its tentacle twice as a sign of negativity.

    ¡°It¡¯s not like that.¡±

    Come to think of it. I hadn¡¯t seen it eat anything other than Heart Fish and spiritual body. I didn¡¯t think it drank a sip of water, too.

    Putting that thought aside for a moment, I told Parvache.

    ¡°Parvache, I have something to ask.¡±

 Chapter 116

    116.The Second (3)

    I lifted Parvache¡¯s body and put it on the table. It looked up at me with its arms folded.

    [Questions? What is it?]

    I hesitated for a moment and spoke. I didn¡¯t think I could dy it anymore.

    ¡°I just had a dream. You came out again. It¡¯s not the totem that you¡¯re wearing now. It¡¯s not that toy. It was a figure close to your source.¡±

    [¡­]

    Parvache looked at me silently, without shedding any thoughts.

    ¡°I think we need to talk about something we¡¯ve been putting off for a long time.¡±

    I tried not to get emotional. It was enough to vent my anger in my dream.

    The major premise couldn¡¯t be changed. Parvache was my authority, and it wouldn¡¯t do anything to harm me. Thus, it couldn¡¯t lie to me.

    However, it was possible to answer only part of the truth to my question. My magic that captured him into the authority was rough and crude. At that time, I wasn¡¯t skilled enough to anticipate and block the number of different cases. In the first ce, the contract of authority itself wasn¡¯t executed in the realm of consciousness.

    I replied with my guess, ¡°The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker smashed some of the fragments in my heart.¡±

    The question was whether he did it.

    Then Parvache¡¯s answer came back without any hesitation.

    [That¡¯s right, Min-joon. It was the ¡®safety device¡¯ I nted.]

    He responded so calmly that I almost became angry at the moment. I tried to suppress it. I repeated myself once again. Parvache couldn¡¯t hurt me. His actions couldn¡¯t be mixed with malice or hostility toward me.

    I managed to keep my cool and opened my mouth.

    ¡°I have two questions. Why did you do that? And why didn¡¯t you tell me honestly?¡±

    Parvache turned its stic eyes, whose emotion toward me couldn¡¯t be read.

    [Do you remember the first time I was summoned to this world, Min-joon?]

    ¡°Yes, how can I forget.¡±

    [You have first mistaken me for a robot in a fictional story, then you were puzzled by my reaction, but over time you were delighted.]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [I think your pure wish that summoned me through the Channel is probably something like this. I want to have something that exists only for me, with 100% trust, which is entirely on my side.]

    100% trust, but I wasn¡¯t sure if that would be possible anymore, even though I knew in my head that betrayal was impossible.

    [It¡¯s a coincidence that I was caught in that summon because you made me, a mental body, possess the totem. Youughed purely and were very happy since your wish came true, but, Min-joon¡­]

    He picked up his words carefully for a moment.

    [Have you ever put yourself in my shoes? What did I think right after being summoned to this world?]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Parvache said, looking down at the robot toy it contained.

    [As soon as I was called into this world, the contract was made. How you seeded that time is still a mystery, but as a result, I ended up in your authority. Of course, I¡¯m not protesting about it. From the moment the magic waspleted, thoughts of how to protect you filled my head. It is the same now. Emotion or reason does not disappear, but the direction is focused on one ce, and even for me to exist, I had to find a way to protect you because I don¡¯t have a stable body.]

    I nodded quietly.

    [And Min-joon, back to the first story, do you know what emotions I felt after understanding the circumstances ofing out to this world?]

    ¡°¡­ No.¡±

    Honestly, I never thought deeply. Parvache looked into my eyes and spoke.

    [It was a terrible fear.]

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    [The summoner I need to protect is a young human. However, your wizard¡¯s talent is excellent to the point of worrying about it bursting if someone doesn¡¯t control it.]

    He continued talking.

    [But there was no knowledge of magic in this world. Now I know that it was because of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s anti-magic power, but there was no clue at that time.]

    His calm thoughts continued to flow into my head.

    [Moreover, the seed of the Channel is left on your chest. The Truth-Seeker of the Earth who nted it is missing. Twenty yearster, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s ¡®harvest¡¯ is scheduled, but you don¡¯t know how to avoid and prevent it. Worst of all, this world was a young dimension with no record on the Akashic Records. It was impossible to obtain information by relying on the report of absolute knowledge.]

    I understand what it was talking about¡­

    [The information is scarce. The danger posed in front of the man who summoned me was both absolute and clear. I was desperate to think of a way to protect you.]

    ¡°¡­ So, you mean you nted that in my mind?¡±

    [Yeah.]

    ¡°How did that fragment lead my way of thinking?¡±

    [Of course, it isn¡¯t like mental maniption. I just wanted to get you into the habit of being careful and hiding. Think about it, Min-joon. You were an 8-year-old kid then. A robot came into your hand, talking to a child who couldn¡¯t understand everything that was going on. There¡¯s no way it¡¯s possible at that age to keep it secret, right? Not only to your mother but also at your school, can¡¯t you remember going around talking about it randomly?]

    Yes, so I had a lot of difficulties while attending school for a while.

    [The first time I nted the fragment was when you were eight years old. Remember the day you copsed in the kitchen from the flu?]

    Aah¡­ yes. At that time, the kitchen of the house I used to live in was outside, and there was no heating. On the day when no one was at home, I went out to get something and fell on a cold tiled floor.

    That day, before I lost my consciousness, Parvache urgently cried out. It said it would intervene in my mind and ask me to ¡®allow¡¯ it. I replied in my heart, saying, ¡®I allow it,¡¯ before my vision became dark.

    [While you lost your consciousness, I moved your body and came back into the room. The day I first entered your mental world, I nted the fragment. After that, I continued to maintain it. Remember? Since that day, you have gradually stopped talking about me.]

    That was a little different from my memory. I remembered that I stopped talking about Parvache due to the cold reaction around me, but¡­

    Parvache was using his hands.

    [Even if it is a story no one believes, I thought it would be dangerous to keep leaking information like that. In addition to that, I induced your trust in me and thinking so that you learn magic faithfully as I lead. It led you to never give up on magic learning and survival. For example, it is like a will to regain your mind even if your two legs fly away while setting up a barrier.]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [The fragment was notpleted as soon as it was nted. It waspleted on the day when I first offered to teach you magic. It took almost a year to teach magic after being summoned because this preparation took time. After all, I couldn¡¯t teach magic to a child who couldn¡¯t keep a secret.]

    That part was as expected, however¡­

    ¡°You could have told me!¡±

    He shook his head.

    [At the time, you were too young to understand all of this. After you were getting older, I was thinking of telling you about this and removing the fragment myself.]

    I threw a sarcasticment without realizing it.

    ¡°When? The hell¡­ Is 23 years old too young to tell the truth?¡±

    [¡­ Honestly, I was afraid. Min-joon.]

    ¡­ What?

    [The day we first met the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest¡­ When I learned that the Dragon was dead, I thought about retrieving the fragments.]

    He continued.

    [But I put it on hold because I thought that you, who lost your goal in life, could give up everything and be indolent. Actually, you tended to do that. When I saw you feeling extreme boredom, my mind changed. Even though there are still countless Channels left in the world and threats from alien races, you felt helpless. You didn¡¯t stop training at all because there were fragments I nted. I think so.]

    ¡°¡­¡±

    [You¡¯re still flexible in thinking, and you¡¯re old enough to change your values. The moment the fragments I nted disappeared, the moment the guiding medium that led your actions disappeared, I was afraid of how you would change. I was afraid you¡¯d neglect your more important life because of your emotions, but¡­]

    He nodded and spoke.

    [I don¡¯t worry about that anymore.]

    Yes, things had changed a bit, but just because I understand rationally, it didn¡¯t mean it kept up with my emotions. I was silent for a moment without saying anything. The stinging stillness sat down heavily on the table.

    I opened my mouth after being lost in thought for a while.

    ¡°To be honest, Parvache¡­¡±

    [Hmm?]

    ¡°It¡¯s unpleasant. I can¡¯t feel good.¡±

    [I understand.]

    ¡°You should¡¯ve told me at least at the point where I was able to get the right idea.¡±

    [¡­]

    ¡°I can¡¯t touch the contract of authority that I made then. I just have to bemitted.¡±

    That contract couldn¡¯t be amended or renewed at that time. It wasn¡¯t a magic created through a formal contract like other magic contracts. The case was different. It had to be destroyed and recreated.

    I didn¡¯t want to take the risk of breaking the contract, even if it was temporary.

    I asked myself. Did I need Parvache despite the suspicions I had confirmed at that moment?

    The answer came back easily. Yes, I needed him.

    ¡°I understand your intentions. The part that you were worried about me as a child, but I can¡¯t help thinking that you should have told me the truthter.¡±

    [¡­ Yeah.]

    ¡°My head understands that your actions were inevitable¡­ but honestly, it¡¯s a bitplicated. So, at least you should make a promise here. Never leave anything weird in my mind that way again. I hope you don¡¯t even control information by telling only part of the truth.¡±

    [Okay, Min-joon.]

    I know its intention. However, it couldn¡¯t be overlooked without any concern.

    Whew, I took a big breath and swept my face down. I was so tired.

    At thest moment, there was something I swallowed without saying. The word ¡°if something like this happens again¡­¡± My head gotplicated, so I wanted to run away. I put a hold on thinking, and I thought I would have to spend more time thinking about what to do in the future.

    ¡°Let¡¯s talk again after arranging our thoughts a bit more.¡±

    [Yes, I got it.]

    ¡°There¡¯s one more thing I need to check now.¡±

    [What is it?]

    ¡°The fragments that you nted in my heart, it¡¯s clear that it¡¯s already destroyed, right?¡±

    [Yes, it must be.]

    ¡°But I keep seeing strange scenes in my dreams these days.¡±

    I exined to Parvache what I had just dreamed of. A being in a dream that was talking about somethingpletely different from my ordinary consciousness. The shell was borrowed from Parvache¡¯s form, but its words and actions werepletely different.

    After listening to me, Parvache thought for a moment and told me.

    [You said there was something like ck smoke hovering around that figure?]

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    That was the part I was concerned about. Probably, Parvache seemed to be specting in a simr direction to me.

    [There is only one thing that reminds me of that word in this situation.]

    The memories Yodmo took from me. 90% of the memories it gave back to me without digestion or interpretation. It was said that it was clearly digested and looked like ck smoke.

    ¡°You¡¯re guessing that memory is affecting me, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    [Yeah, there¡¯s nothing special about it other than that.]

    ¡°It¡¯s so suspicious. It was like trying to force me to feel guilty. But I usually don¡¯t think about it at all? Even assuming that the thoughts are locked in the unconscious, the situation is too tant. The way it turns out.¡±

    Parvache nodded his head.

    [But the unidentified memory was originally from you, Min-joon, but why does it suddenly affect you only now?]

    There are probably two possibilities.

    ¡°The memory may have a deep connection to my ns for the future, or it may be because Yodmo passed it on to me rather than digesting some of it.¡±

    It was initially a tiny, extremelypressed memory crystal. Since Yodmo gave it back to me after digesting it to some extent, the outer skin of the hard, iron-wall crystals might¡¯ve been lifted and weakened to some extent. The fact that the memory which was burning with ck smoke affected my mind little by little¡­

    [A memory that even Yodmo couldn¡¯t interpret affects you¡­]

    It was very ufortable.

 Chapter 117

    117.The Second (4)

    Parvache and I came up to the rooftop.

    -Gwooooong

    Mana was flowing through my chest, and a blue light source rose around my body. I tried hard to shake off the scene in my dream.

    ¡®That seed should never evolve into an adult,¡¯ I pledged in my heart. The Truth-Seeker shouldn¡¯t be resurrected. I had to stop it with the help of the being I called out at the moment.

    I had finished negotiating with the other party across the Channel. That summoner didn¡¯t want toe over to listen to the conditions but wanted to organize everything beforeing over.

    Suddenly, the door to the dimension opened, and the other party came over to that world.

    ¡°¡­ Ah?¡±

    There was a frigid voice on the roof of the apartment. I then saw an alien walking out.

    There was a boy about half my height. Except for the red skin and the horns on the forehead, the appearance wasn¡¯t very different from a human-type creature. One peculiar thing was that he gained a lot of weight.

    ¡®If I push him lightly, he¡¯s going to roll.¡¯

    I said quietly to Parvache with my will. At the same time, I closed the Channel.

    The summoned alien looked around for a while, fluttering his chubby cheeks. His eyes looked nervous.

    ¡°W-where is this?¡±

    Parvache interpreted hisnguage. It was a race named ¡®Roussin,¡¯ and the civilization¡¯s level in the inhabited world wasn¡¯t very high.

    The Roussin boy trembled, confused by the sudden change of circumstances. He then stretched his body as a sign of vignce and threats.

    ¡°S-suddenly, a blue light appeared in front of my eyes. For some reason, I thought I had to walk in there.¡±

    He pointed at me with hostility in his eyes.

    ¡°Who are you?! Are you a demon?! I¡¯ll tell you in advance, but I don¡¯t have a handful of Mana. Return me to where I belong right now, you demon!¡±

    The boy energetically continued his words. His eyes looked fierce.

    ¡°The king of our country is a priest of Reinaforce. Let me go if you don¡¯t want to see all this ce burning with blue mes!¡±

    I was sitting on a knee-high cement bench, looking at him while he was talking. I then threw a word in thenguage of Roussin.

    ¡°Hey, how long are you going to let him talk?¡±

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    Roussin didn¡¯t understand and asked back, so I continued.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time on each other.¡±

    ¡°W-what are you talking about?!¡±

    I said, ignoring Roussin¡¯s reply.

    ¡°The person I signed with is ¡®you,¡¯ not this Roussin? Come out.¡±

    ¡°What the hell are you talking about? What is it abouting out¡­¡±

    Roussin¡¯s body, who had been talking so far, hardened. It didn¡¯t even move as if the power was suddenly turned off. Its pupil cooled, and it became like a living, breathing corpse.

    -Ghrrrrrk, Ghrrrrk.

    A thread-like thing crawled out of the boy¡¯s left eye. It looked like a thin brown thread with countless white hairs. It was pulling itself out from under the boy¡¯s tear hill.

    It was a creature that looked like a long, endlessly stretched leg of a spider with shaggy hair. The dark brown body, which was several meters long, took its ce by wrapping Roussin¡¯s body several times as if twisting.

    And the host who had lost his consciousness, the Roussin, said with his vocal cords.

    ¡°I was checking the surroundings for a while. I was grasping through the senses of the host whether it was okay for me to reveal my body.¡±

    The voice was the same, but the way he spoke waspletely different from before. At that moment, that wasn¡¯t the Roussin boy, but the parasite, that thread-like creature.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ve never been summoned outside before.¡±

    It would be its own defense mechanism.

    ¡°The host has changed since the first time I summoned you, right? It wasn¡¯t such a young guy.¡±

    ¡°The previous host became ill and unable to move.¡±

    ¡°So, you can prate the Roussin¡¯s body, not a newborn baby?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s usually impossible, but this host is a body that was originally parasitized by another kind. It was possible because there was already a space in the brain to hold my body. I kicked that guy, and I took him away.¡±

    Ah, I was convinced and nodded.

    It wasn¡¯t that red-skinned Roussin that I signed a contract and summoned. My contractor was a race called ¡°Ii-Mere¡± who lived in Roussin¡¯s body. A creature halfway between nts and animals.

    ¡°Then, ording to the terms of the contract¡­¡±

    I presented a small crystal to Ii-Mere.

    ¡°What must be spread is this tracking magic.¡±

    ¡°I got it.¡±

    Ii-Mere answered with the host¡¯s vocal cords.

    What I had in my hand was a small crystal ball. It was filled with magic,plete with a kind of artifact. It also had tracking magic based on information about the Dragon¡¯s body fragment and his real name.

    The ns Hessler and Alice knew were very simple. Even after leaving the body, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s soul, the Dragon, wasn¡¯t affected by the ring of reincarnation, the Channel leading to a higher level, or the power of the divine being. As soon as the previous body died, the Dragon¡¯s soul moved freely to a ce no one knew and fell asleep.

    The ascetics didn¡¯t know where the Dragon¡¯s soul was hidden, and they nned to wait, rebuilding his body until he was resurrected. The ¡®second¡¯ body of the Dragon would rece the old body that became a wreck for some reason.

    There are two ways to prevent the resurrection of the Dragon. To destroy the Dragon¡¯s second body or to get his soul.

    However, the first method had its limitations.

    ¡®If we destroy the body that the ascetics are making, it will only buy us some time if they try to make it again. Once sessful, they will raise their alertness, so we have to cleanly destroy the organization at the first attempt.¡¯

    [That¡¯s right.]

    ¡®It is better to find the Dragon¡¯s soul and use tricks. Even the ascetics don¡¯t know where the soul is, so it¡¯s less likely that my movements will be detected.¡¯

    So, I created magic to find the Dragon¡¯s soul. The effect could be expected since the subject of the search was limited. However, there was one task that needed to be solved.

    It was unknown where the soul was hiding on that. The reason why the tracking magic I made when I was a child failed was that there was no information on the target to be detected. Additionally, the range was also limited to the city where I lived.

    I wanted to scan that whole to avoid the same failure. But it¡¯s hard for me to spread magic all over the Earth.

    So, instead of me, Ii-Mere, would help to ¡®spray¡¯ the magic.

    The end body of the parasite that came out of Roussin¡¯s body suddenly began to swell. It gradually increased in size and made a sphere the size of my fist. It was the shape of a flower¡¯s peak just before it bloomed in the early dawn.

    ¡°To enchant these cysts¡­¡±

    I reached out in front of my pocket. At the same time, I nced at the Roussin, who had lost control of his body to Ii-Mere. When I first summoned him into that world, his body was very chubby, but as soon as Ii-Mere made a cyst, his body lost weight little by little. The nutrients stored by the body were being taken away in an instant.

    I extracted the magic from the crystal ball and transferred it to the cyst of Ii-Mere. That would serve as the foot to spread my magic all over the entire.

    ¡°Then, I will spread it.¡±

    Ii-Mere¡¯s slender body soared up for a long time. Like a snake stretching its body, the parasite¡¯s end that had the cyst was lifted toward the sky.

    The cyst began to change shape. Several cracks were formed horizontally in the pocket and spread out in several branches as if flowers were blooming. It was the spore mass of Ii-Mere that had emerged in it, then¡­

    -Hweeeeeeekk!

    Countless, enchanted spores began to spread out into the sky.

    The colorless flow covered the sky. Magical substances that were invisible to ordinary eyes rose and floated in the high sky as I ordered.

    There was no reason to float the spores up to that height. Wandering around the world at a moderate altitude, it approached in response to hormones, fetal substances, and the peculiar smell of newborns.

    It clung to the newborn¡¯s head.

    The brain of Roussin, who was just born, wasn¡¯tpletely protected by the skull. The crown was only covered with a thin film. Ii-Mere¡¯s spores sat down on the boneless part of the head of Roussin and invaded through the pores and parasites in the brain. Without the host noticing, it manipted his actions and thoughts throughout his life.

    ¡°That¡¯s so fast. It¡¯s already out of my sight.¡±

    Spores ascending to the high sky beyond my eyes would soon spread throughout that at a rate that normal physicalws couldn¡¯t exin. It would spread the search magic over the stratosphere.

    It also consumed a great deal of energy for Ii-Mere to spray spores. The Roussin¡¯s body, whose control had been taken over, gradually dried up and became a living mummy.

    After some time, Ii-Mere told me.

    ¡°Now, all the spores spread. If the size of this world is the size you told me, a day or two would be enough to cover it all up. They will stay at the altitude you dictate, and they will continue to project the magic you have enchanted onto this world.¡±

    I nodded. Ii-Mere¡¯s spores were capable of being controlled by the parent body. Instead of manipting them in real-time, it was about putting some sort of algorithm into them before spraying. This setting is for spreading spores ording to the environment of the host¡¯s area.

    Since the spores sprayed today are set to be faithful to the role of a magical medium, they will only move at high altitudes and will not find the host to parasitize.

    I can feel the tracking magic I created spreading worldwide ording to the spore¡¯s movement. If I wait a few days like this, the results wille out.

    ¡°Well, then, the price of the contract?¡±

    Ii-Mere urged me with Roussin¡¯s mouth. I brought out the ck stic bag I had prepared, which is the same as my body¡¯s size. It¡¯s a size enough to hold even one dead body.

    ¡°Are the creatures inside?¡±

    I nodded. Inside the stic bag, I could hear countless small things moving constantly.

    Before summoning Ii-Mere, I touched its soul through contract magic. It demanded something I didn¡¯t expect in exchange for the summons.

    In the dimension where Ii-Mere currently lived, in the world where Roussins were civilized, a rapid change of weather had been taking ce those days. As the weather was getting hotter, the livestock breeding and survival rates, which Roussins previously maintained, decreased, and Roussins were suffering from food shortages.

    As the host race¡¯s situation worsened, the world¡¯s Ii-Mere also felt a sense of crisis and looked for a way to ovee this situation.

    ¡°What is the name of this creature?¡±

    Ii-Mere and Imunicated for quite a long time before the summons. Thus, in terms of nutrition and taste, I seeded in finding a creature on Earth that could perfectly match Roussins¡¯ taste. It was also a creature with excellent vitality that could adapt well to the environment of that dimension.

    I replied the name of the creature that Ii-Mere asked for as an alternative to end the food shortage of Roussin, which could be the new staple food of the Roussins in the future.

    ¡°It¡¯s called cockroach.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I see.¡±

    Ii-Mere moved the host¡¯s body and lifted the pouch that I put out.

    ¡°By the way, considering the food shortage, your host was in good nutrition. Now, he¡¯s skinny just because you used all the nutrients.¡±

    Ii-Mere responded as if it were natural.

    ¡°He¡¯s the host of my nest, but of course, I took his body after checking his social position and rank. I¡¯m not even a freshly created spore. This guy is a direct descendant of Roussin, who rules thergest group in the world. He¡¯ll never starve himself.¡±

    Come to think of it, he said something about the king.

    ¡°You mean a prince?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    That was why he gained bulky weight, and even when he was brought into such a strange environment, he was swaying over the king.

    ¡°Then it will be easier to domesticate the cockroaches.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it would be more efficient to persuade them with the mouth of this host than an ordinary Roussin to suddenly bring in an unheard-of creature and ask to raise it. Regarding the creature¡¯s source, he can roughly say that they have received the protection of Reinaforce. It is civilization and a race that can ovee all loopholes in logic with that one word.¡±

    Ii-Mere continued. ¡°Due to his achievements, perhaps there¡¯s a high possibility that he¡¯ll seed to the throne in the future.¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Then it would be easier to control the Roussin¡¯s society, right?¡±

    ¡°No matter who ascends to the throne, that Roussin will be a parasitic host for our people anyway.

    ¡°Ah, is it a world that works that way?¡±

    There was no emotion in the eyes of Roussin, who had been eaten away by Ii-Mere. He looked at me quietly and said, ¡°For a long time, we have been managing the Roussin. We taught them how to make a fire, helped them to understand the concept of the wheel, and helped them create numbers and letters.¡±

    It said calmly.

    ¡°There were several crises. Although the number of Roussin¡¯s poption rapidly declined due to predatory species from other continents, we, who have already evolved to suit the existing host, haven¡¯t been able to switch to another species. Somehow, we had to induce them to win the war with predators. Just in time, the apostle of Reinaforce came to the world.¡±

    I could expect the words to follow. Did he say that the royalty was a priest?

    ¡°We moved the tribe by controlling the head. We led them across the desert to meet the apostles and created the first priest, and then, he gained such divine power that he managed to win the War of the Species. There were so many other difficulties.¡±

    It continued calmly.

    ¡°They will ovee the food crisis this time because we will lead that way.¡±

    Ii-Mere returned to its original dimension, leaving those words.

 Chapter 118

    The Second (5)

    ¡°Hwang Soo-rim, how are you feeling today?¡±

    The military officer spoke softly. However, the woman crouching on her bed was throwing her unfocused eyes into the air.

    The look in her eyes was like a walking corpse. The right side of her face, which wasn¡¯t covered by her burn scars, was pale blue, and there were nk dark circles. Her body trembled.

    ¡°Hwang Soo-rim, there are people who want to speak with you today. Are you going to be alright?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim wrapped herself with her arms and clenched her fists as if she didn¡¯t want to hear it. Words leaked out of her mouth like a moan.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m scared!¡±

    ¡°It will only take a minute. Will it be hard?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim distorted her face, like the person who recalled the memories that she didn¡¯t want to remember. She then put her face on her knees. A long sorrowful cry continued in her hospital room.

    The military officer¡¯s eyes remained in her arms, which were exposed over her hospital clothes¡¯ spilled sleeves and were very skinny, leaving only her bones. He kindly gave a few more words of constion. He tried to talk more and finally gave up. He shook his head and came out of the room.

    He then talked to a man in a ck suit waiting outside the door.

    ¡°It seems impossible today. She¡¯s in extreme anxiety.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    ¡°These days, she wakes up and screams several times while she¡¯s sleeping. It¡¯s getting worse and worse.¡±

    The man in the suit frowned his eyes as if it was intolerable. He tilted his head and asked again.

    ¡°It¡¯s taking too long, though. Even if she has anxiety, why don¡¯t we just try to have an interview?

    ¡°Likest time, it¡¯s likely to lead to spasm. It can only make things worse.¡±

    The man said, lowering his voice in case he would be heard in the hospital room.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t she pretending to be sick on purpose?¡±

    The military doctor shook his head.

    ¡°Since hospitalized, she has been vomiting and been having convulsions and seizures. When we run the test, nothing clearlyes out, and it appears to be a psychogenic symptom.¡±

    ¡°But, aren¡¯t these three symptoms you¡¯re talking about, can be put off if she wants to make it up on purpose?¡±

    Upon hearing the man¡¯s words, the military doctor shook his head in frustration.

    ¡°No one in the world can act like that. You¡¯ve seen the CCTV footage in the hospital room, and you¡¯ve seen it in front of your eyes, right?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    The agent in the suit fiddled with his chin as if he was ufortable.

    He had already confirmed that Hwang Soo-rim had a seizure in her hospital room. Her eyes were closed, and her body squished, spatting out the white foam. Still, he couldn¡¯t help but wonder if it might be a fake act.

    The military doctor said firmly.

    ¡°We had already been instructed to do an EEG test when she had a seizure. It was a reaction close to panic disorder.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I see.¡±

    The agent smacked his lips bitterly.

    Two trainees were found in Hun-neung with their limbs intact. Kim Kyung-hwan and Hwang Soo-rim escaped injury thanks to his protection, but although he had already resumed magic training, Hwang Soo-rim seemed useless. It was a big problem for the government.

    ¡°You seem to have a lot of concerns.¡±

    The agent nodded.

    It took time to invite instructors and train the trainees again since all the Kaifus, who lived in Korea, had left the country. No matter how insignificant the ability that Hwang Soo-rim showed at the training camp was, it was a waste of money to just throw her away. Moreover, ording to the records, she showed remarkable growth in the early years of her admission. She was by no means a bud that had to be thrown away.

    ¡°The situation isn¡¯t good anyway. We may have to let Trainee Hwang Soo-rim go¡­¡±

    Originally, the termination of the contract by the trainee¡¯s will was subject to a big penalty. She had to pay back some of the government¡¯s cost to foster her as a wizard. The nation had no choice but to do so. Moreover, it was too dangerous for trainees who had been exposed to the top secret to easily abandon their nationality and move outside due to changes in their minds.

    However, the incident in Hun-neung was unpredictable. It could be interpreted as an inevitable situation in which a trainee¡¯s status couldn¡¯t be maintained. Looking at the current state of Hwang Soo-rim, it was even more.

    ¡°Does she want to be discharged from the hospital?¡±

    ¡°Yes, she is crying and begging every day, saying that just being here is painful and difficult, and she wants to go home quickly.¡±

    The agent replied to him with a frown.

    ¡°I¡¯ll report above what¡¯s happening so far.¡±

    He then sighed and turned his back.

    After the conversation, the military doctor looked at Hwang Soo-rim on the bed through the closed hospital door¡¯s ss.

    Like most of the patients in that ward, which waspletely isted from the outside, this woman was also unable to get out of the hospital due to her trauma. What the hell happened in there?

    He looked at her sadly for a moment, and then he quickly turned his head and moved on with his work.

    ***

    The conversation between the military doctor and the agent ended in the hallway, and they were far away from the hospital room.

    Hwang Soo-rim, squatting on the bed, was reading all of their movements. Even with her head buried in her knees, she quietly exhaled her Mana and sensed the outside.

    Knowing that no people wereing and going in the hallway, she sobbed in the same position for 30 minutes after that. As time went by, the flinching of her shoulders stopped. She raised her head weakly and quietly came down from the bed.

    All of the movements were now being filmed on CCTV in the hospital room. Hwang Soo-rim moved slowly. Even if she didn¡¯t try to act, she was exhausted and tired at every step. She vomited most of what she ate, and she cried for almost 30 minutes. Her eyes were swollen red and sore.

    -Kheeek¡­

    She opened the window of the hospital room. It would look like she was getting some air because she was frustrated, and it was actually windy. The invisible flow seeped in, and Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s hair shook in the aftermath. Her badly distorted scars were revealed for a moment and hid under her hair again.

    ¡°Sigh¡­¡±

    She sighed as if the ground was sinking. With the window open, she turned her back. There was nothing lively from the tip of her head down to the tip of her toes. She didn¡¯t have to make up her walk as if the world was ruined. She took her heavy steps and entered the bathroom.

    After closing the bathroom door, her eyes changed. Her body was still in bad condition, but she didn¡¯t have to keep acting in a blurry and hopeless way. The bathroom was the only ce in the hospital room where CCTVs couldn¡¯t observe.

    ¡°It¡¯s a littlete today.¡±

    It was a small but clear voice. It wasn¡¯t the voice of a person who gave up on the world.

    As her words fell, a corner of the empty bathroom fluttered. As ck ink filled the atmosphere, it swayed and shook, then a familiar existence appeared.

    It was a ckbird of simr height to her. Hwang Soo-rim asked herself. Did it said it was a crane?

    She searched for itter, but that bird had many different parts simr to the bird that people around the world called a crane. It was much bigger, and its head was a little different.

    There was a difference that was clearly revealed without having to search the inte. Even if it wasn¡¯t a crane, no bird in the world had three pairs of wings like that and¡­

    ¡°Haha! I¡¯m sorry, Lady. I noticed something very interesting on the way here. I¡¯m a littlete!¡±

    No matter what kind of bird it was, no bird could speak so naturally in the world like that one. It was different from the parrot. In a way, it was just like a person. It was no different from people.

    Hwang Soo-rim muttered inside. It¡¯s a question that has already been asked several times but without a response.

    ¡®Is Eraser an animal lover? Why are they all fox, bear, and crane? These are animals that are not normal at all.¡¯

    Even though she murmured like that, Hwang Soo-rim poured tap water in a stic cup for brushing teeth on the sink. She then put the cup in front of the bird. It was expected behavior.

    The crane spread its right middle wing and pulled out a feather from there.

    ¡°Here you are.¡±

    It put its feather on a cup of water that Hwang Soo-rim held. It was already familiar, but she looked displeased.

    As if the ck paint melted, the ck feather broke down and disappeared. Even after that, the water inside didn¡¯t lose its original transparent color.

    Whew, she let out a sigh. The color of emotion was different from the sigh she just yed in front of the window. She soon closed her eyes and passed what was in the stic cup into her mouth.

    ¡°Uuum¡­!¡±

    After passing thest drop to her throat, she looked like she would vomit anytime soon, but she barely endured it. After repeated deep breaths, Hwang Soo-rim finally calmed down her stomach.

    ¡°It tastes terrible whenever I drink it.¡±

    ¡°It is harmful to the body and mind, so it reacts on its own.¡±

    ¡°Hey, Mr. Bird. Are you sure it won¡¯t have side effectster on?¡±

    ¡°Just call me Song. You¡¯re so stubborn.¡±

    The crane, which called itself ¡®Song,¡¯ answered back leisurely and swept its beak with the tip of its wings. It then pulled out a short pipe from its arms and asked.

    ¡®It seemed like it didn¡¯t want to go right away,¡¯ Hwang Soo-rim thought.

    There was no light on it, but smoke came out from the pipe on its beak. It was invisible to those without Mana. Hwang Soo-rim, who breathed it from the side, looked a little better. There seemed to be some anesthetic effect in the smoke.

    ¡°If you inhale the smoke like this, you will forget the effect of the poison you just drank for a couple of hours. Those humans won¡¯t keep running for twenty-four hours a day. You¡¯ll befortable for at least a few hours.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Thank you for giving me the sickness and the medicine. You¡¯ve just given me the poison that works until next week, and you¡¯ve given me painkillers thatst only a few hours.¡±

    She said sarcastically. However, the crane replied, saying that it couldn¡¯t help it.

    ¡°In the first ce, aren¡¯t you drinking the poison as you are now because you couldn¡¯t even support your acting, Lady?¡±

    She was angry but couldn¡¯t take her words back since what the crane said was true.

    The dissolved feathers of the crane in water became a mysterious poison. It was said to have the ability to manipte the poison¡¯sposition ording to the situation and use. The effects of the poison Hwang Soo-rim drank were mainly to cause intermittent seizures, lose weight, make a face pale, and make tears pop out frequently.

    ¡°I¡¯ve heard that you¡¯re using this method because you look so fine for a woman who¡¯s been traumatized by a terrible disaster.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim replied with a sharp voice. Her fingers pointed to her scar that covered half of her face.

    ¡°Because I have already taken such a stage before?¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯ve been through it, isn¡¯t it easier to act? It¡¯s a feeling you¡¯ve experienced.¡±

    ¡°Since I¡¯ve been through it, it¡¯s not easy to act while empathizing because I hate that the horrible feelings of that timee back to life. Once I think of it, it¡¯s scary to keep getting caught up and fall into the gloomy mud.¡±

    ¡°Hmmm¡­¡±

    As if it didn¡¯t make much sense, the crane swept its beak down.

    ¡°Anyway, I can¡¯t put off my emotions, so I¡¯m going to use this kind of method. What can I do? I hope I get out of here as soon as possible.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim nodded.

    All military patients who were originally admitted to that military hospital in Gyeonggi Province were expelled to other ces. After that, only the trainees of Hun-neung had been hospitalized. Of course, contact with the outside world waspletely isted.

    Still, the government wouldn¡¯t be able to hide it long. Even the families of the trainees didn¡¯t know the situation since it was a secret. The government desperately tried to stop it, but the media had already interviewed some families. Their child was injured like that, and the word ¡®fine¡¯ wasn¡¯t in their eyes.

    The country was boiling. The wizard training center in Hun-neung was already a hot issue that exceeded the level of ¡®public secret.¡¯ Most of the media were talking like a confirmed fact. The government would soon limit the number of injured trainees being tied up here as well as treated.

    The crane smoked deeply. Hwang Soo-rim breathed it and recovered for a while. As she took a deep breath, she asked casually.

    ¡°Where is Eraser now?¡±

    ¡°I heard that when the timees, he will talk to you, Lady.¡±

    That part was like an iron stick. She had tried a few times, but it gave no information at all.

    ¡°The contract between Eraser and me is not yet over. To get the price I want, I have toplete two more missions from Eraser, but if he doesn¡¯t show up in my dreams like now and doesn¡¯t give me the next mission, what the hell is he going to do with me?¡±

    The crane said calmly, perhaps because he had already heard of it.

    ¡°Do you think he¡¯s going to give you the mission once you get out of this ce? It seems that he does not intend to dig at all from the human¡¯s signal.¡±

    ¡°Well, I suppose so. Even if I go out, there will be surveince, but at least it will be better than now.¡±

    ¡°By the way, what¡¯s the price you want from Yoo¨Cfrom the alien? I initially thought it was to heal the scar on your face, but when I heard it, you weren¡¯t hoping for it, but rather, you refused to treat it right away, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim nodded. The Kaifu didn¡¯t have any recovery magic, but Eraser taught Hwang Soo-rim the magic to heal her wounds. Even beyond that stage, Eraser had the magic to restore that old scar to its original skin, and he said he would restore it if she desired.

    ¡°Neither Eraser nor I want to get rid of the scar right now. If it¡¯s treatedpletely and cleanly, which is impossible with modern medicine and Kaifu¡¯s magic, it will certainly be suspected. There are too many eyes watching right now.¡±

    In the first ce, ¡®face treatment¡¯ wasn¡¯t the price Hwang Soo-rim would receive from Eraser.

    ¡°I understand that part, but what the hell did you make such a contract to get paid by Eraser?¡±

    ¡°I have people to find, but it¡¯s impossible for me. They hid very tightly, but Eraser will help me.¡±

    ¡°Important people?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is important because they are my driving force to survive while struggling like this.¡±

    ¡°Driving force?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim stroked her face, starting with her left eye, where only yellow traces were left. A bumpy scar and red flesh ran down her neck.

    The crane asked again.

    ¡°What are you going to do after you find them?¡±

    She answered in an insignificant way.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to find the fucking bastards, open their ass, pluck the giblets, pop them, and then rub it on their face. I am living for that day.¡±

    The crane looked at her without replying for a moment.

    ¡°That must be a deep grudge.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t kill them nicely.¡±

    ¡°In that case, it would be good to have an in-depth conversation with ¡®him.¡¯ Surprisingly, he has deep knowledge in that field.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked without inspiration, saying if that was possible, and the crane recalled the sight it had seen a while ago.

    Yoon Min-joon dragged a small suitcase on wheels and visited White Deer. The crane didn¡¯t know the details, but it was an artifact of a modified cabin carrier. What he took out of the carrier with a built-in life support device was one of the ascetics in Hun-neung. He said her name was Alice.

    Yoon Min-joon had captured her, who transformed to the size of the nails during the battle. However, he said she was forced to take medicine to transform her to a size simr to a human being. The reason was that increasing the surface area was easier to ¡®work¡¯ with.

    The crane recalled the scene again. Even though Alice was simr in size to humans, she fitted well in the small carrier.

    As much as the body was in a state of ruin, the executive cried constantly and confessed everything. The Dragon¡¯s soul was hiding in a ce they didn¡¯t know, and the second body of the Dragon was being rebuilt in the United States, waiting for the day of resurrection. Only the Dragon knew the reason why the ¡®Channels¡¯ that had appeared all over the world absorbed the soul, and they didn¡¯t know how long that phenomenon wouldst.

    After Yoon Min-joon went back, Daejong-maek, or the priest, asked questions to their god.

    -Is everything the ascetic said about Dragon and Channels true?

    God didn¡¯t give the proper answer to questions rted to the subject, as always. The priest once again asked the question. It was a question it asked without much expectation.

    -We want to prevent the resurrection of the Dragon. Together with a human named Yoon Min-joon, we want to find the Dragon¡¯s soul and seal it in this isted earth. We will return to his original world, to that ground. Do you mind if we do that?

    Suddenly, very surprisingly, the god they served, the ¡°Land of Blood and Oil,¡± answered the priest, Yusu.

    -Do as you wish.

 Chapter 119

    The Second (6)

    -Chraaaang!

    The sound of something breaking rang in the living room.

    ¡°Ah! Come on!¡±

    I shouted nervously. Where my gaze was turned, fragments of pottery that had been shatteredy on the living room floor. It looked like it was taken out of the warehouse. When was it brought all the way there?

    Above the broken pieces, two still intact melon-colored ceramics floated in the air, and a creature with a bunch of bronze tentacles fluttered with excitement, moving in and out of the wide snout of the ceramic.

    It jumped up, jumped into one ceramic, then jumped out and stepped into the other one. While floating in the air, it was moving back and forth between the two ceramics. It was a new trick recently.

    ¡°y quietly!¡±

    I screamed at the tentacles and then turned my head. At that moment, I was talking about something serious.

    ¡°So, I would like to have apanion from White Deer this time. A viger who is good atbat. It¡¯s going to be simr to thest one.¡±

    The Maek sitting in front of me was distracted. It pointed to the tentacles ying in the middle of the living room with its long nose.

    ¡°Is it possible to fly like that in the first ce?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°It seems to be the effect of eating away the mental body of the ancient ascetic.¡±

    Both floating and lifting heavy objects such as ceramics into the air were all thanks to telekic power. After absorbing the ascetic, the ability seemed to had been transferred.

    I remembered what the mental body of the nest said. He said it was like a baby?

    Indeed, the guy with the new power in his hand was excited. He was like a child who had a new toy and didn¡¯t know what to do.

    I didn¡¯t allow ess to artifacts in the warehouse, but it was also annoying that it yed with that kind of thing. That guy especially liked that kind of pottery. It was a structure where it could y with its bodying in and out. How many had it broken so far?

    So many simr types of ceramics were given from White Deer that they didn¡¯t appear to reduce. It was more annoying to clean it up than waste it.

    Yusu looked at the figure for a while and then turned its head toward me again.

    ¡°When ites to fighting ability, it seems like thest time. There is a high possibility that Brother Seol and Mrs.Pearl will be chosen. Still, it is a matter that the elders decide so that I wille back with an answer after discussion.¡±

    ¡°This shouldn¡¯t take as long asst time.¡±

    The Maek nodded.

    ¡°I will try my best.¡±

    It mumbled, picking up the metal on the te with its nose and putting it in its mouth. I looked at it and said, ¡°I can leave right away by next Wednesday because my Chinese visa wille out then.¡±

    The Channel that became the target for that time was in China.

    ¡°This is another unexpected result. I never thought that the Dragon¡¯s soul¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s hiding in a world other than the Earth.¡±

    When I thought about it again, my head hurt.

    The tracking magic, with the help of Ii-Mere, scanned the traces of the Dragon¡¯s soul.

    At the moment of his death, the Dragon¡¯s soul, located in Dubai, seemed to have begun to move eastward at high speed. While moving through the continent, the trace was cut off like a lie at some point. That was what the magic of spores covering that told me.

    The moment I realized that the trace was cut off, I almost fell into panic at first. Why would the soul that was neither reborn nor bounded by God suddenly disappear? I thought it was a failure like that.

    However, when I thought about it after I regained myposure, there was one answer. What if traces disappeared from that world? He must¡¯ve passed on to another world. It became clearer when I applied the point where the traces of the soul were cut to the map. The Dragon¡¯s spirit disappeared right in front of the Channel in Shanghai, China.

    ¡°Both Hessler and Alice had the same memories. The soul flowed toward high ces. When the Channel is opened, the soul is absorbed into the higher dimension. However, they said that the soul of Truth-Seeker is not affected by such force.¡±

    Yusu nodded.

    ¡°Rather than being dragged, the Dragon¡¯s soul moved on its own.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but he chose to hide in a different dimension, not this world.¡±

    It was a situation where various spections were possible. Why did the Dragon try to hide? Why did he choose the ce as the world that led to China¡¯s Channel?

    There was a Channel closer to the Dragon¡¯s nest than Shanghai. There had to be a reason for choosing that Channel and moving on to it.

    ¡°Suddenly, while Master Yoon passes over and searches for the Dragon¡¯s soul, the remaining residents of White Deer will be preparing to seal the soul.¡±

    That was how we divided the duties of both sides.

    ¡°The ascetics will not stay still. In addition to the chaos that urred in Hun-neung, there will be follow-up measures over here to investigate the situation as their members have gone missing at once.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll keep an eye on that, too.¡±

    There were no traces left when the ascetics search for Eraser in that neighborhood. Moreover, I would be in a different dimension for a while.

    Even if the Dragon¡¯s soul was hiding in another world, it was possible to assume that he would alwayse to that dimension when the body waspleted. If he couldn¡¯te back, he wouldn¡¯t have gone over.

    We couldn¡¯t wait without doing anything just because he had crossed into another world. I didn¡¯t know what kind of environment it would be over there, but I would track it for the time being.

    ¡°By the way, I don¡¯t know how the human world works. Do you have any information about what kind of world beyond China¡¯s Channel is?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Since the Channel was opened, there¡¯s no record of cross-alien races. On the contrary, there are many rumors that the Chinese government has already deployed military units several times to explore it.¡±

    It was a rumor to the extent, but it was said that the search party had already repeatedly entered and returned several times. That meant that it wasn¡¯t an extreme environment that wiped people out immediately if humans entered.

    Even so, it was certainly not afortable situation for me. I had to search for the Dragon¡¯s soul in an unfamiliar world, but I didn¡¯t know what kind of race the natives of that world were, and I had to pay attention to the People¡¯s Liberation Army of China, who was wandering around at that ce freely.

    ¡°What¡¯s even more anxious is the possibility that the ¡®Gramperi¡¯ race is mixed in the Chinese military search. We can¡¯t ignore their magic level, after all. We need to see to what extent the Chinese government and the alien race are cooperating.¡±

    I clicked my tongue and drank water on the table.

    -Dhgrrrrrrrrr!

    From the living room side, I heard a heavy thing rolling on the floor. It was that guy again. That time, it didn¡¯t break the ceramics as if it controlled the fall speed with telekinesis. It seemed to had lost interest in ceramics after ying hard on its own.

    ¡°Hey, Tentacles! Put that in the warehouse!¡±

    A reply like scratching the air came back.

    ¡°I¡­ am not¡­ tentacles!¡±

    It was simr to the way the ancient ascetic spoke out. It made sound by vibrating the air with telekic power.

    On the other hand, Yusu, who called it tentacles, and saw a strange way of protesting that it was not a tentacle, gave an interesting look.

    ¡°You have a lot of tricks like that, don¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°If you look at it, the source is all telekic powers.¡±

    In fact, it wasn¡¯t just the telekinesis power that it gained after eating away the ancient ascetic. It seemed that some of the knowledge possessed by that mental body has also permeated. Although it couldn¡¯t digest all the words due to the body¡¯s limitations, I discovered that it mixed some words used by the mental body. For example¡­

    ¡°I¡­ am not tentacles¡­ I¡¯m¡­ ¡®maru¡¯!¡±

    ¡°Maru?¡±

    The Maek tilted its head. The fragments of the Truth-Seeker called itself ¡®Maru.¡¯ So I corrected the misunderstanding.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a Korean word.¡±

    The ancient ascetic spoke to me in a strangenguage. Although I could understand the meaning with the Dissolving Speech Bead¡¯s power, it was impossible to grasp the background of thenguage.

    So, I searched the inte by converting some of the words he frequently used into alphabetical letters. Besides, I could see when the word ¡®Ensi¡¯ was used to mean ¡®monarch, priest, and wizard.¡¯ Also, the word ¡®Ki-en-gir,¡¯ mentioned by the ancient ascetic, was used to mean ¡®human city.¡¯

    ¡°It mimics the words used by ancient ascetics. Thousands of years ago, it was used in a civilization called Sumerian.¡±

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s history, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s a pretty far away area from here.¡±

    Maek said, tilting its head.

    ¡°So, what does ¡®maru¡¯ mean in thatnguage?¡±

    I watched the guy floating in the air, transforming his body into one or two shapes. Why did it choose such a word while referring to itself?

    ¡®Maru,¡¯ in Sumerian civilization, what the word meant was ¡®child¡¯ or ¡®son.¡¯

    ***

    It was a sunny day. In a rural house in the suburbs of Gyeonggi-do surrounded by high fences, a young man was sitting on a bench in a small but well-groomed garden.

    The shadows covered his face under the autumn sun. He was staring ahead without focus. White smoke rose from a cigarette held at the tip of his hand. At his feet, several butts each rolled around freely.

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    The young man turned his head to someone¡¯s presence he felt from behind.

    ¡°It¡¯s time to start, trainee Kim Kyung-hwan.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Ah yes.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan thought as he threw a cigarette on thewn and mmed it with his feet. Was it still appropriate to say that he was a trainee? No one was teaching him anymore.

    The same was true of Kaifu, and even the alien he thought as his ¡®real magic teacher¡¯ was no longer coaching him.

    He got up. An unfamiliar agent stood right in front of him. So he asked himself. Was that the first time he met him?

    ¡°I¡¯m Instructor Bae Sung-ho, who will move together with you today.¡±

    The instructor¡¯s gaze remained at the end of Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s hand.

    ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t smoke in the first ce?¡±

    ¡°Is such little information written in my personal information?¡±

    ¡°No. I also worked at Hun-neung. Can¡¯t you remember my face?¡±

    He didn¡¯t remember him well. The instructor who was looking at Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s expression smiled bitterly.

    Not all human instructors were gathered at the base during the Hun-neung tragedy. They had little restrictions on staying out and going out, and some instructors survived since they were lucky enough to be outside that day. Bae Seong-ho was also in such a case.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan followed the instructor¡¯s lead. The two cars ran on the highway, surrounded by escort vehicles. Public transportation such as airnes and trains hadn¡¯t yet been allowed to Kim Kyung-hwan.

    Inside the vehicle, the instructor continued with a brief exnation.

    ¡°The other troops have already been moved by military vehicles. Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan, you¡¯re officially unrted to this operation, so you¡¯ll move through a private vehicle like this.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan nodded.

    ¡°Did you read all of the documents I handed you earlier?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    The documents were delivered to him an hour ago. Inside was a description of the recent changes in the second Channel created in Korea.

    It was about 15 days before the Busan Channel showed its appearance. Taking the Seoul Channel experience as a lesson, the Korean government tightly controlled its surroundings, installed barricades and temporary barriers to prevent coverage, and banned helicopters from flying nearby.

    It was a measure not to show the scenes of battles or people being killed on the broadcast as they were when the Mapo Bridge Channel was created. Thus, the Busan Channel was thoroughly isted from the surroundings.

    Unlike in Seoul, there was no alien that came over for a while after the Channel opened.

    Untilst night¡­

    Kim Kyung-hwan took the document out of the envelope and turned it over. The documents described the appearance of the aliens that appeared yesterday. There was a creature that looked like a giant purple jellyfish over 3 meters tall. The instructor said, looking sideways at the figure.

    ¡°Even if a battle situation urs, Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan will not intervene directly. The top¡¯s request is to keep an eye on the alien race from a distance and notify them immediately if there is any sign of trying to use some dangerous magic. Now, the only wizard that can be of strength to us is you, Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan.¡±

    In fact, they secretly requested help from neighboring countries and negotiated the cement of other Kaifu instructors, but the response wasn¡¯t very good. Thinking it was a very troublesome situation, the instructor frowned.

    Meanwhile, Kim Kyung-hwan, who listened to him, asked him a question.

    ¡°Hwang Soo-rim¡­ How about that trainee?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ the trainee is now undergoing discharge procedures. The contract is also likely to end. Like most other trainees who have lost their sight.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I see.¡±

    A few hourster, the vehicle arrived near the Seomyeon intersection in Busan. There was a huge temporary barrier to block the outside view. Through the small door at the bottom of the wall, Kim Kyung-hwan, his instructor, and security personnel entered inside. There were soldiers all over the ce, but no one stopped them and only had short conversations with their eyes.

    ¡°There are really only soldiers.¡±

    Civilians had alreadypleted evacuation from the temporary barrier, a small ghost town created by the national intervention.

    ¡°It seems impossible to approach any more¡­ do you feel any Mana?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan nodded.

    He could see the Channel from afar. He frowned as he looked at it. It wasn¡¯t that Channel that touched his senses. There was an alien that looked like a tiny dot from there, and the Mana that covered it was quite high.

    ¡°¡­ Can you handle this?¡±

    The instructor¡¯s expression darkened.

    ¡°Is it powerful?¡±

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s strong. Any Kaifu I saw in Hun-neung looks like a child y in front of it.¡±

    ¡°Is it that much¡­¡±

    The instructor, whoseplexion darkened, quickly puts in a radio. The surroundings became noisy.

    Moreover, the change took ce then.

    =¡­ I came here to look for¡­=

    At that moment, a voice rang in everyone¡¯s head around there.

    It was easy to identify where the source was. Kim Kyung-hwan stared at the distant alien. It said that it had only been standing in a ce like that without movement after crossing the Channel.

    The telepathy of the alien continued.

    =I¡¯m¡­ looking for¡­ a peaceful¡­ conversation¡­=

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Most of them suffered except for Kim Kyung-hwan. That one wasn¡¯t in consideration of the recipient.

    The young man recalled what Eraser taught. He said that that could happen if he sent telepathy with insufficient information about the other race.

    The alien sent mental waves several times in that state. The feeling of how much it sensed was getting smoother through repetition, and people¡¯s facial expressions were getting better.

    So, after a little more time, everyone around there finally recognized the neat idea of the alien.

    The huge entity with its body shining in fluorescent purple conveyed its will with a polite and overbearing feeling.

    =¡­ I want peaceful negotiations. I was introduced to this dimension. Humans, where is the ¡®Reclusive Soul¡¯?=

 Chapter 120

    The Second (7)

    In New York at a small campus not far from Central Park¡­

    Anthony King, a light brown-skinned young man, was looking at the direction of the building he had just walked out of.

    An upright building stood overbearingly under the cold autumn sky. The most notable thing about thew school building facing West 116th Street was the bronze statue. Like a rooster pping its wings on a perch, the statue stood breathtakingly on a pir about five stories high.

    The statue that Anthony was looking at took the form of a naked human trying to pull down a winged horse that was several timesrger than himself.

    ¡°Hey, Anthony! What are you staring at?¡±

    Anthony turned his head towards his friend, who called him.

    ¡°Oh, that reminds me of something.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s already been a month since you entered school, right? I thought you got used to that ugly statue now?¡±

    Anthony smiled awkwardly when he heard his friend, Bill.

    They both entered Columbia Law School in September that year. A month had passed since the semester started, and they were getting used to living in a new environment. However, there was an incident that was never trivial in the middle.

    Fifteen days ago, when the Channel in New York was opened, both were worried that they would have to take a leave of absence as soon as they entered the school. However, the opened Channel¡¯s location was in the southernmost part of Brooklyn, more than 30 miles from the Columbia University campus. Although the beaches, amusement parks, and nearby shopping centers were entirely closed, the aftermath didn¡¯t reach Manhattan. As a result, Columbia Law School closed sses for a few days right after the Channel broke out and soon resumed its original academic schedule.

    ¡°That winged horse. It was called Pegasus, right?¡± asked Anthony.

    Bill responded as if he wasn¡¯t interested.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s what I heard. Honestly, I didn¡¯t pay attention to information about the school building and history at the orientation.¡±

    The two continued their conversation as they walked toward the subway.

    Anthony said, ¡°I think it¡¯s a Pegasus. I remember.¡±

    ¡°So what? Are you suddenly interested in Greek mythology?¡±

    ¡°I thought this while looking at the statue. Maybe the animals in myths or legends, which we now regard as delusions, really existed in the past? Races like Pegasus.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Bill suddenly looked at Anthony as if he¡¯s talking nonsense. Anthony continued, then shrugged.

    ¡°Since the Channel opened, each of the creatures is showing up. The monster fromst year¡¯s Barcelona Channel is called Wyvern because of its appearance, right? Until two years ago, the name Wyvern was only heard in games and novels.¡±

    Bill replied, scratching his chin.

    ¡°Hey, that¡¯s too much of a leap. It¡¯s a monster from Barcelona, isn¡¯t it? They named it like that because it coincidentally looked like the Wyvern that humankind imagined.¡±

    ¡°Is that so?¡±

    The two walked without saying anything for a moment. It was Anthony who broke the silence again.

    ¡°Anyway, after the world bes like this, I think it changed my mind. I was originally an outright realist. I thought that something like a winged horse was just a product of fantasy, but as it turned out, I wondered if there might be such a creature somewhere in the world or somewhere in another dimension.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Well, yeah, that¡¯s understandable. Who knows? It turns out in the world beyond the Channel in Brooklyn, white horses with wings are chewing carrots and wandering above clouds instead of pastures.¡±

    Anthony threw his eyes at Bill, who responded cynically.

    ¡°No, there is no ¡®such thing¡¯ beyond that.¡±

    Bill responded with a grin.

    ¡°Why are you conclusive? Well, the only thing that was seening out of there was pink smoke.¡±

    It had been the 15th day since the Channel appeared. The whole nation, including New Yorkers, was tense, but nothing changed. There was a testimony that only on the day the Channel was created a strange pink smoke was seen around it. The U.S. government was only repeating that nothing had been confirmed yet.

    Anthony continued, ¡°And I used to be a thorough atheist, but now, I havee to believe in God. I think the Channel is also influencing my changes.¡±

    ¡°Really? Oh, that¡¯s a big deal. Are you going to go to church this weekend?¡±

    ¡°No, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to happen, but¡­¡±

    There, the two briefly changed the subject and exchanged school stories.

    Bill said, ¡°By the way, does the school seem to be continuing the semester? Even in today¡¯s ss, one-third was absent.¡±

    The government was persuading citizens to continue their daily lives with peace of mind, but the public¡¯s reactions varied ording to their personal preferences.

    The United States had yet to ¡®officially¡¯ suffer direct human casualties due to an alien, but there had also been some city-wide destruction cases in foreign countries. Therefore, the number of citizens who evacuated from downtown New York and escaped to other cities after the creation of the Channel wasn¡¯t small. Even if there were no noticeable abnormalities that time, it couldn¡¯t shake their anxiety.

    ¡°Alexia was also absent today, right? She was definitely present untilst week. I asked other students who are taking sses with her, but they said they didn¡¯t see her this week.¡±

    At Bill¡¯s words, Anthony replied, saying ¡®ah,¡¯ and nodded.

    Alexia was a female student who shared a propertyw ss with the two. Bill fell in love with her at first sight and told her as soon as the first ss got over, but her reaction wasn¡¯t good.

    ¡°Anthony, didn¡¯t you say you live close to her? Have you ever met her while passing by in thest few days?¡±

    Anthony shook his head.

    ¡°No? Not at all.¡±

    Bill sighed.

    ¡°Hey, no matter how close you are, it¡¯s unlikely to run into each other like that. I should¡¯ve asked for her number. Did she really leave New York? Would shee back when things settle down? In other cities where the Channel was opened, refugees tend to return after time without any other incidents.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I don¡¯t know.¡±

    When the two arrived at the subway station, the two broke up on the line in their home direction.

    After getting off at a station near his apartment, passing through several stations, Anthony loaded himself into a tram and walked slowly down the alley. The autumn sky was so clear. He hummed and moved his steps before arriving in front of his house. He then raised his head instead of climbing the doorstep.

    ¡°Hi?¡±

    He put a gentle smile on his face. Instead of opening the apartment door and entering directly, Anthony greeted a neighbor on the second floor. The olddy who opened the window and watered the pots looked down at him and opened her eyes wide.

    ¡°Oh my goodness! You¡¯re thew school student living on the third floor?

    ¡°I¡¯m Anthony King.¡±

    ¡°Oh, ho-ho. Sorry. It¡¯s not easy to remember names these days. By the way, I thought the student was moving.¡±

    ¡°Well? No. I have no ns to move.¡±

    The olddy tilted her head and said, ¡°Ah¡­ I see. There was a thumping sound upstairs these days, so I thought you were packing things up again.¡±

    There was a strange thorn in her words. Anthony replied with a bitter smile.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for making the noise. After I moved, I kept getting distracted, and then I arranged the furniture this week. I n to stay in New York because the school continues the lectures. Furthermore, it¡¯s a bit ufortable to take a leave of absence as soon as I enter the school.¡±

    ¡°Is that so? As you know, everyone is upset these days because of the Channel. I don¡¯t see that ugly old man living on the fourth floor these days, so he must have moved. He has been drinking and screaming and making a fuss every night. I don¡¯t hear that at all these days.¡±

    Anthony asked, looking into the eyes of the olddy.

    ¡°What about you, Mrs. Webber? Are you nning on staying in New York?¡±

    ¡°Where am I going at this age?¡±

    After muttering something, Anthony greeted Mrs. Webber. He then stepped inside the front door.

    ¡®Well, that olddy is also nning to stay in New York.¡¯

    Anthony walked into the apartment and climbed the stairs leading to the third floor. He opened the front door of Room 302 and entered the living room.

    -Click

    He locked the door.

    Anthony opened the bedroom door and put the bag he was carrying down on the chair.

    He took off all of his clothes that he was wearing and became naked. He folded his gray checkered shirt, beige cotton pants, inner and socks neatly and put them on the bed.

    After wearing his slippers, Anthony walked to the kitchen. He opened the drawer on the sink and pulled out what was inside. He gently rubbed the tip with his finger. The des didn¡¯t stand well and were dull enough. It was a kitchen knife abandoned by the tenant who lived there before. After that, he used it several times.

    Holding it, Anthony headed to the bathroom.

    -Criiieeeeck

    The old wooden door of the old apartment opened with a nerve-scratching sound. The unpleasant noise seemed to awaken someone inside.

    ¡°Um¡­ uuum¡­!¡±

    A suppressed sound flowed from the bathtub beyond the shower curtain. Anthony took a leisurely step and walked up, and pulled up the opaque stic curtain.

    ¡°Uuum¡­!¡±

    Inside the bathtub was a young woman who was naked like Anthony, was tied to the chains. The chain that tied her whole body was connected to the faucet. One eye, which seemed to be appealing for something, stared at Anthony. The mouth was sealed with tape so that no proper words coulde out.

    Anthony greeted her in a gentle voice.

    ¡°Hi¡­ Alexia.¡±

    Hearing his voice, the woman in the bathtub began to struggle. The manughed as he looked down at her luminous gestures.

    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough now.¡±

    Pink smoke flowed lightly from Anthony¡¯s mouth. He was smiling brightly as if he were lucky. Anthony knelt on the floor of the bathroom with a knife in his hand.

    ¡°Great One, I would like to praise your dignity by offering sacrifices, even if the Lamb is insufficient. May you be pleased.¡±

    He recited the prayer for a while in that state. After the recitation was over, he raised his head again. When he opened his eyes, Anthony¡¯s two eyes, which were revealed, were eerily dark pink.

    ¡°Eum¡­ Eum¡­!¡±

    Anthony got up again and approached Alexia. The woman in the bathtub struggled like crazy. The chains that tied her wrists tore her flesh and started bleeding.

    However, she had a lot of scars and blood spots on her body beside her wrist. Anthony slowly said as he looked at the cuts on her whole body and the ointment and bands applied over them.

    ¡°This is only my third time, so I¡¯m not very good at it yet. I understand. If I had a little more experience, I might have been able to keep you in the same state now without passing a day.¡±

    ¡°Eump!¡±

    Alexia¡¯s eyes, looking up at Anthony, distorted in horror.

    ¡°You know what? It was a big failure at first. The first attempt was a drunken old man on the fourth floor of this apartment. I just stabbed his body here and there for a few hours, but he suddenly passed out and died. The priest who baptized me rebuked me for it. ¡®You cannot please God in this way!¡¯¡­ Because the old man died after he lost his consciousness. He died without faithfully feeling the fear that he was being killed.¡±

    Alexia burst into tears.

    ¡°Next was the girl I met at the club¡­ What was her name? Anyway, Alexia, I¡¯m sure she was about the same age as you. I brought her to this apartment and then tied her up in the bathroom like now. It wasn¡¯t much different from the process of bringing you here.¡±

    He giggled andughed for a moment and then said, ¡°After being locked up here, I cut her body little by little for a few days. Little by little, very little so that she doesn¡¯t bleed too much. Her heart was stronger than the old man, and she was still alive. She was scared enough that she might be killed at any time, but¡­ damn it, I failed the second time.¡±

    Anthony¡¯s eyes glistened with madness.

    ¡°Because I was too greedy. I could feel the fear of women building up in my body one by one during those days. Like the bnce of my bank ount is increasing. That¡¯s why I got greedy. A little more, a little more here!¡±

    He lowered his head for a moment.

    ¡°¡­ But it was too much. The woman eventually went crazy! She wasn¡¯t really aware of the most important ¡®fear of the moment she was killed¡¯ she should have felt.¡±

    ¡°Eump¡­ Eeeeeeump!¡±

    Alexia began to howl with a terrible sound in her mouth. However, her voice was stuck on the tape and couldn¡¯t flow out.

    ¡°When she died, her brainwave was like a pig-like animal. It wasn¡¯t a sophisticated and beautiful brainwave that the higher humans made when they were killed. So, the priest rebuked me again. ¡®You cannot please God if you do this!¡¯ ¡­Hufufu!¡±

    The man said with a smile, ¡°You know what, Alexia? The God I¡¯m serving favors unique offerings. It ispletely different from the traditional gods we have known until now. This God epts the brainwaves of higher organisms as a sacrifice. Yes, higher organisms mean ¡®humans¡¯ after all. That¡¯s what it wants. The brainwaves that ur when humans are trembling in fear ahead of their death¡­ and the brain waves that are generated at the very moment when they are killed!¡±

    Anthony held the knife in both hands and lifted it. Seeing it, Alexia shook her head desperately and moved her body.

    ¡°Now is the right time. Your fear has risen to the right level. If I torture you more here, you might give up life or go crazy. Now that you haven¡¯t let go of your obsession with life, you will feel the greatest despair when I kill you. The priest with me is telling me!¡±

    He took a deep breath then pushed his body into the bathtub. He kneeled on Alexia¡¯s body lying on the bathtub floor and lifted the knife in his hand.

    ¡°It sounds like a lie. Why me? Why me of all the people? You won¡¯t be able to believe it. You want to live, don¡¯t you? Do you hope that someone will run to this ce and save you right now?¡±

    ¡°Hump¡­ Hump¡­!¡±

    ¡°You will regret it. Why did I answer Anthony King¡¯s phone that day? Why did I agree to his suggestion to have a light drink? Why did I follow him to this apartment that day?¡±

    ¡°Huuuuuump¡­!¡±

    A stream of tears flowed down Alexia¡¯s right cheek.

    As he looked down at her, Anthony asked.

    ¡°You don¡¯t want to die, do you? You don¡¯t want to die, do you? You don¡¯t want to die, do you?¡±

    Under his gaze, Alexia wept with her pale blue face.

    ¡°You want to live, don¡¯t you?¡±

    She shivered and nodded. Anthonyughed.

    ¡°Bitch. There are no miracles.¡±

    Anthony brought the tip of the kitchen knife to the tip of Alexia¡¯s uv. He put the weight of his whole body and pressed her.

    ¡°Uuuuuuuuuuuump!¡±

    Her body was fluttering. It took about 12 seconds to pierce the neck with a knife that wasn¡¯t properly sharpened. It took about 148 seconds for Alexia¡¯s body to twitch and finally stopped breathing.

    During that time, Anthony felt the fear of Alexia seeping into his body. To be precise, it was the brainwave from her brain at the moment of her death. A deep fear that couldn¡¯t bepared to before. It was only then that Anthony understood the meaning of the priest¡¯s words.

    ¡°Fufu¡­ Fuhuhuhu¡­!¡±

    That sensation was being presented to God by using his own body as the medium. Even though he had tasted it for a while, it was no match for any joy and pleasure he had ever felt in his life.

    Yes, the most important thing was that ¡®killing¡¯ moment. He understood why circumstances didn¡¯t allow it. It was okay to skip the intermediate process and kill immediately. It was a delicacy that was iparable to the brainwaves of thest minute emitted by the old man on the fourth floor who died after losing his consciousness or the woman who died after she went crazy.

    Anthony now understood. From the day before the opening of the Channel, he understood perfectly andpletely why the name of the great God he was serving was the ¡®Joy of ughter.¡¯

    The moment Antony was shivering with joy, an unfamiliar voice was heard behind his back.

    ¡°¡­ Ah, that¡¯s true. I followed a ce where it smelled delicious.¡±

    ¡°W-who is it?!¡±

    Anthony¡¯s body jumped out of anger. Strangers were looking at him from behind his back, two white-faced men who looked like dead bodies.

    Anthony asked himself. ¡®I didn¡¯t even hear the door open. How?¡¯

    The taller one of the two men talked while looking inside the bathroom.

    ¡°¡­ He threw away everything he could waste, huh?¡±

    His gaze was staying in the bathtub. Not exactly at Alexia¡¯s body, but the pool of blood filling the bathtub.

    ¡°You¡­ who are you¡­!¡±

    The shorter one looked up at the taller man and asked, ¡°Can I kill this guy, too?¡±

    ¡°No. Eugene said to bring him alive.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Ah, It¡¯s really troublesome. Why are there guys like this in the city where the headquarters is located?¡±

    While grumbling irritatedly, the short man raised his hand.

 Chapter 121

    The Second (8)

    ¡°Hey, Saburo. is it really here?¡±

    The one called Saburo was an Asian with a paleplexion. No matter how high the temperature was that day, it was only 17 degrees. He was wearing a sleeveless tee that didn¡¯t suit the autumn weather in New York.

    ¡°Oh. Are you going to do it?¡±

    The long-haired man who asked the boy a question was wearing a trench coat that contrasted with Saburo, who was almost naked. After all, without blood on his face, he frowned in his eyes and took a step back.

    Anthony¡¯s eyes, who looked at the two, were filled with murderous intentions.

    ¡°¡­ Damn it! I don¡¯t know how you two got in, but¡­¡±

    Anthony had been hit directly by arterial blood from the woman¡¯s neck. His naked body was covered in blood and stained red. In a terrible appearance as if he had just walked out of hell, Anthony lifted the knife in his right hand.

    ¡°Now that it¡¯s like this, I will sacrifice you to God¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re so noisy.¡±

    The boy interrupted Anthony¡¯s words and gathered Mana in his hand.

    ¡°Let¡¯s stretch him out for now.¡±

    With the words, the sound of flesh bursting in the bathroom echoed.

