The Unseen Mark on the Beast Hide
A dull thud echoed from the single entrance of the fortress.
The massive gate, woven from colossal trees, creaked open with a heavy groan. White mist that had blanketed the entire stronghold began to drift away slowly.
Sybel’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight.
“So even the mist carries the power of an array?”
“You experienced it yourself and still act like this?”
“Are you joking?”
“That alone wouldn’t do it.”
The Endless Void Mirage Array at the very limit of the formation.
The Soul-Turning Mirage Array that would drive even the soul to wander aimlessly.
The Heaven-Earth Boundless Seven Stars Array that severed all senses and shattered the boundary between reality and illusion.
The Annihilation Soul Heaven Array capable of wiping out intruders who slipped into the fortress.
And countless other arrays were laid out across the entire stronghold.
“Strange. From the looks of it, arrays were set up outside, but why did I get caught? Did I return to my true body and trigger it? Or can arrays really control things down to that level?”
“Whatever. Think whatever you like.”
“You said you’d tell me about arrays!”
“I still haven’t received anything from you.”
“…Annoying little bugger.”
Sybel shot him a fed-up look and Jin Chen simply shrugged his shoulders.
He didn’t really have anything to say.
While returning to his true body, his body had ballooned to an unimaginable size, and the top of his head had brushed against the array’s domain that covered the entire fortress.
That was why he had gotten trapped inside the Mirage Array and started stabbing at empty air. Just like them.
In front of the gate where the mist had completely cleared.
Creatures were still letting out horrifying shrieks as they attacked the empty air.
Kuaaaaah! Mooaaah!
Three Twin-Headed Ogres, ranked among the top-tier monsters alongside Wyverns, along with Ogres and Trolls classified as high-tier monsters, and a Minotaur, totaling twenty of them.
And over thirty humans that looked like Jiangshi.
Krrrlrll!
The conscious humans and monsters quickly scanned their surroundings, then spotted Jin Chen and Sybel standing before the gate.
The largest man among them roared and launched himself forward at full speed.
“I’ll kill you all!”
Kwaaaaang!
The man shot forward in a straight line with a tremendous boom.
The monsters and Jiangshi followed right behind him.
Jin Chen narrowed his brows and stomped forward.
Peooooooow!
The man was sent flying backward faster than the speed at which he had charged.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Peow!
He kept flying for a long time even after colliding with the chasing Jiangshi before crashing onto the ground.
Jin Chen looked down at the man lying on the floor and spoke.
“Look at that? He’s not someone I knew.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? ‘Not someone I knew’?”
“The one who got beaten like a dog by me. And… that body wasn’t like those Jiangshi either.”
Before he could finish speaking, the man lying on the ground suddenly sprang up.
“Krrrl, Jin Chen! Jin-cheor-eo-eo-eo-on!”
A man spitting out vicious killing intent while growling like a monster.
A dark aura rose around him like steam.
“You look at me like you’re going to kill me. I guess that guy was the one who hit you… What the hell are you, exactly?”
“Kuaaaaaah! I’ll repay the humiliation and pain you inflicted on me—hundreds, thousands of times over!”
The man launched himself forward again and Jin Chen’s eyes turned cold.
“He really did get hit, it seems……”
Jin Chen slowly lowered the axe hanging on his shoulder.
“I should make you remember the old days.”
“Kuaaaaaah! Die! Jin-cheor-eo-eo-eo-on!”
Kwaaaaang!
Before the man could stomp the ground, the Jiangshi and monsters that had been sent flying in all directions rushed straight at Jin Chen.
Sybel’s expression hardened as he prepared to cast a spell.
At that moment, Jin Chen’s low voice thundered through the space.
“Watch closely. This is the realm my Master reached.”
Jin Chen raised the axe high into the sky as he spoke.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuh!
Dozens of True Energy beams materialized above his head.
Blue light resembling the sky itself began to swirl slowly.
Sybel stared at the sight in a daze.
True Energy beams forming beautiful curves inside a massive circle, rotating.
Slow yet calm.
Even though it was a pattern he had never seen before, Sybel was completely captivated.
Slowness and speed, lightness and weight, subtlety and profundity.
A pattern that seemed to contain all the truths of the world suddenly began to take on two colors.
Pure white like snow and dark black like the abyss.
“Whoa……”
The pattern grew even more mysterious and Sybel couldn’t stop himself from admiring it.
“Kuaaaaaah! Die! Jin-cheor-eo-eo-eo-on!”
The man right in front of him reached out toward Jin Chen’s heart.
His hand was covered with dark magic condensed like a blade.
Jin Chen curled one corner of his lips.
“Why would I let you?”
Before the words could finish, the mysterious patterns created by the True Energy rained down exactly as they were.
And covered Jin Chen, Sybel, and the monsters alike.
“Whoa!”
Sybel cast the Absolute Shield of the Nine Circles in shock.
He had thought that only absolute defense could block something that felt as powerful as the pattern.
But the pattern was faster than he imagined.
Even the blessing he had received at birth hadn’t helped.
Normally he would have been able to cast it simply by reciting the words, but he couldn’t.
Srrrrk.
It was clearly slow, but the moment he noticed it, the pattern had already passed through his body.
Yet his body showed no signs of damage.
Only a lingering feeling that the natural world itself had swept through him remained.
What about the Jiangshi? What happened to them?
Sybel quickly regained his senses and looked around.
Pusssssss.
The Jiangshi and monsters had turned into dust and scattered.
They had vanished just like they were when they charged with screams as if time had stopped.
Sybel shifted his gaze to Jin Chen’s front.
Surprisingly, the man was still intact.
Except for hovering in the air like the other Jiangshi.
