Ch-135
—
*****
When I opened my eyes, it was darkness.
A darkness so deep I couldn’t see an inch ahead.
*“So this is the inside of Jörmungandr’s stomach.”*
At least I wasn’t dead.
Apparently, being eaten didn’t equate to instant death.
But I doubted that insane star—one that devoured its own master—would let me stay alive for long.
Sssssssss.
Something moved in the darkness.
I couldn’t see it, but I felt it.
Something enormous and endlessly long—so vast its end could not be sensed.
*“That’s the real Jörmungandr.”*
This place was Jörmungandr’s domain.
I had been transferred into the realm where the true Jörmungandr existed, and it was here that it fed.
The serpent that devoured the world.
Just as the legends described—its name’s majesty made manifest.
Before that monster, I was nothing but a speck of dust.
*—You…*
Jörmungandr spoke to me.
But curiously, its voice trembled.
A voice mixed with bewilderment.
*—You… what are you? How do you carry ‘Ouroboros’ Venom’ inside you?*
Ouroboros’ Venom?
Ah. That must mean the poison Gracia fed Baal.
When I thought about it, since Baal fused with me, the venom might also have been stored somewhere within my body.
Then when Jörmungandr swallowed me, the venom spread into its system.
*—This is impossible…!*
Kuooooong!
As Jörmungandr twisted its body, the world itself seemed to collapse.
And then the darkness lifted.
“…Randolph-nim?”
Isabella appeared, emerging from hiding.
Her eyes widened like those of a startled rabbit.
She was uncorrupted—completely sane.
“Why have you come all the way here? Go back. Quickly!”
But Isabella instead began to grow angry.
“Why should I go back?”
“That’s…”
“Tell me the reason.”
Isabella bit down hard on her lip.
“…The previous Desert Queen experimented on me and the other children. They were experiments related to the ‘contamination sources’. The so-called ‘Divine Disease’ is, in truth, a *summoning ritual*.”
“A summoning ritual?”
“The continent rose into the sky and came to touch countless ‘other worlds destroyed by Ruin’. And the Divine Disease is a summoning ritual through which the beings who remain in those other worlds come here.”
Other worlds destroyed by Ruin.
Did that mean Earth wasn’t the first world Ruin had invaded?
“The Desert Queen was originally a being from another world. She did all this because she wanted to summon the ‘Blood-Marrow King’ from her own world. Children with talent, especially exceptional talent, are naturally *open* to other worlds.”
The real reason contamination sources appear.
They weren’t Divine Disease, nor the birth of a new species—they were rituals for summoning beings from other worlds that had come into contact.
“I had to stop the Desert Queen’s experiment. The only way was to accept the contamination source myself… and accept the Blood-Marrow King… and then die together with this city.”
“You accepted the contamination source? Then where is it now?”
“…Did you not just defeat it?”
Ah.
That thing in the shape of Jörmungandr… was the contamination source.
So that was why it moved of its own will.
And it explained why Isabella was still sane.
She let out a bitter smile.
“Randolph-nim, please go back. I… have nowhere to return to anyway.”
“What do you mean? I told you to return to me.”
“…”
“The appointed time hasn’t even passed yet, has it? Or… did you not want to return?”
“That’s not it. I just…”
“Then wait. I will bring you back.”
I slowly retraced the path I came from.
There, the colossal serpent lay collapsed powerlessly.
The contamination source had not yet been eliminated.
And this place was the real yet not real domain—
Isabella’s mental realm, crafted by the star.
I slowly opened my mouth—
Crunch!
And devoured the contamination source.
Devoured Jörmungandr.
—
—
Rustle Forest.
The dryads of the forest all turned their gazes toward the ‘Verdant One’.
Srrr.
Saaaaa.
The roots of the Verdant One trembled in small, frantic motions.
They seemed almost like screams.
The Verdant One made the forest more fertile, raised the level cap of the dryads—
the ‘forest race’.
But they had no idea why it was behaving like this.
“Lately, the Verdant One’s condition is strange.”
“High Dryad-nim, it’s become even worse ever since that child arrived.”
The High Dryad—the guardian of the forest—turned his gaze to the child leaning against the Verdant One.
A child with a genderless appearance, hair burning like blue flames.
The one called *Singer of Nature*.
A child their ‘brother’ had brought to the forest not long ago.
The child was indeed of a forest race, so there was no reason they couldn’t stay, but—
*“They should originally be a race that communes with elves…”*
The Singer of Nature was a rare race that lived with elves in the Verdant City.