    -Plug!

    Saburo¡¯s right arm, which was revealed out of his sleeveless tee, exploded with a creepy burst. Anthony saw lumpsing over him like a storm. He crouched to avoid it, but the bathroom was too narrow.

    -Pat!

    ¡°Eaaaaarrrgghhh!¡±

    Anthony screamed and rolled over the bathroom floor. The remains of the boy¡¯s arm, the pale apricot-colored flesh, was split into dozens of pieces and covered Anthony¡¯s body. Each mass wriggled over the skin of its prey as if it had life. It looked like Anthony¡¯s whole body was covered with leeches.

    ¡°W-what is it? Aaaarrrghh!¡±

    He screamed desperately. It was an emotional reaction that he felt frightened and physiologically disgusted by the flesh crawling on his body. Anthony couldn¡¯t focus on his doubts about that bizarre phenomenon. His brain seemed to be burning white because of the pain of the holes in his body.

    ¡°Khaarggh!¡±

    Anthony couldn¡¯t see, but each flesh was holding its ce and plucked his skin with sharp teeth. After such exposure to muscles and blood vessels, he inserted awl-like dung and sucked in his blood.

    ¡°Huuuurgh¡­ Heuuuuuuurgh!¡±

    Anthony, rolling on the floor, scratched his body like crazy with his fingernails. The seemingly soft tissue-like leeches didn¡¯t get a scratch, no matter how strong he scratched them. Anthony¡¯s nails were only tearing off his own skin, which wasn¡¯t covered with flesh, leaving a scar.

    The tall man who was looking at the scene from a step back quietly murmured.

    ¡°I should have stopped you when you were hanging out with that crazy guy Hessler.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Hessler? He lost his mind slightly and has a disgusting taste, but he turned out to be fun and useful. Now I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s dead or alive.¡±

    ¡°Insanity is contagious.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t met often enough to get infected. You know that, don¡¯t you? He hateding out of theb, but I didn¡¯t want to go there. I didn¡¯t want to put my feet in the basement where human beings live by eating their bodies while starving after being remodeled to have maximum resilience or where Hessler¡¯s own cloned corpses were piled up for his sexual desire. We mostly discussed magic over the phone.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Even if you develop magic together, I never thought it would be such a disgusting thing.¡±

    Saburo responded calmly with his one arm missing.

    ¡°What wrong about it? It¡¯s an old-fashioned stereotype that the vampire must put the fangs on the back of the neck to suck the blood. I can¡¯t drill two 8 millimeter diameter holes and suck them while squishing until the stomach was filled. Putting the mouth on the prey¡¯s skin and drooling¡­ Isn¡¯t it unsanitary? Furthermore, I guess people applied sunscreen to the back of their neck. Oh, I¡¯m losing my appetite. Valentine, this is the 21st century. Look, howfortable is that?¡±

    ¡°¡­ For a vampire, there are bats and mosquitoes. Why leeches?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s because it has the simplest biological structure. It¡¯s easy to make.¡±

    Still, Valentine kicked his tongue as if he was displeased. He was sticking to the idea that the act of vampirism by cutting the body into pieces and transforming it into an invertebrate was a degrading behavior that was unlike Eugene¡¯s children.

    Saburo, who was well aware of Valentine¡¯s usual beliefs, just shrugged instead of expressing his opinion anymore. Anyway, he couldn¡¯t speak well with the person whose birth year was earlier than Jesus. What was the point of changing his name to a modern one? It wasn¡¯t Valentine. It was Valentinus.

    ¡°Heuuuu¡­ Khuuurrrg!¡±

    Anthony gradually lost his power and wriggled on the floor.

    ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡±

    Saburo called the leeches that covered the prey¡¯s body back to their original positions.

    -Pat!

    The pieces flew in all at once, forming the boy¡¯s arm again in perfect order. Anthony¡¯s blood, which the leeches sucked, was naturally absorbed into Saburo¡¯s body. When it returned, the boy raised his right arm, clenching and opening his fist to circte the blood. The color of his pale face was getting better.

    ¡°That child¡¯s strength is removed, and my stomach is also filled. It¡¯s killing two birds with one stone.¡±

    The boy, who was quite satisfied with a happy smile, suddenly lit his eyes.

    ¡°Hoo?¡±

    -Shrrrrrkkkkk!

    The boy¡¯s gaze stayed on the floor. Pink smoke was rising from Anthony¡¯s body, who fell unconscious.

    ¡°I will take care of that.¡±

    Valentine, who had stepped back, entered the bathroom. He made a sign and chanted the spell. However, before hepleted the magic, his head was wrapped in smoke.

    As soon as he came into contact with the smoke, a voice rang in Valentine¡¯s head.

    -Worship it! Be guided by the great being. That noble name is ¡®the joy of ughter.¡¯ By obeying its words, we will escape from the pain of being, which is repeated 100 billion times¡­

    Valentine stopped chanting his spell and was silent for a moment. As the atmosphere became strange, Saburo slowly called out his name.

    ¡°Valentine?¡±

    The thoughts that prated his mind continued.

    -Listen, believe, and you will receive far-reaching blessings. Let the sacrifice struggle in despair, pain, and terror. May God be pleased with the ecstasy of taking life at its peak¡­

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Valentine blinked his eyes a few times. He then opened his mouth and spoke grimly.

    ¡°¡­ Ah, it was like this.¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Saburo looked at him as if he couldn¡¯t understand English. Valentine said, stirring the pink smoke gathered around his head with his index finger.

    ¡°There¡¯s a divine force on the part where the smokees into contact. I almost got baptized.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Saburo shed a stupid sound as if what he heard was absurd.

    ¡°Of course, it didn¡¯t work for me.¡±

    The long-haired man continued his words and analyzed the power of the smoke wrapped around his fingers.

    ¡°The effect of baptism¡­ as Eugene guessed, seems to be the brainwashing system.¡±

    Saburo nodded and saw the man¡¯s body scattered on the floor.

    ¡°¡­ Well, looking at what he was doing, it¡¯s obvious that he was brainwashed.¡±

    ¡°It would¡¯ve been better if it was magic. Unfortunately, it¡¯s divine power.¡±

    ¡°Ah, wait a second. Does the divine power act on the ¡®contact¡¯ part? So¡­¡±

    Valentine nodded and affirmed the fact that the boy btedly realized and noticed.

    ¡°It means that the phenomenon that the smoke touches my head is basically no different from the act of putting a hand on a believer¡¯s head and giving him divine power. This smoke is its own body.¡±

    The boy asked back as if it was hard to believe.

    ¡°Then, this pink smoke is a priest?¡±

    Valentine nodded.

    ¡°Right. A priest who tries to brainwash with divine power. Hmm.¡±

    He looked at the smoke and added his words.

    ¡°Of course, this doesn¡¯t work for us. I don¡¯t know if it was the apostle itself. But well, it seems that the words shed in my head are just imitating the apostles.¡±

    Valentine finished his words andpleted his magic again. The pink smoke, which didn¡¯t affect him, quickly absorbed into his hand and disappeared.

    The tall man looked down at his palm, sealed by absorbing the different races.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what type of creature it is. Is the body the size of a microbe? Or a virus? Is it a colony rather than an individual?¡±

    ¡°If we take it and study it, we will know. Ah! We don¡¯t have Hessler so that it will be my job in the end. Valentine, so, are we going back to the headquarters today?¡±

    ¡°Yes, because we got a sample of an alien, and we have to take that person.¡±

    A deep light shone in Valentine¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Anyway, the guess that it would have brainwashing was correct. But it is divine power.¡±

    He clicked his tongue. It was absolutely unweing for a priest to roam the city apart from how difficult it was to use.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better if we figured out the survival mechanisms and then catch them all and kill them?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Eugene¡¯s choice, but he will eventually. It¡¯s dangerous. God¡¯s influence is greater just by the presence of a priest.¡±

    It was something that could make the ascetics¡¯ vignce rise. Of course, the priest¡¯s appearance was in New York, where the headquarters were located. Valentine mumbled inside.

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s body was being regenerated in the city; his ¡®second body¡¯ should avoid any Gods. With that determination, Valentine lifted Anthony¡¯s body, which was on the floor.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    The two men took the naked Anthony and went outside.

    In the bathroom where they disappeared, only one body of a woman trapped in a pool of blood remained. Thest drop of tears flowed silently from the cold pupil. The colorless liquid flowed along the soft body that hadn¡¯t yet begun to stiffen after death, mixed with blood, and disappeared.

    Alexia¡¯s body was left in the bathtub until the day when Mrs. Webber on the second floor, who couldn¡¯t stand the odor, called the apartment manager and forcibly opened room 302.

    New York police searched for Anthony King, a leading suspect, across the country, but he never showed up again.

    Two new people joined the crowd leaving New York after the incident, which was featured in the headlines. One was Mrs. Webber, the first witness at site 302, and the other was a Columbia Law School student named Bill, who submitted a leave of absence a week after the incident.

    Of course, those two were just a few of the countless people leaving New York. The city¡¯s poption was declining so quickly that citizens could feel it, and it didn¡¯t take long for everyone to notice that the proportion of the citizens who disappeared from New York was too sudden to dismiss as mere migration or evacuation to be negligible.

    ***

    ¡°¡­ What did it say just now?¡±

    The voice of a middle-aged man came out.

    ¡°Um¡­ reclusive-what?¡±

    Seomyeon intersection was isted by a temporary barrier. All of the soldiers gathered inside were struggling and wrapped with their heads around. It was because of the sharp telepathy digging into their minds.

    Kim Kyung-hwan and his party had just entered the barrier. He could see a Channel that looked like a blue disk far away. There was a giant creature in front of it. The alien, which looked like a fluorescent purple jellyfish, was the one who just vented its thoughts.

    A middle-aged man, Instructor Bae Seong-ho, muttered, covering his greasy head with his palms.

    ¡°Everyone just heard it, right? It said it is looking for reclusive-something?¡±

    ¡°It said it was looking for reclusive soul.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan replied quietly. He was more resolutely responding to telepathy than others.

    ¡°That sounds like some kind of ghost, huh? Why is it suddenly looking for a soul here?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t know the answer.

    ¡°At least, there¡¯s no hostility mixed with its intentions. It does say something about peace¡­ but the sentiment mixed with telepathy is quite¡­ friendly.¡±

    ¡°No, Trainee Kim Kyung-hwan, you can even feel that?¡±

    He remembered what Eraser taught him. Did he say that from the moment someone encountered magic, the quality of the soul rises? As spiritual abilities were developed, they could understand the intentions more sensitively and deeply.

    Kim Kyung-hwan quietly nodded. He admitted there that he could only detect such subtle differences, but it was just that far.

    He could do what was impossible for others. Such ttering feelings no longer came up. The scale of his recent experience was toorge for him to show off with such arrogance, and his unstable and twisted self-esteem had already copsed and shattered.

    The instructor wasn¡¯t aware of what was going on inside. He stroke his rough chin and spoke.

    ¡°But it¡¯s troublesome. No matter how friendly it is, we don¡¯t know what it wants. Reclusive soul, I can¡¯t even guess what it¡¯s talking about. Is it literally looking for a soul, or is it a symbolic representation of a being?¡±

    While the instructor and Kim Kyung-hwan talked from afar, the troops in the front maintained vignce toward the aliens without moving. It was a unit that had been in confrontation even before Kim Kyung-hwan and his party arrived in Busan. Even in the midst of this, no helicopter was seen in the air. That situation was utterly unknown to the outside world.

    Themander of the field officer attempted a conversation. It wasn¡¯t his first attempt. The alien hadn¡¯t shown any reaction until that time but had currently emitted telepathy for the first time. He couldn¡¯t miss that opportunity.

    ¡°Ah, ah, can you hear me? Can you understand me?¡±

    There was no answer from the aliens. Themander considered it a failure again and frowned.

    However, it was a hasty judgment. The presence of the giant being once again showed a different reaction. Unfortunately, the direction of the response wasn¡¯t the field officer who attempted the conversation.

    =¡­ I can¡¯t understand what the hell he is talking about. I¡¯ve heard about it, but this world isn¡¯t really connected to Akashic Records. I want to talk to the wizard. You, who just entered this barrier¡­=

    Recognizing the meaning of the alien, themander looked back without knowing.

    It was obvious who it was pointing at. Kim Kyung-hwan made eye contact with the instructor with an edgy look. The instructor started talking to themunicator with the superiors beyond it.

    =Wizard, I will ask you. Where is the Reclusive Soul? =

    The instructor¡¯s eyes shook. Kim Kyung-hwan swallowed dry saliva. There was no hostility, but it was a being with enormous Mana that couldn¡¯t bepared with himself. He felt the power of the alien sweeping through the surrounding. It was unnecessary to reject it in a situation where such a being wanted a conversation instead of violence.

    Kim Kyung-hwan thought. He didn¡¯t have the ability yet to transmit telepathy. However, even if he tried to respond in Korean, the jellyfish couldn¡¯t understand the meaning.

    There again, he recalled Eraser¡¯s teachings, and he shed a self-helpugh. After all, was it that alien that helped him at that moment?

    Kim Kyung-hwan concentrated.

    Even if he didn¡¯t know how to transmit his thoughts, he could open up his mind. He opened a narrow door for those who were capable of reading his thoughts. He was sure when he saw the Mana that surrounded his body. That was a wave of power formunication.

    He weakened the mental barrier and, at the same time, formed a clear will. If he went one step further, he could release his will, but he hadn¡¯t mastered that skill. He encouraged the other being to read his thoughts up to the permitted area. Kim Kyung-hwan was trying to make his thought as concrete as possible and said it through his voice.

    ¡°¡­ What is the reclusive soul?¡±

    That method seemed to be sessful. The flow of Mana surrounding the body changed. The voice itself was just an interpretable noise for the alien, but the distinct thoughts formed in his head while speaking could¡¯ve been read.

    Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s guess wasn¡¯t wrong.

    =Oh, yes. Now we canmunicate. It¡¯s worth waiting for the wizard.=

    The startledmander¡¯s eyes widened. In his eyes, there was no difference in the way of conversation. However, it seemed that the alien only understood Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s words. Instructor Bae Seong-ho conveyed the situation in front of his eyes through the radio in a low voice.

    In the meantime, the will of the alien continued.

    =The person I am looking for is a ¡®Reclusive Soul¡¯ whose shell is shaped like a human. Can you see the soul? Oh, you can¡¯t see it. Then, it will not be easy to distinguish it from ordinary humans only by appearance. But some characteristics set him apart. Listen, Wizard¡­=

    Kim Kyung-hwan responded.

    ¡°¡­ Tell me.¡±

    The sense of the dignity of the alien echoed.

    =He is a being made up of the remains of destruction. He¡¯s the one who uses magic that doesn¡¯t initially originate in this dimension.=

    Kim Kyung-hwan squinted his eyes. After all, the Earth¡¯s wizards would be like that. As far as he knew, every human wizard had learned magic from that race, including himself.

    However, the jellyfish-like alien¡¯s wills didn¡¯t stop there.

    =He is the one who performed the task instead of the Truth-Seeker with the human body.=

    ¡°¡­ The Truth-Seeker?¡±

    When a word he couldn¡¯t understand came up, Kim Kyung-hwan mouthed it, but at that moment, unlike him who tilted his head because he didn¡¯t understand, the face of the instructor who heard its will beside him suddenly turned white. His speech, speaking in a low voice to the radio, elerated.

    =A mortal who seeded in carrying on the work that the Truth-Seekers of this world had to do. He is the one who captured God-made toys and expelled them out of the dimension. Don¡¯t you know?=

    ¡°God-made toys?¡±

    =I¡¯m talking about the Heart Fish.=

    There were concepts that he couldn¡¯t understand.

    =It seems you don¡¯t know. Would you know if I exin it like this? He is also a rare man among mortals who is deeply connected with Truth-Seekers. He certainly did not cross the mortal wall, and surprisingly, he is a servant of the Truth-Seeker of another dimension. He has a ¡®Channel¡¯ opened on his chest that is the highest honor of the ascetic. Is there anyone whom you can guess if I say this much?=

    Kim Kyung-hwan desperately closed his mind the moment he recognized its intention to some extent. When the alien had no thought to read, it conveyed its will mixed with regret.

    =Ah, is there no one whoes to your mind after hearing this far? It¡¯s really difficult. Does he live up to his name and are entirely secluded at his own dimension? It¡¯s mysterious that such a man¡¯s name is unknown.=

    Cold sweat flowed down on Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s back.

    His head began to spin rapidly. A Channel¡­ opened on his chest?

    In the past, he would ask what nonsense it was when he heard that. So far, there had been hundreds of Channels worldwide. Yet all of them had been created in empty air, including the Busan Channel where the jellyfish appeared.

    Kim Kyung-hwan tried to hide his astonished expression. Nevertheless, he had seen it recently. That ¡®Channel opened on the chest.¡¯

    However¡­

    He thought with a strong mental barrier to prevent his thoughts from leaking out.

    ¡®¡­ It¡¯s not in sync!¡¯

    Yes, there was. He had witnessed that it was a Channel opened on the chest. On the day of the Hun-neung disaster, Kim Kyung-hwan saw the sight of a blue sh across the chest of an existence who was too familiar with him, and it turned into a dimensional gate.

    He was likely to pass out just by mentioning the phenomenon that he and only a few people had witnessed with their own eyes. In the meantime, there was one more factor that upset Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s mind.

    Eraser was an alien. Yes, Eraser that opened the Channel on his chest was clearly an alien.

    ¡®Then¡­ why does that purple jellyfish keep calling the reclusive soul¡­ ¡®human¡¯?¡¯

 Chapter 122

    Wizard¡¯s Name (1)

    ¡°The name is¡­ Reclusive Soul?¡±

    President Kang Min-ki¡¯s eyes were distorted while receiving the report.

    ¡°Yes, it is.¡±

    The chief secretary nodded seriously. The President turned over the documents on the desk and asked again.

    ¡°You mean Reclusive Soul is a name? Isn¡¯t it something like an exnation of a concept or rhetoric that describes an object?¡±

    ¡°Yes, other than Wizard Kim Kyung-hwan, many of the troops in the field heard the telepathy and testified the same.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    The President made a shaky face, and he breathed a long sigh.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just some American Indian names. It¡¯s beyond our power. By the way, ording to the words of the alien race ¡®Carraderina,¡¯ is it the name of a human wizard living in this area?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Even the alien race does not know the exact location of the wizard. It¡¯s only spected that he¡¯s near the Seoul Channel. When it heard the story of the white head giant that appeared on the Mapo Bridge, it seemed a little more determined.¡±

    It was an alien who visited Earth to find a wizard. The Channel used by Carraderina was opened close to the suspected location of the wizard. In the end, it was interpreted as the Channel was intentionally choosing the ce to open.

    ¡°Carraderina said it was serving the Truth-Seeker of that world. Perhaps the reason it¡¯s looking for Reclusive Soul is that the Truth-Seeker wants him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    It was hard to understand. Among the citizens of that country, most of the people who showed wizards¡¯ talent entered Hun-neung after a secret contact with the government. Even those who refused to be admitted had been continuously managed by making a list.

    Despite that background, what Carraderina meant was, in the end, that a wizard who escaped the government¡¯s eyes was hiding in that country.

    Strangely, the government didn¡¯t know of a wizard powerful enough to catch the eye of Truth-Seekers from other worlds. The most powerful Korean sorcerer that the government has grasped was Kim Kyung-hwan, who said that the Reclusive Soul that the alien was looking for was a powerful entity that was far enoughpared to him.

    ¡°Please visit and interview all non-entry wizards in Korea. We have to find out if there is anything suspicious or if there is anything that has gone unnoticed.¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Even the President himself, who said so, wasn¡¯t expecting much of it.

    Why hadn¡¯t the wizard beyond Kim Kyung-hwan been caught up to now? Most of the preliminary wizards were discovered by the government for causing magical phenomena that couldn¡¯t be suppressed or controlled. The fact that a much stronger wizard than them was unknown meant that he was already capable of straining and controlling such power.

    The more he thought about it, the more thrilled his whole body was.

    ¡°We have to be careful not to let the story leak abroad.¡±

    The concept of ¡®Truth-Seeker¡¯ was a keyword treated as the top-secret among top secrets. There weren¡¯t many instructors who knew that concept even within the training camp in Hun-neung. Furthermore, the information was kept secret from the trainees.

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s existence was some of the secrets passed down to the world, mainly through the Gramperi race in China. Fragmentary pieces of information flowed out by intelligence agents from each country who infiltrated China, but it was still not enough to satisfy each country¡¯s leaders. That was the reason the U.S. was nervous about China¡¯s monopoly on Gramperi.

    The Channels had suddenly covered the Earth sincest year, and the secrets of another dimension followed. Interracial knowledge that might be able to exin it all. Besides the United States, the whole world was anxious to get that information out of China.

    ¡°We have to be careful and more careful not to let detailed information about Carraderina flow into other countries. Maybe it has knowledge of Channels and dimensions beyond Gramperi. Until now, there have been no records of alien race iming to be closely rted to the Truth-Seeker.¡±

    ¡°The pressure from the U.S. to share information is getting stronger. They may have already noticed through satellite imagery that there was an alien on the Channel. Research teams from the United States, who were attached to the ck spheres in Hun-neung, have already moved to Busan.¡±

    The President said in a low voice.

    ¡°Anyway, you said that Carraderina¡¯s ¡®head¡¯ has been moved to Seoul and that what remains in Busan is a body with only survival instinct, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    The massive alien in the form of jellyfish was capable of cutting its body freely. Realizing that the world¡¯s roads were too narrow and buildings were too small for its huge body to move, Carraderina only separated some of the head connected to its brain.

    At the South Korean government¡¯s rmendation through Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s interpretation, its head had already been brought to Seoul. On the other hand, only the body, which was impossible to reason, remained in Busan and was temporarily stored in the 5th Airborne Wing hangar.

    ¡°To the American people, we just need to show them the body that remains in Busan.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll do that.¡±

    No matter how friendly they were, the Korean government didn¡¯t have to reveal all the cards in their hand at once.

    ¡°What is Carraderina doing now?¡±

    Shortly after it came to Seoul, it exchanged information with government officials for several hours. It needed information about the world to find the wizard, and the government wanted to know about Channels and multidimensional secrets. Each other had the information the other party wanted, and the transaction wasn¡¯t difficult.

    ¡°You said it has refused to talk after 2 p.m. yesterday, right? Is there still no change in the condition?¡±

    The chief secretary¡¯splexion darkened.

    ¡°Yes, unfortunately¡­¡±

    It had been cooperative for hours, and there was an unexpected factor involved in its sudden cessation of the conversation. The President asked with an awkward expression.

    ¡°¡­ Is it still eating nonstop?¡±

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s just focusing on eating as soon as the food is delivered.¡±

    ¡°Hmm.¡±

    A deep sigh leaked out of President Kang Min-ki¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°The race of a different world lightly breaks ourmon sense and stereotypes, huh.¡±

    They couldn¡¯t neglect to treat even guests who couldn¡¯t be revealed to the outside. In particr, considering the importance of the guest, they had to pay more attention.

    Carraderinained of hunger after hours of conversation yesterday, and the government procured and delivered objects by type that met the conditions it described. She experimented with each one of them and picked one of them.

    ¡°It likes copper?¡±

    ¡°Yes. ording to it, among the Earth¡¯s metals, copper tends to absorb Mana. When we bring it copper, Carraderina put some Mana on it, on its own and eats it up.¡±

    The alien¡¯s taste in the meal was beyond the expectations of government officials. It said that Carraderina ate metals with Mana as a staple food. Carraderina asked for the world¡¯s metals by type and tested them, saying copper was the most sensitive, and only copper was required afterward.

    ¡°¡­ It can¡¯t eat forever. After some time, it will be full, and we can resume the conversation then.¡±

    ¡°Oh, about that.¡±

    The chief secretary¡¯splexion darkened.

    ¡°Even though copper is better, the Earth¡¯s metals are all very inefficient in their own way. Compared to the world of Carraderina, the nature of absorbing Mana is less, so it has to eat arge amount of metal, and it will take some time for Carraderina to get full¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­ Even the Mana isn¡¯t well-absorbed, but someday it will be out of stock. Just bring everything it wants.¡±

    ¡°Yes, Sir.¡±

    The President tried to calm his restless heart. Other countries had only noticed that an alien had appeared in Busan, but they didn¡¯t yet know what Carraderina was. It was definitely a great opportunity. Perhaps the secret of the world that China didn¡¯t know woulde into Korea¡¯s hands.

    For the time being, they would take the information out of the alien. They were willing to provide any amount of copper. It said it had to find out the wizard¡¯s whereabouts named ¡®the Reclusive Soul¡¯ for its purpose in the world. The more cards in the negotiations, the better.

    President Kang Min-ki quietly asked in his heart.

    ¡®Who is it? Who is that powerful wizard who deceives the whole world and is secluded in thisnd?¡¯

    ***

    The promised ce was a deserted park.

    ¡®That was unexpected.¡¯

    Kim Kyung-hwan shed a bitter smile at the front. In his eyes, he saw a figure that the bodyguards who followed him couldn¡¯t see.

    There was a bench in the direction he was walking. A woman in a sweatshirt was sitting. She wore a mask and covered most of her face with long hair, so her right eye was the only thing that was revealed. Even so, she curled up and leaned down so she didn¡¯t meet his eyes. That was the scene that bodyguards behind their backs also saw.

    However, to Kim Kyung-hwan, whose Mana circuit in his eyes was opened, another scenery ovepped. Mana slowly flowed out of her pants pocket. The invisible Mana was hovering around the bench like a shield.

    ¡®It looks like she has an artifact in her pocket.¡¯

    Muttering inside, Kim Kyung-hwan approached her. Hwang Soo-rim, who must¡¯ve sensed his approach in advance due to the movement of his Mana, flinched as if she had only noticed it only when he cast a shadow. She then raised her head slightly.

    ¡®You¡¯ve gotten better at acting.¡¯

    The words were buried inside, and Kim Kyung-hwan opened his mouth.

    ¡°¡­ Long time no see.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim didn¡¯t respond. Her index finger on her bench lifted and moved inward, forming a hook shape. It meant toe closer.

    Kim Kyung-hwan took a few more steps and entered the magical barrier. As soon as he stepped inside the barrier, he felt awkward as if he entered another space wrapped around his body. That kind of thing was called a ¡®barrier.¡¯ A skill Kim Kyung-hwan had never learned.

    The young man looked into Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s eyes and thought.

    ¡®Really, you¡­ have learned a lot from ¡®him.¡¯ Many things I haven¡¯t learned.¡¯

    Hwang Soo-rim opened her mouth.

    ¡°Sit down. Naturally.¡±

    Even if she didn¡¯t say so, he was about to do so. Kim Kyung-hwan sat next to Hwang Soo-rim. He saw two bodyguards looking at this side with a certain distance.

    ¡°Why did you make this barrier?¡±

    He didn¡¯t know how to make it, but he knew the effect of the barrier when he stepped inside, which was partial light distortion and blocking of sound and radio waves.

    Kim Kyung-hwan said, throwing his eyes toward the bodyguards.

    ¡°They won¡¯t be able to hear our voices from that distance anyway?¡±

    ¡°There were cameras and taps all over the park.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Aah.¡±

    He, himself, didn¡¯t figure out that far.

    ¡°But why light distortion?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim continued her words with her head down. With shrunken shoulders and a clear, sharp voice that couldn¡¯t be associated with her sitting position.

    ¡°It¡¯s me wearing a mask, but you¡¯re not. They can also infer the contents of our conversation by looking at the movement of your lips. It looks like you are shutting your mouth outside of the barrier right now.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Didn¡¯t that go too far?¡±

    ¡°There is nothing bad about being careful.¡±

    She asked with her eyes fixed on the ground.

    ¡°So, why did you ask to meet me?¡±

    It was Kim Kyung-hwan who first requested a meeting with Hwang Soo-rim, who had been discharged. The apparent reason was that he wanted to ask about the regards and sharefort among those who survived the disaster. The government had no reason to deny that request. Of course, he didn¡¯t forget to bring security guards with him.

    However, Hwang Soo-rim knew well that Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s excuses couldn¡¯t be true. In response to her question, Kim Kyung-hwan said, after hesitating for a moment.

    ¡°¡­ I want to contact Eraser. Do you have a way?¡±

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s right eye widened as if it was unexpected.

    ¡°Why suddenly? He told you to be quiet for a while until he contacted you directly. It¡¯s the same for you and me.¡±

    ¡°I know that, but¡­¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s eyes were shaking.

    ¡°It¡¯s important, and it¡¯s urgent.¡±

    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s rted to the identity of Eraser.¡±

    ¡°Identity?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan turned his head and looked at Hwang Soo-rim.

    ¡°It hasn¡¯t been announced yet. There was an alien who came out of Busan Channel, and it told everyone a strange thing.¡±

    As if he was nervous, he pressed his fingers together and put strength on them.

    ¡°The alien came to this world in search of Eraser.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim didn¡¯t answer, but she stopped breathing at the moment. Kim Kyung-hwan continued his words.

    ¡°More precisely, Carraderina came to this world looking for a mortal with a Channel on his chest. It says he¡¯ll be near the nearest Channel of the Busan Channel. After all, it¡¯s talking about the Mapo Bridge Channel, right? When I heard these two pieces of information, the only thing that came to my mind was Eraser. It¡¯s ratherpelling not to make a connection.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan stopped talking for a while, swallowing his dry saliva.

    ¡°¡­ But?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim rushed in a voice that doesn¡¯t show any emotions. Kim Kyung-hwan continued.

    ¡°But there was a decisive mismatch between the words of this alien, which describes an object that¡¯s considered to be Eraser. It¡¯s also strange to assume that Carraderina isn¡¯t looking for Eraser. Coincidentally, is there another entity simr to Eraser in Korea? No. It must be Eraser. But the problem is¡­ that will lead to contradictions.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s probably hard to believe but, maybe Eraser¡­¡±

    He managed to spit out the next word with a trembling voice.

    ¡°ording to the words of this alien race, it seems that Eraser isn¡¯t a race from another world¡­ but a human!¡±

    The silence sank heavily on the shoulders of the two people sitting side by side on the bench. Kim Kyung-hwan took a deep breath to calm his confused head.

    Carraderina was an alien with enormous Mana that was iparable to the Kaifu. He couldn¡¯t imagine why it had to lie. Putting together its words, that alien knew countless numbers of information about Eraser that Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t know. However, information that couldn¡¯t be ignored was mixed with the part that Kim Kyung-hwan knew. It was important information that couldn¡¯t be mistaken.

    Hwang Soo-rim didn¡¯t answer for a while and kept silent.

    What she said next was beyond Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s expectations.

    ¡°¡­ You idiot! So, did you really think Eraser was an alien from another world?¡±

 Chapter 123

    Wizard¡¯s Name (2)

    Kim Kyung-hwan thought with a nk head. What was that all of a sudden?

    ¡°We already know the real alien who has been verified to havee from another world beyond the Channel. I mean the Kaifu.¡±

    He nodded slowly. Hwang Soo-rim said without looking forward.

    ¡°The experience of talking with Kaifu at the training center and the experience of talking with Eraser. Compare it well. We mostly talk with him in the dreams, but the dreams be vivid like reality after Eraser appears. So, you can easily recall them.¡±

    It was true. The moment he appeared, the dream turned into a lucid dream where he didn¡¯t wake up. It was rare to be dimmed or not as well remembered as other dreams.

    Kim Kyung-hwan recalled the conversation he had with Eraser. Twenty-three eyes were looking at him, and a small mouth. A mysterious voice that was in a dream but heard vividly as if it were reality. As he remembered, he soon realized what Hwang Soo-rim was trying to say.

    ¡°¡­ It can¡¯t be?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. What was the biggest difference between Kaifu and Eraser? Aside from teaching methods, think about when the conversation got longer. Focus on the reaction you heard and think about them.¡±

    He covered his face with his hands and said, groaning.

    ¡°Yeah, it waspletely different. Oh, my God.¡±

    Kaifu and Eraser¡ªthe biggest difference between the two was¡­

    Hwang Soo-rim said in a cold voice.

    ¡°It¡¯s been a little over a year since the Channel first opened. Even the aliens have limitations in learningnguages. It¡¯s not just a matter of words or grammar. Cultural background in one sentence, and knowledge of the world called Earth¡­ For a smooth conversation, these things have to be supported.¡±

    She continued her words.

    ¡°When I talk to Kaifu Instructors, I always pay attention to my words. Kaifu uses telepathy, so we had no problem understanding it, but the opposite direction was a problem. We spoke by voice, and Kaifu had to study and understand thenguage. Actually, I think it¡¯s more like a genius to learn that much in a short time.¡±

    The young man nodded helplessly.

    ¡°No, by human standards, it¡¯s a genius. As Kaifus were originally wizards, it would¡¯ve been possible since their heads rolled well, and because they were nobles, they would¡¯ve been used to learning and studying something.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim shrugged.

    ¡°No matter how genius they are, there is an absolute limit of time. So, I avoided saying anything they couldn¡¯t understand. Rather, there was no problem with the technical terms rted to magic, but when talking about other topics, you had to select the words properly tomunicate.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Yeah. That¡¯s right.¡±

    When speaking Korean to foreigners, I had to choose simple words to make it easier for the Kaifu to understood. Otherwise, it would be hard for them.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve heard about it, but one of the most frequent problems, when the training center was first opened, was rted to idioms. When the trainees said ¡®what a headache¡¯ like a habit during ss, the Kaifu instructors freaked out and took it very seriously.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan entered the training centerte and hadn¡¯t experienced it in person, but it was a case he had heard of.

    ¡°In their civilizations, when they say that their head hurts, it doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re struggling to understand difficult concepts. They only mean they¡¯re feeling real physical pain. Do you know what the mostmon example of such a Kaifu having a headache without trauma is? It¡¯s a case of infection by arva of a fly-like creature called ¡®Salimycenia.¡¯ Therva enters the body through the ears and then scours the inside of the skull. Yeah, it¡¯s like a maggot that eats brains.¡±

    Therva appeared to be the subject of great fear and vignce for the Kaifu.

    ¡°The Kaifu instructors were shocked and turned upside down when they first heard about the students having a headache.¡±

    It seemed to be highly contagious. Hwang Soo-rim continued to exin in a calm voice.

    ¡°¡­ A misunderstanding and trouble arose from such a small thing. It¡¯s not just because the nationalities are different, but because the races are different.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan already understood what she was trying to say.

    ¡°However¡­¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked as if she confirmed the unspoken.

    ¡°When talking to Eraser, have you ever felt so ufortable even once? Has Eraser ever asked you a concept as if he didn¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying?¡±

    No, he hadn¡¯t. Not even once.

    Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s face was distorted.

    ¡°At first, I doubted that he was reading my thoughts. But as time passed, I found out. Reading someone¡¯s mind isn¡¯t that simple. And even more against an opponent who learned magic like us who¡¯s strengthened our mental barrier.¡±

    She tilted her head and added while her gaze turned to the air.

    ¡°So next, I thought it was probably because it was a special environment called a dream. I wondered if my thoughts were leaking out without my knowledge since the magic that appears in someone else¡¯s dream itself is something that I cannot grasp the principle.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°The day Hun-neung was attacked, I had a conversation with Eraser in real life for the first time. The ce was no longer in a dream. At that time, after all, this felt a little weird. I couldn¡¯t hold back my doubts anymore.¡±

    She continued.

    ¡°It was the same after escaping the barrier of Hun-neung. I felt it again and again. Eraser¡¯snguage skills were perfect. To understand what I¡¯m saying, to speak directly. Either way.¡±

    Her eyes shone.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just that there are no errors in what he said. Well, the pronunciation was a bit unclear and clumsy. His voice is also peculiar so that you wouldn¡¯t have noticed it easily. However, don¡¯t be fooled by dull pronunciation or unique voice. Just think of the sentence itself, and you¡¯ll realize it¡¯s incredibly smooth.¡±

    He had no choice but to understand her words.

    ¡°Is that all? You saw that day, didn¡¯t you? Talking fox and bear.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I did.¡±

    ¡°The two talked in an old way. Eraser didn¡¯t have any trouble even talking to them. I¡¯ll say it again. It¡¯s only been over a year since the Channel opened.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    ¡°If you think about the period, it¡¯s impossible. After all, it means that he had lived in this world even before the Channel opened.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim said.

    ¡°Perhaps he has lived in this country for a long time, not for a year.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It wasn¡¯t that Kim Kyung-hwan overlooked the facts she pointed out.

    During the time he was taught by Eraser, he just thought there would be some way. Even though he was an alien, he had no obstacles withmunicating with himself since he was a foreign entity superior to the Kaifu. Eraser was Eraser, after all.

    He had never thought about that deeply. He might¡¯ve just avoided thinking about the parts he didn¡¯t want to think about.

    Hwang Soo-rim said with confidence, ¡°I finally came to this conclusion. At least, it¡¯s a lie that he was from another world.¡±

    She nodded and gave strength to her own words.

    ¡°Like the fox or the bear who we saw that day, I wondered if it was a spirit rooted in this world. That fox had nine tails, right? Why isn¡¯t there a nine-tailed fox in that ce with an alien race? I vaguely spected that the Eraser might be something simr, but it became clear when I heard you today. If the jellyfish were true, he¡¯s a human being.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan covered his face with both hands, and he muttered sadly.

    ¡°¡­ I¡¯m such an idiot!¡±

    What Eraser said lingered in his ears. Did he say that the alien¡¯s goal was to spread magic to other worlds? The mission of the alien?

    Eraser already lied to himself. It was also absurd to thought about it that time that there was only Kim Kyung-hwan in the world who learned his magic. Hwang Soo-rim, sitting right next to him, was the evidence.

    No. Since he thought about it, in the first ce, if the purpose was to spread magic, what was the need to pass it on to only one person? What if that only person died or something went wrong?

    He had already lied openly, but there was no reason he couldn¡¯t tell another lie, like, for example, something like Eraser¡¯s own identity.

    ¡°Aaaah!¡±

    He was upset since he was so pathetic. He was so angry that his eyes went dark. His body heated up and sweated. His wet shirt clung to his back.

    Kim Kyung-hwan crushed his face with his palm and mumbled something difficult to understand. He then suddenly raised his head and said.

    ¡°¡­ But it¡¯s weird. How can humans use such magic? As you said, it¡¯s only been more than a year since the Channel opened. I don¡¯t know which alien he learned magic from, but he¡¯s been like that for only a year!¡±

    ¡°Magic origins are not from another dimension, you idiot. This ¡®human,¡¯ called Eraser, knew how to use magic even before the Channel opened, maybe.¡±

    It was a possibility Kim Kyung-hwan had never imagined.

    ¡°Probably¡­ there must¡¯ve been a backside of the Earth that we don¡¯t know. Even before the Channel opened, there must¡¯ve been a society where the fox and the bear lived. I think Eraser somehow got involved with the back of the world. Maybe he learned magic from them¡­ long before the Channel opened.¡±

    ¡°Nonsense. It¡¯s so absurd.¡±

    ¡°Anyway, everything in this world is absurd.¡±

    ¡°If he¡¯s with a fox or a bear, isn¡¯t Eraser like a spirit after all? It looks weird, anyway. Why did Carraderina call Eraser a human being?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim mentioned once more the fact that Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°The appearance must¡¯ve been transformed with magic, and I think Eraser isn¡¯t the same group as the animals in the first ce. It¡¯s kind of a partnership.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim had been in contact with a crane named Song Hyun for a while and drank the poison she got from it. It was to create a situation where the government had no choice but to terminate her contract and let her go.

    After the escape from Hun-neung, Eraser wanted Hwang Soo-rim to leave the government. Hwang Soo-rim was specting that Eraser had thought that Kim Kyung-hwan was enough to spy on the government¡¯s movements for the long term.

    Whenever she met Song Hyun, Hwang Soo-rim asked something like that. The crane often avoided clear answers, but there wasn¡¯t much information that it unknowingly shed. Song Hyun had talked several times about the rtionship between their people and Eraser, which was interpreted as not the same team.

    Kim Kyung-hwan, who was clearing up his confusing mind, suddenly said.

    ¡°If he¡¯s a human being, the what the hell? What is the purpose? What if I ask Eraser directly?¡±

    ¡°What for?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim said with a frown.

    ¡°Are you going to dig in? Are you crazy? Didn¡¯t you see what that monster did to Hun-neung? Honestly, I¡¯m more scared of Eraser than the mad killers who raided the training camp that day. It doesn¡¯t matter whether he¡¯s human or not. I don¡¯t know what kind of crazy spell aftermath he did there that day, but you saw it, too!¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan trembled. What Eraser did at the Hun-neung Training Center that day was close to copsing the huge space itself, literally a few kilometers in radius. The world has copsed. The unidentified armed group, which vited the training center with overwhelming force, was also devastated like a rat in front of Eraser.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have to offend him. I¡¯m sure you¡¯re the same, but I signed a contract with Eraser, and the magical bond has not yet been broken. If I achieve my desired purpose through him, that¡¯s it. Honestly, I don¡¯t know who he is or what his real purpose is, but I do believe that even he must obey this contract. There would¡¯ve been a much easier way to control us at his will.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t disagree with her opinion. There would¡¯ve been many easy options using force other than thatplicated and troublesome method to use in the long-term. At least, from the perspective of Eraser himself. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt like Eraser was trying to follow the contract as much as possible.

    ¡°I¡¯ll say it again. It doesn¡¯t matter who he is, but you need to pass on the information you learned today.¡±

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°That jellyfish is looking for a human with a Channel opened on the chest. You need to inform Eraser. It¡¯s shameless, after all. If you keep it a secret for no reason and notice himte, you¡¯ll be more afraid of the aftermath¡­ maybe he¡¯s not taking you out of the government to prepare you for this situation in the first ce? Is that too much of a leap?¡±

    She only guessed so, but she didn¡¯t know the exact reason.

    ¡°Anyway, is there any way to contact Eraser?¡±

    She quietly nodded.

    ¡°I will tell him as you said.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Okay.¡±

    ¡°By the way, Kim Kyung-hwan. Let me ask you something.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked him with a dark look as if she hadplicated thoughts.

    ¡°I have something I want, so I¡¯ve signed a contract, and I continue helping Eraser¡­ No, to be exact, I¡¯m being called on. Anyway¡­¡±

    She shrugged.

    ¡°What the hell did you sign with Eraser?¡±

    ¡°¡­ You go first.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t open his mouth easily. Hwang Soo-rim responded without changing her eyes.

    ¡°There are jerks that don¡¯t mind to kill, but I can¡¯t find them on my own. Instead of helping me and teaching me magic, I¡¯m on a condition that I perform some of the missions that Eraser directs.¡±

    There were precisely two more missions left, and after telling such a detailed story from her mouth, Hwang Soo-rim turned the question around.

    ¡°How about you?¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan replied.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s simr to you. Eraser is supposed to teach me magic. To the point where my limits permit.¡±

    There was no teaching those days since there was a unterally advantageous use to one side that the number and frequency of sses could be adjusted ording to Eraser¡¯s circumstances.

    ¡°Then what is the price? What kind of mission do you have to do?¡±

    ¡°¡­ None.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°There is no such use like you¡­ I just need to keep a good secret about Eraser.¡±

    ¡°Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim shouted dumbfounded.

    ¡°Oh, fuck, it¡¯s so unfair! I have to roll like a dog the way Eraser tells me. Why are you sofortable? It¡¯s like being taught for free!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim felt a swell in her chest. It was the same as saying ¡°two mission¡± remained, and to be precise, ¡°two orders¡± remained. That was an important difference in meaning.

    In fact, the boundaries defining one mission were very blurry. Even if she were forced to do something, a procedure that amounted to a few pages of the contract when Eraser was giving an order, it was counted as a ¡®one mission.¡¯ Again, it was an unfair contract that was unterally advantageous to Eraser.

    She had no choice but toment in her heart. That was too much discrimination. Why did Eraser do such kind of favor to that guy?!

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim was puzzled and raised her eyebrows. From the point of view of Kim Kyung-hwan, he heard the good news that he signed a contract with better terms than others, but his face was still pale.

    ¡°¡­ I guess I wasn¡¯t very useful in the first ce. He didn¡¯t have to think about using me to do a mission or something.¡±

    Hearing that, Hwang Soo-rim made an ambiguous expression that was not easy to tell whether she was angry or not.

    Oh, that guy, he¡¯s hopeless. Instead of spitting out the words in her mind, Hwang Soo-rimforted Kim Kyung-hwan in her own way.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s enough. How can you guess what such a man is thinking about? Maybe he¡¯s a human, but he must be a monstrous old man who has lived for over a few hundred years, right? What if his real name turns out to be Merlin? Maybe he has lived so long that he has almost lost his humanity. It¡¯s understandable to have that much power.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan responded with a bitter smile.

    ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s possible, too. At least he¡¯s not the same age as us.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim promised again that she would deliver Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s words to Eraser. She then unwrapped the barriers surrounding them. In the bodyguards¡¯ eyes, the two seemed to sit side by side without saying a word.

    To avoid unnecessary suspicion, Kim Kyung-hwan acted as if he had barely dared to speak out. A few words scattered into the atmosphere. Hwang Soo-rim, whom the barrier could no longer disguise, bowed her head and trembled like a frightened and daunted person. In that state, she sat still without responding properly to Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s words.

    The two sat side by side for a few more minutes until Kim Kyung-hwan, tired of non-response, finally gave up and said goodbye. Kim Kyung-hwan lived in the government¡¯s safe house, and Hwang Soo-rim moved to the house where she lived before admission. Each bodyguard guarded the surroundings. Neither of them looked back.

 Chapter 124

    Wizard¡¯s Name (3)

    ¡°Then let¡¯s wrap it up here today.¡±

    That was a statement from the government representative of the negotiation team. The ce where they gathered was a detached house located near the border between Seoul and Seongnam. There was a line of ck glossy sedans parked in the building¡¯s basement, which looked like a typical private house from the outside.

    The people who came with those official vehicles were sitting in the living room. The interior, which blocked the outside¡¯s eyes with curtains, was transformed into a usible conference room. Government officials sat around a long table. The room was burning hot due to the body temperature.

    Sweat flowed down from Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s forehead. It was because of the temperature inside the house and also because of the tension he felt.

    He opened his mouth with everyone¡¯s eyes focused on him, and he just repeated what the Vice Minister had just said. The sight was like a parrot imitating words. However, what was important was not the act of speaking out loud but a piece of thought that was embodied in Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s mind when speaking.

    The person who read the thought responded.

    =I agree.=

    The alien entity was sitting on the seat of honor in the living room that turned into a conference room. To be precise, the expression of ¡®seat of honor¡¯ didn¡¯t fit. At the end of the long table, it wasn¡¯t a chair but a soft single bed that fitted its size.

    Although only the brain and a few tissues were removed from the main body, it was still several times the human size. The alien was on the mattress shaped like a round purple jelly mass, whose organs such as the brain could be seen. Kim Kyung-hwan took his gaze away from its translucent body. He then tranted its words to the government negotiators.

    ¡°It¡¯s saying yes.¡±

    Drops of sweat flowed down.

    The negotiation team exchanged nces. Carraderina rolled its body and came down under the mattress. It then moved slowly and climbed the stairs to the second floor. Wherever the alien¡¯s bodies move, traces of transparent mucus remained as if mopping with water.

    Around the corner leading upstairs, it returned to the resting area. The negotiators, who were watching quietly, only sighed after Carraderina hadpletely disappeared.

    ¡°Phew, it ended well today.¡±

    ¡°Thank you all for your hard work.¡±

    The officials looked at each other and chatted to see if the tension had been relieved. Some people leaned on their backs for the first time after entering that house and rested, while others took out handkerchiefs and wiped the sweat off the back of their necks.

    ¡°Thank you very much, Wizard.¡±

    The first person to stand up and approach Kim Kyung-hwan was the First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the negotiation team¡¯s head.

    He was an experienced person in charge of negotiations with the Kaifu. He also negotiated with a different ethnic group rather than a diplomat from another country due to the rapid change of times.

    The First Vice Minister reached out to Kim Kyung-hwan. He got up from his seat without a different expression on his face and received his handshake.

    ¡°Our performance is quite significant today.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Yes.¡±

    ¡°The information that Carraderina gives is truly amazing. In particr, it was the first time to hear that there is a ¡®Seed¡¯ of the Channel. Besides that, the information about the wizard, the Reclusive Soul, is probably unknown to any country except Korea. It must be useful.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan nodded.

    Carraderina said that it was an ¡®ascetic¡¯ who served the Truth-Seeker. Kim Kyung-hwan knew the meaning of those words now. What surprised him specifically was that the officials in the negotiations seemed to have known the meaning of the Truth-Seeker in advance. It was probably information that had been thoroughly controlled by the public so far.

    It seemed that the subject of the control included Hun-neung¡¯s trainees. However, Kim Kyung-hwan was an exception. The government could no longer reject him from such information.

    The reason was simple. If Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t interpret the negotiation to exchange information with the alien, the negotiation itself couldn¡¯t proceed.

    Kim Kyung-hwan raised his right hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead. The Vice Minister, who looked at it carefully, said.

    ¡°You seem to be very tired. Well, it takes a lot of concentration to trante a foreignnguage. Still, you¡¯re interpreting telepathy just now, so it must be hard and difficult for ordinary people like us to imagine.¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ well¡­ that¡¯s right¡­¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan didn¡¯t deny it.

    In reality, the reason he felt exhausted wasn¡¯t due to the act of interpreting itself. Tomunicate with Carraderina, it was necessary to control his mind and reveal only the part he should. Kim Kyung-hwan had no choice but to pay keen attention to prevent his deep consciousness from being leaked out.

    Officials who couldn¡¯t even know the detailed principle thought telepathy wasn¡¯t easy magic even for a wizard like Kim Kyung-hwan.

    The government, which relied on Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s interpretation, took great care of him. He was assisted by several attendants to maintain his condition. It was a protocol in which attendants even raised a ss of water for him to add a little exaggeration.

    The First Vice Minister raised a meaningful smile in his mouth.

    ¡°Thank you, all the time. I don¡¯t know what would have happened to us without you, Mr. Wizard. Nowadays, just thinking like that makes me dizzy. Even after contacting the aliens, themunication couldn¡¯t be possible, so all this valuable information would¡¯ve been sent out. Mr. Wizard, you are really a treasure of Korea.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Ah, well.¡±

    Looking at him answering, Vice Minister thought that Kim Kyung-hwan¡¯s expression was unusually stiff that day, but he didn¡¯t take it seriously. He considered it to be a big consumption of mental power.

    Kim Kyung-hwan asked in a dry voice.

    ¡°Is the government also looking for the wizard called the Reclusive Soul?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s hard to find a clue.¡±

    ¡®As expected.¡¯ Kim Kyung-hwan muttered inside.

    Words he couldn¡¯t say there echoed in his mind one after another. Though in the first ce, he wasn¡¯t the person you could find just because you were looking for him. He was a monster that tore and destroyed even space-time to achieve his purpose.

    He asked just in case, but it was as he expected. It seemed that they didn¡¯t intend to wait until the alien who hadpleted the information exchange went on its own exploration. Kim Kyung-hwan swallowed his words toward the Korean government. Those people shouldn¡¯t touch his temper, or the country could fall under Eraser¡¯s might.

    The First Vice Minister said, looking at his stern expression in thought.

    ¡°You don¡¯t look very well. Hurry up and go out. Here, here! Please take a look at the wizard.¡±

    ¡°Ah, I don¡¯t need any help.¡±

    Kim Kyung-hwan refused the hand of his attendant. He then slowly got up from his seat.

    He forcibly suppressed the urge to look behind him while walking away. As soon as Carraderina moved to the second floor, Kim Kyung-hwan moved his hand under the table to attach something small to the furniture¡¯s legs. No one seemed to notice the movement.

    Was that going to be a sess? Was that the right thing to do?

    Drops of sweat dripped again due to the rising tension. The attendant who saw his appearance was restless and handed out a handkerchief to Kim Kyung-hwan. Other officials had also vanished. There was no one left in the living room.

    ***

    Silence settled on the first floor, where everyone disappeared. Carraderina was sleeping on the second floor, and there were no people in the house under its wishes. Everyone was watching inside with surveince cameras ced indoors while keeping tight security outside the house.

    -Flinch!

    The change began in that quiet space near the table leg where Kim Kyung-hwan sat. The tiny object he put there was the egg of a certain creature. Oval granules turned white. It was about the size of a grain of rice. The surface bulged without anyone noticing.

    It was the egg of a creature called ¡®Shockmeem.¡¯ The embryo in the eggshell was stunned by Yoon Min-joon¡¯s magic just before breaking the egg. ording to its instinct, it resumed the movement to tore the eggshell and came out.

    -Boooook!

    It tore the mucous membrane of the shell with a sharp w-like mouth. It wriggled and crawled out, clinging to the legs of the desk. The newborn Shockmeem spread its wings, dried them for a while, and then transparently melted into the atmosphere. It began to act ording to the behavioral instructions contained in the gene.

    The Shockmeem, which was small enough to be noticed, had a w-shaped mouth and three pairs of wings when viewed in a close-up view. However, surveince cameras were unable to capture the image of this tiny creature in the video. As soon as it came out of the egg, it cast invisibility ording to its instinct.

    -Bwoooong!

    The baby Shockmeem flew away, driven by hunger. It stuck to the floor. It began to gnaw the dry slime left behind by Carraderina when it was crawling the floor. It absorbed the concentrated Mana contained in it.

    -Bzzzzzz

    It was a dense Mana that was hard to see in the world¡¯s ecosystem where the Shockmeem originated. Nutrients were quickly stocked in the body. A Shockmeem that replenished its energy activated a sensitive sense of smell.

    The baby creature who just broke the egg was always female. Later, when certain environmental conditions were met, they transform into males. The Shockmeem hatched at the temporary residence of Carraderina quickly grasped the surroundings.

    Were there any males around there? Not at all.

    Was it an environment that allowed me to transform myself into a male? I didn¡¯t think so.

    Was the environment favorable for survival, such as temperature and humidity? It was average.

    Was the energy stored in the body enough? Yes.

    Was there enough food around? Very much so.

    -Bzzzz¡­ Bzzzzzzzzzzz!

    After checking so far, the Shockmeem judged ording to the algorithm entered into the gene.

    In that situation, I wouldy eggs without a male.

    The Shockmeem started ovtion using the nutrients umted in the body andid three eggs. The embryos, which recognized that there was food around them, immediately broke the egg and hatched.

    -Wiggle!

    Three transparent baby insects were crawling on the floor. Soon they spread their wings, moved from ce to ce, ate the dried mucus, and quickly grew to the size of their mother. It was the speed of reproduction and growth that couldn¡¯t be found in Earth¡¯s ecosystem.

    Currently, the three females with the eggs were born without mating, and they were just a copy of the mother¡¯s genes. Rather than a true meaning of reproduction, it was a simple act of cloning that had little potential for evolution.

    -Bzzz!¡­ Bzzzzzzzzzzz!

    Nevertheless, the mother, Shockmeem chose the option of asexual reproduction. That was due to increasing the number, even if it was an utterly identical individual.

    In other words, it had increased the possibility of transferring its genes to the next generation by mixing them with other individual genes. Since food was secured around them, they continued to reproduce even if it was just self-replicating in this way.

    In such a way, the babiesid eggs again, and the babies bornid eggs again, and they quickly became thousands. There was no more dry mucus or food left on the floor.

    -Bwoooong!

    The group of Shockmeems increased to a number that was iparable to the first. It consisted of all females who flew up to the second floor following the delicious smell.

    -Bwooong! Bwoooooong!

    It made a very small sound when it was one, but it made enough noise when that amount was gathered. It wasn¡¯t heard by the agents¡¯ ears watching over the monitor, but it was loud enough for Carraderina to hear.

    Eventually, Carraderina woke up. It faced the swarm of flying bugs, which its own eyes couldn¡¯t be deceived although they cast invisibility, covered its room, and approached it.

    It then screamed in its mind.

    -Kyaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

    Frightened, Carraderina spat out curses inside.

    What the hell were those disgusting bugs?

    The creatures didn¡¯t exist in Carraderina¡¯s world. It was a bug that swarmed around in that size and used invisibility!

    Astonished, Carraderina unconsciously tried to sway the swarm of bugs with one of its own eighteen legs. It then suddenly realized that it had no legs on its body at that moment.

    However, because the brain and the half-ring tube controlled its magic have been brought so far, it instantlybined magic. When itpleted the spell and tried to explode all those bugs, the Shockmeem group felt the air changed. Instinct-stimting substances impulsed thousands of females.

    ¡®¡­ What. What¡¯s wrong?¡¯

    Thousands of transparent insects that were moving together in one ce suddenly showed strange movements. It was a phenomenon only visible to Carraderina¡¯s eyes.

    What the countless individuals felt at once was the hormone released by the male. The female Shockmeems began to dance courtship when they feel the male hormones. The dance wasn¡¯tpletely random but rather a high-level movement that moved agilely ording to the induction of hormones emitted by males.

    At that moment, each Shockmeem entity began to makeplex movements in the air, attracted by the stimting hormone, and¡­

    Carraderina spread keen consciousness.

    =¡­ What is it! Who is it?!=

    It pulled herself together and started exploring by creating a of Mana.

    What the hell was that about? It asked itself out of alert. Transparent bugs moving in the air were drawing characters used in the civilization of Carraderina, which couldn¡¯t have been passed on to that world where the Channel was just opened!

    It desperately continued its detection, but it was vain. There wasn¡¯t even a handful of Mana that could be felt nearby.

    ¡­ It wasn¡¯t manipted through magic?

    ¡®What the hell is it?!¡¯

    It desperately radiated its magic, but, after all, nothing was detected.

    If the opponent moved those insects with magic, sent a message by magic, or somehow sent the will, Carraderina was confident of tracing it back to find out where the other person was.

    However, it couldn¡¯t really feel anything around here nor what kind of method was used. It had never imagined that that was the induction of movement through hormones of unknown creatures.

    Carraderina created a shield around to defend against an unexpected attack. It then read the text once again. The bugs in front of its eyes were dancing in the air.

    It wasn¡¯t an illusion. It was almost impossible to create such a sophisticated string by chance.

    The sentences drawn by the dance of the bugs had that meaning.

    -Why are you looking for the Reclusive Soul?

 Chapter 125

    Wizard¡¯s Name (4)

    Carraderina regained its coolness. It didn¡¯t know where he was hiding, but its opponent¡¯s Mana wasn¡¯t detected. It was clear that the Reclusive Soul was sending that message himself, or at least someone who had something to do with him.

    It upgraded its appraisal of the Reclusive Soul in her mind. It knew that the Truth-Seeker favored him. However, no matter how excellent he was, Carraderina had expected that his power and magic were still below her magic. The life span of a human who hasn¡¯t crossed the wall was obvious.

    Unable to locate its opponent, Carraderina spread her consciousness throughout the house.

    =Are you the Reclusive Soul? I heard that you are a man who couldn¡¯t cross the wall, but I didn¡¯t know you would be a wizard with this much power.=

    That alien couldn¡¯t feel the opponent¡¯s Mana at all. The magic traces that controlled the insects had to reach that ce, even if the subject that triggered it was hiding in another continent. It didn¡¯t matter how far the wizard himself was. The ce where the insects were moving was right there.

    Knowing that its opponent¡¯s way of sending messages wasn¡¯t based on magic, Carraderina was nervous, guessing that the Reclusive Soul¡¯s power as a wizard would far exceed itself.

    The bugs danced and scattered in the air. Suddenly, they made another string.

    -How did you get to know the information about the Reclusive Soul?

    Being wary of the opponent¡¯s power, Carraderina replied honestly.

    =I am an ascetic. As you know, there is a way for Truth-Seekers tomunicate with each other across dimensional barriers. The Truth-Seeker I serve has heard the story of you through another Truth-Seeker.=

    The worm reconstructed the string at high speed.

    -What is the name of the Truth-Seeker of that dimension?

    Carraderina answered the name that remained in its memory.

    =It said its name was the ¡®Song of Chaos¡¯.=

    ***

    ¡°Ah, shit, this chatty Truth-Seeker. Please, shut that mouth, please!¡±

    With the heat rising to my head, I almost threw the artifact I was holding.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t the Truth-Seeker want to be a god? Is it so easy to be a god? I don¡¯t know what that guy does with souls, but anyway, doesn¡¯t it do any practice or training? It should have prepared or worked hard to be a god, but why is it always making this shit by gossiping with other dimensions¡¯ Truth-Seekers? When will it be happy about it? Stop doing silly things and get the souls out of the Earth harder. Ah, please. Shit.¡±

    I spoke with a huff of wild breath.

    ¡°It¡¯s already the second time!¡±

    The first time, Eraser came to that world and wandered in search of me because of the information shed by Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest, the ¡®Song of Chaos.¡¯ Eraser knew my existence by trading information with the Truth-Seeker of the world he belonged to.

    That time again, it was a repetition of a simr incident. A Truth-Seeker beyond the Busan Channel who noticed my existence sent an ascetic to find me.

    [¡­ It will not be a protest to Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, but I think you should ask it a favor. You¡¯d better go to that dimension soon.]

    Parvache sent an anxious thought next to me. The will of the alien flowed into my mind.

    =Contractor, what should I answer? It is asking again if you are the Reclusive Soul.=

    It was a huge Shockmeem sitting in front of me that sent the telepathy. It was the entity I summoned that time. It had a shape that closely resembled the thousands of bugs flying in front of Carraderina, but the size was so huge that it was hard topare. It was simr to the hippopotamus I saw at the zoo before.

    Currently, that ce was my living room. There was no way to trace back to that ce, as my Mana wasn¡¯t involved in the ce where Carraderina was located. Even if that alien became crazy and scanned a range of tens of kilometers around, there was no trace left to identify me.

    ¡°¡­ Don¡¯t answer that question. Just ask again. What is its reason for seeking the ¡®Reclusive Soul¡¯?¡±

    Parvache, who heard me, transformed it into a character used in the world of Carraderina and conveyed it as a will. After the Shockmeem recognized the telepathy sent by Parvache, it erupted a unique pheromone that we couldn¡¯t feel.

    That entity I summoned was a male Shockmeem, and as you could guess from its huge body, it had lived for quite some time and had a reason. It was currently receiving my Mana through artifacts in my hand. In return, it used the peculiar abilities of its race to recognize the existence and movement of females in distant ces and controlled them by erupting pheromones.

    That pheromone was one of the reasons for choosing Shockmeem as a means of delivering messages. Even if the Shockmeems were released hundreds of kilometers away, they could immediately recognize the pheromones of the male sex.

    It was called pheromone, not substances that slowly floated in the form of molecules in the atmosphere. However, when applying that world¡¯s physicalws, it seemed to show a kind of motion close to radio waves. The ability developed because there were too few males than the number of females, and the world inhabited was too vast.

    =Okay, I will deliver it exactly like that.=

    My question was conveyed. Thousands of females danced in courtship under the male¡¯s guidance, and Carraderina, who recognized the movement in itsnguage, answered with the will. The females, who felt it in the form of brain waves, responded to the male by emitting pheromones.

    At a distance of several tens of kilometers from them, the male turned to me. Carraderina¡¯s answer was delivered to me through the female Shockmeems and the telepathy of the male Shockmeem.

    =I will deliver the words of the Truth-Seeker. Reclusive Soul, we would like to invite you to our dimension.=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    There was a pause due to the unexpected answer.

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    I felt a deep irritation and headacheing up together. Oh, what kind of nonsense was that?

    [¡­ Ah, really¡­]

    Parvache also exuded a sigh of resentment in his mind.

    [I thought the death of the Dragonpletely cut off your rtionship with the Truth-Seeker, and I don¡¯t know what fate this is, why there are so many Truth-Seeker who are interested in you, Min-joon?]

    I spat it out bluntly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Oh, really, this dirty bastard.¡±

    In the meantime, the strong will of the male Shockmeem I summoned stimted my mind without notice.

    =Contractor, the Mana that is delivered to me is decreasing. =

    It looked like I lost my concentration in confusion. I again injected Mana into the artifact in my hand. The price of the contract to be given to Shockmeem was simple. It just wanted a huge Mana with high purity. It was faithful to the desire to produce more semen by using it as a nutrient.

    That male Shockmeem was unusually long-lived and said that one in five of its people in their world had inherited its genes, either directly or indirectly. Nevertheless, the desire to spread the seeds seemed endless.

    ¡°We can¡¯t stop talking here, can we?¡±

    I wanted to tell Carraderina to shut it off because I simply wouldn¡¯t do that. Was it inviting me to that dimension? It was nonsense. Did it think I would believe that?

    I doubt the intention, but even if my safety was guaranteed, I couldn¡¯t afford it. For now, it was urgent to find the Dragon¡¯s soul and explore the dimension beyond the Shanghai Channel.

    [You still have to figure out its intentions.]

    Upon hearing Parvache¡¯s answer, I nodded.

    ¡°Ask the reason for the invitation.¡±

    Carriderina¡¯s answer to my question via Parvache, male Shockmem, and female Shockmeems was, as expected, out of my expectations.

    =The Truth-Seeker is extremely interested in this world. =

    It seemed that Carraderina was convinced that the person who delivered that message was me.

    =Reclusive Soul, the Truth-Seeker I serve, intends to explore the traces of those who originally had jurisdiction over this world. It wants to know what he had been doing in this dimension.=

    It wanted to know what the Dragon who ruled the Earth had been doing?

    Carraderina¡¯s words continued through the Shockmeems.

    =The fact that Channel is left on your chest is self-evident. It means that you mean a lot to the Truth-Seeker. My master judged you to be the most obvious clue left in this world.=

    I spat out a curse quietly. After all, it meant that it wanted to get information about the Dragon through me.

    Yeah, the reason why the Dragon nted a Seed on my chest shouldn¡¯t be boring. However, it was certainly not something I would wee that Truth-Seekers from other worlds would study me.

    ¡°Why are you interested in a Truth-Seekers who is already dead?¡±

    Carraderina seemed unaware that the ascetics of the Earth were seeking the resurrection of the Dragon. How would it react if it knew about it? It was difficult to predict since the other being¡¯s intention was unknown.

    =My master has a question. It is suspected that the dimensional barrier created by the Truth-Seeker who had jurisdiction over this world, the ¡°ck Hermit,¡±¡­ was more powerful than necessary in his life.=

    What?

    =The original purpose of the dimensional barrier is clear. It was preventing another dimension¡¯s Truth-Seeker from breaking through the Channel. Since he was the one who didn¡¯t need to take the soul from another dimension anyway, he gave up attacking and built a barrier focused solely on defense. That¡¯s understandable so far.=

    ¡°Didn¡¯t need to take the soul? Why?¡±

    The answer to that question came back a bitte.

    =Of course, because this world is a blessing to Truth-seeker. When the world is created, the soul already exists there. However, the absolute number can berge or small, depending on the dimension. I heard that this world is a world with an extremelyrge number of souls. Among them are the souls, which are the native people of this world.=

    I nodded as I recalled the poption of the Earth. Well, seven billion was a lot. The reason why the poption could increase that much was supported by environmental conditions such as science and technology. Still, it seemed that it was also because many souls could be conceived in the body.

    =However, the dimensional barrier created by the ck Hermit did not simply prevent the creation of Channels. It was a powerful barrier that made even the observation of this world difficult. There would have been a price to keep it. What is the reason he tried to hide within the barrier while avoiding the eyes of Gods even though he had to bear that kind of thing?=

    Carraderina threw an unexpected word.

    =It seems that his actions have left this worldrgely unaffected by God. Some Gods seeded in sending apostles, but they rarely increased. While the ck Hermit was alive, he quarantined his dimension so thoroughly. My master is curious about what else the Truth-Seeker might have been nning to be a God even if he uses only the souls that already exist in the world.=

    You could be a God by using only the soul that already existed?

    Paying attention to the meaning of those words, I asked back.

    ¡°Do you mean seven billion souls of the natives are enough to be a God? =

    Once again, unexpected answers came back.

    =Seven billion? What do you mean?=

    ¡°¡­ Don¡¯t you know? About seven billion human beings are living in this world.¡±

    Across a few bridges, Carraderina¡¯s words continued.

    =I heard that the number of souls of natives in this world is iparable to the number of natives who live their lives.=

    I had never recognized the ring of reincarnation with my own senses. Among Yusu¡¯s race, those called the elders said that although they could see the concentration of souls far away, they couldn¡¯t count the number of souls.

    What Carraderina said currently was that more souls couldn¡¯t acquire human life than the souls who had. So, some of the souls had to wait for the order to be born as humans? Or were they downgraded to be born as animals? Except for sub-soulless creatures, how many tens of billions in total?

    However, my prediction was so naive. I had no choice but to lose my words when Carraderina responded.

    =Indeed¡­ In this young world, the souls of over 50 trillion natives are overwhelming. No matter how prosperous civilization is, it is the number of souls that can¡¯t be handled. Perhaps there will be no time when the number of human beings who survive in the same era exceeds 50 trillion until the end of the world. That¡¯s why my master has questions. Why are there so many souls in this world? What the ck Hermit was doing with such souls in this fertilend while avoiding the eyes of Gods¡­=

 Chapter 126

    Wizard¡¯s Name (5)

    Listening to the story made me curious, too. Why was that world so special? Why was the soul so rich in that ce alone, and what n was the Dragon up to?

    However, nothing came back to me to satisfy my intellectual curiosity.

