The Identity of the Thunderous Roar
The identity of the thunderous roar shaking the Otherworld War was the shockwave produced by planet-sized titans being hammered by even larger black orbs and sent flying in every direction.
In the shrunken territory of the Otherworld, where even High-ranking Creator Gods were rare, the sight of these immensely powerful titans—whose very size inspired awe—being swatted away like flies struck by a planet-sized flyswatter was enough to make anyone’s blood run cold. Through the Phantom Beasts, they instantly shared with one another the information received from their connected Cyber Gods.
“According to the Phantom Beasts, they’re called the Substitute Gods?”
“They were supposed to be an incredibly strong new form of spiritual being that surpasses the existing god race created in the Void Realm. Was that information wrong?”
Even a single Main God of the Substitute Gods was said to be so powerful that dozens of ordinary Main Gods would need to join forces with the Demon God just to challenge one. Yet what they were seeing looked far too weak.
Immediate objections rose.
“There is no way a race created by Jinri’s own bloodline to replace the existing gods could be weak. They are even feared by the powerful gods of the Void Realm.”
“The Cyber Gods themselves admit they don’t fully understand the limits of their authorities and power. They say they’re only permitted to modify them—nothing beyond that.”
“They created them but don’t know their power? What kind of nonsense is that—personally modifying the god race to produce the Substitute Gods?”
“More than that, the Cyber Gods are part of the god race too. What is this? Allowing another faction to invade the gods’ domain is outright treason against our entire race.”
“Enough—! Keep this up and we’ll lose access to the Void Realm’s information.”
In the Otherworld they paid a price to receive information, but the Cyber Realm held absolute superiority. Even when they cross-verified identical data to prevent errors, the true essence remained thoroughly concealed. Still, simply being connected to the Cyber Realm and obtaining even a fragment of Void Realm information was a stroke of heavenly luck.
In the Void Realm, every individual with even the slightest possibility of becoming a Creator God was assigned a Cyber God as a helper.
Among those managed targets, a few had reached out to the Otherworld in search of power.
The Phantom Beasts that approached those targets through contractual means had, after long negotiations with both the protagonist and the Cyber Gods, barely managed to secure this information network from the Void Realm.
As the number of such targets grew, Jinri naturally noticed, but fortunately showed no interest, allowing the network to persist.
The Creator Gods of the Otherworld felt as if their insides would explode with frustration, yet they understood exactly why no action had been taken.
They had been dismissed as the petty schemes of a weak world. Indeed, the gap in power was so vast that even if the truth were known, there was nothing they could do about it.
Still, unable to give up, they had recruited every possible management target and Cyber God to gather Void Realm information. The results were so shocking that most of it was sealed away, with only fragments released. This particular revelation, however, was even more extreme.
The scene of the titans being beaten by black planets and sent flying continued to zoom in, finally focusing on a figure wearing a black robe that covered even his head, revealing only his mouth.
10 Mainstays of the Absolute Realm
Rank 10
Peak of the Sages
2nd Grey Absolute — Cyan II
The Cyber Realm informed them that this was the first Grey Absolute appointed in five hundred billion years.
He had not even unfolded the wings of authority that served as proof of spiritual existence, yet an overwhelming divine power and magical energy—too vast for even the Creator Gods to measure—surged around him. Thousands of planet-sized black orbs swirled in his vicinity, swung like marbles, bouncing and driving countless Main Gods of the Substitute Gods helplessly to one side.
They had roughly estimated the strength of the Substitute Gods’ Creator Gods and Main Gods, but if even a single one manifested in the current world without the restrictions of reimplementation, near-total destruction would have been unavoidable. Yet thousands of such mighty beings were being pushed back without resistance. Though he was the lowest ranked among the 10 Mainstays, the power on display was something they could not even dream of opposing.
Jinri had personally acknowledged him as the 2nd Grey Absolute, Cyan II. However, his mental state appeared… less than stable. Extremely so.
