Chapter 22: The Unknown Presence

“Bang! Bang bang!”
“Bang bang! Bang!” This was the battle taking place in an underground prison over a hundred yards deep. Clashes of raw strength sent shockwaves through the air, so powerful that they even disheveled Ravia’s hair.
“Boom!” A figure was flung outward and crashed hard against the wall beside them.
“Thors!” Ravia cried out in panic.
But what answered her was a voice filled with regret, mockery, and disappointment.
“Hey, hey, that little brat is standing right there!”
With a slightly flushed and astonished expression, Ravia realized that the one who had been flung away was actually the werewolf Connel. The force of the impact had created web-like cracks in the solid wall behind him.
“Troublesome!” After mocking the girl, Connel stood up self-mockingly, seemingly unharmed. Yet as he moved, more debris fell from the wall, showing just how powerful that strike had been.
“Are… are you okay?” Out of shyness over his earlier words, Ravia asked softly.
“Heh!” The werewolf chuckled, rubbing his neck with his left hand while stretching his limbs. “Your tone now is quite different from when you called that little brat earlier…”
“Ugh!” Ravia stamped her foot, angry and embarrassed. “What’s the point of talking about this now? Didn’t you say you could end the fight in a minute and restore Thors to normal? It’s already been three minutes! And this is the second time you’ve been flung away! Can you even do it?”
“Hey,” the girl’s doubts made the werewolf uncomfortable. He retorted irritably, “Is it my fault? As soon as I moved, you started shouting, ‘Don’t hurt him, don’t hurt him!’ How am I supposed to fight like that?”
“Th-this…” The girl was speechless for a moment before muttering softly, “But you keep hitting Thors every time…”
“Of course. Otherwise, how would I wake him up?” the werewolf said nonchalantly.
“But… but…” Ravia had seen clearly—both the werewolf in front of her and that giant bear had the strength to shatter obsidian with their bare hands. Good heavens, it was obsidian! With such force hitting a human body, what would happen…

“Don’t worry!” Seeming to sense the girl’s concern, the werewolf glanced at the boy not far away, surrounded by the dark giant bear, and reassured her, “I think that kid won’t be hurt even if I punch him… Of course, I’ll control my strength. But the problem is that bear…” As he spoke, he raised his head to look into the bear’s blood-red eyes, in which the werewolf could only see deep, suppressed anger.

“Is that bear really that hard to deal with?” Seeing that neither the werewolf nor the bear seemed ready to attack, Ravia quickly asked about her doubts.

“Hmm,” the werewolf nodded, his gaze fixed on his opponent, and said in a deep voice, “I think that bear is probably a projection of a higher-ranking demon, one higher in rank than me…”

“Higher than you?” Ravia tilted her head, seemingly not understanding the meaning of those words.

“Yes. In the world of demons, strength isn’t the only thing that matters. Rank is more important. Lower-ranking demons don’t even dare to attack higher-ranking ones—that’s the deterrent power of rank. You can think of it as fear, like in your human world…”

“Oh,” Ravia nodded humbly and asked, “Then how do you know that bear is higher in rank than you?”

“How could I not know?” The werewolf frowned. Devouring is one of the characteristics of dark powers, but not all dark creatures can rely on it to grow stronger by defeating their opponents. Only demons of intermediate rank or above can learn this. Whether he admitted it or not as a Gungro, the fact remained unchanged, and he understood that well.

A Gungro is already a creature very close to a demon, and even higher than intermediate demons. Just knowing that an ordinary Gungro can rank eighth among demons—what about himself?

But that dark giant bear made him shudder deep in his soul…

This wasn’t a difference in strength; it was a difference in rank!

If it were an opponent of the same rank, he could easily defeat that dark giant bear in a minute. But due to the rank difference, he, who was stronger, was still intimidated by it…

If it were some other lower-ranking demon, they might not even dare to attack…

Moreover, that bear was strange—it didn’t seem to be devouring his strength…

Right! It wasn’t devouring; it was a higher-level ability than devouring—[Siphoning]!

