It’s an unbelievable reality, but Dnarr had to acknowledge it.
‘That man… the form I saw back then wasn’t even his full capacity. How can such a being exist? What kind of world lets loose such a creature?’
Long ago, Dnarr cried out to the god he served, desperately hoping for a response, but the god never came to him even once.
Just like that man, Dnarr wanted to protect.
He didn’t want to lose his precious things.
‘…… Ha! It’s all futile.’
The blue-eyed deities standing dumbly beside Dnarr were connected to S-rank barrier mage Kim Jae-hyeon through the ‘sharing eye’ they had spent years nurturing.
And through the ‘eye,’ they could see a man who had single-handedly held back a great beast.
There was a moment when awareness faded, but it was definitely there.
That man was so famous that no one in this country wouldn’t know him.
“Jo Gi-man…!”
Dnarr’s hand shook violently, as if something were broken, and in his trembling hand was a piece of parchment.
On it were several vividly drawn images, almost lifelike.
A grotesque form of a great beast with dozens of tentacles.
A half-formed warrior.
And even the faces of high-rank hunters well-known enough for Dnarr to recognize.
The drawing was shockingly the work of one of the blue-eyed deities.
The one who had been drooling earlier had surprisingly become quite normal once he started drawing, astonishing Dnarr.
After looking at the parchment that the deity had drawn from what he saw through the ‘sharing eye,’ Dnarr realized something.
Jo Gi-man didn’t have the sleek face he had when they first met, but the form of the warrior and the abilities he used were the same as the man he had faced back then.
Dnarr briefly shifted his gaze to the laptop screen on the desk.
There was a huge photo of Jo Gi-man walking with difficulty, supported by someone.
The headline was a glorifying piece about Jo Gi-man that was embarrassingly obvious.
‘I-I-I…!’
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dnarr felt the heat rise and slammed the already unfortunate desk repeatedly.
Even though Dnarr was smashing it, the desk didn’t break because it was made of blackwood, used for sacrificial altars.
“……”
Having confirmed that Jo Gi-man could change his face at will, a phantom headache flared up, and he leaned his palm against his forehead.
Then, the blue-eyed deities, who had been quiet, suddenly began to murmur some incomprehensible words in unison.
It was only after Dnarr heard their words repeatedly that his furrowed brow relaxed.
“…… Are you sure? That Jo Gi-man’s level has decreased?”
“……”
Even with Dnarr’s question, they only repeated the same words.
“There’s no reason for them to lie. Jo Gi-man has decreased in level… Why is that?”
It seemed that he had suffered some significant sacrifices while single-handedly handling the great beast.
Considering everything that interfered with him, that man apparently had resolved to protect this world.
“I see… you also claimed to be a guardian of this world.”
Just as Dnarr’s effort to claim this world was what he called ‘good,’ blocking Dnarr was ‘good’ for Jo Gi-man.
“If it’s a fight to see who’s more right, I can’t lose.”
However, it wasn’t only the identity of Jo Gi-man that Dnarr found out through this battle arts.
While things were calm now, the crack that had emerged only expanded further.
Thanks to that, opening gates and maintaining dimensional pathways would become much easier.
And the recent appearances of great beasts only made the evil that was spreading within this country grow stronger day by day.
Just looking at the internet showed that.
With the monsters appearing in the capital, the response was said to be swift and clean, resulting in public outrage comparing it to past dungeon breaks in Geoje island.
It was natural for there to be differences in response time since the main hunters were concentrated in the capital region, but it was no longer a realm where reason operated.
People needed targets to ease their anxieties, and plenty of reasons to fight were scattered everywhere.
Therefore, the ‘Evil-Infused Crystal’ was efficient in this world.
The world Dnarr was in wasn’t one where science and advanced technology were developed.
Of course, he heard stories that ‘the kingdom of dwarves’ had a different level of technology, but that was a legendary tale that had already disappeared hundreds of years before Dnarr was born.
So, it was unlikely that so many people would quickly immerse themselves in a single event and fiercely oppose each other’s emotions.
‘Anyway, as long as the dimension opens again, I can fetch crystals as much as I want. In a world with such an atmosphere, shifting over a single beast wouldn’t take long.’
Still, since the beings of this world were no joke, he needed to be cautious for the time being.
However, the fact that the dimensional pathway that should have opened today did not raised a red flag.
This had also happened a few weeks ago, but the problem didn’t stem from instability in the dimensional pathway, but rather from it stabilizing too much.
A phenomenon even Dnarr couldn’t determine the cause of.
Could those disgusting creatures have known something?
Gazing briefly at the blue-eyed deities, Dnarr noticed they looked much worse than usual.
‘Those guys… their state has severely deteriorated. Why has the connection with the blue eyes become so faint? Is it due to dimensional stability? That beast shouldn’t be affected by that.’
Looking at the disgusting creatures with drooping eyes and dribbling saliva, Dnarr fell into thought.
