Ch.301301. Forbidden Mountain (4)

To deal with the poachers, I decided to use an alternate dimension.

Those guys who called themselves some kind of “party” were large-scale poachers numbering over 300 members.

Simply eliminating them wouldn’t be a problem, but the issue arises when they scatter throughout the forest.

Frankly speaking, while the forest environment is indeed my home ground, the fact that this particular forest happens to be Mount Geumdan isn’t exactly advantageous for me.

Since it’s not my territory and as a druid I’m in a position to protect nature, I can’t recklessly unleash area-of-effect spells. On top of that, my specialized tracking rodents haven’t fully recovered since they were depleted when we defeated the demon commander Drakilia.

Moreover, if I were to use abilities like teleportation or doppelganger techniques that sages employ, I can’t predict how much more difficult capturing them would become.

Because of this, I decided to wipe them out at once by creating an alternate dimension to annihilate them, and the result was the few corpses now sprawled on the ground.

The alternate dimension I chose was Astra’s “Quasi-Aleinos Forest.” It’s a place that has the absolute advantage of possessing magical and mystical authority through my will, while also having built-in effects of the alternate dimension itself.

And that effect was to make all druid magic affinities equal to the highest one, which meant that within the dimension, even if only temporarily, I could become a once-in-an-era genius who could blaspheme even gods….

Quite naturally, I was able to easily annihilate them inside.

Spells that were naturally cast according to the decree I activated as the master and proxy guardian of the dimension wiped out half of them, and I intended to sweep away the remaining half with the ultimate celestial magic that I activated since I was already using these powers, but….

“I never thought the dimension wouldn’t withstand the increased firepower….”

“….I couldn’t have imagined that.”

Because the firepower of the final “Celestial Meteor” I cast was too high for the dimension to withstand, it collapsed, resulting in the poachers I was targeting being exposed to that extreme firepower for barely 0.5 seconds.

Ah, the fortunate thing is…. that even just those 0.5 seconds were more than enough to kill all those poachers.

However, it was incredibly surprising that despite being exposed to such powerful energy, some low-level corpses remained partially intact due to the short exposure time….

“Wow, are you still alive?”

“….ugh….ugh.”

Moreover, the mid-level one who led this gang…. even though his condition was practically no different from a corpse, he was still breathing.

The body of the guy who had been wearing some sort of blue and white outfit resembling Hong Gil-dong not only had its surface completely burned along with his clothes, but the moisture on his skin had completely evaporated in the process, making him look like a mixture of a mummy and a cremated body.

His face, naturally, had been burned by the flames and then crushed, becoming like a piece of flesh with holes. Not only was his hair gone, but his skin itself was hideously distorted.

His limbs, which had relatively less mana to withstand the attack, had collapsed, leaving him in a torso-like state.

As he lay on the ground, barely clinging to life in a state that no one could possibly describe as intact, I maintained his breathing while….

“Astra, is the healing finished?”

“Yes, Gregory. It’s completely done.”

To provide a special opportunity for revenge, I dragged his body toward the adolescent qilin that had been knocked down by those poachers.

-Drrrr….

Not only was his entire body burned stiff, but fluids and discharge seeped through the cracks in his skin, leaving a trail on the ground.

And the adolescent qilin was looking down at this poacher leader on the ground with gleaming eyes full of hatred.

This sacred beast, the qilin, far from that animal on Earth….

Was a “spiritual beast” with a deer’s body, a dragon’s head, hooves and mane similar to a horse, and a tail.

A spiritual beast whose white cloud-adorned hooves seemed to emit cloud-like manes. A sacred beast… like the thunder bird, a magical beast with elemental power, would be called a spiritual beast in the Eastern continent….

What’s important is that this adolescent qilin is now looking down at this guy sprawled on the ground with contempt, as if looking at an insect.

[….Thank you, benefactor.]

“It’s nothing, young qilin. For now…. how about you take revenge on your enemy before we talk?”

[Yes. Good suggestion, thank you.]

As soon as I finished speaking, the qilin approached the half-dead body with a hateful expression on its face, and without hesitation, struck his head to lay him flat on the ground.

And then, extending its hoof toward that body lying on the ground….

-Crack!

By crushing the head of the poacher who had almost killed it with its hoof, the qilin completed its revenge.

※ ※ ※

And so, the adolescent qilin cleanly smashed the poacher’s head to complete its revenge.

[My name is ‘Urin.’ I sincerely thank both of you benefactors who saved me from that villain!]

“I didn’t do anything, so I have no reason to receive thanks. Rather, my partner is the one who….”

[Ah, I see! I understand! Then once again, I sincerely thank you!]

“Not at all. We didn’t start this with some grand cause. We were just trying to fulfill our duty….”

[Indeed, I see!]

Introducing himself as ‘Urin,’ he was far from the calm and gentle image typically associated with qilins. He expressed sincere gratitude toward us with a bright smile.

With a gender-neutral voice—as qilins reproduce through a form of asexual reproduction or something similar—I gladly accepted his response and voiced what I had been curious about.

“Urin…. Mr.? Ms.? Can I address you casually for now?”

[Yes, however you prefer!]

“Alright. Then… could you tell me why you came down to this mortal realm? From what I heard from Yongyong… ahem, a friend, qilins cannot leave the celestial realm before reaching high-rank status.”

Ignoring the ticking headache I felt the moment I mentioned the name Yongyong, I voiced the question I had been harboring.

The celestial realm, or spirit realm. That world where spiritual beasts like qilins and Eastern dragons live is governed by rules, as it’s ruled by a divine being called the Jade Emperor.

And in that situation, would it really be permissible for this mid-rank qilin to come down to this dangerous human world?

Even though adolescent qilins are inherently powerful due to their high-rank nature, they’re not strong enough to repel madmen who target the bodies of prospective high-rank beings.

The world is wide and there are many crazy people, and considering the repercussions that could occur if a qilin’s body became entangled with such people, I didn’t think those in the celestial realm would leave him unattended.

Therefore, I inwardly thought that his outing was probably an impulsive action taken on his own accord….

[….Yes, that’s right. It was my own decision.]

Urin, this young qilin, calmly shared his story about this.

Of course, the content wasn’t particularly noteworthy or anything like that.

This qilin simply had a lively personality and, unable to contain his vigor, went out and… got involved in this unexpected incident—a rather predictable story.

Naturally, this story is too obvious to be particularly worth considering.

No, rather, the reason I brought this up was elsewhere.

“You’ve experienced it yourself, but this mortal realm is still dangerous for you. Not in terms of power, but in the mental realm.”

[….Indeed, it was.]

“Yes. So, I’m a bit sorry, but I’d like to ask you to return from here. The world is dangerous, and dangerous people are even more numerous.”

[….I understand.]

As I expressed my genuine concern and spoke thus, the qilin Urin seemed to understand my meaning and responded calmly….

[Then, may I make one request?]

“A request?”

[Ah, yes. Actually, our dimension, the celestial realm…. if I just return like this, it could really cause big trouble….]

Though somewhat disorganized, Urin’s words conveyed this general sentiment:

If the traces of wounds left on Urin’s soul were recognized in the celestial realm, apart from Urin being scolded, there might be “retribution” directed at the material world.

Therefore, Urin suggested that we travel together to provide an explanation to resolve this issue, and at the same time, get to see the celestial realm. Our reaction to this proposal was….

“….Visit the celestial realm? Let’s go right now.”

“I can’t resist this!”

The proposal to visit the celestial realm, which we might never have another chance to set foot in, was an offer too tempting to refuse.

Even if there might be some troublesome matters there.