But the Verdant City was cut off from the outside world.
Even for a High Dryad, there was no way to contact the elves.
Naturally, they didn’t know how to deal with this race.
Thus, the dryads avoided approaching the child.
*Their brother, Randolph of Rustle Forest, released the child from slavery,* the child had said.
Just that thought alone moved the High Dryad’s heart.
Dryads could never ignore a request from a brother.
Especially not the High Dryad.
“Child. Are you communing with the Verdant One?”
“…”
He had asked dozens of times.
But the child never responded—mute as stone.
The High Dryad tried again.
“Not long before you came, all its leaves fell. They’ve grown back, but we still don’t know the Verdant One’s will. Won’t you tell me why it is like this?”
“…It hurts.”
For the first time since arriving in the forest, the child spoke.
The High Dryad pricked his ears and asked again.
“It hurts? You mean the Verdant One?”
The child stroked the Verdant One.
“Master of the tree. Hurt.”
“The Verdant One’s master… you mean Randolph?”
Nod.
The child nodded and pressed their ear against the tree, as if listening to a heartbeat.
The High Dryad tilted his head internally.
It was true that Randolph had sprouted the Verdant One’s seed…
but never did he imagine the Verdant One was connected to him.
That the Verdant One responded to Randolph’s state.
*“Then the time when all the leaves fell…”*
Taken literally—
that meant he nearly died.
But the leaves regrew immediately.
Meaning he survived the crisis.
With a grave expression, the High Dryad asked:
“Then is my brother—Randolph—in danger right now?”
That was a problem.
Because the Verdant One’s trembling wasn’t ordinary.
Not just the leaves—its entire root system was shaking.
If Randolph was in danger—
Then the whole forest, including himself, had to move to save their brother.
“Please tell me. Who dares to threaten our brother…!!”
He trembled with rage.
At himself—for not knowing sooner.
But now that he knew, he would never overlook it.
All involved would face the forest’s divine punishment.
*“I will tear their limbs apart.”*
Their entrails would be shredded and fed to beasts.
Their skin hung on trees to become an Ent.
An Ent—forever alive, forever conscious, unable to die or live—bearing eternal agony.
The most brutal punishment a dryad could give.
To the dryads of Rustle Forest, Randolph was more than a friend.
He was a brother.
A kin.
Who could forgive those who harmed their own kin?
The High Dryad stared at the child’s lips.
And the child of nature finally spoke—
“Stomachache. Ate something weird. Hurts.”
“…?”
—
—
*****
Gurgle.
Gurururuk!
My stomach churned violently.
I had eaten something I shouldn’t have.
Something I absolutely shouldn’t swallow.
“…!”
It felt like my guts were being torn apart.
Cold sweat poured down my entire body.
My mind blurred, nausea surged—I clenched my teeth to endure it.
《‘Glutton’ rejects it.》
《Your body exhibits extreme rejection.》
《Status ailment: Special Disease inflicted.》
《Status ailment: Special Slowing inflicted.》
《Status ailment: Special Bleeding begins.》
《Status ailment: Special Weakening inflicted.》
Chaos.
My entire body was rejecting the contamination source.
Thrashing, screaming to spit it out.
If I spat it out, the contamination source couldn’t harm me.
But if I forced myself to hold it in, abnormalities like these happened.
Even ‘Glutton’, which ate almost anything, was refusing to digest this.
Rumbleeeee!
My stomach thundered like a storm as I clenched my fists and endured.
It felt like a catastrophic stomachache.
After what felt like a long battle—
《You are ‘Contaminated’.》
《The ‘Contamination Source’ attempts mental contamination.》
《‘Eternal Randolph’ repels it.》
《The ‘Contamination Source’ attempts physical contamination.》
《‘Heart of the Eternal Monarch’ blocks it.》
《The ‘Contamination Source’ begins to drift over your body.》
《Eliminate the final contamination source to summon the ‘Contaminated Lord’.》
Thankfully, it didn’t achieve full corrosion.
Even so, I was drenched in sweat.
*—…Do you sacrifice yourself willingly?*
The massive serpent, Jörmungandr, had regained its senses and looked at me.
What I devoured were the contaminated parts of it.
I had no intention of devouring Jörmungandr entirely.
This was a star Isabella had earned, and stealing a flawless star was something no successor should do.
Each class had its concept.
Break it, and the character collapses.
Even more so, Jörmungandr was a star I could not inherit.
Such “named” stars were destined to choose their own successors.
It was the same logic behind that star granting Isabella the **Mystery of Jörmungandr**.
