Apotheosis

The wounds on the Separate Abyss warrior's body had stopped bleeding. But there were still black snakes the length of a forefinger slithering on the wounds—these little creatures were supposedly transformed by energy.

When he heard Zen's footsteps approaching, his eyes widened like that of a frightened bird.

When Zen's image grew clearer, a look of horror filled the warrior's eyes—his body unconsciously curled up in defense.

The Separate Abyss race was a powerful force—a near-perfect race indeed. They had the Abyss Spirit race to protect them on the Other Shore, after all. Their power assured them of the potential to eventually become a ruling civilization among the many superpowers.

They looked down upon the other races with great pride and arrogance.

But the moment the warrior spotted Zen, fear wiped away any hint of arrogance on his face—he trembled in fear like prey that had spotted its hunter.

"What happened here?" Zen asked, examining the area.

While the warrior was sure Zen had come to take his life, the latter's question made him realize that Zen held no animosity towards him. For a moment, he paused and looked at Zen strangely before saying, "That guy… The one who calls himself the Evil God… when he entered this place, he began slaughtering everyone in his path!"

Indeed, such was the work of the Evil God.

Zen's guess was proven, then.

It was known that many races killed each other off in the Chaotic Source World.

But with everyone scattered, most warriors were vigilant in meeting strange opponents. So long as the two races didn't carry deep grudges, they were even willing to cooperate.

The cave was far larger than the one Chaim and the others had first discovered. More creatures of different races were also there to explore.

It was impossible for an ordinary warrior to slaughter so many people at a time.

"The Evil God may be powerful, but he couldn't have killed so many people at once. Couldn't you have just run away?" Zen asked.

Even with the hurricane blowing, the warriors there should have been able to flee.

Getting blown away by the hurricane was preferable to getting slaughtered by the Evil God, anyway.

But the fear grew on the warrior's face upon hearing Zen's question. "His…his Other Shore Token is strange… It's an entire world! He controlled the world, and we had no chance of escaping. If it wasn't for my Other Shore Token—the

yone had absolute control over their inner world and Zen was no exception.

"Of course, I was aware of it. He even plotted to kill me," Zen said with a playful smile.

The casual statement made Sally's and Chaim's eyes widen in astonishment. The Evil God was bold indeed—they found themselves lucky to not have such a creature in their inner worlds.

"But he did help me stabilize my inner world quite a bit. He actually helped me a lot," Zen admitted. "I merely fulfilled my promise and released him."

From the start, Zen hadn't expected the Evil God's nature to remain the same. Worse, he became more reckless after leaving his inner world. It was all fate's doing, Zen believed.

Chaim asked no further.

He found it strange how powerful the Evil God was—it probably had something to do with Zen's inner world.

But if he continued asking, he was afraid to accidentally touch upon some of Zen's secrets that would make the latter uncomfortable.

Once they left the cave, the three continued travelling toward the core area. After they moved forward for a while, they dug a hole to use as a shelter and waited for the hurricane to pass.

When it passed, they continued with their journey.

But when they stepped out of the hole, Sally and Zen felt something simultaneously and exchanged glances.

The two happened to perceive that Elvinia and Hutton were five hundred miles south of them, running fast.

Even when the hurricane stopped, they were moving at such a high speed. Either they were chasing someone or were being chased—Zen and Sally were both inclined to believe it was the latter.