**Chapter 442. Predator**
—
When people thought of dwarves, they usually imagined axe-wielding warriors.
But the weapons now aimed at me were far removed from swords or axes.
*Is that… a gun?*
……It was closer to a firearm.
Judging by the muzzle, it was clearly a ranged weapon.
Yet there was no smell of gunpowder.
*They’ve compressed concentrated mana into runes.*
It was best described as a kind of mana round.
This, too, was a technology nonexistent in Pangaenia.
No kingdom or empire possessed the technique to refine mana into bullets and fire them like gunpowder weapons.
Naturally, countless attempts had been made—and all had failed.
They tried using magic stones, but the moment refinement began, the mana leaked out. Even forcibly firing it like a projectile resulted in pitiful destructive power.
*This is a completely new technology.*
My interest was piqued.
The dwarves had formed a self-sustaining ecosystem here.
Completely cut off from the outside world, surviving on their own.
Judging by the amount of mana I could sense, the firepower was considerable.
Enough to hunt the dinosaurs above with ease.
“I didn’t come here to be your enemy.”
I spread both hands.
Then slowly raised them.
It was a gesture to show I had no intention of fighting.
“Don’t be fooled! He’s a knight! Shoot him dead!”
A dwarf standing in the center shouted as he aimed his gun.
They kept calling me a knight, but I couldn’t tell why they were so hostile.
What was clear was that the word *knight* filled them with impatience and fear.
They likely knew that I had massacred all the dinosaurs above.
“I’m not a knight—”
“Bullshit!”
Boom!
They fired.
The sound was like thunder crashing.
A single round burst from the muzzle, scattering as it rushed toward me.
Like a shotgun blast.
At close range, it had enough power to obliterate a body beyond recognition.
“……!”
“T-this can’t be!”
“He took it at this distance…?”
“Could he be an intermediate or higher knight?”
But it never reached me.
Simply wrapping my body in the energy of the aura, like armor, was enough to block it.
A kind of defensive aura.
Even so, I was inwardly startled.
*At the level below aura—mere energy—my body would’ve been riddled with holes.*
Impressive.
Just firing it produced power surpassing the stage of sword aura.
A knight who merely reached the level of sword aura could make a name for himself.
Yet without needing anything else, simply holding that gun meant one could kill a knight of that caliber.
A level 1 civilian capable of unleashing a level 10 attack.
That alone would instantly raise the world’s baseline of martial power.
“I wasn’t the one who attacked first. So I’ll ask one last time. Do you truly wish to fight me?”
I was simply curious.
About this world—and about the dwarves themselves.
Even a tiny pebble here stirred my curiosity intensely.
Because this place was not the Pangaenia I knew.
It was clearly connected to Pangaenia, yet it was not Pangaenia.
Such a world, aside from the Abyss, should not have existed.
“Enough! Everyone, lower your weapons.”
That was when it happened.
Just as confusion spread among the dwarves, an old man appeared.
The other dwarves all had long beards, but this elderly dwarf’s beard dragged along the ground.
“E-elder!”
“Elder, your health isn’t—”
The dwarves looked at him with concern.
But the old dwarf called the elder ignored them and approached me.
“These are not knights.”
The elder seemed to have realized something.
In his half-lidded eyes dwelled deep wisdom.
Then he looked back and forth between me and Dietrich.
“Tell me—where did you come from?”
Indeed.
He had realized that we were not natives of this world.
I answered simply.
“From Pangaenia.”
“Ah……!!!”
The elder’s body trembled violently.
Especially his beard, which shook as if possessed.
He wasn’t the only one reacting.
“N-no way!”
“You really came from Pangaenia?”
“B-but wasn’t Pangaenia destroyed?”
Reactions of disbelief erupted.
The elder barely grasped his beard as he spoke.
“Pangaenia… wasn’t it destroyed?”
“It wasn’t.”
“Even though ‘Destruction’ appeared?”
“Not everything was destroyed.”
Sway—
The elder staggered.
“E-elder!”
A dwarf rushed over and supported him.
Only then did I understand their behavior.
Up until the appearance of Destruction, they had been a race that existed in Pangaenia.
But when Destruction appeared, they fled and hid in this world.
*The ancient ruins left behind in Pangaenia… among the ancient weapons were absurdly powerful treasures. So they were the work of these dwarves.*
I see.
Treasures far beyond the dreams of modern Pangaenian humanity.
I had always wondered how such things existed—turns out they bore the touch of dwarves.
Yet no book mentioned them.
“…The warp should have been sealed. How did you enter this place?”
“I-I opened the altar with this holy sword.”
Dietrich answered, presenting the Guardian Holy Sword.
The elder’s eyes shook once more.
“This sword…!”