    No matter how many souls there were in that world, it was said that in the next few hundred years, all of them would be taken away to other worlds. No matter what the Dragon was nning, he was already dead, and I would prevent its resurrection. Whatever the ascetics do, it had no meaning unless the Dragon, the main subject of the n, survived.

    I said, ¡°I refuse the invitation. The Dragon is dead, and whatever his n was, it¡¯s like a failure. The Truth-Seeker wouldn¡¯t have done that in preparation for the world after his death.¡±

    I conveyed what I thought about.

    ¡°And crucially, what can your master do just because I¡¯m going over there? I think you already know, but the only traces of Dragons left in me is the Channel. Can your master see the Dragon¡¯s n by looking at this Channel? It¡¯s absurd.¡±

    Carraderina¡¯s answer came back.

    =No, my master thinks differently. As already exined, the ck Hermit has no motivation to open a Channel to another world. Nevertheless, he left a Seed on your chest. This is meaningful.=

    Wait, that was a contradiction. There were so many souls in that world that he didn¡¯t need to open Channels and take them from other worlds. Why did he nt a Seed on my body?

    =My master guessed that the ck Hermit probably wanted to evolve the Channel on your chest into an adult. He then would¡¯ve connected it to any dimension. Even at the cost of making a slight w in the integrity of the dimension barrier.=

    ¡­ What?

    ¡°Why is that so?¡±

    =Do you know? After the Channel evolves into an adult, your body bes close to immortality, and you cannot even die or reincarnate.=

    Yes, it would be a piece of meat that couldn¡¯t die even if you want to die.

    =The moment the Channel ispletely open, your soul is now trapped in your body. You can¡¯t get out of the grip of the ck Hermit. It¡¯s also impossible to buy time by running away with the ring of reincarnation. You can¡¯t live freely through reincarnation. This is indeed the perfect restraint. That¡¯s what it means to create a Channel in the mortal body.=

    Carraderina continued.

    =The Truth-Seeker will possess your soul perfectly for a long time. With the current body locked. This is apletely different approach from the way the Truth-Seeker treats the souls of the mortal. Originally, randomly among the souls joining the ring of reincarnation of the world¡­ Ah, it would be better to talk to my master in detail on this part.=

    My head hurt more after hearing it.

    ¡°¡­ Why the hell only me?¡±

    =Let¡¯s find out why. If the ck Hermit had considered you so precious, he would¡¯ve taken other steps instead of simply leaving a Channel. My master is trying to find the trace.=

    Further action on me?

    As soon as I heard it, something came to my mind. A ck smoke-like memory that even Yodmo couldn¡¯t interpret its identity. Shortly, I shook my head and dismissed the possibility. It was buried in memories before the age of seven. However, the Channel opened when I was eight years old.

    The Dragon couldn¡¯t have left the ck memory. It then should be interpreted that the Dragon had been watching me for at least a year before nting the Seed.

    I got goosebumps when I thought all the way there.

    Still, it couldn¡¯t be. If he had any intention, he could just use his hand. Why would he have been watching me for over a year?

    No, let¡¯s focus on the current situation. I made up my mind again.

    ¡°No matter how much I think about it, I think it¡¯s a suicidal act to let a Truth-Seeker-ss entity study me. The Dragon is dead, and now it is irreversible. Would it make sense to study what his n was? Anyway, whatever the reason, I can¡¯t ept the offer.¡±

    =Of course, I guessed it was an offer that you could not easily ept. Therefore, there is a condition that my master has prepared.=

    Carraderina said.

    =Reclusive Soul, have you ever thought about it? What will happen to the dimension without a Truth-Seeker in the future?=

    I had already guessed about the future of that world, and it was proved through Alice. It would be a world where all souls were taken away through Channels, and most living things were extinct.

    Carraderina said after it repeated the same story as I thought.

    =That is the end of the dimension where the original Truth-Seeker disappeared. It bes a soulless world and remains a primitive dimension filled with low-level creatures. However, what if there is a way to avoid the expected oue?=

    ¡°¡­ Well?¡±

    =It seems like you must listen to this story first. This dimension is now the subject of interest of numerous Truth-Seekers¡­ because there is no Truth-Seeker, who guards this wealthy dimension.=

    ¡°Yes, I supposed so.¡±

    =But their concern is only to take away the souls of this dimension. They don¡¯t care what this world, called Earth, will eventually be.=

    It was just as I guessed.

    =But my Master¡¯s thoughts are different. It isn¡¯t only interested in the souls here, but in this dimension itself.=

    ¡°What does that mean?¡±

    =That¡¯s what it means, Reclusive Soul.=

    With Shockmeem¡¯s will, Carraderina¡¯s exnation is delivered.

    =My master has a n to abandon his current dimension and be the Truth-Seeker of Earth, right here.=

    ***

    My head was throbbing.

    ¡°What? Why here? There are hundreds of holes in it, and the souls are being taken away.¡±

    Even if it became the Truth-Seeker of Earth, that ce would be an empty dimension within hundreds of years, but why did it dare to?

    =Well, if there are too many Channels open, the answer is simple. What you need to do is to close them.=

    Alice said that the resurrected Truth-Seeker would close the dimensional door through the Earth to stop the souls from leaking.

    ¡°How?¡±

    =Adult channels are essentially connected only between the same level dimensions. It can¡¯t be connected to a higher dimension. This ce is the lowest level even among the connected ones, so souls are only leaking out. But what if you grow Earth¡¯s level and surpass the other dimensions? The soul will not flow out of that Channel. It will turn into an inflow.=

    hat meant that the role of the doors that were already open would change. Not the outlet, not the exit, but the entrance. Did it say that the soul flowed high?

    =It won¡¯t stop there. The Earth already has enough souls, so there is no need to keep inflow. If so, there is no reason to leave hundreds of Channels open and leave anxiety elements. You just need to develop the dimension at a rapid pace and evolve it to a higher level.=

    In the end, it didn¡¯t require the inflow of souls, so it seemed to mean that the Earth could move to the next category, namely, the next level to disconnect.

    Carraderina continued its exnation.

    =After that, as the ck Hermit did, you focus only on defense with a high dimensional barrier. As soon as it reached a higher level, all existing adult Channels will be disconnected. Oh, the Seeds nted on your chest won¡¯t be affected since no fixed dimension was connected. The ck Hermit was probably thinking of evolving the dimension and then turning your Seed into an adult. However, my master has no ns to do that.=

    Its exnation followed.

    =Also, the disappearance of all existing Channels will greatly impact the lives of mortals in this dimension. If you wish for peace in this world, it would be meaningful.=

    Through borrowing Shockmeem¡¯s will, Carraderina delivered its proposal.

    =My master wants to be the Truth-Seeker of this world. That way, you can avoid the expected destruction. But before that, my master needs to figure out what the hell the ck Hermit was doing in this world. Because if it is something rted to God¡­ it could be a great risk factor.=

    In a word, it wanted to gulp that world, but since there was a suspicious part, it wanted to know what the former owner did? Moreover, that guy thought the only clue was me.

    =I suggest this to you, Reclusive Soul. Cooperating with my master guarantees yourplete freedom after it bes the Truth-Seeker of this world. If you need anything, it will support you as much as possible. Originally Truth-Seekers are not interested in the lives of mortals, but your request will be an exception. Moreover, it is advantageous for my master to have jurisdiction over this world, even by looking at your entire race. It will prevent the destruction of your people, and all of these Channels will disappear beyond your control.=

    I sighed.

    That alien really didn¡¯t know how to negotiate. There was nothing much in my favor that Carraderina¡¯s master offered me that time. If the Channels closed, the world would be safer, but did it make sense to offer me as a subject of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s research in return?

    How could it make such a tant offer? Was it because it was the absolute strongest?

    Moreover, there was a w in that statement.

    ¡°Wait a minute. The scenario we just talked about. If that¡¯s possible, why aren¡¯t other Truth-Seekers doing that? If there are still enough souls on Earth, can they just take the Earth¡¯s jurisdiction and then close all Channels. And can¡¯t they just start the wealthy life that Dragon enjoyed instead?¡±

    =Two conditions must be met for this n to be realized. First, before the Earth is deprived of its souls as it is now, it should be a Truth-Seeker that can quickly grow the dimension and evolve to a higher level than the superior dimension among the same level dimensions. Other Truth-Seekers are simply content to absorb the Earth¡¯s souls because they don¡¯t have that capacity.=

    In other words, most Truth-Seekers were satisfied with sticking a straw in the treasureplex called Earth, but Carraderina¡¯s master had the ability to rob the entire treasure and then cut off all other straws.

    Also, I noted one possibility. Alice said the resurrected Dragon would close all Channels. The n was already arranged before he died.

    In the end, it meant that he had the ability to do so.

    ¡°But it¡¯s still weird. Then why didn¡¯t the Dragon¡­ the ck Hermit grow this dimension earlier? No, but before that, what does it mean for the Truth-Seeker to grow the dimension?¡±

    =There is information that I cannot answer to that question¡­ Hmm? Ah, wait.=

    With thest will, Carraderina didn¡¯te back for a while.

    After waiting for a while, Shockmeem told me.

    =Should I maintain control of the females? There is no response from the other person.=

    I nodded.

    ¡°Yes, just keep it this way¡­¡±

    =Ah, just now!=

    Shockmeem¡¯s consciousness cut me off.

    =The being called Carraderina just spat out its thoughts, but¡­=

    ¡°But?¡±

    Shockmeem¡¯s telepathy showed signs of confusion.

    =Unlike until now, I can¡¯t understand the contents. Above all, it seems that more than half of the group of females who received the will have died.=

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    I opened my eyes to an unbelievable story.

    =The will is too strong. To the extent that newborn females cannot handle it¡­=

    So, in other words, they were exterminated for just one telepathic perception?

    At that moment, Shockmeem said again.

    =That person is talking again. It¡¯s weaker than before, but¡­ something is different. This isn¡¯t Carraderina speaking directly. It seems that someone is talking instead through its mind.=

    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯

    ¡°Did you understand what it was saying this time?¡±

    The Shockmeem mimicked Carraderina¡¯s consciousness that it recognized through the females.

    =Hey there, hello?=

    ¡°¡­¡±

    Compared to the previous one, the feeling waspletely different.

    The Shockmeem continued to convey the opponent¡¯s telepathy.

    =Is this enough? Oh, they are dead a lot, but can they hold on now? Come on, Reclusive Soul. Are you getting my message?=

    I answered.

    ¡°¡­ I can hear you.¡±

    The Shockmeem females reconstructed the string, and the person who read it replied.

    =Hello? I¡¯m ¡®Gramiel.¡¯ I will tell you about my true name as a Truth-Seekerter. The name I just told you now is the name I used before the second evolution. Yes, it¡¯s the name I used in the civilization that I lived in then. As you might have guessed, I¡¯m Carraderina¡¯s master. I¡¯m talking with this child¡¯s spirit now. Did you understand?=

    I exchanged eyes with Parvache. I remembered meeting the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker before, and I felt the intense will to dug out the mind. A simr phenomenon seemed to have urred at that time.

    I gave the answer assuming the other person¡¯s words were true.

    ¡°¡­ I understand.¡±

    The opponent responded.

    =Yes, I was watching yourmunication with Carraderina, and you kept prying into things that this child didn¡¯t know. I came to answer for you, but, by the way¡­=

    There was a distinct edge to the Truth-Seeker¡¯s will, which was delivered with a brief gap.

    =You¡¯re making me feel a little bad. At best, I sent the ascetic as an ambassador. Are you ying with these bugs in front of it?=

 Chapter 127

    Wizard¡¯s Name (6)

    Cold sweat was trickling down on my back.

    ¡°Please understand. It was impossible to throw myself into danger without being able to verify the authenticity.¡±

    ¡®Damn it.¡¯ I swore inside.

    I didn¡¯t expect the Truth-Seeker itself would be involved in that conversation. It was already the third Truth-Seeker who wanted to get involved in my lifetime. Anyway, that was awful!

    =Hmm¡­ right.=

    With a slight gap, the will continued again.

    =It feels bad, but¡­ on the one hand, it¡¯s a bit fun, too. These bugs were called from another dimension, right? That¡¯s how you use the seeds on your body. I¡¯ve never seen such a mortal, and it¡¯s also unusual. The Song of Chaos said. It gave you a name, didn¡¯t it?=

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    The Song of Chaos¡­ in other words, the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest. When I heard its name, the heat started to rise again. That trouble was all because of that Truth-Seeker!

    Regardless of my anger, there was a sense ofughter.

    =Giving a name means that you are not one of the meaningless mortals but rather an individual worthy of acknowledgment and recognition. I understand why it did that. You¡¯re more than I expected, huh?=

    The will of the Truth-Seeker became a little soft again.

    =The Shockmeem aren¡¯t identally caught as you randomly connect the Channels, right? The fact that you opened the exact dimension where this species lives means you have a dimension map. You couldn¡¯t save it within human brain capacity. So, does that mean you have nted it in your soul?=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s will said that the Shockmeem imitated was mixed with a feeling of great interest. That kind of telepathy wasn¡¯t unfamiliar.

    =The soul high enough to store a dimensional map. That¡¯s weird. Why didn¡¯t anyone like you cross the wall? Were you imprinted by some deities and escaped? Well, you must not cross the wall in the first ce for your existence to not get seized by the Gods.=

    It was followed by a shady will that made me feel unpleasant.

    =I¡¯m curious why the ck Hermit wanted to have your soul by stuffing it? However, no matter how high a single individual soul is, it doesn¡¯t mean much to us¡­ is it just like a hobby? Was it his intention to collect it instead of eating it? Yeah, many of our partners have weird hobbies, after all.=

    Suddenly, lightning seemed to strike in my head due to the will that followed.

    =The Song of Chaos appears to let you go, but I can¡¯t do that. I want to see your soul in person. Where are you now?=

    Unlike so far, the telepathy that was just delivered had a real purpose and intention. I was almost unconscious, and I raised my mental barrier to the extreme.

    However, the will of the Truth-Seeker who followed was depressing.

    =Carraderina was mistaken. It¡¯s not magic that maniptes these things. Then¡­ Oh yeah. It¡¯s Shockmeem¡¯s pheromone. I know what it is. So, these bugs know where the male is?=

    Suddenly¡­

    -Wriggle

    The guy attached to my chest started moving his body.

    ¡°¡­ Maru?¡±

    The eyes of Parvache and me were stuck to my bulging chest. The guy fluttered its bronze body and came out towards the nape of my neck. Fragments were separated by the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest, revealing a pile of pale light tentacles.

    Yes, the will conveyed by Shockmeem currently resonated throughout that room. Maru would¡¯ve recognized all the telepathy we heard at the moment.

    -Whreeeck!

    The guy suddenly swelled. Maru¡¯s body could expand and shrink freely. Its body, which was originally as small as the palm of my hand, widened like a tent and wrapped around my body as if to protect me.

    ¡°What? What happened? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?¡±

    Shortly after that, the Shockmeem conveyed another will. Unlike so far, it wasn¡¯t telling the other person¡¯s will, but it spoke its own in a hurry.

    =Contractor! The females¡¯ movements are strange. They don¡¯t respond to my pheromones!=

    And then the change happened.

    =Oh my¡­ These bugs are useless. Oh, yes. It¡¯s so cumbersome. Reclusive Soul. Can you hear me?=

    At the moment, I doubted my senses. I couldn¡¯t believe it, so I looked at Parvache.

    ¡°¡­ Just now, that¡­ is it right?¡±

    It answered.

    [I also felt the telepathy.]

    I gritted my teeth. The telepathy of a foreign entity just resonated in my head. It wasn¡¯t delivered through the Shockmeens. Did it find my location in that short time and deliver the telepathy directly?

    I soon realized that that guessed was only half-correct.

    -Kheeeeeeeek!

    -Bang! Bang bang!

    I could hear a roar outside the window. I ran to the window and looked out, and I could see smoke and mes from afar. Dozens of vehicles had been involved in multiple crashes on the Southern Ring Road.

    I looked closer to the ce. Some people were hanging out in the parking lot of the apartmentplex. Some of them were looking up towards the sky. At that time, the will resonated once again.

    =These bugs have nothing even after I look into their mind. They¡¯re creatures that haven¡¯t even created their ego yet. The level of consciousness is too primitive. Reclusive Soul, maybe you have no choice but to reveal yourself.=

    As soon as the will was heard in my head, I saw the people in the parking lot grabbing their heads simultaneously, the same reactions when exposed to strong telepathy. That was¡­ no way.

    ¡°Are all the people here also listening to that?!¡±

    =¡­I guess so!=

    It was driving me crazy!

    It was more than 20 kilometers from the house where Carraderina¡¯s brain was to my house. Nevertheless, hearing its will on that street meant that telepathy was at least being heard all over Seoul!

    [How many kilometers is it spreading its will?]

    Astonished, Parvache continued its words.

    =Contractor, it appears to be that the females¡¯ spirits have beenpletely overwhelmed.=

    Shockmeem told me. I realized that putting the summoner on that side provided the reason for reverse tracking, and I hurriedly sent it back to its original world. It also agreed to return since the Truth-Seeker was tracking its pheromones.

    [It tried to locate the male using females, but it seems to have failed.]

    Even as Parvache spected, the Truth-Seeker ¡®Gramiel¡¯ continued to spread its will throughout the city.

    =Now, where are you? Shall we meet for a moment?=

    ¡®You are not going to get me out of here!¡¯

    I asked while thinking about a few things in my head.

    ¡°Why doesn¡¯t the Truth-Seeker use detection magic?¡±

    I rolled my head. If the Truth-Seeker wants to find me quickly, it was best to use detection magic. Since there was a barrier in the house, it wouldn¡¯t be exposed at once, but if the Truth-Seeker¡¯s will was persistent, it would try to find me with the Anti-magic power.

    However, instead of using such a method, it encouraged me to turn myself in by spreading his will to the widest possible range. That method was also threatening to me in its own way, but it wasn¡¯t easy to find me immediately.

    =There will be a limit to the move that can be used as it borrows the ascetic¡¯s consciousness, not its own body.=

    After that, the ascetic threw a few more words and encouraged me to show up. Of course, there was no way I would be willing to ept it.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it out of the question that it will give up on me?¡±

    [Of course not.]

    ¡°¡­ Shall I bounce to another dimension for a while?¡±

    [You were going to cross the Shanghai Channel anyway.]

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s a good ce.¡±

    Anyway, ording to the original n, I should¡¯ve moved to another dimension and found the Dragon¡¯s soul by now, and for the time being, the progress had been dyed due to the alien who was looking for me from out of nowhere.

    If the ascetic came out in that way, it was better to stick to the original n and avoid it while searching for the Dragon¡¯s soul and escape to another dimension.

    While I was thinking about it, there was breaking news on TV. It appeared to be that the ??telepathy, which suddenly started ringing in the minds of the people of that country, also covered Chungcheong Province. Reports and reactions on the Inte were rampant.

    Meanwhile, the silver te artifact formunication with White Deer was shing on the living room wall. The residents of White Deer, who also received that will, tried to talk with me.

    For the time being, it would be better to respond to it and urge preparations. I was in the middle of manipting artifacts with such a mind.

    =Hmm¡­ No response? However, if I use the detection magic and wipe out the wizards at random, Carraderina¡¯s brain will be burned out¡­ Well, I have no choice.=

    I had no choice. It wasn¡¯t an expression that the Truth-Seeker would give up my search. Unfortunately¡­

    =If you refuse the invitation¡­=

    After a brief time difference, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s next deration resounded clearly in the heads of more than 20 million people.

    =I¡¯ll go there for a moment.=

    A few seconds after its words, I sensed a powerful force boiling ferociously in the air. It was as threatening as the moment I confronted the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, but it was a huge force of a little different kind.

    The source of that power that my senses pointed to was¡­ South!

    ¡°Oh, fuck!¡±

    The Truth-Seeker came to that world directly beyond the Busan Channel! The presence that appeared hundreds of kilometers away was vividly conveyed to that ce.

    ¡®Oh, shit, what was going on? Don¡¯t you have any rules for Truth-Seekers? Can someone just cross over to someone else¡¯s jurisdiction like this? If this is possible, why hasn¡¯t anyone crossed the line in the meantime?¡¯

    In the past, I once assumed a situation where the Dragon was chasing me to another dimension. Still, that was actually done by another Truth-Seeker, and it made me jump into insanity.

    I thought, ¡®This barrier will give me a moment. I need to get in touch with White Deer as soon as possible and coordinate future actions!¡¯

    At that moment, Parvache¡¯s urgency hit me in the head.

    [Min-joon! Mapo Bridge Channel! Now!]

    The moment I got its will, I reserved my previous decision to connect with White Deer first. The n to avoid the Truth-Seeker through the Shanghai Channel was also nk.

    Next, I moved my body before asking why. With one hand, I grabbed Parvache¡¯s body and put it in the backpack I had prepared under my feet before starting contact through the Shockmeems and carried the bag on my shoulder.

    ¡°Copse!¡± I eximed.

    The living room floor crumbled with my cry. I jumped down through the drilled hole through the basement floor that couldn¡¯t be found in the original structure of that apartmentplex. Maru, who covered my body like armor, gave its tentacles strength as if it was a lot of tension.

    I ran toward the designated passage, blowing Mana into the pre-made door that ran right in front of the Mapo Bridge Channel. That caused it to start opening. The force out of my hand opened the door. The moment when the space on the other side was about to be connected through cracks in the air¡­

    =I found you!=

    Its will, which was full of joy, echoed throughout the city.

    I shouted out inside, ¡®That¡¯s impossible!¡¯

    I couldn¡¯t feel any detection magic yet. The power of echoes didn¡¯t work for me since it wasn¡¯t the one who opened the Channel on my chest. I tried not to be misled and focused on opening the doorpletely.

    ¡°¡­ Huh?¡±

    Contrary to such expectations, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s touch came so quickly. My feet distorted, and I started to fall into a distant abyss!

    ¡°What the helllll!¡±

    Suddenly, the view changed rapidly. I fell with my head facing down. It was an unrealistic phenomenon in which even the resistance of the air rubbing my cheeks wasn¡¯t felt.

    I hurriedly took out the piece of Maek Copper from the backpack with the other hand that wasn¡¯t holding Parvache. I then took out a dream and broke it.

    ¡°Fly!¡±

    Just like the girl who was the owner of that dream imagined, two wings sprout from my back. I tried to soar up, pping my wings. However, I couldn¡¯t resist the falling movement itself only by barely changing my body¡¯s direction.

    When I realized that I had fallen to an immeasurable depth, the light began to dance in front of me.

    -Shruuugh!

    I gave strength to the hand holding Parvache. Maru also gave strength to the tentacles surrounding my body. I felt an unrealistic feeling that made my mind wander. Someone was talking to me through that dizzy sense. It existed in front of me, behind me, on the right, on the left, on the outside, inside, and anywhere at the same time.

    =Hello?=

    That time, it wasn¡¯t the will that spread throughout the city. It was aimed only at me, talking to me.

    =It¡¯s dangerous, it¡¯s dangerous.=

    I sensed something foreign that prated my mind.

    Since I didn¡¯t have enough time to chant the spell, I pulled out one more dream from the Maek Cooper piece in my hand and burst it. The condensed heart pain was released from the seal and wrapped me around.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    I clenched my teeth and groaned. Intense emotions hit my mind.

    A lie covered the front of my eyes. It was a dream of a man who lost both his wife and daughter to a robber in the past. On his way home after working overtime, he kneeled and screamed in a dense living room. He threw a cell phone with six missed calls on the floor. His dream reminisces about those terrible days of the past that haunted him every night.

    Instead of embodying the dream scene in the physical world, I extracted only the mental pain he felt and covered it in my mind. Instead of being shaken or engulfed by that emotion, I endured the pain alone. The pain made my will more pronounced.

    The intentional nailing of the mind made me wary of my mental defense mechanism. Something mysterious that was digging into my core stopped the infiltration on the way.

    =Huh? Is it pretty good? Do you know how to use pretty cute tricks?=

    Again, the will of the Truth-Seeker was heard everywhere. Its presence also flowed through space softly as if I was swallowed whole in its stomach.

    I focused Mana on both eyes. I managed to see the nature of the Truth-Seeker vaguely. With the body folded halfway between the gaps in the space and the skinny cheeks twisted, the Truth-Seeker squinted and smiled at me.

    Parvache, who confirmed the appearance, eximed in astonishment.

    =The Space Ghost! ¡­The cursed race that eventually produces the Truth-Seeker!=

    Laughter echoed throughout the space.

 Chapter 128

    Wizard¡¯s Name (7)

    =You are really¡­ a peculiar soul. Even this exceeded my expectations! =

    The direction in which his will poured out was arbitrary. It appeared to pour out at the same time from all the ces around me, and it seemed to prick my head in turn, making it sound like I hadn¡¯t received anything like telepathy in the first ce.

    What made me on the verge of going crazy was the fact that her strong presence also haunted me at the same time, just like her will.

    [Min-joon! Don¡¯t use magic carelessly! Trying to escape with the magic you know is useless in this space!]

    Parvache¡¯s keen determination warned me.

    What I could see was the distorted curtain of space. It felt like a different ce from the basement of my house where I was before, and somewhere I couldn¡¯t exin with my perceived concept, I could see what was supposed to be the Truth-Seeker¡¯s body.

    It was impossible to describe her position in terms of the familiar ¡®direction¡¯ or ¡®distance.¡¯ Gramiel¡¯s existence itself confused my cognition. Unless there was a Channel, space shouldn¡¯t be disconnected and should be as smooth as the water flowed, but due to her in ¡®between,¡¯ I recognized a gap there.

    =¡­ I haven¡¯t seen such a brilliantly sparkling soul in a long time. It¡¯s dazzling. Strange. Why is your soul so high?=

    She giggled again. Her body was like a prickly thorn, and she had thin, curved fingers and gray skin like peeled bark. She, ¡®Gramiel,¡¯ was ovepping her body in this strange space.

    [Min-joon, the backdoor!]

    While maintaining the mental barrier, I opened a small door that only Parvache could ess. It then stuck a chunk of great memory and sense there!

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    What Parvache put into my mind wasn¡¯t close to thenguage we normally use for conversation. Parvache condensed its knowledge and then conceptualized it and conveyed it to my consciousness.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Shiiiiiiit!¡±

    My vision shook. The violent transfer of knowledge, borrowing the means of consciousness. Not only did the brain epted that, but also the soul felt the pain. Compared to physical pain, it was a pain close to burning flesh and breaking bones. That was a method that wasn¡¯t usually used because the side effects wererge.

    The same moment as torture had passed. In return, knowledge about the species nicknamed the ¡®Space Ghost¡¯ immediately permeated. It was painful to receive small fragments of knowledge. How painful was it to receive a whole memory transfer?

    Images, sounds, and thoughts were crushed and flowing. Through Parvache¡¯s consciousness, I understood the characteristics of Gramiel¡¯s kind.

    The knowledge in my head settled down and sat like a memory I had known for a long time, but my feelings couldn¡¯t take it so dryly.

    ¡®A species that can escape the constraints of all spaces except dimensional barriers? If it just wants to, can it create a new space? That¡¯s a scam! Isn¡¯t that too godlike?¡¯

    At that moment, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s intervention began.

    =Okay, I¡¯ll take you first. I can take my time to appreciate you slowly.=

    -Shrrrrrrrk!

    The moment she reached out her hand, the surrounding area began to be filled with energy. It was clear that it was an attempt to capture me. I responded ording to the knowledge I had in my head.

    The opponent had risen to the level of the Truth-Seeker, so it was safe to say that she was an existence that could use her species¡¯ unique abilities to their limit.

    That meant that the situation that many beings of dimensions, including Parvache¡¯s people, were concerned and feared became a reality. Gramiel could instantly recognize all beings in the same dimension if she decided to, and she could freely enter and leave all the ces within it without limits.

    -Gwooooong!

    It was meaningless to draw a barrier in space since the area beyond the barrier was also part of the space into the same dimension. That was why she found my location so easily and quickly dug into the barrier.

    As soon as it recognized the opponent¡¯s strength, Parvache urged me to cross the Mapo Bridge Channel, first considering that her cognition range didn¡¯t reach beyond the dimension where she was currently located. Second, before she pursued me beyond the Channel, we were intended to go to the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, with who I was acquainted. In the end, she was a being that could find me, so the first thing we thought of was a method of borrowing the power of an invible being.

    However, once the n had failed, the next alternative was implemented.

    ¡°Qu¨¦cadios! I¡¯ll make an offering to you! Please give me a spell!¡±

    -Grrrrrrrr!

    =¡­ Huh? What is this?=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s will was mixed with irritation. I noticed that her power that had been rushing around me bounced off. The ce where I was standing turned quickly into an altar for offering sacrifices to God. The pure white light condensed under my feet created a magic circle.

    =That won¡¯tst long though.=

    She was sarcastic.

    A collection of divine powers filled the surroundings. The radius of one room around me could no longer be called the whole Earth dimension. At the same time as the altar was created, it was separated into a half-ovepping state. It wasn¡¯t aspletely cut off as when I summoned Kylgeniapros, but it was certainly not the same dimension.

    Therefore, the Space Ghost couldn¡¯t extend her power to that extent. Regardless of the species¡¯ characteristics, even if she used her power as the Truth-Seeker, she couldn¡¯t exceed the power of God.

    =¡­ You¡¯re acting stupid. Do you think you can maintain that temporary dimension for a thousand years and ten thousand years? Then, did you prepare the offering and open the altar?=

    She mocked me with sarcasm. Yes, I knew, and that was only a temporary measure. That was an altar for offering sacrifices to God and getting the spells. An environment that had the effect of transforming the dimension for a moment but disappeared immediately after the ritual was over.

    Moreover, once the altar had been opened, it couldn¡¯t be overturned without offering sacrifices.

    -Wooooong!

    God¡¯s pressure fell on my body. The reaction wasn¡¯t favorable since it wasn¡¯t a properly made altar. It was impatient that I couldn¡¯t hold it for long, and even the great beings who received the sacrifice didn¡¯t want to. The intangible will urged me by telling me not to waste time and hand out the sacrifices quickly.

    I took the crystal out of my backpack and lifted it. It was a dinner for Qu¨¦cadios, a mixture of all the Earth¡¯s metal elements at the desired rate and sealed by God. I didn¡¯t have to kill a summoner in exchange for its spell, but instead, I had to get an expensive metal called scandium or rhodium.

    I could feel that God¡¯s attention was on my hands. Gramiel, who was looking at me from outside the altar, smiled brutally. I couldn¡¯tst that long. The altar would disappear as soon as the offering was made, and she was waiting for the moment.

    =What are you doing? Are you going to incur God¡¯s wrath? If you open the altar, you have to make an offering as soon as possible.=

    Gramiel whispered. She was everywhere my eyes were, and at the same time, she was nowhere. The space she created flowed and boiled constantly.

    Parvache whispered in my head.

    [She missed once so that she won¡¯t miss it twice. As soon as this altar disappears, she will strike without giving you a chance to build the next one.]

    I asked back.

    ¡®¡­ Is there really no choice but to do that?¡¯

    He responded.

    [That¡¯s all I can think of at this moment.]

    Damn it!

    Since I could no longer keep God waiting, I began the crystal¡¯s dedication in my hand. A mix of metallic elements that cost about a few houses in Seoul lightly melted into the air. God showed signs of satisfaction. The eyes of the Truth-Seeker looking at me are dimly shining.

    ¡®Then¡­ I¡¯ll open it!¡¯

    Simultaneously, as the offering ritual to God was going on, I brought in the dimensional map. The altar was originally made to buy time to calcte the coordinates. The signal flew like an arrow to a distant dimension.

    =Hmm?=

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s reaction was sour. I desperately calcted the coordinates. The Seed on my chest created a circr light, and it expanded to the size that barely covered my body.

    =What is it? Are you going to summon another bug?=

    ¡°Bug?¡±

    Iughed and said, ¡°The one who is over this door right now¡­ you even can¡¯t call it yourself.¡±

    I opened the Channel, and the two dimensions werepletely connected. The destination was a ce I had been to several times so far, even though the other person had always dragged me, but the coordinates had been clearly left in my heart.

    Existence beyond that Channel wasn¡¯t the subject of the contract with me. Therefore, there was no coordination through the soul in advance.

    -Gwoooooong!

    What I was sure of was that ¡®that guy¡¯ would certainly be there at the moment. So, I connected the Channel with the coordinates I knew without prior appointment or contract toe over. It was quite different from the usual way of checking the contractor¡¯s location first and then opening the door.

    The offering ritual to God was nearing the end. The altar gradually began to disappear, but at the same time, another kind of presence covered the space. It was flowing from none other than the Channel on my chest. That was proof that it was properly connected to the target ce. Gramiel¡¯s eyes grew bigger.

    =¡­ What is it? This¡­ don¡¯t tell me?=

    Maru, which had wrapped my body like armor, suddenly fluttered insanely. The bronze tentacles twirled and shook like waves on my skin.

    ¡®Are you d to see it again?¡¯

    I spoke those words in my heart.

    ¡®Maru, if you¡¯re happy¡­ Call it! Just give me a hand!¡¯

    Maru stopped wriggling and held its breath as if focusing on something. As time passed, the concentration of the pouring presence began to get even deeper!

    Yes, honestly, it was a gamble, but there was a strong conviction. Originally, mortals like me were worse than bugs for ¡®them.¡¯ However, the act of giving me a name certainly made sense. It meant that it had a reason to remember me and recognize me.

    So, I bet my hopes. In the first ce, there was no choice other than this!

    -Swiiiiiiiiing!

    Qu¨¦cadios, who had eaten all the offerings, left the altar. At the same time, the spells that weren¡¯tcking in the first ce were charged more, and the power of God that pressed me faded. The temporary dimension created by God began to copse.

    =You! What the hell?!=

    As soon as the altar disappeared, my body returned to the Earth¡¯s dimension. At the same time, Gramiel¡¯s power covered my whole body!

    However, before her powerspletely encroached on my body, something huge gushed out of the Channel on my chest.

    -Khrrrrrrrrrrrrrk!

    =This¡­ what the hell are you doing?!=

    Gramiel¡¯s will rang out like a scream.

    It was just a single trunk of tentacles that protruded through my chest. However, the thickness was almost enough to fill the Channel. I thought I would be about as wide as my arms. Following the movement, all directions vibrated.

    The color was turquoise, simr to Maru. However, in terms of scale, it was a huge stem that couldn¡¯t bepared. Moreover, the strength it had was even more overwhelming.

    The tentacles¡¯ source, which remained in the dimension beyond the Channel, swung it in the air with a whirling sound as soon as the tentacle came over to that side, then scrawled in a giant semicircle all over the ce!

    =Oh¡­ that¡¯s crazy!=

    ording to Parvache¡¯s knowledge, the Space Ghost apparently couldn¡¯t inflict injury with ordinary physical force or magic, and Gramiel, who evolved from that race, screamed!

    At that moment, I looked like a human with a giant tentacle that was thicker than my torso on my chest, and the tentacles were whipping and whirling like a cow tail chasing flies.

    -Whiick! p! Wheeeeck! Kwooong!

    Each time the tentacle shook, space was torn off, and between the cracks of the broken kaleidoscope-like space, I saw a scene where Gramiel shed and switched her existence like crazy. It was like running away from tentacle attacks. She screamed¡­

    =You¡­ Are you really going toe out like this? Are you trying topete with me in earnest? Disputes like this don¡¯t help either side! It¡¯s definitely you who will suffer even more after the conflict begins! I¡¯m storing thergest number of souls among the Truth-Seekers that have Channeled this dimension!=

    Suddenly, beyond the Channel on my heart, the heavy wills flowed out and answered her.

    =What do you do if you have a lot of souls to eat? You can¡¯t even digest it properly. Do you think it¡¯s a good idea only to evolve the world with such insignificant spirit veins? Well, since your race of origin wasn¡¯t very good in the first ce, so you must have aimed for such a foolish method. You must¡¯ve felt the limit to the species growth, huh! Isn¡¯t it? ¡®Shadow Thorn?¡¯=

    =Don¡¯t call my true name in front of a mortal!=

    =It seems that you¡¯re putting a lot of attention on the so-called mortal. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re going to take this dimension after studying this human. Such a stupid idea is even surprising.=

    From Gramiel¡¯s pointed skinny face, a burst of flesh spewed out. I desperately put on both mental and physical defenses at the same time to prevent my heart from being stopped by shock. Oh, my God, the monster fight was making my back explode.

    Gramiel stared at me and spoke.

    =Did you hear it through that fragment after the Channel opened? Nonsense. Such a feeble piece of fragment doesn¡¯t have that much intelligence?=

    =It¡¯s not always what you see. What do you know about my race? It was a civilization long before the Space Ghost was born. Anyway, I can¡¯t just wait to see that you will take that dimension alone. Thanks to you, I know about it. Well done, Reclusive Soul, and my fragment¡­=

    Gramiel spat out a scream of will.

    =Are you really going to intervene, Song of Chaos?!=

    =Yes, of course. In the first ce, I shared information about the Reclusive Soul with Truth-Seekers, not to do this. You¡¯re the one who bothered me by acting up!=

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, Song of Chaos, which left its will behind, began to unleash enormous power through the Channel. His heavy will vibrated everywhere.

    =It was the first time for ¡®Song of Chaos¡¯¡­ to cross a fine hole and fight directly among the Truth-Seekers, instead of striving for the souls. Well¡­ I don¡¯t even need to cross the Channel I have pierced to Earth to deal with you. It will be enough as it is now.=

    After dering that it wouldn¡¯t move its main body, but would deal with only one tentacle through the Seed Channel, the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest said.

    =Yeah¡­ against a half-pun, like you, who can¡¯t even digest a soul.=

    And then, everything I could see exploded.

 Chapter 129

    Wizard¡¯s Name (8)

    ¡°Eaaaaarrrrrhhhh!¡±

    Everything in my sight was shaken and shattered. The aftermath didn¡¯t just stay in my eyes. Even the screams lost their continuity and threw off in several ces.

    I focused my mind even when my body turned upside down. I used desperate force to stabilized the Mana rushing to the Channel. The huge tentacle protruding from my chest whipped everywhere like crazy without worrying about me!

    Parvache hastily pushed its will in.

    [Gosh! That crazy Truth-Seeker just¡­]

    Its thoughts stopped in the middle and intermittently cut off after that. Parvache¡¯s words, mixed with abusivenguage, rolled from ce to ce. Soon after, there was a feeling that the source of telepathy was growing countless times.

    I felt like I was listening to poorly tuned radio through hundreds of broken amplifiers. The will was conveyed to my mind over time difference in each direction. Afterbining all the meanings, I was able to make the following sentences.

    The Song of Chaos was breaking up space to attack Gramiel!

    -Qhuaaaaaarrrrrrrng!

    It was only one of the numerous tentacles of the Song of Chaos that came to that world through the Channel. The phenomenon created by that single trunk was truly overwhelming. Like a bronze pir dancing, it made various shapes and attacks. The target was that space itself, the territory that Gramiel created to capture me.

    Funnily, I caught some emotion in the movement of the tentacles. Reason argued that there was no basis for my judgment and reacted skeptically to that fact. Nevertheless, I still had baseless convictions. There was no doubt.

    From the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest¡¯s tentacle movement, which was devastatingly destroying the territory Gramiel made, I could feel irritation and annoyance.

    Gramiel¡¯s will burst from all directions.

    =How can you¡­ my space!=

    =Do you think that the power to influence space only belongs to your kind? It¡¯s funny. This ability was already studied in the 14th Middle Ages in my native civilization. It¡¯s not easy, but if you know the principle, nothing can be impossible. Well, you who don¡¯t know how your own kind was made before bing a Truth-Seeker is no match for me¡­=

    The emotion of Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-seeker was mixed with a pathetic feeling.

    Hearing the telepathy, I remembered the scenes I had seen with the Song of Chaos. The power that recognized me in the distance and brought me to its dwelling ce, a huge Enchanted Wood tree several times my height, its power to prate without crashing even when approaching hard ground, and how my body quickly moved to an underground cavity when I got my sense back.

    Gramiel shouted.

    =What¡¯s your right to disturb me?=

    Instead of answering, the Song of Chaos swung its tentacle more vigorously. Another explosion. Everything in sight fell apart. I thought to myself without knowing. Wasn¡¯t that what the end of the world looked like?

    =Aaaaaarrrgh!=

    Fragments of the shattered space poured out like a meteor shower. Gramiel screamed in all those pieces. That attack seemed to had hurt her as well. Her thoughts split into thousands of pieces, and I felt like she was digging my mind.

    I also felt a strange feeling. It felt like Gramiel¡¯s scream was mixed with the death of other beings. Whenever she was attacked, she was given the impression that there were countless waves of calm and countless strands of wind that the touch couldn¡¯t feel.

    While I focused on that feeling, the Song of Chaos responded leisurely beyond the Channel on my chest.

    =Don¡¯t you underestimate the value of this dimension too much, Shadow Thorn? That stupid thing. Many Truth-Seekers benefited from this dimension. Did you think they would wait and watch?=

    =I am just trying to realize what you cannot do! I am the only one who has gathered enough souls to evolve this dimension! That¡¯s why I am going to take this dimension. I¡¯m just doing what I can!=

    =Do you say ¡®collect¡¯ what you couldn¡¯t absorb because your spirit veins were so small? Your standard of self-assessment is so benevolent.=

    =Shut up! If you don¡¯t like what I do, why don¡¯t you do the same? Don¡¯t you also put the souls in the spirit vein instead of digesting them all!=

    =Admit it, Shadow Thorn. You got your hands dirty because of impatience.=

    Itughed and asked.

    =Have you ever thought about it? After growing this dimension to a higher level? If you move on to the next level without being prepared properly, you will only be food for higher-level Truth-Seekers. Soon, countless Channels will be opened, won¡¯t they? At the moment of evolution, the Earth once again bes the lowest of the same level dimension, but really, what is your price to defend by creating a dimensional barrier?=

    =After evolving to a higher level, my level will rise! My spirit vein will also evolve!=

    will of Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker. Pathetic. Ridicule. Interest.

    =Yeah, it¡¯s true to some extent. However, in the end, many things are determined by natural qualities.=

    The emotions of the Song of Chaos flowed one after another. Annoyance, a little anger, mockery, and a refreshing delight that didn¡¯t suit the current situation.

    =Then, Shadow Thorn, let me ask you¡­=

    It asked with great pleasure.

    =When was thest time you slept?=

    Gramiel¡¯s response to that question was bursting. She flowed down and filled that entire broken space with a murderous spirit and hatred.

    =You, you bastaaaaaaaaaaaaaard!=

    The enemy stabbed and shook everywhere.

    =After connecting the Channel to this dimension, for a while, we all had to fall asleep without even trying. We needed time to digest after all. So, the Heart Fishes took a break for a while¡­ yet it was somehow settled. But Shadow Thorn, how about you? When did youst fall asleep?=

    =Shut up!=

    =In the end, even after two evolutions, a shadow is still a shadow.=

    =You crossed the line now, the Song of Chaos!=

    Blind emotions flickered and resonated.

    =It was you who crossed the line in the first ce. This dimension is worth more than it looks. You needed to be more patient. Can¡¯t you remember why I shared information about this guy in the first ce?=

    =My existence is too old to expect such an elusive delusion! In the prison of this time, in the pain of getting old, worn out, torture-like existence, to have such an expectation¡­=

    =Ah¡­ you stupid thing!=

    Once again, it swung its tentacles loudly!

    -Swoosh!

    Long and deep scars remained in the air. Having allowed the attack again, Gramiel spread power for her counterattack. She drew the space and made a long wedge, a sharp attack created by a cramped space.

    However, the Truth-Seeker broke the attempt so easily. All it did was a simple act of wrapping the spear with the tip of a tentacle and giving it strength. The movement was simple, but the result was powerful.

    =Aaaaaarrrgggggghh!=

    The echo of cracks wasn¡¯t expressed by sound. There were cracks in fragments like broken windows as Gramiel burst into a painful will. At the same time, the invisible wind blew one more time, then¡­

    I realized something when I was barely keeping my mind in the fight between the absolute.

    ¡®¡­ Ugh? Parvache! This is!¡¯

    The surrounding space where everything was mixed and flowed gradually began to show a distinct shape. The appearance of an unfamiliar city was rising opaquely.

    Parvache¡¯s knowledge left in my head informed me of the meaning of that phenomenon.

    Currently, the area created by the Space Ghost was copsing!

    I thought while looking down the downtown lined with skyscrapers, but where was that?

    Thest ce I was in was the basement of my house. However, what I saw was the sky above a city. Parvache¡¯s will answered my question.

    [As soon as she crossed the Channel, Gramiel would have used her abilities. Instead of getting to where we are, she would have chosen the easier way. She distorted the space, connected the ce where she was and where we were, and tied it up in a separate space.]

    That separate space was currently there. It was Gramiel¡¯s space that was copsing. Parvache said, looking at the distorted city beyond the yet-to-bepletely destroyed barrier of the space.

    [Now that space is copsing¡­ It seems that the location of Gramiel determines the ce where all of this space will be returned as a reference point. It¡¯s not where we¡¯re supposed to be.]

    That meant¡­

    I looked around more carefully. It was hard to identify as if I was looking beyond the broken and stained ss, but there was only one thing that shone like that through all dimensions.

    ¡®It¡¯s a Channel!¡¯

    However, it wasn¡¯t Mapo Bridge. Apparently, it was the Channel Gramiel used when she moved into that world.

    ¡®Then this is¡­ Busan?!¡¯

    After being dragged into her space, I moved to Busan instead of Seoul.

    The barriers in the space were gradually fading. Gramiel and the Song of Chaos exchanged attacks several times, but the Song of Chaos was overwhelming. I had to hide behind the Channel, so I didn¡¯t have to be affected by the power.

    The wind blew every time she was attacked. The Song of Chaos followed the end of the unknown energy, stroked the tentacle¡¯s tip once, and said¡­

    =I think I should wrap it up now. You¡¯re tougher than I thought. You¡¯re using an undigested soul as a shield, huh? It¡¯s the worst way to use it. It¡¯s a crime to waste like this. I can¡¯t watch it anymore.=

    After it decided something, a change urred in its tentacle.

    ¡°¡­ What, what?¡±

    Hundreds of strange cracks appeared throughout its long, thick tentacle, covering the top of the tentacle stem tightly.

    Close observation showed that many of the shapes made on the tentacle¡¯s outer skin resembled the human mouth. The bronze skin cracked, the lips grew, and the teeth and tongue filled in between them.

    However, not all of them were exactly the same as humans. Some mouths had no lips, some had a split tongue and long fangs that could never be seen outside, and some lips protruded.

    Among those shapes were many things that couldn¡¯t be seen as ¡®mouth¡¯ no matter how much I looked. It was a form that was unfamiliar to me. Not a mouth, but a long tube, and some grooves resembling the gills of fish were carved. Some parts also turned into the cornea with the transparent thin outer skin, and six tiny bumps sprang up.

    [Ah¡­ That¡¯s¡­]

    It was only after I heard Parvache¡¯s exnation that I could know what they were. The shapes made on that tentacle were imitating the artiction organs of many native races!

    Also, the Song of Chaos said through the will.

    =Listen¡­=

    Suddenly, the numerous vocal organs hung on the surface of the tentacle began to sound in unison. The human-like mouth moved his lips and rolled his tongue.

    The tube-shaped organs sounded like a low, thick wind instrument. The grooves that looked like gills created a sound in the range that I couldn¡¯t feel, and the transparent cornea spread reverberation by vibrating more than hundreds of times per second.

    The six hard protrusions differed in the direction and number of bumps against each other, creating a brilliant xylophone-like performance.

    covered over the body of the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest produced that mimic the pronunciation organs of numerous native races spoke their ownnguage.

    As time passed, I realized that it wasn¡¯t just an act of speech. The sounds produced by each ¡®month¡¯ had unique patterns and characteristics. Typically, the sound that a person¡¯s mouth made had a rhythm and a melody. The unique pattern created the sound and harmony made by other artiction organs, and it was the chorus that couldn¡¯t be made in one dimension.

    I realized that the mouths of various species formed on that tentacle were singing in unison at that moment.

 Chapter 130

    Wizard¡¯s Name (9)

    The voices were familiar, unfamiliar, or unheard. Hundreds of mouths continued to fill each other and sing.

    As the song continued, Gramiel¡¯s space weakened. She looked confused.

    =This¡­ What is this?!=

    Gramiel shouted.

    =Stop¡­ Stop it!=

    Gramiel¡¯s will echoed everywhere over time. The split and cracked space distorted even in chronological order. Among the things recognizable in this space, the only thing that existed unbroken and intact was the Song of Chaos¡¯ tentacle and the songs it sang.

    I listened to numerous tunes.

    The mouth, which looked like a bird¡¯s beak protruding from the tentacle, sang the saga of the great king of the sky who ended a long war between the earthly and the heavenly species. The king made the earth species extinct.

    Coexisting between a kind that burned forests to create arablend and a kind that hunted for food while flying in the forest was impossible. After the end of the war, the king grew old in respect of the people, and in hister years, he often contemted looking toward a valley.

    It was the ce where thest remainingndmen of the earth were ughtered. Song said that thest time the king was seen, the direction he flew alone and disappeared was toward the massacre valley. He didn¡¯t return to the kingdom after that day.

    The six rigid bumps struck each other and resonated, singing the love of God. It was a purposeful song made by a priest for missionary purposes. The song defined the mortal life as a curse, which was constantly repeated and encouraged to be attributed to God in a sweet expression.

    It also encouraged people to diligently attend the worship service regardless of gender, from first to the third sex. The melody urged that to receive the deep grace of God, one must ovee the walls of existence. Thus, they became one with God in a true sense.

    Thergest mouths of all sang the harshness of nature, trembling lips shaped like cogs. The song was sad and mournful. It containedmentation for the radiation storm that hit the continent¡¯s surface every hundred years and the mourning for the weak children who died every time the storm blew.

    The song led to an expression of regret for the nobles. When the storm blew, they threw away the lowly things and took only their children, spread their brilliant 36-sided wings, and flee to others, and when the earth stabilized, they were used of returning.

    Song¡¯s long tube-like mouth sang about a boy. He was very curious about the outside world. So, he made a decision one day to venture into the unknown world that unfolded ¡®outside.¡¯ The boy bit on the wall of the womb of a woman of his kind, the ce he was living in.

    The woman was, and the boy came out of the world, swept by blood. As soon as he came out, the boy realized something was wrong. The boy climbed desperately on the legs of the parasitic woman, trying to get back to where he was. In the end, he failed and died less than a dayter.

    The song contained a lesson. It was a terrifying story that it was the world¡¯s best practice for males to live in a female¡¯s womb until they died and that if they didn¡¯t conform to nature, they might die before nting seeds in their dwellings.

    Thergest number was organs that mimicked the shape of the Dell Giant¡¯s mouth. Each of them whispered various songs handed down to the tribe. The beauty of the purple moonlight was expressed in a fluid melody, the history of the tower built with the bones of the ancestors was celebrated with a magnificent voice. They sang in joy how they peeled off the long head of the Ashpim Giant, which was their enemy.

    I found familiar lyrics among the songs of Dell Giant¡¯s mouth. It was a song about regret for the road not taken. I knew it quickly since I had tranted it directly into the Dell Giantnguage. Parvache also noticed it.

    [That¡¯s¡­ Min-joon, that¡¯s a poem from the book you tranted and dedicated to it!]

    ¡®Yeah. That¡¯s right. It must be.¡¯

    If you go back to the roots, poems and songs were all in one piece. I recalled the behavior of the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, described in Dell Giant¡¯s old record. It appeared again and again in Dell¡¯s history and urged them to write poems and sing songs.

    ¡®Then, it¡¯s a collection of poems and songs it has collected so far¡­ It¡¯s a song of various races.¡¯

    =Yes. It¡¯s not Dell¡¯s pronunciation.=

    ¡®Are these creatures who have gone extinct long ago ¨C the natives of that world? No, there are too many kinds to look like that. Then, creatures of another dimension?¡¯

    How did it collect poems and songs from species of different dimensions?

    I soon came up with a hypothesis, a Channel that prated another world, and two-dimensional souls were absorbed through the door. If the Truth-Seeker could extract even the memories contained in that soul¡­

    The song continued even while I was lost in thought. Not all songs sounded like ¡®voices¡¯ I was familiar with. Some sounded like the sound of a percussion instrument hitting each other, some songs were only heard in bold monotones, and there was a sound like a rumbling noise no matter how much I listened to.

    Oddly enough, the songs went together to create harmony. A brilliant sh sound intervened between the clearly pronouncedmas. The low-tube echo and the thin-film friction sound were performed in the chorus, moving forward and backward. Numerous kinds of sounds were gathered together to harmonize and then ostracized each other, creating a newnguage system.

    ¡®Oh, I see. This is a spell, after all!¡¯

    Only then did I realize the identity of the phenomenon that the Song of Chaos was causing.

    [Yes. Each mouth is singing a finished song, but they¡¯re creating apletely new spell as theybine. The sounds of each song arebined to create a new meaning. As a result, it has a high level and authority that can¡¯t bepared with ordinary spells. It¡¯s a genius. If Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker gains the divine spiritter¡­ Maybe it will have magic-rted attributes.]

    ¡®Is it going to be a magic-rted God?¡¯

    [It could be one of the gods representing the concept of magic.]

    I understood the nature of the spell created by the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest. The meaning of that spell was ¡®invalidation.¡¯ It wasn¡¯t just an anti-spell. A fraud-like spell that could be applied regardless of whether the target was magic or power.

    =No¡­ No!=

    Gramiel¡¯s will resonated sharply. Obviously, the spell made by the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker was aimed at. It was to nullified the space she created.

    I felt that the sound of the song sung by the tentacle was embodied with Mana. It spread out, burning the edges of space like waves. It was Gramiel¡¯s space that the spell swallowed. The confusing hustle and bustle faded and almost went to the brink of disappearance.

    Confirming that, the Song of Chaos prepared for the next move. Another tentacle grew on the tentacle¡¯s surface, where a mouth wasn¡¯t made in the smooth area. As if a new little branch was created from a tree branch!

    The newly sprouted tentacle went to attack.

    -Wheeiiick!

    =Aaaaaarghh!=

    The original tentacles that sang the song remained motionless, and a new, twig-like tentacle struck Gramiel!

    =Uuuuuughh! Youuuuuu¡­!=

    The pain in her thoughts became deeper and more vivid. It seemed that the power to protect itself had weakened as her space has lost its strength. A Space Ghost would have the ability to run away at that moment, but Gramiel couldn¡¯t. The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest was using some method to block it.

    =Hmpf!=

    The Song of Chaos expressed ridicule, and the second round followed!

    It swung its tentacles with all its might. Shadow Thorn managed to evade it, then the attack that lost the target produced a different result than before.

    -Bang bang bang!

    My voice leaked out without realizing it.

    ¡°¡­ Oh my?¡±

    Gramiel¡¯s space had absorbed all attacks so far. However, as the boundary weakened, it began to blend with the original space. As a result, when the Song of Chaos swung its tentacles, the Busan city exploded with a roar that broke ears.

    -Bang bang!

    The mes ignited when they touched the underground gas pipe, followed by explosions and shes. Skyscrapers, shopping malls, and long roads copsed along trajectories made by the tentacle. Dust, smoke, and sparks blended to create cracks.

    The tentacle wielded by the Song of Chaos tore apart some of the outer skin of Busan City.

    A moan leaked out of my mouth without my knowledge.

    ¡°¡­ That¡¯s crazy.¡±

    As if I didn¡¯t pay much attention to the hell road created under my feet, the will of the Truth-seeker who was even bored flowed from beyond the Channel.

    =Before I send you back to the original world, I will take care of you. You will no longer have the energy to n anything like this again for a while. I¡¯ll lock you in for about two to three thousand years and keep you stuck.=

    The moment that words fell, Gramiel¡¯s space waspletely extinguished. The sky of Busan above and below us. We were back in the real world.

    Originally, I would have to hit a plunge due to the action of gravity, but whether the Song of Chaos was using some methods, I was floating in the air even though I didn¡¯t use magic.

    Suddenly, Gramiel¡¯s body, which had been hiding in and out of space until that time, waspletely revealed. It was a skinny grey body.

    The heat and smokeing up from the mess on the ground reached her. Screams. Roaring. Siren. Without worrying about those things, the Truth-Seeker stretched out the tentacle strands it just made. Gramiel tried to avoid it, but it didn¡¯t work. The tentaclepletely wound the Space Ghost.

    =Aaaaarrrrrghh!=

    =I got you!=

    The song of the tentacle stopped, and the spell was paused.

    The Truth-Seeker¡¯s deration followed.

    =Now, then, listen to the next.=

    The tentacle¡¯s mouths began singing all at once. Each of them was different lyrics and rhythms than before.

    =Aaaaaaarrrrghhhhhh! =

    A spell was made by intertwining and ovepping songs that were ringing currently. I could easily notice the effect.

    That was a kind of attack magic. It wasn¡¯t for the purpose of temporary destruction of living tissue but inflicting semi-permanent damage that couldn¡¯t be easily recovered by Gramiel¡¯s body, which was the spell¡¯s target.

    It would probably take a long, long time to get back to the original state¡­ Well¡­ Perhaps it would take thousands of years as the Song of Chaos was nning.

    Wrapped in the tentacle, Gramiel struggled like crazy. Pain seeped through every move she made.

    So instead of focusing on the lyrics of the song, I observed Gramiel for a while, and I was thrilled by the deep mystery of the Truth-Seeker¡¯s magic. For a very short time, I forgot about the hell raging on under my feet.

    Therefore, it was a littlete for me to noticed it. After the song had already progressed quite a bit, I began to listen to the song without knowing it.

    Hundreds of songs made up the magic that haunted Gramiel. It was a symphony of a voice yed by the tentacle. One of them broke the silence of my heart and soul. The voice that made up that melody¡­ I didn¡¯t know why, but it felt very familiar. It reminded me of what had sunk in my mind.

    ¡®¡­ Huh?¡¯

    [Min-joon? What¡¯s wrong?]

    I sang along without realizing it.

    ¡°Time will be yed until the moment of choice. For those who prepare for the final choice, time is the bars of a hopeless prison and a strong weapon for the next leap forward. What is your choice? The crossroad is the destination of the journey, but sometimes a new beginning. After a long night, will you meet the dawn or go back to the road you have been walking?¡±

    [Hmm? Min-joon, what are you saying?]

    I muttered.

    ¡°What¡­is this¡­?¡±

    I was confused. Unreadable memories flowed through my head. Something like ck smoke was fluctuating in response to the Truth-Seeker¡¯s song.

    The masses of meaning that emerged from the depths of the mind were beyond my recognition. I couldn¡¯t read it. I could only see that it was huge and overwhelming. I was afraid and wanted to hide.

    I thought it had been a long time, and then a song resonated in my ears.

    Some parts of me listened to reverberations and moved my emotions in a wave-like torrent of memories. I was puzzled by the unknown movement of my mind. I tried to concentrate by looking at the memories that were flooding in, but at the same time, I thought I didn¡¯t want to pay attention to that ck thing.

    That internal conflict soon ceased. The Truth-Seeker unintentionally helped me choose thetter option.

    The Song of Chaos said.

    =Shadow Thorn. This thing¡­ You¡¯re so stupid that I even feel sorry for you. Most of us are beings that have endured much longer than you. You failed today because you thought so easily of the desperation that ¡®most of us¡¯ had, which is much deeper and painful than yours. Also, because you overlooked the fact that I take pretty seriously the possibility of that mortal, which you regard as delusional, considering this, I wouldn¡¯t have approached the guy with the fragment as openly as I did today.=

    Gramiel protested with a shriek of will.

    =Aaaaaaarggghhhh!¡­ Are you really looking forward to such a mortal? You maniac!=

    =The word ¡®looking forward to a mortal is mocking me. Just¡­ let¡¯s say it¡¯s positive curiosity.=

    No, that was a lie.

    [What? Min-joon?]

    Parvache suddenly asked me. I barely responded.

    ¡°What? What did I say?¡±

    At that moment, my head became clear again. Before answering anything, a powerful force struck me. In the aftermath, Gramiel, wrapped in tentacles, gathered thest power and fought back.

    =Aarghhhh! If like this¡­ if like this¡­=

    Her power to fold, polish, and sharpen the space itself poured out. Everything that came into my eyes became a weapon.

    She once again broke the space over Busan. The horizon, like an afterimage reflected in a fragmented mirror, soared upward. The sky sank as if it was interlocking. The spaces above and below each became countless thorns, the upper and lower teeth made from a distorted view of Busan. Eventually, like a giant beast, it closed the teeth and chewed the ones in the middle.

    Of course, what was in between was me, Parvache, and the tentacles that stretched out from my chest.

    -Hweeeeeeiiick!

    The newly stretched tentacle moved before the crushing space chewed me up.

    -Tsush!

    Turquoise trajectory hitting the surroundings like a whip. Once again, space was torn. Along the orbit of the tentacle, the spaces in the form of numerous thorns were cut, burst, dug and shattered.

    In the aftermath, Busan was destroyed once more.

    -Bang bang bang bang bang bang!

    The city howled. However, neither of these two Truth-Seeker paid attention to such things.

    =Song of Chaoooooooos!=

    Wrapped in her tentacles, she screamed and reached out her hand. Her figure was in all the fragmented spaces and then returned to its original state.

    So even herst resistance failed.

    =Revenge¡­ Surely revenge¡­=

    She hadpletely lost her strength. Her skinny gray body was drenched, and the second song was cut off at some point.

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest said, giving strength to the tentacle wrapped around Gramiel.

    =Now, go back to your original world.=

    The Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker threw Gramiel. Her body flew to the ground and crashed like aet. It then went inside the Channel, which maintained the blue disk shape.

    Goal.

    So, she was deported to her original dimension.

    =Then¡­=

    The Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest told me.

    =You can handle the rest of it, right? And what you heard today, even if you keep it in your memory, it¡¯s meaningless to you, so it¡¯s easier to forget it. =

    Leaving that will, the huge tentacle began to return to the Channels on my chest. Before the tentaclepletely disappeared, I burst into the dream of flying in the sky. I was in the air at that moment on my own.

    ¡°¡­ Ah.¡±

    I spat out meaningless words, and my voice was a little hoarse for some reason.

    I closed the Channel after the tentacle disappeared. It was a waste of Mana to keep it going.

    I muttered devastatingly.

    ¡°Ah¡­ Well¡­ somehow I¡¯m still alive, huh?¡±

    [¡­ Yes. Thank God. Fortunately, but¡­]

    ¡°¡­ How do we deal with this aftermath?¡±

    I looked down at Busan, surrounded by fire. I then turned my head toward the sound of a rupture in the air tearing my ears.

    A squadron of fighters was flying toward me who was floating in the air.

 Chapter 131

    Wizard¡¯s Name (10)

    I looked up in wonder over the destroyed city. In the distance, I could see an aircraft flying with a roar. I decided that I should unfold the barriers immediately. Rather than being attacked, being exposed was more of a problem.

    ¡°The Mirror of Brunos!¡±

    A barrier was created, and my body was hidden. Since God received offering strictly, I normally didn¡¯t use it, but at that moment, I needed that spell. Meanwhile, there was no room for fiddling with the magic catalyst or doingplicated calctions.

    ¡®Let¡¯s get out of here. Damn it, how do I get back to Seoul?¡¯

    [Wait, Min-joon. There is something to be done before going to Seoul.]

    ¡®What?¡¯

    [Do you remember the information that Kim Kyung-hwan gave you? Carraderina, the ascetic¡¯s brain part, came up to Seoul, but he said that most of her body was separated near this area.]

    Oh right. Carraderina¡¯s body was being kept in an aviation unit¡¯s maintenance warehouse close to the Busan Channel. I heard about it from Kim Kyung-hwan and found the location.

    [Gramiel was kicked out of her original world, but her ascetic remains in this world. We know her master¡¯s intention; we can¡¯t let her go]

    Yes, I nodded. Gramiel conveyed her intentions through Carraderina¡¯s consciousness even when she was in another dimension. It meant that remote control was possible beyond dimensions.

    The brain in Seoul should also be disposed of, but I would start with the nearby body.

    I flew in the direction of Carraderina¡¯s body, leaving a squadron of fighters that had lost their target passing through the air.

    ***

    -¡­ It¡¯s truly an unprecedented catastrophe. The number of confirmed deaths has exceeded 1,200 so far. The shockwave that struck the center of the city hit the gas pipe, making the damage even greater.

    It is thergest single ident since the foundation of the Republic of Korea. The government is expected to define the disaster as a ¡®Channel Disaster.¡¯ The number of victims of this incident is one of the top five deaths in every Channel Disaster globally.

    Along with the reporter¡¯sments, a miserable sight of the city was seen on the screen. Shockwaves from the sky hit the vast areas where people lived their daily lives, beyond the areas around the Channel that had been evacuated. A city with a deep and long crack like an earthquake scratched it. It looked as if a whip wielded by God had hit it. mes rose in the rubble of the building.

    -Fire trucks have been mobilized as much as possible in nearby areas, but the fires at the scene are still notpletely extinguished. There are many areas where firefighters cannot ess due to road damage. The search for missing people under the copsed building is not going well.

    The screen changed to a recording of the President¡¯s speech to the public recorded one hour after the incident. The reporter continued toment against the background of the screen.

    -The government is evaluated for resolving the interracial invasion incident near the Seoul Channelst year rtively quickly, but it is unclear how to deal with this shocking situation. All levels of society are urging the government to prepare urgent measures. On the other hand, there are also many opinions asking for rification as to why this happened. In particr, many voices are urging to disclose what has happened in the huge barriers created around the Busan Channel.

    Currently, the camera was showing the studio. The anchors were wearing ck suits that were close to what a mourning person would wear. The male anchor continued toment with a gloomy expression.

    -Dear viewers, I¡¯m sure you¡¯re all shocked today. It¡¯s said that the National Security Council has been held in the Blue House underground bunker right after the incident. It¡¯s a marathon meeting to prepare the countermeasures. However, even in the midst of this, what makes people feel more anxious is whether there are any measures to resolve this situation.

    The anchor¡¯s voice became darker and more serious.

    -¡®Channel.¡¯ Today¡¯s catastrophe also urred near the Busan Channel, where no other experts or government agencies around the world have been able toe up with the answer with confidence, and a bizarre phenomenon in which the space seen in the sky around the Channel is distorted. There is an unidentified alien race and a creature in the form of a long tentacle. It¡¯s still unclear how they caused this disaster. Here we have to ask the question again. Could this situation be rified just because time passes? Is it really possible for the current government and even for humanity today to prevent this from happening again?

    -Beep!

    President Kang Min-ki, who couldn¡¯t stand it, turned off the TV by lifting the remote control. He then touched his forehead to suppress the rising headache. However, it wasn¡¯t a headache that would fade even if he covered his face with his hands. Just as closing his eyes didn¡¯t make the disaster ahead disappear.

    He opened his eyes wide. He looked at the board hanging on the wall, and he read the numbers inside.

    1,289 deaths. 3,520 missing.

    The number of injured people increased so rapidly that the count was meaningless, so they weren¡¯t marked at all. The number on the electronic board rose rapidly, and he didn¡¯t know when it woulde to an end.

    ¡®I thought I¡¯ve been through a lot of trouble in my life.¡¯

    His political life was never short. However, what started happeningst year was too much for a single politician¡­ no, a single human who was familiar withmon sense to handle.

    He lit a cigarette; he had quit for more than twenty years. He did so, knowing it was counterproductive to headaches. It was a cigarette that wasn¡¯t taken out again when he fell by a small margin in the primary vote, when his family and rtives were torn apart by the media, or when his second daughter passed away in an ident.

    Suddenly, that day, after a long hiatus, he bit the cigarette in his mouth again.

    1,289 people.

    The President muttered deeply in vain. The numbers came as more than visible shock and fear. 1,289 viewers. It was the worst disaster since the foundation of Korea.

    His staff watched in silence as he lit a cigarette in the office. It was a brief break during the National Security Council meetings thatsted for several hours. The President came up to the office and was checking media reports.

    After a while, the chief secretary picked up a phone call, and hisplexion changed. He approached carefully and said.

    ¡°¡­ President, the first result of the video data analysis came out. Let¡¯s go to the situation room.¡±

    The short break was over. The President rubbed half of the cigarettes into an ashtray. He took off his sses and wiped his face with a wet towel that his secretary bought.

    The President got up from his seat, enduring a throbbing headache. He put on his sses again and took his steps. Just before he went out the door, he suddenly turned his head back to the board. 1,291 Death. Meanwhile, the number increased again.

    President Kang Min-ki clenched his teeth and went out of the office.

    ***

    ¡°¡­ Is that true?¡±

    The President asked as if he was frustrated.

    ¡°Based on the data we¡¯ve got so far¡­ yes.¡±

    The middle-aged man, who was rushed to the Blue House, responded with a cold sweat. He was the head of the Department of Forensic and Digital Analysis. The organization he was in charge of specializes in biometrics and research on people captured in various images and hastily analyzed the data handed over from the Blue House today. He was briefing the results in front of the President, staff, and military generals in the Blue House basement.

    The President frowned and stared at the still footage on the screen.

    ¡°An Asian male in his early twenties? Yes, it looks so in my eyes, but isn¡¯t this an illusion?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Yes, based on the results of the video analysis, that¡¯s what it¡¯s interpreted.¡±

    It was only two shockwaves that hit Busan.

