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I went to check the spot where the ship had just disappeared, along with my companions. However, there was nothing left at the location, just the empty Sea of Chaos. Then, Mangnyang looked at me and said,

“Baek Woong, use the Fire Eye Golden Spirit to examine the dimension’s distortion. And let me know the direction it extends.”

“Umm!”

I activated the Fire Eye Golden Spirit and focused my gaze; slowly, the world around me turned black and white, revealing cracks that looked like white spider webs. The cracks formed like a funnel sucking everything downwards, connected somewhere by a white thread. I pointed out the direction I noticed.

“That way.”

“Truly convenient to have a top-tier [eye]. Wait a moment.”

Mangnyang mumbled and activated the Corpse Dissolution Technique, remaining silent for a while, sweating profusely. After quite some time, he finally spoke.

“Hmm… the dimension is torn apart to the extent of madness! I can only imagine what kind of chaos it would be…”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if it was the Eight Parts of the Divine or if that ship caused it, but at the end of the distortion zone, the dimension is ripped, creating a vast dimensional hole. However, with a hole that unstable, there’s no guarantee we would be safe if we went inside…”

“If we enter the hole, can we reach the Death Sea?”

“Probably, but we need to protect ourselves while passing through the dimension. My current power isn’t sufficient for that level of defensive technique.”

“Hmm.”

I understood Mangnyang’s lack of confidence. After all, he had only received the fortuitous encounter from the Three Sovereigns’ Inner Gate two years ago, making him still quite lacking in superhuman martial arts abilities. I glanced at Seimei, who then spoke up.

“I could use a defensive technique. But I’m not going to do it here.”

“Uh?! Why not?”

“It’s better for you to use the Four Great Spirit Deities. By using the Water Spirit Varuna to expand a barrier, it would be much stronger and more reliable than my Yin and Yang technique, especially since we absorbed the magical power from the monster earlier.”

“Aha!”

Seimei made a valid point. I was about to summon the Four Great Spirit Deities when Mangnyang suddenly stopped me.

“Wait, Baek Woong!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Are you really going to follow along? From now on, there’s no guarantee of life or death, and the possibility of a pointless death is very high. After going through so much to ensnare the Eight Parts of the Divine, walking into danger like this…”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“You were the one who suggested chasing after them earlier.”

“…Now that we’re here, I’m feeling frightened. Seeing the future ship, the dimension distortion, and the enormous dimensional hole all with my own eyes…”

It was evident that Mangnyang was genuinely frightened, his eyes trembling and his body shaking.

“Seeing it indirectly through your memories feels different than experiencing it firsthand. I realize now that I’ve been caught in a battle on a level beyond the human world…”

“……”

“Honestly, I’m not prepared for this. I am not.”

“Hmm…”

“I know with my brain that it’s right to follow that ship and gather intelligence on their confrontation, but plunging into adventure while putting my life on the line is just…”

This was a somewhat unfamiliar side of Mangnyang, who had always seemed nonchalant about life and death. Here he was trembling with the real fear of death!

‘Considering the scale of the battlefields I’ve fought on until now, this seems rather modest.’

Having witnessed continents breaking, stars exploding, and the universe collapsing, this level of battle didn’t elicit much response from me. I was astonished by this different side of Mangnyang, but I quickly understood his feelings.

‘Ah… I see. In my previous life, where hope was practically nonexistent, defeat felt like a foregone conclusion, so I could escape from the worries of life and death. But in this life, where there’s still some glimmer of possibility, that eagerness and attachment are what created Mangnyang’s fear.’

Perhaps the other companions wouldn’t understand, but I alone grasped Mangnyang’s psychology. I felt no pity for him at all. If I were in Mangnyang’s shoes, I’d react the same way.

I felt the same.

No matter how many times I died, death still felt fearful and painful.

After a moment of silence, I responded to Mangnyang.

“Don’t worry. I’ll ensure that you can die without pain by risking my life.”

“……”

“By any means necessary.”

More terrifying than death is suffering.

Dying without pain would be a true kindness.

Hearing my sincere words, Mangnyang blankly stared before suddenly bursting into laughter.

“Ha ha ha ha!! Was that meant to be comforting?! Hahaha… Uh ha ha ha.”

“Huh?”

“Ha ha ha ha… So you’re a Reborn Person… Yeah… This is what being a Reborn Person is. Just because you can see the memories doesn’t mean you can know what someone is.”

He laughed joyfully, almost tearing up, then brought up his fan to his mouth.

