CHAPTER 210: SERPENT’S HEAD (3)

Kwon Oh-Jin felt a splitting headache. “Agh...”

He pressed his pounding temples and slowly opened his eyes.

This is?

Dark clouds covered the sky. Jagged rocks shot up from the ground like a giant's sword had been stabbed upside down into the earth. Between them grew bizarre plants he had never seen before. Seven black stars shimmered ominously through the clouded sky.

Normally, black stars in a dark sky would be indistinguishable like black ink on black paper. For some reason, the seven black stars glowed with such an eerie light that they clearly stood out even against the cloudy sky. Such a bizarre landscape could never exist on Earth.

It didn’t take long for him to realize where he had woken up.

“The Demonic District.”

A world of monsters said to be accessible only through the first rift, a massive gate fifty kilometers wide in the North Pole. He had been sucked into that unknown realm too ridiculously easily.

“Ha.” Kwon Oh-Jin laughed as if he couldn’t believe it and rubbed his forehead.

Was I too careless?

Even calling it carelessness felt like a stretch. He had summoned Vega and checked the rift’s stability before touching it. He had entered hundreds of gates before, but never had he seen one that expanded so monstrously from just a single touch and swallowed everything nearby.

Vega, who had collapsed nearby, slowly got up. “My... child?”

Feeling dizzy, she pressed her forehead with her tiny hand.

She glanced around and floated into the air. “T-This is... the Demonic District, isn’t it?!”

“Looks like it.”

“H-How could something like this happen?”

Vega recalled what had just occurred with a confused expression. The moment Kwon Oh-Jin’s hand touched the rift, it swallowed them like a serpent devouring prey.

Her face turned pale. “This is my fault.”

She was the one who said the rift was stable.

“No. You can’t blame anyone for this.”

Who could have predicted that a mere touch would trigger such a thing?

“I was certain the rift was perfectly stable, so I can not understand why this happened either.” Vega frowned, clearly baffled.

She didn’t understand, but he had a strong hunch about why this happened.

It reacted to the Black Heaven.

The moment he touched the rift, he could tell that the Black Heaven reacted slightly. As if responding to it, the rift had rapidly expanded. In other words, the rift had been a trap to suck him into the Demonic District.

He didn’t even need to guess who had done it since they had left their signature at the site of the rift. However, what mattered wasn’t who had done it.

How did they know I have the Black Heaven?

How could the Serpens Queen know something even a North Star Celestial didn’t?

Kwon Oh-Jin clenched his fist and bit his lip.

I’ll figure that out later.

Right now, he needed to find a way to quickly get out of here.

Song Ha-Eun and Isabella weren’t far thanks to the wire he had shot around them before the rift pulled them in. They walked toward him.

“Ugh... my head. What the hell happened?” Song Ha-Eun asked.

“Are you hurt anywhere, Mr. Oh-Jin?”

“I’m fine. What about you two?” he asked.

“Other than my skull feeling like it got cracked open? I’m good.”

“I’m alright as well.”

Kwon Oh-Jin sighed in relief at seeing both of them safe.

That aside...

His eyes narrowed. “Did either of you hear a voice when we got pulled in?”

“Huh? What voice?” Song Ha-Eun asked.

“No. I didn’t hear anything,” Isabella said.

The two shook their heads.

“What? Did you not hear someone whispering, ‘I’ve been waiting for you?’”

Song Ha-Eun cocked her head. “Are you sure you weren’t hallucinating?”

It seemed neither of them had heard it. He glanced over at Vega, but her response was the same.

“I didn’t hear anything either.”

“Really?”

Who did that voice belong to?

“Perhaps it was the Serpens Queen? It seems like she made that rift, right?” Isabella suggested.

Kwon Oh-Jin shook his head. “No.”

He also thought it could’ve been the Serpens Queen at first.

“It was a man’s voice,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

He couldn’t remember exactly what it sounded like, but it wasn’t a woman.

“Maybe the Serpens Queen has attachments?” Song Ha-Eun said.

What the hell is this woman talking about?

“I mean, you know. What do they call it again...? Oh, right! Futa—”

He pressed his finger against Song Ha-Eun’s lips and cut her off. “Be quiet.”

“Mmph!” Song Ha-Eun frowned and flicked her tongue out, licking his finger.

He could feel the soft, squishy texture and pulled his hand away with a grimace. “That’s gross. What are you doing?”

“Well, who said you could touch someone else’s lips without asking?” she scoffed. Tilting her head back, she looked up at the sky. “Why the hell is the sky so damn gloomy?”

Clicking her tongue, she pulled a cigarette out of her pocket. The end of the cigarette lit up, scattering sparks like fireflies and instantly lighting up the dark surroundings.

“Thanks, Ha-Eun.”

“Anyway, where’s Gramps and the Heaven’s Grace Guild members?”