The only visible feature beneath the robe—his mouth—was twisted in a grotesque smile. Apart from controlling the black planets, he was engaged in another action: grabbing the collars of beings who appeared to be extremely high-ranking Creator Gods with dozens of layers of light wings, regardless of distance, and slapping their cheeks.
The powerful entities from the Absolute Realm known as the Origins—who had supposedly been fighting the Substitute Gods on even terms—could not resist at all. Their faces whipped left and right from the blows until they finally collapsed unconscious.
Smack smack smack smack smack—!
Thud thud thud—!
The sound of thousands of Origins being slapped, their heads snapping back and forth, filled the air. Then a voice dripping with irritation rang out from the Grey Absolute.
“Kek—! Huk—! Ack—!”
Pow—! Boom—!
The sight of him slapping the cheeks of noble Creator Gods—male and female alike—until they lost consciousness, then punching them into piles on the opposite side of the Substitute Gods, was both exhilarating and chillingly insane. Even through the screen, the killing intent and fighting spirit radiating from him were so vivid it made one wonder how he had not gone completely mad with that kind of mentality.
‘Peak of the Sages? Yet all I sense is fighting spirit, madness, and killing intent?’
‘I cannot believe such a being is one of the 10 Mainstays who divide and manage the Absolute Realm on Jinri’s behalf.’
Because he was the Grey Absolute, he was said to oversee the Sage lineage, yet nowhere in his actions could they see wisdom or prudence. It felt exactly like watching a rampaging god of destruction.
The final scene was especially overwhelming.
Realizing he was being filmed from an extreme distance, he raised his right hand directly toward the screen. Then, lifting his middle finger in front of his face, he spoke in a cold voice.
Boooom—!
Smack smack smack smack—!
After that, the screen showed nothing but endless repetition: Substitute Gods being pounded by planet-sized black orbs and sent flying, Creator Gods being personally slapped until their heads whipped back and forth.
They occasionally tried to resist, but the strange spatial authority suppressed them instantly, causing them to receive several times more punishment before they finally began to flee. The sight of dozens of titans larger than planets, tens of thousands of planet-shaped Main Gods, and thousands of Creator Gods running desperately in every direction to escape a single individual was a spectacle that stirred the soul.
To the Creator Gods, who had been entrusted with the Creator’s dominion yet had fallen this far because they lacked strength, such overwhelming power was something they would stake everything to obtain.
‘I wanted to become like that. But there was a limit to what a spiritual being could achieve.’
The beings beyond the screen could not even flee as they wished. Their attempts only fueled the Grey Absolute’s rage, earning them even harsher punishment.
The instant they turned their backs, they were forcibly dragged before the Grey Absolute, trampled, and had their limbs torn apart as punishment. The screen was now filled with blood and flying severed limbs. Piles of what appeared to be processed Substitute Gods and Creator Gods stacked higher on both sides as the cleanup continued.
These were clearly powerhouses the viewers could never hope to face, yet watching them collapse so miserably without being able to do anything sent shivers down their spines while also filling them with strange emotion.
‘A vast power that overwhelms every existing force!’
‘That is precisely what we need most desperately in the current tragic state of the present world.’
Moreover, the sight of him openly cursing the Golden Absolute—who stood at rank 1 of the 10 Mainstays, the strongest and most powerful existence after Jinri—felt strangely refreshing.
As the horrific scene repeated and the war was swiftly brought under control, a single voice unconsciously slipped from the mouths of the watching Creator Gods.
“So that is the Mad Grey!”
“Truly the power of the 10 Mainstays.”
“If that is his current self, just how strong must he be? Surely he doesn’t share the same disposition?”
“He possesses fighting spirit filled only with madness and killing intent, yet retains reason beyond that? Is that why it is called the Unresting Rampage?”
The conclusion came immediately.
“Dangerous.”
“Extremely dangerous.”
“True to Jinri’s nature—I cannot tell whether this is help or disaster.”
