The Akirif Duchy was in an uproar.
Rebellions erupted everywhere, and a rush of desertions followed. Even though the territory’s borders were closed, demons went as far as swimming across the Dimensional Sea to escape. Their chances of survival were higher out there than staying within the duchy.
Duke Akirif poured money into the territory without hesitation to protect it. He purchased Dimensional Ships and weapons, and he recruited mercenaries. He even tried to borrow money, but no Demon of Greed in the Demon Realm would grant a loan to someone who had been abandoned. They only mocked him for the state he was in.
“If my duchy is consumed, you guys are next!”
Even as Duke Akirif spoke with such fervor, most of the other lords refused to lend a hand, claiming they would handle their own affairs. To a Demon of Chaos, Apocalid was a boring existence where chaos could not be sown. To an Immortal Demon, it was the same, as it was difficult to gather Immortal Demonic Energy from things without souls. Only a few lords, who were Demons of Ruin, sent a handful of subordinates just to enjoy the fight.
‘I can just leave the Akirif Duchy to Kuongi.’
Since Kuongi could handle Apocalid production and evolution adaptation, Choi Kangjoong, as the Outer Mind, didn’t need to worry at all. It was enough to check in occasionally or help out when an enemy appeared that the troops sent with Kuongi couldn’t handle. Since their consciousnesses were connected, it was impossible to ignore it completely, but it was close to auto-hunting.
‘I happened to find an Island Whale, too.’
The Island Whale had entered the field of vision of the scouting party he had sent out to find it. It looked like a mere dot, but occasionally, red lines would surge from it. It looked like a solar corona.
‘What is on its back?’
Choi Kangjoong sent the Fighter Giant and Kai. The Fighter Giant took a wide path around the bottom and approached the underside of the Island Whale.
‘It really is massive.’
It was a colossal creature over 40 kilometers long. Living beings resided on its back, belly, and sides, so it was no exaggeration to call it a moving world.
‘Looks delicious.’
The Fighter Giant released Kai. Kai used Stealth Blink repeatedly to infiltrate the Island Whale.
‘Those red lines were flames spat out by a Phoenix.’
The Phoenix was an S-Class Transcendent Beast, famous for firing flames that were more powerful and hotter than those of a Red Dragon. Because of this, it had low versatility, but its destructive power alone was the best. A Summoner who contracted with a Phoenix could become S-Class immediately.
‘Then if I consume both the Island Whale and the Phoenix, can I produce a Special Entity right away?’
The Phoenix, like the Island Whale, was one of the conditions for adding new functions.
‘Should I eat it right now? No. Let’s get an Evolution Code related to flame resistance first.’
Due to the Phoenix’s influence, the Island Whale’s body was filled with fire-related Transcendent Beasts. Firestorms raged everywhere, and lava occasionally erupted from volcanoes. It wouldn’t be strange to call it a literal fire hell. It was difficult to endure with just the Environment Adaptation Evolution Code.
‘The Phoenix is also much larger than what I know.’
The Phoenix contracted to an S-Class Summoner in the United States had a wingspan of about 500 meters. The Phoenix on the Island Whale was more than twice that size.
‘That’s why Ladespina couldn’t attack it immediately. What flame resistance Evolution Codes are there…’
*Kieeek!*
Kai was also struggling to endure due to the high temperature. Since he had a general idea of the Island Whale’s situation, Choi Kangjoong summoned Kai back. Heat spread throughout the room because of the heated Kai.
*Whoosh.*
The bed sheet caught fire where Kai’s Scythe Claw touched it. Choi Kangjoong quickly sent Kai back to the Dimensional Sea and patted the sheet with his hand to put out the fire.
‘I almost started a fire.’
He put the burnt sheet into Kuongi’s Soil Pit and took out a new one to lay down. The nutrients increased ever so slightly.
‘What monster should I go catch? Is a Magma Worm good?’
A Magma Worm was a worm-type monster that lived in magma, as its name suggested. He could obtain a Flame Absorption Evolution Code from it.
‘Let’s ask Choi Yunseo.’
As a fire-attribute mage, Choi Yunseo would be well-versed in fire-related monsters. She might know something Choi Kangjoong didn’t. He called her, wanting an answer quickly, and she picked up immediately.
“Hey.”
—What?