If it’s absorption, then the party whose power is being absorbed still has a chance to resist. But just now, his own power was instantly absorbed by that bear, with no chance to resist at all… Just as darkness can be covered by purer darkness and cannot be resisted… “Roar!” The giant bear, composed entirely of dark energy, let out a roar that seemed tangible. This roar made the werewolf realize that the time for testing was over… “Kid, stay back!” The werewolf’s expression turned serious instantly. With a swing of his right hand from left to right, a dense mass of darkness, like a tangible curved blade, rushed forward with a whooshing sound and arrived in front of the giant bear. The dark aura around the bear surged instantly, and in a flash, it absorbed that blade-like darkness. As expected… it cannot be resisted… It’s [Absorption], a higher level than mere absorption! If he keeps having his power drawn away by this bear, he might never be able to wake that kid again. He must avoid having his power absorbed! With that thought, Connel, who was standing there, suddenly disappeared, causing the bear’s heavy strike to miss completely. To be honest, Ravia had already learned about the werewolf’s speed from the battle between Connel and the bear earlier. But now, Connel’s speed became even faster. He moved nimbly around the bear like the wind, searching for its weaknesses. If it were an ordinary human, such high-speed movement would likely exhaust all his strength… It has to be said that bears are really too bulky… Although every angry strike shattered the obsidian ground, the key point is that the dark bear wasn’t trying to strike the ground to vent its anger… “So fast…” Ravia covered her mouth in surprise. As she gradually got used to the speed of the battle between the werewolf and the bear, she clearly saw that the dark bear’s heavy strikes, which were relatively slow, couldn’t even touch Connel’s clothes. “Whoosh whoosh…” Ravia could only see a figure darting up the bear’s arm at incredible speed. Then, a roar that seemed tangible echoed throughout the dungeon. “Roar!” Under Ravia’s astonished gaze, the dark bear seemed to shake its huge head, its eyes filled with intense anger as it searched everywhere for that damned figure. “Still thinking about absorbing power?” The rapidly moving werewolf waved his right fist, which had been burned by the bear’s darkness, laughinghehe. The burn on the back of his hand healed at an astonishingly fast pace.

“Let’s do it again!” With a hehe laugh, Connelle leaped onto the giant bear’s arm, swiftly dodging wave after wave of dark energy, and in an instant reached the bear’s shoulder. But to his surprise, the dark bear’s body instantly turned into dense darkness, enveloping the werewolf inside.
“Con… Connelle?” Ravia widened her eyes, clearly in disbelief—could even the legendary true Gungro not defeat that bear?
As she was stunned, a swirl of darkness suddenly appeared to his right. From within that darkness, Connelle emerged unharmed.
“You’re okay? Great!” the girl exclaimed joyfully.
“Okay?” Connelle shook his head with a bitter smile and sighed. “I just ‘died’ once! I was too careless. That bear has extremely high intelligence. Damn it! I fell for it! Those attacks were just distractions; it was waiting to swallow me whole…” As he spoke, he turned to look at the girl’s stunned face and said irritably, “Haven’t you heard that Gungros have immortality?”
“But…” Ravia pointed at the werewolf and then at the bear, puzzled. “But you were completely swallowed by it. Those Gungros just now…”
“Don’t mix me up with those inferior creatures!” Connelle curled his lips. Noticing the confusion in the girl’s eyes, he explained, “The true Gungro’s true form isn’t here… Well, in other words, neither the me from before nor the me now is… Tch, how should I put it? I really aren’t cut out for this… Anyway, that’s the situation!”
“Oh,” Ravia tilted her head as she listened to Connelle’s confusing explanation, nodding in understanding yet still puzzled. “So you mean the methods used against those Gungros won’t work on you, right?”
“Exactly!”
Ravia nodded half-understandingly, her gaze inadvertently falling on the dark bear. After absorbing Connelle’s power, it had become much clearer, with several parts even approaching a solid form…
“Sos…”

“Don’t worry!” Connel smiled faintly and said, “Gungro’s power can be said to be constant, always at its peak. And after each death, it recovers to more than half—or even its best state…” As he spoke, he turned to look at the giant bear and shook his head. “It’s a pity. Your idea is good—lure me first and then swallow me whole—but that tactic won’t work on me… Don’t think that by swallowing me whole, my power will belong to you. Not only that, but you’ll have to spit out everything of my power you just consumed!”

As Connel spoke, countless streams of dark energy surged from the dark giant bear’s body and headed toward him.

“Roar! Roar!” The dark giant bear seemed extremely angry.

“Hmph, it’s useless!” Connel chuckled and waved his finger. “This is the law established when Gungro was born, the law of this world. As long as you can’t surpass this law, you must obey it!” While he spoke, those dark energies flowed back into the werewolf’s body.

