9. Apental>“What the… Why is this suddenly… Kirat, what’s going on, huh?”
Ragaofe stared in disbelief as Barakuna suddenly flew into a mad rage and blasted its breath straight toward the city. Why was this thing, which had been under control, suddenly acting like this? Flustered by the unexpected turn, Ragaofe looked at Kirat.
But for some reason, Kirat had fainted.
“Ha ha… Well, now…….”
He tried putting the crown back on to control it himself, but it did not work. That meant it was still connected to this child, Kirat.
Unable to understand it at all, Ragaofe first hoisted Kirat onto his back. Barakuna was charging madly toward Kerval. With vibrations of this magnitude, the child Kirat might have his insides shaken apart and die, so Ragaofe carried him and leapt into the air.
The instant Ragaofe jumped off, something shot through the air like an arrow and smashed into Barakuna’s cheek.
Kuaaaaang!
Ragaofe, who had been trying to get away from Barakuna, was caught in the aftershock and turned back in alarm.
Kuo-oong!
Barakuna was reeling, unable to control its massive body. And from far away, something was flying in while giving off an aura that, at a glance, did not seem at all friendly.
“Damn…….”
If he got swept up in this, he himself might be fine, but Kirat on his back would die without a doubt.
Thinking that, Ragaofe activated the small bracelet on his wrist.
The space around Ragaofe’s body rippled, and in an instant swallowed both Ragaofe and Kirat. Barakuna’s enormous body passed right through the spot where they had been.
Kuaaaaang!
Seeing the Chrona
-phone, which had flown out while tearing straight through the air, strike the creature in the face, Sian immediately launched himself toward the giant mass rushing at him.
The sight of a mountain standing tall upon the sea toppling over was a spectacle not easily seen anywhere.
All the more so if that mountain was moving.
The creature, which had been falling sideways, quickly recovered from the damage and planted its foot into the sea beside it.
Kuuung!
It had merely braced itself against the ground with its foot, but the massive tidal wave that resulted swept over the half-destroyed Kerval once more.
Sian paid it no mind. That city had already been as good as ruined by the first explosion.
Perhaps because it had eight legs, the creature regained its balance in an instant and raised one of its remaining legs to strike Sian.
It was far larger than Mudskipper No. 1, yet if anything, it looked faster.
Sian kept striking the creature’s foreleg with the Chrona
-phone.
The blade Sian held contained tremendous power, but compared to the creature’s size, it should have been no more than enough to leave scratches…….
That was how it should have been.
Yet each time Sian struck it with his sword, the creature staggered back as if it had been hit by a meteor, only to charge in again and repeat the process.‘This thing… Why is it so persistent…….’For Sian, his first fight against a Harijan was fascinating in many ways.
For one, because of its peculiar strength.
For another, because of the blind ferocity with which it rushed at him.
It was different from the superhumans who had been born human, even if they had left humanity behind.
It had no technique.
Nor did it operate Vander or Exar.
It had learned nothing.
It pursued its enemy by instinct and struck with the power it was born with.
And yet it was strong.
The trio from Lagrang would likely have struggled against it.
That was why it was no match for him.
This was the part Sian could not understand.
This creature should have vaguely known that much from the start, yet it charged at him savagely as if it had met its mortal enemy.
But he could not simply leave alone something that came at him intent on killing him.
Sian furiously poured Vander into his wrist.
Soon, all manner of radiance began from his wrist and wrapped around his entire body.
Then, like a comet cleaving the sky, he stretched out in a straight line, dragging a long tail of light behind him.☆ ☆ ☆
On top of that, the pain of being relentlessly beaten by that bastard Sian outside was being transmitted to him without the slightest reduction, making it even more agonizing.
But that was precisely why he could control this thing.
This creature, like an incarnation of destruction, was not something he could control at his level to begin with. That was why he did nothing else. Rather, he released every restraint. Then, using the crown, he transferred his own emotions to Barakuna as it exploded after being suppressed.
To be exact, his memories and emotions toward Sian.
Then the creature, which had already been on the verge of going mad from being controlled, directed all of that rage toward Sian.
And that rage was growing stronger and stronger as Sian beat it down. To the point that even this creature’s survival instinct was being suppressed.