They acknowledged the power, but it was difficult to accept that such an unstable existence was one of the 10 Mainstays ruling the Absolute Realm. Most of the additional information regarding the Dimension Genesis God Core Koa, who would be dispatched as the Truth Deputy, was equally incomprehensible.
The Creator Gods rapidly shared information and judgments through their collective will.
‘The Dimension Genesis God Core Koa who will be dispatched as this Truth Deputy is clearly the current self of the Grey Absolute.’
‘His original name was sealed by himself to reduce the negative influence of karma, and he is only referred to by his title. To discard even one’s own unique name when necessary shows tremendous resolve.’
‘He is commonly called the Dimensional Mage God. His current position is Lord God of the 499th Main Universe and Main God of the Dimensional Divine Realm—a powerful battle god.’
According to Jinri’s notification, his official divinity was the Unresting Rampage. Both anticipation and anxiety rose to critical levels.
However, with even the Creator having abandoned management, there was nowhere left for them to retreat. All eyes turned toward the empty seat of Jinri at the highest position—the seat of the Supreme Committee’s chairman, positioned almost at the same height as the Creator himself.
The Creator Gods who understood the meaning behind that empty seat gritted their teeth and lowered their heads.
“…….”
At first, Jinri’s seat had been at the very edge of the Supreme Committee. They could not respect the Creator of the Void Realm, who—despite being the Creator of the Absolute Realm and overwhelmingly powerful—had scorched the present world merely to catch a few fugitives and eventually sacrificed even their territory.
Yet as the situation in the present world worsened through rebellion and self-destruction, Jinri’s seat had gradually moved from the outskirts toward the center. It had long since come to rest beside the Creator’s own.
‘It was a measure taken to request help from Jinri, but he showed absolutely no interest.’
Every time they looked at that unfilled seat of Jinri, now at the highest position, their hearts grew heavy.
‘Even after yielding the seat of supreme ruler, Jinri’s empty position perfectly represents the current state of the present world.’
‘To Jinri, it means the present world holds neither value to rule nor meaning to exist.’
‘It would be better if we were met with contempt; instead we are treated as nothing more than a passing stepping stone.’
Furthermore, the Main Gods dispatched as the chief guardians of the barrier surrounding the Wind Family Main House—built to prevent occasional fugitives from the Void Realm—had been branded as weaklings and casually annihilated like a joke, leaving them even more bewildered.
With Jinri acting so unpredictably, the sudden dispatch of a Truth Deputy was, according to all available data, truly unsettling. Before the current self of that mighty being—more often called the Mad Grey than his formal title of Grey Absolute—arrived as the Truth Deputy, the Creator Gods of the Supreme Committee racked their brains to minimize any possible side effects.
Uwaaaaaah—! Waaaaaaaah—!
Yet the continuous clashes between the protesting lower gods and the security forces blocking them kept irritating their nerves and obstructing any conclusion.
Just as irritation was about to boil over, the main doors of the Supreme Committee’s conference hall burst open with a crash, and the committee’s Main Gods poured inside. The increased noise from outside where the protesters were told them everything.
‘So the protest defense line has finally collapsed. They can’t even properly control a demonstration of mere lower gods despite being Main Gods? Is that why they’re seeking our help?’
‘In moments like this, I can truly understand Jinri’s feelings. These utterly useless—!’
As expected, no improvement could be hoped for in the current state.
Having roughly guessed the situation, the Creator Gods were about to unleash their anger at the Main Gods’ rudeness and incompetence when a voice like thunder struck their ears.
“There is a rebellion in the Military Department—!”
“!!?”
“!!!”
With the current situation already in chaos, a military rebellion would leave them with no future at all.
Yet the protesters’ shouts had vanished. Only a laughter and voice infused with divine power strong enough to shake all of Seourina remained.
It was exactly the same laughter and voice as the 2nd Grey Absolute of the Absolute Realm, the one who had been fighting while radiating only madness, fighting spirit, and killing intent while mocking his opponents from beyond the screen.