“What monster do you hate facing the most?”
—Me?
“Yeah. The most troublesome one for your fire magic.”
—That would be a Phoenix.
“Something else. Isn’t there something you can see a lot of at once?”
Greater Imps were A-Class monsters, so there weren’t many of them.
—A Demon of Chaos?
“That’s a demon.”
—Demons, monsters, it’s all the same.
“Hurry up and tell me something else.”
—You don’t see Dragons often… and Fire Spirits aren’t monsters…
“Why are you so useless?”
—You have to tell me why you’re asking so I can give you a proper answer!
Choi Yunseo sounded baffled.
“I’m going to catch a Phoenix. So I’m trying to get fire-related abilities.”
—Then it’s a Magma Worm! Those things even absorb fire magic.
“I called because I wanted to see if you knew anything else.”
—Then go catch a Greater Imp or something! I’m busy, so I’m hanging up.
*Click.*
‘A Magma Worm seems appropriate.’
She said she wasn’t helpful, but it felt like Choi Yunseo had just confirmed it for him.
‘I wonder where a Magma Worm would be…’
While he was looking for a dimension with Magma Worms on the Dimensionnet, Choi Yunseo called him back.
“Why?”
—Brother, do you know a man named Joo Eun-jong?
“I do.”
—That man was a bit strange. No, he was strange to begin with.
“Suddenly?”
—During the battle before…
Choi Yunseo explained what had happened with Joo Eun-jong.
—So he asked me to speak well of him to you.
“His personality is a bit odd, but he’s not a bad person.”
—No. From what I saw, he’s a bad person.
“He’s similar to you.”
—What are you talking about!
Choi Yunseo shrieked.
“See? Exactly the same.”
—I said no!
*Click.*
Choi Kangjoong, who had teased her perfectly, chuckled. He was about to head out after checking the coordinates of the dimension with the Magma Worms when the doorbell rang.
*Ding-dong.*
Focusing his senses on the front gate, he could tell who it was.
“Joo Eun-jong? What is it?”
He went down and opened the gate. Joo Eun-jong held up a beer can in his hand.
“How about a beer?”
“Come in.”
Choi Kangjoong wasn’t in the mood for a drink, but since the man had come all the way to his house, he planned to feed him something before sending him back.
“The living room here is open at the top; it always looks so refreshing.”
“Sit on the sofa. What kind of snacks do you like?”
“I’ll eat anything.”
“I’m really going to order anything, then.”
“Yes!”
Choi Kangjoong used a delivery app to order fermented skate, ox blood soup, tripe, and mint chocolate ice cream. They were all things that people either loved or hated. When the food arrived and was spread out on the living room table, Joo Eun-jong was impressed.
“Captain, do we even have the same tastes?”
“Huh?”
“There are many people who hate all of this, but I can’t get enough of it!”
Joo Eun-jong had said he would eat anything because he truly had no picky eating habits. If Choi Yunseo had been there, she would have been horrified, thinking his personality and appetite were both bizarre.
“I ordered these to prank you since you said you’d eat anything.”
“Ah. Do you not like them, Captain?”
“I eat everything too.”
Ever since Choi Kangjoong became an Outer Mind, all food tasted good. There were only differences in flavor, but nothing tasted bad.
“Wow. As expected of the Captain.”
Joo Eun-jong brought over the beer he had put in the freezer. While drinking beer and filling their stomachs, Joo Eun-jong explained why he had come all the way here.
“I did everything I was supposed to do and fought well, but then your sister suddenly tied me up and dragged me away! The people from Divine Arrow even doubted if it was really me and performed an examination!”
“I heard about it from Yunseo.”
“Then you know even better. I thought I was going to die from the injustice!”
As Choi Kangjoong offered words of comfort, Joo Eun-jong’s grievances melted away.
“As long as you act disrespectfully, I think you’ll continue to face such misunderstandings. Why do you act like that?”
“…”
Joo Eun-jong gave a self-deprecating laugh.
“When I was young, I wanted to be a hero like my father. Especially on the day my father became S-Class, I vowed that I would definitely become like him. But my father wasn’t the kind of hero I thought he was.”
“What kind of person is he?”