The attacks being made now were not something he was controlling; they were this creature’s own.
But that was not enough. He could not win with this creature. That was why he had to complete the quest all the more.[A Heaven-Sent Opportunity]
-Your target is in Kerval, the destination. This is a truly rare opportunity. If you wish for revenge, you must succeed this time.-Use
-Because the energy supply has stopped,
-Time Limit: 15 minutes (7:21/15:00)
-Reward: Experience 420,000,
-Warning: Do not, under any circumstances, be swept into
Looking at the quest window, Kirat did not know what
That enormous red sphere visible in the distance, large enough for even Barakuna to enter. That had to be the gate to Apental.
But he found it strange. What kind of place was it that the mission would succeed just by pushing him inside?
So he used the Eye of Gran
-ra once toward that red sphere.
He could not obtain much information. But the single line written in the description was enough to convince him.
He did not need to win.
He absolutely had to throw that bastard in there.
-Level Restriction: 399……
-Extremely dangerous for the user’s level. Do not approach under any circumstances.☆ ☆ ☆“Ah…….”
Kurin opened his eyes, touching the back of his head as tremors rang out from every direction.‘…
What happened?’He clearly remembered heading toward the city to evacuate even a few more of the citizens.
But his memory cut off there.‘Don’t tell me I got caught up in it……?’A mysterious mountain had been walking around, so there was no telling what it had done.
Grateful to be alive, Kurin only then thought of his companions and hurriedly looked around.
Fortunately, when he looked around, Reka, Linna, and Kelvin were all awake.
If there was one strange thing, it was that even though he had woken up, they were looking somewhere else.
Before Kurin could even think to ask whether they were all right, he was about to look in the direction they were staring when a voice reached him, making him turn his head.
“Hehe, you’re awake.”
When he looked toward the source of the voice, that beast-like woman named Steel was speaking to him.
For some reason, the woman was smiling broadly, looking extremely pleased.
“…
What happened?”
“Can’t you tell by looking? Hehe. My little brother and I paid the price of the necklaces you had, that’s what. We saved four of you with necklaces that should only have saved one person, so it feels like we ought to get some change back… but since I’m in a good mood, I’ll let it slide.”‘…
The price of the necklaces?’Only then did Kurin, amid the confusion, remember the promise this woman had made with them.‘In exchange for the price of the necklaces, I’ll save your lives.’Kurin, still unable to grasp the situation and not fully understanding what she meant, tried to speak again.
Just how had she saved them?
But there was no need.
Because at the sudden tremendous roar, Kurin turned his head that way and saw the very scene his companions had been watching.
“Hehe… The price of the necklaces was worth it, right?”
At those words, Kurin had no choice but to nod.
The city where they had been, and where they had intended to stay, had already been reduced to dust.
It was not that mountain-sized creature that had smashed it apart.
If anything, that creature was closer to the victim.
That giant had simply been beaten, flung toward the city, and rolled across it.
And on the other side, a shining existence was floating in the sky, bright enough to be seen even from this great distance.
“…
Don’t tell me?”
“Hehe. Isn’t my little brother really amazing? Seriously… If only he lived like that every day, how nice would that be… Haa…….”
The woman spoke while gazing wistfully at the light in the air, as if appreciating a beautiful work of art.
Kurin instinctively realized that the “little brother” she spoke of was the man he had been picking a fight with.
But Kurin could never agree with those words.
Someone with that kind of power should never live however he pleased.
At least, that was better for them.
But he was too afraid to say it aloud, and Kurin could only stare with his companions at the shoreline being crushed.
By the time Kurin woke up, the situation was already gradually coming to an end.
Unlike the astonishing presence it had when it first appeared, the red sphere was gradually shrinking and fading away. The monster whose six horns had once been imposing now had only three horns left, its entire body in tatters as it panted for breath.
The light floating in the air also seemed to judge that the situation was over, and was gradually dimming.
It was at that moment.
The monster charged madly toward the red sphere.
“Ha ha… What is that cow-headed thing doing…….”
Steel, who had named it Cow Head because its broken horns and various features resembled a cow’s, laughed as she watched the ridiculous thing it was doing.
What it was doing looked just like an octopus trying to hide its body inside a narrow jar.
The red sphere had already shrunk considerably, so in that state, only its head would fit inside.