“I made a fool of myself. I’ll believe that I can die without pain as you said, so let’s go.”

“Alright!”

With Mangnyang regaining his courage, I immediately headed for the space of the Four Great Spirit Deities.

Woong

“Varuna! Please create a barrier that can keep my companions and me safe inside the Death Sea’s dimensional door!”

As my request reached Varuna, a figure resembling a Water Spirit emerged from the void to respond.

[Sure. In exchange, I will take a corresponding amount of your current magical power. Do you agree?]

“Understood!”

[The contract has been established.]

Chwa-jwah-jack

The moment we emerged from the space of the Four Great Spirit Deities, a water barrier enveloped all of us. Seimei touched the barrier with his hands, looking impressed.

“As expected of the Four Great Spirit Deities… Its power exceeds expectations.”

“Seimei. With this barrier, we should be able to enter the Death Sea, right?”

“More than sufficient. Let’s go.”

Pa-at

We entered through the white passage created by Mangnyang’s Corpse Dissolution Technique, and soon after, we could teleport right in front of the enormous dimensional hole Mangnyang talked about. The moment I looked at that dimensional hole, I understood why Mangnyang had gasped in shock.

‘It’s the size of a continent!’

Even seen from a long distance, it filled my view entirely. Since I had seen plenty of such gigantic entities before, it didn’t make much of an impression on me, but I could imagine how astonishing it must have been for Mangnyang. When I saw the chaotic energy pouring out of the dimensional hole like a storm, I thought it was dangerous, but then I let my worries go, trusting the power of the Four Great Spirit Deities.

“Let’s go!”

Woo-oooooo—

Before long, we were all being pulled into the dimensional hole. In an instant, pressure made my body feel flattened, my bones throbbed, and my head felt like it was spinning. But that pressure was fleeting, and soon the blood flow returned, filling my vision with a riot of colors.

…….

‘My companions are nowhere to be seen.’

I couldn’t see Mangnyang, Asura, or Seimei. It felt as if I was walking alone through a mist of darkness.

Had I really entered the last area of the Aokigahara Life Sea, known as the Death Sea?

“Hmmm.”

Feeling perplexed, I continued walking. Interestingly, unlike the Sea of Chaos, this Death Sea felt like traversing through an immensely deep dark mountain range. The undetermined ground beneath my feet felt firm, and walking was easy. However, with each step I took, ripples resembling chaotic waves surged around me.

‘Should I try to stay calm…’

I felt no anxiety about being separated from my companions. I trusted Varuna’s defensive abilities and strangely felt instinctively that this wasn’t a dangerous situation. I began to walk steadily along the dark mountain path, using my Qi Sense and Intent to detect my surroundings.

Just then.

Pa-ji-jik

Pa-ji-jik

I saw lightning erupting from afar. At the same time, a silver gleam flickered, so I slowly walked toward that spot. After walking about one hundred and fifty steps, I finally got close enough to see what that object was.

“……!!”

Is that an Ark?!

It looked just like the [Ark] Yi Seong-gye I had left back in Soeul Village, crash-landing and spewing gray smoke. The only difference was that this craft shimmered with a much stronger silver light and was at least twice as large. Even from a distance, it would clearly be a giant ship.

Ta-dat

I hurriedly approached the ship. Upon closer inspection, I found the ship was damaged all over, crackling with electricity, and had become a pile of molten scrap. The scrap resembled humans, but it was a sophisticated machine inside, causing my eyebrows to twitch.

“Android?”

There was no doubt.

It was an android with most of its body being machine!

It reminded me of the secret agents from the United States I had encountered on my 28th life while heading toward the Great Bear Empire.

‘Could there be enemies lying in wait…?’

I used the Intent Heavenly Pillar to amplify my Qi Sense and Intent as much as possible to assess the surroundings. More than anything, I needed to find the owner of this ship.

Just then, I sensed a presence. At the same moment, a resonant voice echoed.

“Since you know about androids, are you perhaps someone from another world like me?”

Swish

I looked in the direction of the voice. There stood a man in a blood-red mask, dressed in a uniform.

“Oh, don’t mind the gun I’m pointing at you. You can take your time to answer.”

The man was aiming a handgun at me, and since we were about twenty steps apart, I could easily kill him before he could even pull the trigger. So, I didn’t feel fear, but an undeniable curiosity arose toward the man with the blood-red mask.

“Who are you?”

“I asked first. How about keeping in order, buddy?”

“You know our language.”

