Beyond the Eternity

We used this time to catch our breath. For a moment, everything was silent except for the rapid sound of heartbeats and the faint crackling of the flames outside.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

I smiled wryly. It seemed the flame god was still trying to enter this space. But that was impossible as long as it was on the other side. Nevertheless, the giant flame god kept pounding on the gate without even thinking of breaking into the room.

Lee Dokho was the first to speak. "Haha! It seems like we were able to make it somehow."

"Seems so. I really thought I was going to get roasted. Thankfully, that was not the case. I don't think I'm going to taste nice anyways."

"You never know. You might just taste good."

Look at this guy. When did he develop a sense of humour?

Meanwhile, I spotted Kagura leaning against the wall and her face was pale from exhaustion. She had used one of her authorities [Lightning Strike] to destroy the Spiritual Body of [Ignis] and faced severe exhaustion. If I remembered correctly, her support constellation was an Archangel from <Eden>

Leader of the Heavenly Knights, was it? If that was the case, then the name of her support constellation was Baraqiel. Or was that so?

Kagura stared at the door that was the giant flame god was still pounding for a long time before she shifted her gaze and observed the surroundings.

"Where is this place? A different dimension?"

"Not exactly. This Personal Reality itself is a different dimension from the normal world. The secret room is just a separate space of the existing dimension. This artificial world is shaped like a cube. Inside this cube, we can carve out different spaces or just rooms within a house. Let's say a smaller cube is inside the larger cube.

For this scenario, the smaller cube is the Secret Room. It occupies its own specific space within the larger cube but is still part of the overall dimension. Of course, the Territory Master can change the layout of the entire cube itself..."

Unknowingly, I started to explain everything and Kagura listened to my words very carefully. I don't know if she understood what I was saying but she nodded her head as if she understood.

Now that I think about it, couldn't the same logic be used for the Real World? But it was strange to refer to the Real World as a giant cube.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

My explanation got abruptly interrupted as the pounding on the door became even louder. That flame god... doesn't it know its actions are meaningless?

Kagura stared at the metal door with a concerned expression. "Do you think it'll hold?"

I shrugged my shoulders with disinterest, "You don't have to worry. That thing won't be able to break down that door even it pounded on it from now till tomorrow. Speaking of which, are we the only ones here?"

I surveyed the strange environment. It looked nothing like the principal's office of a prestigious girls academy. It was a spacious waiting room with several doors at the end. The interior looked a cave-like dungeon one could find in a fantasy novel with torches as the only source of light.

That bastard really does not have any sense of taste whatsoever.

"Hey, there are some people here."

I shifted my gaze and noticed a number of people had gathered around the centre of the waiting room.

I could see the faces of some survivors. They were people that belonged to other groups. Surprisingly enough, none of them were fighting.

Kagura narrowed her eyes upon noticing the strange atmosphere among the people.

"What's going on here? Why do they look so dull?"

"So you noticed as well? It seems as though he suffered heavy losses. In fact, some people are even missing their limbs." The sides of Lee Dokho's mouth twisted in disinterest.

I studied the faces of the survivors one by one. Despite entering the secret room, none of them even tried to approach which was strange. But now that I look closely, I noticed their eyes were dull and tired.

They entered the territory without being aware of the dangers. Perhaps they were drawn by the reward of hitting the World or maybe they were after the power of the World card, they paid the ultimate price for their foolishness.

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Therefore, It was impossible for me to pity these people. Was it right to pity people that wanted to kill others to satisfy their own greed?

I ignored the group of people and spoke to my party members.

"Don't let down your guard. Just because they look pitiful, doesn't mean they're harmless."

A man with slit eyes watching from afar carelessly approached. He showed no signs of causing a commotion but It looked rather suspicious as well.

The party members readied their weapons for a confrontation and I stepped forward with the sword.

"What do you want?"

Upon hearing my casual warning, the man took a step back and raised both of his hands as if he had no intentions of causing a commotion.

"Ah, aren't you too heated? I don't have any intentions of causing any trouble."

I stared the smiling man infront of me. There was a longsword hung around his waist region. His well-built muscles could be seen from the clothes and his long brown hair was tied back.

I opened my mouth. "Why did you approach us then?"

"Isn't that obvious? Since you were able to make this far without any injuries, It must mean that you have great skills. We would need more people like you if we want to hunt the World."

"Hunt the World?"

"Yes. I mean, we went through alot thanks to that son of a bitch. It's only natural that we pay him back for what we went through. Also, It would be good to eliminate before he's able to grow any stronger than his current self."

"So you're saying the King candidates are forming an Anti-World Alliance?"

"That's exactly right. You're rather sharp, aren't you now?"

The Anti-World Alliance, was it? Something like that was created in the story when the World became too strong.

But this story was different from the novel.

"The World is trying to create Another World to escape from the tragedy." The man continued speaking, "But that world is just an Illusion. An Illusion within an Illusion is also an Illusion. I don't understand why that idiot does not understand that."

"But wouldn't that be a nice world? To live in a world where tragedies does not exist?"

"W-What? Such a thing..."

His body trembled upon hearing my words. Everyone had lost something in this world— family, friends or lovers. What about him? What did he lose? Wouldn't he meet those people if he lives in the Illusion?

The man wore a complicated expression but managed to regain his composure and calmly answered.

"Well, I can't deny that such a reality would be nice. However, that would just be running away. The <World> cannot create a real world and that world will eventually crumble away like any Illusion."