And that was exactly what happened.
The cow rammed its head into the red sphere, and its head became stuck in the gap.
“Haha… Now I’ve seen everything.”
At that ridiculous sight, the four, including Kelvin, relaxed and let out hollow laughs.
At that moment, an anomaly occurred.
Kuaaaaaang!
From the red sphere—more precisely, from the mouth of the cow-headed creature whose head was shoved inside it—an astonishing level of blue energy was released.
Its power was incomparable to when it had half-destroyed the city earlier.
It was enough to make one wonder why it had not fired that while it had been losing until now.
At that moment, an incomparably hideous aura burst out from the red sphere.
“Guh!”
“Hwaaaak!”
Even though they were an enormous distance away, the four, directly covered by that evil aura, screamed their last and collapsed on the spot.
As Steel frowned at the sudden situation, something shot out at tremendous speed, piercing through Barakuna’s head, which was being crushed by the narrowing red sphere.
“What the……?”
Looking closely, it was an arm stretching out at great length. It was so fast and long that it looked like a red line.
It was truly an incredible speed. It was to the point that even Steel’s eyes could not properly see it.
That red hand stretched straight up into the sky, then snatched Sian, who was floating in the air.
Before Sian could even react, he was caught in that hand.
Chwaaaaak!
And the red hand returned into the red hole at a speed far greater than that with which it had stretched out. As soon as the red hand went inside, the hole closed completely, as if it had exhausted all its power.
At that moment, the evil aura that had been enough to drive people mad vanished in an instant, as if it had never existed.
Only Barakuna, now without a head, lay there forlornly, showing that something had indeed been there.☆ ☆ ☆“…
What was that bastard?”
Livias spoke while looking at Ragaofe standing beside him.
Ragaofe, too, wore a grave expression.
It was a La
-Vander he had never seen before.
There should not have been any La
-Vander that they had failed to identify until now.
But that no longer mattered.
“Well… should we even care? He’s inside now. It’s basically the same as being gone.”
The experiment had been a resounding success.
Though they had only been able to briefly confirm the power of the red sphere, Tasha-Dagon, that alone had been enough.
Because while Barakuna had momentarily shattered the dimensional wall, Ragaope and Ribias had been able to clearly gauge exactly how powerful those on the other side were.
Had Tasha-Dagon remained broken even a little longer, things would have gotten dangerous.
“I’ll have to tell Tachyon to reinforce the dimensional boundary further. It’ll be troublesome if it breaks that easily.”
“Well, it was attacked from the outside… They probably can’t break it from within.”
“We must always prepare for every contingency.”
There were a few other parts that looked like they needed adjustment, but since they had confirmed Tasha-Dagon’s power, fixing them wouldn’t be difficult.
Having thought that far, Ragaope turned to another thought.
‘Kirat…’
Kirat had lost consciousness and had yet to awaken.
Since nothing was certain about what had happened, he decided to go back and examine the situation slowly.
“I have a lot to do, so I’ll head back first… Clean up and come after me, Ribias.”
“Hehe. That’s quite a lot to gain from a stroll.”
Ribias spoke with a pleased expression, and Ragaope likewise agreed.
From Aksarai’s connector to Tasha-Dagon’s observation data, and even to the newly emerged superhuman who had disappeared—they had gained much.
It was a shame that Barakuna had died so futilely, but that much was sufficient.
After Ragaope left with the rookie named Kirat, Ribias began erasing the traces of Tasha-Dagon.
But it seemed he had used too much power.
Because someone had spotted him from afar and was running toward him.
“Hmm… It seems I can’t just leave.”
Ribias spoke as he watched the fierce momentum flying toward him from afar.
It was Steel.
Boooom!
Steel landed like a meteor, tearing the ground apart, and glared at Ribias as if he would devour him.
“Steel, you brat. Long time no see.”
Ribias had memories of trading blows with him in the past, but bore no ill will, so he greeted him warmly.
It hadn’t been much of a fight anyway, and on this vast continent, superhumans were far too precious to hold grudges against one another.
“…Open it.”
“Hm? What did you say?”
“Open that red thing again right now, you sinister old fart!”
Steel shouted, his anger at its peak.
“Hehe, brat… what’s with you? I had nothing to do with this.”
