“What a sorry state.”
They had come to mine resources, only to end up looking ridiculous.
“Mister. Do you think we can take this with us?”
Baek Arin tapped the airship with her foot.
“Hard to say.”
— Flight impossible. Propulsion device damaged.
Opsir declared it incapable of flight.
“I will help.”
Einri lifted the broken airship and set it on his shoulder.
“Lord Einri. Please take that and go ahead. We’ll make our way back slowly.”
He glanced at them, then nodded.
“I will return quickly.”
“Don’t worry. What could possibly happen?”
Einri hoisted the airship on his shoulder and jumped.
Whoooooosh.
The wind surged in like a wave, shoving the three of them back.
“Ugh!”
“Khh.”
“Mmph!”
The sudden gust left them all in disarray.
Shinhyeok brushed the dust from his body.
“Will Einri come back faster, or will we get there faster?”
Namgung Jincheon chuckled.
“Young Hero, is that even a question? Of course Einri will be faster.”
Shinhyeok snickered.
“I envy that overwhelming physical ability.”
With a few dozen jumps, he could cross into another continent.
“Mister. Let’s get going. We have a long way to go.”
“Yeah.”
Shinhyeok looked back with a regretful expression.
“If only it weren’t for that damned island.”
[Aim for another opportunity later.]
Akashic offered its advice.
“That’s what I’ll have to do. And I want to know the relationship between that sky temple and the dragon.”
[There is no accumulated data.]
“Tsk.”
[I recommend entering the temple and confirming it directly.]
“Fine. I’ll move on my own.”
Since Akashic did not know, he had no choice but to go through the trouble himself.
‘To think a few hunks of stone ruined that airship.’
[They are not ordinary stones. Their mass is excessively high for their volume, and they appear to possess the property of scattering energy and rendering it useless.]
‘Is there any similar type of ore in the data?’
[There is. Adamantium, a legendary mineral, possesses similar properties and characteristics.]
[There is an oral tradition that adamantium can never be broken and is a metal that binds gods.]
[However, the existence of this metal has never been proven, and it is known as a fictional divine relic.]
“And yet it’s here?”
[There is a possibility.]
“If it’s real, who put it here?”
[It is related to gods.]
“…….”
Shinhyeok looked up.
The sun he had thought was an island was still casting its light aloofly.
“Why is this called the Realm of Ruin? Now that I think about it, everything is strange. The sun is fine, and the surroundings are just smoothly connected, everything in place.”
It was clean, as if someone had arranged it.
‘Akashic. Why do they call this place the Realm of Ruin?’
[Unknown.]
[However, in the memories of several souls, other names and origins exist.]
[There is an oral tradition that this was once the nest of the Serpent of the End, which swallowed broken planets and circulated them.]
A familiar myth came to mind.
“Jormungandr?”
[The name is identical.]
[In myths and legends, Jormungandr is famous as a divine being symbolizing circulation.]
[In addition, according to the oral traditions of other races, Jormungandr exchanges all kinds of rare minerals and metals in whatever quantity is desired.]
‘Because it’s circulation. Is it the concept of swallowing something and turning it into something else?’
It sounded like a kind of exchange.
“It’d be nice to raise one.”
[If you are lucky, perhaps one may be somewhere here.]
“Let’s go back and regroup first. We’ll have to return.”
As Shinhyeok vowed revenge and narrowed his eyes at the sun, something felt strange.
“It’s big?”
The sun was oddly large.
“Arin?”
“What?”
Baek Arin, who had been walking in front, turned back.
“Doesn’t the sun look a little bigger?”
“No way.”
Following Shinhyeok’s words, she lifted her head.
“Huh, it really does.”
It had definitely grown larger.
To be precise, it had gotten a little closer.
‘Wait. That sun is that island.’
A keen sense awakened his entire body.
“Young Hero! Someone is coming!”
Namgung Jincheon noticed first.
He immediately drew his sword and guarded their surroundings.
Six enormous birds were flying in from the sky.
‘Birds? No. What are they?’
What was flying toward them were drakes—too small to be dragons, but far larger than birds.
The drakes were descending fiercely toward the ground.
[Magic Formation — Great Wall]
For now, Shinhyeok raised the earth to block the unidentified beings.