    The phenomenon of distortion of space first appeared in the sky, which was assumed to be the source, and the first shockwave that struck the ground when its shape, like a rocking water surface, faded. In the aftermath of the destruction, the surrounding CCTV had already been damaged. Therefore, there was no CCTV recording the clear sky image after the distortion of the space disappeared. In the first ce, for the purpose of installing CCTV, it was rarely installed in aposition that could take pictures of the sky.

    Therefore, it was mostly individuals who filmed what was happening in the sky of Busan after space was restored to normal and visibility was secured. That was because the situation ended before the media even approached.

    Videos of the far sky with cell phones were not easy to read. Furthermore, not many people continued to film calmly at a time when the city was destroyed.

    Still, the government collected the videos as much as possible and delivered them to the Department of Forensic and Digital Analysis, and they were still receiving such reports through the media. Suddenly, the first result of reading the images collected so far was in front of their eyes.

    ¡°Can we only know the face to that extent?¡±

    ¡°¡­ I¡¯m sorry. With the videos gathered so far, yes. However, when more data is gathered, rtively clear montages can be created.¡±

    A young man¡¯s face from various angles was disyed on the screen of the situation room. The poor sketch was filled with CG for the parts of an iplete image. Even if it was shown on the broadcast at that time, it was questionable whether they could find that person.

    ¡°The shockwave that destroyed the city was created when a tentacle-shaped object moves, right? However, the tentacle seems to connect with the front of that young man¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°Yes, it looks exactly like a tentacle protruding from that light source.¡±

    ¡°Is it my mistake? The color of that light¡­ Doesn¡¯t it look like Channel, no matter how hard I look at it?

    ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s pretty much the same.¡±

    Hmm¡­ The President made a repressed groan.

    ¡°Looking at that young man and the tentacles as one body¡­ The opponent whom he fought in battle with is that skinny, gray, alien race, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s right.¡±

    The Director of the National Intelligence Service intervened.

    ¡°Considering the content of the telepathy, it is assumed that the gray alien race exuded that powerful telepathy. A few seconds after it said ¡®I¡¯ll go there for a moment,¡¯ the alien race appeared from the Busan Channel.¡±

    The President nodded. Just before the Busan incident urred, all citizens within a 100 kilometers radius centered on Seoul heard the telepathy of a certain existence. It was ratherpelling to argue that there was no connection between the incident and the tragedy in Busan.

    The President himself heard the intention, but he once again confirmed it through the documents in front of him.

    -Oh my¡­ These bugs are useless. Oh, yes. It¡¯s so cumbersome. Reclusive Soul. Can you hear me?

    -Now, where are you? Shall we meet for a moment?

    -Hmm¡­ No response? However, if I use the detection magic and wipe out the wizards at random, Carraderina¡¯s brain will be burned out¡­ Well, I had no choice.

    -If you refuse the invitation¡­

    -I¡¯ll go there for a minute.

    Telepathy was delivered five times, and they could guess a lot with that information and context alone.

    The President asked.

    ¡°The ce where the alien race appeared is Busan, but the telepathy was concentrated only around Seoul, right?¡±

    The Director of the National Intelligence Service replied.

    ¡°From the context, it¡¯s presumed that before appearing outside the Channel, the gray alien race used Carraderina, which had already been in the world. I¡¯m not sure if it was the aftermath, but Carraderina was found unconscious at that home, and she was surrounded by bodies of small creatures that didn¡¯t belong to the Earth.¡±

    The identity of the bugs mentioned in telepathy had already been confirmed.

    ¡°The gray alien seems to have failed to try to do something with the bugs. The next move was to emit telepathy that many people could hear. The wide range of telepathy was thought to be due to the inability to locate the ¡®Reclusive Soul¡¯ who was the target ofmunication attempts.¡±

    The Director of the National Intelligence Service continued.

    ¡°There are three individuals who have been seen in connection with this case except for the bodies of the tiny creatures; the gray alien, Carraderina, the young man with the tentacle, and the subjects that the telepathy mentioned are Reclusive Soul and Carraderina.¡±

    ¡°So that young man with a tentacle is the Reclusive Soul.¡±

    ¡°It is very likely.¡±

    The President¡¯s face became gloomy.

    ¡°But¡­ Carraderina said she was an ascetic. The gray alien who seems to have treated her as its subordinate and even ¡®used¡¯ her is probably¡­¡±

    The head of forensics was aware of the next word and didn¡¯t continue. However, everyone else in the room understood what the President had swallowed.

    The gray alien, which was ¡®thrown¡¯ into the original world after fighting in the air¡­ was likely to be either a Truth-Seeker or an ascetic who was higher than Carraderina.

    ¡°By the way, after a battle with that kind of existence, the ¡®Reclusive soul¡¯ that¡­¡±

    ¡°The ¡®Reclusive Soul¡¯ who seemed to fight with such a being and drove it out to its original dimension¡­ What the¡­.¡±

    It was not known for what reason the fight broke out. Perhaps it was a reason that was iprehensible to ordinary humans.

    The reason had currently be an important factor in that country. The aftermath of the fight on the country was terrible. They needed to know why it happened, and they had no choice but to do what was possible for humans so that it didn¡¯t happen again.

    ¡°If we gather video information, we can profile it more properly, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    The President spoke in a dark but powerful voice.

    ¡°You have to find him as soon as possible. If Carraderina can¡¯t get her consciousness like this, the only clue is him.¡±

    Once again, the President put the wizard¡¯s name in his mouth, ¡°From now on, we must put all our efforts in the country to find him. Let¡¯s bring the Reclusive Soul out of his veil at any cost.¡±

 Chapter 132

    Savior or Destroyer (1)

    Shanghai, China.

    That huge city, the center of China¡¯s economy, had countless special economic zones established by the government. The special zone with the long name ¡®Minhang Economic and Technological Development Zone¡¯ didn¡¯t have any distinctive features than other special zones. The distance from the main city center was also quite far, and since the development began in 1983, it wasn¡¯t an area where investment was actively made at that point, and the area¡¯s size wasn¡¯t veryrge.

    However, since about a year ago, that ce had attracted attention from the Chinese government due to one environmental characteristic. It was none other than the closest researchplex to the Shanghai Channel.

    Close instructions were given several times in Beijing, and remodeling proceeded rapidly in several R&D centers in that special zone.

    The ce where the man, Wang Liang, was located was one of such research buildings. On the outside, it looked like an ordinary research center, but the interior was luxurious. Its rich design with expensive wood and marble, ented with granite. Arge chandelier was installed on a high ceiling, and it looked like a luxury hotel.

    Wang Liang was an agent belonging to the Ministry of National Security of China, which meant that his origin was never bad. He grew up in an economically unfortunate environment, yet he felt tired of the splendor inside that building. Of course, how the real residents felt there was a separate matter.

    He was now standing in the hallway, looking at the door. It was one of the special guest rooms, so he pressed the button on the inte and spoke.

    ¡°Remish, this is Wang Liang. I¡¯m here to pick you up to the conference room.¡±

    The words of an Asian man resonated through the inte, and it wasn¡¯t long before the answer came back.

    ¡°Yes, I will open the door now.¡±

    It was a woman¡¯s voice. It was a bit awkward with pronunciation, but it was Chinese that was easy tomunicate with.

    The door opened after a while, and a pale blonde woman in a wheelchair rolled her wheels and came out of the hallway. As she looked up at Wang Liang, she said, ¡°Good morning.¡±

    ¡°Did you sleep well?¡±

    Remish shook her head.

    ¡°Oh¡­¡±

    She looked at Wang Liang, and her eyes smiled. She had pupils of color that couldn¡¯t be found in earthly people. If you had to ssify it, you would have to say that it was close to gray.

    ¡°The more my tummy gets full, the harder it is for me to sleep.¡±

    Her tummy, which she said so, was swollen enough to upy more than half of her body. If an ordinary person¡¯s stomach were at that point, she would¡¯ve been suspected of having a disease.

    ¡°I¡¯ll contact them and tell them to bring sleeping pills¡­¡±

    It felt like he was out of his mind for a moment after saying it, like taking sleeping pills for a pregnant woman.

    However, Remish understood Wang Liang¡¯s mistake from a different perspective. She replied with a slight smile.

    ¡°Our mission also includes doctors and wizards. It¡¯s a matter of concern to them. Of course, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t believe in your excellent medicine and technology.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Yes, sorry. My mistake.¡±

    ¡°There is no such thing as a mistake. Anyway¡­ just because we look simr doesn¡¯t mean that the structure inside our body is exactly the same. Research on the effects of medicines used by Earth people on Gramperi¡¯s body is still in progress, so I can¡¯t help it.¡±

    After saying so, Remish added.

    ¡°Of course, the Gramperi in Shenzhen are working hard, so I think there will be some results soon. So, shall we go now, Li-ang?¡±

    Remish couldn¡¯t pronounce Wang Liang¡¯s name properly. Instead of a single syble called Liang (ÁÁ), she always stretched it long and called him ¡®Li-ang.¡¯ The agent nodded and pushed the wheelchair where she sat.

    ¡®Yes, you¡¯re different from Earthlings.¡¯

    As he dragged the wheelchair, he muttered inside.

    Gramperi¡¯s appearance wasn¡¯t very different from humans. Earthlings and Gramperi belonged to the same category, ording to the hierarchy by which they divided multidimensional species. At first nce, she might be mistaken for a Westerner with gray eyes.

    However, they weren¡¯t exactly the same kind. While looking at the pregnant Remish¡¯s belly, Wang Liang recalled that fact once more. Earthly pregnant women didn¡¯t get full like that. She had recently be unable to walk alone and had been helped by Wang Liang.

    Feeling his gaze, Remish smiled awkwardly.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to look at it with such anxious eyes, Li-ang. There are still more than two months left until the scheduled delivery date. Even if you don¡¯t look at me with such frightened eyes, my stomach will not burst, and the baby will note out, so don¡¯t worry.¡±

    Wang Liang, who knew it was Gramperi¡¯s humor, blushed. The fact that they mixed humor in their words was often intended to dilute the unpleasant feelings. It was a kind of mind control to avoid conflict.

    Perhaps it was likely that Remish was ufortable with his gaze.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Remish. I didn¡¯t intend to¡­¡±

    ¡°No. I understand. It was so full that it was difficult to get out of sight. I heard the Earthlings get a much smaller tummy than this, even when it¡¯s almost full, right.¡±

    Wang Liang recalled when his cousin was pregnant and nodded.

    ¡°Yeah. I think so.¡±

    Remish said with a faint smile on her lips.

    ¡°I envy Earthlings for that. Compared to us, you can move freely during pregnancy and have a ¡®normal social life in a short time after giving birth.¡±

    As she continued the conversation, Wang Liang said, trying to turn his gaze toward her tummy again without his knowledge.

    ¡°To be honest, I was surprised by your decision. It¡¯s been a year since you¡¯ve been here, but it¡¯s still a strange ce. To leave your familiar hometown and decide to give birth here.¡±

    She replied in a detached way.

    ¡°As you may have already heard, this is part of the experiment as well. It¡¯s an experiment to see what singrities ur when Gramperi gives birth in an Earthly environment. It was fortunate that one of the researchers sent to Earth was pregnant, right?¡±

    It was hard to guess that the pregnant person was the speaker herself. Remish calmly spoke as if she were talking about someone else.

    Wang Liang tried to imagine her situation by substituting her with an Earthling. If it were his own family, they would¡¯ve never allowed it. There was no other town, no different country that would ept such a notion. It was childbirth in a different dimension. He didn¡¯t know what

    What if the government made such an offer to his wife? He would¡¯ve been angry, saying that it was nonsense. However, the alien in front of him judged that the organization¡¯s instructions to which she belonged were reasonable and were willing to obey. It was a simple reason that it was worth observing since she had the opportunity to give birth herself.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you anxious? The fact that the Earth¡¯s environment is favorable to Gramperi¡¯s survival has been well-proven, but it¡¯s still a different dimension. There¡¯s no such case documented before.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Even the doctors said they couldn¡¯t guarantee safety because of the subtle differences in the atmosphericposition or air pressure. However, since there is no such case, it¡¯s worth experimenting more.¡±

    ¡°But¡­ Remish, it¡¯s your own child.¡±

    The alien responded withughter.

    ¡°It¡¯s worthwhile for the entire species of Gramperi. I made a precedent through my childbirth. This information will be useful for all of us. Isn¡¯t it natural to value the development of a group more than the individual¡¯s life?¡±

    Remish shrugged and muted her words, which would cause intense reactions in most of the¡¯s cultures. Wang Liang, knowing that the words contain her sincerity, swallowed a bitter sigh. No matter how much time passed, he couldn¡¯t get used to their values.

    ¡°Of course, that won¡¯t happen, but aren¡¯t you afraid something unexpected might happen?¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s unexpected, is it about the possibility that I might have a miscarriage or die during childbirth because the circumstances have changed?¡±

    She quietly spat out words that an earthly mother would seldom say.

    ¡°Of course, it must be very sad. It¡¯s even more unfortunate if I die. However, you can¡¯t interfere with the group¡¯s goals because you are concerned about individual misfortunes. Isn¡¯t this a concept that you¡¯re familiar with?¡±

    After asking that, Remish began to recite Chinese sentences. It wasn¡¯t a perfect pronunciation, but it wasn¡¯t too hard to understand the meaning, and it was a natural reading without interruptions of words.

    ¡°Ò»ÇÐ°Ñµ³µÄÕýÈ·Ö÷ÕÅ±äÎªÈºÖÚµÄ×Ô¾õÐÐ¶¯¡£±ØÐëÊµÐÐÕýÈ·µÄ¼¯ÖÐ£¬±£Ö¤È«µ³µÄÍÅ½áÍ³Ò»ºÍÐÐ¶¯Ò»ÖÂ£¬±£Ö¤µ³µÄ¾ö¶¨µÃµ½Ñ¸ËÙÓÐÐ§µÄ¹á³¹Ö´ÐÐ¡£The party¡¯s im should lead to arbitrary action by the people. The central government should thoroughly implement its central power to ensure unity, unification, and consistency of actions of the entire party, and ensure that the party¡¯s decision is carried out and executed quickly and effectively.¡±

    It was a phrase that was too familiar to Wang Liang.

    ¡°The regtion of Chinese Communist Party. It¡¯s the general outline.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right.¡±

    That alien, with a clear head, memorized all the long documents of 53 articles.

    ¡°The group always takes precedence over the individual, and every individual must act based on the goals and ideals set by the group. This is a concept that also fits Gramperi¡¯smon sense. Your party is well aware of the efficiency and virtue of collectivism. That is why you would have been able to rule such arge country without difficulty. Do you say that less than 0.01% of the poption has to be executed a year to maintain social order? In the light of ourmon sense, this is a miracle. It¡¯s an extremely low-cost society. Even that has not yet bemonce in a world where magic is used to control the people.¡±

    Shepared the death penalty as a cost for maintaining social order and then using other phrases.

    ¡°µ³Ô±±ØÐë°Ñ¸öÈËÀûÒæ·þ´Óµ³ºÍÈËÃñµÄÀûÒæ£¬³Ô¿àÔÚÇ°£¬ÏíÊÜÔÚºó£¬¿Ë¼º·î¹«£¬¶à×ö¹±Ï×¡£The party members always put the interests of the party and the people before the individual¡¯s interests. Struggling first and enjoy the joyter, contributing by working with dedication.¡±

    Wang Liang gave a reply close to a groan.

    ¡°Article 3, Paragraph 3¡­¡±

    It was one of the articles listing the obligations of the party members of the Chinese Communist Party.

    ¡°In your world, your status as a party member is simr to our Gramperi¡¯s ¡®Andaz.¡¯¡±

    Remish, who said so, was also a member of the ss called ¡®Andaz.¡¯ Therefore, she could be included in the mission sent to Earth.

    ¡°Andaz is a privileged ss. That¡¯s why we have to serve the group even more. Are you, too? You have to learn how to give up your insistence for personal interests.¡±

    Wang Liang nodded slightly, seemingly agreeing, but inside, he had apletely different idea.

    ¡®No. Totally different. Who cares about such rules these days? Only a few Chinese people live with such values in their hearts even though they speak in a shy way. What nonsense are you saying that groups are prioritized over individuals in this day and age?¡¯

    Wang Liang was certainly patriotic towards China. It was rather impossible not to be due to the nature of his origin and profession. However, it was only to the extent of a reasonable level. His affection and pride for his country were valid only when he didn¡¯t sacrifice his own interests.

    ¡®Remish still misunderstands the Chinese.¡¯

    It was an error in interpreting the other person in their own frame.

    It was impossible for him to kill himself and to worship the group blindly. Perhaps it was unlikely for most Chinese whether you were a Communist Party member or not. They made a thorough distinction between those within the line of ¡®we¡¯ and that outside. Community values were usually applied only within the walls of personal connections called ¡®guanxi.¡¯

    It was umon to extend the scope of personalmunity to the entire nation or the entire nation. No, it was almost impossible to find.

    ¡°The ideas of Gramperi and those of the Communists are simr¡­ but a little different.¡±

    Wang Liang answered like that for the time being.

    ¡°Are most Gramperi¡­ among them, are Andaz¡¯s thinking simr to you, Remish?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right. The idea of a group-individual rtionship is almost the same.¡±

    ¡°The scope of the group extends to the entire race, right?¡±

    ¡°Yes. We all belong to a single political system.¡±

    It was as Wang Liang knew.

    ¡°Thanks to that, the information we get through me can be shared across the race because everyone is a group and amunity. Even if I die here giving birth¡­ the sacrifice can be a step for everyone. It is a sacrifice for the race. It¡¯s a gift for not only Gramperi, who lives and breathes at this moment, but also for the many descendants of Gramperi who will live on this in the future.¡±

    Upon hearing that, Wang Liang asked himself quietly.

    What if it was himself? What if he could save so many people by sacrifice? It was like one man dying so a thousand Chinese people could survive? What if, in the future, 10,000patriots could have new life thanks to the medical data umted from his death?

    The answer that came back was negative. Wang Liang valued his own life currently more than a thousand Chinese people he didn¡¯t know about, more than 10,000 people in the future whose existence was uncertain. That was when he thought about his country alone, but moreover, if he expanded the object to the whole of humanity like Gramperi¡­

    ¡®Ah, that¡¯s a useless fantasy.¡¯

    Wang Liang shook off his thoughts and gave strength to his hand, pushing the wheelchair.

    ***

    ¡°Remish, you are here.¡±

    It was arge conference room where Wang Liang led Remish by pushing her wheelchair. There were already several National Security Department agents and Gramperis sitting together.

    The Gramperis were considerate of humans and used Chinese tomunicate with themselves. When they saw Remish in a wheelchair with her tummy swollen to an enormous size, they just said a brief greeting. There were no words offort or encouragement. That seemed natural to them.

    ¡°As it was originally, this was the responsibility of Gramperis, who works at the Beijing Research Center, but there was a call that we would like to hear the opinions of the people here. Many of the Gramperis here are Channel experts.¡±

    The Gramperis sitting at their seat nodded at the exnation of the middle-aged agent.

    ¡°So, let¡¯s watch the video.¡±

    The conference room darkened as he gestured, and a huge video appeared on the screen. It was just yesterday¡¯sption of an incident that took ce in a nearby country.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh, my God!¡±

    As the video continued, the Gramperi researchers¡¯ faces turned white, their mouths wide open, and some screamed in a single word because of their surprise.

    Over time, the screen went dark, and the lights in the conference room turned on again ording to the agent¡¯s gesture.

    And at the same time, the table became very noisy. The Gramperis gathered there were all researchers and schrs. They poured out hypotheses based on the knowledge they knew. Some were so excited that they forgot to speak Chinese and poured out their originalnguage.

    The Ministry of National Security officials recorded all of the intense discussions while at the same time leaving notes on the spot for the important part. To some extent, when the excitement of the Gramperis subsided, they chatted as if reflecting on what each other had confirmed.

    ¡°Anyway, you all agree that tentacle is creatures of a dimension we don¡¯t know about?¡±

    ¡°We agree.¡±

    ¡°Also, the species that the tentacle dealt with is probably ¡®the Space Ghost.¡¯¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not an ordinary entity either. It outperforms any recorded object. If such a thing had flowed into our world, it would¡¯ve caused a great disaster¡­¡±

    ¡°Perhaps Andazelkia could get destroyed.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this world dangerous? It should be blocked somehow¡­ you said it¡¯s a country not far from China, right? It might cross the Channel and cross over to our world.¡±

    ¡°The Earth may have managed to escape destruction¡­¡±

    The contents of the conversation were unusual. Cold sweat flowed down the faces of the agents listening to the Gramperis¡¯ conversation.

    A middle-aged agent intervened, realizing that the atmosphere was getting sorted out.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for interrupting the conversation, but there is one part that our superior pays a lot of attention to. The blue circle from that tentacle is very simr to Channels.¡±

    One of the Gramperi replied as if it weren¡¯t a big deal.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s a Channel.¡±

    ¡°Pardon? Oh, I see. However, what confuses us is that the Channel is attached to the body of a human-looking figure.¡±

    Suddenly, a Gramperi said, raising his hand.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s still a strange concept to you. That man is probably an ascetic.¡±

    The agent¡¯s eyes grew fierce.

    ¡°You mean the group that tried to terrorize our facility over and over again?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but¡­ it¡¯s a little weird. Why did he put his colleagues somewhere and move alone? Also, if a human with such strong power was among the ascetic people¡­ I wonder how our people have stopped terrorism. If it were the destructive power to break even the power of the Space Ghost, our magic can¡¯t have endured it.¡±

 Chapter 133

    Savior or Destroyer (2)

    A middle-aged Gramperi continued.

    ¡°If that ascetic with a channel attached to his body came to the front from early on, it would¡¯ve been difficult for our fellowpatriots to stop him.¡±

    ¡°We agree.¡±

    The foreign government spected that the number and level of wizards trained in China were thergest and highest in the world. However, those gathered there knew that the reality was a few steps higher than the outside predictions.

    The Gramperi¡¯s advanced magical civilization and China¡¯s outstanding science and technology with their rich poption and both of their strong central control had produced achievements that no other country dared surpass.

    Meanwhile, the training center¡¯s defense system, created by thebination of the modern weapons of the Chinese People¡¯s Army and the magical civilization of Gramperi, won the victory over an unidentified terrorist group, which no country had seeded in.

    The Chinese government and Gramperi captured some of the ¡®apprentices¡¯ who raided the training camps and discovered they were ascetics.

    Even though it was an unfamiliar concept to Gramperi, they were confused. It was difficult to recall from theirmon sense why the Truth-Seeker had to take the magic away from the native species.

    ¡°Aside from the sacrifices of several training camps in the early annihtion, we have been dealing with ascetics¡¯ assaults in the meantime, but if that wizard had ever participated in the war, our defense system would have copsed helplessly.¡±

    ¡°Yes. Inflicting a blow on the Space Ghost means that the attacking party can deal with space so freely. The defense through barriers we have made would be meaningless.¡±

    The middle-aged Gramperi said after a brief brainstorm. He was a very old member among the Andaz ss gathered there. Also, his words contained heavy authority.

    ¡°So, the most urgent questions we have to solve are; first, it will be the identity and intention of that ascetic. We need answers to what he affiliates to, why he works alone, and his rtionship with the ascetic group engaged in existing terrorist activities. Second, we need to find out the unidentified creature that came out of the Seed Channel attached to his body, and how the Channel summoned it in such a way.¡±

    At that time, an executive of the Ministry of National Security intervened in their conversation.

    ¡°Did you just say summon?¡±

    Gramperi nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s one of the things we care about the most.¡±

    ¡°Ourmon sense is that summoning through the Seed Channel has no choice but to have randomness that isrgely dependent on probability. Still, can we dismiss the situation as a coincidence? How could he identally connected with a creature with the ability to overwhelm the Space Ghost dealing with one? Moreover, I can¡¯t understand how it has not fully revealed itself to this world and returned to its original world as soon as the battle was over.¡±

    A Gramperi sitting next to him took over.

    ¡°If he is a wizard that can deliberately target and summon through the Seed Channel, it¡¯s an event that could turn the concept of magic and dimensions we know upside down.¡±

    ¡°Maybe the ¡®dimensional map¡¯ that was only discussed conceptually actually exists!¡±

    One word from a Gramperi made the conference room very noisy.

    Dimensional map.

    The executive, listening to their intense discussion, brought it up.

    ¡°In the end, if you put the guesswork together¡­ it¡¯s a level that surpasses those of Gramperi in terms of dimensional knowledge.¡±

    Remish nodded passionately and agreed.

    ¡°Yes. We have been observing the surrounding dimensions for a long time. We can¡¯t cross over until the Channel opens, yet it is possible to recognize that the world exists. However, as you can see, it¡¯s impossible to urately identify and connect certain objects without much more precise and extensive indicators. It might prove that a dimensional map, which was considered a vain concept, is real.¡±

    Upon hearing that, a middle-aged Gramperi looked at the agent and spoke.

    ¡°The opponent is a very strong man that we cannot imagine. That doesn¡¯t mean we can let it go of our hands. We need to get the information out of the way by avoiding a direct collision. Could you ask for additional information through the country where that Channel is open? That video is too far, and the rity isn¡¯t good. A little bigger and clearer¡­¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re talking about the resolution, then don¡¯t worry. We are already working on routes.¡±

    Of course, the efforts were outside the scope of normal, sunny-sided diplomatic means. However, the agent didn¡¯t dare mention that there.

    ¡°Then, I will collect interpretations of the videos discussed here and deliver them to Beijing.¡±

    ¡°Who will be in charge of this case?¡±

    The agent frowned for a moment and said, ¡°It¡¯s an ambiguous case, but I think the Beijing Research Institute Gramperi¡¯s will be in charge. Moreover, these days, our research institutes are busy.¡±

    The Gramperi¡¯s gathered at the seat nodded all at once. Many new biomes and ores were discovered within the Shanghai Channel dimension, and humans and Gramperis were all eager to study the specimens.

    The agent judged that the second opinions requested by Beijing were sufficiently collected. He proceeded with the agenda for the regr meeting.

    They would be sharing and apanying research data regarding the progress of exploration and development of the collective Fourth New Zone beyond the Shanghai Channel.

    It came to Remish¡¯s turn to share the results of each experiment in their respective fields.

    She said, ¡°This is a report of the results of an experiment on a blue-haired primate with super-renewable ability, also known as Lanyuan (Blue Ape). We got 15 more individualsst week, so we continued the experiment that we had been putting off.¡±

    The experiment that was put off was of an intensity that could lead to the subject¡¯s death.

    ¡°What we checked this time was about the speed and resilience of major organs such as the brain, circtory system, and spine.¡±

    The video she prepared was disyed on the screen. The small-sized aliensid on the operating table with their hands and feet tied. The researcher split the front of Lanyuan with a prepared surgical grinder. There was a dull sound when the saw de was pushed against the flesh of a normal mammal.

    The subject screamed and twisted, and a strange phenomenon urred in the cut chest and abdomen. The fatyer and skin shrunk back as if trying to find the cut surface and restore its original shape. The invisible force seemed to pull the skin and forced it to be sealed.

    However, as if it were familiar, the researcher inserted a grid between the split chest and spread it apart, and then the closed skin stopped recovering. The researcher brought a scalpel to Lanyuan¡¯s heart.

    ¡°Lanyuan¡¯s heart is not very different in structure than the mammals living on Earth or in Andazelkia. We started with an experiment of cutting off the cardiovascr system.¡±

    Remish added her exnation while watching the video. She moved her body several times as if her sitting position was ufortable due to her swollen belly.

    The scalpel on the screen cut off the blood vessels. Blood sprang up like a fountain. The camera took a close-up near the heart.

    In the video, the gagged alien spat a twisted scream. Remish turned the volume down and continued.

    ¡°As you can see, it took only 21 seconds for the cut artery to recover. Let¡¯s turn to the quick look¡­ Yes, as in the video now, it has been confirmed that 45% of the entire heart, including the heart muscleyer and valves, has beenpletely recovered even when it is damaged. However, this speed fell rapidly when more than half of the heart was damaged. Even this entity didn¡¯t survive the experiment that damaged half of it. This is because the shock caused by hypoxia in the body came first before the heart tissue waspletely restored.¡±

    The video led to experiments on other objects. After opening the specimen¡¯s skull, the researchers used a scalpel to cut out the brain tissue little by little or absorbed it with a syringe and cut the spine alive with a tool reminiscent of pruning scissors.

    ¡°What was confirmed again by this experiment is that even for important organs of the body such as the brain, heart, and spine, if the damage rate is less than 50%, the rapid regeneration rate, which is called hyper regeneration, is maintained.¡±

    ¡°In a word, it doesn¡¯t matter what kind of organ it is.¡±

    ¡°Yes, this rifies the direction of future research. If we study Lanyuan, we may find a clue. The keyword that ancient priests heard through the Akashic Records, the ¡®elixir¡¯ that was only considered as a concept in legend may be possible.¡±

    Several Gramperis breathed a sigh of suppression. A legendary magical potion regenerated damaged limbs and organs in an instant. However, no one in history had been able to make it a reality.

    It was a potion piled up enough to roll around in a human wizard¡¯s warehouse located on the Korean Penins, and depending on the level. It was a product that was transported in an empty drink bottle. However, currently, it was the ultimate leap for them, as the treasure of gold.

    The eyes of the aliens sitting in the seat shone at once. What reflected in their eyes wasn¡¯t personal greed but the expectation of the infinite development and benefits that the result would bring to their kind.

    ¡°We¡¯re focusing on researching what magical or biological properties of them cause this phenomenon. However, samples are scarce. We believe that at least 200 more are needed to carry out basic research. This is because excessive rey will slow down the speed. There¡¯s also a limit to repeated experiments on biological tissue extraction and degradation with the same object.¡±

    The agent nodded.

    ¡°That¡¯s a request made by Chinese researchers as well. Shortly, a follow-up exploration unit will enter the Fourth New Zone. The main goal of this exploration is to collect as many samples of Lanyuan as possible.¡±

    At that time, Remish raised her hand and spoke.

    ¡°I hope to be with you in this exploration. There¡¯s an experiment I¡¯d like to do in the field.¡±

    A voice filled with astonishment burst from behind her back.

    ¡°What? I beg your pardon?¡±

    It was Wang Liang who shouted without realizing it. He btedly covered his mouth with his hand, realizing that he wasn¡¯t in the position to make a voice there. However, despite his gestures, none of the people surrounding that table paid attention to his reaction, whether humans or Gramperis.

    With his mouth closed, Wang Liang shouted in his heart.

    ¡®Remish is a pregnant woman! Even that, in two months, she will have a child. She¡¯s a pregnant woman whose stomach is so full that she cannot move without a wheelchair!¡¯

    However, the part that Gramperi cared about was a little different from Wang Liang¡¯s concern.

    ¡°The exploration will be finished within a month¡­ but aren¡¯t you anxious? Remish, if your childbirth gets faster, you will be a major obstacle for the expedition.¡±

    A middle-aged Gramperi said, frowning.

    The Earth people who heard him thought that the obstacle would mean a dy or interruption of the exploration schedule due to premature childbirth. However, his words that followed werepletely different.

    ¡°Moreover, Remish your family has produced excellent warriors from the past. Couldn¡¯t the exploration team get caught up in the riots of an insane warrior?¡±

    Remish protested.

    ¡°However, ording to the opinion of the doctor so far, there is no sign of an earlier delivery date.¡±

    Another Gramperi said, ¡°Still, it¡¯s impossible to guarantee 100%.¡±

    ¡°Remish, if you want to go, why don¡¯t you have the child in your womb aborted and then apany the team?¡±

    ¡°Oh, she can¡¯t do that. The research of Remish giving birth on Earth is an experiment that is of high interest from the top.¡±

    There were words that human ethics couldn¡¯t imagine. However, Remish calmly received those words.

    ¡°But among the Gramperi researchers in Shanghai, I¡¯m the one who has the most experience in interracial studies. I¡¯m also in charge of the Lanyuan project. This is the part that I request because I felt the need to select samples myself and experiments conducted in the field. All of these are steps towards the development of Gramperi.¡±

    A brief discussion continued, and the Gramperis eventually ruled in favor of Remish. If there were any sign of childbirth, she would immediately return to Shanghai through the Channel.

    Moreover, in that conference room, there was a man who was more dissatisfied with that decision than anyone else.

    ¡®¡­ Damn, no way¡­ Do I have to follow Remish into that Channel?¡¯

    Wang Liang was a new groom who had been married for about half a year and was in charge of taking care of Remish¡¯s every move, which was ufortable. He was serving Remish, a Gramperi woman, as an assistant due to the culture of the Gramperi tribe, and Remish directly requested it.

    ¡®I¡¯m going to go nuts. It was said that the New Zone is full of creatures like monsters!¡¯

    Also, something mysterious happened in the New Zone. In the meantime, a great deal of understanding of the creatures living near the Channel on New Zone¡¯s side had progressed. However, recently, there was a toon that went missing for an unknown reason.

    Before being a member of the Great People¡¯s Republic of China¡¯s Communist Party and one agent serving the state, Wang Liang was a single office worker. He began to seriously consider whether that assignment he was given would fit the value of his sry.

    Only work as much as you receive. It was a phrase of wisdom that Wang Liang believed as thoroughly as the Chinese Communist Party¡¯s regtion.

 Chapter 134

    Savior or Destroyer (3)

    -Qwaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrng!

    There was a noise tearing up the dry air.

    ¡°Oh, fuck. It¡¯s driving me crazy. Again?¡±

    It was a woman whose face was half distorted by a burn. She stood up from the camping chair, frowning her face.

    Someone was sarcastic at sight.

    ¡°Howe someone as young as you always curse whenever you open your mouth? It is also rough. It¡¯s rare for you to say a decent word.¡±

    The one who spat out words as if he was older than that woman was in the form of a boy who didn¡¯t even reach her waist. Hwang Soo-rim looked at the little boy who had given her a hard time.

    ¡°Whatever. Don¡¯t you mind?¡±

    ¡°Haha¡­¡±

    Garam, a Maek who looked like a human child, shook his head and clicked his tongue.

    At that moment, a roar resonated once again.

    -Qwaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrng!

    Hwang Soo-rim eximed, like a wild dog barking against the cries.

    ¡°Ah, those fucking things are sleeping so much but then going to wake up only when I try to eat?¡±

    ¡°This, again! Again!¡±

    ¡°Why? Aftering over here, only nasty things happen, so my wordse out shit.¡±

    After staying up all night, Hwang Soo-rim was about to eat only one meal. She looked down with irritated eyes at the heating lunch box, which wasn¡¯t even half-empty.

    At that moment, she envied the stupid roon who was pretending to be herself in her house. At least the roon was sleeping well.

    Hwang Soo-rim, who didn¡¯t have enough sleep, was full of nerves, but there was a voice that soothed her.

    ¡°Lady, calm down. Let¡¯s clean this ce up with me, and then, Brother Garam, can you wake Master up?¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Yeah. I get it.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim had an instant meal in front of the bonfire.

    No, the word bonfire might not be an urate expression. There were no dry leaves or res on the ground to keep the fire burning. A pure me burned while attached to the earth.

    It was a fire created by a woman who had just dissuaded Hwang Soo-rim, well, to be exact, a fox.

    That me was the core of the barrier. It was a measure to keep the predators living around there from being twisted. When you see that party¡¯s level, there was no danger of encountering it, but troublesome things would continue if left unchecked.

    ¡°Ah¡­ I got a bite.¡±

    A thick male voice was heard inside the container. Garam, who went inside, woke him up and called him out.

    He came out and had the face of a middle-aged man. The man looked up at the sky, and he frowned.

    ¡°Why are you so pissed off? We¡¯ll be here in about five minutes.¡±

    Suddenly, the hoodie he was wearing moved in a wriggling motion. A bundle of bronze-colored tentacles crawled through the nape of his neck and wrapped him around his neck.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to¡­ be fun. y, with¡­ me, too.¡±

    The tentacles made the words by ringing the air around it with telekic power. The man who heard the words frowned on it.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a memory transnt or an instinct transnt, but I like it.¡±

    In the air where there was nothing, the sound was generated again and replied.

    ¡°Maru¡­ together¡­ y.¡±

    ¡°No, Dude. The other side doesn¡¯t want to y with you at all right now.¡±

    While the man chatted with the tentacles and gathered his Mana, the rest of the party threw all the camping tools out there in the container with skillful gestures. After closing the container¡¯s door, the man quickly reduced it to a size that could fit in his palm and threw it into his backpack.

    Preparations for the battle were quicklypleted.

    To be exact, it was a battle between the man and his opponent flying from far away.

    ¡°Come on, Maru. Go over there.¡±

    In the meantime, the man spoke to Maru, which had moved towards his arm. The tentacles then floated into the air. The first ce it looked at was Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s nape.

    ¡°No. I don¡¯t want it. Don¡¯t stick to my skin.¡±

    Realizing that gaze, Hwang Soo-rim firmly shook her head, making an X with both hands, then the tentacles murmured.

    ¡°¡­ You¡¯re¡­ mean.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl, who looked at it, smiled bitterly and extended her arm.

    ¡°Maru,e this way.¡±

    With permission, the tentacles flew in a smooth curve like a jellyfish swimming in the sea. It then wrapped Mrs. Pearl¡¯s forearms and settled down.

    Mrs. Pearl moved quickly while stroking Maru with her arms wrapped. The only task left for those other than the man was to watch. They all left their ce.

    After moving far away, Mrs. Pearl created another barrier that enclosed herself, Hwang Soo-rim, and Garam. The purpose was to defend against the aftermath of the battle.

    Meanwhile, the man in the hoodie was looking up at the sky and constantly concentrating his Mana.

    The enormous force rushed around. As she looked at it, Hwang Soo-rim muttered in a small voice without even realizing it.

    ¡°¡­ Is that human?¡±

    Shortly before they crossed the Channel in Shanghai, he no longer pretended to be an alien in front of Hwang Soo-rim. Hwang Soo-rim, who recently arrived at a certain ce after being called by him, met him in the form of a middle-aged man instead of a bizarre form of an alien that he had identified until recently.

    Hwang Soo-rim pretended not to know anything, and she asked if he could transform into a human being, then ¡®Eraser¡¯ replied with a cool smile on his lips.

    -All right. Stop it. You said you knew I was human anyway?

    At that moment, she felt the goosebumps flowing all over her body. What came to her mind was a conversation with Kim Kyung-hwan at the park. At that moment, she had a barrier to block all sounds.

    She couldn¡¯te up with another route. Eraser¡­ She wasn¡¯t sure what means he used, but she was sure he heard all the conversation she had at that time.

    From then on, he moved in the form of a human in front of Hwang Soo-rim. It seemed to be because it was much easier to transform into another human than to transform into an alien body.

    [Here ites.]

    The one that sent the will was a small robot toy that Garam carried and moved around. She still hadn¡¯t gotten used to this being. Hwang Soo-rim frowned and nced at it.

    ¡°What?¡±

    The robot raised its hand and pointed like a person.

    [That way.]

    At that time, something like a ck dot floated over the horizon. It gradually grew bigger and began to cover the sky. It was evident that a huge object was flying towards them.

    At that time, everyone was watching it. The first creature roared as soon as it woke up, and while exploring the surroundings, it began approaching that ce with the Mana that the man stabbed in the sky as a milestone.

    It was the wind that arrived before its body. The strong wind struck the ce where they were.

    The barrier made by Mrs. Pearl was meaningless. Since the man was giving outright guidance, the opponent urately captured this location.

    -Qwaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrng!

    It roared. A gray giant body covered the sky, squeezing the horizon. The wings that cut through the wind continued. Clouds were torn along the path it was moving.

    It appeared so splendidly that it flew over without hesitation, approached, and stopped over the heads of the party. Turning its back on the sun, it cast a shadow on everyone.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrgh!

    With a gleaming golden line of backlight along the rim of its body, it looked down at the artifacts below.

    ¡°I can¡¯t get used to it even after watching it a few times. Oh, God.¡±

    A sound leaked out of Mrs. Pearl¡¯s mouth. At the same time as her, a huge voice came down from the air.

    ¡°Are you the one who stole my dream?!¡±

    It roared. The air trembled like crazy. All those standing on the ground felt a powerful resonant vibration inside and outside their bodies.

    The only thing that understood the meaning of thenguage was the spirit contained in the small robot.

    However, thanks to several repeated events, everyone could easily guess what the opponent was talking about.

    Garam clicked his tongue.

    ¡°It¡¯s creepy every time I see it.¡±

    It had a giant pair of wings that drew sharp lines and a long, long tail that upied about half its body¡¯s length. There were also faint white spots everywhere on the gray skin. Its eyes, located beneath the sharp horns, glowed eerily, and mes fluttered around the mouth every time it breathed out.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never really seen it in real life¡­ but does Earth¡¯s dragon also look like that?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl muttered as she looked at the giant dragon that covered the sky.

    [Um¡­ That¡¯s a pretty young one in terms of size. It must be about 2,000 years old?]

    The toy, which had been muttering like that, asked with the thoughts.

    [How is it? Can you see that Dragon¡¯s soul?]

    The boy shook his head.

    Approaching the designated ce, the man standing looked this way. Understanding the question, Garam made an ¡®X¡¯ shape with his hands.

    The man nodded and reached out his hand toward Hwang Soo-rim. Seeing the signal, she closed her eyes and focused her mind.

    -Wooooooong!

    Numerous magical patterns were nted in thend where the man stood. It was the maestro of the heavybor that Hwang Soo-rim made while staying up all night, and a man was standing in the center of it.

    Hwang Soo-rim ensured that everything was properly stabilized and put one more pattern in thest empty space. A huge magic circle was finallypleted through her finishing touch.

    It was the man¡¯s Mana that activated thepleted magic circle.

    -Kwoooooooooong

    The man spilled the Mana he had been collecting so far on the ground. His Mana, which became a raw material, flowed along with the pattern on the ground. It was a phenomenon as if water was flowing through the grooves of the ground that had been dug in advance.

    Suddenly, a huge magic circle was activated.

    ¡°This¡­ this is?!¡±

    Once again, an overwhelming voice continued, but that time, there was a bit of confusion mixed up.

    In an instant, the man whopleted the restraint magic flew from the spot.

    ***

    My body soared in the wind. I muttered inside. ¡®Will it seed once again?¡¯

    ¡°What kind of joke is this?!¡±

    The Dragon was panicking when it noticed that its body movements were being restrained. A magic circle created in an instant on the earth grabbed its body. It screamed as loud as if it would burst the eardrums.

    I had to aim at that moment.

    I flew right in front of the Dragon¡¯s head and stopped. It was currently an altitude where I made eye contact with the opponent in front of me. The Dragon¡¯s eyes were filled with anger.

    I soon felt that my surroundings were getting hotter. It wasn¡¯t an illusion caused by psychological conditions. The temperature was actually rising.

    ¡°You bastaaaaaaaard!¡±

    A fine object lingered right in front of their eyes while their body¡¯s movements were restricted. Its reaction to dealing with such an entity was consistent, and then it opened its mouth wide.

    It was as I intended.

    -Ghrrrrrrgh!

    I saw the flow of magma swaying in its open mouth, and then I cried out to myself.

    ¡°It¡¯s time!¡±

    I opened the Channel on my chest with the coordinates I was calcting, and it connected the space to a predetermined ce.

    ¡°Eu¡­.eumph?!¡±

    The Dragon, who was just about to exhale magma, seemed confused. I looked at its body.

    The body itself was a crystal of high magic. I couldn¡¯t figure out how much Mana I had to put in to capture such an existence purely with my own magic.

    But at that moment, I wasn¡¯t in a situation where I could use that much power as I wanted, and the artifacts weren¡¯t infinite.

    So, I found a way.

    The Channel created at that time wasn¡¯t connected to the contractor. Originally, just because the Channel was opened, there was no motive for the existence beyond it toe there. You could hesitate to cross the Channel that was suddenly open in front of you even if you were suspicious.

    However, the peculiarity of the environment beyond that Channel currently forced the other person toe to that ce.

    -Wooooooooooong!

    Beyond the Channel was a giant oceanic. The one covering the¡¯s surface was not an ordinary liquid but a demon. The stinky seawater poured out of the Columbia Channel and covered the capital. The indefinite Demon who destroyed.

    Also, the ce where that Channel was connected was the bottom of the far deep sea in that world.

    -Qwarrrrrrrrrkkkkkk!

    As a result, as soon as the door was opened, a stream of water poured out like a missile due to massive water pressure!

    It was like looking at a broken digestive tract. What was pouring was, of course, not ordinary water. It was a peculiar being who absorbed the opponent¡¯s Mana, and although it had no higher reason, it was a priest of Kaidemos who had primitive faith in its mind.

    The Dragon screamed.

    ¡°Uaaargh! Ghhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrr¡­!¡±

    It opened its eyes wide. A water cannon about a meter in diameter struck into its wide-open mouth before the storm of fire it had made burst out. It was nothing but forced watering.

    The torrents that wet its mouth began to absorb Mana in the Dragon¡¯s body without evaporating even in mes.

    Whether it noticed what the phenomenon meant, the Dragon cried out in astonishment. The breath that was condensing in its body had already disappeared without a trace due to the Mana core¡¯s vtilization.

    ¡°Demon?! Did you feed me the Demon?!¡±

 Chapter 135

    Savior or Destroyer (4)

    The Dragon tried to vomit in vain.

    ¡°Hump!¡±

    It was as if the Dragon was forced into a squirt gun while its mouth was open from its point of view. It was an uneptable disgrace to its pride as a dragon.

    However, the result of the incident didn¡¯t remain simple emotional torture.

    ¡®What¡­ what is it?!¡¯

    Magma was kicked up to its throat to deal with the human wizard in front of its eyes. The breath it was preparing for was just lost and disappeared. It was due to the demons stirring inside the body.

    The Dragon felt extremely confused. It couldn¡¯t understand. Suddenly, a Channel opened on his chest, and the demons came over as if waiting.

    How did that happen? Was the human wizard I was confronting at that moment the contractor of demons?

    However, no demons were summoned in that way. It was impossible that the body itself came over to the Channel, not the soul!

    ¡®This is¡­¡¯

    It was thrilled with the sense of crisis it experienced for the first time in its life as a dragon. From the first moment it recognized itself in the egg, it felt the Mana for granted. The absolute power to support itself was gradually decreasing. Even in that critical moment, it still couldn¡¯t move its body.

    The Dragon roared.

    -Qwaaaaarrrrrrrrggghhhh!

    The magic circle holding the Dragon¡¯s body would break as time passed by. Even if the attack continued, it was able to endure with a strong magic defense unique to its kind. It could endure the attack for a while, then break the resistant magic and fight back. Instead of holding on, there was also a way to sweep him away with a breath.

    At that moment, an unexpected variable intervened.

    ¡®This is¡­ too fast!¡¯

    Its body was rapidly deprived of the Mana that allowed him to support its body in the air. The demon flowed down the Dragon¡¯s esophagus, stomach wall, and intestines. Therger the surface area of ??the demons in contact with the organs inside its body, the faster the absorption rate of Mana became. Some had been absorbed by the mucous organ membranes and mixed into blood vessels, just like normal liquids taken by mouth.

    It was molecr level pration and molecr level seizure.

    Indefinite demons were dominated by instinct rather than reason. They had met the paradise of the Dragon¡¯s body, which was like a treasure house of abundant Mana.

    They sucked up its Mana like crazy without knowing their restraint.

    ¡°Oh¡­ no!¡±

    The Dragon shouted, but the giant was already descending slowly.

    -Qwaaaaaarrrrrrhh!

    The Dragon roared once again. However, the emotions mixed with it werepletely different from when it appeared. Before, it was extreme anger, but that time, it was in fear.

    It felt the loss of Mana for the first time. It felt like it was tied to an invisible rope so far, but currently, the Dragon felt like it didn¡¯t know how to move its body in the first ce. The aftermath of the loss of a lifepanion to support the body shook the Dragon¡¯s body and spirit at the same time.

    -Hweeeeeeiiiing!

    The wind beat its head. Stiffened like a ster, the Dragon continued to fall at an unnatural pace. The eleration toward the ground was rising ording to the progress of Mana being absorbed.

    It looked like a huge ind falling from the air.

    -Crrk! Cuuurk!

    ¡®¡­ They¡¯re self-destructive inside my body!¡¯

    The Dragon felt the liquid-shaped demons gradually evaporating inside its body. It self-destructed by absorbing an excessive amount of Manapared to the part¡¯s capacity that passed to that ce.

    However, just because the demons died, it didn¡¯t mean that the Mana they absorbed would return to the Dragon.

    Moreover, if you flip the words, it meant that the Mana had been taken away enough to kill the demons. It was too much for the Dragon to hold its neck. It was on the verge of depletion of Mana, which was like blood and oxygen that supported its body.

    The Dragon looked up with eyes full of despair. A human wizard who injected him with demons appeared floating in the air. The Channel that had opened on his chest was closed, and the water stream created by the liquid demons was cut off.

    He was looking down at the Dragon with cold eyes.

    ¡®How dare you look down on me?!¡¯

    The anger didn¡¯tst long. The enlightenment that followed drove the Dragon into shock, revealing the smile on the corner of the human¡¯s lips as if all this was calcted.

    The fall elerated. The sky, mountain range, and horizon were mixed, making a colored whirlwind disturbing the eyes.

    It thought as it moved toward the earth. It thought of reasoning that it didn¡¯t want to admit.

    ¡®Did he urately calcte the capacity of the demons he discharged? Perfect enough to deprive the Mana in my body and kill themselves in my body as a result? Was the Channel closed as soon as an adequate amount was discharged so that the demons who had passed into this world could be annihted?¡¯

    The Dragon could never imagine such a possible existence. Even the same dragon kind was impossible.

    The falling Dragon cried out, ¡°You¡­ who are you?¡±

    With that single scream, the Dragon squeezed its final strength. It tried to ovee that situation by mobilizing Mana to maintain basic physiological functions.

    It wanted to attack that man. It wanted to run away from that situation.

    The desperation led to the final attack. Abination of spells that was close to the unconscious followed. The Dragon, falling with its head down, assembled and released magic just like its instinct.

    Mana danced close to the flurry. The light enveloped the Dragon¡¯s body like a messy rainstorm, and lightning, mixed with shadows, sted off the scales. As the lift under the Dragon¡¯s wings changed direction, one of the bone joints between its wing membranes broke, and the wicked things at the border between matter and non-material were drawn around the Dragon¡¯s unconscious cry.

    However, all of those things were only phenomena and had failed to have purpose and meaning. None of them touched the human wizard. There were no results to reverse the current situation.

    Eventually, the Dragon descended to an irreversible altitude, providing only splendid eye-catching sights with silent nature and a few creatures as the audience.

    And finally, its giant body hit the ground. The earth screamed with a heavy binge and fluttered in unison with the sky.

    ***

    ¡°Aaaaraghhh! Oh my!¡±

    The earth shook like crazy with a roar, and Garam screamed while falling on his buttocks.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrng!

    For a while, the sky and the ground vibrated in a frenzy.

    ¡°Eeeeeck!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl, Garam, and Hwang Soo-rim couldn¡¯t control their body inside the barrier and were swayed by an earthquake. Without knowing the reason, Maru watched the dumbfounded party floating in the air.

    Some time passed, and finally, the ground regained stability, and the noise disappeared.

    Hwang Soo-rim groaned and barely stood up. She red at the body of the Dragon crashing into the ground. It was arge body that couldn¡¯t be covered even by the densely covered dirt.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s definitely smaller up close thanst time.¡±

    Nevertheless, it was a body that couldn¡¯t get into a single sight, literally like a mountain. Everyone there could be crushed just by swiping the ground with its tail.

    She was worried inside. Would it ever move again?

    Hwang Soo-rim knew that all of her Mana patterns had been broken. The restraint magic circle had already been broken.

    [It¡¯s okay. There is only a little Mana left in the body.]

    Parvache reassured her through its will.

    ¡°Did anyone get hurt?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl, who desperately concentrated on maintaining the barrier, only spoke out and asked after the party.

    ¡°Oh? Maru?¡±

    She realized that Maru, attached to her neck, wasn¡¯t in ce. Soon, its whereabouts were quickly found. The tentacle pile was wriggling to fly through the sky and out of the barrier, but, of course, it was blocked by the barrier.

    ¡°Hey,e here. It¡¯s not over yet.¡±

    Rather than answering Mrs. Pearl¡¯s call, Maru wriggled to get out of the barrier. He spoke, stretching its tentacles in the direction of the Dragon¡¯s body.

    ¡°Cute¡­! cute¡­!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim frowned at that nonsense again.

    Meanwhile, Maru continued to blow the air.

    ¡°I want¡­ to¡­ y¡­ together!¡±

    ¡°I told you not to!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl¡¯s voice sounded stern. The tentacles drooped and fell from the wall as if barely getting rid of a lingering feeling.

    With some timeg, Hwang Soo-rim was surprised at her realization. Those tentacles¡¯ movements looked sullen.

    She didn¡¯t like the fact that she noticed it. How long had they been together? She couldn¡¯t believe she was reading emotions from the movements of the tentacles!

    -Seeeekkkk

    ¡°Hey, go away!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim, who was lost in thought for a moment, shouted in surprise. Instead of returning to Mrs. Pearl, Maru that fell from the barrier¡¯s wall was slowly sticking out its tentacles to wrap itself around the Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s arms.

    Hwang Soo-rim escaped in fright. Instead of approaching further, Maru was floating in the air and circled as if it was twirling and swimming as if it stretched out its tentacles.

    ¡°I told you I don¡¯t want to!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim said in a sharp voice. Maru then murmured, echoing through the air. Aftering to that world, it was sullen by the intense rejection that followed several times.

    ¡°You¡¯re mean¡­. Always say no¡­¡±

    When Hwang Soo-rim heard that, she shot at the tentacles.

    ¡°Anyway, why are you always aiming at me after leaving Mrs. Pearl, who always takes care of you?!¡±

    ¡°Here¡­ sweet smell¡­ except Reclusive¡­ only you¡­¡±

    It was that nonsense again. Hwang Soo-rim shook her head. She hadn¡¯t used perfume once, but she wondered what the hell she smelled like.

    During such a scuffle, Parvache asked Garam.

    [Can¡¯t you still see the soul?]

    Garam squinted and stared at the fallen Dragon. He then nodded as if he had confirmed something.

    ¡°Oh, elder, it¡¯s starting to fade now!¡±

    Parvache nodded.

    [It¡¯spletely passed out. Its mental barrier is weakening.]

    There were higher creatures that were different from humans. That Dragon was young, but like the Dragon they had seen so far, it was protecting its inner side with a strong mental barrier. The soul couldn¡¯t be identified even with Maek¡¯s eyes.

    Passing out didn¡¯tpletely remove the barrier, but at least it was weakening to the point where the Maek could distinguish its soul.

    ¡°Ah¡­ but.¡±

    Garam¡¯s voice was mixed with discouragement.

    [Why? Is it just one?]

    ¡°¡­Yes, it is.¡±

    The moment the words fell, Parvache burst into disappointment not expressed in words. Meanwhile, Mrs. Pearl sighed, and Hwang Soo-rim burst into various swear words.

    In Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s lengthy sentences, Maru, who caught a few new words that didn¡¯te out well on TV, reviewed the pronunciation by vibrating the air as if it were very interesting.

    ¡°Damn¡­ fuck¡­ Shit¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, shut up!¡±

    Garam, who once again observed the Dragon in detail, reaffirmed the same facts and told the party.

    ¡°The only soul that dwells in that Dragon is the one that is the master of the body. The Dragon¡¯s soul from our world is not in that body.¡±

    Parvachemented.

    [We¡¯ve been in vain this time again.]

    Hwang Soo-rim grumbled.

    ¡°So, do we have to go find the next dragon again?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl nodded.

    ¡°It can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    [I expected it, but it¡¯s not as easy as I thought.]

    ¡°Elder, no matter how independent the dragons of this world are, they may take collective action if we continue for a long time in this way. We may need to change the method.¡±

    [It makes sense. Let¡¯s discuss it.]

    After saying so, the toy looked up at the sky. The person who crashed the Dragon was slowly descending from the air.

    ***

    I looked at the frozen Dragon that hit the ground. It was partly due to damage caused by the collision, but fundamentally, it was impossible to move because all of its body¡¯s Mana had been taken away.

    Parvache spoke to me with the will. It resonated clearly in my head regardless of distance.

    [The Dragon is incapacitated.]

    ¡®Good. It ended without any fuss.¡¯

    It was a n that could¡¯ve failed if the area had been blown away by the Dragon¡¯s breath as soon as it appeared.

    But, it was the same that time. Instead of flying there and burning everyone up, the Dragon attempted a conversation. It was trying to get what was stolen back.

    The Dragon¡¯s strong possessiveness didn¡¯t allow it to be taken away. Whether it was real or not, the possessiveness of the Dragon was on fire. It didn¡¯t matter whether it was of great value to the Dragon or not.

    ¡®Actually, what that dragon had was a short dream that it would have forgotten immediately after waking up normally.¡¯

    [Yes, I felt that way, too.]

    It didn¡¯t even look like an important dream at all. However, its high mental abilities made it realize that it had just had its dream stolen by someone as soon as it woke up. The Dragon, realizing that, was very angry.

    ¡°How dare you touch my possessions!¡±

    The Dragon¡¯s anger rose to an appropriate level. It was so angry that it would fly out of the nest to find and beat the thief. It was fortunate to be me.

    Thinking so, I stepped on the ground.

    ¡°Do we have to wait a little longer to confirm?¡±

    Garam shook his head.

    ¡°Confirmation is over.¡±

    I looked at the expressions of the party, and there was disappointment, anger, and irritation. I could guess the result without hearing back from them.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s driving me crazy. Is it another zonk?¡±

    Garam nodded, and I gripped my head.

 Chapter 136

    Savior or Destroyer (5)

    The journey to find the soul of the Dragon, the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker, wasn¡¯t smooth.

    The search magic spread by the spores of Ii-Mere gave me a milestone. The traces left by the Dragon¡¯s soul were cut off right in front of the Shanghai Channel, and it was obvious that the soul had passed beyond that.

    When I entered the Shanghai Channel for the first time, I only brought Mrs. Pearl and Garam. Mrs. Pearl was a backup to protect me when an unexpected situation urred, and Garam was brought since I needed someone to see the soul.

    If it were up to me, I wanted Yusu toe instead of Garam, but the priest seemed unreasonable for taking the journey to another dimension. Besides, Seol, one of the residents I asked for, had a job in the vige, so he didn¡¯t apany me since he couldn¡¯t go a long way.

    As soon as we crossed the Channel, Parvache essed Akashic Records. It was precisely traced back to the fragments of the record that stretched out in that world. Through it, I got a rough knowledge of that world. It was the same protocol as when I first visited the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker.

    After getting some information, Parvache spoke to me.

    [In this world, you can¡¯t spread the search magic the same way you did on Earth.]

    It was said that it was impossible to put magic into Ii-Mere and the spore, then spray it in the stratosphere.

    I asked the reason, and he replied to me,

    [There was no wizard on Earth to detect the search magic you sprayed. It was a n that was implemented under the calction that even the ascetics would not notice. However, now this dimension is different. If you cast magic in the same way, many beings will quickly notice it and be offended. They are the species that will not be hesitant to express their displeasure as direct acts of violence¡­ And, looking at this world, I now understand why the Truth-Seeker chose the Channel in Shanghai.]

    I didn¡¯t dare to expect how troublesome his answer would lead to.

    Eventually, I had to make a new n, return to Earth, make Hwang Soo-rim join in, and then enter the Shanghai Channel again.

    ***

    I looked at the body of the fallen dragon and said, ¡°Looks like these guys are sensitive to Mana. This time, the distance to the nest is quite long, but as soon as I exhaled, it turned right here. There was almost no time difference.¡±

    Parvache nodded.

    [Yeah. It has no choice but to be more sensitive to Mana than any other race. It¡¯s a rare race that relies on Mana for its survival.]

    For that reason, I couldn¡¯t use the method of spraying the enchanted spores. The magic that could spread that way was a pretty simple kind. It was almost impossible to nt tricks that hid the Mana. If I had spread the magic to the whole like on Earth, many of the dragons living in that world would quickly realize it, and they would dare to find a rebellious wizard who observed them and set off a counterattackposing of many dragons nested in that world at the same time.

    So, instead of scanning the entire all at once, we had no choice but to navigate sequentially by refining the search scope.

    Still, there was one achievement. It was the answer to how the Truth-Seeker¡¯s soul would be hiding in that world. As soon as we learned that countless dragons lived in that world, we wanted to find out why the Truth-Seeker chose that dimension.

    I asked Garam.

    ¡°Look closely again. Is it only one? It said he would be hiding behind the soul of the original body owner.¡±

    Garam frowned.

    ¡°You don¡¯t believe my eyes? Did you ask if there is only one?¡±

    ¡°You may not be able to see it because he hides it thoroughly. Last time, you almost stepped on Parvache at night, even when it was right in front of you! You said you couldn¡¯t see its soul well or say it was faint or something!¡±

    ¡°Do you think that¡¯sparable now? We now know what the Truth-Seeker means. What I¡¯m looking for now is a soul that has crossed the wall twice. As soon as the host dragon¡¯s mental barrier weakens, it must be dazzling like the sun. Even if he is hiding, there is no way I can¡¯t see it. I was confused that night because the light of the Elder¡¯s soul was weaker than that of fireflies.¡±

    Garam stopped talking, and Parvache poured out its self-help will.

    [Yes, I understand. It must be a weak soul that is not easy to discern. Even in dark nights, it¡¯s hardly noticeable by your race, which clearly distinguishes the soul.]

    ¡°¡­ I¡¯m sorry, Elder.¡± Garam coughed, clearing his throat, and spoke.

    ¡°Anyway, there is only one soul in that dragon¡¯s body.¡±

    ¡°Is there any chance that the original soul was driven out and only the Truth-Seeker¡¯s soul remained?¡±

    ¡°It can¡¯t be. It¡¯s quite a powerful soul because of its race, but it can¡¯t be considered a Truth-Seeker. No, it¡¯s not even worth talking about in the first ce. That soul hasn¡¯t crossed the wall yet.¡±

    I squeezed my hair once again. ¡°Ah, shit!¡±

    Looking at me, Garam frowned.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that why we need to make the technique more borate? All dragons within a radius of 2,000 miles from here are the targets? Could that be called a searching technique? Try narrowing the radius a little bit more.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s impossible. This is the limit to avoid being spotted by dragons.¡±

    Moreover, that magic to find the ck Hermit was created using the information left in his body fragments, and the ck Hermit was a creature that evolved from a dragon in the first ce. Since the soul of such a being was hiding in the dragon¡¯s body, the search had be more difficult. It wasn¡¯t easy to distinguish.

    In the end, there was only one way to find his soul. Find all dragons in the area indicated by the search magic, and find a body containing two souls. That dragon was living in a hiding ce where the soul of the ck Hermit was hidden.

    Hwang Soo-rim, who had kept her mouth shut, suddenly asked.

    ¡°Can¡¯t we wait for the soul to wake up from sleep? When he wakes up, he wille out of the body and move, and then we can find him right away, can¡¯t we? I think that¡¯s better than this madness.¡±

    Parvache shook its head.

    [We can only touch him somehow when the soul is asleep. We have to finish everything before he wakes up.]

    Hwang Soo-rim let out a deep sigh.

    ¡°Eraser. Can¡¯t you do me a favor? Do I have to find that soul for one of my tasks? Can¡¯t we do it part-time? I think I can understand the conditions of helping with this search for about half a year. I sincerely think that it is ¡®reasonable,¡¯ so I think it¡¯s possible to renew the contract.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim kept calling me Eraser even after she knew that I was a human. I didn¡¯t give her any other names to call, after all. The other party was also careful not to call my real name.

    I bluntly answered her.

    ¡°We¡¯re done talking about that.¡±

    I muttered inside. ¡®If I can¡¯t find the Dragon¡¯s soul within a few years anyway¡­ that¡¯s all. It was said that that time was enough for the Dragon to wake up. It was a calcted time considering thepletion of the new body.¡¯

    At that time, we all heard a strange sound.

    -Quarrrrrrrrrrkkkk

    The sound of a rough stream pouring down into the ground. I had never been there, but it was simr to the sound of waterfalls I heard on TV.

    Hwang Soo-rim frowned. Garam¡¯s expression got worse, and Mrs. Pearl closed her eyes.

    Only Maru alone shouted with excitement.

    ¡°¡­ Poop! That dragon¡­ pooping¡­! Khehe¡­ Khehehe!¡±

    I tried not to see the origin of the sound. I thought I did the calctions correctly, but that time, the dragon¡¯s Mana seemed to have been taken to a quite fatal level. I overlooked the fact that it was a young dragon.

    [Let¡¯s get this over with and move on.]

    I looked through the backpack with a weak nod.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it dead already? I heard when a person dies, everything in his stomach will flow out¡­ Didn¡¯t you say that we should never kill a dragon?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked. However, Parvache quickly corrected her misunderstanding.

    [It isn¡¯t dead. Too much Mana was taken away, and even the Mana to contract certain muscles were exhausted.]

    She raised her eyebrows.

    ¡°¡­ Wow. What species need magic to tighten the sphincter? It¡¯s a high-level anus.¡±

    ¡°No, that mouth! Control that mouth, man!¡±

    Garam cut in with a disapproving look, but Hwang Soo-rim didn¡¯t pretend to hear it.

    [Dragons rely on Mana for almost every function to survive. This time, there¡¯s too much Mana stolen, so that happens.]

    ¡°No, how is it possible to live and breathe that much?¡±

    [The Mana consumed by other parts of the body may be focused on essential functions of survival, such as breathing, heartbeat, and bone maintenance. In the meantime, it can¡¯t afford to leave the Mana used for rtively less important functions such as the control of the excretory organs.]

    ¡°Hah¡­ What an absurd race.¡±

    [But it hasn¡¯t died, so if we let it go, it¡¯ll recover its Mana and get better again. let¡¯s get this over with and move on.]

    I picked up a fist of a palm leaf-like object from my backpack. They were all Yodmo¡¯s ears that glowed with metal-like colors. Small branches ripped from the long, big ears.

    When I took them out, Mrs. Pearl looked disturbed. She was very wary of the effects this object had.

    ¡°Now, everyone, step away.¡±

    It was Mrs. Pearl again that moved as if she were running away to the farthest ce. I heard her whispering.

    ¡°Elder, just in case, should I make a barrier?¡±

    [There is no need to worry about that. This much is enough.]

    Not long ago, I did a small favor for Yodmo. It was a request to take measures to prevent a human being from ever dying. I had epted its request and had taken magical measures so that the human would never ¡®die.¡¯ He was still repeating nerve damage and regeneration due to extreme pain in the next room of the tank in the basement.

    It took quite a bit of elixir to set it up like that. It was out of the give-and-take level set in the original contract. In return, Yodmo offered me to present as many branches of its ears as I wanted.

    Just as a few branches of arge tree were torn off and given away, there seemed to be no great burden on Yodmo. It would be useful for me too, so I dly epted.

    I enchanted some Mana to Yodmo¡¯s ears that were piled up in my palms. It then lost its original form and began to copse. Eventually, it turned into a hazy smoke, and it continued to the dragon¡¯s nostrils ording to my guidance.

    -Hweeeiiiingg

    The Dragon was desperately breathing. The smoke made by Yodmo¡¯s ears was sucked into it. The same way I used to erase the memories of a girl in the Heart Fish hunt. However,pared to then, the number of earpieces was muchrger, and the smoke increased. It also took longer to be absorbed.

    ¡°Even if it faints and weakens, it is still the dragon¡¯s mental barrier, after all.¡±

    We couldn¡¯t leave a memory that we hit the dragon. It would devote his life to pursue us when he thought of his pride to pierce that sky. So, every time I checked the dragon¡¯s soul, I erased its memory like that.

    Also, just in case, I was using a lot more ears when erasing human memories. It seemed that it took several times as much smoke to erase the same amount of memory.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t this be enough?¡±

    [Yeah. It is enough to erase a day¡¯s worth¡¯s memory anyway.]

    With breathing in that smoke, memories disappeared in reverse order from thest one. I expect that it would end with the effect of aboutst half a day.

    ¡°Indeed¡­ it¡¯srge.¡±

    I muttered, looking at the body of a dragon lying on the ground and breathing heavily.

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe such a huge body can¡¯t even function without Mana.¡±

    Parvache replied.

    [Do you remember what Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker said? It was said that their race raised the dragon race for a long time. And it¡¯s been improved over a long period.]

    I nodded.

    [In fact, it isn¡¯t easy to find a race that relies on magic power for survival. If Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker¡¯s words are true¡­ it¡¯s possible to specte that these dragon characteristics are not natural.]

    ¡°¡­ Is it that the races that owned the Dragons have modified them like this?¡±

    [It should be said to improve.]

    Yes, it wasn¡¯t umon in the human world. I looked at the body of a dragon who had be paralyzed and unconscious just because it had lost its magic. The huge body looked so weak and defenseless that it was overshadowed.

    The sight reminded me of something. I had seen a program about a dog breed called bulldog on TV before. People said that the bulldog¡¯s legs were improved to be too short since they were cute, and as a result, normal mating became almost impossible because the male couldn¡¯t ride the female¡¯s body. Even for the time being, bulldog breeding was mostly carried out in a state where a human raised a male.

