Layla's temper had shattered completely.
She was screaming at Ji-Hoon, her voice razor-sharp with fury. "You useless dog! Is there anything you can do right?!"
Then Ji-Hoon's body began to change.
Veins swelled violently across his skin, writhing like living things. He looked like a man struck by lightning—jagged, luminous lines spread from his face down his limbs. Blood-filled vessels glowed crimson beneath his flesh, stretching from his eyes and nose to every part of him, as though he might burst at any second.
Layla went still.
"What have you done?" she shouted, panic bleeding into her voice. "Are you insane? Why couldn't you take this slowly? What did you do to yourself?!"
Her emotions spiraled. Rage burned hot, but beneath it sat a cold, heavy fear.
Is this aura backlash within his veins? No… it can't be. It must be aura overflow. That's normal… isn't it?
But even as she thought it, her heart sank. Something darker stirred beneath the surface—a possibility she refused to speak aloud.
Ji-Hoon's face flushed a deep, terrifying red.
Then blood erupted from his mouth. He retched violently, crimson splashing across his chest, painting him in red.
---
From above, the stone battlefield looked like hell.
Countless beasts were fighting—though fight wasn't the right word. It was a slaughter. The weaker creatures had been wiped out in the first moments. Now, only the strong remained, dominating the shattered ground with terrifying force.
Three locations stood out.
In one, a thick fog clung to the earth. Starlight poured from the sky, gathering unnaturally in that single spot as if pulled by an invisible force—though faint glimmers still scattered elsewhere.
In the second, two beasts moved in a blur of speed—an Asura Wolf and a Dark Illusionary Fox. Their duel had cleared the area around them. Corpses littered the ground. Any beast still alive had already fled. Those that hadn't were now little more than pulp. None dared intervene.
In the third, white illusory energy clashed violently against blazing flames. Slowly, the fire began to weaken.
The battle had shattered massive stones, yet a few stood untouched—perfectly intact, without a single crack, as if guarded by some unseen force.
Every surviving creature had retreated far from that place.
---
At the very edge of the battlefield lay what looked like small mountains—enormous boulders scattered across the ground. At the front, two colossal stones, each the size of a hill, pressed so tightly together they seemed to be one.
But if you looked closely, a thin crack ran between them.
From a distance, it seemed harmless. Up close, it revealed a dark, well-like passage—a narrow opening that expanded deep underground. Little light or energy reached the depths below.
Inside that crack…
A man knelt on the ground, hands braced against the earth, vomiting blood.
Mixed with the blood were thin, vein-like strands—smooth, pale, and slippery, each about a quarter the width of a finger. They dissolved almost instantly into the red pool.
They shone with a faint silver-white glow.
Ji-Hoon stared, shocked.
With a trembling hand, he tried to grab one. The moment his fingers touched it, the strand dissolved like mist, vanishing into the blood.
Confusion washed over him.
A realization flashed through his mind—but he pushed it away violently.
Then a voice echoed around him.
"Ji-Hoon… you've made a mistake, you fool. But this time, it isn't entirely your fault. You absorbed the aura of too many beasts. What did you think would happen?"
Ji-Hoon's face darkened completely.
Just moments ago, his body had shimmered under starlight. Now he was half-naked, drenched in blood, broken—his face etched with a deep, internal despair, like a man standing at death's edge.
Finally, he understood.
He vomited blood again, his face twisting in agony. He raised a hand to his mouth and saw it was already covered in red.
Layla rushed forward, trying to support him.
"Ji-Hoon… don't look like that," she said, forcing strength into her tone. "You can still become a Ranker. This is just pain. Just suffering."
But Ji-Hoon stood frozen—a statue—as if he hadn't heard her at all.
Inside his mind, his thoughts sank into black water.
This is it…
Silver-white. Extremely thin. Nearly invisible…
These are human meridians.
Layla had warned him—if aura overflowed at a critical moment, unopened meridians could rupture.
But I never let it reach overload, Ji-Hoon thought desperately. So why…?
Then, the voice echoed in his mind again.
"Ji-Hoon… this may be my fault. I didn't tell you that beast aura must be absorbed in tiny amounts. Their aura is far denser than normal—like living fire. That's what destroyed your meridians."
A pause.
"But don't worry."
"You have done something extraordinary. Not one in millions… not even one in trillions could achieve what you just did."