Ribias shouted back, utterly flabbergasted.
He could roughly guess the situation.
Most likely, this kid was acquainted with the superhuman who had been beating Barakuna senseless over there, and was acting this way because that person had been dragged inside.
But there wouldn’t be any clear evidence. He could just deny it and insist.
“Don’t lie to me. Who else but a geezer like you could open something like this? I saw you standing in the middle of here preparing the ‘path’ earlier, too.”
Steel ground his teeth and shouted.
‘Damn… was he watching in secret…?’
He had tried to insist that Steel’s personality made it impossible for him to watch secretly, but it seemed he had seen everything.
Ribias decided to confess honestly.
“Ah… I mean, I only supplied the power. What do I know about opening that again? Can’t you see the formation is completely destroyed?”
“Then just gather the guys who made it again. By the way, who made such a vicious thing?”
“And that’s not even the important part… Even if it were opened again, what would you do?”
“I have to get them out!”
“…From inside there?”
“…….”
Steel was at a complete loss for words in that instant.
“You saw what was in there. And you’re telling me to open it again?”
Ribias’s absurd words left Steel with nothing to say.
The moment that thing opened, it would be hell.
He didn’t know what that ox-headed bastard had done, but when a part of the red sphere had cracked open, Steel had been able to clearly peer inside as well.
Beings whose nature he couldn’t fathom.
But as Steel looked at them, a chill had run down his spine.
They had no expressions whatsoever.
They were looking this way with eyes that saw nothing but prey.
Most likely, that was the reason they had dragged Sian away.
Because they must have been constantly observing which prey would taste the best inside the red sphere.
If the sphere had closed but a moment later, even he or Ribias might have been dragged in.
Thinking of them, his confidence suddenly vanished.
Even if it were opened again, he had absolutely no confidence that he could rescue Sian.
Seeing Steel’s expression, Ribias spoke as if to say ‘I told you so.’
“See? Even if I could open it, how would you bring someone out from inside? Besides, I can’t open it again.”
Ribias was disgusted with himself for making such excuses, feeling pathetic to the point of irritation, but he decided to be careful.
Because if this reckless brat’s eyes rolled back in rage, he’d have no regard for seniority or anything else.
He would immediately charge at Ribias to vent his anger.
And, ashamed as he was to admit it, Ribias had no confidence he could beat this brat.
‘Ah… I’m really losing face today. I should’ve just followed that Ragaope guy…’
“Ugh… Uwaaaah!”
Steel was already rolling across the ground, completely consumed by rage.
Boom! Crash! Rumble!
Every time he rolled, the ground split as if an earthquake had struck, and the already ruined Kerval area was falling apart entirely.
Ribias flinched and took a step back.
Because acting like that meant he was on the verge of exploding.
When Ribias had tried to take some spring water, Steel had acted exactly like that before charging at him.
“Then I’m off, brat. Well… good luck.”
And just as Ribias turned to leave, an expression of disbelief crossed his face.
“Uh……”
Crack.
Cracks were forming in the empty air where the red sphere had vanished without a trace.
“Oh, Sian! I knew it!”
Steel shouted from beside him, filled with joy.
As expected, a powerhouse on a different level from himself.
He would be coming back alive.
But soon his expression stiffened.
Ribias was the same.
And having forgotten their quarrel from moments ago, they looked at each other.
“Ah… shit……”
“You damn brat! You jinxed it!”
And the two of them began to flee like madmen.
After the two escaped, sounds of something continuously splitting could be heard.
Crackle, crunch, snap!
Soon, the empty air they had been watching was completely torn apart.
Rip!
And from within, the red hand that had dragged Sian away suddenly shot out.
That hand was gripping the tear in the empty air as though it would rip the void apart.
Soon the void was completely split open, and the red hand fully revealed itself.
The hand boasted the same savagery as when it had snatched Sian away moments ago.
It was certainly a situation worthy of Ribias and Steel fleeing.
But Ribias and Steel had not fled because of those beings.
Certainly, those beings were terror incarnate.
But they couldn’t compare to the chilling aura felt from behind them.
The red hand had no main body.
Only the hand remained, gripping the tear it had made in the void to keep from being pulled somewhere, and behind it, nothing else remained.