    Bulldogs couldn¡¯t reproduce without borrowing human hands, and dragons couldn¡¯t even cover their urine without Mana.

    The scale was different, but I thought it was somewhat simr.

 Chapter 137

    Savior or Destroyer (6)

    We were all gathered in containers on the move.

    Mrs. Pearl was standing in the corner with her nose covered, disheartened by the fact that she was inside again, while Garam, who seemed not to care much, returned to its original form and rolled on the mattress. I was about to respond moderately to Maru¡¯s words, who was attached to my body.

    Hwang Soo-rim stayed up all night. She must¡¯ve been so desperate to sleep, but she couldn¡¯t. She seemed to be thinking of going to sleep after we arrived.

    As if she had been curious about something, she asked the robot toy sitting in the corner and meditating instead of me.

    ¡°By the way, hmm¡­ you¡­ Parvache?¡±

    [Why?]

    She frowned slightly. Perhaps the name Parvache didn¡¯t stick to her mouth. Hwang Soo-rim was about my age, and she was familiar with the old cartoon ¡®Soul Warrior Parvache¡¯ that aired on TV before. The fact that the robot appeared there was the same as the toy that that spirit dwelled in.

    Thanks to that, the way Hwang Soo-rim looked at me changed a little since she knew Parvache existed. Should I say the wizard¡¯s image with unknown taste had been added to the wizard¡¯s image who was just very terrified and unknown?

    ¡°You say you can ess that ¡®Akashic Records¡¯?¡±

    [Is that so, then what?]

    ¡°It¡¯s like an encyclopedia containing all the knowledge of the world, right?¡±

    [Not all knowledge, but a considerable level of knowledge.]

    ¡°Then can¡¯t we check there? To which dragon body the soul we are looking for is attached to.¡±

    It was a question that might cause you to wonder. I watched the conversation between the two without intentionally intervening. Parvache unexpectedly gave her a friendly answer.

    [Two factors affect the type of knowledge that can be obtained from Akashic Records and whether or not they are acquired. First, is the desired information recorded in Akashic Records? Second, does the visitor have the right to obtain the information?]

    Parvache continued its words.

    [Under such premise, it can be said that the first requirement has already been met. This world is being recorded on Akashic Records. It means that Purbagios¡¯ apostle hase down, unlike the Earth.]

    Purbagios. The scriptures without the final chapter. I recited the true name of the God Parvache referred to.

    [In this world, where the soul of the ck Hermit moved, his deeds will already be recorded in the Akashic Records. But I can¡¯t read that information.]

    ¡°That¡¯s probably¡­ because of the second factor?¡± Hwang Soo-rim asked.

    Parvache nodded.

    [Right. I don¡¯t have permission to read the information.]

    Hwang Soo-rim asked once more.

    ¡°How is that authority determined? Will I be able to ess Akashic Records?¡±

    [First, answering thetter question, it is impossible in the present state. Some spells use some information from Akashic Records among the spells. It¡¯s like interpretation magic. However, essing the record itself and searching for the desired information is only possible for the priest. It would be best if you reached the bookmark of the scriptures without thest chapter.]

    Parvache, who said so, was technically not a priest of Purbagios at that moment, but it seemed to skip such aplicated exnation.

    ¡°A priest? Hmm. That¡¯s not my taste.¡±

    [Why?]

    ¡°Because I have some jerks to revenge.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s eyes shone fiercely. Parvache necessarily pointed out that the priest¡¯s true meaning was a little different from what she thought.

    ¡°Then how is the authority determined?¡±

    [There are also grades among the knowledge recorded in Akashic Records. It isn¡¯t a concept that is broken by numbers, but it can distinguish between rtive top and bottom. Priests with higher grades can view information with higher grades. Usually, the level of information is measured by how many beings in the world know or knew. The more beings know or knew about information, the lower the grade is.]

    Hwang Soo-rim replied while rolling her eyes.

    ¡°Then the lowest grade of information would be information on natural phenomena or living things that can be observed.¡±

    Parvache nodded quietly and looked a little surprised since it was an urate prediction.

    ¡°Take the Earth, for example¡­ There is only one sun, and the fire is hot. A person has ten fingers. These basic facts are information that most humans living now know, and many of the humans who have lived in the past have all known them. Conversely, even if you go to a different world instead of Earth, you can easily get information about the basic¡¯s natural environment and inhabited races by essing Akashic Records. It¡¯s information that everyone in the world knows.¡±

    She convinced herself that and then continued to talk.

    ¡°Otherwise¡­ Ah. Languages ??are also rtively low-grade. Language should be viewed as one of thergest amounts of information shared by a civilization.¡±

    [You¡¯re smart. It is true.]

    ¡°Then, on the contrary, information on special knowledge or experiences that few people know will have a higher grade, and it will require high authority.¡±

    [Exactly.]

    Hearing that, Hwang Soo-rim was a little more lost in thought, but she still looked as if she didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°Then it¡¯s a little weird. You said it was impossible anyway, but no matter how high your authority is, you can¡¯t get that information from Akashic Records, can you?¡±

    [Well? What does that mean?]

    ¡°It is said that only information that someone in the world knows is stored in Akashic Records, but is there any entity that clearly knows that a soul from Earth hase to this Channel and where it has been transnted? I mean the soul of the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker.¡±

    [Of course.]

    ¡°But what if the soul moved secretly without anyone knowing? What if there isn¡¯t a species in this world with the same abilities as Garam or whatever? What if the Dragon itself, the owner of the body of the soul hidden, didn¡¯t even notice it? Then, in the end, no one in the world will know.¡±

    [Even, in that case, at least one entity knows.]

    ¡°Who on Earth¡­ Ah. Don¡¯t tell me?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim eximed. Parvache nodded its head.

    [Yes, the soul of the Earth¡¯s Truth-Seeker. At least the soul knows where it belongs, and that memory must¡¯ve been imnted to Akashic Records. Although it is information that I cannot ess.]

    ¡°Also, the knowledge of the rest of the world is recorded on the Akashic Records?¡±

    [Yeah.]

    ¡°Then the knowledge in my head¡­ for example, is the Koreannguage being recorded right now?¡±

    [Yes. However, there are probably only a few wizards that can ess that information. And even if a high-ranking wizard uses the interpretation magic linked to the Akashic Records, it will not be possible to trante Korean. There is too little information recorded. Earthlings who have visited other worlds since the opening of the Channel are still very rare.]

    Yes. That was why the information absorbed from Earthlings was still very high-graded.

    [Moreover, since Akashic Records has not yet officially contacted the world itself, which is the parent, this should be regarded as the creation of a bypass record. There is a limit.]

    Hwang Soo-rim frowned. ¡°Hmm. Is it moreplicated than I thought? Does Akashic Record directly extract people¡¯s memories?¡±

    [This is the case with the memories of you who have passed into this world now or the ck Hermit. However, when the apostle descends, and a world begins to be recorded in the Akashic Records, it takes the individual¡¯s memory and the world¡¯s memory. However, this part is arger scale of information than a memory of existence.]

    Hwang Soo-rim was lost in thought once more. Then she opened her mouth and asked again.

    ¡°Again, you said that memories were extracted from the soul of the ck Hermit?¡±

    [That¡¯s right.]

    ¡°Then¡­ how the hell are memories stored? Until now, I think the brain is the ce where memories are stored. But what you¡¯re saying right now is that there are memories in the soul, right?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s expression became serious, ¡°Before, Eraser told me about the concept of reincarnation. If I die now, the memories of living as Hwang Soo-rim will remain in the brain and rot, but what if my soul remembers it? What is that concept?¡±

    [To exin that, you must separate the ¡®soul,¡¯ ¡®ego,¡¯ and ¡®memory¡¯ that make you up. If you die now, your ego will disappear. The memories left in the brain will also lose their function. However, beings with a high-level soul also engrave memories recorded in the body on the soul. But in most cases, it is impossible to recall the memories of the past life even after reincarnation.]

    ¡°Oh, I see.¡±

    It was almost impossible, especially for humans. The life span was so short that the soul died even before it resonated with the body properly. Due to that, only a few humans could leave a memory in its soul, but the Dragon that went all the way up to be a Truth-Seeker would be different. Probably most of them were left untouched.]

    Hwang Soo-rim nodded.

    As I listened to their conversation, I muttered in my heart. Yes, it was impossible for humans.

    A ck smoke-like memory was hidden in my heart. I had discussed with Parvache whether it was a memory from a previous life.

    But the conclusion was that it couldn¡¯t be. If the memory had passed from the previous life, it shouldn¡¯t be a form that can¡¯t be interpreted in that way but a memory that could be recalled naturally.

    ¡°Hmm? We¡¯re starting to go down!¡±

    Mrs. Pearl, who was covering her nose, looked bright and shouted. She didn¡¯t let go of her finger, so she made a nasal sound.

    She never tried to get inside the container unless it was time to move. Her keen sense of smell was sensing the smells that no one in the room could.

    Come to think of it, that container has been used a lot for less hygienic purposes so far. It carried the bodies of ascetic apprentices collected from the offshore of Incheon, melted a whole cow with decaying liquid from Waterbirds, and moved hundreds of trainees from Hun-neung, whose eyes and ankles had been ripped off at one time, making the inside bloody.

    Of course, after I clean it up, I put a mattress inside and decorated it like an amodation. Nevertheless, Mrs. Pearl seemed to sense the smell of the stern traces that passed through it.

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    As she said, I felt the container descending to the floor.

    -Thud!

    ¡°Oh, my gosh.¡±

    The inside shook for a while as if it was caught in the wind. I sent telepathy to the Summoner that was flying with the container to watch out. Meanwhile, I heard Hwang Soo-rim asking another question.

    ¡°Parvache, you¡¯re a mental body, aren¡¯t you? Didn¡¯t you store memories in your body?¡±

    [¡­No. I originally had a body. It was muchter that I became a mental body.]

    ¡°Then, what about the memories you saved in your brain before?¡±

    Parvache¡¯s bitter thought flowed out what I¡¯ve heard since I was a kid. I had been searching for an answer to that question since the shackles that restrained my ego were released. I could only be suspicious, but I had no choice but to be convinced that it was true because of my authority. Parvache once again conveyed it with its will.

    [As I became a mental body¡­ I lost a lot of it. The memories of those days.]

    ¡°Is it because the body is gone?¡±

    [No. In my case, it was for a different reason. The loss of the body itself wasn¡¯t a big reason. Maybe it was.]

    ¡°Well? In most cases, it is difficult to store memories in the soul after death. Something doesn¡¯t fit in the front or back.¡±

    I interrupted the conversation.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s enough. Everyone, get ready.¡±

    The feeling of the container touching the ground was transmitted through my feet. It was time to start preparing to face the next Dragon. Of course, Hwang Soo-rim seemed to have fallen asleep first.

 Chapter 138

    Savior or Destroyer (7)

    The Dragon¡¯s name was Lucette-Eigar.

    When it woke up, it felt ufortable. That was because it wasn¡¯t in an environment that it would normally expect. It was unfamiliar with the sun shining directly on its scales. The Dragon noticed that its skin was quite heated and hot. It opened its eyes, and the sun was already up in the sky.

    ¡®Why is it so hot?¡¯

    The cause of the phenomenon could be easily observed with both eyes. However, the subject was in an iprehensible position. It soon corrected the question.

    ¡®Why can I see the sun here?¡¯

    It couldn¡¯t have happened if the Dragon had fallen asleep in the nest as usual. After opening its eyes, its mind gradually became clear. Lucette-Eigar sharply reunited with the sensation of its whole body¡¯s numbness during the sleep, and then it screamed.

    -Kwaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggh!

    The Dragon¡¯s roar vibrated on the ins. Substitutingnguage for the noise it made, which would mean, ¡®What is this? It¡¯s a mess!¡¯

    When half asleep, the sensation of heat was redefined in the Dragon¡¯s brain, which had be clearer over time. It also felt the sensation of burning all over its body, which was obviously painful.

    ¡®Hurt? Me?¡¯

    The Dragon was mistaken since it was a sensation it just felt after a long time. After a moment of confusion, Lucette-Eigar was able to grasp the situation correctly. It knew that its body was in a mess, and, as if being beaten by someone huge, every part of its body was broken and covered with wounds, and a level of pain that couldn¡¯t be ignored was pressing on its whole body.

    ¡®When was thest time I felt this pain?¡¯ It recalled. There was a time when an argument with Grime-Tepamine about the same age ended with an intense beating towards each other¡¯s foreheads. Even then, it suffered a level of injuries that needed treatment, but it wasn¡¯t as painful as it was currently.

    -¡­ Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    Lucette-Eigar, who barely raised its head, was much more shocked than when it first came to its senses.

    First, as it moved its body, the Dragon naturally realized that its Mana was extremely insufficient. In this state, it seemed that rather thanbining the right spells, it would only be to maintain the body and barely fly up.

    And for the second reason, the Dragon felt the shame that its face was about to fall off. It has a nasty smell surrounding its own body.

    ¡®What the hell is it?!¡¯

    The Dragon was astonished by the huge traces made under its tail.

    ¡®¡­ Don¡¯t tell me while I¡¯m sleeping¡­ in a field like this?¡¯

    Huge brown traces scattered on the ground. It looked as if a painter couldn¡¯t beat it in minutes and threw only paint of a certain color on the floor and then trampled it with his feet.

    When looking at the size, location, and direction of the trail, the trace must have resulted from its creation. The Dragon felt extreme anxiety and shame. Normally, it would have created magic right away and burned this trace cleanly, but now it didn¡¯t have enough Mana to do that.

    -Ghrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    The Dragon shook with shame, moved its front feet to dig up the ground. Shortly after that, a miracle urred, in which soil and rocks that wererge enough to form several hills were rearranged. It took a little time for the Dragon with insufficient Mana topletely bury its excrement perfectly in the ground.

    ¡®What the hell is going on here?!¡¯

    Lucette-Eigar had many questions. It surely fell asleep in afortable nest a few hours ago. It then opened its eyes, and it was sleeping outdoors. Moreover, its body was full of wounds, its Mana was desperatelycking, and the ground was covered with its excrement.

    ¡®It looks like the Karadamia I ate yesterday was too much.¡¯

    The Dragon¡¯s sharp reason had toe up with such an interpretation. It was quite a realist to examine the irrational possibilities. Also, its pride didn¡¯t allow the reasoning that an unknown entity fooled it. Lucette-Eigar convinced the situation by connecting some stuff from yesterday and the current situation.

    ¡®Now I really have to quit Karadamia. It¡¯s terrible.¡¯

    The Dragon slowly raised itself, then pped its wings and flew into the air. As the altitude went up, it could see the mess that spread below at a nce. Thend was crushed and destroyed everywhere. It was also due to the covert work the Dragon tried, but that wasn¡¯t all of the cause. The fragments left openly revealed that a huge object had fallen from the air.

    ¡®Did I fly all the way here while drunk and then fell to the ground and rolled? And during all of that, I even peed on the ground? Crazy. You¡¯re really crazy, Lucette-Eigar!¡¯

    The Dragonmented inside.

    ¡®If I put my mouth back on Karadami again, I am not a dragon!¡¯

    Due to the hallucinogenic ingredients produced in the testicle, Lucette-Eigar pledged to stop eating the sea creatures that dragons enjoy as a favorite food.

    ¡®But, why is my Mana at this terrible level?¡¯

    The reason was obvious. It was probably drunkst night, so it randomly made magic and spread it everywhere. Lucette-Eigar was worried that it might¡¯ve invaded the nest of other dragonsst night, which it couldn¡¯t even remember. Was it even fighting? It shook its head soon. No, and even if it did, it would¡¯ve left a much worse wound than that. Perhaps the only thing that it did alone was to light up. How much magic did it use to make its body feel that bad?

    The young Dragon flew in the blue sky, vowing not to be surprised if the mountain near the nest sank and was destroyed, or if the forest created with care for quite a long time was hit directly by the dragon breath, a river ofva flowed instead.

    ***

    ¡®That¡¯s weird?¡¯

    Lucette-Eigar once again felt at odds. As the flight began and it looked down from a higher altitude, it could quickly tell where it was¡­ a in not far from the nest, and it seemed that yesterday¡¯s drunk flight didn¡¯t go that far.

    The Dragon looked down at the terrain it was familiar with, but it felt something different.

    ¡®Was that river supposed to bend at that angle? And¡­ was the forest next to it originally that wide?¡¯

    The young Dragon questioned it but soon ignored it. There was no way nature would change suddenly in a day. It was too neat and natural to be a trace of the riot that happenedst night. It was probably its illusion. So, it organized its thoughts. Having grasped the location around, it turned a little bit instead of heading to the nest.

    How long did it fly? The destination began to be seen far away.

    ¡®¡­ Huh? That¡¯s weird.¡¯

    It could see a vige made by small creatures. However, it was very different from the image that remained in its memory. That time, it wasn¡¯t enough to dismiss it as an illusion.

    ¡®Were these guys this many? But thest time I stopped by was only four years ago?¡¯

    Looking down at the colony of the small creatures from the sky, the Dragon tilted its head. Was that species supposed to breed that fast?

    ¡®Lastly, the habitat¡¯s size looks several timesrger than that.¡¯

    It guessed that or that, but it couldn¡¯t figure out why. It slowly approached the ground with curiosity. A predator wasing down from the sky, and the small creatures who were discovering its figure screamed and ran on the ground like ants.

    -Kwoong!

    With a heavy vibration, Lucette-Eigarnded on the ground. It made a look full of dignity, and it radiated a berserk consciousness around him.

    =Offer to me!=

    Despite trembling in fear, the small creatures moved in perfect order. The movement of the small creature that was seen from the air wasn¡¯t simply a directionless sprint in fear. The small creatures were ¡®preparing¡¯ to wee the Dragon by exchanging signals within the group.

    After a while, there was a long line made of small creatures in front of Lucette-Eigar. Most of them were old or injured individuals.

    The Dragon nced at the blue-haired monkeys in front of it, and then, it stretched out its forefoot.

    The monkey standing nearest to it trembled. It appeared to be the oldest individual in that group. The monkey quacked, screamed, and stretched itself out when Lucette-Eigar¡¯s ws touched it. It passed out because of fear. The Dragon didn¡¯t care much. It picked up the monkey and put it in its mouth, and chewed it several times.

    -Quack! Quack!

    It spat out what was in its mouth on the bottom of its front foot. The intestines, flesh, and bones were crushed into pieces. The Dragon applied it to the wound, and the scratches recovered in an instant.

    The Dragon¡¯s body was huge, and the wound area was also wide. It picked up the lined monkeys one after another and chewed them, drew blood by blowing their heads with its ws, or cut them in two pieces and applied them to the wound.

    Lucette-Eigar thought while continuing the tedious work.

    ¡®These old creatures are always stuck in their nests and don¡¯t know what to do. They develop some recovery magic that they hear from dragons.¡¯

    In general, the most convenient way in such a situation was recovery magic. However, Lucette-Eigar couldn¡¯t use the means to heal his wounds, and that wasn¡¯t a matter of Mana.

    The dragons could heal their authority from wounds through the recovery magic, but they couldn¡¯t use it on themselves or the same kind, and that was because of the characteristics of the Dragon¡¯s body.

    That was why some of the dragons that liked to think used to tell that story. Indeed, where was the origin of the dragon species?

    No creature in the world was extremely dependent on Mana, like a dragon. None of the species discovered so far, except dragons, had thrown a recovery spell due to the resistance of organs and muscles controlled by Mana. Some dragons knew how to manufacture elixir, but even the magic potion, which was Mana-rted to the manufacturing process and effect, didn¡¯t work for dragons.

    For that reason, there were often highly inquisitive dragons that made all kinds of hypotheses, saying that the dragon species itself was ¡®not natural.¡¯ They enjoyed making spections about how the creature was born, associating that hypothesis with the indecipherablenguage engraved on the ¡®root stone.¡¯

    However, it wasn¡¯t very interesting for that young Dragon.

    ¡®It¡¯s all useless.¡¯

    Lucette-Eigar thought while chewing the monkey.

    ¡®Even when I get old, I will never devote my passion to such things.¡¯

    It looked at the rows of small creatures in front of it.

    ¡®Yes, it¡¯s the achievement of our ancestors to improve these guys so that they can ¡®work well¡¯ for dragons. It¡¯s a dragon¡¯s work. This kind of breeding was possible because they were small creatures, and the subject was a great race like a dragon. Is it possible that some unknown race had an unnatural effect on the dragon race? Huh! That sounds funny. No matter what dimension of the universe it is, there cannot be a race with such power or knowledge.¡¯

    The Dragon once again admired theplete integrity of its thoughts. It was difficult to understand why some dragons turned a blind eye to that natural truth. After some recovery, Lucette-Eigar looked at its body again. As time passed, the Mana had been slightly charged. The enormous magic was still too much, but it wasn¡¯t impossible to construct a spell at all as before.

    Also, as its body got better, Lucette-Eigar began to feel hungry. It swept through the remaining monkeys, who were still alive and standing in line. That was nothing but a reflexive act.

    No matter how hungry it was, it couldn¡¯t eat those monkeys to fill its stomach. Not only did it taste bad, but it was strictly prohibited at the ethnic level. The blue-haired monkeys should be consumed only to heal dragon wounds and only as needed.

    Lucette-Eigar flew back into the sky, and it started thinking about thete breakfast menu. The surviving monkeys hugged each other with a sigh of relief and sat on the ground crying, but the Dragon didn¡¯t give a nce down.

    The Dragon soared into the high sky. His gaze was firmly fixed over the horizon.

    The flight speed gradually increased. Its mealtime had long passed just by looking at the location of the sun.

    ***

    ¡®Hey, Grime.¡¯

    As it flew in the sky, Lucette-Eigar threwmunication magic at its close friend, Grime-Tepamine. It was detected that the other party received the magic without any problems. However, its friend¡¯s reply returned with a subtle time difference, although it was obvious that the deliveredmunication magic was confirmed in real-time.

    ¡®¡­ What¡¯s going on, Eigar?¡¯

    Lucette-Eigar asked itself. ¡®Eigar? Why does it call me Eigar? It¡¯s a big deal.¡¯

    It was puzzled by its friend¡¯s reaction, which didn¡¯t call it Lucette as usual.

    ¡®Did you eat? If you¡¯re hungry, let¡¯s eat some human!¡¯

    Once again, after a strange silence, Grime-Tepamine replied.

    ¡®¡­ It¡¯s been a long time since you called me, and you¡¯re suddenly saying, let¡¯s eat some human?¡¯

    Lucette-Eigar grumbled inside. Why was it so edgy today?

    Also, it hadn¡¯t been a long time since the most recent visit was only ten days ago.

    ¡®Aren¡¯t you interested?¡¯

    Grime-Tepamine answered.

    ¡®I don¡¯t like humans. There isn¡¯t much flesh, only a lot of bones.¡¯

    Lucette-Eigar was very confused. What was going on there? It used to be a friend who went crazy about humans.

    ¡®Grime, you like humans, don¡¯t you?¡¯

    ¡®Hey, Eigar. What the hell are you talking about?¡¯

    It was indeed edgy. Lucette-Eigar continued themunication, clicking its tongue inside.

    ¡®¡­ It¡¯s the season when humans will taste the best. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to? If you don¡¯t like it, I¡¯ll have to ask Dragon Emperor. That old man always goes crazy about humans.¡¯

    ¡®Now, that nobleman has no time to care about human eating.¡¯

    ¡®Why?¡¯

    Grime-Tepamine answered dryly.

    ¡®It seems that that guy has epted a deal this time, but the other¡¯s conditions are quite annoying.¡¯

    ¡®Who is the partner?¡¯

    ¡®It wasn¡¯t the dimension we knew originally, but a whole new dimension¡­ I think it¡¯s rted to that world¡¯s Truth-Seeker.¡±

    ¡®Truth-Seeker? It¡¯s unusual, and if it¡¯s normal, that guy wouldn¡¯t normally get involved, but I can¡¯t believe it has already epted the deal.¡¯

    The area of ??Grime-Tepamine was closest to the area of the Dragon Emperor, and because of that, they were frequently exchanging each other¡¯s news.

    ¡®Then, I¡¯ll have to eat alone. If you¡¯re interestedter, join me. I¡¯m on my way to the kingdom near Lake Akifa. It¡¯s not far from where you are.¡¯

    Lake Akifa was near the area of ??Grime-Tepamine. Lucette-Eigar, waiting for his friend¡¯s answer, was confused by an unexpected answer.

    ¡®Eigar. What are you talking about? The human kingdom next to Lake Akifa has been destroyed.¡¯

    ¡®What? Destroyed?¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s and where humans can¡¯t live anymore. If you go there, there won¡¯t be a single human being.¡¯

    ¡®Oh, damn it. It looks like there¡¯s something else going on.¡¯

    Theirmunication stopped for a while. That was because Grime-Tepamine didn¡¯t check the message. It was after some silence that it replied again withmunication magic. Grime-Tepamine suddenly brought up another story.

    ¡®¡­ Ah, hey. Eigar. Are you flying in this direction right now?¡¯

    ¡®That¡¯s right.¡¯

    ¡®Then, I will have to convey the message as themunication has continued. Now, the Dragon Emperor has notified all the dragons around here. It¡¯s telling us not toe out of the nest without a single exception, and if a dragon ising here, tell it not to approach and go back. If you¡¯re going to eat humans, don¡¯te this way and turn around and go somewhere else.¡¯

    ¡®Hmm? What¡¯s happening all of a sudden?¡¯

    ¡®It seems that there are some guys who secretly invaded its territory?¡¯

    If it secretly invaded, it wouldn¡¯t be a dragon. It must¡¯ve been small creatures.

    Lucette-Eigarughed because it was absurd.

    ¡®What kind of crazy guys are they? They must be crazy to wish for death.¡¯

    ¡®I know, right?¡¯

 Chapter 139

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (8)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    ***

    ¡°Whew, it¡¯s over.¡±

    After putting thest remaining Mana pattern into the ground, Hwang Soo-rim looked around the ce. It was a in field when viewed with the naked eye without mobilizing any Mana. However, if you opened the Mana circuit and looked carefully, the very subtle Mana was densely embedded, creating aplex pattern like a mand.

    When Eraser¡¯s enormous Mana was injected into that ce, the powerful restraint magic circle was activated.

    However, the pattern can¡¯t be easily detected by the Dragon. As things stand at that moment, it was only insignificant Mana. It wasn¡¯t easy to notice if you didn¡¯t pay attention to it. That was because it was a crystal close to the attachment that guided Mana¡¯s path, rather than exerting power in itself.

    Hwang Soo-rim, who was appreciating her work for a while, turned her head and looked at the robot, the temporary teacher who had been clinging to her side for hours and giving guidance. It expressed its appreciation through the resonance of its will.

    [Okay, that¡¯s perfect.]

    It was a whisper in her head that she rarely got used to.

    [It¡¯s gradually getting faster.]

    The toy turned back and observed the magic circle created by Hwang Soo-rim.

    [You¡¯re definitely talented in many ways. It¡¯s excellent even considering that I¡¯m instructing next to you. It might be simr to ¡®Eraser¡¯ at this level, simply considering the speed of spreading the pattern.]

    Hwang Soo-rim replied unenthusiastically.

    ¡°But it¡¯s why it¡¯s not a high-difficulty spell, but it¡¯s a pattern that you told me to make. It¡¯s justbor work.¡±

    She switched the topic.

    ¡°Where did Eraser and Mrs. Pearl go?¡±

    The robot was silent for a while as if it weremunicating with magic and then spat out its will again.

    [It seems that they haven¡¯t even reached the Dragon¡¯s nest yet.]

    ¡°Huh, really? Normally, they finish stealing the dream from the Dragon around this time.¡±

    [I think the Dragon who became the target this time appears to be a pretty old guy. It seems that the barriers spread around the nest are dense, so it takes time to approach without being detected.]

    Hwang Soo-rim nodded. To use the magic to steal that dream, it seemed that the distance from the target must be considerably narrowed.

    Even for Eraser, it looked like he wanted to avoid fighting the nest, which was the Dragon¡¯s home ground, and the operation was based on pulling it out of the nest and luring it to the restraint magic circle.

    It was said that the best way for an unrecognized human to cause that much anger on a dragon was to steal the Dragon¡¯s possessions. After contemting what the Dragon¡¯s possessions couldn¡¯t be stolen without invading the Dragon¡¯s nest, Eraser came up with a ¡®dream.¡¯

    ¡°How long will it take?¡±

    [It looks like it will take at least another half-day.]

    Thanks to the dy in schedule today, she could afford to sleep. Hwang Soo-rim yawned and said to Parvache.

    ¡°Then I will take a nap.¡±

    [Yeah. I¡¯ll be on the lookout.]

    Hwang Soo-rim nced at such a robot and said as if she just remembered.

    ¡°Well, you said you didn¡¯t sleep, right?¡±

    [Yes. Because I don¡¯t have a brain to umte impurities.]

    ¡°Then¡­ what are you doing every night to spend the time?¡±

    [I usually meditate.]

    For Hwang Soo-rim, meditation was a kind of training to strengthen mental strength and build up Mana through concentration. Therefore, she couldn¡¯t understand Parvache¡¯s answer well.

    ¡°Even though you can¡¯t use magic?¡±

    [Rather than training, it¡¯s a deep thought.]

    ¡°What are you thinking?¡±

    [I think about the past immersed in a murky swamp and the future that will note to me now.]

    It was an uninteresting question and answer, so Hwang Soo-rim said with a grimace.

    ¡°I think you can just say that you don¡¯t want to tell me.¡±

    [¡­ Oh, it looks like you were a little upset. Maybe because the timing wasn¡¯t good.]

    Timing? Hwang Soo-rim tilted her head, and she recalled the conversation she had heard.

    Leaving Hwang Soo-rim, Garam, and Parvache in the container, Eraser, who wrapped Maru around his arm, and Mrs. Pearl left for the Dragon¡¯s nest.

    Dragons were said to have been asleep longer than when they were awake during the day, so the target would have a high probability of being asleep when they approached. If it was awake, they waited until it had fallen asleep, then Eraser came back at the right timing to steal the dreams from the Dragon and returned.

    After a little more time, the Dragon who woke up was likely to jump out of the nest in a frenzy, and then, Eraser attracted the restraint magic circle with his Mana.

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s part was toy out a pattern that functioned as a magic circle on the ground. She was under the guidance of Parvache, who remained with her.

    However, that day, Parvache spat out a strange will toward Eraser, who was about to leave. Hwang Soo-rim recalled the sentence in her mind.

    ¡®By the time you guyse back, I¡¯ll move on to the next. If only the timing is¡­¡¯

    When Eraser heard that, he looked at Parvache with a strange expression. ¡°Is it time already?¡± he murmured. Still, the two didn¡¯t talk anymore, and Eraser quickly turned his back and walked in the direction he was going.

    Hwang Soo-rim, who saw the scene, thought that something was strange, but she couldn¡¯t even open her mouth at that time since it didn¡¯t seem like it was time to interrupt. Hwang Soo-rim asked, intending to answer her curiosity since Eraser wasn¡¯t there now.

    ¡°So, what did that mean? Moving on to the next?¡±

    [¡­ Is it by the time you woke up after sleeping? Or maybe they wille a little faster.]

    Parvache seemed to hesitate for a moment, then said.

    [I don¡¯t know the details, but the process of bing a mental body is not a natural procedure¡­ Yes. I think it was more of an ident.]

    She didn¡¯t understand the meaning, so Hwang Soo-rim frowned.

    ¡°ident?¡±

    [Yes. Rather than simply changing into a mental body¡­ it feels like degenerating into a mental body.]

    Hwang Soo-rim muttered inside. It seemed that beings with physical bodies bing mental bodies were a phenomenon closer to degeneration rather than evolution, right?

    [I don¡¯t even know if my will was involved in the process or not. I lost my body at some point, but I was barely able to stop the disappearance of ego.]

    Hwang Soo-rim asked.

    ¡°No, the front and the back do not fit. When the body dies, the ego is destroyed, and memories are engraved in the soul with a very rare probability. That soul gets caught up in the ring of reincarnation and reincarnates.¡±

    Parvache replied with a strange resonant will.

    [I remained a mental body because my ego did not die even though my body died. But my soul was too weak to handle my ego. At that time, I would have made a judgment. If I stayed still, it might copse under the weight of the ego. For me to exist as myself, I had no choice but to break my ego into tiny pieces. While splitting my ego, the memories engraved on my soul were damaged to a great extent.]

    ¡°¡­ Splitting your ego?¡±

    [After splitting the ego into countless fragments, the fragments take turns to control consciousness, and the ego that is out of order is put to sleep. That way, the soul could endure it. That doesn¡¯t mean that a single ego continues to maintain control over and over without end. This is because, by forcibly dividing the ego, there is a limit to the control each has.]

    ¡°Fragment? Are you also one of the fragments?¡±

    [The me you¡¯re looking at¡­ Well. After hitting the small number, it will probably be around the 2.42 millionth.]

    ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t understand at all right now. Are you controlling your consciousness by taking turns? So, when you move on to the next ego, will your memory be reset for the first time?¡±

    [Memory isn¡¯t in the ego but the soul. Even if I move on to my ego¡¯s next fragment, I will be connected to the memories umted before.]

    ¡°Wait a minute. Isn¡¯t the ego collection of memories itself?¡±

    [Memory and ego are different. Memory is one of theponents that make up the mind. Yes, in terms of what you are familiar with, it¡¯s just data. The ego is the agent that operates the data. It¡¯s the characteristic of an individual called ¡®you¡¯ created bybining the way of thinking, personality, and values.]

    ¡°Wait, then, Parvache. You¡¯re not really a single entity¡­ but you¡¯re sharing the same memory¡­!¡±

    Parvache¡¯s will was mixed with a feeling that was close to ridicule.

    [It¡¯s a kind of colony in which countless simr consciousnesses live in a single soul and a single memory.]

    At that moment, Hwang Soo-rim asked as if she realized something.

    ¡°No, wait a minute. So, what happens when you move to the next? What will happen to you, the ego called Parvache who is talking to me now?¡±

    [A different individual with the same memory will control the consciousness.]

    ¡°No, what¡¯s going on with you now?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s voice rang like a scream. Meanwhile, Parvache calmly conveyed its will.

    [Anyway, the ego that will have control next will have the same exact memory as I am now. You will not feel any difort.]

    Parvache added a word to himself. ¡®Yes, the memories of the soul who have endured the same time as eternity, the ego that constitutes the present ¡®self,¡¯ and Yoon Min-joon, who knows this principle, is familiar with this process.¡¯

    ¡®¡­ This is something weird.¡¯

    Looking at it like that, Hwang Soo-rim asked herself. Could I remain calm just because I was dead and someone with the same exact memory lived?

    ¡°Hey¡­ Still, it¡¯s weird. You are once dead, but why didn¡¯t you reincarnate?¡±

    Parvache replied.

    [¡­ I don¡¯t think it was there.]

    ¡°What?¡±

    Parvache repeated its reasoning, which he had told Yoon Min-joon a while ago, to the woman in front of it.

    [Probably, I think there was no reincarnation ring where I was. It was a closed world that hade to an end. A world without connected adult Channels. It was such a world where the Truth-Seekers didn¡¯t feel the need to reconnect even though there was no guardian.]

    Parvache mumbled inside.

    ¡®Yes, it was a closed world.¡¯

    Until he called me¡­

    Until the door to the dimension opened, which originally had no connection to the rest of the world.

    ***

    -Khweeeeeeeerk!

    A closed world hade to an end.

    What made Hwang Soo-rim hesitate to ask for the word¡¯s meaning was the desperate screams she heard outside the barrier.

    -Khweeeeeeeeerk!

    Once again, the scream tore the air.

    ¡°What¡­ what is it?!¡±

    Garam, who was sleeping in the container, opened the door and ran out.

    ¡°Over there!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim put her thoughts aside and turned her head toward the direction from which the noise was heard.

    A little whileter, dust rose above the horizon. Hwang Soo-rim opened the Mana circuit in her eyes and looked at the front. She then let out a startled voice.

    ¡°¡­ What else is that?!¡±

    Parvache shed its will as if it were frustrated.

    [I can¡¯t share my senses with you, so what does it look like?]

    Hwang Soo-rim tried to describe what she saw.

    The primary cause of the dust was a huge creature. It was covered in dark keratin, and at a nce, its body resembled an elephant. In particr, the four feet, which looked blunt and t, resembled thergestnd animal on Earth that Hwang Soo-rim came to mind.

    However, when it came to its head, the impression of the creature waspletely different. The shape of its head, which wasrger than Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s body, was different from any other mammal that Hwang Soo-rim knew. Thinking about how to describe it, she finally came up with the right expression.

    ¡°A huge animal with a snail head on an elephant body!¡±

    Parvache, who was searching for Akashic records, soon came up with an answer.

    [Tobogai. It¡¯s an herbivore used as livestock by the native people of this world. Is that all you see?]

    Hwang Soo-rim, who concentrated her Mana, saw another thing.

    ¡°On its back¡­ I can see someone riding on the nape of the neck. I can¡¯t see detailed features, but¡­ huh? The hair is blue?¡±

    [That kind¡­]

    Parvache, who was reading the information, expressed a ridiculous feeling.

    [Oh, I see. Did the dragons of this world¡­ use them in this way?]

    ¡°What?¡±

    [I¡¯ll exin it slowly. What else do you see? Tobogai doesn¡¯t run around like that to the point of making a fuss.]

    Hwang Soo-rim, who was observing the horizon with a little more concentration, finally discovered one more thing.

    ¡°Ah¡­ I couldn¡¯t see it because it was covered with dust. There¡¯s a guy who flies behind it and chases after that Tobogai or whatever it is?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim exined one by one the sight that came into her eyes.

    ¡°The size is about a quarter of an elephant? The tail takes up half of the body. It¡¯s a sharp, thick red thorny tail. It¡¯s a strange animal with several pairs of wings that resemble dragonflies¡­ and its heads look like centipedes¡­ Ah! That flying centipede stabbed the snail elephant¡­ with that pointed thorn!¡±

    -Khweeeeeeeeerk!

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s words were buried in the screams of Tobogai, that was stabbed in the back. Tobogai didn¡¯t stop running despite making a painful sound. The giant animal moved its tail and tried to smash the red flying creature on its back, but the opponent who sessfully prated once flew back into the air while dodging the attack.

    Parvache replied hastily.

    [Ah! That flying guy is the male of Red Hiel! Oops, we can¡¯t just watch and see.]

    Even after one stab in the back, the Red Hiel predator narrowed the distance and then flew and chased Tobogai.

    ¡°¡­ Anyway, that elephant-like animal is running straight toward this ce, so if we leave it alone, it will hit us.¡±

    [First, we have to chase that Red Hiel away. That guy will keep stabbing Tobogai like that instead of killing it right away, and then we¡¯ll get bothered, too.]

    ¡°Huh? Come to think of it. The stabbed back looks a little swollen.¡±

    Tobogai continued to escape desperately, and the blue-haired figure, who climbed near the nape of its neck, was also holding its body tightly.

    ¡°Did that flying bug put a spawning tube on the elephant¡¯s body andid an egg?¡±

    Parvache denied her assumptions.

    [No. That¡¯s a male. It¡¯s not spawning. It¡¯s the stage before that.]

    ¡°The stage before that?¡±

    [Yes. Let¡¯s get rid of that male Red Hiel before it ejactes further into Tobogai¡¯s body.]

    Hwang Soo-rim doubted her ears for a moment.

    ¡°Eja¡­ what?¡±

    [Originally, the male Red Hiel sticks that sharp, spiny genitalia like a knife anywhere in the female¡¯s abdomen and then ejactes. This is called traumatic mating.]

    ¡°What¡­ what¡­?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim, who was dumbfounded by the unexpected expression, was speechless for a moment.

    ¡°Although those are different species at a nce. I heard you said it was Red Hiel and Tobogai!¡±

    [If the female around here is too violent or too powerful to mate than the male, then the male will be tricky. Instead of females, they pick other weak creatures around them, stab them with their genitals, and put sperm into their bodies. The sperm absorbed in the animal¡¯s circtory system gives the female a very tasty smell. The female then gets twisted and eats the animal.]

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s expression had gotten worse.

    ¡°¡­ What does that mean?¡±

    [The creatures¡¯ flesh, blood, and sperm swallowed by females are mostly digested in the stomach and used as nutrients. However, some of the sperm absorbed by the stomach wall is stored separately in a special organ. When females make eggs, they¡¯re used for fertilization. As a result, males seed in sowing seeds.]

    ¡°Ah¡­ fuck. It¡¯s disgusting.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked, raising her Mana in her hands.

    ¡°Anyway, we just have to get rid of that little guy named Hiel, right?¡±

    Parvache nodded.

    ¡°Yes, that male¡¯s use of that method, once again, means that the female Hiel around here is quite violent or powerful. We¡¯ll have to chase it away before the females get twisted and burn that Tobogai.¡±

 Chapter 140

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (9)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you tired?¡±

    Walking along the ridge, I asked Mrs. Pearl, who was in a human being¡¯s appearance, to hide her unique power as the being who crossed the wall. She shook her head in response.

    Aftering to that world, I tended to rest as much as possible if I had time to sleep, but looking back, Mrs. Pearl rarely slept. It was in contrast to Garam, who untimely returned to its original form and stretched on the mattress.

    If she didn¡¯t like the smell of blood and rotten flesh in the container that only she could feel, she could sleep outside with a sleeping bag, but Mrs. Pearl rarely did that.

    She looked at me and answered the questions.

    ¡°Because I have a short sleep.¡±

    I remembered a time when she and Garam stayed at my house. She was the first to find people wandering through the apartmentplex all night, brainwashed by the Fake God. The reason she was able to find out that they were roaming until dawn, in other words, was that Mrs. Pearl also stayed up all night. I already knew the fact through the magic video record inside the house I lived in at that time.

    ¡°Is it a characteristic of Transcendentals based on foxes?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Well, it doesn¡¯t seem like that. There is no one topare with, but I feel like that.¡±

    She said while walking at my pace. We were moving slowly, unfolding countless anti-spells and disturbances so that we wouldn¡¯t get caught in the detection barriers spread out inyers by the dragon. If we break one of the dreams and fly away, we can reach the nest in no time, but if we do that, we will be caught by the dragon at once.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s important what kind of race they were before they crossed the wall. However, after crossing the wall, the experiences and thoughts and the abilities obtained by training afterward are just as important factors determining the Transcendentals¡¯ traits as the original race itself.

    She was lost in thought for a moment and continued.

    ¡°For example, the reason I turned into a body that barely sleeps is probably that there were times when I wasn¡¯t getting enough sleep after actually crossing the wall. Having spent an absolutely short period of sleep, my body has evolved in a way that does not require sleep.¡±

    A time when she wasn¡¯t getting enough sleep? I asked while thinking about what kind of case it would be.

    ¡°Did you go through a war?¡±

    She said she lived in the human world for a while before joining White Deer. If she had lived on the Korean penins, she might be involved in the war many times in history, and it might¡¯ve been difficult to secure enough sleep time if it was a war zone.

    Mrs. Pearl looked up at me and replied, ¡°In my life, I have gone through human wars several times. I tend to hide rather than get caught in it. That wasn¡¯t the reason.¡±

    ¡°Then?¡±

    She hesitated for a moment, then replied.

    ¡°I have lost a precious ¡®person.¡¯¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    I remembered some information about her after a long time. Yes, she said she was a widow.

    She took something out of her arms.

    ¡°Can you see this?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t see it well, so I put Mana around my eyes. The one on her palm was like a very short, thin needle.

    Maintaining the Mana circuit on my eyeballs, I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s an artifact?¡±

    It¡¯s a thin piece of metal that is less than 1cm long with no energy. She looked down at what was in her hand and said.

    ¡°This was originally a brass coin.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    She continued.

    ¡°Whenever I¡¯m ovee with deep night sorrow and emotion, I rolled the coin in my hand until the morning came. As I was clouded up at the reason, longing haunted me for many years. My heart was endlessly sad, and the heavens and the Earth were gloomy.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl continued in a calm voice.

    ¡°Dawn has been really slow for a while. When there¡¯s snow at the end of the eaves of a deep night, when a bird cries at night, when the shadow of a tree branch shakes in amplight when the wild beasts that were trembling deep in the mountains suddenly stop sounding, when the moonlight is cold on the window when the leaves in the darkness rustled, when the nkets rubbed my skin, when the footsteps of a traveler on the night broke the silence, I missed him every moment. The days of tears flowing through the bed every night made me hardly sleep.¡±

    A deep emotion was mixed in her voice. It seemed like a story of a man, whom she had been with, died. She couldn¡¯t sleep for a long time because of the suffering. Was that why it became a permanent habit?

    ¡°You seem to have suffered a lot.¡±

    ¡°When he was alive, there were certainly more joyful things than sad things, but when I recall those memories after he left, there was nothing more pitiful than that.¡±

    After saying that, Mrs. Pearl continued her steps silently for a while. Did she got lost in her memories again while talking?

    After that, the silence settled down for a while. All I could hear was the silent footsteps. Her expression, looking forward, was full of sadness. Even though she lived for a long time, the wounds in her heart couldn¡¯t have healed easily.

    I quietly scratched my chin and suddenly thought of something. Come to think of it¡­ There was Yodmo. A summon that could sort and process only desired memories.

    I asked Mrs. Pearl a well-intentioned question.

    ¡°If it¡¯s so hard, would you like to erase the memories of that old lover? Only rted memories can be sorted and erased. Originally, it¡¯s a brain-cut method, but it may remain intact if you pay more for it. That¡¯s why I got my memories taken¡­¡±

    I couldn¡¯t help but shut up since I was so surprised. After hearing the words, Mrs. Pearl¡¯s face was distorted like a demon.

    She replied as she clenched his teeth.

    ¡°¡­ Yoon, the joke is too much.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t kidding.

    ¡°¡­ Ah yeah. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl spoke coldly.

    ¡°Now, the only contact between him and me is the memories left to me. That¡¯s why these memories are so precious to me.¡±

    I remembered her overreacting whenever I erased the dragon¡¯s memory. She had always been farther away than necessary.

    Was the memory of the old lover who had already died so important? Even if that memory hurt her heart? I couldn¡¯t understand at all. If a tumor were causing the pain, cutting it out would be the best treatment.

    ¡°My root is a fox.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl said as if she was throwing away.

    ¡°After all, there were no children between him and me. I know now that it wasn¡¯t a matter of crossing the wall or not.¡±

    She then started to contemte again.

    ¡°The only thing left to me, in the end, is the memory of him.¡±

    ¡°¡­¡±

    By the time she finished speaking, I was no longer concentrating on the sentences she spat out in her mouth. I couldn¡¯t respond to Mrs. Pearl because I was paying attention to the other side.

    ¡°¡­ Huh?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl¡¯s face hardened when she noticed the situationte.

    ¡°This?!¡±

    It wasn¡¯t because I ignored her, and that I couldn¡¯t concentrate on what Mrs. Pearl said. It was because the chunks of meaning that were conveyed in a different way, not spokennguage, were stimting my brain in a very intense form.

    I muttered quietly.

    ¡°That¡¯s the will.¡±

    Mrs. Pearl asked with a puzzled face.

    ¡°A conversation through the mind used by Elder?¡±

    A voice was mixed with confused emotions.

    ¡°But can this be called conversation?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t easily answer her questions.

    It was an intense mental wave that struck the two of us in that space currently. I quickly noticed that it was telepathy, a kind of the will, often used between Parvache and me.

    Telepathy was a conversation through the mind that had distinct forms and rules that could be reced in most cases one-on-one withnguage. There was a difference in that there was no sound and wearing an intuitive, emotional color that didn¡¯t require analogy. Still, in terms of conveying meaning, it¡¯s very simr to verbalnguage.

    But at that moment, this was different.

    ¡°¡­ I didn¡¯t expect anything like this.¡±

    Bleakughter came out.

    The mental waves emanated from the other person in the woods were sending the will in a form that I wasn¡¯t familiar with. It wasn¡¯t a mere telegram.

    If it were Parvache, it would¡¯ve conveyed its will to me in that way.

    [There is no intention to attack, so stay there.]

    However, the other person I could guess roughly was sending an image directly to my brain. If Parvache¡¯s will was 2D, that mental wave should be called 3D.

    There was no same order as the words were arranged in the collective meaning of connecting images. Instead, coordinates were pointing to the concept.

    I recognized the other person¡¯s will by substituting them into a three-dimensional space.

    The outermost part of the will, the first lump of meaning that touches my mind, conveyed to me the meaning of ¡®I will not attack.¡¯ It contained the sincerity that was revealed by releasing a very small part of mental barriers, and because of that, I was able to stay in ce instead of running away. I could understand that it ced that concept on the outermost part of its will to restrain my extreme reactions.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s tremendous.¡±

    Instead of simply epting the will passively, I could actively dig into it and explore its meaning. It felt like entering a toy house made of thoughts and opening the door from room to room.

    Mrs. Pearl, who was experiencing the same experience,mented.

    ¡°Oh my God!¡±

    Going deeper than the original concept, I checked the opponent¡¯s threat through the image. The image of the most dramatic destruction it had created in its life was divided into five scenes and reproduced in my brain. As if I were connected to the homepage wearing the clothes of wills, the image that pressed the y button flowed first, and the scene that I wanted to y first was yed.

    In the final image, the most recent attempt to invade that dimension, seeing a group of demons trapped in a counter-anti-magic barrier and melting into the opponent¡¯s breath, I realized its level of power. The video also contained sincerity beyond the mental barrier. I quietly weighed my power and thought.

    If I go head-to-head, I might lose.

    It was iparable to those whom we had encountered in the world so far. I was confident that we had prated quite cleverly, but currently, I could understand how it noticed our approach. In terms of magic, the strength and skill levels were different.

    In the next room of the image, there was the opponent¡¯s suggestion. In the world of will, it spoke to me in a human form. The fake ego created by its consciousness and the reaction created by my thinking skillsmunicated.

    We both ended the negotiations, and instead of running away, I epted the other¡¯s offer.

    The whole process was done in seconds. Instead of whispering and exining in the long stream of consciousness, the opponent has finished the process of listing all the meanings and number of cases it wanted to convey, demonstrating the authenticity of force and its level, and persuading.

    It was a truly effective use of its will.

    I looked over the bush and said.

    ¡°I understand everything, soe out.¡±

    From beyond the darkness, the human form came silently. Its limbs were moving abnormally, sliding in the air without even moving.

    Mrs. Pearl and I looked at the other person who showed up. It had red hair and red eyes. Except for the strange sense of color, the appearance was close to a human-type creature. By district standards, he was a man in his mid-20s.

    However, it was only the appearance. Did he do that on purpose because he knew his opponents were humans?

    The red-haired dragon, which turned into a human figure, delivered me a mental wave. That time, it was Parvache¡¯s way, which I was familiar with.

    =You adapt more easily than I thought, huh? It must be a method ofmunication that is unfamiliar to humans.=

    I nodded quietly without answering.

    =Because I think it will take longer if I exin it interactively like now. Well, I think you understand everything, so I¡¯ll start the ¡®mediation.¡¯=

    The man raised his strength without an expression. I felt foreign energy rising between the iron-walled Mana that surrounded him. It was the divine power of some god who had no rtionship with me.

    A unit also made up of his self-introduction in the room of the concept made with consciousness. In less than a few seconds, he ended up introducing himself in subtle detail.

    ¡®The ¡®mediation¡¯ he wants to do right now is the power he receives in return for serving a god.¡¯ I muttered quietly inside.

    I didn¡¯t think that the Dragon Emperor of that world was a priest with divine power.

    =Now, look over here.=

    In a human male¡¯s mask, the Dragon Emperor, the old dragon we, unfortunately, targeted that time, sent mental waves.

    We gazed into Dragon Emperor¡¯s eyes under his guidance. It was originally red irises, but suddenly it turned into ck, gray eyes.

    I soon noticed what the phenomenon meant. The Dragon Emperor made a brief ¡®exchange¡¯ between his two eyes and those of another priest serving the same God. With the power of God, the exchange could be realized even if the other person wasn¡¯t there or in that world.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    As I looked at the dark gray eyes of an unknown priest who would be in the third dimension at that moment, my body stiffened. My eyes, with the magic circuit open, quickly captured the small form.

    ¡°This¡­¡±

    The priest who was in a ¡®deal¡¯ with the Dragon Emperor appeared to be standing in front of a very powerful entity in that world. The other-dimensional priest¡¯s dark gray irises, which appeared on the Dragon Emperor¡¯s eyeball, reflected a certain existence like a mirror, and the shape wasn¡¯t unfamiliar to me.

    The other-dimensional priest who was staring, the other person engraved on the iris, was smiling with a bizarre face, showing a thin body like a peeled bark.

    I spat out her name in a repressed voice.

    ¡°Gramiel!¡±

    The Truth-Seeker evolved from the Space Ghost. She, with her true name ¡®Shadow Thorn,¡¯ the Absolute who should be clearing up her wounds on her dimension after being forcibly expelled from the Earth, was now looking at me from the eyes of the Dragon Emperor.

    While I was in confusion, the Dragon Emperor spat out dry will. It wasn¡¯t me that the mental wave was aimed at.

    =Is this human? Yes, that¡¯s right. This made the deal. Um¡­ the voice? All right, let¡¯s exchange it for a while.=

    The Dragon Emperor opened his lips the next moment, and an unfamiliar voice ran out of his mouth. It was surprisingly anguage I could understand.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s troublesome, and you even make me use this method. Hello? The child with a dazzlingly powerful soul. Long time no see? It¡¯s a pleasure to make your whole body tremble.¡±

 Chapter 141

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (10)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    The voice that flowed from the Dragon Emperor¡¯s mouth was bizarre.

    The Dragon Emperor¡¯s voice, which transformed into a human being, was mixed with a metallic tone that couldn¡¯t be made by an ordinary humanoid creature¡¯s vocal cord. I didn¡¯t know what kind of species he was, but he exchanged voices with a priest who was in a deal with him. The priest was probably under Gramiel¡¯s control.

    ¡°What are you doing in this dimension? Are you looking for a dimension to migrate because you judged that the dimension you originally lived in is hopeless?¡±

    She whispered and continued in a rxed tone.

    ¡°If so, I would advise you. This isn¡¯t a favorable environment for a human wizard to live in, especially if it is a unique entity with strong power like you.¡±

    Gramiel, reflected in the ck, gray eyes, gave a distorted smile.

    ¡°There are too many dragons in this dimension. Moreover, you are already exposed to the Dragon Emperor. If you say you are moving to this ce, they have no choice but to stay alert. You¡¯re threatening enough to the dragon kind here.¡±

    I kept those words in my head and quietly calcted a way.

    Gramiel seeded in contacting me in an unexpected way. However, that would be her limit. The other person that the Dragon Emperor used the power of exchange wasn¡¯t Gramiel, but an unknown priest in that world. There was no way for Gramiel to impart her power directly to that world currently.

    In the end, the thing I had to watch out for was the dragon in front of me, the Dragon Emperor with the natural power of that world.

    Mrs. Pearl, who was observing the confrontation, whispered to me.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of trick it is, but it doesn¡¯t feel good.¡±

    I nodded, and I stared at the opponent in front of me.

    ¡°How did you know my location?¡±

    A strange voice followed.

    ¡°You, you used your hand to Carraderina very quickly. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve done with her body or where you¡¯ve locked it up. My control didn¡¯t work at all. So, I had to use a very cumbersome method. I sent some more ascetics to Earth so that humans couldn¡¯t notice it. Because I couldn¡¯t move my body myself.¡±

    Her voice was infused with hostile feelings.

    ¡°And we used search magic to track you down.¡±

    ¡­ What?

    ¡°Nonsense.¡±

    I shook my head and denied it. It wasn¡¯t as easy as it sounded unless I had tracking magic on my body. I quickly concentrated my body with Mana just in case, but I couldn¡¯t find any signs.

    ¡°Even if you¡¯re a Truth- Seeker, you can¡¯t find me so easily. How do you do it without having enough body pieces to identify me?¡±

    ¡°Certainly, there are too many humans in that dimension. Seven billion¡­ It¡¯s overwhelming. It¡¯s not easy to find one of them. So, I gave up on creating search magic for you. It was impossible with the ability of the ascetics I sent, but unlike so many humans, I knew there was only one kind in the world.¡±

    Unpleasant ridicule was buried in the voice of a priest controlled by Gramiel.

    ¡°I¡¯m talking about the Song of Chaos, the fragment of its body that the damn guy has attached to you, Child.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Damn it.¡±

    She meant Maru that even at that moment was tightly attached to the bare skin of my chest.

    ¡°It¡¯s difficult to find a specific individual among so many humans. However, the magic of finding that ¡®horrible race¡¯ that has only one in that world is not that difficult. Moreover, I recently learned a peculiar and powerful Mana pattern unique to that race that can never be confused. Unless it hides itself, it can be found easily.¡±

    The ¡®horrible species¡¯ must¡¯ve meant the original kind of Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker, the Song of Chaos. Did Maru that was derived from its body, also had the same characteristics?

    ¡°The monsters who erased information about their race from the Akashic Records¡­ Older, more powerful, more exclusive, and iprehensible than any other race. Their Mana patterns were originally information that I couldn¡¯t even know, but¡­ not long ago, thanks to Song of Chaos that happily wrapped me around with its tentacles and threw me away, I was able to engrave the pattern very clearly on my body!¡±

    Anger wasing out of her voice.

    In the end, it meant that she tracked down Maru and found my destination, damn it!

    I talked to Maru in my mind. ¡®Hey, man. From now on, hide your Mana when you don¡¯t need it!¡¯

    It then replied by ringing the air around, hiding its body inside my chest. ¡°¡­ What are you talking about?¡±

    Did it not know how to do it? I gritted my teeth, thinking about making an artifact and attaching it to my body until I taught it.

    The metallic voice of the other person continued.

    ¡°Fortunately, there¡¯s a dragon in this world that I can make a deal with. I was going to talk to you using this guy¡¯s help, but looking at the situation, you¡¯re ready toe here one day, even if I don¡¯t do anything.¡±

    That was why they had been waiting for a favorable environment. It looked good.

    After contacting Gramiel, the Dragon Emperor probably kept quiet on my track. Currently, I didn¡¯t kill the dragons, so instead of actively intervening, he waited until his turn came. At that moment, I stepped into the trap myself.

    ¡°You¡¯re quite persistent. What do you want to say after finding me so far? If it¡¯s the same offer, I¡¯ll reject it. What? Am I supposed to believe and go to that dimension?¡±

    I was worried. If I opened the Channel there to the ce where the Song of Chaos was, would it intervene like that day?

    I carefully prepared to open the Channel just in case. I thought it would be better to prepare to open the door immediately in case of an emergency, even if the dimensions weren¡¯t connected immediately.

    However, when the Mana began to be driven toward my chest, the des of white light flew silently in the darkness of the forest.

    ¡°¡­ This!¡±

    In an instant, there were swords of light as long as my hand around Mrs. Pearl and me. They were vibrating with a hum and surrounding us. The Dragon Emperor, who was only mediating, intervened. He opened his mind to convey the meaning.

    =I must¡¯ve expressed my intention through the first will, mustn¡¯t I? Don¡¯t open the Channel recklessly. I roughly heard what you could do.=

    That was how the rumor was going around, damn it.

    As Imented inwardly, I figured out the timing of Dragon Emperor¡¯s magic and the design of the Mana that built it, and I realized something¡­

    Mrs. Pearl and I seemed to had entered a kind of magical realm unfolded by the Dragon Emperor without being aware of it.

    It was only then that I could notice when the Dragon Emperor used the magic associated with that space. All surrounding environments were already set in a direction favorable to the Dragon Emperor. He grasped information more sensitively than anyone else in this space and easily drew and used Mana, and on the contrary, he prevented me from building a spell. It was the same level of an advantage as when I was in my house.

    It would¡¯ve taken quite a while to prepare, even though he was the Dragon Emperor. That was how long he had been waiting to see me.

    I whispered to Mrs. Pearl.

    ¡°¡­ For now, don¡¯t use your strength and wait.¡±

    She nodded. I rolled my eyes and looked at my surroundings.

    The probability of escaping alone was approximately 60 to 70 percent. If it was difficult to build a new spell, I could use the artifacts I had already made.

    However, the probability of running away safely with Mrs. Pearl was almost zero percent. I thought about it for a while and then decided to get along with the other person¡¯s conversation. There were quite a few elixirs, so I thought it would be sessful if I took Mrs. Pearl with only her breath.

    ¡°¡­ Okay. I got it. Let me ask Gramiel again. So, what do you want? If you¡¯re trying to use this Dragon Emperor and drag me away, I¡¯ll take the damage and try to get it right.¡±

    I connected the words.

    ¡°And I assure you, Dragon Emperor. If I start to run wild, even you won¡¯t be able to deal with me easily. You¡¯re going to see a lot of blood. I don¡¯t know what the price of a deal is, but I¡¯m sure it will be an unfavorable business from the moment you hit me.¡±

    The Dragon Emperor nodded and expressed affirmation.

    =I have already heard what abilities you have. If you respond to the conversation quietly, that won¡¯t happen, and¡­ seeing that you¡¯ve broken through my detection barriers to this point, the level of your pure magic is surprising. Who the hell taught you? Are you a dragon¡¯s disciple?=

    Instead of answering the question, I waited for Gramiel¡¯s answer. She then spoke by borrowing the Dragon Emperor¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°All I want today is a conversation. Now, in that sense, I have something to check first¡­ Do you know why the Song of Chaos is keeping an eye on you?¡±

    Why was she talking about something else? I frowned upon hearing it.

    The reason why Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker paid attention to me¡­

    At first, it seemed to be because of curiosity. That guy was delighted to learn that the Truth-Seeker who evolved from a dragon left a Channel on my chest, but I knew its attitude had changed slightly over time. Perhaps it was from the point when I epted and seeded in its request to catch Heart Fishes that had fled to Earth.

    ¡°The thing is for sure¡­ it seemed to pay attention to my soul.¡±

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. The Song of Chaos has once looked deep into your mind. That¡¯s why I think it was able to take a closer look at your soul. Then I realized for sure. it got more clear and substantive information than the moment it first saw you.¡±

    Gramiel said, ¡°I haven¡¯t been able to see deep into your soul that much, so far, but the Song of Chaos has. Your soul is already high enough to cross beyond the wall.¡±

    It certainly did say that.

    ¡°¡­ So?¡±

    Gramielughed once again.

    ¡°Actually, this is close to a contradiction. However, it¡¯s really like this. Your very existence is against ourmon sense. In other words, the Song of Chaos opened its eyes to new possibilities because of one mortal named you.¡±

    She continued with a whisper.

    ¡°Crossing the wall is the first evolution of the soul. Still, you haven¡¯t evolved, and you¡¯re already close to the Transcendental state, and the same goes for the power you have. I don¡¯t know about your world, but it¡¯s hard to find a person with power that surpasses you among Transcendentals in the world under my jurisdiction., and you haven¡¯t even crossed the wall yet!¡±

    Gramiel giggled.

    ¡°Then, what if you grow up like this? Being a Truth-Seeker is the second evolution of the soul. What if you continue to grow and increase your soul value like you are now? Wouldn¡¯t it be possible to be a person close to the Truth-Seeker without the second evolution? Of course, there is a very high possibility that your life will run out before that, but if someone helps you, the story can be different. What if that person helps you to continue training and growing without your lifeing to an end? Imagine it, isn¡¯t it fun?¡±

    Her words didn¡¯t stop.

    ¡°Here, the Song of Chaos came up with an idea. If so, what¡¯s the next step?¡±

    No way. What was it trying to say?

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s too much for you. But it might be possible for us, the Truth-Seekers. You already have the ability to correspond to or exceed the next level of Transcendental without soul evolution. I don¡¯t know why this is possible. The Song of Chaos is trying to find the answer. Why?¡±

    ¡°¡­ No way, to apply to itself?¡±

    ¡°Correct, Child.¡±

    But why?

    Why did it care about that?

    ¡°It¡¯s the Song of Chaos¡¯ trick to find out your secret and copy it. To find a way to be a god without the final evolution of the soul, the third evolution.¡±

    ¡°Why on Earth? Is that necessary? It can just follow the original way of bing a god.¡±

    ¡°Truth-Seekers are those who prepare for the final choice. To be a god, you have to stand at thest crossroads. I think the Song of Chaos wants to be a god without going through that stage.¡±

    It was a keyword that I heard many times through the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-seeker, so I asked.

    ¡°What the hell would be thatst choice?¡±

    ¡°It is a rite of passage that may make you lose a lot of things that have been built up in the aftermath of that choice. Congrattions, every mortal here. After listening to this, you be one of the best people in the universe who knows this information without being a Truth-Seeker.¡±

    Gramiel stared at us through the dark gray eyes.

    ¡°The Truth-Seekers must choose before bing a god. The choice of whether or not to eat the world that they have pampered and nurtured, and the ring of reincarnation that is the root of the world!¡±

 Chapter 142

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (11)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    I repeated Gramiel¡¯s words in my mind.

    ¡®¡­ Eat?¡¯

    She delivered her voice to that world with great pleasure. The voice of an unknown alien species continued through the medium, the Dragon Emperor.

    ¡°The Song of Chaos, the Truth-Seeker from that great race is also scared in the end. They¡¯re monsters whose information has been erased from Akashic Records, so most mortals don¡¯t even know the species¡¯ name. It¡¯s scary even for a Truth-Seeker born of such a race to stand at the crossroads of choice. That¡¯s why it¡¯s doing the trick!¡±

    Gramiel giggled.

    ¡°Monsters that understand everything in the gxy jumped over dimensions without Channels. They y with the universe¡¯s mass like toys; they sealed and instrument the Truth-Seeker of their world and managed the world directly. They¡¯re the historical reasons for Truth-Seekers to control information to mortals. It¡¯s a Truth-Seeker born of such a terrifying creature! Even one of those monsters doesn¡¯t want to gamble on its existence in the end, right?¡±

    I paid attention to the implications of her words. I then asked quickly.

    ¡°Gamble? I heard that Truth-Seekers are not interested in the lives of mortals anyway, then isn¡¯t it over if you just eat it?¡±

    It might¡¯ve cherished the dimension it raised. However, it might not be said for the mortals who lived in their world. The object that the expression referred to was probably the world itself.

    ¡°It¡¯s over if you just eat it¡­ Hahaha. Yeah, my current self also thinks so. I¡¯m sure that the Song of Chaos feels the same way right now. If it¡¯s a choice to eat or not, we¡¯ll definitely choose to eat it. We¡¯re going to choose evolution, but¡­ will this change in the future?¡±

    There was a deep feeling in its voice.

    ¡°If you look at many failed cases, the answer is clear. When that momentes, Truth-Seekers will suffer from a crack in their will. Isn¡¯t it funny? I mean, we¡¯re struggling in the agony of existence for eternity, in the prison of thought, and then finally reaching the eternal gateway¡­¡±

    She continued.

    ¡°In the end, it wants to avoid the danger of ¡®wrong¡¯ decisions its future will make, so it¡¯s looking for a way not to stand at the crossroads. It¡¯s afraid it will be shaken by any chance.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Be shaken?¡±

    Gramiel hummed as if singing a song.

    ¡°The world is the body of the divine, and the Truth-Seeker is the spirit of the divine.¡±

    =What?!=

    That time, the Dragon Emperor, who was still listening to the conversation, interrupted with mental waves.

    ¡°¡­ Khihihi! A Truth-Seeker who is well-qualified enough to be the soul of a God must eat the world it has grown up and make it a body, but the problem is that the world has grown for so long.¡±

    Unlike the Dragon Emperor¡¯s confused mental wave, the dark gray eyes he exchanged with the existence of a different world gleamed.

    ¡°As the dimension evolves, it has a will. In other words, the world that has evolved to the final stage is said to have had an ego for a long time by the moment of choice.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡±

    =Is that true?!=

    The Dragon Emperor¡¯s mental wave was filled with a lot of confusion as if it were also the first time he heard it.

    ¡°The dimension with ego has been together for a long time as a friend of a Truth-Seeker who spends a lonely time. To the Truth-Seekers, the world is already like its child. A world that they did not create themselves, but was raised by endless blood transfusions after suffering for a long time when counting by numbers was meaningless.¡±

    I suppressed my groan and tried to speak in a calm tone as much I could.

    ¡°¡­ I haven¡¯t heard of it.¡±

    It was apletely new concept that the world had an ego.

    ¡°And at thest moment, at thest crossroads to acquire the divinity and take a leap, the moment God tries to bite and devour the world he has cultivated, the world is said to whisper to the Truth-Seeker. They say that even though the person who created them is not the Truth-Seeker. Father or Mother, please save me. Don¡¯t eat me. Don¡¯t kill me. Fuhuhuhuhu. Fuhuhuhu!¡±

    A voice like the sound of the dry wind echoed in the space.

    ¡°Then what to do in this situation? The Truth-Seeker who has met thest choice has already be so high-kevel that the existence is likely to copse unless he evolves into the next stage, namely, a God. You can¡¯t stay still in that state, right?¡±

    ¡°¡­ If you don¡¯t evolve, your existence will copse?¡±

    ¡°Yeah! That makes sense. Child, that¡¯s why you¡¯re unique. How can you maintain your existence with such a high level, without evolving, and without crossing walls? The Song of Chaos is observing you to find out why.¡±

    I asked myself.

