A space where only stillness lingered amid silence.
Twitch—
At some moment, the body of a man sitting cross-legged at its center trembled faintly.
Then his closed eyes slowly opened, and at the same time, a dazzling radiance burst forth explosively.
The light in his eyes dyed the surroundings for an instant before being gathered back into that pair of pupils.
“...The connection has been severed.”
Immediately after, a strange voice, impossible to describe, flowed from the man.
It was an alien voice in which the ordinary and the extraordinary, maturity and childishness, seemed to be mingled together.
“Is this... the Ganghwan Realm?”
The owner of that voice, the Lord of the Beoncheon Society, closed his eyes once more and retraced his senses, but nothing changed now.
His connection to the apostle who had been acting on behalf of his divinity in the Ganghwan Realm had been severed.
And that meant only one thing.
‘What happened? There shouldn’t be any being left in the Ganghwan Realm capable of harming the Heavenly Demon.’
Naturally, ascending to godhood was not something achieved merely by possessing great strength.
After all, a god was an existence established only when there were believers who worshiped and offered faith to them.
In other words, it was no different from the sudden violent death of the person in charge of a colony that had been supplying faith all this time, with every related line blocked off as well.
‘Tsk, for something like this to happen now, of all times.’
The Lord of the Beoncheon Society, who had gone into seclusion to recover from the damage he had recently suffered in Auterica, clicked his tongue.
Who could have expected that an existence on the level of the Heavenly Demon would suddenly die like this?
Something outside his expectations had clearly occurred.
‘...But I can’t move recklessly right now.’
Crossing dimensions required an enormous amount of effort.
On top of that, revisiting a world he had already visited once required several times more time and effort than before, which was also a problem.
The god in charge of that world would never simply allow him to come and go as he pleased.
Considering that opportunity cost, it would be far better to pioneer a new world instead.
“It seems my expectations were too high. I thought he was quite a useful fellow.”
In the end, the Lord of the Beoncheon Society merely clicked his tongue once and slowly closed his eyes again.
Losing an apostle who had been in charge of an entire world was certainly a considerable loss, but a loss of this degree had been well within his calculations.
‘The most likely possibility is interference from the remnants of the monsters. I thought I’d dealt with them properly, but it seems something slipped through. I’ll have to pay more attention next time.’
Thus, the Lord of the Beoncheon Society dismissed the sudden variable as nothing significant and sank once more into deep silence.
Without even imagining that the culprit behind this anomaly was the same group that had screwed him over in Auterica.
***
“Um, excuse me... Lord Mad Demon?”
“Hm? What’s wrong, brother?”
“That... I’ll say it once more, but I truly do not taste good. I’m not joking. That is practically our main means of survival. There’s even a saying that compared to us, even the utterly flavorless gangjunchi fish tastes like a delicacy...”
“Ah, come on! I said I got it. Why are you so scared?”
“...Then I would appreciate it if you stopped licking your lips while looking at me...”
“Ah.”
Slurp!
Only then did Harley swallow the drool that had unconsciously flowed down and wipe his mouth with his hand.
They were currently leaving the vicinity of Mount Longzhong and moving elsewhere.
After learning that the other party belonged to Geumo Island, Harley had formally requested a conversation with them for a more private discussion, and Qingguan, who had reported that fact to his superiors, had received permission to guide him there.
‘I can’t ruin things with something pointless when everything’s going this smoothly. There’ll be chances later anyway.’
Since this was the first monster he had seen after coming to this world, Harley was personally intrigued, but he truly had no intention of harming him.
The physical reaction from just now was simply a natural phenomenon that had occurred upon discovering a new type of gene.
No matter how close Harley’s body was to completion, to the point of transcendence, this was an instinct engraved into the very foundation of his birth, so even he could not help it.
“Ahem, but if you’re a monster, can’t you regenerate just fine even if one or two limbs get cut off? Brother, I think you’re reacting a little too sensitively.”
“I do not know what sort of environment you came from to think that, but not all monsters possess such abilities. Among them, I am more specialized in spell arts than physical ability.”
“Ah, that’s a shame—”
“...Pardon?”
“No, no. Now, let’s hurry up and go! Kahahaha!”
“......”
Geumo Island (金鰲島), the veiled power of the monsters.
The Maoshan Sect, which was practically their public-facing channel, was located in Jiangsu Province at the eastern edge bordering the sea, but fortunately, they did not need to go all the way there in person.