‘Could it be… that the power of the blue eyes isn’t complete either…?’
The blue eyes had been thought of as a perfectly evil god.
How many days had he dreamed of liberation since submitting to him?
‘Maybe I can do it.’
Without using the inhumane and extreme methods his master was preparing, perhaps he could suppress that creature.
He felt a flicker of hope he thought would never catch, and felt the need to learn more about what had transpired today.
Before that, first.
“I’ll move the hideout once more.”
“……”
A bad feeling washed over him.
Though he had planned to stay longer, Dnarr impulsively changed his mind.
The blue-eyed deities immediately vanished at Dnarr’s command.
After sending the deities away, he leaned against the desk, pondering.
‘Jo Gi-man… I’ll definitely get back at you.’
The corners of Dnarr’s mouth subtly rose.
* * *
When Yeon-hee returned home, she couldn’t say a word and collapsed right there.
I expelled the heat from my body to clean away the filth, and Yeon-hee fell asleep as soon as she took a shower.
She must have been so exhausted that she couldn’t even think about putting me into dark space.
Yeon-hee didn’t appear to have done anything special for two days, but in reality, she could never escape from the structure of being more burdened than me.
At first, she didn’t feel burdened about summoning me, but recently as I grew rapidly and got bigger, whenever I used a big technique like today, she would inevitably collapse.
While she didn’t consume mana to maintain me, other mental energy was being expended.
It might be worse than handling several summoned creatures combined to maintain just me.
‘Maybe it’s because I have too many skills…’
I even thought of such ridiculous things as I looked at the message that came up long after Kim Jae-hyeon’s barrier was dispelled.
The message said that fortunately, my main skill was still alive and well.
‘At least, the great beast’s traits and skills… thank goodness [Thievery] works on them too.’
That meant great beasts also fell under the category of monsters, and if the opportunity arose, it would be worthwhile to take action with the aim of subjugating them like this time.
Like every other time, I read through the message carefully, but the first line had information different than usual.
– The connection with [Cursed Ancient Relic] has been severed by an unknown force.
– The ‘trace’ left by the great beast ‘Debsorpia’ has been completely annihilated by an unknown force!
‘… It gives me chills to think that the place where slimes lived has been cut off. What does it mean by trace? Could it be… that thing just laid eggs like its mother?’
Was dying and giving birth a species trait? The slimes I knew had no such abilities.
Or perhaps Debsorpia could have been the next generation of queens.
I already began rereading the past messages.
– Trait [Thievery] activated.
– Stealing the traits of ‘Debsorpia’ at random!
– Acquired trait [Trace of Existence]!
– Achievement [Pioneer] activated.
– All attributes increased by 1.
– Experience points have mysteriously disappeared!
I had gained new traits, and my attributes had increased exponentially.
But the main point was undoubtedly the [Trait] of the great beast.
[Trace of Existence]
Due to a peculiarity, the slime born in the horrifying place called the ‘Cursed Ancient Relic’ always lived for survival alone.
Thanks to its almost mad survival instinct and several lucky encounters, the slime managed to survive for long periods, ultimately reaching the apex of its species.
Having met its moment of death, the ‘Queen Slime’ left behind the ‘Debsorpia’ trace, which in turn tried to leave its own trace of existence.
– Upon death, it leaves behind a ‘trace’ containing its potential.
Sometimes the storyline triggered by gaining a trait or skill was impressive.
A slime that had barely reached the apex of its species encountered this world and ended up dying in vain—what a somewhat sad story.
However, the single line explaining the trait at the end was concerning.
‘…… Trace? Wait! Are you saying that when I die, I’ll lay an egg like them?’
Suddenly, the face of Yeon-hee looking at the trace I might leave popped into my mind.
‘Oh no! Why this ability?!’
I couldn’t help but be flustered to gain an ability that was completely unexpected.I
‘Ugh… Since I have no choice but to accept this, I hope it’s not described that I leave behind something by saving energy or anything like that?’
Because skills stolen from Thievery tended to reset, it might take time to leave a powerful trace like Debsorpia.
The explanation for the stolen skill came to mind.
– Randomly stealing ‘Debsorpia’s’ skill!
– Acquired skill [Manhwa Portal]!
– Achievement [Pioneer] activated.
– All attributes increased by 1.
‘Manhwa Portal… that’s it! Shooting from a hole.’
[Manhwa Portal]
– Countless ports open on my massively inflated body, and all the magical power stored inside explodes at once.
– While bulging, I enter a state of [Invincible]. I convert some of the attacks I receive during [Invincible] into magical power.
‘Wow!! Invincible!! I can be invincible for a bit! Wait, does it mean that Queen Slime was also in an invincible state?’
Now that I think about it, she hadn’t reacted at all to anyone’s attacks except for a few hunters, including Yeon-su.
‘Huh… this is an absolute jackpot. I can’t predict what effect [Trace of Existence] will have, but this will definitely be useful!’
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