The ground rounded around the three of them.
Namgung Jincheon instinctively grasped the enemies’ positions.
“They’re here.”
Boom!
The circular dome encasing them in earth was destroyed.
Kwa-boom!
A pale-skinned man seated atop a drake burst through the wall, holding a spear and glaring down at them.
“You are the one who harbors the Origin.”
Shinhyeok flinched at the enemy’s gaze staring straight at him.
“Beron. There’s one more.”
A female knight holding a chain chided the drake knight with the spear.
“So there is.”
His gaze turned toward Baek Arin.
“Faint, but it is certainly the Origin.”
Namgung Jincheon stared at them and slowly drew up his Yarae.
“See here. Do you have business with us?”
The drake knight holding the spear looked at Namgung Jincheon.
“I have no business with you. Only with those two. Sorry, but you’ll have to come with us.”
Baek Arin drew her sword and glared at them.
“I don’t particularly want to.”
He smirked, angled his spear, and tapped the wall.
Then the wall came crumbling down.
Thud.
At the site where the debris fell, he stepped onto the earth.
“I’d like to take you along like a gentleman. Do you intend to resist?”
“Would you kindly get lost? We have no intention of following you.”
The spearman, Beron Harsh, spun his spear and stepped forward.
“If you want to step up, then do so. It’s been a while since I’ve gone on an outing, so I may as well enjoy the mood.”
At those arrogant words, Namgung Jincheon stepped forward.
“You are arrogant.”
“I suppose I am.”
Namgung Jincheon gripped his sword as he looked at his excessively composed opponent.
“Hah!”
With a short shout, his sword thrust forward.
“A good sword.”
Clang!
His opponent lightly deflected the Yarae sword aura and struck him with his fist.
Thud!
“Khh!”
Namgung Jincheon twisted in midair and seeped into the shadows.
“Oho. What a remarkable little trick.”
Without even looking, Beron thrust his spear.
“Kkh!”
An afterimage pierced the abdomen of Namgung Jincheon, dyed in Yarae.
Beron looked at him and smiled.
“Though you are not human, you wield a sword like one.”
“Krrgh.”
Strangely, he could not use his strength.
Unlike usual, Namgung Jincheon staggered, flustered as he watched his Yarae energy scatter.
“What is it? Does it feel very strange?”
Beron smiled and lifted his spear, suspending Namgung Jincheon in the air.
“It is difficult even to get in the mood.”
“Graaaagh!”
Seeing him struggle in midair, Beron seemed to lose interest and slammed him into the ground.
“Kuhak.”
Beron withdrew his spear and ordered another knight.
“Sebel, bind them. This is no fun. How dull.”
“You enjoyed it all by yourself and now you end it as you please? Honestly, you really act like you’re the captain.”
The female knight flung her chain.
Then it moved strangely and bound Baek Arin and Shinhyeok.
“Mmph!?”
“Ugh!”
Beron smirked.
“If you’re upset, then win your place fair and square.”
“Hmph.”
Sebel, the female knight who had bound Arin and Shinhyeok, pulled on the chain.
“We’ll be going first.”
Beron looked at the man thrown to the ground and waved spitefully.
“If you feel wronged, let’s meet again. Baipalt.”
When he called his drake, it turned its head and slowly approached.
“Let’s go.”
Beron mounted the drake’s saddle with practiced ease.
Namgung Jincheon tried to raise himself while looking at the two who had been bound, but then he saw Shinhyeok’s eyes.
‘Young Hero?’
[He says to return for now.]
‘Why?’
[He says to go back, regroup, and wait.]
Flutter.
The six drakes rose into the sky.
[Please return quickly.]
Namgung Jincheon stared at Shinhyeok and Arin, who had been abducted so helplessly.
“Damn it…….”
Soon, Namgung Jincheon pulled off the chains, raised his fist, and struck only the innocent ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Black lightning spread through the earth, burning it hot.
“Damn it…….”
All he could remember was the sight of himself being overpowered, helpless.
He staggered to his feet and picked up his sword.
Vwoooong.
He spotted the giant flying toward him.
Kwaaaaaang!
A storm of dust rose and whipped his hair about.
“I’m back. Let’s go.”
Einri tilted his head when he saw that their group of three had become one.
