Dong Bong-su's gaze did not shift anywhere else. Not to the gray dust scattered at his feet, nor to the users flickering and cooling down on top of it.
The sole reason he had dropped into this place, the reason he had returned, was that single creature before him.
Looking at the Kirin, the corner of Dong Bong-su's mouth hooked upward, a rare expression for him.
He didn't know the precise mechanics behind it, but he had deduced that the 'dimensional incursion error between worlds' was occurring because of that beast.
An engineer studies and utilizes physics, but has no need to understand its ultimate origin.
A hunter knows a gun well and uses it, but has no need to understand its core principles.
Dong Bong-su was an exceptional engineer, a hunter, and a predator.
The origin and principles of the prey?
No need to know.
It was enough to bear in mind the simple fact that the target had become clear.
"...."
He had just come back from seeing beyond the wall with his own eyes.
Countless rifts were torn open over there, and entirely new hunting grounds unfolded within each split gap.
That beast tears away pieces of those places corner by corner and overlays them onto this Crimson Arena.
It was undoubtedly the key. It was clear that this was a dimensional rift caused by some error, but it didn't matter anyway.
Wasn't it the same when he first arrived in the martial world? He hadn't known the reason then, and he still didn't now.
It didn't matter.
The smile that had hung on his lips subsided.
Now, he just needed to claim this key that he would use for a long time to come.
[R🞪alm 🞪n🞪ursion — K🞪r🞪n's D🞪m🞪in]
A single line of distorted text floated at the edge of his awareness before crumbling away.
Tring-.
There it was.
The Kirin, which had been staring at Dong Bong-su for a long time, unleashed that phase from back then—a skill that had now become a divine authority.
The ground across various spots of the Crimson Arena thinned out, and an unfamiliar land surfaced beneath it.
Suddenly, rain—a torrential downpour—poured into this GOR world, and as the rain captured the light, the boundaries of the world began to fade.
Every single drop harbored five distinct colors, halting mid-air.
Concentric circles rippled outward with the Kirin at the center.
The color bled all the way to where Dong Bong-su stood. It was swapping the very 'board' it could open on top of this arena.
"Are you scared already?"
Dong Bong-su quietly looked down at the concentric circles staining the tips of his feet.
A tile fragment pulled from somewhere. It was a fragment of a world that felt remarkably familiar.
The Murim. Specifically, the second murim, the martial world.
"I see it's only one location for now."
Well, it didn't matter.
He could simply investigate the rest gradually while leveling it up.
For Dong Bong-su, who had stepped into a world where everything had already become possible, absolutely nothing could act as an obstacle.
Woo-wooh-wooh-woong.
The concentric circles did not stop at his feet.
Using the stained areas as a starting point, they rippled past the boundaries of the Crimson Arena.
Unfamiliar soil seeped up over the things that were cooling into gray dust. Crumbled walls descended upon the game ruins, hardening in a semi-warped state. On top of the surging ground, another floor was layered, flipping the inside out.
Whatever supported this world could not endure that entanglement.
[G▒ds of R▒a▒ms — ▒▒▒c ▒rror]
Distorted text crackled at the edge of his awareness before smashing apart. Wherever the coordinates were disrupted, the same sign spread.
The warping didn't stop at the arena; it leaked and expanded past it, into this entire crimson world.
Two worlds were temporarily overlapping in a single place, and the mere framework of GOR's physics engine and frame rate could not handle it.
That was enough for Dong Bong-su. Because this collapse was the very path to return over there.
Pffrrr, phruk-phruk.
Amidst this, the Kirin lowered its head. Its one-kil horn lined up and locked onto Dong Bong-su.
TL: One-kil Horn =Six-foot Horn
And right around the time the boundaries became so blurred that one couldn't tell if this was here or there.
Kwhang!
The colossal creature kicked off the ground. Crimson soil fractured and collapsed wherever its hooves stamped. The powder that had been laid down surged into the air from the vibration before settling back.
The five-colored rain surrounding it accelerated in unison along the beast's charge, sucked straight into the tip of its horn. Five types of power condensed into a single bundle.
A whirlwind forged by drawing five lights from the scales across its entire body—its tip condensed right in front of Dong Bong-su.