    ¡®¡­ Why? Why only me?¡¯

    ¡°The right choice is, of course, oveing inner conflicts and eating the world to evolve. Now then, what should Truth-Seekers do if they choose not to eat here?¡±

    ¡°Do they wait for their existence to copse? Will they disappear without bing a god?¡±

    However, Gramiel¡¯s answer wasn¡¯t what I expected.

    ¡°They have to take the risk of bing a god in the absence of a prepared body, and the results were mostly not good. Of course, there are few sessful cases. Do you know a god named ¡®the Edacious World¡¯? There are traces of it among the many kinds of sweet smells that you have.¡±

    The Edacious World, Kylgeniapros.

    I used the spell it gave to call the God to Earth, and as a result, the entire Hun-neung base was torn apart and eaten.

    ¡°Do you know why the Edacious World takes the caster¡¯s body tissue in return when it gives a spell to mortals? The poor God couldn¡¯t eat the world it had raised, after all, and it went crazy because it couldn¡¯t ovee the pain while evolving into a God without a divine body. It¡¯s said that it was the moment when the first fanaticism was born.¡±

    A crazy God that was born for the first time since the beginning of the universe.

    It was only then that I understood, at least a little, the meaning of Kylgeniapros¡¯ numerous characteristics that distinguished it from other Gods and the irrational and contradictory myths that couldn¡¯t be exined properly, and no matter how much Parvache¡¯s help was, I got an answer as to how the barriers created by mortals limited the scope of God¡¯s perception and deceived him.

    The God¡­ it was crazy.

    ¡°Think again about the price of that spell. Taking a piece of mortal body is a kind of meaningless selffort created by God¡¯s madness.¡±

    As I listened to her, I remembered the bloody radiance that covered the skies of the Hun-neung and the shady and unruly will that was mixed in it.

    ¡°After going crazy, it became obsessed with the madness and obsession with the body. It btedly built up a body like a god by randomly eating and devouring the world it was summoned at. Of course, because it wasn¡¯t a proper way, its existence itself a dimension.¡±

    She giggled and continued.

    ¡°What¡¯s important now is what I¡¯m going to suggest. Again, I¡¯m trying to be the Truth-Seeker of your world. I need your help to do that. Anyway, the moment the Earth faces thest crossroads and thest choice will be a distant future that you cannot recognize with your concept of time. You don¡¯t have to worry about that.¡±

    ¡°I have already declined it.¡±

    ¡°Come on, listen to me more. How long are you going to leave your dimension in that shape? One of the Truth-Seekers¡¯ roles is to protect the world by creating a dimensional barrier. Your world seems to endure somehow so far because of the unusually high level of civilization, but if it stays like this, the Channels will only increase. From your standpoint, you have to use your hand quickly.¡±

    Logically, it made sense until I decided whether it was in line with my interests.

    ¡°Your world needs a Truth-Seeker. A world without Truth-Seeker will not be able to evolve to a higher level, and if it remains, you may have to prepare for the destruction of your race. Remember, as soon as I be the Truth-Seeker of your world. You will be saved. The Truth-Seeker is a kind of guardian and savior to the world.¡±

    ¡°¡­ And you will be the destroyer of the dimension. At some point in the distant future.¡±

    The savior and the destroyer of a dimension.

    ¡°That¡¯s not something you¡¯re worried about right now.¡±

    Earth in the very distant future, that whole dimension would be eaten by a Truth-Seeker. Wasn¡¯t it something I was worried about?

    ording to that logic, I would protest like that.

    ¡°Even if I leave it like this, the Earth won¡¯t be ruined any time soon. It willst a few hundred years with or without the souls. It¡¯s a problem that cannot be predicted right now, even when ites to human existence. Why should I take the risk of entrusting my body to you and make you the Truth-Seeker of the Earth?¡±

    Moreover, there was a problem that Gramiel had not mentioned so far.

    ¡°Are other Truth-Seekers working with you? Seeing the Song of Chaos¡¯s reaction, I don¡¯t think so.¡±

    ¡°Yes, of course, they will try to stop me. Many Truth-Seekers are benefiting from the Earth right now, but don¡¯t worry, once I block the Channels, the way they can intervene on Earth is very limited.¡±

    I got a rough idea of ??what the word limited meant. I could tell quickly from the facts that Gramiel had no choice but to use that cumbersome method tomunicate with me in that dimension.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask you again. Why do you really need me? If you want to take over the Earth, you can do whatever you want. I don¡¯t know how. Don¡¯t mind me.¡±

    ¡°The Truth-Seeker who originally had jurisdiction over the Earth. It is you who have the deepest trace of him. To know his intentions, first of all, I need you¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, wait a second.¡±

    At that moment, an idea came to mind as if a light bulb was lit in my head. I quickly reviewed it, then immediately spoke.

    ¡°You need information about the Dragon, the Truth-Seeker who originally ruled the Earth, right?

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°I have no idea why he nted a Seed on me. There is no contact as far as I can remember.¡±

    ¡°Then?¡±

    ¡°However, there are some people on Earth that have been in contact with the Dragon for a long enough time. I think it¡¯s more like an authorized family. They know a lot more information than I do.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Hmm?¡±

    I put a smile on my lips.

    ¡°I often get misunderstood, but I¡¯m not actually the ascetic of the Truth-Seeker. I know very little about him who¡¯s already dead, but there are people on Earth who know about him so well. They¡¯re the real ascetics of the Dragon. If you catch them and dig for information, wouldn¡¯t you be able to find out why the Dragon who ruled the Earth died and what kind of ns were being made through me?¡±

    Information that neither Alice nor Hessler knew, the reason why the Dragon died¡­

    However, among other executives? In particr, wouldn¡¯t that be the helper who received the authority contract and be the executives¡¯ centerpiece?

    I was conscious of Maru. I didn¡¯t know if that conversation was being conveyed to the Song of Chaos or only transmitted after the Channel opened as it was then.

    It was said that Gramiel couldn¡¯t get out of that dimension for a while since the Song of Chaos beat her. How much utility could that Truth-Seeker in such a state give me?

    In many ways, the most important thing wasn¡¯t to offend the Song of Chaos. Even for that risk, it was necessary to adjust the level of conversation appropriately.

    Gramiel¡¯s conversation with me continued for some time after that.

    ***

    ¡°Huoooooooo¡­Huaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim frowned. The alien in front of her was kneeling and burst into cries.

    Looking up close, it was surprisingly human-like. However, ording to Parvache, they weren¡¯t ssified as human-type creatures.

    ¡°Huoooooooo! Huaaaaaaaaa!¡±

    He was crying as he had lost half of his mind. In front of it, an elephant-sized giant animal fell with its body lying on its side. Although it was still breathing, it flinched several times as if it didn¡¯t have enough strength in its body.

    In front of it was an alien who continued to cry until his throat became sore, raised his head, and he looked up at Hwang Soo-rim and shouted.

    ¡°$!#@$#@@!¡±

    Of course, she couldn¡¯t understand thenguage at all.

    Hwang Soo-rim stared at Parvache.

    One of the consciousness fragments that dwelled in a robot toy, as it lost its body after the end of her world, gave her the answer.

    [Please save the Flower Bud. I beg you¡­]

    ¡°¡­ Flower bud?¡±

    [I think it¡¯s Tobogai¡¯s name.]

    Tobogai, who was chased by the Red Hiel and the alien on its back, ran to the ce where Hwang Soo-rim and others were. While running away, Hwang Soo-rim, who witnessed Tobogai being stabbed by Hiel several more times and injected with semen, eventually kicked out the male Red Hiel with her magic at Parvache¡¯s instructions.

    Thanks to it, the blue-haired alien and Tobogai managed to save their lives, but the giant creature with a snail-shaped head shook its legs after that and eventually fell to the ground. Since then, it had stretched out to the ground, gasping for breath until that time, and next to it, the blue-haired alien was crying with his head down as if the world had died.

    -Khiiiiiiiing!

    As if responding to the owner¡¯s sorrow, Tobogai, which had been lying with its head on the ground, raised its head hard and made a long cry. The alien didn¡¯t know what to do. His face turned red, and he burst into tears seeing the scene.

    [¡­ Let me talk a little more.]

    Parvache tried to talk with the alien for a while, using its will.

    ¡°Ramuming¡­ right? The blue-haired creature.¡±

    [Yes.]

    ¡°Are you not aware of the ecology of Red Hiel? If you leave it like this, the female will smell the semen and go crazy. Don¡¯t you know that Tobogai needs to be burned quickly?¡±

    [Yes, I¡¯m aware of it. Nevertheless, I¡¯m begging for its life. Seeing the magic that you created earlier, I think you¡¯re incredibly great.]

    Tobogai stretched out its long antennae, simr to a snail¡¯s eyes. Ramuming stroked it and continued with a tearful voice.

    ¡°@@#$#@%!¡±

    Parvache interpreted it.

    [Oh, Great beings, please¡­ Save Flower Bud with your strength.]

    Hwang Soo-rim touched her forehead. Oh, it was a headache.

    ¡°Is there any way?¡±

    Parvache hesitated and answered.

    [¡­ Who knows when he wille back? As it is now, it¡¯s impossible.]

    It was clear that the person it referred to was Eraser.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying it¡¯s dangerous if we wait like that. The female wille after it, right?¡±

    [Yes, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s too much for you two to deal with.]

    Parvache looked at the Hwang Soo-rim and Garam in turn. She thought. ¡®Come to think of it, that guy named Garam didn¡¯t help much even when just chasing the Hiel. There might be nothing he had.¡¯

    ¡°We have to persuade him. Please deliver my message. Ah¡­ right. Could you ask his name first?¡±

    The alien with the faces of boys was now holding onto the Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s pants. Ramuming, who received Parvache¡¯s will, cried and answered, and Hwang Soo-rim, who encountered the mental wave interpreted by Parvache, was confused.

    [My identification number is 15-23492¡­]

 Chapter 143

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (12)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    ¡°¡­ Identification number?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim, who didn¡¯t understand the meaning properly, tilted her head.

    [It seems to be a number that reces the names of these guys.]

    When Parvache asked a few more questions with its will, Ramuming cried out and answered. Hwang Soo-rim asked as she saw it.

    ¡°They use a number instead of a name?¡±

    [There¡¯s a separate name for each of them, but it doesn¡¯t seem to be official. The identification number I just said is what ¡®they¡¯ use to manage the Ramumings. In short, it¡¯s a number to easily identify the birth year and harvest time of livestock.]

    ¡°Livestock?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim opened her eyes wide at the inappropriate word, and when she looked at Ramuming¡¯s outfit, she saw the only different thing that she thought was an essory.

    ¡°So, that metal ne that this kid wore around his neck¡­¡±

    Her gaze was fixed on a ne made of dark metal. It was too big and too thick to the thought of the purpose of being fashionable. Despite that, the circumference was smaller than the size of the head so that it couldn¡¯t be removed from the top, but¡­ no matter how much she looked at it, you couldn¡¯t see any joint part.

    She asked herself. How could they take that off? Or did they made it so that it was impossible to be taken off after wearing it once?

    Parvache delivered her mental waves to her, who was lost in thought for a while.

    [The fact that he was given that identification number¡­ Oh, now I know what Ramuming is mistaken for now.]

    ¡°@#[email protected]#%@!¡±

    Ramuming, who grabbed Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s pants, once again appealed with a crying voice, that time for quite a while. Suddenly, Parvache interpreted the meaning. Seeing Tobogai¡¯s condition ahead of its death, Ramuming waspletely panicked at first, but currently, his words were much more refined to see if he was gradually regaining his reason.

    [Great Dragon, you have transformed your figure into a human being. However, even now, this lowly thing can see that you are strong and safe. I know that you don¡¯t need Ramuming¡¯s body right now. Please listen nheless. I¡¯m a young beast that has not yet returned, but I know how to serve you with my body¡­ that what he said. Hmm, you¡¯re getting the wrong idea.]

    ¡°W-what kind of service with his body?¡±

    [¡­ Keep listening]

    Ramuming¡¯s sad appeal continued.

    [Although you don¡¯t have a scratch on your precious body right now, I know that taking the blood and meat of a young Ramuming like me will help you recover from fatigue. I¡¯m going to sacrifice my body in pieces here, so please save a friend of this lowly thing. This is solely due to my free will, and it will be disrespectful, but it will not go against the rules of the great people¡­ it said.]

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s mouth widened.

    ¡°¡­ What fucking bullshit am I hearing right now?¡±

    It was creepy. What? Sacrifice himself to pieces? Was that the sounding out of that little boy¡¯s mouth now?

    Parvache calmly sent a mental wave.

    [This guy has mistaken you for the Dragon¡­ As the Dragon of this world who manages and ¡®harvests¡¯ himself whenever necessary.]

    ¡°¡­ Is Ramuming like a dragon¡¯s stock?¡±

    [It¡¯s a simr concept.]

    Parvache briefly exined. The dragons basically had a body that didn¡¯t react to recovery magic well. Although the aspect was different for each dimension, it was told that their shorings.

    In the dragon civilization, which had developed magical science to the extreme, they somehow developed the magic that worked well to their bodies. However, the dragons of that world hadn¡¯t yet reached that stage, so they had found an alternative. It was a method of improving and breeding the species with the ability of biological recovery, that was Ramumings here, and using them as their ¡®inmmatory treatment.¡¯

    [Even dragons seem to have rules on how to consume Ramuming. It can only be used when a dragon is injured. It is strictly forbidden to kill and hurt Ramumings for reasons such as ¡®recovery of fatigue,¡¯ thereby reducing the inherent resilience. The only exception is when Ramuming voluntarily sacrifices its body, and now, this guy will cut off his body and offer it to you to recover from fatigue. In return, he is begging you to save that Tobogai.]

    Garam, who had been listening to the story so far, intervened with a frown.

    ¡°Does that race have a reason, no matter how much I look at? Are they raising and ughtering them like livestock? Those terrible things¡­ it¡¯s really too much. I¡¯m getting angry. Why do all the dragons do that? The viciousness isn¡¯t much different from the Dragon¡¯s actions in our world!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim, who heard the rough story but didn¡¯t know the details, asked again.

    ¡°Do you mean the Earth¡¯s Dragon also did simr things?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. People like us have also suffered damage, but in fact, it was you humans who have suffered the most damage. I can¡¯t even guess how many humans the Dragon¡¯s minions caught because they have the talent to use magic. Would those humans really survive?¡±

    Garam shook his head and continued.

    ¡°No, in the first ce, it was terrible to do something that suppressed the talent of magic on the entire human beings. You, humans, have lost tremendous opportunities over the past thousands of years. There are hundreds of millions of beings who have no reason to cross the wall, and your people who have evolved to the highest level have not crossed the wall since the Dragon appeared!¡±

    Maek¡¯s voice was mixed in anger.

    ¡°For example, a transcendental being of human origin in White Deer Vige is only elder Mago who survived a long war. After the Great Agreement, no single human could cross the wall to join us. This is really¡­¡±

    [Ah, wait! Stop that kid!]

    Parvache interrupted in a hurry, spitting out its will. Only then did Garam and Hwang Soo-rim turned their heads and looked at Ramuming, and wild words jumped out from Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s mouth, who was frightened by the sight in front of her.

    ¡°Hey! You bastard! Dude!¡±

    Ramuming was on the verge of striking his forearm with his trembling hand. He was holding a one-handed ax-like tool in one hand while clenching his teeth with his eyes closed.

    ¡°You crazy kid!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim ran in and took the ax from his hand. Whether it was a trait of the species itself or since he was still young, Ramuming¡¯s strength wasn¡¯t strong, and he was easily taken away by Hwang Soo-rim.

    The young boy with blue hair, who had been blocked from his attempt, looked up at the party in front of him and begged again.

    -Khiiiiiiiiing!

    Tobogai, who fell on the floor, once again raised its head and cried sadly.

    ¡°Hoaaaaaaaa, huooooooong!¡±

    Ramuming, who was restrained from self-cutting, also added to the song.

    Hwang Soo-rim, who was watching it, asked Parvache with a weak voice.

    ¡°¡­ Parvache. I¡¯m begging you this much, but can¡¯t we save that Tobogai?¡±

    Garam nodded and agreed with Hwang Soo-rim.

    ¡°Elder, seeing those different races cling to each other, they seem to be very close to each other. Is there any way to save that big beast?¡±

    Parvache felt a little awkward listening to them.

    The cause of the mood was quickly understood. In the meantime, it was since Parvache himself had be so familiar with Yoon Min-joon¡¯s mindset and behavior.

    If it were Yoon Min-joon, before that Ramuming cried and begged, he would¡¯ve heard the story of the Ramuming after burning that Tobogai on fire.

    Parvache thought one after another. If it were before Yoon Min-joon lost his childhood memories, he would¡¯ve followed its instructions and burned Tobogai without question, even because of its suggestion. Since he had lost his memory, he would¡¯ve killed Tobogai to protect himself, rationally, under the judgment that it was justifiable even without suggestion. There would¡¯ve been no hesitation in the action due to the loss of his memory.

    However, Hwang Soo-rim and Garam next to Parvache weren¡¯t Yoon Min-joon. They sympathized with even the aliens they had first met in their life and felt sorry for him.

    Parvache muttered inwardly.

    ¡®The way they think is different from Min-joon.¡¯

    Yes, they were different. Parvache thought. Since it wasn¡¯t Yoon Min-joon, in the end, it threw itself in the danger that it could avoid.

    At that moment, the danger had just started to vibrate the surrounding earth!

    -Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    The party was confused by the sudden shaking from underneath. It was like an earthquake.

    ¡°What¡­ what?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim shouted sharply. Parvache urgently sent a mental wave.

    [We can¡¯t use this ce as a battlefield! All the Mana patterns we have made will be destroyed!]

    It was the will that cut out the whole process, but Hwang Soo-rim quickly understood the meaning. The opponent approaching that ce was a creature that could dig up all the ground in a mess. If they fought there, the magic circle that she prepared hard would be destroyed irreparably.

    [Blow that Tobogai away! It has been chasing after the smell of semen left in that guy¡¯s body anyway, so it¡¯ll follow to the ce where Tobogai move. Fight there!]

    Hwang Soo-rim responded sharply.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know that spell. Please tell me another way!¡±

    [This¡­ such a stupid! In the meantime, what the hell have you learned from Eraser!]

    ¡°I just learned to pierce, cut, and burst something like that! Also, thebor work of nting Mana patterns on the ground!¡±

    [¡­ It¡¯s a clear purpose for fostering. No, the human mind can¡¯t use telekic power, but the basic force field or vacuum wave magic?]

    ¡°If I use such magic right now, I can¡¯t move that elephant at all or bursts its body. I can¡¯t do it now! If I move it and burst it with the wrong force control, its body pieces and the stuff in its stomach will spill around here. What if it¡¯s even worse? That thing will attack us no matter what?¡±

    It was an urate judgment. The situation would only worsen if Tobogai suffered additional trauma and semen was exposed to the outside and flowed to the nearby ground.

    [How about God¡¯s Spell? Are there any Dryflos¡¯ spells? Ah, no. Since it is a spell that requires sacrifice, this is giving me a headache.]

    Hwang Soo-rim, who didn¡¯t understand Parvache¡¯s will, was about to scream to ask for another alternative.

    -Hweeeeiiiik!

    Hwang Soo-rim realized the awkward feeling surrounding her and turned her head. Its source was Garam.

    ¡°¡­ What?¡±

    Garam, who had moved in the form of a boy who wasn¡¯t taller than Hwang Soo-rim waist, had now returned to his original body.

    The haze-like energy moved and mixed and soon it turned into a wind that lost its shape, then blew. The wind on Tobogai¡¯s copsed body clumped together to create power.

    ¡°What are you doing just now?¡±

    Garam returned to his Maek¡¯s form and answered calmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s a dream collected from a human child living around the Han River. It¡¯s a dream that falls off a cliff. If I change that direction a little¡­¡±

    -Hweeeeiiiiiing!

    Hwang Soo-rim opened her eyes wide. The Mana fluctuated in a way that was iprehensible to her concept. Suddenly, Tobogai¡¯s body and the other parties started moving at high speed like an arrow.

    ¡°What¡­ whaaaaaaaat?!¡±

    The surroundingndscape crushed and passed.

    ¡°Ugh!¡±

    Their bodies stopped before Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s scream had yet disappeared. She was stumbling. After bncing her body and looking around her, she was amazed. Thend where they had just stood before, the container and the magic circle, had been moved far enough to be seen at the end of the horizon.

    ¡°¡­ Uh, how? Is this a teleport? Or is it floating in the air?¡±

    Garam shook his head.

    ¡°I changed the direction of falling to back and front, not up and down. From where we¡¯ve been until just now, to where we are, we¡¯ve fallen horizontally. Anyway, I think we need to prepare quickly. The direction of the vibration has shifted to this direction.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim nodded and prepared her magic. The magic she did the best and focused on was the magic of piercing, cutting, and bursting among the magic system that she learned.

    As she felt the vibration of the ground intensifying, Hwang Soo-rim clenched her teeth. Frightened, Ramuming hugged Tobogai¡¯s head with his hands. Garam checked the kinds of dreams attached to his body and found something that could be used in that situation.

    -Grrrrrrrr!

    When the magnitude of the vibration reached the extreme, the ground began to split.

    -Crack crack! Whooooong!

    A red pir rose from the crack in the ground. It soared so fast that it was difficult to distinguish the form, and it quickly turned its head and rushed to that side.

    -Kraaaaaaaaaaaak!

    Along with the roar, the shadow of a giant monster covered the party.

    Hwang Soo-rimbined her magic while looking at the enemy in front of her eyes. The opponent was a giant creature that looked like a centipede, whose body size was sorge and long that it couldn¡¯t bepared with Tobogai.

    Parvache had been calmly delivering the attack method of the monster, the female Red Hiel, and countermeasures in the minds of Garam and Hwang Soo-rim. Reviewing the contents, Hwang Soo-rimpleted her spell, and she swore inside.

    ¡°Why are the males flying, but the females dig the ground and are the giant monsters with no body in sight?! Something¡¯s wrong!¡±

    Spells flowed out of her mouth.

    ¡°The Rage of Qu¨¦cadios!¡±

 Chapter 144

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (13)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    As soon as Hwang Soo-rim cast a spell, a small sphere of metal forms in her hand, and silver lightning shed up from the circr core toward the sky. Countless cracks of cold light covered the air.

    -Queeeeeeck!

    The scream of a monster was tearing her eardrum.

    -Phissng!

    The metal created with God¡¯s power dug into the path where theary energy in the atmosphere was unstable or weak. As a result, it moved at the fastest possible speed in the current environment, and its branching split was like a beam of lightning. The elerated metal prated the magical object without any mercy.

    ¡°I hit it!¡±

    Red Hiel, who was pierced by hundreds of metallic lightning bolts created by Hwang Soo-rim, screamed and twisted its body.

    ¡°Gosh!¡±

    It wriggled its giant centipede-like body and made a riot. Green fluids were sprayed on the ground like heavy rain as holes were drilled throughout the body, hit by magic. About half of the body was still buried in the ground, so the ground was still shaking. It was difficult for everyone to stand in proper bnce.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t you dying?!¡±

    The lightning she sprayed hit Hiel¡¯s brain as well. Arge hole was formed in the top of its hook-like teeth, and a ck substance believed to be the brain was flowing from within, but that giant monster didn¡¯t fall.

    -Queeeeeeck!

    A monster¡¯s shadow cast upon Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s face, looking up at the sky. Hiel lifted its whole body and then dived into the ground as if hitting a cudgel.

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s ability didn¡¯t allow her to perform a defensive spell in an instant. She moved her hand reflexively, then took off the artifact on the belt and injected it with Mana. She received it from Eraser for emergency use.

    -Whooong!

    In an instant, a barrier was surrounding the party. The furious Hiel struck on it.

    -Bang bang bang bang!

    Along with the roar, the ground around it was shattered and swept away like a storm.

    ¡°Eaaaaaaaarghhh!¡±

    ¡°#@[email protected]#%@!¡±

    -Khiiiiing!

    In the aftermath of the impact, the entire spherical barrier was thrown far away. Everyone in it lost their bnce and rolled around. Inside the barrier wall, Tobogai¡¯s enormous body crushed the other.

    ¡°Oh-uh! What a mess!¡±

    Garam burst into a dream in a hurry.

    It was a nightmare from a Yeouido office worker. It was a breathtaking dream created by stress in which countless pure white hands ran and dragged the dream owner¡¯s body under the swamp, but he would no longer remember that dream since Garam collected and took it.

    The white hands were currently embodied in reality. It weaved Tobogai¡¯s body like a thread and fixed it so it wouldn¡¯t collide with others.

    -Khuung!

    The barrier sphere hit the ground, and everyone rolled on the ground. Hwang Soo-rim, who got up quickly after rolling once, shouted.

    ¡°I aimed at the brain as you said!¡±

    The barrier disappeared due to more impact than allowed, and Parvache urgently delivered the information with a will. As the amount of information that came in at once increased, Hwang Soo-rim frowned due to a headache. After she reviewed it, she swore.

    ¡°Even if the brain breaks, it moves for more than an hour?!¡±

    [The structure of the nervous system ispletely different from the living organism that you know! The brain, which performs the most functions, has been damaged so that the movement will be a little dull. To handle it safely in this state, you have to crush that body into countless pieces or explode it all at once!]

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it enough just to run away like this?!¡±

    [Even if the brain is damaged, it will recognize and follow us using the nerve cells that are spread throughout the body!]

    Garam, who was listening to the conversation, shove in a dream. The dream in which the owner¡¯s house was burning.

    ¡°How about burning it?¡±

    Parvache shook its head. It had already mastered a lot of the magical principles that use dreams.

    [The effect of your magic is proportional to the ability of the caster, right? Garam, can you turn that huge body into ashes in a few seconds?]

    Parvache gave Garam the required temperature and coverage, taking into ount the hardness of Hiel¡¯s skin and muscle tissue. Even without specific measurement, Garam, who understood what Parvache meant, said with a darkplexion.

    ¡°¡­ It¡¯s impossible.¡±

    The destructive power of magic suggested by Parvache was impossible with Garam¡¯s magic.

    [If you light its body with fire, it will attack us even when it is on fire. That¡¯s why I said it was hard to deal with without Eraser!]

    It was alreadyte. Even if they tried to incinerate Tobogai, the one who lured Hiel, there was no way to avoid the attack from the angry monster.

    Parvachemented once again. If it were Yoon Min-joon, they wouldn¡¯t have been swept away by suchme empathy!

    Suddenly¡­

    ¡°@#[email protected]%@@!¡±

    Ramuming screamed hastily, pointing his finger forward.

    -Queeeeeeck!

    Even though the brain was damaged, the Hiel still smelled the semen and was chasing their way. Unlike before, a significant portion of its body was exposed to the ground.

    In situations where the distance had be distant, it was advantageous to move under the ground to cause earthquakes and cracks. Still, it was showing inefficient movements due to its poor thinking ability.

    ¡°Oh, my God!¡±

    ¡°The Bullet of Qu¨¦cadios!¡±

    A silver sh was fired from Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s hand. The metal of God, Qu¨¦cadios, which returned from the form of lightning to a small sphere, was shot forward like an arrow in the form of an awl over a meter long after eating her Mana.

    -Phiiisng!

    The bullet that was blown by tearing the air hit Hiel¡¯s head once more.

    -Kwaaaarrgh!

    The silvery metal crushed the Hiel¡¯s skin and bones and prated horizontally through its body. However, because the monster¡¯s body was not in a straight line, it couldn¡¯t be long before it prated the outer skin and slipped out again.

    It failed to achieve the target of destroying as much body tissue as possible by continuing to pierce through its body.

    -Queeeeeck

    Hiel was rushing in.

    ¡°The Mish of¡­ Kyaaaaa!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim, who was preparing for the next spell, lost her bnce and fell. On top of that, Hiel¡¯s head poured in. Two rings were exposed outside spread on both sides, and inside them, a tube-like mouth opened, revealing numerous sharp small teeth.

    ¡°¡­ The Mist of¡­¡±

    Instead of being terrified, Hwang Soo-rim recast her spell with her eyes wide open, but she couldn¡¯t get the timing right. It was a scene where Hiel¡¯s teeth seemed to bite her before the spell waspleted.

    That moment, a red light leaked out of the monster¡¯s mad eyes, and its teeth seemed to hit Hwang Soo-rim at any moment.

    ¡°You punk!¡±

    It was an urgent spell.

    Along with it, the brilliant color of light blocked her front. Looking at the scene, instead of allocating her thinking ability to grasp the phenomenon in front of her eyes, Hwang Soo-rim focused only on thepletion of her spell.

    -Quaaaaack!

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    It was Garam who ran in front of her.

    He stood between Hwang Soo-rim and the monster, holding his back. Garam, who climbed the ground with all his four feet, burst into dozens of dreams fused with his body. Brilliant chunks of energy exploded. Dream fragments were forced to draw out the energy without being properly implemented due to an urgent situation.

    -Kaaaaaaaaarrgggh!

    The monster roared in anger. The rush of the dream that blocked it was only one moment, but it was enough to stop Hiel¡¯s body. The dreams that Garam burst lost their context, swirled, and eroded space. The dream fragments spreading around the Maek bounced into the air. They were images.

    Hwang Soo-rim stared at it with both eyes open. There were animals with weird shapes and colors and a pool of memories that couldn¡¯t even be told how old it was. Buildings like a historical drama set and a period that she had never encountered. The fragments that were believed to be the dreams of modern people intervene in the middle.

    Every scene became a barrier of pure power and stopped Hiel¡¯s attack.

    However, the effect wasn¡¯t long.

    -Queeeeeeeck!

    ¡°Kuuuugh!¡±

    Hiel¡¯s head, which broke through the barrier of a dream, struck the front, and in the aftermath, Garam¡¯s body was beaten and bounced out.

    ¡°Kuugh!¡±

    Instead of chasing the trajectory of a small beast that sprinkled blood on his body after being attacked by the monster, Hwang Soo-rim stared at the enemy in front of her. She then spat out thepleted spell.

    ¡°The Mist of Qu¨¦cadios!¡±

    With the spell¡¯spletion, a metal sphere that had returned into her hand covered therge space in front of her. The silver curtain that encroached around moved low and heavy.

    -Huerrrrrrrr!

    Pieces of metal, smaller than raindrops, struck Hiel like the mist. Fine, sharp fragments pierce its skin. The monster¡¯s green body fluid erupted into the air through the hole in its body. The in was mixed with the silver color of the Qu¨¦cadios, the dark green of the monster¡¯s body fluid, and the fog on both sides, creating a strangendscape.

    -Queeeeeck!

    It wasn¡¯t big on the surface, but it had applied more damage in terms of the number of hit points than any other attack so far. The monster rolled over the ground due to the pain that flowed through the body.

    ¡°¡­ Hey! You!¡±

    The monster was currently unable to act. Hwang Soo-rim turned her gaze only after realizing that the enemy couldn¡¯t move its body properly. Her gaze touched the little beast that the monster had just struck. She reached the Maek that was about her waist-high.

    ¡°¡­ Ah!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim knelt on her knees and wrapped his body with both hands. The convex belly was torn, and the internal organ, a mixture of red and yellow, were flowing out. It was a substance that appeared to be a liquid metal that was being digested spilled onto the ground.

    The Maek lifted his head, and his clear pupil looked up at Hwang Soo-rim. He barely spat out his voice.

    ¡°Ru-run away¡­ Hurry up and ask for help from that monstrous human being!¡±

    ¡°Garam!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim shouted like a scream, and over them, Hiel struck their bodies.

    [This! Damn it!]

    The time when Parvache uttered a screaming will¡­

    A ck light covered the sky.

    ***

    Negotiations with Gramiel weren¡¯t smooth. After some time, we managed toe to a satisfactory conclusion for both sides.

    -Swsssshhhhhh!

    A priest in a different world under Gramiel¡¯s control disappeared from the Dragon Emperor¡¯s eyes. The dark gray light in the Dragon Emperor¡¯s pupils fluttered, and the original crimson color was restored.

    As a result of the deal, the ritual of ¡®exchange¡¯ had ended.

    The Dragon Emperor that no longer obligated for the other party of the transaction, gave us a will.

    =¡­ Ah, I see. So, it was like that.=

    At that moment, an ominous feeling flowed through my spine.

    I remembered the dialogue between Gramiel, Shadow Thorn, and me. She originally said that she was on apletely different dimension from that ce, and themunication between her and me should¡¯ve been a long way off. It was the power of God that made it possible in reality.

    However, the deal on borrowing the divine power was over. The Dragon Emperor¡¯s deal partner, an unknown priest in another world, had already stopped connecting with this side.

    =After all, even the Truth-Seeker who has intervened here now doesn¡¯t know. What is your true identity? Interesting. It¡¯s really interesting.=

    I understood the will of the Dragon Emperor. So, I shouted desperately.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the mediation already over?!¡±

    =Yes. The deal with the priest in another world who serves the same God is over. From now on, it is my turn to fulfill my duty as the head of the dragons living in this world.=

    In my eyes, the Dragon Emperor, that seemed to be a red long-haired young man, had a fishy smile on his lips.

    =A mortal who can have such a great influence on Truth-Seekers in other worlds? And you¡¯re also a human being? What¡¯s more, you¡¯re on the level of the Transcendental? I don¡¯t understand. Since the advent of this world, the number of dragons that have crossed the wall is still only a few dozen. How do you remain human and have a soul ss that most dragons haven¡¯t reached? Interesting. You might be worth doing research.=

    ¡°W-wait a minute! Until now, you have heard the conversation between Truth-Seeker from another world and me! If you touch me now, it will go against the Truth-Seeker¡­ Gramiel¡¯s intention!¡±

    =What does that matter? The deal to respond as a priest is already over. I exercised the power of exchange as much as I was allowed. After that, I can do what I want.=

    I mumbled softly.

    ¡°Ah¡­ fuck.¡±

    Light struck Mrs. Pearl at the touch of the dragon. He must¡¯ve already figured out which side was strong. He was trying to overpower the weaker side first.

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    A white glow was twirling around her body. Following the Dragon Emperor¡¯s hand, the strength fluctuated and swept Mrs. Pearl¡¯s body.

    ¡°Mrs. Pearl!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor twisted her lips and caused mental waves.

    =If you cooperate, I will ease the pain. I was annoyed because there was a lot of trouble these days, but I didn¡¯t know there would be such good news waiting. I was worried about the disappearance of a few Ramumings, and I almost missed the really important big fish. Maybe you will be a great research material for our people.=

    I clenched my teeth and yelled at the Dragon Emperor with eyes full of hostility.

    ¡°You were one of the candidates anyway. Yeah, it¡¯s rather good! Fuck, let¡¯s get your soul out!¡±

    =¡­ What are you talking about?=

    Instead of answering his questions, I took off the ne I was wearing. It was a battle in which I had to fight a dragon without the restraint magic circle. I found the most efficient way. The best way to lower the risk came at a price. I put Mana to the artifact.

    The force was swirling around in response.

    =What, what?!=

    Confusion appeared on the Dragon Emperor¡¯s face as he looked around for a while. He expressed an urgent will.

    =This¡­ Are you crazy?! Who the hell did you make a deal with?=

    I answered with a big smile.

    ¡°What do you mean? Can you talk like that? It¡¯s God.¡±

    =No way! I¡¯ve never heard of a God like this!=

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it too childish to deny because you don¡¯t know?¡±

    =You know what? Even God¡¯s spells can be made into artifacts.=

    The ne I had around my neck waspletely broken before my words were over. The thick fog that flowed out of it began to spread thickly. It was a veil of eerie darkness, sticky as mud and pitch-ck as darkness itself.

 Chapter 145

    <ol><li><ol><li> Savior or Destroyer (14)</li></ol></li></ol>

    =What?!=

    The Dragon Emperor reached out. The light wave that swept over Mrs. Pearl¡¯s body began to rush toward me.

    However, my magic was faster.

    -Wheeeeiiiik!

    A dark veil emanated from the spot where the artifact was shattered and covered the sh created by the Dragon Emperor.

    =This is¡­=

    The Dragon Emperor¡¯s face reflected sheer confusion.

    =Impossible! If you receive a spell from a god of this nature, what should you offer in return?! You are crazy!=

    I muttered to myself.

    It was okay and on credit.

    The ritual of giving that spell through artifacts was a kind of post-payment system. Unlike usual, the spell waspleted first, and secondly, only after a certain point came, then God would take the ¡®offering.¡¯ That God had a great favor on me and allowed it exceptionally. As a result, the power of the spell had weakened a little.

    In other words, if I hadn¡¯t cast the spell forever, there would¡¯ve been any sacrifice, but I ended up using it. I prepared it for an emergency, but I didn¡¯t expect that moment toe that soon.

    ¡°I can¡¯t do it this way¡­ twice.¡±

    I could cast that spell only once. Recharging was also a long way off for the time being.

    Due to the dragon¡¯s habit, I had no choice but to believe that the entity in front of us called the Dragon Emperor was the strongest dragon in that world.

    I had no choice but to hope that there would be no use of such means in the future. Of course, if the Truth-Seeker¡¯s soul was found in the Dragon Emperor, it was the icing on the cake and the best scenario.

    In such a thought, darkness came and covered everything in sight.

    ***

    -Gwaaaaaaaaaarrrrgh!

    Lucette-Eigar, a young dragon pping its wings, was in an extreme frenzy.

    It was soaring into the air through ayer of cumulonimbus clouds. Lightning struck its wings, but it didn¡¯t care. Even if the moisture particles in the cloud struck its skin, the powerful body protected by Mana didn¡¯t even recognize it as pain.

    Finally, Lucette-Eigar, who rose gracefully above the clouds, felt the atmosphere¡¯s density getting much lighter. Reaching an environment with less air resistance, it began to fly away with much greater Mana than ever before.

    -Wheeeiiiing!

    The wind broke frantically at the tip of the wings. The destination was the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest.

    ¡°What the hell is going on here?¡±

    Originally, it was about to turn ording to the advice and eat humans from other regions. It was an enlightenment that brought its head back to the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest. While continuing its conversation with a friend, Grime, the young dragon shuddered in front of the conclusion made after reasoning with each other.

    ¡°Somehow, no less than¡­ hundreds and decades-worth memories have disappeared?!¡±

    It roared once more in anger.

    The two young dragons realized that their conversations kept falling apart and eventually found the cause. Lucette-Eigar had lost 120 years¡¯ worth of memory.

    ¡°The oldest point was the case 120 years ago, so I guess so¡­ In fact, the memories of even older than that may have disappeared!¡±

    Lucette and Grime had a big fight with each other 120 years ago and then cut off each other (Lucette only understood why Grime called him ¡®Eigar¡¯). Just like the dragon¡¯s tempered head, they didn¡¯t speak to each other until today. Of course, it was an incident it couldn¡¯t remember at all from Lucette¡¯s point of view.

    It made the dragon speechless, and then, heat soared.

    ¡°Memory! My memory!¡±

    It didn¡¯t think it would be that angry if it lost any treasure it cared about. If it lost any jewelry or artifacts, it could find them again or create them. How did it find the lost memories?

    ¡°No, in the first ce, how can it be erased like this? This is unusual. I need to discuss this with the Dragon Emperor!¡±

    After seeing that strange phenomenon, Grime didn¡¯t actively try to help. It was all a shortment, ¡®Why don¡¯t you discuss it with the Dragon Emperorter?¡¯ It was a dragon-like response. In the first ce, Lucette didn¡¯t expect anything more.

    It was then¡­

    ¡°Huh?¡±

    At that moment, Lucette wondered if there was something wrong with its vision. It blinked its eyes several times. Nevertheless, the surroundingndscape didn¡¯t change.

    ¡°¡­ Why did it get dark?¡±

    It was still a long time for the night toe. It wasn¡¯t because it was cloudy since the dragon was flying above the clouds. Nevertheless, the surroundings were dark as if night hade.

    ¡°What is that?!¡±

    Lucette witnessed another strange sight. It could now tell the saturation of the night. A pitch-ck vortex, which could be called the source of darkness, existed in the direction it was heading for. It was none other than the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest.

    That was as if the darkness from the destination slowly eroded the surrounding space.

    -Hey Grime, what is this? Are you watching the same scene?

    Grime¡¯s reply came back in time.

    -¡­ I¡¯ve been trying tomunicate with the others, but everyone is upset. It seems that the whole is now under a night sky regardless of the contact surface of sunlight, the whole¡­

    Lucette was dumbfounded and asked back.

    -What nonsense is that?!

    -It¡¯s ridiculous, but that¡¯s what it¡¯s like.

    -Have you tried contacting the Dragon Emperor? This darkness seems to have started from the side of its nest. He¡¯s not answering mymunication now!

    -Same here. By the way, where the hell are you now?

    -¡­ Well, it looks like your nest has already passed. If I go a little further, it¡¯s the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest.

    -What? Are you already there? Are you going to ignore the Dragon Emperor¡¯s advice?

    Lucette seemed to be the dragon closest to the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest in the current situation. Lucette-Eigar insisted on a dragon-like mindset and behavior, saying that its situation was more urgent, whatever the Dragon Emperor¡¯s situation was. It protested.

    -It¡¯s more urgent to tell my story! Now this phenomenon is also something weird. Maybe it has something to do with my memory loss!

    -¡­ Well, it¡¯s your problem. Do whatever you want. I will make it clear that I have delivered the Dragon Emperor¡¯s words to you.

    Themunication was cut off after Grime¡¯s sour response. It didn¡¯t want to get involved anymore.

    Lucettemented deeply and speeded up its pace. The young dragon couldn¡¯t follow Dragon Emperor¡¯s advice not to approach, but it was an emergency. It must see the Dragon Emperor, who didn¡¯t respond to the magicalmunication face-to-face, exin that situation and discuss how to deal with it.

    Including the strange phenomenon that the sky was suddenly dark now, maybe everything could be a sign of infiltration by the new demons. A creature-level response was required. Lucette prepared in its mind the reason why the Dragon Emperor had to help it.

    It was about to speed up even more.

    ¡°¡­ Hmm?¡±

    Lucette¡¯s eyes gliding through the sky were colored with hazy light. It happened as soon as its body entered the area corresponding to the center of darkness.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    The dragon quietly asked itself.

    -Where am I going right now? What was at the end of this direction? Why was I flying so fast?

    Even while asking questions inward, its body gradually headed toward the center of the darkness, the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest ahead. Lucette¡¯s consciousness became farther away as he approached the ce.

    He asked a question once again.

    Anyway¡­ who was I?

    ¡°¡­ Hugh!¡±

    Lucette-Eigar suddenly came to its senses with a quick breath.

    Something changed before strange energypletely engulfed it, feeling like something inside helped it. The dragon felt like someone could endure a situation that it couldn¡¯t handle alone and ovee it.

    ¡°¡­ It must be an illusion. What the hell is this reason?¡±

    The dragon paused in the air for a moment and looked around. Since it approached the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest quite closely, the darkness¡¯s saturation had grown to the limit, and the sight had already lost its meaning. However, Lucette-Eigar tried to rece the five senses by using Mana like a dragon. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but Lucette was able to recognize its surroundings.

    When looking at the situation, it seemed that something terrible had happened to the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest. Due to the nature of dragons that only they knew, Lucette thought that it should check on the Dragon Emperor, knowing that it was obvious that there was no one of its own rtives to ask for help.

    Even in such blind darkness, it began flying again. It had to wander in the direction several times because of the darkness that disturbed its senses.

    Never had the strange phenomenon been eroded again.

    ***

    The Dragon Emperor was in deep darkness. It was somewhere like a deep abyss where nothing was conscious.

    There was nothing in sight. While looking around with its Mana, he soon quit it because he forgot the reason to do so.

    After stopping the search using Mana, the only thing he could recognize was his own body. He perceived his arm by touch, and he was confused as to whether that really was a physical essory. The primate¡¯s forearm seemed to be very close to himself and, at the same time, felt as if it were incredibly distant.

    ¡®The primate¡¯s forearm?¡¯

    Dragon Emperor realized the contradiction.

    ¡®I am not a monkey. I am a great species¡­ But what is my name?¡¯

    In the depths of consciousness, the answers came to his mind as if floating.

    Tezaha-Egonew. An honorable dragon that inherited the name of Egonew.

    ¡®But why is my forearm looking like a weak and vulgar primate?¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t understand. He couldn¡¯t remember.

    ¡®Yes, this sensation is not originally my body. Let¡¯s go back to my original body.¡¯

    The Dragon Emperor had canceled the magic around his body. Although invisible, his own body was returning to its original great form. It was still felt in the sense of disparity that appeared to be close and distant. It had daunting ws, hard scales, a beautiful neck, and elegant wings.

    ¡®Yes, I am a dragon.¡¯

    Tezaha-Egonew. Those who performed the glorious mission to protect the people of that world.

    Dragons were powerful but arbitrary. Their pride and self-esteem were great, and they never exposed their weakness to each other. There was a lot of conflict between their own people since they didn¡¯t try to bend over their will. Since the first appearance of a dragon in that world along with the ¡®Root Stone,¡¯ that nature of their kind had only been getting worse.

    ording to an old saying, it wasn¡¯t that way from the start. Over the years, the dragon¡¯s ego had be sharp and angr, independent and alert, and had always been the top priority.

    As the way of the thought changes, the Dragon Emperor muttered inside as if it were a pledge.

    ¡®I have to lead my people.¡¯

    In that world, where there were no species capable of confronting dragons, the most frequent causes of dragon deaths in history were wars with demons infiltrating from other worlds, and secondly, the killing of their own people.

    The Dragon Emperor continued to be the source of the solidarity power to fight against the demons, improved Ramumings to increase the chances of survival of their people, and mediated disputes between dragons.

    ¡®Yes, the Dragon Emperor protects the dragons.¡¯

    The previous generation of Dragon Emperor created the rule that if a dragon were killed, all their people woulde forward to take revenge or punish. If there were no such force, whether they ate dragons or not, the demons would¡¯ve been left unattended in the past, and the dragons would eventually face the extinction of the species. Looking at the dragon¡¯s nature, it remained that way.

    Tezaha-Egonew recalled an old saying that was only passed on to the Dragon Emperor.

    ¡®The Dragon Emperor protects the people who began to stand alone in this world and contributes to bringing the iplete species topletion.¡¯

    What was stand-alone? Before that, who was with our people? Also, what did it meant that a great kind like us was still imperfect?

    It was a saying full of riddles, but the previous Dragon Emperors had always been seriously exploring the subject.

    After the ident so far, Dragon Emperor asked a question again in the void. Come to think of it. It seemed like I found a good research topic at that moment, something that might be a valuable resource for our people!

    However, I couldn¡¯t remember.

    ¡®What was I trying to do at that moment? No, before that¡­ I thought I should start with that¡­ By the way, what was my name?¡¯

    -Kwzzzzzzk! Prcck!

    It was the sound of something ripping and popping that interfered with the Dragon Emperor¡¯s thoughts. The sound quickly disappeared back into the darkness. The Dragon Emperor just forgot that it had just heard it.

    The Dragon Emperor concentrated on the sense of its body it felt currently.

    Come to think of it¡­ It seemed that something had changed.

    The existence of the right wing, which was recognized just before, couldn¡¯t be felt at that moment. Aside from the close and distant problem, there was no sense at all.

    ¡®But¡­ what¡¯s important about that?¡¯

    The Dragon Emperor felt sleepy. Its consciousness became dull and slow, and everything felt bothersome.

    ¡­ What was my name again?

    No, it¡¯s good.

    It didn¡¯t seem like a very important thing anyway.

    ***

    -Pezzzzk!

    I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

    Even in the deep darkness, I recognized the surrounding objects with my Mana. I, the spell¡¯s caster, was the only one who maintained proper reason in the ¡®center of the night¡¯ covered by the most condensed darkness. Even Maru, the Truth-Seeker¡¯s fragment, lost its power to hold my body and was sobbing, so I tied its tentacles to my waist well.

    I calmly but quickly finished cutting the right wing of the Dragon Emperor.

    -Kwooong!

    With a loud sound, the wings fell to the ground. However, even those vibrations and sounds were quickly buried in the dark.

    I sensed my surroundings. Mrs. Pearl, who had lost herself in the dark, stood with a nk expression. The Dragon Emperor that returned to its original body was no different. Due to my magic, one of its wings has just been cut off, and blood was flowing like a river, but it stared into the air with nk eyes without feeling it.

    Even if it looked like that, it was only in confusion while remaining conscious. The mental barrier wasn¡¯tpletely gone. I had to make sure to distinguish its soul.

    I wiped the spot where the shattered ne was. Even after the artifact was activated, that deep darkness continued to spread to that world like a fog, a wave, and a big sea with that ce as the origin.

    I recited in my mind the name of the God who made that terrifying spell. The act of receiving spells from the deity itself was dangerous, so the God of the dangerous nature was deliberately forced to charge the spells into artifacts. The one whom I had to plead for its favor even by weakening the spell¡¯s power to dy offering as much as possible.

    Rufeidos, whose true name is ¡®Eternal Night.¡¯

    The darkness hid and concealed everything. Those who entered that magical realm were swallowed up entirely by the darkness with divine properties. The ck veil hid even their ego, and those who had lost themselves be like living bodies paralyzed with memories, senses, and reason.

    -Puuck! Phzzzk!

    I continued to dismantle the Dragon Emperor. It wasn¡¯t an easy task. That was because it was a body that maintained its strength by being naturally associated with Mana. It was possible because there was no conscious resistance.

    I cut off the two wings, four legs, and the dragon¡¯s tail ording to the efficient movement. So, there was a bizarre body in front of me that seemed like a giraffe¡¯s neck on a log. Other creatures would die soon because of bleeding, but the dragon¡¯s strong body would endure for a long time.

    ¡°This should be enough.¡±

    It was time to distinguish the soul.

    If I summoned the demons there at that moment, they would be caught in the influence of the spell. Instead of eating away the dragon¡¯s Mana, they would lose their purpose and flow like spilled water on the floor. I had to first restrain the dragon¡¯s body in the dark, cancel that spell, and summon the demons as the final step. Garam would be able to determine the soul of the Dragon Emperor, whose mental barrier had copsed.

    However, thatnd wasn¡¯t a prepared hunting ground. The restraint magic circle wasn¡¯t there. As soon as the darkness disappeared, there was a risk that the restraint magic unfolded without a magic circle could be easily destroyed. However, there were restrictions on moving that huge body to the magic circle.

    So, what should I do?

    The answer was simple. If I couldn¡¯t restrain its actions with magic, I could cut out the body parts needed for movement in advance. That was why I picked the part that wouldn¡¯t make it die even if I cut it.

    ¡°Even after the darkness has receded, it¡¯s like killing two birds with one stone to make it impossible to fight back by magic and to make way for the demons to prate its body easily.¡±

    As far as I know, the dragon nation was originally said to be a body that didn¡¯t work well with recovery magic. Therefore, that job also aimed to make the Dragon Emperor recover for the time being even after the soul judgment.

    That dragon was too dangerous. Even for the time being, if they onlypeted with physical firepower, I couldn¡¯t guarantee victory or defeat.

    ¡°Now, shall we go?¡±

    It was time to bring Garam, the soul judge. After getting ready, I floated myself to the sky with the Dragon Emperor and Mrs. Pearl. Since I didn¡¯t have to worry about the Dragon Emperor, I flew openly and moved.

 Chapter 146

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (15)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    How long did I fly in the dark?

    Mana detected the party down there. It was located quite far from the ce where the magic circle was originally intended to be installed. Since that ce was also the center of the night, they weren¡¯t in a proper mental state.

    -Tugh!

    I got down to the ground and looked around briefly. The will resonated in my mind before I figured out the whole situation.

    [¡­ Min-joon?]

    Mental waves were delivered by aiming precisely at me in the dark.

    [Although it was arranged for emergency use, I can¡¯t believe that the spell was sessful.]

    What was it talking about at that moment? It was a spell it taught me.

    ¡°Did you think it was going to fail?¡±

    [I still remember that there is no sessful case in the world where I was¡­ It¡¯s not even a well-known god in the first ce because the attributes that match the name are hidden and forgotten. By the way, was your opponent such a powerful dragon?]

    ¡°Yeah. It was too dangerous to confront head-on. It says it¡¯s a Dragon Emperor?¡±

    That was why I had no choice but to use that spell.

    ¡°But Parvache? It seems that you¡¯re not affected by the spell, huh?

    [Right.]

    Parvache stretched out toward its palms made of stic. Even though it might not be visible, it expressed its will while holding its face down as if it was looking down.

    [Then what should I do? I¡¯ve been here alone until you came, but I¡¯m powerless to intervene. Even though it¡¯s a faint memory, I chanted as many spells as the stars in the sky, but I can¡¯t cast any spell on my own.]

    There was an unusually strong feeling mixed with its will.

    ¡°¡­ So, it¡¯s starting today?¡±

    I said so, but it was toote. Yeah, that moment wasing.

    Parvache shook its head and said.

    [Rather, I think he needs treatment quickly.]

    I fired Mana toward the side it was pointing to. Having grasped the shape, I opened my eyes wide.

    ¡°What happened to Garam?¡±

    Judging from the shape of the wound, it was serious. The intestines protrude terribly, and the metal that was dissolved in the body flowed down.

    Parvache spoke with a self-helpful will.

    [I was waking up alone here, but I couldn¡¯t use my hand. Without a handful of Mana, it is impossible to create simple healing magic. This doll¡¯s body is powerless. It is impossible to bring the magical medicine out of the container¡­ If you were a littlete, this Maek would¡¯ve died.]

    Urgently, I took out the Elixir from my backpack, ran to Garam, and used recovery magic. Slowly, the wound on Maek¡¯s abdomen began to heal. His cracked skin and muscles stuck, and the bleeding stopped.

    Knowing that Maek¡¯s breathing had stabilized, I took a closer look at the situation.

    ¡°¡­ There was a battle.¡±

    There was an alien and animal that appeared to be his livestock next to the party. It seemed that Hwang Soo-rim was trying to protect them, looking at her formation.

    Everyone, regardless of species, stopped acting and spaced out. The effect of self-surrender was applied since it was the source of magic and the night¡¯s center. If it were an area other than the center, it would have ended as dark as night.

    In the end, only Parvache and I were fine from that influence. I asked the initial question again.

    ¡°Why are you fine? Is it because you¡¯re the authority of me, the caster?¡±

    [No, I don¡¯t think so.]

    Parvache was silent for a moment.

    [I don¡¯t think the power of this spell itself is strong enough for me to forget myself. Except for the outer self, I have to erase so many sleeping egos if I add all of them together. Since the egos who have not yet broken the spell¡¯s power and who are waiting for the next turn are divided and handled, it seems that the impact on each is limited.]

    ¡°The sleeping ego is also subject to this spell? Is the principle weakened by sharing the shock?¡±

    [I think so.]

    ¡°By the way, what the hell happened here?¡±

    Parvache briefly exined to me.

    ¡°Then, first of all, that monster¡­ Red Hiel? Yeah. Can you burn that?¡±

    If the magic of Rufeidos disappeared as it is, the attack was likely to resume. I couldn¡¯t leave it just like that.

    I walked slowly in front of the monster. I was trying to put my hand on its body and say a spell.

    ¡°You can¡¯t use the Blue Flower of Reinapros.¡±

    I tried to melt it with a high temperature at once, but it could lead to God¡¯s wrath if I did that in that area. Even if it was a magical light, it would cut off and eat the darkness.

    So, although it was annoying, I decided to grind that giant creature altogether.

    ¡°The Tornado of Dryflos!¡±

    The vibrations of the air that started in my hand spread throughout Hiel¡¯s body. A vortex was created by an intangible de that cut the wind. The giant creature¡¯s skin and flesh began to be chopped in an instant as if it had been ground whole in a blender.

    After a little time, whatid in front of my eyes was a sea of ??stinking flesh and gut paste.

    [¡­ Min-joon.]

    It was Parvache¡¯s disapproval will.

    ¡°¡­ Ah, I only put the shield on me. I forgot.¡±

    I looked around and thought it was toote. I created the wall in front of me with magic to prevent the flesh from spattering, but I forgot to protect the other party as well.

    As a result, the bodies of Hwang Soo-rim, Garam, and the other parties were full of body fluids and pieces of flesh mixed with green, yellowish-brown, and red fluids. To the point where I couldn¡¯t see their original face.

    ¡°¡­ It can¡¯t be helped.¡±

    First of all, the important thing was to identify the Dragon Emperor¡¯s soul quickly.

    [I have a request. Is it possible to take care of all of the Red Hiel¡¯s semen in that Tobogai¡¯s stomach?]

    ¡°It¡¯s possible, but why? Because it is impossible to burn it now? Then why don¡¯t we just send this Tobogai far away?¡±

    Parvache hesitated for a moment to say what it was thinking. I could feel it turning its head to Hwang Soo-rim and Garam in the dark. Parvache must¡¯ve moved habitually, assuming that they were on that side.

    [¡­ I think it would be better to keep it alive. Please¡­]

    What was wrong with it all of a sudden?

    I nodded and approached Tobogai¡¯s body, and then I used some magic to scrape the semen out of it and blow it away instead of burning it. It took a lot of work, but it wasn¡¯t impossible.

    After finishing the work, I checked that Tobogai kept breathing, and I was ready to go.

    ¡°The Chain of Thermios!¡±

    I bound the body of the filth covered Maek, who was losing his consciousness with magic. After carrying Parvache in my backpack, I flew back into the air. It was time to go back to where the Dragon Emperor¡¯s body was and identify it.

    ***

    -Wheeing!

    The return flight wasn¡¯t long either. Since I was the spell¡¯s caster, the self-surrender effect wasn¡¯t applied to me, and no side effect degraded my senses. While moving under Mana¡¯s guidance, Parvache said in my backpack.

    [By the time I saw you again, I thought I would move on to the next one. Thanks to the unexpected, we were reunited before that.]

    As I was soaring through the dark, I kept silent for a while and then replied.

    ¡°Are you really sure it¡¯s soon?¡±

    [Yes.]

    Parvache¡¯s will stopped for a while. I felt like it was thinking about something, and then it opened its mind again.

    [Min-joon.]

    Its mental waves were mixed with deep emotions. It seemed like Parvache was very confused a while ago, starting with a self-help feeling that was rarely seen.

    That was understandable.

    What would it be like to feel like when the current self disappeared and a new self with the same memory appeared? Since the soul was the same, it wasn¡¯t possible to be a different being. However, wasn¡¯t it a kind of death that the consciousness system that determined the way of thinking and personality disappearedpletely?

    Yes, there were times when I fell into such worries and cried. In my adolescent days, there was a time when I felt sorry for Parvache, so I cried secretly, thinking about it.

    [¡­ I wondered whether I should talk about this or not. I didn¡¯t do it when we separated, but now that I¡¯ve seen you again, I¡¯ve changed my mind. Is it because being alone for a long time in the dark reminds me of a time that I don¡¯t want to remember? Yeah, that could be the reason.]

    ¡°¡­ What is it about?¡±

    Parvache continued its will.

    [I was watching them fight while you weren¡¯t there. I keepparing them with you. If it were you, you wouldn¡¯t have been in danger like that in the first ce. If it were you, you wouldn¡¯t have been giving that excuse.]

    ¡°Then?¡±

    [Then suddenly, I felt ufortable. That thought was so natural that it was rather awkward. It was really easy to be convinced that you would be able to use your hands much more firmly¡­ In the end, I was just judging your change as efficient.]

    Wasn¡¯t that obvious? What¡¯s that?

    [Do you know what the first thought I had in front of a Maek that could already be dead, even though I couldn¡¯t see anything in the dark? Without this Maek, it is difficult to identify the soul. That was just that, but what I¡¯m really afraid of is that you¡¯re likely to think the same thing even if you were in my situation.]

    I didn¡¯t answer.

    [I deserve to be like this. I have a long experience of so much cruelty. There was a time when I was left alone in the dark with iplete memories, and I had to endure the prison of time and became dull and wore out, but you¡¯re not. You don¡¯t have to be like me. No matter how much survival is the top priority, there is no need to forcibly give up what you can enjoy. It may be because I am very confused right now that I only realize this fact now.]

    Parvache, who had been rambling like that, suddenly said.

    [Min-joon. The memories of childhood that you lost, I hope you will get them back.]

    I was confused.

    ¡°Why are you suddenly saying that?¡±

    [¡­ Would you like to find a way? I don¡¯t know if the next ego will give you the same advice after keeping my memory intact. They have the same memories, but their judgments can be different. The next ego will only cherish this feeling that I¡¯m feeling right now as a memory that it happened. Nevertheless, Min-joon, I give you advice. Somehow you have to get that memory back.]

    I shook my head while flying in the sky.

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible. Yodmo has already confirmed. It is impossible to recrystallize the memory that¡¯s been digested.¡±

    [They are the best race to deal with memories. At the right price, it may find a way. For example, Yodmo knows all the details of your childhood memories that it digested. Even if it is not your original memory, is there a way to make a fake memory with almost the same contents and transnt it back to you?]

    ¡°¡­ Why should we go that far? I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s possible, and I don¡¯t know what price Yodmo will be asking for.¡±

    [I think you paid enough for the price through the unknown ck memory.]

    ¡°However, there¡¯s no reason for¡­¡±

    Parvache interrupted me and asked.

    [Min-joon, think about it. When was thest time you felt happy?]

    I couldn¡¯t respond at that moment. As I searched my memory, Parvache continued.

    [These days, when was your most joyful moment?]

    After all, I couldn¡¯t open my mouth. Parvache¡¯s will continued.

    [One of the important factors that determined the mental structure of human-type creatures was empathy. It was an emotional connection between their people, but Min-joon¡­ ever since you handed over your memory to Yodmo, you¡­]

    ¡°¡­ Stop it. I know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    For a moment, there was a silence between the two of us.

    [To be honest, I haven¡¯t rmended this until now¡­ because of my judgment, the way you stay like, right now can increase the chances of survival.]

    It continued.

    [For example, you will not hesitate at all to deal with the Tobogai by throwing it away because that¡¯s the simpler and more efficient way to avoid danger. I thought that not being caught up in an affection has such strengths.]

    I tilted my head. Contrary to what he said currently, Parvache just asked me to did a sophisticated magical treatment of the giant animal, aplicated task close to surgery, instead of just killing it.

    Was it because there was a change in Parvache¡¯s mind?

    It hesitated and continued its mental wave.

    [But now that thest moment as the current ego is just around the corner, I can¡¯t let go of the thought that something is wrong. Yeah¡­ this is more of an emotion than a rational judgment. Perhaps I have sinned against you by implicitly urging you to stay like this until now. Such feelings suddenly dominate me today.]

    Emotion. I repeated the word inside.

    [Please, think about it. Remember my advice.]

    I didn¡¯t respond.

    As time went by, I felt that Parvache¡¯s mental world, connected to my spirit, changed. He was getting weaker. It wasn¡¯t really far.

    ***

    Arriving in front of the enchanted Dragon Emperor, I set a safe distance and took the magic of Rufeidos.

    As the magic stopped, the dark surroundings regained their original daytime scenery.

    The sky brightened. Mrs. Pearl looked around frightenedly and Maru, which had been drooping, also got the strength back to its body.

    At the same time, the consciousness of Dragon Emperor and Garam returned. The first thing the two who regained consciousness took was to scream. Simultaneously, the sound and the content of the will were, unfortunately, very simr.

    ¡°¡­ My body, Ugh! Come on. What is all this dirt? And where is this?¡±

    =My body! What happened to my body?! My wings¡­ my legs¡­ my tail! Aaaarhhhhh!=

    Garam frowned in astonishment when he found the filth that covered his body. I noticed that his voice was full of energy. His body must¡¯vepletely recovered, but why was his skin so pale and looked so weak?

    Also¡­

    -Gwaaaaaaarrrgggg!

    The dragon, struggling in pain and screaming, trembled in fear. Every time it rolled, the woods fell, and the ground shook. The pouring blood flowed into a river.

    After losing his consciousness for a while and regaining it back, his limb was cut off. Even the noblest dragon¡¯s mind would be confused. It eventually failed to counter me as soon as the magic disappeared.

    Maru, who saw the scene, rang the air and spoke.

    ¡°Dragon¡­ hurt!¡±

    Instead of responding to that, I focused on my work.

    ¡°It is now!¡±

    There was no God¡¯s will to see the Channel¡¯s light and be angry, and there was no way for the Demons to lose their will due to the spell.

    I opened the door on my chest and poured liquid demons on the dragon¡¯s body. The powerful stream pushed out by the deep seawater pressure swept the cut surface where the dragon¡¯s feet were located.

    -aaaash!

    =Keaaaaarrghh!=

    Wow, that was a lot faster than waiting for it to open its mouth and aiming at it. If that was the case¡­

    -aaaassh!

    Liquid demons were absorbed through the cut surface of the dragon¡¯s body, plenty along the cut veins.

    As time passed, the dragon, which lost its Mana, finally lost its consciousness and fell. That time, the mental barrier must¡¯ve weakened because it wasn¡¯t in a state of confusion but lost consciousness in its entirety.

    Mrs. Pearl muttered with a dazed face.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on all of a sudden?¡±

    It was enough to exin the situationter.

    ¡°Hey! Garam!¡±

    I called the Maek. He broke a dream of drowning and was about to wipe himself off without any energy.

    ¡°Look at that dragon. What do you think? Can you see the soul?!¡±

    Even after washing up, Garam, who was sitting down on the floor and vomiting due to the smell of his body, barely raised his head. His gaze reached into the Dragon Emperor¡¯s body, who had turned into a log in the distance.

    ¡°¡­ What the hell is that look? Ah, it¡¯s ugly.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m in a hurry, quick. How many souls?¡±

    Garam still said in a weak voice.

    ¡°It is one. One very powerful soul, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s like a Truth-Seeker.¡±

    ¡°¡­ What a bummer. Fuck.¡±

    I really had to change the method. It couldn¡¯tst long like that.

    ¡°Still, how am I supposed to clean this up?¡±

    The Dragon Emperor was dangerous. It was trapped and was waiting for me. It knew what I was doing, but instead of intervening, it waited quietly.

    How the hell did it find out? It was fortunate if Gramiel told it about me, but there might be ways to observe other dragons in methods I didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°¡­ I have to call Yodmo.¡±

    The obese Summoner seemed to be predatory again today. Thinking so, I opened the Channel on my chest.

    -Gwoooong!

    A blue door opened in front of a fainted dragon and a grungy vomiting Maek, then a familiar ck beast appeared. It was¡­ uh. None of them were gone. The beast was still plump. Was it still full even though it took only 10% of the unknown memories?

    I frowned at a different look than I expected. I anticipated it to be hungry.

    Yodmo, who hade into that worldpletely over time, opened its mouth as soon as it saw the sight in front of it.

    =Oh my God! Dragon?! You crazy bastard!=

    I answered awkwardly.

    ¡°¡­ Long time no see.¡±

 Chapter 147

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (16)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    =This crazy wizard! Why the hell are you fighting a dragon?! Howe you two became enemies? Those species wouldn¡¯t even care about things like humans anyway.=

    However, it appeared to be very interested in me.

    ¡°Things happened.¡±

    =Are you telling me to eat that Dragon¡¯s memory?=

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    After answering back, I suddenly thought of that. I couldn¡¯t kill the Dragon Emperor, but there had to be a way to disable it, just like what I did to Hessler. I thought it was a pain in the ass, but maybe it could be solved neatly.

    My eyes shed for a moment.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you make it forget all its memories and turn itpletely into a wuss?¡±

    Yodmo nced at the Dragon and replied.

    =If you do, you can provoke the entire dragon race in this world. You know their rules, right? If a dragon is killed by another kind, they will surely take revenge at the species level. It¡¯s one of the wonders of the Dragon. The rules of their species arepletely different from their innate instincts. It¡¯s a strange social style that appears the same regardless of what kind of world they live in and feels like someone intentionally nted it.=

    If they rushed to get revenge, there was a way to erase my tracespletely, but¡­ I didn¡¯t think there was a need to go that far. There might be other dragons with magical skills as good as the Dragon Emperor.

    In the absence of perfect preparation, war was cumbersome and dangerous.

    I was thinking and asked again.

    ¡°It¡¯s not killing. Is it just making it a wuss? Should they take revenge anyway?¡±

    =There¡¯s a high probability that it will be interpreted as the same concept as a death in that it can¡¯t maintain the ego. You have to stop at the point where you cut out its memories. That¡¯s quite a tricky task¡­=

    As if it needed an additional price, I blurted out the intention.

    ¡°You, aren¡¯t you still full?¡±

    =Kugh!=

    It seemed to had only stopped gaining more weight. Still, desperate hunger and desire weren¡¯t seen in its eyes. I knew at a nce.

    So, we reached an agreement, and Yodmo approached the fainted Dragon.

    ¡°Get it started.¡±

    I asked it to erase all the memories from the point since I came to that world. It was necessary because I didn¡¯t know since when the Dragon Emperor had been observing me. It would notice that it felt weird after waking up, but it was better than letting it recognized and tracked my existence.

    It would be impossible with Yodmo¡¯s ears to erase that much memory. When dealing with dragons, it seemed that it would only erase their memory for about one to two hours. That was why I called Yodmo itself.

    ¡°And¡­¡±

    I rolled my head for a moment.