“No idea. Let’s start by checking out this area.”

Kwon Oh-Jin took the lead and began walking through the towering rocks.

“Hey, Oh-Jin. Look at that.” Song Ha-Eun tugged on his sleeve and pointed to one side.

He could see a tree through the narrow gap between the rocks. At the end of its branch hung a light green fruit glowing ethereally. The semi-transparent fruit sparkled like a precious gem.

“That fruit... it’s so pretty, right?” Song Ha-Eun’s eyes turned dull like she was possessed as she stared at it.

She began walking toward the glowing green fruit.

Isabella quickly grabbed her shoulder. “Snap out of it, unnie.”

“Huh? Why?”

“That fruit smells like blood.”

Isabella picked up a rock and threw it at the tree. The fruit shook slightly from the impact.

Rumble!

Tree roots burst from the ground like a predator’s maw and swallowed up the rock.

“W-What the hell was that?!” Song Ha-Eun’s dull eyes snapped back into focus. She scowled at the tree roots that had shattered the rock and hurled her cigarette at it.

Fwoosh!

The flames engulfed the tree.

“Holy shit... if I’d been alone, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.” Song Ha-Eun shuddered in horror as she recalled how she had walked toward the fruit without realizing it.

She likely wouldn’t have died due to her physically enhanced body as a high-rank Awakener, but she would’ve been badly hurt.

“I see why they call this place the Demonic District.” Kwon Oh-Jin activated the Stigma of Canes Venatici and kept his guard up.

As they cautiously moved forward, Cheon Sang-Gil appeared while panting heavily.

“Phew! So this is where you were!”

Judging by the bloodstains all over his hanbok, he had run into a few demonic beasts.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Cheon Sang-Gil asked.

“We’re fine. What about you, Gramps?”

“Haa. I got attacked by a pack of demonic beasts while looking for you. Luckily, I took care of them without much trouble.” Cheon Sang-Gil sighed in relief and continued apologetically. “I apologize. I never imagined something like this would happen.”

“It’s alright. None of us could’ve predicted this.” Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed a canteen from his belt and handed it to him.

“Thank you.”

“Do you mind if I ask a few things, Mr. Cheon Sang-Gil?”

He took a long swig of water and nodded. “Of course.”

“Roughly how far from here did you wake up?”

“I’m not too sure... but it was quite far away.”

“You don’t know the exact distance?”

“Maybe five kilometers? No, it was closer to ten kilometers.”

He was definitely far away considering they all got sucked into the rift at the same time.

“And did you start searching for us right after you woke up?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

“Yes.”

“How long did it take you to find us?”

“Hmm... a-about an hour, I think.”

“Then you woke up around the same time as us.”

Kwon Oh-Jin had opened his eyes roughly an hour ago as well.

“You said you ran into a group of demonic beasts on your way here, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Can you describe them? What did they look like, or how big were they?”

“Hmm. Give me a moment. It was so dark and chaotic that I can’t quite remember.” Cheon Sang-Gil took another sip of water before continuing. “It was a leopard about three meters tall. Well, I say leopard, but only the head was that of a leopard and the body was that of a human.”

“Like a werewolf?”

“That’s right.”

“How many were there?”

“There were more than a hundred of them, all at least seven-star beasts.”

So he had taken down a horde of over a hundred seven-star monsters in that short time.

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded with a whistle of admiration. “As expected of you, Avaricious Wolf.”

“Haha. There’s not much I can boast about anymore.” Cheon Sang-Gil chuckled lightly and handed the canteen back to Kwon Oh-Jin.

He had drunk quite a bit after tiring himself out, but the canteen featured an expanded interior and still held plenty of water.

“Then, may I ask you one last question?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

“Ask all you like.”

“Can you—Oops.”

Kwon Oh-Jin accidentally dropped the canteen that he was receiving back. Water spilled out and splashed all over Cheon Sang-Gil’s hanbok.

“Oh dear.”

“I-I’m so sorry,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“Haha, don’t worry about it. If anything, it helped wash off the blood.” Cheon Sang-Gil warmly smiled and picked up the canteen from the ground to hand it back. “So, what was it that you wanted to ask last?”

“Oh, it’s nothing much.” Kwon Oh-Jin hooked the canteen back onto his belt. “Can you answer everything I asked you... in reverse?”

A heavy silence fell.

“What do you mean by that?”

Cheon Sang-Gil looked at Kwon Oh-Jin with a confused expression, but Kwon Oh-Jin stared at him with chilling intensity.

“I asked if you could answer in reverse.”

“That’s... ummm.”

His eyes darted around as cold sweat dripped down his face. He tapped his leg nervously, avoiding Kwon Oh-Jin’s gaze.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Cheon Sang-Gil?”

Kwon Oh-Jin grabbed him by the shoulder, the wet hanbok dampening his palm.

“I said, try answering.”