From the abyss-like red hole behind it, a howl mixed with rage—the very sound that had made Steel and Ribias flee—echoed out.
“Uwaaaah! Which bastard opened this! I’ll really kill you all!”
Aaaaaargh!
At the sound echoing from far behind him, Ribias ran his hand down his arm, which was covered in goosebumps.
They had fled an incredible distance in that short time, yet that savage momentum was spreading even here.
‘Madness…’
He had known the guy was strong, but he was far more dangerous than he had thought.
When fighting Barakuna, he had fought with composure, so it hadn’t been apparent.
People don’t look very dangerous unless they’re pushed to their absolute limit.
After all, a creature’s most ferocious offensive instinct emerges in the most dangerous situations.
And even from what Ribias could see, there didn’t seem to be many situations that would push that guy to his limit.
But Tasha-Dagon had likely been enough to show that guy’s true bottom.
And this was the result.
A being that rightfully belonged in hell had gone on a rampage, become as ferocious as possible, and crawled up even through hell.
A mad monster was running amok, so it was only right for upstanding people like himself to avoid it.
However…
“Hey, brat, why are you running? Aren’t you friends with that monster?”
“Ah… well, that’s true, but… honestly, it’s kind of……”
Steel spoke with a slightly frightened expression.
Ribias looked at such a Steel with an expression of great fascination.
It was the first time he had seen this guy make such a face.
Always either a composed expression or one like a yaksha. He had only ever seen one of the two.
It was just a guess, but Ribias figured this was probably the first time he had ever made such a face in his life.
But Ribias didn’t tease Steel the brat.
Because he himself wouldn’t have been any different.
Even he would want to run if a guy like that was going crazy like that.
No matter how close they were.
“Hah… I don’t know. I’ve got nothing more to do with that guy, so… I’ll be on my way. What will you do?”
Having put roughly a hundred kilometers between them, Ribias looked toward Kerval, which was no longer visible.
He would never come to Kerval again.
“Hah… I’ll still have to go back once things calm down a bit… It looks like he’s gradually settling down……”
Feeling the momentum slowly weaken, Steel spoke.
Having escaped from the dangerous situation inside, Sian’s momentum was slowly calming now that he was outside.
But it was still too awkward to approach, so he decided to wait a bit longer before going back to get him.
“Hey, brat, by the way, what is that? I’ve never seen it before……”
Ribias asked cautiously.
It was based on the judgment that it was best to know if such a being existed.
Steel thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
It would be revealed sooner or later even if hidden.
That guy had destroyed two cities in less than a month already.
It would be better to tell him and warn him to stay away.
Since there was time until they parted ways anyway, Steel decided to say what he would say and hide what he would hide, then began to speak.
‘Hehe… Sian, you really should be good to me.’
Having deemed himself the queen of domestic support, Steel began heading back toward Kerval to look after Sian after the conversation ended.
Steel cautiously approached from afar.
A wounded beast is more ferocious than anyone.
Especially if it has come through a near-death experience.
No one knew what kind of state his little brother would be in after experiencing a life-or-death crisis for the first time, so even Steel, who knew Sian’s usual personality, couldn’t help but be cautious.
If Sian lashed out in anger, even a single strike would be fatal to him.
He saw Sian sitting in the place where the red sphere had been.
The red sphere seemed to already be closed, with no traces remaining.
Seeing that it didn’t seem very dangerous, Steel quickly approached Sian.
And he was shocked to see Sian’s condition.
Sian was sitting in a state of unconsciousness.
Other than the black sword he held in his hand, everything was completely ruined.
The Great Armor of the Seven Planets that he cherished had turned completely ashen, and the gems in his bracelet were cracked.
The War God’s Spear that the Ragrang guys had possessed, and the Hand of Grang-Ra as well, were all fractured—maintaining only their forms while having lost their brilliant light.
His clothes had become rags long ago, and his whole body was covered in wounds.
He was gradually recovering, but if this was his current state, it must have been much worse when he first came out of that red gate.
It was obvious at a glance how horrific a battle he had endured to come out, and Steel felt sorry for him.
But instinctively, he could tell.
He had grown stronger.
Despite being unarmed and covered in wounds, he felt stronger than when he had worn the Great Armor of the Seven Planets and fought wielding black and golden light, or when he had beaten Barakuna to death.