— *You… you must have seen it as well. My child awakened its memories together with me.*
I know.
As I devoured Jörmungandr’s Sources of Contamination, fragments of memories flowed in with them.
They were the memories that surfaced when Isabella transcended.
Namely—
— *Memories of **you***. Not Randolph, but **Park Hyun-myung**. That child will never forgive the one who plunged her into despair. When she learns the true identity you hid, when she comes to know your real self, she will tremble with betrayal. Even so… you still say you will save her?*
Just as I synchronized memories from Jörmungandr, Jörmungandr could skim through the memories related to me.
But that wasn’t the real problem.
…Isabella had recalled memories **about me**.
Isabella had realized my existence from Earth.
She had remembered my face, and she now loathed me—the one who had ruined her life.
And the problem didn’t end with Isabella.
*‘The characters I raised and left behind… if those characters transcend, they will recall everything.’*
I now understood why Reaper Cult had a character suspected to be someone’s alt.
Perhaps the Reaper Cult was a group formed from characters left behind by players—characters who transcended.
And that was why they harbored such intense resentment toward players.
They could never forgive the players who toyed with them and mocked them.
Honestly, if I were in their shoes, I might feel the same.
*‘If Isaac finds out… that would be the absolute worst.’*
The real issue was Isaac.
Among the alts I had raised, Isaac was the one who committed the most heinous acts.
I had created him specifically to see whether Pangaenia’s game company was monitoring things.
Isaac had such infamy that he had rationalized all of those atrocities as his own doing.
Even though he probably didn’t even remember half of what happened.
He merely pieced together what others said to deduce what he “did.”
But if he learns that those actions weren’t actually his, but were orchestrated by someone else—what would that hatred, that fury become?
It was almost impossible to imagine.
*‘…I have hundreds of characters I’ve left behind.’*
And not just these few.
Isabella, Isaac, and countless others left behind for one reason or another.
Their numbers alone were in the hundreds.
Among them were many who had reached near-transcendence, and several who had actually achieved it.
And every player had left behind dozens, hundreds of alts in this world.
Thousands—tens of thousands of characters remained in Pangaenia.
If all of them transcended and returned as enemies…
My head began to spin.
…And the Reaper Cult was likely locating these abandoned characters and forcing them to transcend through some special method.
At that moment, Jörmungandr spoke.
— *But even taking everything into account—if you still choose to save this child, then I shall remain silent. For your sake… and for my child’s. I will ensure she never learns of it.*
A declaration to keep my secret.
A promise that he would continue doing so.
For a monstrous being, Jörmungandr had a surprising amount of common sense.
— *However, that ‘Source of Contamination’ is far too powerful. The ‘Blood-Marrow King’ that will be summoned through it is an existence beyond compare. Even I could do no more than restrain him. What, then, do you plan to do?*
What do I plan to do?
It’s not like I have some special method.
I would simply—
“I’ll host him in my body.”
I would do what Isabella had been about to attempt.
— *…Do you truly mean to die?*
“We’ll see who dies.”
I let out a faint, dry laugh.
At this point, there was no turning back.
All I could do was hope my body would be sturdier than whatever that so-called Blood-Demon King was.
I tore open space and stepped outside.
—
—
### *
The Blood-Demon King opened his eyes.
*‘So at last… the ritual has succeeded.’*
A new land. His effort to cross into another realm had finally borne fruit.
Long—so long.
Epochs upon epochs. An immeasurable gulf of time that numbed the mind had finally been bridged.
A being of his “rank” required such preparation to cross into another world.
His daughter, whom he had sent ahead, had completed all preparations over there.
A new world. A new beginning.
A final chance to restore the prosperity of the Blood-Marrow race.
*Reincarnation.*
He intended to reincarnate.
His current existence was too vast to simply cross over as he was.
He would become a primordial being—the root of the Blood-Demons—and spread his seed throughout that world.
He had already confirmed that several otherworldly beings were doing the same.
Once the ritual ended, he would consume the final “seed” and be reborn in that world.
As a far more complete existence.
“It has begun.”
The door opened.
The door leading into the core of the ritual—the final Source of Contamination.
Only one last step remained.
The Blood-Marrow King trembled slightly.
Boundless emotion, awe—his heart soared as if he could take flight.
Everything was prepared.
There would be no difficulties from here.
All he had to do was consume the prepared “seed.”
Control the body that bore it.
The Blood-Marrow King slowly crossed the threshold.
*‘Hm…?’*
…Something was wrong.
—
