I received the ‘Shoes of Hermes’ from Zeus.

The Shoes of Hermes were equipment that increased agility, jumping power, and air time.

Not only were they useful, but they were also difficult to obtain unless one was a Manshin from Zeus’s faction.

I had requested a Ghost-grade item because asking for something too high-tier would likely result in rejection, yet here were the Shoes of Hermes, a Third Dragon Grade item.

It seemed he was quite eager to get on my good side.

While I wasn’t pleased that Jang Taeheon and the twin siblings were clashing because Liu Bei and Zeus were targeting me, I quite liked the situation where the gods were keeping each other in check.

They would have to offer me something better than their rival to score points with me.

Liu Bei had initially given me an item called the ‘Life Return Pill’.

It was an item that permanently increased vitality when consumed, and since its immediate effects were excellent, I was saving it for now.

It was good, but inwardly I felt a bit disappointed.

So, I subtly dropped the information that I had received a Dragon-grade item from Zeus.

It seemed to have spurred him on, as Liu Bei hastily sent another item.

I held up an old book.

[You have acquired the item ‘Mengde’s New Book1‘!]

Mengde’s New Book—a military strategy book that drastically increased magic power when read.

This was also a Third Dragon Grade item, hard to come by, so I was lucky.

With this, I would be able to clear the final Demon Realm without any issues.

Assuming nothing went wrong, that is.

-Kkwang!

Just then, I heard the sound of someone striking the door.

There were no remaining trainees, so who could it be? Ahn Nabi?

It didn’t seem like her style, so I doubted it was Ahn Nabi.

When I opened the door, what awaited me wasn’t a person.

An arrow was stuck in the door.

However, it wasn’t a real arrow, but one made of yeongryeok—a ‘Space-Time Dispatch’ capable of sending messages regardless of whether one was in a Demon Realm, the mortal realm, or the afterlife.

I didn’t know who sent it, but I needed to check it first.

As I pulled the arrow out, a window popped up before my eyes.

[A message has arrived from ■■■.]

The name section was anonymized, so I couldn’t tell who the sender was.

Normally, the only ones who would send me a message were from the Fate Protection Bureau, but they wouldn’t need to use a ‘Space-Time Dispatch’.

Not to mention, a ‘Space-Time Dispatch’ was quite expensive.

With doubts lingering, I opened the message.

“…….”

I lost my words the moment I saw it.

What it contained was a single photograph.

To be precise, it was the sight of Shin Sooa covered in blood.

Was it fake?

No, it wasn’t fake.

Judging by the background, it was indeed inside the seventh Demon Realm.

There was nothing else contained in the message.

Just that single photograph.

I couldn’t fathom why Shin Sooa had ended up in such a state.

Did she get attacked by a demon beast?

But what bothered me more was the sender.

Who would send such a photo, and why, and for what purpose?

“…….”

Regardless, it was clear that Shin Sooa was in a dire situation.

The only issue was discerning whether my entering would make things worse for her or not.

I bit my lip hard, lost in thought, and then stepped back into the room.

“Hey, guys. Wake up.”

“Uung…….”

“Kyaang…….”

The still half-asleep spirit beasts whined for more sleep, but I didn’t have the time to humor them.

I brought the spirit beasts and quickly headed down to the lobby.

The seventh door had numerous pictures of saws drawn on it.

Was entering now the right choice? Or would it be better to hold off?

I had many questions, but no one to answer them.

I let out a short breath and opened the door to the Demon Realm.

[The Saw Bone Room is starting.]

[Find your Identification Tag and return to the Education Facility.]

[Time Limit: None]

Upon opening the Demon Realm and stepping inside, a completely different landscape from the ones I had visited so far unfolded.

This was inside a building.

To be precise, it looked like the interior of an old palace.

The door connected to the main hall of the Palace.

The very place in historical dramas where the king sits while his subjects line up to present memorials.

It was a space of such majesty, but things were different now.

It was ransacked as if a band of thieves had swept through, with bloodstains splattered all over.

Rini had also sensed the ominous energy and stood with its fur bristling on end.

【Hey, hey, hey, Kangrim is here!】

【Wow, this bastard is finally here.】

【Today, I will definitely get a Divine Descent.】

【Why are you so late? Did something happen?】

【Is that dragon Gangcheol? Wow, he really tamed it.】

The gods’ clamoring made my brain feel like it was vibrating.

I would normally ignore them, but the situation was urgent right now.

I looked up at the blocked ceiling of the Palace and spoke.

“By any chance, do you know where Ms. Shin Sooa went?”

【Is that the first thing you ask upon arriving?】

【Why would we tell you?】

【I’ll tell you if you receive a Divine Descent.】

【Anyway, shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself instead of Shin Sooa?】

【This guy has a saw caught right there.】

【Look at your own body first, idiot.】

I already knew I had a device attached to me.

Reflecting my image on the blade, I saw devices locked around my neck, wrists, and ankles.

At first glance, they looked like shackles or dog collars.

However, sharp saws were installed in a circular formation on the inside.

They weren’t touching my flesh yet, and the saw blades hadn’t emerged, but that would change as time passed.

[The item ‘Saw Bone Belt’ has been equipped!]

[Effects will activate at designated times!]