“He was calculating. He doesn’t see lives as lives; he sees them as numbers. And he keeps trying to force that ideology on me. No matter what I do, he says it’s absolutely not allowed and tells me to just listen to him. He’s a total old fogey.”
“I see.”
“So I acted out on purpose. Since I couldn’t live the way I wanted to anyway, I figured what did reputation or honor matter? I also wanted to drag his name through the mud.”
Choi Kangjoong understood Joo Eun-jong’s feelings because he knew the pain of when life doesn’t go according to one’s will. He wanted to rebel, but in reality, he didn’t want to leave his father’s shadow, and he couldn’t even face his own weak self that was stuck in between. That was how the bratty Joo Eun-jong was born.
‘Just as I was trapped in my room, Joo Eun-jong is trapped inside himself.’
Choi Kangjoong just drank with him so he could sort out his thoughts on his own. He knew from experience that no matter what words were said, it was useless unless the person’s own will was sparked.
“I want to change, but I wonder if I have the right to.”
“Why look for something like a right? If you want to change, you change.”
“How did you change, Captain?”
“I prayed to be changed into a creature that doesn’t have to think difficult thoughts.”
“Really?”
Joo Eun-jong looked betrayed.
“Why the face?”
“I thought you would have considered something very high-level, noble, and great, Captain.”
“I’m simple. Eating and sleeping is everything to me. Don’t think too complicatedly, and just do what you want to do. Something simple.”
“Thank you, Captain. That clears things up.”
Feeling much more relieved, Joo Eun-jong drank his beer with a bright complexion. After finishing all the beer in the refrigerator, they bought more from a convenience store and finished those as well. Joo Eun-jong got dead drunk and went back in a car driven by a chauffeur.
“Should I go catch some Magma Worms now?”
Choi Kangjoong, who had been enjoying the tipsy feeling by blocking the breakdown of alcohol, returned his physical condition to normal. His numbed nerves woke up, and his mind became clear.
“I should load the Central Command Giant and Fighter Giant onto a Super Titan and send them.”
The dimension where the Magma Worms lived had a large volcano in the center, and lava constantly flowed out. Lava rivers ran across the surface, and high-temperature steam surged from everywhere. Although not as bad as the exterior of the Island Whale, it was a barren and hot place. Furthermore, since nothing but Magma Worms lived there, there was no way to block the Super Titan’s Breath or Mana Cannon. They spat out compressed magma, but a Super Titan wouldn’t even flinch at that.
He loaded a Central Command Giant, a Fighter Giant, and an Air Walker into one Super Titan and opened a Gate. The Super Titan passed through the Gate, and the dimension with the erupting volcano appeared.
The Super Titan immediately went on the offensive. First, it used its Breath to stir up the volcano. Unable to withstand the impact, the volcano crumbled, revealing the magma and the Magma Worms. Recognizing an enemy, the Magma Worms raised their heads, and their neck areas swelled up.
*Splaaaaash!*
Dozens of streams of compressed magma surged upward. Most fell before reaching the Super Titan, but a few streams grazed the Chitin Gauntlet.
*Sizzle!*
The Chitin Gauntlet was gouged by the pressure and melted by the heat, but that was all. In exchange, the Central Command Giant descended over the heads of the Magma Worms and unfolded the Apocalid World.
*Kieeeeeeeeek!*
*Kieeeeeeeeek!*
*Kyaaaaaaaaak!*
The bodies of the struggling Magma Worms glowed. Since there were hundreds of them doing it, it looked like a sun had risen in the dimension. Most of the Magma Worms died slowly like that, while some were skewered by the Chitin Spikes fired by the Fighter Giant.
The Air Walker transported the corpses of the Magma Worms to the Soil Pit. When its body temperature rose while doing so, it flapped its wings to lower it.
“Other than living in magma and absorbing fire, they aren’t much.”
It was only because it was Choi Kangjoong; everyone else avoided the place where Magma Worms were. Valuable resources were melted in the magma, and only the Magma Worms, which were hard to catch and not worth much money, were active, so it wasn’t cost-effective.
**[Flame Absorption Evolution Code decryption: 100%]**
**[Dimensional Devouring is beginning.]**
the Magma Worms provided a good Evolution Code, and the dimension also provided nutrients and Evolution Points.
“Let’s go catch the Phoenix.”
The scouting party chasing the Island Whale increased its speed.