Chapter 62 : The Retriever
Chapter 62. The Retriever
-This weapon is a UV Thermal Gun. It’s issued to special agents of the Ktazar race. It can emit ultra-high-temperature magic beams. At maximum output, it can deal meaningful damage even to Mythic rank creatures.
-It can hurt Mythic rank creatures?
Yul was slightly startled. Ever since becoming a member of the Deep King Tribe, excluding the seal, he had felt an overwhelming sense of bodily omnipotence.
That toy-like gun could deal meaningful damage to Yul’s main body?
-With this gun, we wounded Abysarion, the Lord of the Abyss, to the point where it couldn’t move. And the Sea God ended up driving it away.
-Hmm.
Yul had seen that amorphous monster with his own eyes before. Its battle with the Sea God had been on a mythic scale. Even in his full-power orca days, he likely wouldn’t have been able to defeat that thing.
-Any restrictions?
-If a non-Ktazar uses this weapon, they won’t receive [Remote Magic Support].
-What is remote magic support?
-It refers to the infinite magic supplied by the Origin Nexus across the entire universe. Hundreds of trillions of Ktazars pay magic as a tax every year, and it all accumulates in the Origin Nexus.
Supplying magic remotely? It was astonishing. Was this the technological prowess of the Ktazar?
-So, you've been using a weapon that splurges taxes all this time.
-I had authorization. I only used it when necessary. In any case, if a race other than ours uses it, they’ll have to rely on their own magic. Well, judging by your magic reserves, it probably won’t be much of a problem.
Hmm. Yul stared at it while thinking. So he would lose the invincibility effect of the Stone of Authority in exchange for that weapon?
Yul subtly checked Yorum’s gaze. The treasures he possessed were two. One was the Stone of Authority, and beside it lay the Abyssal Polyhedron.
-Just to be clear, you’re only talking about the Stone of Authority, right?
-Yes. I have no interest in the ominous-looking relic next to it.
He was probably referring to the Abyssal Polyhedron.
-Ominous?
-Indeed. On the surface, it looks like an ordinary mantra-bearing object, but there’s an evil power dwelling inside. You seem to have acquired divinity as well. Take a closer look.
Tilting his head, Yul looked at the Abyssal Polyhedron.
Srrrk.
He had thought nothing had changed since acquiring divinity, but that wasn’t true.
He had gained the ability to peer deeply into objects and see through their inner nature.
Sway, sway.
‘What is that? Tentacles?’
In the deep darkness, a fragment of something like enormous tentacles flickered past. It was only a fleeting impression, but it was ominous incarnate.
-That came from the Primal Deep Sea.
-How do you know?
-Isn’t it obvious? At the cutting edge of Cakeworld, something that evil can only come from the Primal Deep Sea. That place is an exile ground for god-rank beings.
-What is "Cakeworld"?
This wasn’t the first time Yul had heard the term.
During the Heaven and Earth Resonance, the Aeon who descended had definitely referred to this world as Cakeworld when exercising their authority.
But Yorum knew the term too.
-You don’t know? It’s the world in which our universe exists.
Yorum extended his hand, and from a device attached to his arm, a hologram appeared in midair. Particles gathered, forming a clear image.
-What is this…….
At the very top was a round planet. It looked like a satellite photo of Earth taken from space. Up to that point, nothing seemed strange.
The problem was beneath that planet. Below the South Pole, another enormous, oval-shaped world was attached.
-We call the topmost layer the First Stratum. Using the South Pole as a starting point, the lower section is the Second Stratum. See the even larger oval attached beneath the Second Stratum? That’s the Third Stratum. They’re stacked together like this. The ocean keeps getting larger.
-This is… nonsense…….
This defied the laws of physics. Even in his previous life, Yul had been interested in space and had watched all sorts of videos about it.
Planets are spherical due to gravitational aggregation of matter…… there’s no way they could be shaped into tiered layers like a cake.
-S-so if I go to the South Pole, I can go to another universe? How do you even do that?
Ignoring Yul’s shock, Yorum continued.
-You’ve heard that each stratum has its own universe, right? Crossing the South Pole imposes the same restrictions as crossing between universes. There’s a thin, round membrane-like boundary, and crossing from one universe or stratum to another consumes enormous energy. Only those who have reached the threshold of power can cross the layers.
Right, earlier, he had said the Ktazar were teetering right at the threshold of power.
-You, as a split body, might be able to do it. But your main body back there won’t.
Yorum looked at the gigantic creature behind Yul. Just seeing it made his heart ache, as if facing uncontrollable violence.
That thing was undoubtedly a Mythic rank monster. Yorum looked back at Yul.
If it were true that this creature had once been a jelly octopus, he couldn’t even imagine what it had been doing with the Stone of Authority.
Curious about the explanation of the universe, Yul asked,
-So each cake layer has a universe wrapped around it like a globe?
-A globe? Ah. You mean those glass toys. Yes. You can think of it as a dome-shaped universe enveloping it. A universe within a universe, within a universe.
‘Insane.’
Perhaps Yul was witnessing a fantasy world that had absorbed the delusions of Flat Earthers.
-Creatures with divinity like you have trouble operating in the First Stratum, but there are quite a few in the Second Stratum. It might be because those universes were generated from newly born planets, imposing such restrictions. The threshold of power is set lower, too.