[It will progress in a total of 7 stages!]

The name of this item was the Saw Bone Belt.

As the item description stated, the saw blades would activate at designated times and begin to protrude forward little by little.

In other words, once the 7th stage passed, my neck and limbs would be cut off.

【Of all places, the neck. Your luck is terrible.】

【Right. It would have been better if it were another body part.】

【Even if it’s not the neck, it’s your limbs! If all your limbs are cut off, do you think you can fight?】

【Turn crisis into opportunity! Kangrim, receive a Divine Descent and escape!】

Do those bastards only know how to talk about Divine Descent?

I glared at the ceiling once and turned my gaze away.

I had expected the Saw Bone Belt to be on my neck anyway.

That wasn’t what was important right now.

I began to search the main hall.

【Oh, this bastard. Look at him staying calm.】

【Calm my ass… He’s scurrying around in a panic.】

【Looks like he’s looking for his Identification Tag?】

【Yeah, let’s find the tag quickly. It might be closer than you think.】

In this room, there was an Identification Tag with each trainee’s name on it, and finding it was the only way to exit the Demon Realm.

But I had no intention of looking for the tag right now.

I needed to find Shin Sooa first.

I tried to leave this room and move to the next, but the problem was the direction.

There were doors on all four sides of the main hall.

The main hall wouldn’t normally have this structure.

The Saw Bone Room was a Demon Realm structured as a sort of maze, much like the first room.

It would be nice to memorize the map and escape like when I cleared the first room, but the situation was slightly different from back then.

First, the structure of the Demon Realm was different from my past life.

The first room I entered in my past life was the Armory.

The Saw Bone Room had different starting points depending on the time of entry, and with so many rooms, I didn’t know the exact structure of this Demon Realm.

【East, West, South, North, where shall we go?】

【Kangrim, go north!】

【Hey, this god is deceiving people. It’s east, east.】

Perhaps because it was the final Demon Realm, there were more gods present than usual.

There would be gods friendly to me, and those who were not.

But none of them seemed willing to tell me Shin Sooa’s whereabouts.

A considerable amount of time had passed since they entered, making it difficult to track their traces.

Still, with a glimmer of hope, I inspected the surroundings.

I discovered something near the west door.

X.

There was a trace left there, seemingly carved by someone with a knife.

The clearly visible ‘X’ mark looked somewhat familiar.

Whenever Shin Sooa progressed through the Demon Realm, she would leave a mark at every fork in the road.

Just in case someone following behind might get lost.

Given her personality, it was highly likely she had left a mark this time too.

I checked the other doors and found similar traces there as well.

East. X

West. X

North. X

All three directions were marked with an ‘X’.

It meant she didn’t go that way, or that it was dangerous.

【You found what Shin Sooa left behind?】

【Did you hear about it beforehand?】

I didn’t know what the ‘X’ mark meant yet, but I decided to interpret it as meaning she didn’t go that way.

I approached the south door and looked for traces.

There was also a mark carved with a knife there.

A clear ‘X’ mark.

【They’re all X, so what do we do?】

【Kangrim is going to suffer a lot.】

【You got baited by Shin Sooa, right?】

【Since they’re all marked with X, just go wherever you want.】

I ignored the gods’ words and moved my feet.

The center of the main hall.

There was a half-collapsed throne there.

As I trampled the throne and stepped up onto it, I heard the gods gasping in shock.

【No way, this bastard is on the throne?】

【Not sitting, but stepping on it, what’s that about?】

I grabbed a pillar and climbed up, then pulled back the canopy covering the upper part of the throne.

Looking up, I saw a mark carved on the ceiling.

O.

When I pushed the ceiling part up with all my might using the sword hilt, it rattled and a door opened.

【No way, he got it in one try?】

【There are people who can’t find it all day, you know?】

【Wow, are you a detective?】

【My name is Detective, Kangrim!】

Just as they said, I had struggled quite a bit to find the way in my past life.

Because I thought there wouldn’t be paths on the ceiling and floor.

I crawled up and called the spirit beasts.

“Both of you, come up here.”

“Ung!”

Rini flew through the air lightly and came up.

However, Yorongi was glaring at me, looking thoroughly annoyed.

“Keureureung…….”

“……You still can’t fly, huh.”

I had been training him all this time, but he was still far from reaching his adult form.

I went back down, picked up Yorongi, and climbed back up to find another space.

As soon as I came up, the strong smell of old books wafted over.

I didn’t know the structure of the palace well, but it seemed to be a place for storing books.

Numerous books were scattered on the floor, and the storage cabinets were all smashed.

It seemed they had made this mess looking for an Identification Tag.

My tag might be among this mess, but I looked for the next door first.

【Isn’t Kangrim going to look for his tag?】

【Looks like he’s busy looking for a person.】

【What are you going to do after finding them?】

The door with the ‘O’ mark was to the east.

Following the traces, I passed through several rooms and doors, and this time, I opened a door on the floor.

The moment I opened the door, I sensed a presence.

“W-What the?”

It seemed the other party had also noticed my presence.

I looked down and saw a few people gathered, but they weren’t from Zone 2.

Among them was a face I vaguely remembered.

A woman stared at me with surprised eyes.

“You… Seo Kangrim?”