“Where are the others?”
Namgung Jincheon let out a sigh.
“They were abducted. Let us return for now. The Young Hero ordered it.”
“Huh?”
The giant looked at him with a bewildered expression.
As if recalling what had happened to him, Namgung Jincheon ground his teeth.
Grit.
“It seems we must return, then come back again.”
Namgung Jincheon glared fiercely up at the sky, at the sun.
“Next time, I will do it properly.”
‘It was strange. To think my energy scattered so powerlessly.’
* * *
“Krrgh.”
“Hngh!”
Bound in chains, they drifted through the air.
‘We’re almost there.’
They gradually arrived near the sun.
Thud.
When they reached the sky island with the sky temple, the two were roughly set down.
“My king. We have brought them.”
The six knights knelt before Siegfried, who was dressed lightly.
“You’ve done well. Take them underground and lock them up for now.”
Beron made the two stand.
“Move.”
When Shinhyeok saw Siegfried, he felt a strange revulsion and an instinctive rejection.
‘What is this?’
Shinhyeok and Arin were dragged into the temple just like that.
Once they entered, the walls of the temple were filled with all manner of sculptures.
‘Why are there so many….’
[Collecting data.]
Akashic was moving quickly.
[Please observe thoroughly for data collection.]
As Akashic instructed, Shinhyeok walked very slowly and observed his surroundings.
“Behave yourselves.”
Thud.
Beron placed the two of them separately into two barred cells.
As soon as he disappeared, Baek Arin stood up.
“Mister. Let’s get out right away.”
Arin calmly raised her sword.
She struck down at the iron bars, but what she wanted did not happen.
Clang.
Though she had clearly swung with enough holy power, the bars remained intact.
“What?”
Instead, only Baek Arin’s modular sword broke.
“Mister. This is strange!”
Shinhyeok touched the bars and said,
“I don’t think this is ordinary iron.”
When he infused mana into his fingertip and touched it, the mana scattered as it was.
[It appears to be adamantium. This metal is ……… all energy …….]
“Akashic?”
Along with Akashic’s buffering, the island surfaced in his mind.
[Signal is ……….]
Cut.
‘It’s cut off.’
Akashic’s answers, which had always chattered beside him, were severed.
“Mister. The system’s gone bad again.”
* * *
A little while later.
Clank.
The basement door opened.
Beron, the spear knight, approached the two.
“Come out.”
Beron opened the cell doors and brought the two out.
He pushed them forward and took them outside.
When they came out, the island was soaring above the Realm of Ruin.
‘That is the Realm of Ruin.’
The vast Realm of Ruin was visible at a glance.
‘It’s round.’
The wreckage of the planet was connected like a wide, circular membrane.
This sky island was heading toward the center of that circular membrane.
“Beron, you’ve worked hard. Go and rest.”
“Yes.”
Beron withdrew, and Siegfried turned his gaze to the two of them.
“It has been a long time since I’ve seen humans. What was your planet called?”
“Earth.”
“A pleasant sound. But it must be gone by now.”
Seeing that the two gave no further reply, he showed interest.
“Is that not so? Then you must be in the midst of desperately fleeing ruin. Let’s see, what sort of ruin is it? Judging by your clothing, your civilization was developed, so was it the environment?”
He prattled on as though he knew everything.
“That is the problem with the advancement of science. It is convenient, but it leaves behind dreadful aftereffects.”
He smirked and slowly walked over.
“Mister.”
Baek Arin quietly called to Shinhyeok.
Shinhyeok felt a sense of déjà vu when he saw the look in her eyes.
“No. Don’t.”
Siegfried smiled and praised Shinhyeok for saying no.
“Well done. If you had jumped down here, I would have cut off your heads immediately. It has been a while since I’ve seen humans, so I’m in a good mood. I’ll let it pass.”
He placed his hands on both their shoulders and pushed them forward.
“Since I’m in a good mood, I will explain specially for you.”
Siegfried took them to the front courtyard of the temple and showed them the center of the Realm of Ruin.
“You must think you escaped from ruin. But you did not escape. For the true end is here.”
He pointed to the center of the Realm of Ruin, wrapped in countless circular bands of metal.
Within it, a gigantic serpent was writhing.
‘Jormungandr.’