«I’ve long stopped counting the years, but it happened more than a thousand years ago and less than fifteen hundred. Back then, I was in the spirit realm.»

Kunta and the other spirits lived in the spirit realm. Naturally, there was rarely any reason for them to leave it.

For all things that compose the world live out their lives in the dimensional layer where they were born.

Spirits, in particular, were a race that held stillness as the highest virtue. So even when all sorts of chaos raged in the mortal realm, most of them paid it no mind at all.

In that sense, Kunta was an oddity. He was brimming with curiosity, driven toward a life of upheaval. It was perhaps inevitable that he made a contract with a human from the mortal realm.

«That human was a shaman. I’ve long forgotten her name, but I remember clearly that humans called her a witch. She was a truly peculiar woman. At any rate, I traveled with her for quite some time.»

Kunta descended to the mortal realm just as the war between the Saraon and the Divine Army was drawing to a close.

The Saraon, who had once dominated the continent, had fallen into wretched decline. Driven to the fringes, reduced to living corpses, no other demi-humans feared them anymore.

And once the tiger was gone, the wolves’ squabbling over its den began.

«Another war broke out?»

«Indeed. No sooner had the Divine Army withdrawn than the Alliance dissolved, and then they were bashing each other’s heads in. It was absurd. I thought they were trying to make a sea out of blood.»

The war among demi-humans lasted over three hundred years.

In those three centuries, the Saraon lost every trace of their former glory. They were no longer noble, no longer strong, no longer beautiful.

The name they were called by had fully hardened into the humiliating epithet: ‘Goblin.’

No one remembered anymore that they had once been great.

By the time this part of the story came, Merilin and Dorma’s faces had turned to stone. Kunta glanced at them cautiously and said:

«Shall I continue?»

«Please do.»

«…Then I will. The demi-humans called that era the Age of Strife. In my personal opinion, ‘the Age of Chaos’ would fit better, but what does it matter what you name it? Every day the swords and spears rained down, and in the end, one race was completely annihilated.»

«Which race?»

«The dwarves.»

Kunta cleared his throat briefly before explaining.

«The dwarves were prickly by nature, but they were a race that abhorred blood. So they pulled out of the territorial wars early and burrowed underground.»

«Then why were they wiped out?»

«Because of you humans.»

«Humans?»

«The humans poured oil into the dwarves’ underground tunnels and set them on fire.»

Go Byeonggap let out a sigh. Kunta gave a dry laugh.

«The flames shooting up from the tunnels reached the sky. The dwarves, turned into lumps of charcoal, came screaming out of the earth… It was like watching hell itself.»

«…….»

«Humans are truly clever. Clever enough to be cunning, cunning enough to be relentless. And that relentless nature led straight to cruelty. In the Age of Strife, the victor was, without question, the humans.»

At this point, Go Byeonggap didn’t know whether to feel pride or shame. He simply wondered what his subordinates thought of him.

«Ahem!»

Kunta let out a dry cough, perhaps from all the talking he’d done.

«Dorma, get some water from the pack.»

«Yes, sir.»

Dorma handed him the water bottle. Kunta hesitated for a moment before taking it.

«Clear water, plain to see. You must be well off.»

«So what happened after that?»

Go Byeonggap urged the story on instead of answering. Kunta took a few gulps of water, then grinned.

«What happened? True chaos came—nothing like the pissing contests between demi-humans. A whole different level.»

The wars among the demi-humans dragged on for decades in a state that could neither be called finished nor unresolved.

Then one day, without warning or sign, the demons appeared.

Demons.

They stood taller than the greatest trees, their bodies pitch-black. When they spread their two wings and took to the sky, night fell even at high noon.

The demons let their long arms dangle as they roamed, caring nothing for ground or sky. And they devoured anything they could get their hands on.

«Yes… that’s right.»

Dorma muttered under his breath. His forehead was slick with cold sweat.

«Right? What do you mean?»

«Hearing that brought it back. The things that chased us looked just like that. Huge, black, long… they’d fly through the sky, then dive at us like hawks the moment they spotted us. They’d snatch us up and swallow us in one gulp. It happened so fast we couldn’t even resist.»

Dorma shook as the memory surfaced. The terror in him was plain.

Then, all at once, he lifted his head. And asked Kunta.

«But, old warrior, were those truly demons? As I understand it, demons are—»

«You’re right. By nature, demons are scum that dwell in the underworld.»

«Then how—»

«What the hell even is a demon?»

Go Byeonggap couldn’t hold back any longer. Kunta slowly shook his head.

«No one in this world knows exactly what a demon is. But as this one said, demons were originally weak beings. No—weak isn’t even the right word. They were… like moss, you might say.»

«Moss?»

«Yes. Not dead, but not truly alive either. A mass that can’t even think for itself. That’s the essence of a demon.»

Go Byeonggap felt like he understood the gist. But that only made it more confusing.

Before he could ask another question, Kunta spoke again.

«How the hell they managed to gain their own form and consciousness, I don’t know. Frankly, that’s not what matters. What matters is that the entire mortal realm ended up in ruins.»

After the demons ran rampant, chaos came to the mortal realm. Chaos, in the truest sense of the word.

The demi-humans fought back with everything they had. But the gap in power was so overwhelming it made their efforts look pathetic. Against predators called devils, a demi-human was nothing more than prey.

Was it that extreme environment that did it? A noticeable change began to take hold among the demi-humans.

A change… so horrific it defied description.

«By the time a few hundred years had passed since the devils ran rampant, you couldn’t even tell what was a devil and what was a demi-human anymore.»

«…So the inhabitants turned into monsters.»

Kunta’s eyes widened.

«You know of this?»

«Yes.»

How could I not? I heard it straight from a monster in a dungeon not long ago.