So much so that even Steel, who was on a far lower level, could notice.
‘Good Lord… that story was true…’
The story that one could grow stronger by experiencing a life-or-death crisis.
The only way Sian, who was stuck at a wall and unable to advance further, could grow stronger.
Steel suddenly felt his heart thump.
He didn’t know where this emotion was coming from.
But he couldn’t control it. It was not something as simple as romantic feelings. It was a feeling as if a hero worthy of his respect, or perhaps a god, was being born right before his eyes. The feeling he had harbored as a child, longing for the legendary Great Emperor, was being felt once again now, after more than two hundred years. The more he learned about this child, the more new emotions bubbled up within him.
Steel chewed over the strange emotion in his heart as he lifted Sian and soared through the air.
As he was flying at full speed, he spotted the four creatures he had left behind earlier along the way. They were escorting a man, hurrying eagerly toward a nearby city. ‘Ah… so those guys were still alive?’ He had forgotten them in his haste to flee, but now that the situation was over, he remembered the four. Come to think of it, if Sian had fainted as soon as he appeared, there probably hadn’t been any particularly dangerous situations afterward. Because Steel was in an exceptionally good mood, he decided to take them along as well. It was absolutely not because he needed servants to attend to him.
☆ ☆ ☆
To the north of Kiran lay the city of Kulait, which bordered the frontier region with Karan. In the very heart of it stood a single massive building.
**Exile**
—Headquarters of the Great Magic Congress.
—An ancient word meaning ‘the place that seeks the light of wisdom.’
Literally, this was a place where all the renowned intellectuals of the Rasian continent gathered, sharing their wisdom with one another and striving day and night to accumulate new knowledge.
And the one who stood at the pinnacle of such intellectuals:
Takion, the leader of the Exile Great Magic Congress.
He always resided in the tall tower located at the very center of La-Intaro.
His research lab, where he always enjoyed solitude except during group research, had always been shrouded in silence, but today the atmosphere was a little different. After all, there was someone else standing before Takion.
“Hmm… so that’s what happened?”
Takion, the leader of the Magic Congress, was conversing with his old friend, Lagaope. The main subject of interest was a child named Kirat that this friend had brought along. Lagaope had come to him because he was curious about how the situation had unfolded.
“Yes. He suddenly collapsed, and then that Barakuna went crazy and rampaged.”
“And Barakuna died with its head stuck in that space over there?”
“Yeah. Its head was cut off and went over there. Probably… devoured entirely.”
Lagaope made an expression of horror as he thought of those creatures on the other side. Even in his long life, he had rarely seen beings of that caliber.
“My friend, did you know this child was a Granin?”
“Of course. And to think he’s an Aksarai connector. I brought him because I saw that potential.”
“And you had him use that coffin?”
“Yeah. I didn’t think there would be any major problems, but here we are…”
Lagaope scratched his head as if he couldn’t understand the reason at all.
“Hmm… wait just a moment.”
After finishing his words, Takion examined the child named Kirat a little more through Exar and various miraculous techniques, then looked at Lagaope and opened his mouth.
“I’ll tell you the conclusion first. The child named Kirat… has disappeared.”
“Eh? That can’t be. Why?”
The ability Kirat possessed was truly precious. It shouldn’t have disappeared so easily. The flustered Lagaope asked Takion.
“This child… in trying to forcibly use the coffin, he accidentally transferred his soul into Barakuna.”
“Eh? Is that even possible?”
“I believe he was able to do so because he is Granin. To begin with, there’s no way a child of his level could have made Barakuna that violent.”
Kirat had thought he made Barakuna violent by borrowing the coffin’s ability, but this was a mistaken judgment. Barakuna was not such a pushover. It was simply that the coffin’s ability combined with the characteristics of a Granin to produce a synergistic effect, temporarily exciting Barakuna and making it attack the unidentified superhuman. Most likely, destroying Tasha-Dagon with Barakuna at the end had been that child’s plan as well. After all, a Harijan with such a strong survival instinct would never have stuck its own head in there of its own accord.
“But… then wouldn’t he have been able to get out at the end anyway?”