    Searching for dragons one by one was also at the limit. Also, due to the magic of Rupeidos, most of the dragons in that world would¡¯ve noticed. They might¡¯ve raised their guard.

    Given all of that, it was necessary to change the method.

    ¡°Because it¡¯s a Dragon Emperor, there must be a lot of information about their people. Can you extract all the information about all dragons and each individual in this world?¡±

    =ssification and memory extraction are easy, but it takes time to eat, digest, and turn them into information. If I extract that much, it will be a tremendous amount of time for digestion.=

    I couldn¡¯t wait for a thousand years or ten thousand years in that world. I thought Yodmo was right, so I changed the requirement.

    ¡°Then, information on whether there are dragons who have experienced something unusual in thest 1-2 years, and¡­ please pull out information that might be the weakness of this world¡¯s dragons.¡±

    =¡­ What a shame. Normally, I would¡¯ve felt great pleasure in eating the memory of a dragon, because it¡¯s predation¡­=

    The summonermented. It then stepped on the Dragon¡¯s head and climbed up. It looked like it was climbing on a small hill.

    =I have no choice but to eat while I¡¯m still full.=

    With such grumbling, Yodmo stuck out its tongue. After a while, the extraction of memories was over.

    When it took my memories, the Dragon Emperor lost only some of its memories and kept its ego.

    =Here you go.=

    Yodmo handed over the unnecessary parts of the memory crystal to me and swallowed those that belonged to the category I had requested.

    =It digests memories with a lot of redundancy first. It¡¯s probably the most important part. I¡¯ll tell you that first. Wait a minute¡­=

    It told me some information about whether digestion had already started, and there was a word that made my ears open when I was listening to it.

    ¡°¡­ Root Stone?¡±

    I looked at Parvache, but it answered that the information wasn¡¯t found even in Akashic records.

    ording to Yodmo¡¯s grasping through the Dragon Emperor¡¯s memory, Root Stone was the name of a relic that was often found with rare probability in the world where dragons lived. That world was such a rare case where the dragons living there were aware of the existence and location of the Root Stone.

    =The protection of Root Stone is one of the few rules that even dogmatic dragons must obey, like revenge of their people¡­=

    I was lost in thoughts. Dragon rules were ultimately limited to what could control the fate of the entire species. Root Stone was probably a relic of such weight.

    Unfortunately, Yodmo hadn¡¯t yet figured out what specific power or meaning it had, only the fact that it was very important and the memory of its location was digested.

    ¡°It¡¯s worth noticing.¡±

    The fact that Yodmo duplicated the most memories ssified by those keywords might mean that the information was of utmost importance.

    =Now, then¡­=

    Yodmo was reluctant to stay in that dimension, and I tried to send it back for the moment. I was going to call it back tomorrow to hear additional digested information. In particr, no information had been received about dragons showing strange symptoms yet.

    Parvache called me urgently after seeing Yodmo getting ready to go back.

    =Min-joon, wait!=

    Our eyes met.

    =Remember what I told you?=

    I knew why Parvache called me, so I asked Yodmo.

    ¡°Ah, there. I have another question to ask.¡±

    =Wait, even if you have any questions¡­ I have to digest it properly to get more information out of the crystal.=

    ¡°No, not about that.¡±

    I asked with confidence that it was probably impossible. It wasn¡¯t difficult to ask once since Parvache, who was about to move on to its next ego, wanted it very much.

    ¡°Yodmo, you remember the memories of my childhood that you took, right? The price for signing the contract.¡±

    =Yes. Those memories that I had already digested a long time ago?=

    ¡°You¡¯ve digested it, so you know what it¡¯s all about, right?¡±

    =That¡¯s right.=

    ¡°Can you nt that memory back in my mind again?¡±

    Yodmo looked at me with a strange look.

    =Do you want to terminate the contract?=

    ¡°No, not like that.¡±

    Yodmo was so useful. Why should I break the contract?

    ¡°I¡¯m not trying to get the price of the contract back. I was wondering if you could at least make an imitation of what I gave you and nt it.¡±

    Yodmo pondered for a moment, then said.

    =It¡¯s a memory maniption¡­ It¡¯s not easy for me either, especially targeting a wizard with a strangely high spirit barrier and soul like you. Hmm.=

    It seemed more lost in thought, and then it spat out its will.

    =Let me figure out how. Originally, no matter how fake it is, it¡¯s a request that I will neverply with, but what I got incidentally as a result of this contract is great. Nevertheless, an additional price will certainly be needed, considering the unidentified memory left in my stomach. Even if it seeds, it will be as difficult as that.=

    With those words, Yodmo left and returned to its original dimension.

    After closing the Channel on my chest, I said, ¡°Well, let¡¯s move on.¡±

    Memory and consciousness, even the body parts, left the Dragon Emperor that had lost many things as I magically wrapped my party and soared into the sky. It was time to go back to where Hwang Soo-rim was and clean up that side.

    ***

    ¡°D-Dragon Emperor!¡±

    Looking down from the sky, Lucette-Eigar panicked.

    The young Dragon didn¡¯t lose its ego in the dark. However, it wasn¡¯t able to avoid the magical effects that caused its senses to deteriorate.

    Lucette-Eigar thought it was looking for the right way with its Mana, but it was actually flying for a long time in apletely different direction from the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest.

    Suddenly, after Rupeidos¡¯ spell disappeared, Lucette realized its position and was confused.

    ¡°Oh, damn it!¡±

    It was a location far from the original destination.

    Since it flew without recovering its Mana 100%, it took a long time to fly to the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest. However, the young Dragon was greatly puzzled by the scenery that caught its eyes from the nest entrance.

    ¡°No! Why the hell?!¡±

    When it saw the appearance, the first thought that came to Lucette-Eigar¡¯s mind was the question of whether the old Dragon had a perverted sexual desire to feel joy by cutting off its limbs and wings. As much as that, the concept that a dragon rolled over the ground in such a state was unfamiliar to it.

    Such a thing seemed impossible to do even for Demons, especially a powerful dragon, like the Dragon Emperor. Who in the world could¡¯ve made it like that?

    ¡°I¡¯ve never heard that an old dragon who¡¯s lived for so long would go crazy like that¡­ Maybe it¡¯s the aftereffect of a failed crossing of the wall? Was it secretly preparing to cross the wall?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Kuuugh!¡±

    Whether it was reacting to the magic of its fellow people, the Dragon Emperor groaned and opened its eyes. Its consciousness returned much faster than when Lucette lost its mind with a simr technique.

    It lifted its head hard and shouted with a face full of astonishment and pain when it found its body.

    ¡°My¡­ my body¡­ What the hell?!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor made a simr scream about tens of minutes ago, but the memory was erased from its head.

    ¡°Kuuuugh!¡±

    It would¡¯ve been impossible to escape death if it had been another creature, but the Dragon¡¯s strong body was holding its breath. Looking down, Lucette shouted.

    ¡°Hey! Dragon Emperor! Answer me. Are you crazy? Don¡¯t be crazy. You have to help me! No, wait, even if you¡¯re not crazy, how can you help me with that shape? I¡¯m really going crazy now!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor looked up hard in pain at such a young dragon. The dragon¡¯s reaction prioritized its own business even though its people were wandering in a miserable state.

    ¡°Why¡­ do you¡­ think¡­ I¡¯m crazy?¡±

    ¡°Would there be anyone else out there who could turn an old dragon like this? Or don¡¯t tell me, was it the demons?¡±

    ording to thest information it heard, it seemed that small creatures had invaded its territory. Was it actually not the small creatures but transformed demons?

    Lucette, who still didn¡¯t know that the Dragon Emperor had lost its memory, looked down and said.

    ¡°Phew, that¡¯s a relief, Dragon Emperor. I¡¯m d you didn¡¯t die.¡±

    Its following words still contained self-centered thinking. Instead of finding and deducing themonalities of the two events it experienced, a dragon¡¯s straight-line mindset resulted in it being immersed in only the events it suffered.

    ¡°If you died, the whole kind would¡¯ve had to wage war against the demons. I can¡¯t afford it now. I¡¯m d you are alive. At least there will be no war. You know, I¡¯m in a lot of trouble right now. Listen, Dragon Emperor!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor gritted its teeth wriggling in a puddle of mud created by its blood.

    ¡°¡­ You, rotten¡­ bastard!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor cut off the young Dragon¡¯s words and barely uttered, ¡°Eigar! Help¡­ me!¡±

    He wasn¡¯t in a situation to continue that conversation. The Dragon Emperor shouted urgently.

    ¡°Lucette-Eigar¡­ Come on¡­ bring me to Ramuming¡¯s stable! Recovery!¡±

    Lucette looked down at the Dragon Emperor and was conflicted.

    It was in desperate need of the Dragon Emperor¡¯s help, who was probably the only dragon in the world that could help after all. However, the Dragon Emperor was in a desperate situation. It was unlikely that it would die even if it was left as it was, so strictly speaking, Lucette had no obligation to help it since it wasn¡¯t a guardian of the dragon species but just a normal dragon.

    Still, Lucette-Eigar realized that it needed to help the Dragon Emperor to solve its problem quickly.

    ¡°¡­ Oh, I can¡¯t help it. Dragon Emperor, we¡¯ll have to regenerate your legs and wings right now!¡±

    Lucette-Eigar, who stillcked Mana, grabbed the Dragon Emperor with its two hind legs and flew up. When its toenails broke the scales and dug into the body, Dragon Emperor screamed.

    ¡°Ugh! Eigar! Why does it have to be this way? Just by magic¡­¡±

    Lucette-Eigar gave a blunt answer.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have enough Mana because I have a situation now. It¡¯s my problem that I wanted to tell you right away!¡±

    Only then did Lucette thought that perhaps both the Dragon Emperor and himself were beaten by the same demon?

    Lucette asked itself so and pped its wings. The young Dragon, who grabbed an old dragon that turned into a log, soared into the sky. The destination was a habitat for monkeys that showed excellent efficacy in healing external injury.

    As it pped its wings, Lucette was worried. How many monkeys would have to be caught and applied to regenerate that much body tissue?

    ¡°Maybe we have to go through some of the ces and eradicate them.¡±

    Lucette clicked its tongue out of annoyance.

    ***

    When we returned near the container, we were greeted by Hwang Soo-rim, an alien, and a huge-sized animal covered in dirt without knowing what happened.

    When she regained her consciousness, her body was dirty, the Red Hiel was finely ground, and all of the original party had disappeared except for Ramuming and Tobogai. She spoke in a sharp tone.

    ¡°In the end, we need to quit the method we did so far and get rid of it, right?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°Garam¡¯s condition was also bad.¡±

    Saying so, I looked at the Maek¡¯splexion that had been magically brought there. He fainted again while we were moving.

    After we arrived, I poured out recovery magic and elixir to wake Garam up, but his mind went in and out, and he couldn¡¯t regain his strength.

    I could guess the reason at that moment. I saw where Garam copsed after being attacked by a monster.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s kind of close to malnutrition.¡±

    Garam said directly with his mouth that eating once or twice a year didn¡¯t interfere with life maintenance. That meant that energy was extracted from ingested metals, stored in the stomach, and then kept and used to maintain life.

    Wherever my gaze was currently, there were traces of liquid metal from Garam¡¯s burst stomach. In the meantime, everything vaporized into the air.

    After all, there was little nourishment left in Garam¡¯s body that kept him alive.

    ¡°Hey, wake up!¡±

    I forced him to wake him up one more time. Some magic metals were prepared for emergency use in my backpack, so I fed them to him. Garam said weakly, munching them in his mouth.

    ¡°¡­ Something like this tastes good, but it doesn¡¯t have nutrition. I need iron or copper!¡±

    While contemting whether to disassemble the container and feed it to Garam, Parvache tried to talk to Ramuming with its will.

    ¡°¡­ @#[email protected]#^@!¡±

    As soon as we returned, Ramuming realized that our party saved his Tobogai, or ¡®Flower Bud,¡¯ and then he bowed down on the ground and expressed his gratitude. Even after that, he was looking at us with eyes full of awe.

    Parvache, who was talking to the alien, stated.

    =Hey, it looks like a metal simr to iron or copper is mined on this. It¡¯s a metal that¡¯s also used a lot in Ramuming¡¯s civilization. How about going to this guy¡¯s vige and getting some?=

 Chapter 148

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (17)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    Inside a container soaring high in the sky¡­

    Tobogai, who could barely get inside, made a faint cry. It was a voice that didn¡¯t match the size of an elephant.

    -Khiiiing!

    That Tobogai, named Flower Bud, had already recovered considerably. The crying sound seemed to be not because of physical pain but due to anxiety about the unfamiliar surroundings.

    ¡°¡­ #@$.¡±

    Ramuming stuck close to Flower Bud. He spread his hands wide and covered the Tobogai¡¯s body as if it were a hug. He then spoke in a calm, low voice. The giant creature seemed to gradually regain stability due to the owner¡¯s patting, who was much smaller than itself.

    The Tobogai, who suppressed its anxiety, slowly stuck out its long antennae resembling a snail and looked around. It then made eye contact with Hwang Soo-rim.

    -Khiiing!

    Quickly, it constricted its antennae and hid its eyes at the tip. It seemed to be frightened just because their eyes met.

    Hwang Soo-rim said, ¡°That snail head, it¡¯s really apletely timid pet.¡±

    Although he didn¡¯t understand what she said, Ramuming noticed that her eyes were on him. The blue-haired alien looked at her face with a frightened expression, and Parvache interpreted his small murmur.

    =He said that Flower Bud has a sensitive and timid personality.=

    She huffed and snorted.

    ¡°It¡¯s a zonk, huh? It¡¯s not worth it.¡±

    She looked inside the container as if to agree with that, but no one else could answer her words except Parvache.

    As soon as Eraser called a Summon and lifted the container in the air, he immediately reached out to the mattress and fell asleep. Hwang Soo-rim found out that he often slept when he had nothing special to do while they moved together. It was like an office worker suffering from chronic fatigue.

    As soon as the owner had fallen asleep, Maru put its body out of the hoodie and then kept silent with one eye open. It was apletely different aspect from what it normally preferred to be involved in the conversation. When Eraser took Maru off his body for battle, it would always try to stick to Hwang Soo-rim, but currently, it only saw Hwang Soo-rim even though he wasn¡¯t ying with it. When the owner was sleeping, Maru always had the attitude of a hound that protected the owner when he was asleep.

    The Maek that suffered from malnutrition was also half-asleep, and Mrs. Pearl, who had been kind to her, also shut her mouth with a rotten expression as soon as she entered the container.

    In the end, Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s only conversation partner was Parvache.

    She asked herself inwardly.

    ¡®Is it really okay anyway? I said it was soon. How can it be so calm in the midst of all this? Above all, is it okay for Eraser to sleep in this situation?¡¯

    Still, it wasn¡¯t easy to put the heavy subject back in her mouth. She decided to go along with Parvache¡¯s seemingly casual will.

    ¡°What¡¯s the next n after getting the metal in Ramuming¡¯s vige to feed Garam?¡±

    [You weren¡¯t there, but we contacted the Dragon Emperor and found some pretty useful information. We¡¯re nning to look at the remains of dragons called Root Stone.]

    Hwang Soo-rim heard a brief exnation. The important ruins, perhaps influencing the dragon species¡¯ existence, were the subject of the dragon species¡¯ patronage.

    She frowned.

    ¡°The existence of the dragon race? Does Eraser ever try to wipe out the dragons of this world?¡±

    Eraser, whom she saw, was an activist¡­ no, in a more honest way, was a really crazy guy who didn¡¯t choose any means to achieve his goal. He was a calm madman who took the madness into action carefully under the principle of thorough nning and risk aversion.

    Currently, let¡¯s looked at the Hun-neung base without going far. Wasn¡¯t it said that the entire vast space was torn apart and given to God just because it was necessary?

    It was impossible to conceive or execute it for a normal human being.

    Hwang Soo-rim thought he was a human being who would do such a thing if he judged that the extinction of the dragon species was necessary to find that soul. He didn¡¯t tell herself why he was looking for that soul or how he was trying to find it.

    [We need to hold a weapon in our hand in case of an emergency. Among the memories ssified in the keyword of dragon¡¯s weakness, it said that the most repeated memory was Root Stone. Anyway, it takes some time for Yodmo to digest the memory of the unusual dragon entity. In the meantime, it¡¯s worth checking out. Now is the best time when the Dragon Emperor that manages the ruins is incapacitated.]

    It was said that it was a process to find an alternative since it was dangerous to maintain the way of hitting and falling dragons one by one.

    At that time, Ramuming, who listened to their conversation, and then asked like he had found courage. Of course, only Parvache could understand it.

    ¡°¡­ Well, Great people¡­ I dare to guess¡­ aren¡¯t you dragons?¡±

    If they were a dragon, they wouldn¡¯t move that way. Moreover, their aura and appearance would greatly differ from the dragon¡¯s appearance in that world. Parvache thought that even if he panicked and didn¡¯t notice it at first, it was time to recognize it.

    So Parvache didn¡¯t have to lie and answered Ramuming.

    [Yes, none of these are dragons.]

    ¡°¡­ Oh my gosh!¡±

    Ramuming¡¯s mouth widened.

    ¡°Are you saying that even if you are not a dragon, you can use such powerful magic? Then, as I can see, the man sleeping right now and the woman in front of me are both humans?¡±

    [That¡¯s right.]

    The Ramuming boy muttered to himself, saying he couldn¡¯t believe it with a shocked expression. Parvache exined to him that they were from another dimension. Only then, the alien nodded as if he understood.

    At that time, Hwang Soo-rim, who briefly heard about the conversation between the two, asked.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t the level of the magic of humans in this world, is it?¡±

    Ramuming, who received the meaning through an interpreter, shook his hand and said.

    ¡°It can¡¯t bepared! I¡¯ve never heard of any human wizard using such powerful magic! Their magic is simr to Ramuming¡¯s, after all.¡±

    The spell that Hwang Soo-rim used when fighting with male and female Red Hiel seemed to have left a deep impression on this young alien.

    Moreover, what about Yoon Min-joon¡¯s spell? While Ramuming lost his consciousness, the giant monster disappeared, and a thick swamp, presumed to be the flesh and body fluid, spread over the ground.

    That magical level seemed to be only allowed for dragons by Ramuming¡¯s knowledge.

    ¡°I heard that the average level of a human wizard is simr to that of a Ramuming wizard. It would be enough to heal a snag in the nose, light up an ungreasy light in the dark, or find a nearby spring. So, of course, I only thought of you as a great dragon.¡±

    After saying so, the eyes of the Ramuming boy lit up. His cheeks, half-covered with long-grown blue hair, were flushed. It was evidence of excitement.

    ¡°The old Ramumings were wrong. Strong magic wasn¡¯t allowed only to the dragon race by destiny! If humans could reach this level, so would Ramuming!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim, who couldn¡¯t know the answer, looked at Parvache. The robot toy nodded and spat out its will.

    [Both Ramuming and humans belong to the chosen race, and the conditions for the activation of Mana are simr. There¡¯s no reason that the magic of either side must be superior. Rather than the natural physical condition, the influence of civilization will be much greater.]

    When he heard the words, Ramuming trembled slightly.

    ¡°Oh, then, our own kind will someday¡­ I see. Their words were wrong. Even a nation that didn¡¯t have a Root Stone could achieve a high level of magic.¡±

    When Parvache heard that, he forgot to interpret for Hwang Soo-rim and asked Ramuming.

    [Root Stone? Do you know it, too?]

    The Ramuming boy nodded.

    ¡°Of course! A mysterious stone is considered sacred by the dragon races. It¡¯s a mysterious relic that has existed in this world from the time the dragons first set foot.¡±

    The boy followed the exnation. Among their species, there was a story that the source of the dragon¡¯s great power was the ruins.

    Ramuming and other tribes called ¡®Mimul¡¯ had long questioned. Why do many species in the world have a ridiculously overwhelming powerpared to other species?

    Some of them tried to find answers to their questions from unusual ruins that only the dragons served.

    ¡°Somehow, I thought it was a lie! Ramuming, who live in the vige near Root Stone, sometimese to our vige to trade, but they said they couldn¡¯t feel any Mana in the huge stone itself. There¡¯s no way an object without Mana can give dragons so powerful magic.¡±

    [The Root Stone itself has no Mana?]

    ¡°Yeah. An older brother using the identification number 29-73871 confirmed it. He¡¯s one of the wizards who oftene to our vige. He is called ¡®Swift Feathers¡¯ among acquaintances.¡±

    When he was convinced that they weren¡¯t dragons, Ramuming¡¯s speech became softer, and his expression brightened. Parvache tilted its head while listening to him.

    [That¡¯s weird. The Root Stone is said to be very important to dragons, and yet, they allowed Ramuming ess? That close?]

    A self-help smile spread over the boy¡¯s face.

    ¡°For dragons, Ramuming is not an object of vignce. We are nothing but ves and livestock to them.¡±

    The boy said, sweeping the thick metal ne around his neck with his hand.

    ¡°For example, the vige where Brother Swift Feather lives, the vige of the Ramumings whose identification number starts with 29, is close to the Dragon¡¯s Guardian¡­ that is, close to the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest.¡±

    Listening to the exnation, it seemed that it was a vige where they had to go back to the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest from where they met the Ramuming boy and go further and pass the nest. It was the opposite of the direction they were moving.

    Ramuming continued.

    ¡°Most of them are ves of the Dragon Emperor. They do the chores that the Dragon Emperor finds annoying.¡±

    [¡­ ve?]

    ¡°Brother was doing a job which was on the better side. It was a task to clean up, so those unclean things didn¡¯t umte around the Root Stone. That¡¯s why he was able to look closely at the Root Stone.¡±

    As a result, he seemed convinced that the ruins had no Mana.

    ¡°Compared to him¡­ the older sister who sometimes stopped by our vige with a greeting, but I can¡¯t remember what the identification number was, the ordinary Ramuming, called ¡®Warm Sunset,¡¯ did a much more terrible job. She had to go into the ear hole of a giant monster raised by the Dragon Emperor and scrape the sticky earwax with her hand.¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s face was distorted after hearing the interpreter.

    ¡°Then, she got tucked into the ws of a monster that didn¡¯t feel particrly good that day, thrown to the ground, and torn alive. She lost almost all of her brain, so she couldn¡¯t even regenerate it.¡±

    Ramuming¡¯s expression darkened.

    ¡°I heard that the monster was beaten by the Dragon Emperor three days and nights. It¡¯s a habit-breaker. It¡¯s because¡­ it was strictly prohibited among dragons to harm Ramuming, who was not on the ¡®list.¡¯ It is said that despite its status as a Dragon¡¯s Guardian, it had to be punished ording to the rules. It is not known to us what the punishment is.¡±

    [¡­ List?]

    Ramuming¡¯s voice rang low.

    ¡°When Ramumings, who live their lives as ves to the dragon race, get old or hurt, from then on, they be livestock rather than ves to the dragon race, and they get on the list of each vige.¡±

    [¡­ It can¡¯t be.]

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    Words mixed with self-pity flowed from the boy¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°When the noble bodies of the great dragons are injured, they go to the nearby vige of Ramuming. They then line up their people in order ording to the list.¡±

    [¡­ So you¡¯re used as a healing for dragons.]

    ¡°Yeah. Ramuming¡¯s brain, organs, and blood heal the dragon¡¯s wounds. Our people have better resilience than any other race, but we have to sacrifice our lives to heal dragons. When we¡¯re young, we live our entire life as ves, and when we¡¯re old or injured, we always have to endure day by day, ready to sacrifice our lives as dragon¡¯s medicine. As we pray that there will be no fights between the dragons and that the demons of other worlds will not fight the dragons.¡±

 Chapter 149

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (18)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    Ramumings with identification numbers starting with 29 were gathered in the vige square. They threw anxious nces into the sky beyond the horizon.

    A few minutes ago, they discovered a great creature, a dragon, flying toward the vige. In general, dragons flew at high speed before the residents noticed it covered the sky and announced it. Dragons fly so fast that they would¡¯ve reached them before they even noticed their approach.

    But that day, it was different. The dragon, flying away from the sun, looked like a small ck dot on a yellow light source. The stain remained visible for a long time. It meant it was flying at a very slow speed. The fact that the flight speed was strangely slow meant that the power to move around was insufficient or the wings¡¯ movement was inconvenient.

    The Ramumings gathered in the square whispered to each other in fear and despair.

    ¡°How big was that dragon injured?¡±

    ¡°Ah, please.¡±

    Among them, young Ramuming, nicknamed ¡®Swift Feather¡¯ among his close friends, prayed silently. He desperately hoped that it would be an injury that could be managed at the sacrifice of the Ramumings, who were currently on the list.

    Although it was rare, it said that dragons were hurt so badly that they often had to consume even Ramumings that weren¡¯t on the list during the days of war with the demons. The demons who noticed that Ramumings were means of the dragon¡¯s recovery deliberately targeted Ramuming vige and ughtered them.

    It was a time when the list lost its meaning.

    It was said that it took quite a long time for their people to grow again as they were currently after the nightmare era.

    ¡®No. It wouldn¡¯t be that kind of injury. It would be enough for the Ramumings on the list to be sacrificed. Please!¡¯

    He couldn¡¯t help it even if he were called selfish. That was how the Ramumings lived and died. The Ramuming young man prayed, looking at the sky anxiously.

    He was only 21 years old and hadn¡¯t lived half his life expectancy.

    Swift Feather wanted to live a little longer.

    ¡®I hate being caught alive and being chewed and torn by a dragon¡­¡¯

    He lived as a dragon¡¯s ve, but like most Ramumings, he didn¡¯t know any other way of life in the first ce. Living as a ve didn¡¯t mean that he wouldn¡¯t be obsessed with life. It was one of the natural instincts of a creature.

    When his life was tough, he remembered the story his father told him.

    ¡®This life is just one of the many lives we have to go through. We¡¯re living as Ramuming right now, but let¡¯s pray for a better life in our next life.¡¯

    Swift Feather¡¯s father, who had said that, died at a young age before even being on the list.

    The vige was chosen because of Dragon Emperor¡¯s needs, and there was no grain produced for the Ramumings to be self-sufficient. Therefore, trade with other Ramuming viges was essential.

    His father went to another vige to buy food and was eaten by a beast in the in. No matter how excellent the regenerative power was, it was impossible to recover after the brain and other essential organs were damaged and eaten.

    -Rumbling!

    Swift Feather woke up from deep thoughts when he heard the vigers whispering in fear. The dragon in the sky was clearly erged. In the meantime, it has approached quite a bit.

    ¡°Oh my God, what the hell is that¡­ what¡¯s going on!?¡±

    One of the astonished Ramumings shouted. Swift Feather, staring at the sky, also doubted his eyes.

    ¡°No way.¡±

    He tried to deny it for the time being. However, the flying object in the sky, which could be more closely identified, had a shape that no Ramuming in the world had ever imagined.

    ¡°73871! You are young, so your eyes are good. Please tell me. Is what I see real?¡±

    The old Ramuming, who was standing next to him, asked Swift Feather in a trembling voice. As far as he remembered, he was an old man that lived long after his name was on the list.

    ¡°A dragon¡­ is flying with another dragon in its two feet. It¡¯s like when hunting and carrying the prey.¡±

    It wouldn¡¯t be to try to eat the dragon, who was one of its kind. That was the scene to help the injured dragon.

    Currently, his voice was filled with despair, realizing the seriousness of the injury and knowing the self-evident fact that the dragon¡¯s help woulde through Ramming¡¯s sacrifice.

    ¡°But¡­ the dragon¡¯s condition¡­¡±

    The Old Ramuming cried.

    ¡°Is what I see real? ¡­Is it true that the dragon¡¯s limbs and wings are torn off¡­ is it not a hallucination?¡±

    When the figure was clearly revealed, the Ramumings were all confused and screamed, but none of them dared escape since everyone knew the function of the metal ne on their neck. The old man who spoke to Swift Feather eventually got his pants wet. No matter how many times he was on the list, it would be difficult to avoid death today.

    However, such fate seemed to await the rest of the Ramumings, then someone murmured.

    ¡°To heal from such injuries¡­ to regenerate the amputated body¡­ How many of our people?!¡±

    The promised time had been reached. The flying dragon reached the sky above its destination. Something huge, like a lid covering the sky, came down from the sky. Another dragon¡¯s body was put down on the ground.

    The method was pretty rough.

    -Thug!

    ¡°Keaaaaaarrghhhhh!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor that fell on the ground roared because of pain. The vige vibrated with a small earthquake as a giant body hit the ground. Ramumings that were standing on the rocking ground lost their bnce and shook. Their knees, released by despair, were easily broken.

    At that moment, most of the Ramumings couldn¡¯t even stand properly. All the residents were terrified as they saw the dragon¡¯s body with everything cut off except the neck and torso. They quickly recognized the injured dragon. It couldn¡¯t be mistaken. A red-scale old dragon that vigers had seen more often than any other dragon¡­

    It was the Dragon Emperor.

    An old Ramuming approached the front and opened his mouth with a trembling voice.

    ¡°O-Oh, Dragon Emperor. Howe you¡­¡±

    Even in the process of struggling in pain, the Dragon Emperor sent a sharp gaze to the Ramuming. The old Ramuming, realizing his own mistake, leaned down on the spot instead of attempting further conversation. The patient didn¡¯t need to exin the cause of the injury to the medicines.

    The Dragon Emperor put its will in the heads of Ramumings.

    =Offer to me!=

    The old Ramuming spoke with expressions full of despair. It was a sad attempt to avoid the promised disaster somehow.

    ¡°Well, then¡­ we line up in the order of the list!¡±

    =No.=

    The Dragon Emperor¡¯s firm will made the old Ramuming¡¯s attempts be in vain.

    =There¡¯s no need to line up ording to the list right now, at this time.=

    While flying, the Dragon Emperor made a decision. It was a group of convenient ves who behaved like its own limbs, but not more important than the real limbs on its own body. Once it recovered its body, it could negotiate with another dragon and rebuild the ¡®stable.¡¯

    The old red dragon spat out a sense of dignity.

    =All Ramumings in this vige, go forward. Whether you are young or old, poorly or well-regenerated, offer all of you!=

    ***

    Swift Feather stared at the ughter y unfolding in front of him with his eyes out of focus.

    Although the dragon dered to offer all Ramumings, the first to line up were the residents who had names on the list. The ones who were old or too seriously injured to have regenerative power dedicated themselves to the dragon, praying that as many unnamed Ramumings would survive as possible so that the situation could end on their line as much as possible.

    -Crack! Puck! Cheeek!

    -Ouck! Phiiiick! Quaack!

    The Dragon Emperor, who had no front feet to catch and tear off Ramumings, chewed the blue-haired beasts with a long neck and applied them to its body. The Ramumings lined up ording to the list were quickly consumed.

    It was followed by young and healthy Ramumings, who weren¡¯t on the list. The Dragon Emperor, who was seriously wounded, already consumed random Ramumings nearby. Even the Ramumings that were improved, so their detached arms and legs could be quickly recovered, couldn¡¯t withstand theplete crushing of the brain and vital organs.

    Cerebral spinal fluid was especially needed to recover the dragon. When Ramuming¡¯s cerebral spinal fluid was mixed with blood, flesh, and juice from other organs, the effect of restoring the dragon¡¯s body was shown. It was the result of borate improvements made by the previous generation of the Dragon Emperor.

    ¡°Can you help me?¡±

    Dragon Emperor looked at the sky and asked the young dragon for help. Lucette-Eigar, who carried Dragon Emperor¡¯s body to the nearest Ramumings¡¯ stable, felt annoyance.

    It grumbled in a dry voice.

    ¡°Do I have to help with this?¡±

    However, the priority was to return the Dragon Emperor to normal. Lucette-Eigar, looking down while floating its body, frowned a little in annoyance, then it swept through the vige with some Mana.

    -Hweeeeeeeiiikk!

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaah!¡±

    ¡°Uaaaarrrrrrgh!¡±

    The wind of the massacre blew regardless of age or sex. Invisible Mana raged the vige and tore Ramumings¡¯ flesh.

    The river created by flesh and blood was sprayed on the Dragon Emperor¡¯s body under the guidance of Lucette¡¯s Mana. The dragon¡¯s body, which originally had red scales, was covered with more dark, bloodstainedyers.

    Swift Feather trembled with a locked voice.

    ¡°No¡­ No!¡±

    A whole torn head of the same race rolled around at his feet. A mixture of soil and blood from the ground shimmered in a medium light between dark green and ck. Looking at the shape of the knot that tied the long blue hair, Swift Feather realized that it belonged to the identification number 29-99113, the Ramuming maiden he had given his heart.

    ¡®I gave you, my heart? Aren¡¯t we that close?¡¯

    The memory became dull in fear. He didn¡¯t try hard, but the memory naturally followed his thoughts. It was slow, but certainly, it came to his mind.

    Yes, he had made love with her several times in the woods to avoid the vigers¡¯ eyes. Young Ramumings used to immerse themselves in sex to relieve the frustrations and anger of living like livestock.

    ¡®Ah, that¡¯s right. People called her by the nickname of Dawn Starlight. Yes, my starlight whoughed shyly.¡¯

    Her smooth, shiny hair was her pride. Dawn Starlight would whisper andugh as he touched her hair while they were lying side by side on the humus of the forest. Her hair, which he touched at that time, currentlyid on the dirt-covered ground.

    ¡°Ah¡­ ah!¡±

    The words of histe father, who was the most respected wizard in town, echoed in his ears like a hallucination.

    ¡®This life is just one of many lives, including the life you have been through and the life toe. Don¡¯t despair too much, Son. This life may not be as important as you thinkpared to the eternity of your soul.¡¯

    Still, those words couldn¡¯t suppress the fear of the young Ramuming. Just because he had the next life, it didn¡¯t mean he dared to give up that life in vain. The young Ramuming was obsessed with his current life.

    ¡°I¡­ I¡­ don¡¯t want to die!¡±

    Swift Feather, engulfed by fear, closed his eyes in despair and made a different choice than most of the residents awaiting death. He turned his back and began to run out of the vige.

    ¡°It¡¯s useless.¡±

    Lucette-Eigar, looking at him from the sky, clicked its tongue. All dragons had the right to stop the livestock from running away when trying to take Ramuming for justifiable reasons.

    Anyway, the Dragon Emperor had almost no Mana left. It would be difficult to make simple spells. Considering that, the young dragon chanted the spell instead of the Dragon Emperor. It was a spell that every dragon knew.

    Spells flowed out of the young dragon¡¯s mouth.

    ¡°Khaaaaarrrgghhhhh!¡±

    The young Ramuming grabbed his neck and rolled on the floor. It¡¯s because of the metal ne that cannot be avoided by Ramuming, who was born in this world. As soon as Lucette-Eigar triggered the spell, small sharp saw des sprouted from the inside of the ne, cutting the flesh around Ramuming¡¯s soft neck.

    ¡°Aaaargh, Kuuuuuuugh!¡±

    The saw de prated his neck only enough not to touch the carotid artery. After repeated improvements, Ramuming¡¯s body became remarkably resilient and quickly regenerated the wound.

    Even during recovery, the saw de repeated movements intermittently. As the iron was stuck in the neck, the flesh healed, and the muscles and blood vessels were glued to the saw de, and when the saw de moved again, the heel flesh attached to the iron burst, and blood spattered. The young Ramuming¡¯s eyes turned over in unbearable pain and shed white.

    The Dragon Emperor, who was looking at it, said with its will.

    =Throw away your dreams of running away. This is the reason for your existence. Today is when all of you will achieve your purpose in life, so you should ept it.=

    The Dragon Emperor felt its wings and new flesh sprouted from the root of its four legs, but not yet because much more was needed.

    As if it had guessed the Dragon Emperor¡¯s thoughts, Lucette-Eigar¡¯s spell continued. The bodies of numerous Ramumings, including Swift Feather, who tried to escape, floated in the air. Like a swarm of ants flying in the wind, they were mixed up and exploded in the air due to Mana¡¯s subsequent impact.

    -Poop! Poof! Puck!

    The flesh and body fluids exploding from the sky were mixed with the wind of Mana. The Dragon Emperor was covered with such a prepared recovery drug, and a dragon hit the rain in the same color as its scales.

    The Dragon Emperor gritted its teeth.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what kind of demon made me like this, and it even erased my memories¡­¡±

    Even if it didn¡¯t remember currently, there was a way to find out the culprit. Fortunately, the Dragon Emperor didn¡¯t forget one of the control tools passed to the Dragon Emperors.

    It wasn¡¯t just the proverbs, rules, and obligations to defend them that were passed down from generation to generation. Due to the dragon¡¯s nature that didn¡¯t form a society where they lived together, the Dragon Emperor couldn¡¯t monitor all other dragons with simple magic. In particr, it was difficult even to try when each dragon was extremely sensitive to observation or detection magic, and it was easy to notice the surveince.

    Nevertheless, the Dragon Emperor was able to monitor other dragons from generation after generation. The Dragon Emperor could easily notice whether or not they vited the rules of their kind. Other dragons were mistaken for the Dragon Emperor¡¯s superior magical skills, but a far more efficient means than simple magic was passed down to the Dragon Emperor.

    The object of observation and surveince was also the Dragon Emperor itself. When it returned to the nest, it would have a record of what happened to it.

    ¡°Kufufufufufu!¡±

    Even in the fiery anger, the Dragon Emperorughed coldly. The anger vomited by the Dragon¡¯s Guardian hadn¡¯t yet found its target. As soon as the object was identified, its anger would be poured out like a torrent of power.

    ¡°As soon as my body recovers, I will find you right away. It would be better not to think of dying nicely.¡±

    It would tear, burn, crumble, freeze, crush, and put its enemy back together, and it would repeat it countless times. The Dragon Emperor quietly pledged in its heart.

 Chapter 150

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (19)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    I was in the dark.

    The ck curtain struck like a tsunami, but it was as calm as the surface of ake. Turbulence and silence coexisted in contradiction, but none of them were properly distinguished.

    There was an absence of color and shape. The darkness concealed and hid it all, making me fall into the swamp and thought in an unknown emotion. Was it okay like that? Was it as good as that?

    The darkness answered me.

    -Oh, I was wondering what kind of wicked guy it is. So, you¡¯re a very unusual one.

    I thought quietly, ¡®Unusual one?¡¯

    Yes, everyone who met me said that, and most of them weren¡¯t human. It turned out that there weren¡¯t many humans I had ever met in the first ce.

    -I even allowed you to postpone the payment of the offering. Are you going to put it on hold until you¡¯re done with this life? Did you think such a joke would work?

    My feelings, sense of crisis, and judgment were trying to lose shape and copse in the dark, so I whispered.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it was a shallow trick.¡±

    -Yes, it was a shallow trick. Mortal. I¡¯m sorry, so I¡¯m here to get the offering right now.

    I asked back.

    ¡®I don¡¯t even use the spell right now. How? This isn¡¯t your altar. It¡¯s not even your territory.¡¯

    -All ces where darkness and night fell are my territory. Dreams also belong to my jurisdiction because there is a dream beyond the door that opens when you close your eyes, clear the world, and immerse yourself in consciousness. You didn¡¯t even understand my existence and meaning properly. It¡¯s different from what you understand with your head. You should be able to recognize me. How did you reach out to me and get the spell when you didn¡¯t? Rather, why am I so familiar with you?

    That was also just one of the unknown words about me.

    I whispered in my heart, ¡°I¡¯m tired of it. Non-human beings who meet me, or the higher-level being who do not belong to the world I live in, all say those words. I¡¯m unusual, weird, and interesting.¡±

    Yet, as always, there was no evidence to be sure of who I was. Even if I doubt and reason, the answer was far away.

    ¡°So, what else did you see? What did you see inside me?¡±

    -Because of that familiarity, I dyed the offering in your favor. But I have no intention of waiting for you to die.

    Offering?

    What was the offering I promised?

    ¡°Whatever it is, can you put it off any longer?¡±

    -¡­

    There was a brief silence in the dark. I guessed that time would lead to an undesirable ending, and it wouldn¡¯t take long for the anger to transform the opponent¡¯s favor into hostility. At that point, I held my breath and wait for the moment.

    However¡­

    The darkness conveyed apletely different will than I expected.

    -¡­ Hahaha. I see. Okay¡­

    The other person observed me. It didn¡¯t feel like a cognition through gaze, but it was as if it was savoring my entire existence since that darkness that I was locked in was the being that was talking to me.

    -I even came to receive payments myself¡­ but I never thought I¡¯d make this decision¡­Yeah. Let¡¯s stop. It¡¯s enough.

    ¡°Why?¡± I had lost the sense of crisis and asked.

    The darkness answered.

    -This wasn¡¯t the first time you¡¯ve ever faced me.

    I asked myself. Was it referring to the ceremony at the altar when I received the spell?

    However, as I listened to the words that followed, I felt like it was talking about a different time than that.

    -What else can I take from the scraps, residues, and fragments that have already lost the real self? How can I take the ego from someone who has already lost it?

    I remembered the Dragon Emperor, who lost itself due to the spell and couldn¡¯t even move. What the darkness was trying to take away from me at that moment was the same thing. It wasn¡¯t just temporary concealment like when I used the spell, but permanently taking away my ego.

    At that crucial moment, the opponent stopped acting and reversed the decision.

    -Hmm?

    It was then. Something like ck smoke came out from deep inside me.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time I saw it. I experienced a phenomenon in the dream where a fake Parvache appeared. A huge mysterious memory existed and condensed in the memories of my childhood that Yodmo ate. It almost matched the darkness surrounding me and blended in like a saturation around me.

    The phenomenon was so natural that I even thought of that. Was what Yodmo and I called ck smoke, not the ck gas and just a part of the night and darkness?

    I talked to the darkness.

    [Thank you for your generosity and forgiveness.]

    -Why did youe out and say hello? You are also just a residue.

    [You have helped me since ¡®the beginning.¡¯ I wanted to thank you in person.]

    -¡­ You seem to have a little memory left.

    [I am the memory itself.]

    -The memory of the Reclusive Soul. It¡¯s not even funny. The most difficult thing is to seclude yourself, but you are also a very unusual and entric guy.

    [It is thanks to you for lending me strength. Thank you for the kindness.]

    -I don¡¯t know if it was borrowed or stolen. The sign of gratitude that will be forgotten after waking up is cheap and meaningless. Yeah, since you¡¯re using your powers, make sure you hide well. Keep secluded, hide, and forget yourself well.

    [Yes. I will.]

    The darkness seemed to be distracted from me, keeping its gaze on my existence, not drawing interest from me. It then said as if it suddenly thought of it.

    -¡­ Ah, yeah. The fragments of consciousness that informed you of my existence¡­ will you leave it as it is? In any case, how about offering the spirit as a sacrifice to me? That might give you more power. The soul is weak, but the consciousness, that is, the ego that assembles the existence, is quite old,rge, and savory.

    I recalled some time ago. A descendant of Dalkerus, who possessed poor brainwashing ability with only twenty or so eyes, looked inside the spirit¡¯s inner side with mental sensibility. He was overwhelmed by the size of the enormous world of mental images and spoke of astonishment. He said that it was so huge and distant that its depth was unknown.

    It was an opposite reaction to when the Maek faced the spirit. Its soul was weak and couldn¡¯t be easily seen since it was likely to break at any moment.

    I stopped thinking and responded firmly.

    [I can¡¯t do that.]

    -Why is it?

    [It¡­ is like me. It is a pitiful and poor being who ruined everything with a wrong choice at thest minute. It is easier to count what it hasn¡¯t lost than what it has lost. I can¡¯t put it in misery anymore.]

    I said that while crying. Tears flowed silently in the dark. The darkness, which ate all the traces of the hot drops and the waves, was silently staring.

    -Hahaha. It¡¯s fun. Yes, I¡¯ll see how long you can go this way. How will you or the spirit, the desperate beings holding on to the end of destruction, continue to exist.

    The darkness left by those words began to recede slowly.

    ***

    ¡°Humph! Cough! Cough!¡±

    I opened my eyes while coughing. Aftering out of my clothes, Maru, sitting on my chest, flinched and moved its body. It then quickly found its original ce and covered my bare skin.

    ¡°Ehem! Cough!¡±

    The cough continued as if I was choked. What is it? I think I had a long dream, but I can¡¯t remember it well.

    ¡°¡­ Huh? Eraser?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s expression looking at me was strangely distorted. Mrs. Pearl, who rarely opened her mouth inside the container, asked me.

    ¡°Did you have had a bad dream?¡±

    I sat nkly for a moment without understanding the meaning of the question, and then because of the unfamiliar feeling, I swept my cheeks with the back of my hand, and a moist liquid came out.

    ¡°¡­ What is this?¡±

    I thought it was strange.

    How long had it been since I cried, even in my dream?

    ¡°¡­ Ah, what is it? This¡­¡±

    I got up from my seat, erasing the marks on my cheeks. Maru, which got inside the hoodie, rang the air and asked.

    ¡°¡­ Reclusive, cry, why?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, Dude.¡±

    I tried to keep my head straight. Seeing the container descending, it seemed that it had almost reached its destination.

    I thought while wiping my eyes.

    In the past, there have been several times when I woke up crying after having a nightmare. As I entered puberty, my head grew thick, and I started to understand what my destiny really was.

    Currently, it was different from that time. I opened my eyes, but I couldn¡¯t find any lingering emotions buried in my dream.

    It felt as if someone else came into my body while I was sleeping and cried and then left.

    [¡­ Min-joon?]

    Parvache approached me and asked about my condition. The mental wave became so weak that I could hardly notice it.

    I looked at the spirit trapped in Parvache, who will soon get its current ego destroyed.

    As soon as I thought about that, some unfamiliar emotions began to roll around in my heart. It spread its wings very dimly and faintly and fluttered somewhere deep.

    I muttered.

    Yeah. I thought the reason I called you was that we were so simr to each other, not only in the reason the present ego was created but also because the ego that was created was unstable.

    Maybe I needed a friend who would feel the greatest affinity with me even though it was obvious that I would forget the reason again right after calling you.

    [¡­ What does that mean?]

    Still, its will was too weak. Apart from mental waves¡¯ intensity, I asked back since I didn¡¯t understand what it¡¯s talking about.

    ¡°About what?¡±

    [You just said that it was the reason for calling me. Did you mean the moment you summoned me?]

    ¡°¡­ What are you talking about? I have no memory of when I summoned you. You guessed it would be magic unfolded unconsciously.¡±

    Parvache repeated the same words a few times to me, who kept wiping my tears, but I couldn¡¯t understand the meaning. I didn¡¯t remember telling him by delivering will out of my mind.

    Parvache was about to pass on to its next ego, and its mental power had weakened a lot. Probably because of that, it was an illusion that couldn¡¯t exist normally. When it came to human beings, was it called hallucination?

    After repeating each other¡¯s words that didn¡¯t match a few more times, I heard the container sitting on the ground with a thump. At that moment, our conversation stopped.

    ***

    =We arrived. =

    The Summon who flew with a container told me with its will. It was converted into a unit of time familiar to me and delivered to my mind.

    =1 hour and 19 minutes.=

    It was a measure of how long the pet flew that time.

    I nced at Garam, who hadn¡¯te to his sense yet. Originally, I borrowed Garam¡¯s hand to pay this Summoner¡¯s price due to the division of roles. Since he was in that condition, I had to prepare it myself. The time would be right in about an hour and 19 minutes.

    I opened the container door and stepped out. Ramumings who lived in the vige gathered together, strangled their heads, andid face down in front of the container as if they were paying respect.

    ¡°Here. Take it.¡±

    I looked up at the Summoner sitting on the container. It was a strange creature whose brain and wings upied more than 90% of its body. Several of the dozens of wings were tied to the container, and then the remaining wings were used to p and flew all the way here.

    Among the species that could fly with objects of that size, that kind was chosen because the desired price was the most economical. When moving outside of the Dragon¡¯s search magic area, the fastest way was for the whole party to fly, so it was the species that was summoned when moving.

    -Woooong!

    I picked a few dreams from the Maek¡¯s Copper I was holding,bined them, and pushed them into the Summoner¡¯s brain. Those were obscene dreams that I purposely collected before I came over there. I edited the running time of the dream to be yed like a video in the head of that kind to be roughly 1 hour and 19 minutes. It was a trading condition to provide the video for the time it was summoned.

    =¡­ Good. Very good.=

    That summon came from a kind where most of the body had degenerated, leaving only the brain and wings. All its natural enemies have disappeared too. In that race, the biggest amusement yed in the brain was the satisfaction of watching the breeding scenes of the aliens from strange worlds.

    =Then I will go back¡­=

    ¡°No, wait a minute!¡±

    Instead of opening the Channel in my chest immediately, I had put the summon on standby. Considering the business there, we had another ce to go as fast as we could.

    Instead of waiting for Garam to recover, I nned toe to see the Root Stone. It was a ce where dragons had a strict boundary, so we couldn¡¯t fly to its center, but we had to fly as much as possible to the surrounding area.

    I looked at the Ramumings gathered in the vige.

    ¡°Parvache, please¡­¡±

    Parvache conveyed my will to the Ramumings gathered in the square. I said I wanted to make a deal since we needed two types of metal to feed Garam and asked what Ramumings wanted in return.

    Thinking of us as dragons, they refused at first. However, Parvache exined that we weren¡¯t dragons, and only after Ramuming, who had moved with us, helped the people believed the truth.

    I didn¡¯t need to create a hostile rtionship, but I wasn¡¯t going to lie or made another trouble by exploiting instead of a fair deal.

    The old Ramumings representing the vige hesitated for a long time and then asked one thing.

    ¡°Great people¡­ I heard the words of this child whose life was saved. Are you saying that you can use such noble magic when you¡¯re not truly a dragon?¡±

    I frowned since I roughly guessed what would be going on.

    ¡°Ask me what you want.¡±

    Through the interpretation, the words of the old Ramuming continued.

    ¡°Can you share even a little bit of wisdom so that our magic can evolve further at the present stage?¡±

    I asked Parvache.

    ¡°Why magic?¡±

    Parvache, who was talking to the old Ramuming, interpreted it to me.

    [They are avoiding explicit mentions and references¡­ but they seem to think that it¡¯s a tremendous opportunity to change the future of their kind. They seem to be conscious of the dragon, the ruler. Even if it takes a long time, they seem to be thinking of the possibility of secretly building up strength.]

    It appeared that the group wasn¡¯tpletely desperate to live as a ve to the dragon.

    I know the circumstances, but of course, I refused. There was no time to sat and taught them magic at that moment. It was a bit cold-hearted, but just because they started learning magic currently, it was unclear whether the day they would escape the control of dragons woulde.

    Still, I said I would consider it if there were any artifacts they needed.

    The Ramuming replied with a darkenedplexion.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s an excessive request, but could you please give us some time to discuss? Of course, we will offer the metals you need right now.¡±

    In the first ce, they didn¡¯t seem to be against us. They decided to provide the metal first and then deliver their requestter. It seemed that some discussion was needed internally. They considered it a tremendous opportunity, and for that reason, it was a situation that required careful judgment.

    Seeing that the metal was given first, they realized that it wasn¡¯t a situation to worry about getting stabbed in the back. They didn¡¯t seem to be worried that we would rob them by force in any case.

    It was such desperate psychology that they were afraid of us, but they wanted to push in somehow.

    After a while, the residents brought pieces of minerals in front of our container, piled them up, and then stepped back. After confirming that Garam started to eat it, I ordered the Summon to fly up with only Parvache and Mrs. Pearl.

    ***

    To reach the Root Stone, we had to go back the way we came. It was near the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest, after all.

    We flew to the point where the detection magic couldn¡¯t catch us and then sent the Summon back. I felt that the magic barrier around there was weakened as a whole, perhaps since the Dragon Emperor had be incapacitated. Nevertheless, I had already been caught once, so I moved with caution.

    ¡°The barrier is pretty weak. It¡¯s much easier to move than thest time when we went to the center of the nest.¡±

    [¡­ Ah. I see.]

    Parvache¡¯s reaction slowed a little. As time passed, its mental power was getting weaker and weaker.

    Mrs. Pearl looked around and said.

    ¡°Maybe that is the Root Stone, right?¡±

    I saw a rectangr monument far away. It was an alienndscape that didn¡¯t match the surrounding natural environment at all.

    ¡°It is bigger than I thought.¡±

    Since it was a wide-open in, the object came into the eye clearly from beyond the horizon. We kept moving forward, keeping the hidden magic to avoid any danger.

    The more we walked, the more we were amazed at the size of the object.

    ¡°¡­ That¡¯s actually quite a distance right now, isn¡¯t it? Still¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, but why does it look so big?¡±

    At first, I wondered if I had lost my sense of distance. As we approached, the huge square pir boasted overwhelming majesty.

    ¡°It¡¯s almost like a mountain?¡±

    The Root Stone stood on the ground and stretched upright like a standing pir. The closer we approached, the more we learned. The fact that the material of that object was closer to metal than stone, and the surface wasn¡¯t smooth, but some unknown patterns were engraved. Given its regrity, it was definitely a kind ofnguage.

    ¡°¡­ Parvache?¡±

    At times like that, there was no other ce to rely on. Parvache red at the pattern for a moment and answered.

    ¡°¡­ Nothing can be found in Akashic Records.¡±

    All thenguages ??of the world were recorded in Akashic Records. That was because it was one of the information systems shared by most people in civilization. In most cases, thenguage had the lowest level of reading.

    Nevertheless, there were two reasons why anguage system couldn¡¯t be found in the Akashic Records.

    One. The case where the Apostle of Purbagios had never appeared in the world where thenguage was spoken. That means that the world wasn¡¯t recorded on Akashic Records in the first ce.

    Two. The case where the information was originally recorded in Akashic Records, but the record was deleted or upgraded by a being or beings with enough power to interfere with it.

    Which of them was the phenomenon at that moment?

 Chapter 151

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (20)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    We approached a location where all the patterns engraved on the Root Stone could be clearly seen.

    A magnificent appearance stood up as if supporting the sky. While looking up at the Root Stone, I thought, ¡®How high would that be?¡¯

    I didn¡¯t get a sense of it at first since there was no object topare around, but I knew that many buildings in downtown Seoul would be no match. Part of its top-end was also touching the clouds.

    Looking ahead, I asked Parvache.

    ¡°We can see it better from this ce. Can¡¯t you still interpret it?¡±

    [Not at all.]

    Whatnguage was it?

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    I frowned around my eyes. The assumption that the search wasn¡¯t possible because the pattern wasn¡¯t visible was also wrong.

    That really wasn¡¯t searchable on the Akashic Records.

    Mrs. Pearl spected, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s not anguage?¡±

    ¡°There is a possibility of that.¡±

    Anyone could tell that it wasn¡¯t a naturally formed mark. It was difficult to say that the original was damaged because the groove gap was sorge and clean. In other words, the object was intentionally made and preserved for a long time, but there was little tampering or wear in the meantime.

    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a magical symbol?¡±

    [¡­ The Ramumings said they didn¡¯t feel any Mana in there.]

    ¡°It may not have been felt because their magic level was low.¡±

    Focusing on that possibility, I tried to take a step again.

    It was then¡­

    -Wriggle!

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with this guy all of a sudden?¡±

    Maru, hiding its body inside the hoodie I wore, began to jolt in my clothes. After being still for a while, I felt like it was sleeping, but now it was awake.

    The inside of the chest in my clothes swelled up, and then it dragged its bronze tentacles and slid out towards the nape of my neck.

    Maru then stretched out its eyes on the tip of its tentacles and stretched forward. It pointed to the direction of the Root Stone.

    That guy said as it scratched the air, ¡°I know that¡­ poundpound¡­¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    I didn¡¯t understand what it said for a while and asked. What was ¡®poundpound¡¯?

    ¡°That¡­ stone¡­ is talking. I know. It¡¯s pounding.¡±

    ¡°What are you saying?¡±

    ¡°The stone talks. It¡¯s pounding.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t understand what Maru meant until I asked a few more questions.

    It said it was feeling a kind of wave emanating from that stone. When I heard that, I tried to concentrate again, but neither my sensory organs nor my Mana circuit felt anything.

    ¡°Wave? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s magical.¡±

    Maybe it was literally a physical wave. In other words, Maru might be feeling electromaic waves or microscopic air vibrations.

    ¡°Is there anything you can feel at, Mrs. Pearl?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl¡¯s physical senses were more sensitive than mine; she looked around and shook her head.

    ¡°It¡¯s a wave that none of us can feel, and only Maru can feel it, huh?¡±

    It meant that signals that only Maru¡¯s body organs could feel were emanating from that stone.

    ¡°Wait a minute. This guy¡¯s body is, after all¡­¡±

    I watched with my own two eyes the process of Maru being born.

    Yes, Maru was separated from the body of a huge being that could never bepared to the Root Stone over there. Presumably, there must be a biological simrity to the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker in addition to the visible appearance.

    ¡°If the ruins where dragons are worshiped react with Maru¡¯s body¡­¡±

    It couldn¡¯t have been a coincidence. I quickly made eye contact with Parvache.

    ¡°Dragons were originally said to have originated from a pet raised by Song of Chaos¡ªby its native race, right?¡±

    [¡­Yes, then the one that made that Root Stone¡­ probably¡­]

    I nodded. Was that ruins a trace left by ¡®that species¡¯?

    The Song of Chaos¡¯ kind that Gramiel called monsters.

    I reconsidered Yodmo¡¯s words. It was said that the Root Stone was a phenomenon that only appeared in the dimension where dragons live. The dragon and that race. The connection was good enough.

    I asked Maru.

    ¡°Can you read the letters engraved on that stone?¡±

    Maru said the dragon was cute, and it said it was familiar to the smell of dragons. Was that the gic information passed to Maru from the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker? Or was it a transmission of memory?

    Did it include both?

    Maru that has no eyelids looked closely with the pupil at the tip of the tentacle. As I ordered, it turned the tentacles¡¯ angle to read all the patterns and focused up, down, left, and right, moving as if reading a text. I then said¡­

    ¡°¡­ Stone, I can¡¯t read it.¡±

    Ah, did I expect too much there?

    I tried to sigh, but Maru continued.

    ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ reading¡­ but listening.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    Maru¡¯s exnation continued for a while, and it took a little longer for us to understand everything.

    In Maru¡¯s point of view, it was difficult to exin such a natural concept such as ¡®to hear sounds through the ears¡¯ in words, and from our point of view, it was the same as listening to apletely unfamiliar concept through the mouth of a child.

    After organizing the concept in my head, I spoke.

    ¡°So, in the end¡­ when the user creates another wave corresponding to the wave emanating from that stone and collides with the stone, the reflector, which may be an electromaic wave or a sound wave generated by the two waves, rubs against the surface of the monument, and is derived from there. You mean the user hears the signal and recognizes it as information?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Reclusive, I don¡¯t¡­ know what you¡¯re talking about.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a summary of what you said.¡±

    Maru didn¡¯t understand some of the words I used, but it did in the end.

    It was difficult and easy to obtain the information recorded on that monument, as I understood.

    First of all, it was difficult because it isn¡¯t a type that users could read if they only had two eyes attached and know thenguage like a monument to human civilization.

    First, it involved recognizing a kind of cogwheel-like wave emanating from that giant object and responding by creating a wave of a shape that exactly matches the cogwheel. By analogy, it meant like that.

    It wasn¡¯t only that. It was only possible to obtain information when the user recognized the echoes created by the two waves beingbined with flowing on the Root Stone¡¯s surface and hitting the grooves of the engraved patterns.

    Let¡¯s say that some species in the world have evolved to feel the wave of the monument, even though it was rare. Let¡¯s say that they even identally discovered that monument. Nevertheless, suppose the race didn¡¯t know how to make waves corresponding to the monument or read the signal generated by friction and reflection with the surface. In that case, the information on the Root Stone became useless.

    That was why it was one of the safety devices.

    ¡°Certainly, it¡¯s a safety device that even feels paranoid, but¡­¡±

    Saying so, I blurred the end of my tongue.

    Nevertheless, it was also easy to obtain the information engraved on the Root Stone. The precondition for everything listed earlier was surprisingly simple.

    Maru said, ¡°This¡­ anyone can do it. I can hear it.¡±

    In that case, Maru¡¯s word of ¡®anyone¡¯ probably meant its own kind.

    ¡°Go for it.¡±

    As I encouraged it, Marupletely fell from my body and came out.

    -Crawl, crawl.

    Maru crawled little by little and then stretched out dozens of tentacles in all directions, making it looked like a sphere. It looked like a bronze sea urchin with very thick, blunt spines out of the water.

    ¡°¡­ I¡¯ll start.¡±

    After it said that, it just stayed still.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    It created a wave that couldn¡¯t be felt by our sensory organs and sent it out toward the Root Stone.

    After a little while¡­

    ¡°¡­ I hear it.¡±

    Maru seemed to be starting to hear something the rest of us hadn¡¯t heard.

    ¡°It¡¯s a surprisingly easy condition. If the user is that race, seems like all the condition is okay, huh?¡±

    [¡­ You must also know how to use it.]

    ¡°That¡¯s right, but that guy¡­ how does it know how to use that stone? It was just born recently.¡±

    Certainly, there was no time to get any separate education from the Song of Chaos. Was it a transmission of magical knowledge? There was no such sign at the moment of birth.

    I tilted my head and answered.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it sort of an instinct?¡±

    [¡­ But, it¡¯s too sophisticated for an instinct. To consider it a natural phenomenon in which such arge amount of information is inputted into the gene is¡­]

    Maru made a sound again.

    ¡°¡­ I heard it all.¡±

    ¡°Can you tell me?¡±

    Maru hesitated for a moment.

    ¡°¡­ Difficult. I can¡¯t exin¡­ with the Reclusive¡¯s words.¡±

    Oh my, my head was about to burst. It had heard it all, but that guy thought it was difficult to exin with its Korean vocabry.

    Suddenly Parvache said with its will.

    [¡­ Maru, instead of making a sound, think intensely about what you¡¯ve heard.]

    ¡°Parvache, this guy can¡¯t make telepathy.¡±

    I could only deliver my will to Parvache. That was a bit different from magic.

    Therefore, it was too much for Maru.

    [¡­ It might be possible to read surface consciousness. Min-joon, help me.]

    After listening to Parvache¡¯s exnation, I put my arm out. As if Maru was waiting, it quickly wrapped around my skin.

    When I first went around with this guy to catch Heart Fishes, Maru could only understand my will when directly contacting my body. Even if it wasn¡¯t a real will, it could recognize my strong thoughts.

    It wasmunication through contact. We had already confirmed that one direction was possible, so currently, we were trying the other direction.

    [Min-joon, backdoor¡­]

    When I opened the passage of the mind that was only allowed to Parvache, the spirits came into contact with it. That time, it wasn¡¯tpletely encroaching like when we caught the Fake God, so I observed Parvache¡¯s mental body while maintaining consciousness.

    Also, I realized again¡­ its mind was like a candle before it was burned out and melted down to the root of the candlestick.

    However, it was only a little peculiar that the candle was so big and vast that the melted candle wax flutters like the ocean.

    I muttered.

    That spirit went through countless false deaths, and even the remnants of every moment were so distant and great. Ah, that was too bad. What a pity. If only it had evolved like that¡­ if only it had created a suitable body¡­

    [Min-joon, what are you doing? Come to your sense.]

    ¡°Ah¡­¡±

    Parvache shouted at my consciousness. I get out of my vague thoughts. I felt a strange sensation as if I had dreamed for a while.

    Um, what is that?

    It passed before my eyes like a hallucination.

    There was a curtain like a ck cloud. It was familiar, but at the same time, unfamiliar.

    The concentration of darkness was a little lighter than before.

    [Focus.]

    Parvache, who hadn¡¯tpletely covered the consciousness, didn¡¯t seem to see what had happened in my head.

    I came to my sense and focused on my original purpose. The thoughts I had been immersed in just before disappeared from my mind as if they had never been there before. It was simr to how the memory disappeared quickly after opening the eyes, no matter how intense the dream was.

    I focused my thoughts ording to Parvache¡¯s instructions.

    I talked in my heart to Maru, who was in contact with my skin, and at the same time, I spoke aloud.

    ¡®What was the story that stone told you?¡¯

    ¡°What was the story that stone told you?¡±

    Maru seemed to respond to it, consolidating its thoughts. Of course, I didn¡¯t have the ability to read it.

    However, Parvache, who was connected to my mind, tried with all its might and seeded in reading Maru¡¯s consciousness.

    [¡­ Done!]

    Parvache tranted Maru¡¯s thoughts into anguage I could understand. That was the information engraved on the Root Stone. Simultaneous interpretation through the conscious world began.

    Among them, only the parts that could be understood through my consciousness were delivered, but the context of the whole meaning wasn¡¯t missed.

    I listened to my heart.

    [¡­ ##Stage Entaph##Rouse inputpleted. All information is transmitted without implications, omissions, analogies, deletions, or distortions.]

    ¡­ Huh?

    [The creation time of this information is ## period ## year ## day. This calendar method is not included in the basic knowledge tool within the user¡¯s species¡¯ gene.]

    I looked puzzled by the unexpected content, but Parvache¡¯s interpretation continued.

    [For users who can¡¯t understand the meaning of the verse just quoted, immediately adjust the amplitude corresponding to the calcted year by ## of Entaph##Rouse and resend it to this storage device. The procedure for rebuilding and restoring under object unit of the civilization¡¯s conditions is initiated.]

    [The gic information of the ¡®Independent Glory Pioneers¡¯ such as ## or lower divine power, Mana, bar##miom phenomenon, ##sticity, spiritual pollution, the action of all particles existing in the physical world, etc. is set so that it is not damaged or altered even if any mutant element or evolutionary inducement interfere.]

    [If the message is repeatedly outputted instead of starting the civilization reconstruction and restoration procedure even after the amplitude is adjusted and retransmitted to this storage device or the user does not properly understand the retransmission method, the phenomenon is caused by the user¡¯s gic information. It indicates that it is severely damaged and means divine power intervention exceeding the ## level.]

    [This storage medium may not attempt physical, spiritual, magical, or ## injury to users directly or indirectly following ethical regtions.]

    [Thus, if it is possible to reason that a user has a divine power exceeding ## level, it is rmended that the usermit suicide immediately.]

    [This is the end of the obligation notice ording to the ¡°2#nd Amendment of the Basic Act on Storage Media for External Distribution¡± enacted in the ## period ## year.]

    ¡°What is this¡­ all about?¡±

    I received the content of the will that came into my head, and I ended up opening my mouth.

    Wow¡­ What bullshit of a country was that?

    However, Parvache didn¡¯t know how to stop interpreting simultaneously.

    [Then, let¡¯s listen to the text of this storage medium.]

    After a sigh, Parvache delivered the title of this ¡®storage medium¡¯ with a calm mind.

 Chapter 152

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (21)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    I recalled what the Silver Forest¡¯s Truth-Seeker said.

    Yes, it was said that its kind had ¡®released¡¯ dragons, which had already been domesticated, to several dimensions. They were sent back to the wild.

    It said that they chose another dimension because the parent dimension¡¯s environment had changed severely for the dragon to survived in its natural state.

    [The time when the wild dragon is judged to bepletely extinct from the parent dimension is around the ## period. It¡¯s known that the domestication of dragons began in ancient times. Sinceing into the life of our pioneers, the dragon has long been a family member and a faithful friend.]

    [As civilization developed, the value and importance of dragons in hunting, vignce, food, and magic experiments, which were the first domestication objectives, decreased because there are far better alternatives to dragons.]

    Hunting and vignce¡­ Wasn¡¯t that the same as a man raising a dog?

    [Hunting is believed to have been the main reason for the start of domestication in ancient times. The high heat of the dragon¡¯s me was very effective in catching pests and stunning wild animals. The me that modern dragons emit when they act cute is traces of those days, although it has been weakened much through intentional improvementspared to ancient times.]

    [However, as civilization developed, the reason for mobilizing dragons disappeared.]

    A story simr to the way modern humans dealt with animals continued.

    [Hunting is performed much more effectively by the artificial life possessed by the demons. The vignce can¡¯t follow a spirit body that isn¡¯t bound by thews of physics. In the 7th Middle Ages, often referred to as the era of revisionism, the need to eat less delicious dragons has been eliminated since the food supply problem waspletely solved. In the case of magic experiments, as the ethical consciousness has increased in the modern era, it has been impossible to use a creature with a soul as a test object.]

    [As a result, modern dragons are often bred as pets rather than livestock with economic purpose.]

    [With a long history of livestock, dragon breed improvement took ce over a long time. If it were only economical livestock, it might have ceased to be improved from the moment the necessity was no longer needed. Still, ironically, the dragon was a pet loved by pioneers, so it continued to be improved.]

    [For example, these animals, which were inevitable due to the extremeary environment if left to nature, have strengthened their bodies enough to be able to go outside at the level of walking. As a result, physical modifications were made to a level beyond the race¡¯s limits, which could not have evolved naturally. To the point where Mana is essential to maintain such a body.]

    I remembered the young dragon, who couldn¡¯t even hold its poop and pee when its Mana disappeared.

    It seemed that it was so dependent on Mana that even normal bodily functions couldn¡¯t be controlled without it.

    [Even though progress was made to a considerable level, the dragon¡¯s physical abilities were only strengthened to the extent that it could take a walk outside in a friendly environment under the protection of its owner. Survival in the wild is a very difficult situation. In other words, it was close to impossible to release the dragons in their parent dimension wildly.]

    Well, it was weird.