“Still, I’m quite surprised…” The werewolf said in astonishment, looking at the angry bear that had lost its absorbed power. “I always thought that although your rank is higher than mine and you likely belong to the demon race, you didn’t seem like a wise creature. I was wrong—you’re actually intelligent…”

“He’s… intelligent?” Ravia stared at the bear in shock.

“Yes! I’m sure it wasn’t instinct but wisdom. This guy is an intelligent being!”

“…” Ravia looked at the bear in disbelief before suddenly running in front of it.

“What are you doing?!” The werewolf appeared beside Ravia in an instant and grabbed him tightly.

“I…” Ravia bit his lip and looked at the bear pleadingly. “Please make Thos normal. I don’t want him… I don’t want him like this…”

“Whoosh!” Pulling Ravia with him, the werewolf jumped back a few steps and frowned. “I know you care about that kid, but… if this bear is truly intelligent, you need to be even more careful. It’s very likely it isn’t protecting you or that kid… I don’t know why, but I can say for sure it’s not that kid’s power! This bear appears only to protect itself!”

“Pro… protect itself?”

“Hmm!” Connel nodded affirmatively. “It’s possible its true form is inside that little brat. I don’t know why, but from what the old alchemists said… if demons want to enter the world, their powers are restricted by certain laws. The way to break this restriction is to first take possession of a child, and when the time is right…”
“What… what happens then?”
“It swallows that little brat whole! Along with his mind and soul…” Connel said, frowning.
“Swallow…?” Ravia stared at the boy absentmindedly. Suddenly, her gaze turned angry as she stared hostilely into the bear’s eyes.
“Are you crazy?!” Connel instinctively stepped in front of the girl, knowing that the bear would instinctively attack anyone who showed hostility toward it.
But unexpectedly, the bear didn’t attack Ravia. Not only that, but the blood-red glow in its eyes gradually faded, and its entire body became hazy…
“Has it run out of energy?” Connel chuckled slightly in relief. To be honest, this kind of restricted battle annoyed him greatly. Not only could he not attack the boy, who was the true form, but in terms of dark powers, the bear was clearly superior to him… No, the bear dominated all dark forces. Maybe it wasn’t domination at all, but rather superiority!
“Sos…” Ravia murmured the boy’s name.
But at that moment, the boy was unaware of all this. He was in a gray, misty space…
Just like in the dream he often had, Jiang Zhe found himself in that strange space again…
Why call it a strange space? Because there was no solid ground to stand on, just like Jiang Zhe right now…
There was nothing beneath his feet…
Yet it felt like he was stepping on something…
Jiang Zhe stamped his feet awkwardly. He could clearly feel that he was indeed stepping on something…
“Hey, is anyone there?” he called out instinctively, then suddenly remembered that this place seemed to have only one giant creature sleeping there.
Sure enough…
Through the hazy mist, Jiang Zhe faintly saw a huge figure…
Everything was like a dream, but the difference was that the giant creature was now awake, which made Jiang Zhe feel somewhat better…
After all, watching a giant creature sleep soundly every night, along with enduring those boring, dull snoring sounds, wasn’t exactly fun!

The giant beast lying on its side was enormous; only its head and two front limbs were visible through the mist… The beast, which usually snored while resting on its front limbs, now stared at Jiang Zhe with its pale red eyes… “Hey, are you awake?” “Hey, can you talk?” But no matter what Jiang Zhe said, the beast would just glance at him before lying back down on its front limbs… “Hey, don’t sleep!” Jiang Zhe rushed up to the beast and said, “Tell me where this is and who you are. Why do I keep dreaming about you? Hey!” Yet no matter what he said, the beast slowly closed its eyes again… “Damn it, stay awake!” Frustrated, Jiang Zhe stood on the beast’s front limbs and punched its huge eyelids… It was truly enormous… Just the beast’s eyes were probably bigger than Jiang Zhe’s entire body… The beast opened its eyes again, looking at Jiang Zhe with a somewhat helpless expression… To be honest, the moment the giant creature opened its eyes, Jiang Zhe was indeed shocked. I think anyone who sees eyes larger than their own body would feel uneasy, especially from such close range… For a while, the beast and Jiang Zhe stared at each other, but in the end, Jiang Zhe gave up… “Ahem, I’m really sorry for disturbing your sleep…” Staring at eyes larger than his own from such close range, although those pale red eyes clearly showed no hostility, Jiang Zhe still felt uneasy. Coughing, he said awkwardly, “How about we make a deal? Can you sleep after answering my questions?” Perhaps the beast couldn’t speak at all; anyway, it didn’t respond no matter what Jiang Zhe said. Judging from the heaviness of its eyelids, it seemed very sleepy… But every time this happened, Jiang Zhe would punch its eyelids to make it open its eyes again… For some reason, while most people would feel terrified at the sight of such a huge beast, Jiang Zhe, for unknown reasons, didn’t feel any fear or dread. Instead, he acted as if facing an old friend of over a decade… “Hey, talk to me, you guy!” After asking several times, Jiang Zhe suddenly remembered something—maybe this creature really couldn’t speak after all?