Still, one thing nagged at him.

«But you said a few hundred years? Only a few hundred?»

It was a perfectly natural phenomenon for living things to evolve to suit their environment. But even so, a few hundred years was absurdly short.

Ignorant as he was on the subject, he knew it had taken millions of years for an ape to become a man.

To that doubt, Kunta answered:

«Well, you see… the moment the devils appeared, common sense stopped meaning much of anything. Back then, even if someone said the sun rose in the west, it wouldn’t have been all that unbelievable.»

«…….»

«It may be that the devils shattered even the laws of the world.»

The devils occupied the mortal realm for hundreds of years. During that time, even Kunta had fled into the spirit realm.

But then, one day. Without warning, the devils all shed their bodies at once and invaded the spirit realm too.

Naturally, the spirit realm was turned upside down.

Truth be told, even the spirits had been aware of the situation in the lower world. They’d stayed calm because they believed the devil’s reach would never extend into the spirit realm.

But the devils, as if to mock that belief, abandoned their physical forms and set foot into the spirit realm. What happened next was obvious. Another massacre began, indiscriminate as ever.

«The spirits couldn’t even bring themselves to fight back. Most of my kind had only ever existed for that endless stretch of time — they had no concept of resistance at all. So they fled to the mortal realm, like dogs with their tails on fire, hoping at least there would be no devils here.»

And indeed, there were no devils. Because every devil in the mortal realm had shed its body and ascended into the spirit realm.

But the husks they’d left behind — the Grugle — were still very much alive. And the mortal realm’s residents, now twisted into monsters, were hardly friendly either.

Thus began the spirits’ miserable chronicle in the mortal realm.

A long time passed once more. Every spirit that had failed to escape the spirit realm had its vital energy drained dry.

Having conquered the spirit realm, the devils showed no sign of stopping — they invaded the heavenly realm. And they took that place over too, as if it were their own living room.

Go Byeonggap felt one question claw at him. ‘How do you, who stayed in the mortal realm, know what happened in the spirit realm and the heavenly realm?’

To that question, Kunta tried to mention the god Madmut. But Go Byeonggap hurriedly stopped him.

«Wait!»

«…What is it?»

«Dorma, cover your ears. No—step outside for a moment.»

«Understood.»

Dorma withdrew without protest. Only then did Byeonggap breathe easy.

«It’s safe now. Please, continue.»

Kunta looked puzzled but didn’t press the matter.

«Ahem. I didn’t see the demons march into the heavenly realm myself, no. But I did see Madmut tuck tail and flee down to the mortal realm.»

«You’re saying a god ran away?»

«Ha! As if that’s all.»

Byeonggap’s eyes urged him on. Kunta lowered his voice and went on.

«That irresponsible bastard of a god abandoned our spirits… no, this entire world! He vanished beyond dimensions, taking all the demi-humans of the mortal realm with him!»

* * *

The absolute god, Madmut.

He had led the demi-humans—the monsters—and vanished beyond the dimensional fold.

Hearing that, Byeonggap’s mind went blank.

‘…So Deep Impact wasn’t a natural disaster after all. It was a premeditated crime, orchestrated by someone.’

Whether some transcendent being lay behind Deep Impact had been a longstanding debate.

Regardless of the truth, there were groups that worshipped that unknown entity. The Hexagram Order was a prime example.

That day, Go Byeonggap could piece together the identity of the ‘Transcendent One’ the Hexagram faithful so desperately wanted to know.

Yes. The Transcendent One seemed to be none other than Madmut.

‘Madmut, who fled Asvillam, spreading monsters across Earth… What the hell for?’

Of course, he couldn’t fathom the bastard’s intentions.

«Well… not much after that. The god abandoned the world, and the spirits left behind barely clung to life. Grugle bastards shove anything alive into their maws, so living wasn’t exactly luxurious.»

«Why didn’t you return to the spirit realm? Were you afraid a demon still lurked there?»

Merilin, who had been listening silently, asked.

«That’s one reason, yes… but the truth is, I’ve already become someone who cannot return even if I wanted to.»

Kunta gestured at his own body as he said this.

«Much as the demi-humans twisted into monsters, so have we. Same principle as a chicken losing its wings—I swear we’ll have to learn the devils’ trick of splitting soul from body just to survive. Ha ha ha.»

Kunta gave a bitter laugh, then hauled himself to his feet.

«My story is finished. There’s much I’d like to hear from you as well, but the night has grown far too late. I think this is a good place to stop for today—what do you say?»

Go Byeonggap checked his watch. Without realizing it, they’d crossed past one in the morning.

He and Merilin both rose to their feet.

«I enjoyed your story very much. When daylight comes, I’ll tell you mine.»

Very well. Follow me. I’ll show you to your quarters.

They stepped out of the cabin. Dorma was waiting quietly outside.

«You’re out. Is the talk finished?»

«Yeah. Sorry you had to wait.»

«Wait? Don’t say that, My Lord.»

Kunta directed Byeonggap’s group to a cabin similar to his own residence. It wasn’t comfortable, but it was enough to pass the night.

«Then rest well.»

«Thanks to you, we learned a lot. I appreciate it.»

Kunta offered a brief farewell and took his leave.

«My Lord, will you be crossing over there?»

«No. I can’t ignore their hospitality. We’ll just sleep here tonight.»

«Yes, understood.»

They quickly made ready for sleep.

All three had their heads tangled with their own thoughts. There was much to discuss, but they chose to put it off. They were all exhausted.

«Sleep well.»

«My Lord, may you rest peacefully.»

«Yeah. You two sleep well too.»

It didn’t take long for the cabin to fill with stillness.

So the first night seemed to pass without incident. That is, until the guards armed with swords and spears burst in.