“Had he not thrust his head beyond Tasha-Dagon at the very end, that would have been the case. It must have been excruciating…”
The child had probably planned to return at the end, but… getting his head dragged away was a grave mistake. The place connected through Tasha-Dagon was somewhere even a soul could never return from. Most likely, even his soul had been torn to shreds over there.
“Ah… that’s a catastrophe…”
Although his soul had been torn apart, Lagaope showed not a shred of sympathy; he merely scratched his head with an expression of tremendous regret. But seeing Lagaope like that, Takion smiled.
“The child named Kirat has certainly disappeared. But the Aksarai connector has not disappeared.”
Hearing those words, Lagaope broke into a beaming smile.
“Huh, what? Then?”
“That’s right. The superhuman ability of an Aksarai connector manifests through the heart and brain to begin with. If we preserve this body well and implant a new soul, it can be revived.”
“Hahahaha! What, really! Then it’s fine! Great, great. I can save one more person with this opportunity.”
Lagaope shouted with a smile.
Excellent. He had been satisfied enough just succeeding with Tasha-Dagon, but to get such a result on top of it…
The child named Kirat had good abilities but was frail itself, so this was killing two birds with one stone. He had needed not Kirat himself, but an Aksarai connector. Moreover, since it was a Granin’s body, the soul adhesion rate would be very good as well.
In many ways, it was a remarkably fortunate day.
“For a while… there will be much to prepare.”
Lagaope looked at Takion and smiled. Lagaope had to prepare the soul transfer, and Takion had to undertake the strengthening and improvement of Tasha-Dagon. Neither was a matter that would take little time, so for a while they would have to focus on this task.
But there was no problem at all. Time was what they had in abundance.
‘But why hasn’t this friend Livias returned yet…’
Lagaope, who had been wearing a pleasant smile, recalled Livias, who was long overdue, and made an expression filled with questions.
☆ ☆ ☆
At night, when everyone had gone to sleep, Sian could not fall asleep. His anger had mostly subsided. Earlier, his eyes had rolled back due to the survival instinct against death, but once he returned to a safe place, his anger quickly abated; moreover, there was something far more interesting to occupy his attention. Sian was examining his body, which had ascended to a new realm.
Power overflowed throughout his entire body. He had thought he could grow no stronger, but that was not the case. Having fought back and forth with those unidentified, vicious creatures for a week and surpassed the wall, he now possessed a strength entirely different from his previous self. Though his wounds had long since healed, Sian was lost in a different worry.
He had crossed the wall.
But he had not crossed the wall.
Based on his experience until now, he had believed that crossing just one more wall would let him ascend to another realm, but this had been his delusion.
It was true that he had crossed one wall. But to become a completely different existence like Grand-Vander and La-Vander, the walls he had to cross were not just one. Immediately after crossing one wall, yet another wall stood before him. Probably, there were several. There were indeed remarkable differences between the walls as well. Most likely, he would grow much stronger each time he broke through a wall. Just as he had now.
It was not a structure where one grew stronger through training, but one where strength increased in a staircase-like manner each time a wall was broken.
However, he had no sense whatsoever of how many walls he had to cross.
Therefore, Sian resolved even more firmly. If something like this happened again, he would not even enter within a hundred-kilometer radius. He would run away unconditionally, unconditionally!
Honestly, until now, there had been times when he thought somewhat complacently. Because he had sometimes felt frustrated himself, he had harbored the very complacent thought that it might be better to go through a few life-threatening crises and feel refreshed afterward. And inwardly, he had also thought that as long as he didn’t cross the Great Northern Wall, who could possibly kill him.
It was all because he had never once experienced a life-threatening crisis.
After truly nearly dying this time, not a single one of those thoughts remained. It had been a terrible experience he never wanted to go through even once in his life. And every story in novels felt like a lie.
‘They go through this every single time and still seek out such situations to get stronger?’
No way. Sian was confident that if he plunged a knife into the stomach of the guy who wrote those novels, that person would never write such things again for the rest of their life.
From now on, he would never cross another wall. He would absolutely never find himself in a life-threatening crisis.
‘But well… will there be more dangerous things in the future…?’
Even thinking about it himself, it seemed there would be no more life-threatening situations.
‘Hehe. Am I not too strong?’
Lost in narcissism, Sian retired to bed to end his day.