Chapter 767: The Milky Way

THUUUUUUUUUUD.......

The dish I made.

The moment that dish seeped into the land within that darkness.

The land began to shake on an alarmingly massive scale.

“Is this an earthquake?”

“At this scale...... it does not seem ordinary.”

The vibrations were so intense.

That even the beastkin trained in martial arts had difficulty remaining on their feet.

“It seems we should not stay here.”

“Come this way, benefactor!”

As I staggered from the aftereffects of completing the cooking.

The beastkin, sensing danger, rushed over and supported my body.

And then.

“We’re getting out!”

THUD!

They kicked off the ground with tremendous force.

The hole that had been opened when Mirinae’s rampaging energy escaped outside.

That hole, which should originally have closed, remained open because the seal had been completely destroyed.

The beastkin carrying me were able to escape outside through that hole once again.

THUUUUUUUUUUUUUD.......

“An earthquake outside too......?”

We escaped the dark world beneath the hole and arrived at the residence of Cheonsan Martial Hall.

But that residence was also shaking violently.

Decorations around us fell to the floor, and enormous statues toppled over and shattered.

“Shin Jong, Gyeonsul, Gyeyu! Take care of Junior Brother Woojin and Junior Brother Jeochil!”

“Yes!”

“Hwan, take good care of the benefactor. Senior Sister Ho. You and I will take Junior Sister Sarin!”

“Let us do that.”

The flustered beastkin entrusted me to Seohwan.

Then gathered up their fellow disciples and rushed out of the residence.

And then.

“This is......!”

As they looked at the scenery outside the residence.

They let out breaths close to gasps of horror.

The place where this residence stood was the summit of Cheonsan Martial Hall.

It was Dragon Heaven Pavilion, where the master of this martial hall had originally lived.

Ancient wooden buildings had stretched out in a long line.

And a beautiful garden had occupied the center around a massive lake.

But.

“What in the world happened here.”

“What happened......!”

Now.

The vast and beautiful Dragon Heaven Pavilion had been so horribly destroyed that it was impossible even to guess what it had once looked like.

‘No, it isn’t only Dragon Heaven Pavilion.’

Not only Dragon Heaven Pavilion.

But also the enormous stone mountain where Dragon Heaven Pavilion stood.

And the other towering cliffs near that stone mountain.

Every one of them bore horrific traces of destruction.

It was difficult to imagine what could possibly have caused destruction over such a vast area.

And the strangest thing of all was.

‘In the middle of all this, only this residence is intact?’

Even amid those tremendous traces of destruction, with everything around it devastated.

Only the residence they had just rushed out of remained intact.

And.

They quickly realized the reason.

“......Over there!”

In the middle of those immense traces of destruction.

They could see people sitting on the ground, their entire bodies covered in grievous wounds.

“Squad Leaders!”

Seohwan and Miho cried out in alarm and rushed toward them.

I also headed in that direction with Seohwan’s support.

“......Ah, Sergeant Shin.”

“You’re, here.......”

When we approached.

Their injuries looked far more serious than they had from a distance.

The wounds were so severe that it would not have been strange for every one of them to become corpses at any moment.

But.

“The task you gave us...... Cough.”

“We somehow, managed...... it.”

When they saw me approaching them.

They smiled with exhausted faces and said that.

And.

The beastkin who heard those words could only stare in shock.

They had not been visible from afar.

But now that we had drawn closer.

“Junior Sister Ungyeon, Junior Brother Hyeonchuk. Junior Sister Myojeong.......”

In front of the exhausted Legion members sitting on the ground.

“......Eldest Senior Brother Cheonho.”

Their fellow disciples.

Were lying collapsed on the ground.

***

The exhausted Legion members had collapsed.

Before them lay the remaining four disciples of the martial hall.

“......They looked dazed, as though they were being controlled by an unidentified energy.”

They had been forcibly activated by the energy released by Mirinae’s malice.

Since they had not been moving through their own will, they had apparently been noticeably weaker than they had been in their prime.

‘Even so, it couldn’t have been easy.’

The destroyed landscape around us made that obvious.

Even without reason, one of them had been on the verge of becoming an immortal.

They must have fought a desperate battle where a single moment of carelessness would have cost them their lives.

But this was the result.

The soldiers were alive.

And those four had fallen.

I wondered whether they had actually defeated them.

“......Just before that earthquake began, they suddenly stopped moving.”

“Cough...... If it had happened even a little later, we would have been in serious trouble.”

Apparently, that was not quite what had happened.

The fortunate part was.

The moment Mirinae’s souls were integrated into one and those emitting its malicious energy were integrated as well.

Their activity had also stopped.

Had the cooking been delayed even slightly longer, it would not have been strange for one or two of the Legion members here to have lost their lives.

“......You all did well. I believed you would.”

When I looked at them and said that.

“You believed in us....... You bastard...... I’ll let it slide this time, but.......”

“Next time...... please don’t order us to do something like this...... please.......”

“Well, I’ll try.”

“Sigh.......”

They also responded with light smiles.

Listening to that casual conversation, the beastkin stared at them in utter disbelief.

‘Did these people really.’

‘Against Eldest Senior Brother and the others.......’

The enemies they had despaired over, believing they could never stop them.

The four fellow disciples, including their Eldest Senior Brother, who had been regarded as the greatest among all the disciples.