As Yul listened, he tilted his head.
-You’re saying the universes are created from planets?
-Yes.
-N-no, dammit. Forget gravity for a second.
He couldn’t take it anymore. Universes being created from planets—what kind of insane nonsense was that?
-The universe is created by the Big Bang…… and planets are formed when elements produced by the Big Bang cool down and condense through gravity…….
-Hahaha! What kind of nonsense is that? How could a universe possibly explode? So what, you’re saying it bursts out of empty space? And why would it do that? Hahaha! That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard in my hundreds of years.
Yorum snickered at Yul, like Fred Hoyle mocking supporters of the Big Bang theory on a 1949 radio talk show.
Why would there need to be a reason for the universe to be created? Yul replied sarcastically.
-Oh, really? Then why is the universe created?
-Obviously, it’s created by the will of the Absolute. The Left Hand that supports the world, and the Right Hand of Creation. When these two divine entities work in harmony, all things in the world are born.
‘Fuck.’
With even a creator god entering the picture, Yul gave up on thinking altogether.
-Let’s get back to the deal.
A deal isn’t settled by simple barter alone.
-I know very well how much value the Stone of Authority holds. And what it means to hand it over.
As he said that, Yorum added a little extra on top of the Stone of Authority.
-The Ktazar do not forget a favor. I can’t give you something equal in value to the Stone of Authority, but I’ll grant you a token of gratitude. It will be stored in the form of knowledge.
-A token?
-From what I heard from Arktar, you have a map of Phantaratsa inside your head, correct?
-That’s right.
Even now, whenever Yul thought about it, the map of Phantaratsa automatically surfaced in his mind.
-That’s a unique information management technique of the Ktazar race. It’s the same method-implanting knowledge directly into the mind.
-And what happens if I have it?
-Countless Ktazar will become friendly toward you. There are quite a few Ktazar even in this First Stratum universe. As you live on, you’ll definitely run into them somewhere, and they’ll treat you kindly.
So he’d receive favorable regard from an unspecified number of individuals. Hard to tell whether that was useful or not.
-Hmm. Come to think of it, what happened to Arktar? He must’ve escaped.
Since Arktar had been the first intelligent being he met after falling into this world, Yul was curious about his whereabouts.
-He paid the price for abandoning his duty. We reclaimed his magic and collected it as tax.
-That’s rough.
-And now he’s become a merchant, traveling all over the galaxy. As far as I know, he’s probably buying and selling goods between the Fourth and Fifth Strata.
-I see.
Well, as long as he was doing fine somehow, that was enough.
-Anyway, I’m truly glad this was resolved peacefully without a fight. Until next time.
After exchanging a few more words, Yorum departed with the Stone of Authority.
Only after Yorum was gone did Yul finally let out a breath.
‘Breaking out in a cold sweat before I could even move properly…….’
Yul considered what to do with the Abyssal Polyhedron.
‘The item Ogh of the Rising Tide used.’
If he used it to form another contract, he could regain the mantras he had lost at any time.
But he lightly buried it near the main body. The fact that he couldn’t fully grasp the hidden secret still made him uneasy.
In any case, Yorum’s appearance had brought one clear advantage.
When he burst in from the outside using the UV Thermal Gun and completely wrecked the temple structure, he had opened up a high-speed exit leading outside.
For now, let’s get out of this hideout.
‘Just how long was I asleep?’
It felt like he had closed his eyes and opened them again in an instant, but it was clear that quite some time had passed.
Not only was the temple that had been pressing down on his body gone, but massive megaliths had also risen up all around.
‘The aftermath of the Heaven and Earth Resonance…….’
It seemed to have gone beyond merely churning the sea, triggering massive tectonic shifts as well.
All kinds of bizarre rock formations filled the sea before his eyes.
-This is annoying. Should I try firing it once?
Yul looked at the weapon he had obtained in exchange for the Stone of Authority. It looked like a toy, but it had wiped away the massive rocks blocking his path earlier. Might as well try it.
He lifted it with telekinesis, aimed, and focused his magic.
-At maximum output…….
Goooooo-!
The tip of the UV Thermal Gun glowed, and Yul’s magic was drained at a crazy pace.
-What the hell, why does it take this much magic?!
Yul panicked at the amount of magic being consumed, something he’d never experienced before. Even after becoming a Deep King Tribe member, stronger than his orca days, it drained so much magic that he felt dizzy.
Even for a split body, this was an enormous expense.
Click.
The moment he pulled the trigger, a beam of terrifying output shot forward.
Zzzzzzzzzzzing!
The bizarre rock formations rising from the seabed were pierced straight through, and everything blocking the way was erased.
The sea boiled, and an immense amount of bubbles erupted, filling his vision.
‘Insane.’
With a single shot, 80% of the split body’s magic reserves were gone.
For now, this weapon should be sealed away together with the main body. Yul returned to the interior of the temple and buried the gun beside where he had buried the Abyssal Polyhedron.
Then he looked at the main body. An unimaginably massive monster, big enough to appear in some monster-verse without feeling out of place.
'So this is me.'
It felt like things had already gone far beyond the point of no return.
‘Alright. Get a grip. This isn’t the time.’
He needed to find the human race as soon as possible and get that "Communion" or whatever over with quickly.
Even at this very moment, the quest’s time limit was ticking down.