Chapter 83 – Day 83

Day 83

Thud-.
Patter-.

Cheon Seoa’s body, covered in cracks, begins to crumble.
In the place where the fragments that formed Cheon Seoa’s body fell, a void of darkness was swirling….

Flash-.

From within that void of darkness, a giant eyeball appeared, flashing with a deep, blood-red light.

How dare….

[You try to use me-?]

Woong-.

As the eerie voice echoed, strange waves spread in all directions.
With that, the universe that was folding, distorting, crumbling, and shattering around Cheon Seoa was pushed back.

Meanwhile, the hole created in Cheon Seoa’s body, which was continuously collapsing and gradually growing larger.
From where the single eyeball had been flashing streams of blood-red light, suddenly a hand popped out! Then, soon after, a woman revealed herself through the hole.

Hair of pure white that reached down to her waist, so bright it seemed like just looking at it could blind one’s eyes.
Her two eyes, like the eyeball that had flashed in the void of darkness, contained a beautifully bloody color.

The clothing on her body seemed to be made of fresh, vivid blood that looked like it could drip down with a fishy scent at any moment.

“Haa-.]
[Haa-.”

As the woman who emerged from the collapsed Cheon Seoa exhaled a low breath, the universe that had been pushed away returned to its original place.

This form too….

“It’s been a while.”

The woman, Cheon Seoa, muttered with a chilling smile.

No, come to think of it, has it really been that long?

That’s right.

“I came out for a moment because of the beast.”

Cheon Seoa muttered, glancing at the ‘collapsed Cheon Seoa’ at her feet.

“It was a fairly useful ‘doll’. But it got ruined because of some insignificant bug.”

But it doesn’t matter.

Although I lost a useful doll.

“I have the materials to make that doll.”

Cheon Seoa muttered again, with a beautiful yet somewhat eerie smile, as she stretched out her hand.

Slowly.
As slow as a tortoise walking. As slow as a snail crawling.

The moment Cheon Seoa’s slowly extending hand stops.

Crack-!

The universe splits from the point where Cheon Seoa’s hand stopped.
Countless cracks spread in all directions, making the universe seem unstable, as if it would collapse at the slightest touch.

Looking at those cracks, Cheon Seoa whispered.

“Open.”

Boom-!

With a powerful force and an intense sound of rupture, the cracks collapsed.
The universe that filled the surroundings shattered like glass fragments and scattered everywhere, and in the space where the collapsed universe had been, a passage leading to ‘somewhere’ appeared.

“It’s time to pay the price.”

Cheon Seoa, displaying a beautiful yet eerie smile, muttered once again as if whispering and moved towards the passage.

* * *

A massive ship advanced forward, riding the Milky Way formed by countless stars.

On the ship, thousands of people were gathered, either sightseeing outside or engaging in conversations among themselves.

“Are you sure this will be alright?”

On the top floor of the ship.
A middle-aged man watching their figures through the window spoke with an anxious expression.

In response, behind the middle-aged man.
A young man lying on a soft bed showed a slight smile.

“How many times are you going to ask?”

“But…”

“It’s fine. Although we chose this passage to return to our ‘homeland’, you know very well that this passage was not originally intended for ascension.”

Nod.

The middle-aged man who first asked the question nodded with a stern expression in response to the young man’s reverse question.

He knew all too well that this passage was not the one they used for ascension.

The young man looked at the middle-aged man and smiled again, then sat up and said.

“The pressure here is incomparably stronger than the pressure created by passages originally prepared for ascension. Even I, who have reached the realm of the Heaven God, can barely protect my own body. That’s why we prepared ‘those things’ to cross over to our homeland with everyone from the Ascension Gate.”

As the young man said this, he scanned various parts of the ship through the window.
Where his gaze passed, nine people were bound and tied outside the ship.

Those nine people were exposed to the pressure pouring in from the outside, screaming horribly.

“Hmm-.”

The middle-aged man let out a low groan at the terrible screams they were making, and the young man looked at him with cold eyes.

“They are Mains. Mains who have abandoned human morality and defied heavenly principles. They too would be happy if they could help us return to our homeland.”

Nod.

At the young man’s words, the middle-aged man nodded once again.

However, soon the middle-aged man spoke in a heavy voice with a hardened expression.

“But… was it really necessary to provoke ‘her’?”

“Hmm. I’ve heard that question more than a hundred times already.”

