Ch.395Chapter 395 – Finding the Root of the Problem

A land of extreme cold where snow never melts throughout the year. Crimson-black portals forming upon it.

The sight of these dark red portals materializing on the white landscape resembled bloodstains spreading across pristine white cloth.

A single portal formed in the central tunnel of the Endless Cavern.

The monster-like anomalies that emerged from there caused extensive damage.

Creatures that could only be harmed by attacks using mana and aura.

There must have been at least several thousand of them that escaped.

Even though the forces stationed at the Endless Cavern were not small in number, it still took about a week to completely subdue them.

Monsters from just one portal had completely ravaged the Endless Cavern.

Then, this scene unfolding before my eyes now.

There appear to be at least dozens of these crimson-black portals, with more continuously forming.

If left alone like this, they might exceed dozens and reach hundreds.

‘And beyond hundreds, they’ll reach thousands.’

Considering the number of monsters pouring out from a single portal, how many would emerge from thousands of portals?

It seems that even if the Gelebrio Empire mobilized all its forces, it would struggle to hold them back.

Monsters can simply keep pouring in, but to develop enough military strength to counter them would take at least 10 years.

Taking into account the time needed for people to be born and grow up, it would take at least 20 years.

‘What on earth did you meddle with, Epitrina?’

Since I couldn’t immediately voice my complaints to her, I could only lament in my heart.

What difference would it make to blame Epitrina here anyway?

To find her and learn the exact cause of this situation, I first need to eliminate all the portals existing here.

“Cheon Hyeryeong. Can you destroy the portals with your Heavenly Demon Divine Fist?”

Before attempting to ‘normalize’ them with my ability, I first asked Cheon Hyeryeong.

To use my ability, I would need to get close to the portals, and there was no guarantee that monsters wouldn’t emerge during that process.

Above all, Cheon Hyeryeong’s Heavenly Demon Divine Fist was the ultimate martial art that could make even demon gods stagger.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Fist embodied the will of all past Heavenly Demons who sought to break the heavens to reach the pinnacle of martial arts.

“Did I not tell you before? After dealing with the monsters pouring out from there, I used the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist to eliminate it.”

Ah, right. Cheon Hyeryeong had mentioned using the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist to destroy it.

“How much internal energy does it consume each time you use the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist?”

“It depends on the power, but I remember expending about one-tenth of my internal energy to eliminate the portal that appeared near the Divine Sect.”

One-tenth means a tenth of her power, which is an enormous amount for a Heavenly Demon.

Even with all the elixirs I’ve consumed, I’d barely possess a hundredth of Cheon Hyeryeong’s internal energy.

In other words, even a hundred people like me gathered together would have less total internal energy than what Cheon Hyeryeong possesses alone.

And for a martial artist, an attack that uses one-tenth of their internal energy is by no means trivial.

It’s an attack that would completely deplete one’s internal energy after using it just ten times.

Internal energy recovers naturally, but it’s typically replenished through meditation and breathing techniques.

Without learning specific cultivation methods, natural recovery is excruciatingly slow.

That’s why internal energy shouldn’t be recklessly expended during battle. Recovery is very slow.

“If you expend one-tenth of your internal energy, how long does it take to recover?”

“My Heavenly Demon Divine Art steals energy from the surroundings and converts it into internal energy. So even if I completely deplete my internal energy, it would fully recover in about one quarter-hour.”

One quarter-hour is about 15 minutes. That means she can use the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist about 10 times every 15 minutes.

“If you help me, it could be faster.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

While natural recovery takes about 15 minutes, with my ability, Cheon Hyeryeong’s internal energy would be replenished quickly.

Her body, optimized by my ability, would be in a state of ‘having full internal energy.’

It seemed that having full internal energy was considered the ‘optimal’ state.

“My lord, please step back for a moment. Even you would not remain unscathed if caught in the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist.”

“Understood. Let me know if you need internal energy. I’ll replenish it anytime.”