"Maybe so. But how exactly are you planning on defeating the World? Even if you increase your numbers to hundred, It would be almost Impossible to defeat that guy while he was inside this space."

"That's indeed true." Even so, the man still looked confident. "But like you said, It's almost impossible. Therefore, there's still a chance we can win. We have already talked with several other king candidates and they had agreed to the alliance. I don't know what group you belong to but you won't lose anything by joining us. After all, we all have a single enemy."

It was exactly as he said. If we want to advance from this point, the World must be killed. However, It was easier said than done.

The man smiled as he took my silence as acceptance.

"Very well. If you're serious about joining the alliance, you can talk with our representative as we wait for the other king candidates. Come this way, he's over there."

He guided us to a man located at the centre of the room. A bald man dressed in an ancient robe. He was holding a long wooden staff (gun).

Wait. A Shaolin Monk? Could it be...

Lee Dokho talked to me using private communication.

—Hey, that's one of the incarnations of the First Buddha, right?

—Yes. But I didn't think he would participate in the Hunt as well.

—But isn't his head too shiny? I can see my reflection from all the way here.

—Please, don't anything unnecessary

According to the <Star System>, the Gods are allowed to have more than one Incarnation, they usually focus on only having one Incarnation in order to focus their power and blessing on that person despite having the privilege of having many Incarnations.

Nevertheless, the First Buddha was the exceptional case that possessed multiple Incarnation bodies. And one of those Incarnations was standing infront of me.

The slit-eyed man approached the man and bowed his head.

"Your Majesty."

"Hmm. Who are these people?"

"They just entered the room a few minutes ago. They seem to possess good qualities so I was thinking about getting them to join the Alliance."

"Ohh...! Is that so?"

The bald man moved this way and extended his hand for an handshake. I shook the extended hand.

"My name is Jang Hyunseok."

"I am Kim Jakga."

"Are you the representative of this group?"

"Yes. I lost most of my members on the way though."

"Ah, I see. This Buddha is sorry for your misfortune."

Why did he look so sorrowful?

More importantly, wasn't his grip too strong? I activated a skill while he was distracted.

[Exclusive skill, Omniscient Wall has activated

+

[Character Information]

Name: Jang Hyunseok

Age: 32 years old

Support Constellation: Guardian of Mandala

Personal Class: Shaolin Master (Hero), Enlightened Sage (Hero)

Exclusive Skills: Martial Arts Mastery Lv. 5, Staff Mastery Lv. 5, Inner Peace Lv. 3, Meditation Lv. 3, Healing Prayer Lv. 2...

Divine Protection: Enlightenment Path Lv. 2, Spiritual Eye Lv. 2, Unseen Enemy Lv. 3

Overall Stats: Physique Lv. 30 (Currently Lv. 10), Strength Lv. 27 (Currently Lv. 10), Agility Lv. 26 (Currently Lv.

10), Magic Power Lv. 24 (Currently Lv. 10)

Description: A master of Shaolin techniques whose presence embodies calmness and great wisdom. Nothing can escape from his special 'Spiritual Eye' that sees through everything.

+

As expected of a Shaolin Monk, his stats were completely ridiculous.

If I remembered correctly, he's the king candidate representing <Temperance> from the major series.

Jang Hyunseok looked at me as if searching for something hidden within and spoke. "This Buddha has the burden of seeing the true nature of things. Would you allow me to see through you once?"

See through me, was it?

"Well, I don't mind."

I was curious so I accepted his offer.

Jang Hyunseok took a deep breath and opened his right eye with force.

[The character 'Jang Hyunseok' has activated the 'Spiritual Eye']

The authority 'Spiritual Eye' was one of the few investigation techniques that belonged to the unique type. It doesn't actually read the status window of the opponent, but allowed the user to perceive spiritual objects like the Soul or Spiritual Bodies.

The Soul's core emits a certain frequency that's unique from person to person and based on the frequency, one could see the true nature of one's existence.

These frequencies are known as Colour and they are split into nine types– Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, Gray, Purple, White and Black.

And those colours can represent multiple things. For instance, Red represents strength, passion, anger. Yellow represents Wisdom, intellect while Pink represents Love, compassion and lust.

Coincidentally, I always wondered what the core of my soul would look like. Maybe It was It's a mixture between blue and yellow or maybe it was purple and yellow.

Luckily, this guy just happened to show up at the right time.

[The character 'Jang Hyunseok' has partially seen the true nature of your existence.]

"W-WHAT IS THIS?!"

"Your Majesty, Is something wrong?"

Jang Hyunseok staggered back and his face instantly turned pale as if he had seen something beyond human understanding.

[The character 'Jang Hyunseok' is greatly disturbed.]

[The mental state of the character 'Jang Hyunseok' has fallen to a dangerous degree.]

What?

"DEMON! DEMON! DEMON!"

"Your Majesty, what the hell are you saying? Calm down, please."

"T-That..."

Because of the commotion, the people in the waiting room started looking this way. Once he realised the situation, Jang Hyunseok urgently opened his mouth and massaged his temple.

"... It's nothing. I thought I saw something else."

"Is that so? I understand. Hey! What are you guys looking at? Go away! Shoo!

Shoo!"

The slit-eyed man raised his voice and chased away the people that had gathered around. It seemed as though he was chasing away curious children.

However, the most strange thing was the reaction of Jang Hyunseok. What the hell did he see that made him react that violently?