“This is troublesome…” Standing on the giant beast’s front limb and scratching his forehead, Jiang Zhe hesitantly said, “How about this? If the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘good’, you nod… ah, no, blink once. If the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not good’, blink twice. What do you think?”
But in reality, the giant beast kept its eyes half-closed, staring at Jiang Zhe…
“Can’t you understand?” Jiang Zhe frowned and was about to say something when suddenly he saw the beast’s eyelids drop—had it blinked?
Yet in fact, after its eyelids closed, the beast’s eyes didn’t open again for over a minute…
Could it be… asleep?
Jiang Zhe tilted his head, stunned.
“Damn it!” He kept pounding on the beast’s eyelids, but no matter how hard he tried, the beast wouldn’t open its eyes. Even the marks left by the rolling eyeballs showed it was still awake…
That annoying guy!
It was unclear how much time passed, but eventually Jiang Zhe got tired. He leaned against the beast’s head, sitting on its front limb, and observed this strange space, as he no longer expected the beast to tell him anything on its own…
By the way, where was this?
Out of curiosity, he jumped off the beast’s front limb and walked toward the misty depths. Suddenly, with a “bang,” he collided with a hard object.
Had he hit a wall?
“Damn!” Rubbing his head vigorously, Jiang Zhe looked up and realized he hadn’t hit a wall at all—it was a very tall and huge stone pillar…
He stepped back a few steps and estimated the pillar’s size…
Its diameter was about twenty or thirty yards, maybe even larger. As for its height… it was hard to tell because most of the top was hidden in the mist, but it was clear the pillar was extremely tall!
As he examined the pillar closely, Jiang Zhe noticed something seemed carved on it…
Hmm, it looked a bit like a human, but the chaotic depictions of beasts and creatures at the base indicated it wasn’t a human figure. It resembled some kind of totem or a sculpture related to demons.
Moreover, judging from the patterns on the pillar, it was carved with great precision—Jiang Zhe couldn’t find any uneven surfaces; it felt very smooth, even the carved grooves were smooth. Even machines from his past life couldn’t achieve such perfection, could they?

Staring at the stone pillar, Jiang Zhe felt an inexplicable sensation. Subconsciously, he believed he was standing inside a very large building, with that stone pillar being one of its columns. Those ancient, simple patterns… This must be a building with a long history…
But where exactly?
As Jiang Zhe was filled with confusion and curiosity about this place, he suddenly heard a voice.
“Thors? Thors, how are you? Thors? You damned guy, wake up quickly!”
“It’s that girl…” Hearing those familiar words “damned guy,” Jiang Zhe immediately recognized the voice’s owner. As soon as that voice came, the mist around them thickened rapidly.
Jiang Zhe felt as if the stone pillar was suddenly drifting farther and farther away from him…
“Bang!” He felt a blow on his head, followed by Ravia’s angry voice and a man’s mocking tone.
“What are you doing?!”
“I’m helping you wake him up… To wake this brat, you have to use this method. With your weak voice, there’s no way he’d hear you!”
Jiang Zhe suddenly opened his eyes and saw Ravia glaring angrily. Following her line of sight, he saw a man who seemed to be in his thirties or forties.
That man noticed Jiang Zhe waking up right away and said mockingly, “See? He’s awake now, isn’t he?”
Meanwhile, in an unknown space…
That giant beast slowly opened its eyes, only for its eyelids to close again…
“That brat is such a hassle… Explaining him is a hassle… Talking to him is a hassle… Fighting him is a hassle… Being hungry is a hassle… Sleeping is a hassle… Snoring… snoring…”