    The dragon¡¯s physical ability, which I knew frommon sense and that I had experienced, was so terrifying that it could cause a mountain to copse with a single swing of its tail and burn out a few viges in the blink of an eye.

    Even if it was strengthened to such a level of ¡®taking a walk outside in a friendly environment under the protection of its owner,¡¯ how terrible was the parent-dimension environment to judge that ¡®survival in the wild was a very difficult situation?¡¯

    If the environment was so bad, why didn¡¯t the pioneer species migrate to another dimension earlier?

    There had to be a level of skill that transcended dimensions. It was necessary to search for a ce where a dragon could live and to transfer it.

    Thinking so, the message of the storage medium continued.

    [But we didn¡¯t give up¡­]

    [If only dragons, as domestic pets, remain extinct in the wild, they will lose their chance of natural evolution. Even if it evolves, it will only be possible to evolve as a pet. We believe that any species should be guaranteed the opportunity to evolve. It is natural to judge it as universal ethics.]

    [So, we decided that even some of the dragon race should be sent back to the wild, giving them a chance to evolve on their own. It gave them the option to shape the future of the species.]

    [There was a social consensus that it was very hical to neglect the dragon this way. Even more, we were obligated to restore the wild dragon, considering that the parent¡¯s environment has changed to such an extent that it is difficult for dragons to survive.]

    [As a means to fulfill that duty, we have long been working on a project to find the outer dimensions environment in which dragons can survive and to wild-release selected dragons.]

    [The storage medium you¡¯re listening to now is a record if our descendants in the distant future visit that dimension. The user is requested to listen to this storage medium¡¯s record to the end to protect the surviving dragon at that dimension.]

    I understood.

    The conclusion was that the species described as dimensions as part of the wild species restoration project. Dragons of that dimension must¡¯vee across a long time ago.

    So, the pioneers left instructions for their own people on the dimension where dragons were released. That was the identity of the ¡®Root Stone¡¯ in front of us.

    [Rmended to users. If the dragon survives without extinction on the dimension you are visiting now, please leave it as it is without intervention. Dragons of that dimension aren¡¯t cute creatures raised as pioneers¡¯ pets. They are independent races who create their future for their species.]

    [If we intervene hastily, there is a risk of undermining the independence of civilization and viting the freedom and right to develop their own culture and technology. It¡¯s important to note that this is a very hical practice. It is forbidden to capture dragons of this dimension, relocate them to a third dimension, or bring them back to the parent dimension by judging them as lost or ownerless pets.]

    Relocating them to the third dimension?

    [Don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t ever take the dragon to Earth.[

    ¡­ I was just going to take out the soul.

    [Dragons living in that dimension are recognized as an external-dimensional race and are subject to several ¡®external-dimensional race rights¡¯ rtedws, including the ¡®7th Amendment to the Act on the Protection of the Rights of External-Dimensional Race¡¯. Under the applicablews and regtions, it is illegal to bring a race from another dimension to the parent dimension through the Channel or dimension leap magic, and vitions may result in punishment.]

    [The world where the dragon was released was selected as the dimension that wasn¡¯t connected to the parent dimension and the Channel. However, over time, newly created and connected Channels may exist. While the method of controlling and using the Truth-Seeker of parent dimension continues to evolve, it¡¯s possible that we haven¡¯t yet found a way to block areas of power, such as the creation of Channels. If you try to bring a wild dragon to the parent dimension through a Channel, you may receive a restraint by a Photon Golem ced to prevent the entry of an alien race into the Channel, so please pay special attention.]

    [In consideration of users who are away from the parent dimension, additional exnations and rmendations are given to thew rted to ¡®external-dimensional race rights.¡¯ It is illegal to bring an external-dimensional race into the parent dimension or leave it unattended. Most external-dimensional races have a zero probability of survival in the parental environment, even if the pioneers protect them. We have an ethical responsibility to prevent unfortunate idents by preventing them from entering the parent dimension by mistake.]

    It was followed by an exnation of the characteristics of the dragon race.

    [The domestication and improvement of dragons have been going on for so long that there is no original gic information before the dragon¡¯s improvement in modern times. Of course, you can¡¯t read it on Akashic Records because no one knows about it.]

    [After much consideration, we chose to release the dragon with its already improved body instead of trying to restore the dragon¡¯s body to its pre-improved form. It is believed that natural evolutionary phenomena existed for a long time, except for the artificial breed improvement effect, and it was judged that the act of excluding and restoring it was another breed improvement.]

    [As a result, dragons were released with the powers equivalent to the highest predators in the world¡¯s ecosystems, whatever dimension they were. Of course, there are also disadvantages. It has a good Mana level for a wild animal, but basic body functions stop without it. Due to this characteristic, their biggest enemy will probably be the demons, and they will cross the gates of the world to watch vigntly for the dragons¡¯ Mana.]

    [The dragon¡¯s habit is also a penalty. There¡¯s a possibility of change in the evolution process, but most dragons tend to have a weak social attachment to their kind. This is because the improvement process led to stronger loyalty and attachment to the owner. Since socialization and cooperation within the race is essential to survive the long-term battle with the demons, excessively independent tendencies may be applied against survival from a distance.]

    I knew well about the characteristics of dragons. It was exactly what the storage medium said.

    [So, we, inevitably, inserted information tools into the dragon¡¯s gic information. It should be viewed with a small amount of good-intentioned help thatpensates for the weaknesses caused by pioneers but does not prevent their active evolution. This minimal interference was needed. It¡¯s because evolution is possible when extinction is avoided.]

    [We chose the dragon with the best physical condition among the dragons released to each dimension and made it the dragon Emperor. And we nted some discipline in every dragon¡¯s genes. It¡¯s the leader¡¯s job to monitor and manage this discipline well.]

    Genes?

    I thought¡­

    Yes, creatures knew how to reproduced instinctively without being taught by their parents, knew where to returnter, and knew how to createplex traps. A form of behavior that you knew from birth, even without education.

    But what if some higher beings figured out how to maximize the information that could be engraved in a species¡¯ DNA? Wouldn¡¯t it be possible to store much moreplex and more data in genes? For example, wasn¡¯t it possible to be born with the knowledge of thenguage or the use of specific tools as part of the instinctive domain from the moment of birth?

    Perhaps the species of pioneers seemed to have developed technology to that stage.

    [A typical example of the regtions entered in the gene is to resist and revenge desperately in solidarity with the death of their kind. We also added some additional information to the leader and gave it a helpful tool to check whether the dragons who crossed the world were alive or dead and whether they were in danger.]

    A helpful tool?

    [It¡¯s a magical tool that locally substitutes the Akashic Records concept, and since the principle can¡¯t be easily understood, it will not have a big impact on the development of civilization.]

    [The tool is linked to the consciousness of all dragons currently alive in the world, including the Dragon Emperor, and stores excerpts of what they have seen and heard.]

    ¡­ Hey, wait. What?

    [The dragon leader will be able to know how many dragons have survived in the world through the tool and know what happened to them or what is happening now. Unknown to other dragons, it¡¯s a secret known only to the world¡¯s dragon leader.]

    Ah¡­ I felt dizzy for a moment.

    So, it could ess other dragons¡¯ memories?

    It was ridiculous. When those self-respecting dragons knew that the Dragon Emperor could read their memories, it was worth it for all the dragons to strike both the Dragon Emperor and rules, causing a fuss.

    No, wait a minute.

    I noted another possibility. How about the memories when I encountered dragons? Clearly, the memory of the main body was cleared through Yodmo¡¯s ears, but what if the memory stored in the tool remained intact?

    Things got a littleplicated.

    ***

    The Dragon Emperor that consumed the whole vige of Ramuming seeded in restoring its body to some extent. Although it wasn¡¯tpletely regenerated, its body was restored enough to fly in the sky.

    In a quiet vige full of Ramuming¡¯s blood and flesh, the Dragon Emperor told the young dragon.

    ¡°Lucette-Eigar, thank you for your help. I¡¯ll pay youter.¡±

    ¡°Can you fly alone now? Heal everything quickly and help me out. What happened is¡­¡±

    Lucette began to exin what had happened to it, but the Dragon Emperor stopped its mouth in the middle.

    ¡°After all, you and I are in a simr situation. You suddenly woke up outdoors, and your memories disappeared neatly, and although the degree is different, you got hurt on your whole body.¡±

    ¡°Yes! That¡¯s right. The demons must¡¯ve done it, but now that our memories are gone, how do we track them down? There is no clue.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I have a way.¡±

    ¡°How?¡±

    Instead of answering the questions, Dragon Emperor turned the subject.

    ¡°Let¡¯s break up here. I can fly alone so that I will stop by my nest.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t you need to recover? You need more Ramumings.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s something more urgent.¡±

    The Dragon Emperor said that it had something necessary to do more than Lucette-Eigar¡¯s request and broke up with Lucette for a while on the spot.

    The Dragon Emperor raised its barely recovered body and flew into the sky. It returned to its own nest.

    ¡®¡­ I never thought I¡¯d lose my memory. I don¡¯t know what kind of demons it is, but it¡¯s a new kind. Once I catch it, I have to do research. Very enough, after a long time.¡¯

    Also, in the process of that research, the demons would never be fine.

    After entering the nest, the Dragon Emperor approached a wall.

    The wall shook like an illusion, and its body prated inside.

    From generation to generation, it was an entrance where only the Dragon Emperor could enter and exit.

    The Dragon Emperor entered the isted space and walked in one direction without hesitation. It then stopped in front of the metal storage box.

    ¡®¡­ No other Dragon Emperor in the past has been able to find out the materialposition of the box that stores it, let alone the principle of this artifact. A secret tool that has only been handed down to the Dragon Emperor. What is the reason for this handed-down artifact, and who is the creator?¡¯

    The Dragon Emperor opened the box and lifted the lens out of it.

    The Dragon Emperor¡¯s only way to manage and monitor the dragons with strong independent tendencies was in its hands. It focused its mind and sharpened its teeth.

    ¡®I¡¯ll have to check what kind of guy made me like this.¡¯

 Chapter 153

    <ol><li> Savior or Destroyer (22)</li></ol>

    [There are certain moments when the entire race has to obey the leader¡¯s instructions unconditionally. This is the case when the leader deres a ¡®species crisis.¡¯]

    [However, information is essential for the leader to dere such a situation.]

    [For example, if the leader learns about the disappearance of their people, it needs information about what happened in the past for the leader to judge whether it was the result of being hunted by the hostile species or the result of their own will. However, considering the nature of the species that it¡¯s impossible to live in a group or form a very close rtionship, judgment will not be easy.]

    [So, we gave the tool to the leader.]

    [Based on the fact that it is an Akashic record limited to the memories of dragons, we named the tool ¡®The Dragon¡¯s Scriptures.¡¯ It¡¯s also a name mixed with mockery of the Akashic Records¡¯ owner, ¡®The Scriptures Without the Last Chapter.¡¯]

    ***

    The Dragon Emperor with the crystal ball trembled. It couldn¡¯t believe what it saw with both eyes.

    ¡°Is this real?¡±

    Its mouth was wide open.

    ¡°¡­ What nonsense!¡±

    What the Dragon Emperor was holding was an object called ¡®the Scriptures.¡¯

    No Dragon Emperors in history knew why such a name was given to that unknown tool that recorded its people¡¯s memories.

    The scriptures usually referred to a book in which the words of God were collected or written in praise of the deity. It was a name that didn¡¯t suit the shape or function of that crystal ball.

    Anyway, the Dragon Emperor had been witnessing the most shocking scenes ever since it inherited the Scriptures.

    ¡°I used the ¡®power of exchange¡¯ to make a deal with the Truth-Seeker in other worlds¡­ and as a result, I had contact with a human? Also, that man made me like this?¡±

    It put Mana to the valuable item handed down to the Dragon Emperors, and it first searched the records of its memories. At first, it was amazed to realized how many memories had disappeared from its head, and then, when it learned of the reality of the entity that caused that situation, it jumped out of ce and almost broke the ceiling of the nest.

    ¡°Human?! Not demons?¡±

    There was no realization that the reading of the memories recorded in the scriptures belonged to it. It felt unreal, as if listening to what other people went through.

    That was because it was apletely erased memory in its mind.

    ¡°¡­ I became like that because of one human being?¡±

    It was useless to deny it.

    At that time, the Dragon Emperor was surely convinced that its opponent was human based on the information and sensed it had acquired. It was looking into its memory of making that judgment currently.

    The Dragon Emperor eventually roared in anger.

    ¡°How dare a humaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan?!¡±

    Sound waves fluctuated in the nest.

    ¡°How dare you! A thing that was nothing like a bug! You, such a small creature!¡±

    -Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrhh!

    ¡°To me who inherits the noble name of Egonew!¡±

    The dragon¡¯s fury echoed in the air, shaking the huge cavity in the mountain.

    -Ghhrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

    ¡°¡­ I won¡¯t let you go!¡±

    The old dragon barely breathed and thought after expressing his rage with his whole body after centuries.

    ¡°He is a human that the Truth-Seeker from other worlds would be interested in!¡±

    It reyed the scene it saw.

    ¡°Moreover, he can use God¡¯s spells that I¡¯ve never heard of before. I got caught up in it and already been beaten helplessly once!¡±

    It barely regained its coolness while immersed in its thoughts. The old dragon was quick with emotion. It looked back at all its lost memories.

    ¡°Lucette-Eigar and some other dragons, even though I deliberately neglected them before I lost my memory, were all struck by the human group, but it doesn¡¯t seem like they borrowed the power of that unknown God against them.¡±

    Even though the Dragon Emperor knew what the man was doing to some of its people, it left them alone. Following another dimension¡¯s Truth-Seeker¡¯s advice, it created the perfect environment. It waited for the human to approach, but the old dragon was struck by even though it did that.

    A spell that appeared to be mental magic that had buried the entire surrounding area in the dark and at the same time rendered itself to be unable to fight.

    ¡°What kind of God is it?¡±

    The Dragon Emperor noted that the wizard triggered the artifact just before the magical effect was invoked.

    ¡°He made God¡¯s spells into artifacts? That means that it is also a spell that has no choice but to have a burden for the caster.¡±

    Once those artifacts were consumed, it was possible to expect that there would be no spells charged right away.

    There was no reason to mobilize artifacts in that way if the sacrifices were easily avable and the nature of the sacrifice didn¡¯t burden the caster.

    It didn¡¯t know what kind of God it was, but it had to be a deity who demanded a terrible price. There was no doubt that the wizard was reluctant to keep the spell on his body and dyed the offering.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to charge such spell again. Maybe he has already paid the price of the first spell, and now he¡¯s out of the spell.¡±

    Of course, the Dragon Emperor had to consider the possibility should things not go as it thought. Moreover, what if he had one more powerful spell that wasn¡¯t easy to deal with, even if it wasn¡¯t exactly that magic?

    The dragon¡¯s worries deepened. How would it take revenge on such an opponent? How would it repay the disgrace it suffered?

    The choice of not taking revenge was already out of its mind. The Old Dragon Emperor was an inevitable dragon, too.

    ¡°Hmmm.¡±

    The earliest curiosity aimed at that human being came from the vague prediction that it might be a clue to ¡°to lead the race to perfection¡± proverb handed down to the Dragon Emperors.

    Currently, the motive of repaying disgrace had been added. It wouldn¡¯t kill him easily, but it had no intention to make fun of it either. The old dragon was going to research while harassing him as much as it could.

    ¡°When I epted the deal, I was curious about the human being. I was trying to figure out what the hell he was doing to get those beings interested in him. He wasn¡¯t even killing other dragons anyway.¡±

    With the secret observation that time, he was powerful enough for the dragon itself to intervene and subdue him. It thought so until it was directly targeted by ¡®such magic.¡¯

    ¡°Is it possible for the opponent to expect more hidden cards? But what about the damage if left as it is?¡±

    That man had already caused considerable damage to the dragon kind. The first few ended up losing their memory and Mana quickly, but it even had its limbs cut off. If the rest of the other people became the same as Dragon Emperor itself, it would be enough to make Ramumings on that go extinct.

    ¡°Yes, that¡¯s it.¡±

    The old dragon found a point where its personal desires and its sense of duty as a Dragon Emperor matched, and a fishy smile shed on its face.

    The Dragon Emperor began to rationalize itself.

    As the thought progressed, a motive in its heart began to form and elicit its conviction.

    ¡°Yes, that guy is dangerous even from the race¡¯s point of view. Although it hurts my pride to admit it!¡±

    He attacked the kids in the neighborhood one by one, so it was watching that guy, but it turned out that he was still a bastard that would cut off all the kids¡¯ limbs if he made up his mind. It was the Dragon Emperor¡¯s turn to protect its people.

    ¡®Even if it put aside personal grudges.¡¯

    Considering the tendency, the old dragon was the only one who would voluntarily step up to deter him. Lucette-Eigar and several more could join the force considering personal grudges. The Dragon Emperor could make up a good excuse of how it found the main culprit.

    ¡®But¡­ can we really deal with that human being?¡¯

    The Dragon Emperor continued its rationalization. Yes, the opponent was that dangerous entity.

    ¡°At this point, this is a species crisis.¡±

    Usually, the ¡®species crisis¡¯ was dered only when it became clear that another species had killed its people. The fact that even one individual had been killed implied the possibility that if indifference continued without a species-level response and individual breakouts continued one by one, it could lead to extinction helplessly.

    Looking at the current situation, no individual had died yet. Still, it had been confirmed that a particr entity, which was difficult to grasp the bottom of its power, was very deeply interested in their people.

    Some humans could make dragons ipetent, and some could cause fatal losses to their bodies.

    Although no dragon had been sacrificed so far¡­ would it be the case in the future?

    What was more, if they didn¡¯t necessarily kill him, one day, the might run out of Ramumings if he kept cutting their limbs as he did to itself. That was because the monkey¡¯s reproduction rate was limited.

    After all those considerations, the Dragon Emperor made a ¡®rational judgment¡¯ that the current situation was very dangerous for their kind.

    The Dragon Emperor felt very ¡®satisfied¡¯ with its judgment.

    ¡°Yes, this is a species crisis!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor didn¡¯t like the assumption that it was dealing with the wizard by gathering several individuals.

    However, what if all the dragons of that world gathered together?

    ¡°Khuhuhuhuhu!¡±

    The best part was that the cold-headed reason as the Dragon Emperor agreed that that choice was right.

    ¡°Then¡­¡±

    The Dragon Emperor concentrated Mana on its hand that held the Scriptures. It figured out the location of each dragon in that world. The dragons who received the messageter would mistake it for using high-level magic that even tricked their people¡¯s senses as always until that time.

    The Dragon Emperor opened its minds and transmittedmunication magic to his kind on the entire.

    ¡°To all our people in the world, I announce it in the name of Egonew.¡±

    The replies of their same kinds about the suddenmunication of Dragon Emperor raged like waves. Instead of responding to it, it shouted the words it had prepared. It was amand that could be said out loud since it was reasonably judged, although personal desires were involved at the same time.

    ¡°Now, we are facing a species crisis!¡±

    ***

    [The leader is the one that is the center of the dragons. Thanks to the intelligence tools inscribed in the genes, all dragons will naturallye tomon sense that they must obey the leader¡¯s unconditional order under some crisis conditions. Also, all dragons spread this knowledge when raising their young.]

    [Most dragons can¡¯t know until the end of their lives. Even if their parents don¡¯t pass on that knowledge, they are all designed to ¡®instinctively¡¯ follow the leader¡¯s instruction when a certain momentes. Except for the leader, they live without knowing that when they give birth, they have no choice but to educate them about the rules of the race ¡®instinctively.¡¯]

    [The discipline that will be regarded as their own unique culture and wisdom once their intelligence level has risen is, in fact, a kind ofmand that is forcibly stigmatized by genes. These are steps we have taken to ensure the survival of the dragon species.]

    [The condition under which that order is issued, as mentioned earlier, is for the Emperor to dere a ¡®species crisis.¡¯]

    ***

    As soon as the Dragon Emperor dered, the replies like waves of their people that were pouring out toward it stopped all at once.

    -¡­

    In quiet silence, all dragons on the were waiting for its nextmand.

    The Dragon Emperor continued itsmunication magic with a smile of remorse.

    ¡°Remember all the images I¡¯m delivering now!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor spread Yoon Min-joon and Mrs. Pearl¡¯s image, which it had witnessed, withmunication magic. It didn¡¯t stop there but also checked the Lucette-Eigar¡¯s lost memories and transmitted all the party¡¯s image with them.

    ¡°These are peculiar entities that can be a threat to our species!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor ordered all the dragons in the world to find out where they were.

    ¡°Even if you find them, never touch them and share information first! And, as soon as the whereabouts are identified, all dragons in this world gather into my nest.¡±

    The Dragon Emperor¡¯s n was very simple. It was overwhelming the offensive quantities!

    Since the beginning of the dragon civilization in that world, there had been no other tactics. After their tremendous power was concentrated, no enemies survived.

    Until that moment, the demons who invaded that world had never been able to be eradicated in that way.

    ¡°After everyone gathers in my nest, then we will attack all at once!¡±

    The Dragon Emperor gritted its teeth by dreaming of revenge.

    It tried to mobilize the entire kind whom it had to protect as a Dragon Emperor in the affairs involving its desires and personal motives, but it didn¡¯t feel any guilt about it.

    The old dragon sincerely thought that that choice was for all of its people, beyond its interests, and as an action to fulfill its calling as a Dragon Emperor.

    ***

    Dragons from all over the world flew into the sky at once.

    The vige of humans, or Ramumings that could see the nests with the naked eye, were horrified.

    The violent and swift movement of the dragons were different from usual. Those in the position of dealing with the old records noted that it could be interpreted as a sign of a battle between the dragon and the demon, and fear and confusion spread among the native species of the world except for the dragon.

    The dragons, who didn¡¯t know what was going on the ground and wouldn¡¯t care at all, even if they knew it, skimmed the with magic from the high sky. They then began to search for small creatures that match the appearance the Dragon Emperor said.

    -Find them!

    -It¡¯s a species crisis!

    -Find those small creatures that the Dragon Emperor said!

    None of them noticed, although the world of consciousness was slightly different from the usual.

    Currently, the Dragon Emperor didn¡¯t exin the situation that their people were murdered, unlike usual. It was simply dered as a species crisis.

    Nevertheless, no one could easily disagree. Those dogmatic and independent dragons suddenly move in a row like thoroughly brainwashed soldiers.

    The dragons, who noticed with a keen sense that even the dreams they had just dreamed of had been stolen, didn¡¯t question that part at all. They all seemed to be insensitive.

    How long had it been like that?

    Yoon Min-joon and Mrs. Pearl, who were wary of the Dragon Emperor¡¯s search and maintained imprable magical security, didn¡¯t get caught searching for the dragons, even though they were closest to the Dragon Emperor.

    However, Yoon Min-joonpanions, who didn¡¯t prepare thorough security measures like him since they were already out of the dragon¡¯s territory, were left in the Ramuming¡¯s vige with an identification number starting with 15.

    They were discovered by a young dragon named Grime-Tepamine, whose nest was geographically closest to them.

    -Dragon Emperor! I found small creatures that match the look you sent!

 Chapter 154

    <ol><li> Savior or Destroyer (23)</li></ol>

    The amount of information stored in the Root Stone was quiterge, but most of them were difficult to understand, or I had no idea how to use it. I know the level was very high, but I didn¡¯t have the background knowledge to absorb it.

    Nevertheless, I listened patiently. That was because I could fully understand the value of those ruins even by collecting only understandable content.

    The exnation of the dragon species described from the viewpoint of the pioneer species continued, and¡­

    ¡°¡­ Huh?¡±

    There was a phrase that caught my interest.

    [As mentioned earlier, the dragon species who have already settled in other worlds are ssified as ¡®external-dimensional species¡¯ and are protected by relevantws and regtions. Therefore, the intervention of indiscriminate civilization is strictly prohibited.]

    [However, we would like to inform you of the exceptions under the terms of the ¡®Rtive Protection Act,¡¯ which take precedence over the ¡®external-dimensional race rights¡¯ rtedws.]

    [No matter how friendly the dragons evolve, the assumption that they may pose a threat to the pioneers is practically impossible. However, our people¡¯s safety is one of the values we value most, and it isn¡¯t a proposition that is underestimated, partially excluded, or subject to an optimistic assumption. We have to take the best steps to ensure the safety of our people under any circumstances.]

    [Therefore, despite the slim chance of urrence, we enter the following information into this storage medium. Users should never abuse this information and can only activate this feature if they know the ¡®direct, explicit and immediate threat of dragons¡¯ against their people. Please note that if you vite these instructions, the feature may be permanently disabled.]

    [However, for the dragon that caused the activation, this feature is always activated even after it has been activated once. In this case, the deactivation penalty does not apply. This is because once a dragon has shown aggression to your people, it can show repeated threatening behavior until there is a behavioral correction.]

    Afterpleting the exnation so far, the storage media left a brief gap. One after another, Parvache began to utter words that couldn¡¯t be interpreted even in the realm of wills.

    Parvache and I had no choice but to ask Maru directly about the meaning.

    Maru refused to exin at first, saying that there were too many difficult meanings, but it began to exin when we urged it several times by scratching the air.

    ¡°Ah¡­ this¡­ what it means¡­¡±

    It took some time for us to understand Maru¡¯s words. If all the storage medium contents had been delivered in that way, it would take at least a few months.

    However, we asked what purpose and how the concept was being used, and Maru felt it also difficult to exin.

    After hearing that, I had no choice but to put a satisfied smile around my lips.

    ***

    ¡°It was dark under themp.¡±

    Upon receiving Grime-Tepamine¡¯s magicalmunication, the Dragon Emperor gritted its teeth quietly.

    The strange humanpanions were found in Ramuming¡¯s vige, not far from the Dragon Emperor¡¯s nest.

    It didn¡¯t know how they got into such a ce, but it was enough to dig reason after catching them.

    ording to Grime-Tepamine, the monster-like humans weren¡¯t in town. It was unknown whether that son of a bitch was moving separately or whether he had avoided the dragon¡¯s search magic by using unknown magic.

    It wasn¡¯t a big problem. In the first case, it would be enough to interrogate hispanions and dug up his tracks, and if it were thetter case, he would have no choice but to reveal his appearance in the process of overturning the entire vige.

    Yes, the Dragon Emperor was going to head to the Ramuming¡¯s vige as soon as all of its people gathered.

    -Gwoooooooooooooong!

    The old dragon breathed its Mana into the Scriptures it was holding in its hand. Once again, it located all the dragons on that, and it sentmunication magic to all of them.

    -We have identified the location of some unique threatening species!

    It conveyed its wills through magic one after another.

    -Right now, at this moment, all our fellows stop other activities and gather to my nest!

    As the destination was just around there, there was no reason to choose another ce as the gathering point.

    The Dragon Emperor shouted like that and waited. While quietly burning the anger in its heart until its people flock to its nest.

    It would take some time for the dragons scattered all over the to gather together, but it was going to wait long enough before leaving. It wouldn¡¯t take up to half a day.

    Since he was an enemy that had already been fought in a moment that it didn¡¯t remember, the Dragon Emperor didn¡¯t intend to do anything careless at that time. It prepared for the same strategy as in the war with the demons, a surprise attack using total firepower.

    ¡°Wait for a little, you small creature.¡±

    The Dragon Emperorughed coldly.

    ***

    Afterpleting the expedition to the Root Stone, we returned to Ramuming¡¯s vige as quickly as possible. Knowing that memory could be stored and read, it was possible to assume that they would track us down anytime soon.

    After eating some, Garam, who seemed to had recovered a little, was resting by renting a hut of Ramumings. Mrs. Pearl looked after him, and I made Maru practice in a hurry.

    Time flew by in such a hurry that there was no time to take a breath, and their response came faster than expected.

    ¡°Uaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrgh!¡±

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!¡±

    The Ramumings outside the vige screamed as if their souls were escaping as a whole.

    ¡°Oh, that surprised me! What is it?!¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim stood up with a perplexed look. Usually, people ran right out of the hut in surprise and looked around. Instead, she chanted the reconnaissance magic and floated it to the vast outsidendscape.

    It was a good posture. Well trained. There was no need to expose yourself without knowing the nature of the danger. However, it didn¡¯t mean much to ¡®them¡¯ right now.

    Hwang Soo-rim, who grasped the outdoorndscape with her magic, shouted in astonishment.

    ¡°C-Crazy, what are all those things?!¡±

    It started.

    We moved from the Root Stone to there in a hurry, and then I practiced with Maru several times. Thus, we didn¡¯t give enough exnation to the rest of the group yet.

    I spoke calmly.

    ¡°It was a good response, but those guys would have scanned this ce in advance. That¡¯s why they gathered as much as possible and fly this way. Considering the number of the dragon gathered and the size of the¡­ likely, we were already discovered while I was away from the vige.¡±

    After saying so, I walked out of the hut. The blue-haired aliens were staring at the other side of the sky with a numb look.

    I followed their gaze and looked over the horizon. In the sky, a simr scene was unfolding wherever I looked without even having to distinguish between front and rear, left and right.

    ¡°Hu¡­ Huaaaaarrrgh!¡±

    The Ramuming¡¯s screams followed one after another.

    Hwang Soo-rim, who followed me, muttered behind my back.

    ¡°Oh¡­ it¡¯s like a fucking shit.¡±

    On the other side, where our gaze reached, countless dragons approached that vige surrounding the sky all around.

    colored dots covered the sky, and the speed at which the shape grows wasn¡¯t unusual. They were flying fast.

    ¡°Aaaaah!¡±

    As if he had lost his reason, an old Ramuming sat down.

    ¡°[email protected]#%#[email protected]!¡±

    He mumbled over and over again with words I didn¡¯t understand. So, I spoke, ignoring their reaction.

    ¡°Were there so many dragons on this?¡±

    At first nce, their number would be over a thousand.

    ¡°Parvache, we had the wrong n in the first ce.¡±

    [¡­]

    It didn¡¯t answer.

    Currently, it seemed that Parvache had be so weak that it was difficult to create a will. Even so, I kept talking to it.

    ¡°It wasn¡¯t something we¡¯d go looking for one by one and break them down. Even if we had pushed it that way, it would¡¯ve been faster for the Earthly Truth-Seeker¡¯s new body to bepleted.¡±

    Parvache still didn¡¯t respond.

    In the meantime, the Ramumings in the vige were showing a reaction close to a group frenzy. Usually, dragons¡¯ appearance in the vige would¡¯ve been a disaster itself, but that scene would bring extreme despair and fear.

    Moreover, it seemed that most Ramumings had never seen so many dragons moving at once. Thest war with the demons appeared to have ended long ago, right?

    ¡°¡­ Eraser, tell me.¡±

    Next to me, Hwang Soo-rim rolled her lips with a paleplexion. Instead of panicking or expressing her emotions, she asked questions.

    ¡°Escape? Or suicide?¡±

    Her tone was pretending to be calm, but her voice was shaking.

    It was a question that came out of remembering the advice I gave before entering that world. When I was on the verge of being caught by a dragon, I told her that it would be better tomit suicide if it was judged that there was a low chance that I could save her.

    Considering the obsession with dragons, it was obvious that we wouldn¡¯t die easily once we were caught.

    ¡°No, you don¡¯t have to.¡±

    I shook my head and replied.

    Suddenly, Hwang Soo-rim¡¯splexion rxed a little.

    ¡°¡­ Is there any way? Really? In this stupid situation right now?¡±

    Her words were harsh and negative, but the voice was a bit mixed with hope to believe.

    ¡°¡­ Something like a hidden secret spell? No, there¡¯s nothing to hide in the first ce. I can¡¯t tell how far you can go or what you can¡¯t do, after all. Anyway¡­ is there a way?!¡±

    Instead of answering back, I looked back at the sky.

    ¡®Come a little closer, a little closer.¡¯

    What I was waiting for was the moment when all the dragons came into my sight.

    ***

    A squadron of dragons crossed the sky through the light purple clouds.

    The Dragon Emperor was flying in the middle of the line. It hadn¡¯t fully recovered its body yet. However, it chose to go on the front line as it was.

    Coincidentally, the destination of Ramuming¡¯s Vige influenced its decision-making.

    The Dragon Emperor mumbled.

    ¡°However, it might be the best battleground for the dragons.¡±

    If they were injured, they could immediately crush the monkeys around them and consume them. The Dragon Emperor thought to take some Ramumings and recover first while the other dragons were overpowering their opponents.

    -Dragon Emperor! We can see the stable with our naked eye!

    The dragons in front sent magicalmunication.

    ¡°Good.¡±

    If they were aware of it, those small creatures might try tomit suicide at that moment. The Dragon Emperor thought to end the suppression with a quick rush before that.

    It castmunication magic on all of its 1,500 people flying in the sky.

    -Everyone! Start suppressing the small creature. Keep in mind! Unlike the demons, this time, the priority is to secure them alive instead of killing them at random!

    The soaring dragons replied with magic all at once. They then gradually began to lower the altitude. It was a paving stone to put the preys within the range of the spell.

    Its people who covered the sky turned their bodies at once and descended gracefully. The Dragon Emperorughed happily as it looked at the magnificent sight.

    ¡°That¡¯s a luxury for human beings.¡±

    Since the beginning of the dragon civilization in that world, it was probably the first time that all dragons had united for war against humans.

    It was such unusual opponents. After getting them, meaningful results were expected. Of course, including resolving personal grudges.

    ¡°Compared to any war we have gone through, we¡¯ll treat you so well.¡±

    -Gwaaaaaaaaaarrrhhhh!

    The dragons roared.

    ***

    ¡°Hweeeeeeeeeeessssh!¡±

    The sound of dragons exhaling from the sky rang like thunder. After hearing it, the condition of the Ramumings got even worse.

    -Gwaaaaaaaaaarrrrggghh!

    The howling dragons created airwaves. They approached close enough to touch my skin.

    ¡°Maru, get ready.¡±

    As soon as I said that, a pile of tentacles jumped from my chest. Instead ofing down to the ground right away, it floated in the air and stretched its tentacles back and forth. It then swam around like a tumble and turned its body.

    It was so excited.

    ¡°Dragon¡­! It¡¯s a dragon¡­! There are so many¡­! There are so many dragooooons¡­!¡±

    I cut off its words so it couldn¡¯t keep looking away.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you y as much as you want in a little while, so let¡¯s start with the practice!¡±

    ¡°¡­ Okay, definitely! For sure!¡±

    It only got to the ground after reconfirming my promise. It then stretched out its tentacles in all directions, simr to when itmunicated with Root Stone. The turquoise sea urchin-shaped guy turned its gaze toward the sky.

    ¡°Now, Maru. Look at those dragons¡­ That¡¯s a ¡®direct, explicit, and immediate threat,¡¯ right? Every single one of them.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Uh, right¡­ You¡¯re right.¡±

    Maru, who liked many dragons, was a little depressed because it felt something after listening to me.

    ¡°So, shall we do what we practiced?¡±

    I couldn¡¯t predict that the dragons in that world had an artifact called ¡®The Dragon¡¯s Scriptures.¡¯ I didn¡¯t think there would be a magic tool that backed up the memories separately, even if I erased them from the main bodies. I didn¡¯t think that far.

    Due to that, it could¡¯ve been a huge failure. It was giving me a headache, only thinking about it.

    ¡­ If it wasn¡¯t for that guy and the information on the Root Stone.

    ¡°Please, Maru.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Yeah!¡±

    That guy paused for a moment as if it was fumbling through its memory.

    I recalled the information that the Root Stone delivered.

    [¡­ Thisnguage system is a high-level technology that directly intervenes in a specific species¡¯ genes and is not included in the basic information tool within the genes of the pioneer race. Even if you are a pioneer, it takes a lot of time to train before using it skillfully. However, several phrases have been separately selected and marked on this storage medium in preparation for an emergency. Even if there is no understanding of the grammar or meaning of each morpheme of thisnguage, the function can be activated by memorizing and saying a few selected sentences. These are phrases that can be useful in an emergency.]

    Yes, it was a kind ofnguage system that the storage medium, called the Root Stone, left for ¡®preparing for emergencies.¡¯

    Maru stared at the dragons flying in the sky.

    Suddenly, without any warning, it vibrated the air in all directions and exploded a loud sound!

    ¡°[Zheweiii¡­ Takk!]¡±

    Echoes resonated in the ins following the roaring trail.

    -Wooooooooooo!

    ¡°Kyaaaaaaahhh!¡±

    ¡°Uargh!¡±

    Everyone, including me, hurriedly closed their ears. Oh, I thought my eardrums dropped! The sound was so loud that it made my head pound.

    It wasn¡¯t just the species on the ground who heard the binge.

    ¡°Huuh!¡±

    The Ramumings, who came to their sense and looked at the air, hardened.

    ¡°¡­ Good!¡±

    I also looked up at the sky. The expected effect was spreading in the air.

    ¡°Yoo-No, Eraser. How the hell¡­ did that happen?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl asked with a puzzled look, and Iughed instead of answering.

    Where our gaze reached, there was a starryndscape in the daytime sky.

    in the blue sky, and the colors of the scales were so colorful. There weren¡¯t only primary colors such as red, blue, gold, ck, and silver, but also the angle of sunlight. It was also diverse.

    All those dragons were stuck in the sky in the same way they were running toward us.

    I could see it in my eyes when I opened the Mana circuit. Some guys opened their mouths wide and hardened, others felt like they were about to activate the spell, and others stiffened at the moment of trying to stretch out their wings and stretch out the forefoot.

    Did it work better than expected? That was exactly what Maru ordered.

    Oh, should I say that the sentence Maru just said was roughly equivalent to ¡®Wait!¡¯ in thenguage I know?

    ¡°Now, then!¡±

    I closed my ears and rushed the tentacles. Suddenly, as if expecting something simr to happen, the people around us hesitated and blocked their ears.

    Maru burst the next sentence it had memorized in the air.

    A sentence that Maru only memorizes how to pronounce without knowing the meaning of each word. It was a sentence whose meaning of the entire sentence was known, but no understanding of grammar.

    An explosion seemed to destroy the mountain, which was absolutely second to nonepared to the previous one.

    ¡°[Ghoedremai-boa¡­ Takk!]¡±

    Even before the echoes of the sound produced by Maru disappeared, an extraordinary change began in the sky.

    ¡°¡­¡±

    While humans, fox, Maek, Ramumings, and other species were all talking in confusion. I watched the air show in front of my eyes.

    The sentence Maru made at that moment seemed to mean that much in trantion. ¡°Come down, sit down!¡±

    As soon as the words fell, the dragons, which had been stiffed in the sky, began to fall with their heads down, crouching like a mountain duck shot by a hunter,pletely missing their previous orbit of gracefully falling.

    There were red dragons, blue dragons, and gold dragons. Altogether, the giant dragons that covered the sky all start to free-fall toward the ground at once.

    It looked like the sky was falling, and celestial bodies were eroding to the ground, or it was a painting as if a meteor shower made of all-natural colors was pouring toward the earth.

    ¡°O¡­ o¡­ oh, my God!¡±

    By the time an exmation, whose source was unknown, scattered into the atmosphere¡­

    At first nce, a group of huge biological meteorites, whose trajectories exceeded a thousand, finally touched the earth, and the dry ins weed them with a roar.

    -Bang bang bang bang!

    The flesh, blood droplets, and scales of the giant beings were torn and scattered on the ground with dirt.

 Chapter 155

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (24)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    A roaring sound as if the sky was copsing continued for some time, and cloudy dust knocked over everywhere.

    I looked at the mess unfolding on the ground with my eyes open to the Mana circuit, and the figure in front of me came into my eyes through the thick dust. It was enough to distinguish objects.

    The dragons were lying to the ground with their whole body covered in blood. Even their strong bodies couldn¡¯t withstand the impact of the fall. Dragons with bent and torn wings also stood out.

    None of the dragons, which must be experiencing considerable pain, were making any noticeable movements. They just stretched their necks and limbs andy t on the ground.

    ¡°¡­ Is that a ¡®sitting¡¯ position?¡¯¡±

    Mrs. Pearl asked with a trembling voice behind me.

    ¡°What the hell did¡­ Maru do?¡±

    The causal rtionship of that phenomenon would be clear even in her eyes, so I answered calmly.

    ¡°It¡¯s anguage that was made tomunicate with those dragons, and it gave orders.¡±

    The dragon¡¯s reason didn¡¯t understand it directly, but their genes controlled the dragon¡¯s brain in response to thatmand.

    ¡°What Maru just said was instructing them to stop flying,e down to the ground and sit down.¡±

    Dragons were basically flying animals.

    I didn¡¯t know if tentacle creatures could fly in the sky by nature (in the case of Maru, it was only possible to fly only after acquiring telekic power). Still, to keep a creature that could fly freely as a pet would¡¯ve required a means of restraining its behavior.

    Even if the dragon was flying far away, wouldn¡¯t the owner do something like ¡®training¡¯ so that the dragon quicklyes back and sits down on the ground when the owner said a word?

    No, there was a high probability that the genes were modified so that even such training was unnecessary.

    ¡°Is that sitting down? ¡­No matter how much I look, didn¡¯t it seem just to fall?¡±

    ¡°¡­ I didn¡¯t expect them to fall so violently. I don¡¯t think that the original intention of themand given by the Root Stone was like that.¡±

    ¡°Command?¡±

    Only then did I gave the group an exnation of thenguage system Maru acquired through Root Stone.

    Maru was consequently imnted with the ability to speak a singlenguage from the ruins.

    However, as Root Stone informed us in advance, Maru couldn¡¯t freely create sentences. Since it was a veryplex system, it took some time for Maru to take root and convergepletely in itsnguage center, and it seemed that the user needed constant practice.

    ¡°Due to that, when Maru received thenguage system, it selected and transnted severalmands for emergencies separately. Including the words that it just said to sit down. I think it would be right to sit down naturally instead of falling like that¡­ but I think it¡¯s because there are differences in nuances even if the samenguage is spoken.¡±

    While I was talking, the dust that had covered all over the ce had subsided to some extent. The dragons that covered the in were exposed to everyone¡¯s vision. No dragon crashed near us, thanks to ordering in advance before approaching the vige.

    ¡°¡­ Dragons¡­ hurt.¡±

    Maru, who saw the scene, muttered sullenly. That guy seemed to notice that it was a different oue than intended.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay.¡±

    At first nce, it wasn¡¯t life-threatening.

    I was soothing Maru like that.

    ¡°@#[email protected]#@^%@!¡±

    Chaos arose as the surroundings murmured.

    ***

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong with them?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked in confusion. All of the Ramumings around us leaned down, shook, and trembled. They then got down on the ground and started bowing to us! Many of them even burst into tears.

    ¡°@#@@#[email protected]#@^%@!¡±

    The Old Ramuming approached and talked to me. He appeared to be the leader of that vige, and he was the one who was discussing the terms of the deal with me. Come to think of it. We hadn¡¯t heard the answer yet about what we would do to return the minerals fed to Garam.

    ¡°@#@@#$!¡±

    He kept telling me something, but of course, I didn¡¯t understand.

    ¡°¡­ Hey, Parvache?¡±

    [¡­]

    Parvache still couldn¡¯t answer. Maybe it would stay like that and then move on to the next ego.

    ¡°¡­ Well, interpretation magic consumes too much Mana.¡±

    The interpretation magic I used boasts the worst fuel efficiency whenpared to a car. That means that my proficiency was low.

    There had been no significant level of development whenmunication was impossible. As on the Earth, I had to use Speech Dissolving Bead, and on other dimensions, I had relied entirely on Parvache.

    Just in case, I triggered the interpretation magic for a moment, then the words of the old Ramuming made sense, a little. Not a perfect sentence level, but a simple word meaning.

    ¡°¡­ Thank you¡­ dragon, savior¡­ healing¡­ please¡­!¡±

    As Parvache¡¯s condition worsened before the next move, I heard the exnation of Ramumings briefly. It was said that while living as dragon ves in that world, they were consumed as a cure.

    With that background knowledge, when I put the meaning of the old Ramuming¡¯s words into my head, I got a sense of it.

    It was saying thank you for making the dragons that harassed them like that, right?

    It seemed that it wasn¡¯t very important to me, so I ended the interpretation magic right away because it was a waste of Mana.

    ¡°Now, then shall we look for it?¡±

    The old Ramuming looked at me and said something eagerly, but I nodded once and turned away. I know, I know. You were saying thank you, right?

    I focused on my business. There was something more urgent.

    ¡°Which one of these guys¡­¡±

    I looked at the dragons that had fallen on the ground.

    Their bodies looked almost the same. At first nce, the wings, which were so long that they were mistaken for birds, were drawing a graceful curve. But of course, none of the birds in all dimensions I knew had that size.

    I thought as I saw the army of dragons buried in the ground, leaving red stains all over the ground. They were all so big. Furthermore, there were huge cracks in each ce that crashed seem unrealistic.

    ¡°Why did a flying creature have to evolve with such a massive body?¡±

    The strange thing didn¡¯t stop there. The color was also unnatural, so it was unmatched. In contrast to the almost identical appearance, there were too many types of scales of dragons gathered there.

    Well, of course, there might be subsses of species like a red dragon or blue dragon.

    However, some have ivory colors ranging from the nape of the neck to the tail with irregr patterns, while others had stripes in which fluorescent purple and jade colors intersect like a zebra.

    ¡°¡­ Moreover, colors don¡¯t seem to mean anything.¡±

    There was no difference in physical characteristics or abilities depending on the color of the scales.

    The dragons that I had encountered in person scales. Even though there was a difference in strength ording to age, I had never felt any ability change ording to color.

    ¡°Nevertheless, the variety of appearances like that¡­¡±

    In the end, it couldn¡¯t be seen as someone¡¯s intentional touch.

    Aquarium fishes naturally came to my mind. Aquarium fish that had been improved through human hands often show a brilliant color that couldn¡¯t be found in nature.

    In the end, weren¡¯t those colorful and diverse colors of dragons improved for contemtive purposes?

    I felt thepletion of the search magic in my hand and stopped thinking.

    ¡°Ah¡­ is that magic?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim asked as if she noticed.

    I nodded.

    ¡°Now that those dragons notice, I don¡¯t need to use magic secretly.¡±

    Actually, search magic with increased uracy and precision could be created at any time.

    I had the ¡®ck Hermit¡¯ body tissue, and I knew his true name. However, if I set the whole¡¯s range and unfold the search magic, the dragons would notice it, so I had carefully lowered the level of magic and beat them one by one.

    However, I didn¡¯t have to do that anymore. All of the dragons on that that I had been wary of, I guess, were all trembling like rats in front of a cat currently.

    After getting ready, I sprayed a perfect form of search magic on the in. The search range was, ¡®The army of dragons gathered on this in right now.¡¯ It was a search for an individual with the soul of the ck Hermit.

    -Whooooooong!

    Condensed Mana flowed through the in.

    And after a while¡­

    My face was distorted without mercy.

    ***

    ¡°Oh, what the hell is wrong with it?!¡±

    I scratch my hair. The party looked at me with anxious eyes.

    ¡°Is there something wrong with the spell? However, the trajectory on Earth was clearly captured. Even the soul¡¯s transition to this dimension has been measured without a problem!¡±

    I wanted to ask Parvache for advice, but I still didn¡¯t get an answer from it.

    ¡°How is the reaction?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl, who didn¡¯t understand, tilted her head and asked.

    I replied with anger in my heart.

    ¡°There¡¯s not much difference between the effect when the spell power was weakened in case it would be caught by a dragon and when I cast thepleted spell right now.¡±

    When I first memorized the heat-thermal spell after moving to this dimension, the result was very ambiguous. It¡¯s just a measure of direction indicating that my target will be among the dragons in that direction.

    Still, a simr phenomenon urred even though the proper spell was cast. My new sense, honed as a result of the spell, tells me that the soul of the ck Hermit was there at that moment.

    The problem¡­ was that the arrows created by that sense were toorge and inurate. ording to the sense that I feel now, all dragons scattered in this ce, with over a thousand individuals at first nce, could all be the targets!

    That only returned the absurd answer that all dragons there were candidates. It was a meaningless result.

    ¡°There was no problem with tracking on Earth¡­ What is the reason that the problem urred as soon as we moved to this dimension?¡±

    I turned to Garam and asked.

    ¡°Now, among those dragons, can you see the soul?¡±

    He looked around the in and shook his head.

    ¡°Damn it!¡±

    Although themand to sit forces the dragons to obey, it didn¡¯t seem to have the effect ofpletely destroying the mental barrier and causing them to lose their reason.

    ¡­ Oh, then?

    ¡°Maru, order those guys. Turn off all mental barriers.¡±

    ¡°¡­ I can¡¯t. It¡¯s hard.¡±

    ¡°Ah, seriously!¡±

    The process of converging newnguage systems in Maru¡¯snguage center like ¡®mental barrier¡¯ has not been entered yet.

    Then suddenly, Hwang Soo-rim asked.

    ¡°You said there was no problem with tracking on Earth?¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    I pondered for a moment.

    ¡°It was possible on Earth, but not here. After all, the environment is the problem. There are two possibilities. Either this dimension itself is interfering with magic, or¡­¡±

    I looked around at the fallen dragons that stretched endlessly on the ground.

    Hwang Soo-rim got my words back.

    ¡°There are so many dragons gathered in one ce, is there a problem with the current situation?¡±

    ¡°There is a possibility of that.¡±

    In the end, there were two ways to change the experimental environment to eliminate that disturbing factor. Either take all those dragons out of that dimension or iste each of these more than a thousand dragons away and then re-select them.

    After thinking about it for a while, I finally decided to try both methods.

    ¡°Maru, how many words have you got into your head now?¡±

    ¡°Ummmm¡­¡±

    Maru pondered for a moment, then it said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t count them all¡­ I keep getting new words now.¡±

    Thenguage system to control the dragons seemed to be fused with Maru¡¯snguage center at that moment.

    I looked at the ins and said to Maru. To bring all those dragons to Earth was impossible in that state now. I remember the way Dragon Emperor transformed into a human being. If humans were possible, even smaller creatures were possible.

    ¡°Is there the word small?¡±

    ¡°There is.¡±

    ¡°How about transform?¡±

    ¡°¡­ Wait a minute.¡±

    Maru thought for a while and then answered.

    ¡°There is something roughly simr.¡±

    ¡°Will you then give the dragons an order again? Do you remember our container? I¡¯m going to put all those dragons in it. I think they should transform to a size smaller than my palm. Could you order them to transform into that small size?¡±

    ¡°Transform smaller¡­ like¡­ Reclusive¡¯s¡­ palm?¡±

    Ah, was it rather ambiguous to make such a sentence?

    I changed my mind.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t there any words for animals, bugs, or anything smaller than my palm? Please tell them to transform into it.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Ah, there is.¡±

    Maru, who seemed to have finally found something, thought about it for a while and finally made a sentence.

    ¡°[Doho-keimian, Takk!]¡±

    Once again, a roaring sound as if the eardrum would burst resonated in the air.

    ¡°Haha.¡±

    Garam burst outughing as if he were dumbfounded at the scene unfolding on the in.

    The bodies of the numerous dragons, which were more than 1,100, began to shrink in no time. Before long, they disappeared.

    I quickly took the party and flew into the sky. We then went to the nearest dragon¡¯s location andnd on the floor.

    ¡°¡­ Hey, what the hell is this?¡±

    I wrinkled my eyebrows and asked Maru. I then reached out my hand and lifted that little thing wriggling in a puddle of blood in my hand.

    ¡°¡­ Bug. Small bug. A bug smaller than Reclusive¡¯s palm.¡±

    ¡°Is this a species that live in this world? What the hell did you order?¡±

    ¡°¡­I told them to be [keii].¡±

    ¡°What is that?¡±

    ¡°¡­The bug¡¯s name.¡±

    There was a high probability that it was not a creature that existed in this world. Nevertheless, the intelligence tools embedded in the dragon¡¯s genes must have faithfully manipted the dragon¡¯s brain ording to themand, transforming the body into this shape.

    Perhaps each dragon¡¯s knowledge or reason is not involved at all in this process. It was highly likely that the dragon race had no idea what this creature was. All that was done as the genes in their bodies tell them to do.

    I looked at the bug drooping in my hand. It was a maggot-shaped bug¡­a plump pink that was a little smaller than my palm. Small shallow bumps covered its whole body.

    ¡°Then¡­ we¡¯ll have to collect all of these.¡±

    ¡°T-T-That! Are you going to put them in the container? Do we have to ride with those to the Channel!¡±

    I nodded calmly. Without a container that allowed life to survive, it was impossible to put what I brought into a backpack with a subspace spell. They were going to die, and when the body containing the soul of the Truth-Seeker died, the soul had a high probability of waking up and running away. Absolutely not.

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s face turned white when she heard my answer. I didn¡¯t know that her fine right eye would fall from the pink maggot in my hand.

    My dimensional expedition to find the soul of ck Hermit was about to end with half a sess, with a thousand pink maggots collected.

 Chapter 156

    <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> <ol> <li> Savior or Destroyer (25)</li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </li> </ol>

    ¡°Then are we finally going back? Into our world?¡±

    Hwang Soo-rim¡¯s face brightened up. I thought it was her first time smiling aftering to that world. She smiled broadly, ignoring the distortion of her left mouth, stained with her burn scars.

    Everyone in the party was mobilized to retrieve more than a thousand pink maggots scattered across the in. We put everything that couldn¡¯t wriggle properly into a container outside the vige. The dragon species, which turned into maggots, were curled up calmly following Maru¡¯s orders. Even after they change their bodies, they were ¡®sitting in a position that was possible.

    ¡°How long has it been?!¡±

    More than a month had already passed since I came to that world. If Maru didn¡¯t take an active role at thest minute and hadn¡¯t dealt with the entire dragon species at once, the end of that journey might¡¯vee muchter.

    ¡°By the way¡­ do you have any idea why? Why the search magic suddenly doesn¡¯t function properly?¡±

    Mrs. Pearl asked with a dark expression. Preventing the resurrection of the ck Hermit was one of the important issues for White Deer.

    I shook my head.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    I wanted to seek advice from Parvache, but he had already stopped responding to my words. He would remain that way and then moved on to the next self. Even after that, it would take some time in the process of fusion with existing memories.

    In conclusion, propermunication wasn¡¯t possible for the time being.

    Garam suddenly got involved in the conversation.

    ¡°Is your n now to take all these maggots to Earth and use the search magic again?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Then I have a suggestion. First of all, how about using the power of the elders in White Deer Vige? Those who have lived much longer than I may have some way.¡±

    I thought about it for a while, then nodded.

    ¡°Let¡¯s experiment at my house first. If it doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯ll ask for help.¡±

    I opened the Channel and called a Summon to move the container. The faces of the Ramumings who saw the scene were shocked.

    Also, the vige representative, the old Ramuming, approached me more actively and appealed to me.

    ¡°Oh right. I didn¡¯t pay the price.¡±

    The price of the minerals Garam ate.

    ¡°@#[email protected]@^!¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry, but I still can¡¯t understand.¡±

    If I tried to use the trantion magic again, I would get a simr result, and it would only exhaust my Mana.

    ¡°Well¡­ I can¡¯t teach you magic as you asked for in the first ce. I have to go back to our world right now but, if I say this, you won¡¯t understand, right?¡±

    ¡°#@$#%@%@!¡±

    The old Ramuming was crying. Following him, all vige residents fell to the ground.

    ¡°Then¡­ I¡¯ll at least give you this.¡±

    I thought about it for a while, then I took out a bucket of Go stones from my backpack and handed them out to the old man. The old Ramuming received it with his trembling hands.

    ¡°It will help protect your vige in the future. Anyway, I will take all the dragons that can fight in this world, but if the baby dragons that cannot fly yet remain in the nest, you might be able to deal with them somehow.¡±

    Confusion arose in Ramuming¡¯s eyes. He didn¡¯t understand.

    I noticed that the Ramumings were entities capable of using magic and showed a demonstration in front of him.

    ¡°Now, like this.¡±

    I hold some of the Go stones in my hand and rolled them. A fricative sound was heard. In the meantime, I added some Mana to the stones. That was an attack artifact that I carried around for emergency purposes.

    It didn¡¯t take much time to make those things anyway, and it cost very little of the ingredients.

    ¡°Now, try it.¡±

    As I demonstrated, the old Ramuming followed me and added Mana to the stones.

    ¡°Now, like this, throw it out!¡±

    -Hoop!

    A big explosion broke out over the horizon, where the maggots had already been collected.

    -Bang bang bang!

    Vibration and light as if several bombs were exploding at the same time. The intense heat brushed through my cheeks. Suddenly, all Ramumings were frightened and screamed in unison.

    ¡°Now, try it.¡±

    The Ramuming, who barely got up from his seat, hesitated and then imitated me in the same way. Even if the Go stones were thrown with moderate force, they could be shot at high speed along the track. Soon, an explosion simr to the one I made urred.

    Currently, that was enough to pay back the mineral price. Hwang Soo-rim and the residents of White Deer would also understand, and I thought I had done enough to just get the dragons out of that world.

    So at that moment, I was going to go back no matter what Ramumings¡¯ reaction was. I waved at them once and turned my back.

    ¡°@#[email protected]#!¡±

    ¡°Ah, wait for a second!¡±

    Suddenly, Mrs. Pearl stopped me.

    ¡°I heard it from Elder Parvache before. It said that ne was a tool for dragons to make them behave like livestock, right? There may be no proper dragons left in this world anymore, but it¡¯s a pity to keep it that way. At first nce, it¡¯s obviously a magic tool, but it would be difficult to cut it off by themselves.¡±

    She then created a spark in her hand. The palm-sized fire eventually scattered into fine pieces like scarlet grains of sand and danced.

    I thought I knew what she was thinking, but she had to stop there.

    ¡°Oh, wait a minute. It can be dangerous if you destroy it that way.¡±

    It was a lot of work.

    I grumbled inside. The dragons weren¡¯t stupid. Wouldn¡¯t it had something like a self-destruct function if they tried to release it?

    Actually, that was the part that I had already confirmed with Parvache.

    ¡°Then¡­¡±

    Mrs. Pearl stared at me, and it wasn¡¯t that difficult, so I had no choice but to cover the whole town with anti-magic spells. I couldn¡¯t leave the scene where all of the Ramumings in that vige had their throats exploded by Mrs. Pearl¡¯s actions after saving them as much as possible.

    Only after the magic function in the ne disappeared, I gave a sign to Mrs. Pearl.

    As she reached out, the sand of the dancing me spread through the air, and it flew to all Ramumings one by one and stuck to the ne. The locally concentrated heat resulted from urately cutting out only the metal ne without burning the Ramuming¡¯s hair or skin.

    -Clink!

    All the nes worn by the vigers on their necks fell to the ground, and the sound of metal bumps rang out.

    ¡°Ah¡­ ah¡­!¡±

    The Ramumings cried and eximed as if they were thrilled.

    ¡°Now, let¡¯s really go now.¡±

    We loaded ourselves into the container only after Garam burst some dreams, saying he was the one who benefited directly from the minerals and that he should pay it himself.

    What he embodied in the dream was an imaginary monster and a beast in a nightmare. Following Garam¡¯s instructions, they were scattered around the outskirts of the vige. He said that they would protect the vige until all the Mana he nted was exhausted.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s very sincere.¡±

    Was it based onpassion?

    I didn¡¯t know why they were giving that much. What we got was a few minerals at best, and we dealt with dragons to get them out of very, right?

    I shut the container door, muttering loudly inside. Outside the door, I heard the Ramumings anxiously shouting, but I ignored it and sent a signal to the pet.

    The container then floated in the air. The destination was the Channel that led to the Earth.

    It was time to go back.

    ***

    After Yoon Min-joon and his party left, the vigers, whose identification numbers start, remained in chaos for a long time.

    ¡°Are there really no dragons in this world?¡±

    ¡°Are we free?¡±

    ¡°So, what are we supposed to do from now on?¡±

    The concept of freedom was so new and awkward for them. Even after the bizarrely dressed party left the vige, the residents were immersed in the void without getting anything in their hands.

    What was bigger than the void was the uncertainty of how to use the freedom given.

    -Knock knock

    Identification number ¡¯15-23492,¡¯ The Ramuming boy, whom Hwang Soo-rim saved, stood in front of the vige chief¡¯s hut and knocked on the door.

    ¡°Come in.¡±

    -Creek

    The door of the old wooden hut opened, and the boy stepped inside.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    The vige chief was sitting on a desk in the hut corner, looking at the objects he had ced on it. The boy quickly noticed what it was.

    ¡°¡­ The treasure the ¡®Saviors¡¯ left behind.¡±

    The chief nodded.

    ¡°There were many anxious adults. They were asking if it is okay for our ¡®Ramuming¡¯ to have such dangerous items and if this is out of our league.¡±

    When he heard that, the eyes of old Ramuming became fierce.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be misled by such stupid things. Information that the dragons are gone will soon spread throughout this world.¡±

    He continued.

    ¡°How do you think the rest of the world would react if that happens? Especially for humans?¡±

    As long as the dragons were practically reigning in that world, no other species dared to touch Ramumings since they were strictly the property of the dragon species. They couldn¡¯t touch Ramumings without the willingness to live the wrath of all the dragons in the world at once.

    However, the vige chief understood. Things had currently changedpletely.

    ¡°Now, we have to protect ourselves. The fate of the race named Ramumings has returnedpletely into our hands.¡±

    The vige chief looked down at the fearsome weapon in his hand and strengthened his resolve.

    A few days ago, he knelt in front of the ¡®Saviors,¡¯ and he cried and begged.

    He thanked them for saving the Ramumings from the dragons. By all means, he asked them to give them a piece of wisdom and teach them even a little bit of magic. He begged all of them to collect that vige as they would devote their loyalty andbor.

    Unless they were dragons, they wouldn¡¯t have to kill themselves and use them as a remedy. Furthermore, the chief judged that strong people like them would fully protect Ramumings from other species.

    The vige chief could easily portray the fate of the Ramumings, who escaped the dragon¡¯s control. Freedom and liberation were obviously what they dreamed about every day. However, the vige chief understood that the freedom given in the absence of the strength to defend themselves could attract other predators.

    So, the vige chief begged the saviors to teach them magic. If it was true that Ramumings could reach that level, the chief intended to risk the vige¡¯s fate and cling to it. However, the man, who seemed to have the greatest power among the saviors, left without granting that wish.

    ¡°Now, the only way is to walk on our two feet.¡±

    The boy didn¡¯t fully understand the implications of the vige chief¡¯s words, but when he saw the me in the old man¡¯s eyes, he nodded unknowingly.

    ***

    A few dayster¡­

    A group looked at the vige of Ramumings with the identification number starting with 15 from a distance.

    ¡°Great. We got it right.¡±

    It was the woman with light blond hair cut short under her ears that put the telescope in her eyes. She was sitting in a wheelchair, and her belly was swollen to the point where it was impossible to move.

    ¡°In terms of the size of the vige, the number of Lanyuan (Blue Ape) seems to be two to three hundred. Li-ang?¡±

    ¡°Yes, Remish.¡±

    A young human man who was pushing a wheelchair on which a full-term Gramperi woman was sitting answered.

    ¡°Keep it clear to Colonel Qu Enyin. Don¡¯t shoot at the head likest time. Don¡¯t throw away even a single one. If you blow their head, they can¡¯t regenerate and die.¡±

    ¡°I will tell him.¡±

    Shortly after that, an alien woman in her wheelchair and her young man assisting her leaned back to the rear of the military procession. The secretly recruited troops from the 1st group of People¡¯s Liberation Army looked at the alienmunities in front and prepared for battle. No, to be precise, they were preparing for hunting.

    ¡°I¡¯m very lucky to be on this expedition.¡±

    In a vehicle in the rear far from the battlefield, Remish muttered as she watched the video on a monitor taken by the drone.

    ¡°Until now, military units that attempted to reach this location have often gone missing without any trace. There were no signs, nomunication records, so I didn¡¯t know why, but this time, we seeded in entering this deep ind area without such an ident. I think we¡¯re lucky, Li-ang.¡±

    Wang Liang, her Chinese attendant, nodded.

    ¡°As we enter so deep in here, we find arge colony like that. Until now, at most, we have only found dozens of them living together.¡±

    Remish said with a happy smile.

    ¡°It was about the time to go back to Earth, and at thest moment, this thing happened. I can¡¯t believe we¡¯ve got so many Lanyuan samples. I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be a great help to study Elixir.¡±

    While they were having such a conversation, the People¡¯s Liberation Army unit was seen advancing on the monitor. That time, it would be possible to capture them without much difficulty as before. Even if it were a variable, they would suppress so violently to damage Lanyuan to the extent that it was impossible to reproduce.

    Remish and Wang Liang look at the monitor with peace of mind.

    ¡°@#%#@#@@%#!¡±

    The blue-haired monkeys who noticed the attack jump out of the nest, and the People¡¯s Liberation Army began capturing them. It was going smoothly without any unexpected changes.

    But¡­

    ¡°¡­ Huh?¡±

    Wang Liang¡¯s face looking at the monitor was distorted. Remish, too, screamed lowly as if she couldn¡¯t believe it.

    ¡°My God, Li-ang. What the hell is that?!¡±

    In front of the advancing People¡¯s Liberation Army, enormous figures suddenly appeared as if they tore apart an empty space, and they suddenly attacked the advancing infantry!

    ¡°Well, is that¡­ a tiger?!¡±

    No matter how much you looked, it was an animal that resembled a tiger that lived on Earth. The difference was that it wasrge, as if it was abination of severalrge tanks, and its teeth were unusually long and sharp. The Giant tiger didn¡¯t care about the pouring bullets, moving back and forth between the soldiers, pping them with its ws, and biting.

    ¡°Eaaaaarrrrrggh!¡±

    The screaming continued over the monitor.

    ¡°The monster next to it¡­¡±

    Moreover, the creatures ughtering the People¡¯s Liberation Army next to the tigers didn¡¯t resemble any Earth creature.

    ¡°What the hell is going on here?¡±

    Remish¡¯s face turned pale.

    -Bang bang bang bang bang!

    The monitor was covered in white, and there was a huge explosion.

    ***

    ¡°Passengers, I am the captain.¡±

    I took a nap and finally woke up when I heard the announcement. My God, I had fallen asleep before the ne even took off.

    I stretched out and looked around. The flight departing from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport was quiet with few passengers. Was it supposed to be that quiet at that time?

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±

    As I woke up, I looked around with the Mana circuit and ensured that the party was well hidden. I was the only one who officially bought a flight ticket, and the rest of them hid in the cabin, wearing stealth magic and then sitting in empty seats and resting. Oh, except for Hwang Soo-rim, who couldn¡¯t show her bare face.

    She refused to go inside a container full of maggots and then get miniaturized, but it was unavoidable.

    To find a ce to stay in Shanghai, I needed a record of entry into China anyway, so I decided to take a flight ticket and leave the country formally.

    It might be different if I went to another world, but I couldn¡¯t magically fly that long distance when military units monitor their airspace with radar. However, one of the reasons I bought a ticket was that I couldn¡¯t leave the immigration records of the White Deer who didn¡¯t have a proper status or of Hwang Soo-rim, who was known to be at home at that moment.

    ¡°We apologize to our passengers. Currently, it is impossible tond normally due to the circumstances of the destination, Gimpo Airport. So, our ne will turn around andnd at a nearby airport. We deeply apologize to the passengers and ask for your understanding.¡±

    Ugh? What happened all of a sudden?

    Since the cell phone couldn¡¯t be used, it was impossible to search for what had happened at Gimpo Airport. So, if it was a nearby airport, was it Incheon? It was too far from my house.

    I grumbled inside.

    However, after a while, I realized that my predictions were wrong.

    From the in-flight monitor and the scenery that unfolded out of the window, that ne was moving ind rather than on the beachside.

    ¡°¡­ Uh, what is it? Was there an airport like this?¡±

    The runway was approaching, and the nended without any problem, but I still couldn¡¯t get out of my suspicious thoughts.

    ¡°Passengers, our flight has now arrived at Seoul Airport.¡±

    ¡­ Seoul Airport?

    Not Incheon Airport, not Gimpo Airport, but Seoul Airport? I had never heard of it before.

    I looked around quietly. Come to think of it, even if there weren¡¯t many people on the ne, I felt that it was too empty, and when the destination airport suddenly changed, no one expressed their protest.

    Then¡­

    I looked carefully at the flight attendants I couldn¡¯t have seen since I fell asleep as soon as I got on the ne.

    First, there was no Mana. They weren¡¯t wizards, but was there supposed to be that much male proportion in the job? Why did they have so many calluses on their hands?

    I prepared myself and waited for the ne to stop. Unlike the airports I had experienced so far, the ne stopped in the middle of the runway without approaching the gate. I then could see the door of the vehicle waiting outside open from the window.

    After a while, the door of the ne opened as if it were ready. There were no safety checks between the crew and no more in-flight broadcasts.

    Suddenly, two men and women approached the business seat where I was sitting. One was a middle-aged man in a clean suit and a woman who looked a little younger.

    Both impressions were incredibly good. Their body and height were dwarf-like small.

    Among them, the male talked to me with a tone and expression that I thought was probably the sweetest thing I had ever experienced in my life.

    ¡°Did you have afortable flight? Mr. Yoon Min-joon.¡±

    It was a very polite voice. On his cor, a badge in the shape of a Korean g sparkled.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to meet you suddenly. I really wanted to see you, so I¡¯m here without any prior notice.¡±

    I red at him.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!