“In truth, that place was created for when we engage in outside activities and need an official title for external dealings. Aside from a few, almost all the Daoists at the main mountain of the Maoshan Sect are humans, and most of us monsters reside elsewhere.”
With that brief explanation, Qingguan guided them to a fairly large river in the nearby area.
“Each of us has our own method, but perhaps because of my origins, this one is most familiar to me. It is quite dependent on the terrain, but as long as one can find the waterways properly, it is rather convenient.”
After finishing that rough explanation, Qingguan soon took various ritual implements from his pack and laid them out. Then he set up an altar on a flat spot before the river, chanted a strange incantation, and immediately began some sort of ritual.
And as time passed, the nearby current began to ripple and move noisily.
‘This is quite a sight. ...But what’s that?’
Then, at a certain moment.
Harley, who had been watching the ritual with great interest because it manifested in a way different from the spell arts of the Zhuge Clan, soon realized that something that had not originally been there was reflected on the riverbed beyond the current.
There, an unidentified hole had appeared, reflecting not the scenery of this place where they stood, but a forest somewhere entirely different.
“...Whew, it’s done. Now we just need to enter through there. Then we will be able to step into the Illusory Realm, the pride of our Geumo Island, established on the reverse side of this world! In truth, it is highly unusual for a wandering monster to receive permission to enter this quickly, but it seems those above view meeting with Lord Mad Demon positively as well.”
Jingle—
Qingguan, who had at some point packed up his things again and come to his side, shook a small bell and continued speaking with a bright expression.
In truth, regardless of how things had unfolded, he was not in a bad mood, since he was now going back to his homeland.
“Good, then let’s go— Ah!”
“What is it, Lord Mad Demon?”
“...No, I just remembered something I’d completely forgotten.”
Harley, who had momentarily stopped, scratched the back of his head and smacked his lips.
Only after seeing the former Mad Demon Mok In-gwang left at the Shaolin Temple through Hugo’s eyes did he realize that he had come all the way here alone without giving him any notice.
“Well, what’s done is done! Let’s go for now, brother! Wahaha!”
But he soon brushed it off as nothing and boldly stepped forward.
After all, Shaolin’s treatment of Mok In-gwang was not that bad at the moment.
Indeed, no matter how much he was normally looked upon with disfavor as someone between the orthodox and unorthodox factions, there was no way they would mistreat someone who had rushed over and helped them in a difficult situation.
Even if that had not been his intention, the fact remained that, in the end, he had been of great help.
Moreover, since they had just suffered severe damage, Shaolin would also want to keep a master of his level around for as long as possible in preparation for any emergency.
‘So I can just go find him after I’m done here.’
In any case, the reason he had followed them this far was to obtain information.
Even if he wrapped everything up before going back, it probably would not take that long.
Thus, Harley followed Qingguan, who had jumped into the water while shaking the metal bell, and stretched his foot toward the hole in the riverbed.
Immediately after, he realized that he was standing in the middle of a forest that felt somehow dreamlike.
And—
“Grrr— What is this? A mongrel? Hey, what the hell are you?”
He came face-to-face with a prior guest who had already arrived there.
A gigantic monster stood right in front of him, arms crossed, looking down at him.
“Hiiik! L-Lord Taowu, why are you here...?”
Perhaps the other party was famous in a rather bad sense, because Qingguan, who had crossed into the Illusory Realm with Harley, turned pale and staggered backward.
“Did I come somewhere I’m not allowed? And you there. Are you mute? Or did you freeze in awe of this body’s majesty? Krukruk—!”
A height easily exceeding five meters. A tiger-like body standing on two legs and a long tail. Sharp teeth fully exposed because it had no lips, with a pair of boar-like tusks jutting out between them. And eyes containing blazing will-o’-the-wisps.
Along with an immense pressure befitting that vicious appearance, a violent aura began to creep over the surroundings.
‘Impressive. Well, I suppose it’s because there are monsters like this among them that they’ve managed to hold out without collapsing until now.’
He was not comparable to the Heavenly Demon, who had been on a completely different level even among those of the Profound Realm, but at that level, he seemed roughly capable of matching the Sword Saint of the Nangong Clan.
As Harley was inwardly admiring him, Qingguan, who had retreated behind him, gulped and cautiously stepped forward.
“U-um, Lord Taowu? This person has come here as Lord Qinglong’s guest...”