He could even distinguish allies from enemies with such subtlety. In that regard, he was even superior to magic.
It was the moment Jin Chen realized that martial arts wasn’t lacking in comparison to magic at all.
Jin Chen looked at the dark magic that had stopped in front of his chest and spoke.
“Now I get it. What the hell happened.”
“Grit, Jin-cheor-eo-eo-eo-on!”
“You’re controlling that guy, aren’t you?”
“This is just the beginning! I’ll definitely kill you soon! Definitely!”
Jiieeeeeeeng!
Dark magic rose around the man like steam as he let out an eerie sound.
At the same time, the man’s body began to swell rapidly and Jin Chen brought down the axe.
Bzzzt!
The axe struck with lightning-fast speed, slicing through the man’s body.
The man’s body, which looked like it was about to explode, split in two and collapsed to the ground.
Pusssssss.
The split body released dark smoke as it touched the ground and melted away instantly.
Jin Chen clicked his tongue briefly while watching.
“Dying in front of someone else’s house. Tsk.”
“Hmph, even so, it’s a pity. If we had captured him, we could have learned a lot.”
“It wouldn’t have been useful even if we captured him? Because he really wasn’t that guy.”
“I saw it too. I think he used a soul-controlling magic from among the dark magic arts.”
“That much I figured. He was even more arrogant than before.”
“I didn’t fight him, I just got talked down to.”
That wasn’t something he could get angry about now. He had already accepted that he was just a human like that.
“Still, it was a pretty good harvest. I confirmed who the opponent was and that he could even command monsters.”
“What? Is that all you learned?”
“Are you saying there’s something else besides this?”
“Looks like I’m feeding you information left and right.”
Sybel coughed awkwardly and avoided Jin Chen’s gaze.
To be honest, he had been so mesmerized by the mysterious pattern that he hadn’t even noticed the other things.
“Cough. I was distracted for a moment with other thoughts.”
“You looked pretty surprised. You should just admit it now.”
“Admit what?”
“The stance I just used. It was one of the stances my Master created in his later years. And I used it at exactly that level.”
“Y-you could use it even stronger than now?”
“Want to see? If I put everything into it, what results will it create?”
Sybel shook his head.
“No, I’ll admit it. Your Master’s greatness.”
“The word ‘admit’ is a little annoying, but I’ll let it go for now.”
“Am I supposed to say thank you?”
“Hearing you say that makes me want to listen. How about it, shall I show you again?”
Sybel shook his head roughly once more.
“I decline.”
“It was a joke, just a joke.”
“Only a dragon could tell you that kind of joke.”
“You’ve only been dealing with weaklings so far.”
“Kk, unlucky guy.”
“It’s personality and character, kid.”
Sybel let out a small laugh.
That was right. No, it had to be.
If he didn’t sort them by personality, he wouldn’t be able to be together with such a wild human.
“By the way, what was that pattern just now?”
“Surprising. I thought you’d ask about the others first.”
“That pattern won’t leave my mind.”
“Well, that makes sense. It contains a lot.”
Jin Chen placed the axe back on his shoulder and continued.
“It’s the Taiji. The harmony of yin and yang. It contains the truths of the world.”
“The truths of the world.”
“When you learn arrays later, you’ll understand more in detail.”
“I’ll have to use what you mentioned tomorrow.”
“You need something to go with what you’re taking.”
“I’ll make it right away, so get ready.”
Jin Chen smiled faintly at Sybel’s firm words.
“Roughly done, I get it?”
“I’m a dragon. I always keep my promises.”
“Good. Then we’ll do that. Shall we trade something else?”
“Trade something else? What do you mean?”
“Over there.”
Jin Chen pointed inside the dense bushes.
Something was stuck between the large trees, unmoving.
“You said there was a monster with two heads?”
“Twin-Headed Ogres, right?”
“Name’s fine. I left one of them behind anyway.”
“Want to trade it?”
“Why? You don’t want it?”
Sybel stretched his shoulders like he had caught something and spoke for the first time in a while.
“You don’t know much about dark sorcerers. I’ll tell you. Dark sorcerers who reach a certain realm can capture monsters and command them like pets. Of course the strength of the monster affects the required realm, but just knowing that there’s someone who can command even creatures like these is enough for me to gather information.”
“Really? Then I’ll just get rid of it.”
“To trade, you need something worthy of it. The monsters are at the wrong level.”
“I thought you were saying Jiangshi Jiangshi because you thought we needed monster Jiangshi, so I left one behind.”
“M-monster Jiangshi?”
“Yeah. But since you don’t seem interested, let’s just erase it.”
Jin Chen reached out toward the Twin-Headed Ogres Jiangshi and Sybel quickly grabbed his arm.
“Wait, say what you want! I’ll do everything!”
“For real?”
“Just the dragon heart, nothing else!”
“I knew that. Now put this one down too.”
“Good. Then I can take it?”
“The trade is complete, of course.”
Before the words finished, Sybel dashed forward and carried the unconscious Twin-Headed Ogres inside the fortress.
Jin Chen smirked and slowly looked down at his chest.
There was a hole burned into the chest area of the beast-hide outfit he was wearing.
“Guri… This guy. He seems a bit different from before?”
He was the one who had never even brushed his collar before crossing over to this world.
Yet now he had created a hole in the clothes.
Of course he had used martial arts at the level of his past Masters to show Sybel, but the guy was also one who had been controlling rather than his true body.
But making a hole like this……
It definitely meant he was different from before.
Jin Chen turned his body slowly with cold eyes.
“By the way, what was the guy’s name? I’m sure I heard it.”
His presence was still as small as the hole in the clothes.