“I’m… afraid. Afraid, afraid, and afraid again. Even now, when I fall asleep, I have nightmares of her crawling out of the darkness and tearing me to pieces.”

“Tsk.”

At the middle-aged man’s voice tinged with fear and terror, the young man clicked his tongue softly.

“Didn’t I tell you? This passage was not originally meant for ascension. Of course, it’s undeniable that she is regrettably at a higher level than us. She’s probably a monster who has reached the realm of true goodness as a Main. But.”

Flash-.

A blue light flashed in the young man’s eyes and then disappeared.

“No matter how much of a monster she is, she won’t be able to find this passage. No, even if by some one-in-a-million chance she discovers the passage we’ve chosen, she won’t be able to catch up to us. Although we can’t predict how much time has passed due to the distorted time axis between the passage and the outside, a considerable amount of time must have passed. It’s nearly impossible for anyone to go against such a flow of time and catch up to us, even if they’ve reached the Taeul stage…!”

Boom-!

As the ship shook from a sudden intense impact, the young man who was continuing his speech closed his mouth.

“Wh-what-?”

“Don’t panic. We must have just lightly collided with one of the stars forming the passage…!”

Boom boom-!

As another impact occurred, the young man’s mouth closed again.

At the same time.

Wh-What is that!
Aaaaagh!
H-Help me!
What’s happening!
The screams of the repairmen on the ship echoed from outside.

Realizing something was wrong, the young man and the middle-aged man hurriedly looked out the window, and what their eyes caught was.

“What in the…!”

The beautiful, sparkling Milky Way made of countless stars was being dyed in deep red blood.
No, it wasn’t being dyed.
It was being swallowed, being devoured.

The red blood.
So vivid and so fresh, the red blood became a massive wave, swallowing the Milky Way.
And furthermore, it was engulfing their ship that was traveling along that Milky Way.

“What in the-!”

As the young man flailed his hands in panic, a streak of blue lightning rose up.
Soon, the blue lightning split into thousands and millions of strands, intertwining and tangling to block the blood trying to swallow the ship.

Kugugu-!

“Kuk!”

As the net made of blue lightning collided with the overflowing wave of blood, the young man let out a suppressed groan.

A powerful shock flows into the body, shaking the internal organs.
This shock was not simply stirring the flesh, but also shaking the youth’s forbidden and original spirit.

Could it be that another being from the ‘outer sky’ has detected him?

However.

“Don’t… make me laugh…! What do you think you are!”

Crunch-.
Crunch-.

The youth’s body, who shouted angrily, began to change.

Bones twisted and shattered.
Skin and muscles melted away instantly without a trace.

What replaced that empty space was.

[Kuaaaa-!]

Muscles incomparable to those of humans filled the void.
The skin covering it was not skin but scales glistening with a blue light.

The youth’s two eyes changed from human ones to those of a reptile.
Two antlers similar to those of a reindeer sprouted on his forehead.

Finally, a smooth tail grew from his backside.

[I am the Thunder Dragon King of the Vast Sea!]

The youth.
No, the Thunder Dragon King of the Vast Sea.

He was one of the dragons belonging to the Gwangryong Gate, one of the major sects in the Upper Realm, and was one of the Grand Elders.

Originally, he had left the Upper Realm and was ascending to the Great Lacheon, but he was swept away by an unknown powerful current and fell to Earth.

After crash-landing on Earth like this, he created a sect called the Ascension Gate, dreaming of returning home while leading cultivators who, like him, had come to Earth for various reasons.

Even though only a moment remained before that dream could be realized.

[Do you think I would be toyed with by mere beasts like you!]

Grrrr-!

The Gwangcheon Manroe Dragon King, in his half-human half-dragon form, roared lowly as he shouted.

Simultaneously.

Giggle giggle giggle.

A space made entirely of blood.
In that place where only blue lightning pushing away the blood and the ship protected by that lightning existed, an eerie laughter echoed.

[I came to catch one bug, but oh my goodness? The true identity of that bug was a worm?]

A strange and chilling voice resonated.

At that, the young man, the Gwangcheon Manroe Dragon King’s expression suddenly twisted.

How dare.

[Who are you calling a bug! You inferior beast!]

Kwagagang-!

Centered on the Gwangcheon Manroe Dragon King who burst out with a shout full of anger, blue lightning exploded.