Against them, the Legion members had ultimately succeeded in defending this place.

For the sole reason that it was an order given by their Legion Commander.

THUUUUUUUUUUD.......

Even in the middle of all that.

The earthquake continued.

“......The earthquake is still going.”

“For now, perhaps we should evacuate outside the Gate.”

The beastkin urgently suggested taking refuge outside the Gate.

Given the alarming intensity of the earthquake, it was a natural suggestion.

But.

“......No.”

At their words.

I lightly shook my head and spoke.

“We should be fine staying where we are.”

“......What do you mean.”

Before long.

I even pushed away Seohwan’s hand supporting me and lightly sat down on the ground.

“Well, don’t worry too much.”

Then.

I stared blankly at the surrounding scenery and opened my mouth.

“Miho.”

“Yes, Instructor Miho.”

The enormous earthquake caused the mountain range to collapse and the earth to split apart.

The halls of the martial hall crumbled, falling away into some void beyond the universe.

Their final remaining homeland and foundation.

The buildings of Cheonsan Martial Hall collapsed.

“I think I finally understand why you made me look around the scenery of this martial hall.”

At first.

I had simply thought.

She had predicted that a battle would take place in this martial hall and damage the scenery.......

And so she had wanted to take in the sight one last time.......

I thought that was all it was.

“You knew, didn’t you?”

But now I understood.

That reason had probably been part of it.

But it had not been everything.

“......I do not know what you mean.”

“I had already found it a little strange.”

Their world.

The Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts had undoubtedly been destroyed.

“You said that while your homeland was being destroyed, your master allowed only Cheonsan Martial Hall to escape destruction.”

“Yes, that is certainly what I said.”

The only thing separated from that destruction.

Had been Cheonsan Martial Hall.

But.

“Isn’t that a little strange?”

Thinking about it.

There had been something strange about that story.

“You said Mirinae sealed itself at the final moment, but while sealed, Mirinae separately detached only Cheonsan so that it would be safe from destruction?”

Either it had separated only this world while already sealed, or it had separated only this land before sealing itself.

It had to be one of the two...... but neither made much sense.

“This is what I think.”

RUMMMMMMBLE.......

“[Mirinae] climbed to the summit of this martial hall at the final moment and sealed itself.”

The enormous earthquake continued.

“But even though Mirinae temporarily regained its reason after devouring the Emperor, it would still have been difficult to casually seal away a body that had grown so immense.”

A being that had devoured most of an entire world and consumed countless stars.

To seal such a gigantic being.

“It would have needed a medium suitable for sealing such an existence...... something to serve as the seal.”

Right.

For example.......

“A vast world that housed many transcendent beings. And the highest mountain in that world.”

Because of the enormous earthquake.

CRACK.......

The cliff split apart.

“A place where a dragon that had earned the right to ascend nevertheless refused ascension and remained for countless years, interacting with the immortals of heaven and becoming saturated with powerful spiritual energy.”

And so.

The outer surface of the split cliff peeled away.

“If it were the ‘inside’ of such a sacred mountain...... it would have been spacious and sturdy enough to seal an enormous evil dragon.”

......Before long.

The appearance of that [inside] began to reveal itself.

“You weren’t afraid that the martial hall would be damaged by the battle.”

Strangely enough.

What lay inside the shattered mountain range was neither soil nor stone.

“Whether this went well or not.”

What could be seen were scales.

Black scales that shone transparently and beautifully...... like the cosmos of the night sky.

“You believed that the being sealed inside this place.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

“Would break through its shell and emerge.”

The enormous mountain and the halls built atop it.

‘Cheonsan Martial Hall’ completely collapsed.

***

THUD!

When the land collapsed.

My body, having lost the ground beneath my feet, began to free-fall.

As I fell, I thought.

‘Cheonsan was not separated from the dying world.’

That had been a lie told to preserve their master’s honor.

At the time, I had not even possessed [Taste Bud Enhancement], so I had no choice but to believe those words.

But the truth was different.

‘The dragon that devoured most of the world sealed itself inside the last remaining mountain.’

It was not that only Cheonsan had broken away.

This world itself was the Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts.

The Forest of Ten Thousand Beasts, a world so thoroughly destroyed that only Cheonsan remained, had wandered through the empty universe.

And eventually crash-landed in our world.

And.

As I fell, my gaze turned upward.

I could see even the last remaining Cheonsan collapsing.

No, to be precise.

I could see the being that had been inside it...... breaking through its shell and emerging.

Perhaps it had been packed in impossibly tightly.

The being compressed inside Cheonsan began recovering its original size at a terrifying speed.

In an instant, it surpassed the size of Cheonsan.

It grew beyond the size of a mountain and reached the size of a mountain range.

It grew beyond the size of a mountain range and reached the size of a continent.

It grew beyond the size of a continent and reached a size comparable to an entire planet.......

And even surpassed that, growing larger and larger.

As though no limit existed, the being continued swelling endlessly.

Before long.

The form of the being that revealed its complete appearance was.......

‘The Milky Way.’

Formed from the gathering of countless stars.

It resembled the cross-section of an enormous galaxy.

{......The dish you made.}

And before long.

That microcosm containing countless stars within its body.

No.......

{Did not taste all that bad.}

The dragon of the Milky Way.

Opened its mouth.