The reason we could communicate wasn’t that I understood his language. The fluent language of the Great Ming Empire reached my ears, allowing me to respond. He was still speaking in Han Chinese.

“Hmm?”

For a moment, the man in the blood-red mask hesitated as if surprised by my words. Then he chuckled and replied.

“Oh, it’s because my Ethereal Mask has an automatic translation feature. You sound like someone from medieval China, so I guess I might have traveled through time.”

“……”

Ethereal Mask?

Time travel?

Did he mean he traveled across dimensions using this [Small Cycle]?

‘Who is this guy?’

What’s he doing here in the Death Sea with the same ship as the [Ark]?

I found myself puzzled by the unexpected situation and tried to figure out this person’s identity. But it was still a mystery, so I said.

“My name is Baek Woong. I’m the village chief of Soeul Village.”

It seemed like the guy wanted my identity, so I figured sharing a bit of information might help the conversation progress. Upon hearing my name, the man in the blood-red mask seemed disappointed, pressing the side of his mask with his fingers.

“Baek Woong… not a name I recognize at all. It’s not in the database containing top experts from the era of the Great Ming Empire.”

“Now that I’ve told you my name, will you tell me yours?”

“Why?”

“…I mean, why not? We should exchange names.”

The man in the blood-red mask seemed to chuckle lightly.

“I never said I would tell you.”

“…….”

What the heck…

This guy’s personality reminds me of someone I know…

As I glared at him, the man with the blood-red mask lowered his gun slightly and said.

“Well, let’s just carry on with the formalities. Seems like you’re a master from the Absolute Realm, so a gun wouldn’t affect you anyway.”

“What? You realized that….”

“Oh, wait!!”

Suddenly, the man in the blood-red mask shouted loudly. I flinched as he said in a serious tone,

“Focus!”

“What? What do you mean?”

“Focus!”

“……!!”

Did he just say there was someone who could sneak past my maximum sensing abilities? And this guy sensed it?! How strong could that enemy be?!

I involuntarily tensed up, turning my gaze to see if the attacker was coming.

Bang!

It was dangerously close. I avoided the bullet that was faster than sound, almost hundreds of times quicker, thanks to my senses at the Absolute Realm.

“……”

I looked in shock where the bullet had come from, and there was the man in the blood-red mask again, now holding his pistol and licking his lips.

It was obvious who the culprit was.

He had yelled to focus and shot right in front of me.

He seemed impressed, putting his gun away and applauding.

“Clap clap clap

“Nice job dodging—truly from the Absolute Realm!”

This guy!!

I gritted my teeth and drew my sword.

“Do you want to die?!”

The blood-red mask guy flinched, waving his hands in panic.

“Calm down, calm down! There’s a reason for this.”

“A reason?”

The blood-red mask guy spoke with a somewhat earnest tone.

“I need to get back to my hometown, and to pass through this weird other world, I need to defeat a boss mob. I followed the coordinates inputted into the intelligence of the Advanced Ship, but now I have nowhere to go. So I just wanted to check how strong you are.”

“Checking how strong I am by shooting me? Damn….”

As I emanated my killing intent again, the guy in the blood-red mask appeared unnerved.

“Wait, I’m sorry! It’s just that the Intent Heavenly Pillar confirmed it, but strength levels vary immensely even within the Absolute Realm, you know? So please understand. It was unexpected that even the fastest bullets of the Human Alliance were dodged.”

“……”

“I grew up with betrayal and assassination as a daily routine. This is just my nature; please let this slide, okay? I always learned this from my master, so I accidentally messed up.”

It seemed like a jumble of words. He appeared to have recognized the gap in strength in an instant and was doing his best to escape this situation.

‘This guy’s martial arts skills aren’t on a trivial level.’

The fact that he knows of the Absolute Realm and can identify the Intent Heavenly Pillar shows he’s no push-over. Moreover, if he recognized the disparity in strength instantly, he might be on a much higher level than I expected.

I relaxed my stance slightly and said,

“Other world? Boss mob? What in the world are you talking about?”

The man in the blood-red mask cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Ahem. I’m sorry, but let me also introduce myself.”

Puff

The blood-red mask guy pressed a button on the side of his mask, and slowly with a hissing sound, it began to come off. When it was fully removed, a handsome young man with black hair appeared.

He looked to be in his late teens, with a strikingly youthful appearance. As he put his compacted mask into his chest pocket, he spoke.

“I am Major Lee Hwan, part of the Northeast Asia Liberation Army’s 7th Division of the Human Alliance. Please help me return to my original world.”