“Get lost, fish. Before I slice you into sashimi and eat you.”
“Hueek!”
But that courage did not last long.
Taowu glared down with a low, growling voice, and the ghostly fire contained in his two eyes made Qingguan’s breath catch in his throat, leaving him frozen in place, his mouth only opening and closing.
At that, Harley became certain that the other party had not simply come to greet them, and with a subtle smile hanging at the corners of his mouth, he took one large step forward.
“Hold on, big guy. I’m asking just in case, but are you picking a fight right now?”
Still, since one never knew, confirmation was necessary.
After all, he had been invited into someone else’s territory, had he not?
Since he had not yet achieved his goal, for the time being, he needed to play along with their tune.
“Krukruk, a fight? Well... You may think of it as a simple test. We cannot let in someone we have never seen before without verifying them, can we? A warrior’s worth is proven through struggle.”
“Aha! So it’s an initiation, then?”
“Oh? Are you interested?”
“Kahahaha—! Of course!”
At their exchange, Qingguan flailed his arms with a flustered expression, but he was already no longer in the minds of the two monsters.
Amid the gradually heightening fighting spirit.
“That’s exactly my taste! I’m very fond of that sort of thing myself!”
Just as he said, Harley’s voice sounded delighted, and the corners of his mouth split wide, revealing saw-like teeth.
A few drops of saliva he had forcibly suppressed before coming here dripped down onto the ground.
‘That guy looks like a physical type at a glance, so—’
Unlike Qingguan, he possessed an extremely developed body and violent energy dwelling in every single one of its cells.
Harley could instinctively sense it.
‘That’ would be the finest delicacy, the likes of which could not be tasted anywhere else.
‘—Just one bite... No, he’s big, so a few bites should be fine!’
The hunger he had been holding back began to surge in like a flood.
***
Recently, Taowu had been so bored he was on the verge of going insane.
The problem was the restriction he had accepted when, after everyone he had considered brothers had died and he was left alone, he had no choice but to place himself under Geumo Island’s protection for the sake of survival.
Do not be the first to harm those who belong to Geumo Island.
At first, it had seemed like a condition he could accept lightly, but as time passed, Taowu realized it was not so simple.
For him, who had been combative by nature from birth and loved conflict and battle, each day spent here was no different from prison.
Poking around here and there, inciting others to quarrel and watching them, or deliberately provoking an opponent into making the first move was something he could only do once or twice...
Moreover, Taowu’s infamy was so great that such tricks did not work well to begin with.
And so, at a time when he had been seriously wondering whether it might be better to simply go outside and fight until he died.
By sheer coincidence, he heard that some wandering monster had been granted permission to enter Geumo Island.
‘An outsider!’
In other words, someone who did not belong to Geumo Island—someone outside the target of the restriction.
The fact that he had been permitted to enter meant he was a guest, while also being highly likely to belong to Geumo Island afterward, but Taowu did not care at all about such trivial details.
In any case, there was no doubt that he was an outsider right now!
So he promptly rushed to the entrance area, and before long, he was able to face his target.
A man who gave off an extraordinary aura that somehow felt familiar.
When Taowu saw him, his initial thought of tearing off a few limbs and devouring them changed slightly.
If he was that much, perhaps it would not be bad to beat him up moderately and make him a subordinate afterward.
Thinking so, Taowu spoke to him kindly, with what was, from his perspective, great goodwill, and unlike his initial plan to pick a fight without warning, he was able to reach an amicable agreement.
It was immediately after that when something outside his expectations occurred.
“Then let’s match sizes first, shall we?”
The moment those words ended.
Creak— Crackle—
The body that had only reached about his thigh began to swell in an instant.
Past his waist, chest, and shoulder line, of course, and beyond the top of his head... all the way to a position he had to crane his neck up to see.
“Ah, damn. Is this too big? It’s been a while since I did this too, so I’m not controlling it well! Kahahaha!”
Rumble—
Along with a thunderous laugh, a storm swept through, making the surroundings ring and tremble.
Taowu stared upward with his head tilted back and blankly opened his mouth.
It was not simply large in size.
The density of muscles writhing like separate living creatures and the presence of energy blazing like an active volcano pressed down on the entire surrounding area, forcibly hammering the vivid texture they created into his mind.
‘Uh...’
As things reached that point, a single thread of cold reason suddenly flashed through Taowu’s mind.
‘Is this really okay as it is?’
...Of course, it was not okay at all.