Chapter 355
Solomon had spent a great deal of time resting to recover from the wounds inflicted by the Overlord during the Great War, the biggest battle in the history of the Core over its throne. Had things gone according to plan, he would have fully taken over Baal’s body by now, hunting for the “Keys” while consolidating his forces.
However, things had gone awry. Quite awry. During the trial of the Twisted Land, while defeating Ugnus and attempting to transfer his soul into its body to serve as a temporary vessel, he had suffered a grievous wound. Half of his soul had been destroyed, and with a single strike at that.
One could say he had been defenseless at the time, but Solomon’s soul should have been strong enough to withstand most attacks from even the Transcendents. Someone like Imfelheim may have managed to land a meaningful blow, but this was more than that; it was a critical wound. He wondered whether such power might be possible for the Overlord in his prime, but quickly dismissed the thought.
That attack had come from a blade. Based on what Solomon remembered from the Great War, the Overlord had never used a sword. Since it couldn’t be the Overlord, Solomon came to the most obvious conclusion: someone else was involved. But who?
The only one with power comparable to the Overlord’s was the Spirit Queen, but she didn’t wield a sword either. She was a spirit in the truest sense, a being who borrowed the forces of nature. Furthermore, the energy he had felt at the time of the attack bore no trace of a spirit’s power.
That left Solomon with one other possibility. One of the sword-wielding Transcendents—Imfelheim or Wei Zhongqi—had acquired one of the two Keys: the Cosmos. With the Cosmos, one could obtain immense power.
If that were the case, he wasn’t sure why they hadn’t come to kill him already. It would be the best time to finish him off. Solomon decided to temporarily borrow Baal’s body. Had he fully recovered his original power, it wouldn’t have been “borrowing,” but a complete takeover. Frowning, he lifted his head and turned his gaze toward Mount Yeongryunsan, visible just beyond the horizon.
***
Rain was pouring in sheets today, as if a hole had been punched in the sky. Dark clouds loomed above, and the downpour showed no signs of easing.
Byeol had come to the Deep Realm alone to play. She had planned to visit Kiriel, but he seemed busy writing a reflection paper, so she’d decided to let him be. She skipped into the house to leave her backpack inside, then came back out to check the sign posted on the door.
“Taking... the day... off,” she read aloud. “Huh...?”
She then searched the house thoroughly for Wei Zhongqi but quickly realized that no one was around. Left alone in the thatched home on the top of the completely deserted Mount Yeongryunsan, Byeol was starting to feel a strange sense of fear from the gloomy atmosphere.