Cheon Hyeryeong smiled at my words, then immediately turned to face the cluster of portals ahead with a cold expression.

“Haaah…”

A being who could easily defeat even Sword Master-level entities was taking a deep breath.

This indicated how seriously she was approaching this matter.

And that was probably because of me.

“Haaah!”

With a shout, Cheon Hyeryeong thrust her fist toward the nearest portal.

A massive energy fist imbued with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art swept forward, flying toward the portal.

When the energy of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art touched the portal, there was a sound like breaking glass.

Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw the crimson-black portal shatter like a broken mirror, its pieces falling to the ground.

The fragments that fell to the ground turned to dust and disappeared in the wind.

“Didn’t I say that the Heavenly Demon Divine Fist could destroy portals?”

Cheon Hyeryeong spoke to me with a confident voice and a smile.

But as soon as one portal collapsed, the fluctuations of all the portals suddenly ceased, as if time itself had stopped.

“Huh?”

“What’s happening?”

“All the portal movements have stopped.”

The wind was blowing, clouds were drifting, and our hair was fluttering in the breeze.

But all the rippling of the portals—

The movement of the portals that had been like heat haze rising from a road under the hot sun—

All of it stopped the moment one portal was destroyed.

“My lord, do you know what’s happening?”

“…I’m not sure either, but I feel like something’s about to happen.”

Seeing all the portals that had formed across the vast northern lands frozen in place sent chills down my spine.

Looking at them, it seemed as if these portal anomalies were being artificially created by someone.

Otherwise, there would be no explanation for why all the remaining portals stopped moving the moment one was destroyed.

“…My lord, be careful!”

“What?”

At that moment, Cheon Hyeryeong suddenly pushed me away.

I looked back at where I had been standing to understand why she had suddenly pushed me.

“What is that?”

At the spot where I had been standing, an ominous crimson-black spike—the same color as the portals—had somehow shot up from the ground.

If I had remained standing there, I would have been impaled from below and suffered a fatal wound.

Thinking there might be someone nearby who caused this, I pulled out a gun from my inner pocket.

“Cheon Hyeryeong! Do you sense anything?”

“…”

I called her name and asked a question, but was met with only silence.

Feeling that something was wrong, I looked around and found that Cheon Hyeryeong had disappeared.

Even the portals that had filled the surroundings were all gone.

‘Could it be that I’ve fallen into an anomaly?’

I thought that rather than Cheon Hyeryeong disappearing, this situation itself might be an anomaly.

Otherwise, there was no way Cheon Hyeryeong and the portals could vanish in an instant.

To resolve this situation, I struck the ground three times with the hammer I was holding in my other hand.

[Crash!]

With the sound of breaking glass, the scenery surrounding me shattered into pieces.

As the surrounding scenery shattered and fell to the ground, I returned to reality.

“My lord, are you alright? For a moment, you completely disappeared from this world!”

As reality began to fill my vision again, Cheon Hyeryeong appeared before me with a worried face.

“I’m fine. But what happened?”

“The moment I pushed you away, space itself swallowed you. And then that being over there appeared.”

I looked where Cheon Hyeryeong was pointing, and there was a man in modern clothing, kneeling with his hands raised.

His face was completely battered and swollen, and his clothes were covered in footprints, fist marks, and bloodstains.

“That person is the culprit behind this incident.”

“…But why did you leave him in that state?”

To have a conversation, he should at least be in a somewhat normal condition, but in that completely battered state, nothing could be done.

“He said that with his greatest adversary gone, this place was now his.”

Ah.

“So I gave him just a few more blows, enough to bring him to the brink of death.”

“…?”

“He deserves to die just for trying to eliminate you, but we still need to know the cause of what’s happening in this world. So I didn’t kill him, just beat him up adequately.”

When Cheon Hyeryeong mentioned not killing him, I could see the man’s body flinch.

It seems he was thoroughly beaten.

Well then, time to begin the interrogation.