“It was made here, wasn’t it?”
“Ah… there’s no doubt. This is the holy sword forged by our god. We thought it lost forever…”
“God? There’s a god here?”
“Not anymore. He was… taken by the knights…”
The elder panted, barely forcing the words out.
Yet unlike before, his gaze now held firm trust.
“Our children were rude. Please forgive them.”
The elder bowed his head.
I shrugged.
“I don’t mind.”
“……Thank you. And since you are honored guests, show them proper respect.”
At his words, all the dwarves hurriedly lowered their guns.
Then they dipped their heads slightly.
I liked their willingness to admit fault and apologize.
There had been no real damage, so there was nothing unforgivable.
“Please follow me. I’ll guide you to a safe place.”
“Is this place unsafe?”
“This area… has the lowest safety rating.”
So there were levels even among safe zones.
Dietrich and I quietly followed behind the elder.
We had much to discuss—it wasn’t a bad choice.
*
*
The underground resembled a massive bomb shelter.
Passing through layers of thick defensive walls, we entered a safehouse reinforced with runes and ore. Only then did the elder stop.
*Incredible.*
Even I felt overwhelmed.
It looked sturdy enough to shrug off a nuclear strike.
With defenses like this, what were they fighting?
“If you don’t mind, would you tell us about Pangaenia?”
The elder asked as he brought out tea.
They all believed Pangaenia had been destroyed.
Almost with certainty.
So hearing that it hadn’t been was bound to stir curiosity.
“Destruction appeared, and most of the land sank into the Abyss. But thanks to the sacrifice of the two goddesses, total annihilation was prevented.”
“…Is that truly so? That can’t be…”
“What do you mean, it can’t be?”
“According to our records, the goddess Leah was in league with Destruction. She herself bore the Child of Destruction—the being known as the Demon King.”
“…Demon King?”
What nonsense was this now?
The goddess Leah had sacrificed her own body to preserve the continent.
Even after being dismantled into stars, she continued to support Pangaenia.
Was that not the truth?
And now she was Destruction’s child-bearer?
The Demon King…?
“Even the gods of the Divine Hall sided with Destruction just to survive. Our god, convinced there was no hope left for Pangaenia, moved us to this land.”
“Did this land exist from the beginning?”
“This land is… like a laboratory of the Heavens. It has now served its purpose and been abandoned, but when they wished to create different lifeforms, they conducted experiments here.”
Madness.
An outrageous truth.
A celestial biological testing ground.
Even if it had been abandoned, the god who settled them here couldn’t have been sane.
The elder continued.
“To think Pangaenia still exists… even now, I can hardly believe it.”
“I’m the one who finds it hard to believe. No surviving text even mentions dwarves. Are you certain you lived in Pangaenia?”
“Dwarves… yes, that is what we were once called. If no records remain, it’s likely our god erased them all before the migration.”
“Erased the records?”
“To hide from Destruction and the Eyes of Truth, nothing of our existence could remain.”
They had to vanish completely.
Thinking about it, even the legendary druid Albino still lived alongside the World Tree of Honor.
The survival of dwarves wasn’t that strange.
I voiced another question.
“They called me a knight. What exactly is a knight?”
“That is…”
The elder hesitated.
Yet fear was unmistakable in his eyes.
“Knights are… the apex predators who have lived in this land since the beginning. Countless beings who have evolved ceaselessly over immeasurable ages, reaching the realm of gods—we call them knights.”
The native inhabitants of this world.
Among them, the strongest were called knights.
“Why call them knights? Mere evolution doesn’t seem reason enough.”
“Because they have ranks among themselves. In particular, there are knights who serve three ‘Kings.’ You must be careful. They are… on a different level. Even our god was abducted by them.”
A god being abducted—that was something I’d never heard in my life.
And this was a god powerful enough to erase all records and relocate an entire race.
One that should have held a chief-god level of divinity—yet even such a being was kidnapped.
“Strange. Did the Heavens really abandon such powerful weapons?”
That was my doubt.
The Heavens continually produced new Destructions.
They were obsessed with power.
There was no way they’d simply abandon soldiers powerful enough to abduct a chief god.
The elder answered.
“Strictly speaking, they gave up on them. There are rumors that the Kings of the Knights… those absolutes, forcibly sealed the gates of the Heavens. We haven’t confirmed the truth…”
The elder trembled with fear.
Just speaking of them was enough.
What could frighten him—and the dwarves—so deeply?
If his words were true, I found it rather intriguing.
To possess the power to forcibly close the gates of the Heavens.
Perhaps they were connected to the primordial.
At that moment—
Beeeeeeeeep!
“A knight! A knight has appeared!”
“Everyone, arm yourselves!”
“Damn it! It’s an upper-rank knight!”