Dong Bong-su did not draw his sword.
Kwdududu—!
Even as the five-colored energy drove in, he stood perfectly still. Without retreating a single step.
The five colors clashed at a single point. The place they struck was, of course, Dong Bong-su's chest.
Crimson soil gouged out in all directions. Rain bounced and scattered everywhere. The gray dust rose once more, pushed far outside the epicenter.
In the dead center of it all, Dong Bong-su stood.
Even though the five colors had ground against his chest, not a single thread of his clothing was singed. Before the five types of power could even reach his skin, the bundle warped right at the point of contact.
The condensed bundle lost its destination and unraveled in all directions. Fire light scattered with fire light, water light with water light, completely losing their path.
The Super True Energy Field.
A mere span in front of Dong Bong-su's face.
Having already perfectly mastered the physics engine of this GOR world, a defensive wall twice as powerful as before had been erected. Even though it was far more compressed than during his time at the Superwind Cliff (Cho-pung-a), the five types of power unraveled and scattered the moment they touched that wall.
The Kirin's five-colored energy failed to reach Dong Bong-su or inflict any damage—not a single ray of light, not a single scale.
"....."
The Kirin faltered.
The beast, which had transformed from a virtual existence into reality, stared once more at the man who had also transformed from virtual to reality—Dong Bong-su.
Soon.
Its scales bristled all at once.
Ososo-.
It was as if it was saying, 'Yes, it has to be at least this much.'
The Kirin held its head high again.
This time, it was the mane. Its white mane stood rigid simultaneously.
Each and every strand harbored energy, becoming tens of thousands of swords, sabers, and spears. That bundle spread open like a folding fan, blanketed from the front to overwhelm the man.
It was the same mane he had seen at the Superwind Cliff. The kind that had no end if cut strand by strand. On that day, he had coated two swords in Absolute Black Blood Sword Energy to block it head-on.
Now, there wasn't even a need to block it.
As the bundle of mane rushed toward his front, Dong Bong-su deployed his Omni-Devouring Qi once more from the tips of his feet. Moving from isolation to pulverization. The mane, which had sharpened into blades by harboring energy, vibrated against an invisible tremor, causing it to vomit out its own energy.
Ppajijijik—!
The tens of thousands of strands that had harbored energy crumbled down in a heap. The mane that had sharpened its edges lost its energy right before the man's nose, turning back into white fur and raining down onto the ground.
It couldn't advance even a single step inside.
Kuuuooooo...
The Kirin let out a low cry for the first time. Its five-colored eyes scanned the ground where its mane had all withered at once.
This creature had no way of knowing what he had done or how it had happened. It could only perceive that its own divine authority had unraveled and scattered on its own right before the man's nose.
For the first time, a different light mirrored in the beast's eyes.
Fluster. Or something close to it.
'Try more.'
There was no emotion in Dong Bong-su's eyes.
Urgently, the Kirin caused a pillar of light to surge from the horn on its crest. The raindrops above the arena transformed into energy all at once, pouring down diagonally. It was a rain of sword energy. Simultaneously, its five-colored scales drew the five lights up to its horn, forming another bundle of whirlwind.
The rain, the whirlwind, and even the mane. It unleashed all three at once, pouring them into a single man.
Swaaaaek-.
Back at the Superwind Cliff, they had come one by one. This time, all three came together in a single breath.
Still, it made no difference.
Dong Bong-su stood right in the center, refusing to withdraw the Omni-Devouring Qi from the tips of his feet. He merely raised and lowered a single palm lightly.
The pouring rain pulverized right in front of him. The bundle of mane vomited its energy before making contact. The whirlwind unraveled the knot that bound it into a single bundle, scattering it back into five colors.
Even when the three arrived simultaneously, the threshold they managed to reach was uniformly a span in front of him. That distance was a line that no divine authority was permitted to cross.
Kwhakwhakwha-ppajijik-saaaa-.
The three skills collapsed with completely different sounds.
Not a single ray of light, not a single scale, not a single strand of fur could reach the man.
When the epicenter settled, there was only gray dust, the cooling crowd, and crimson soil left in the Crimson Arena.
Right in the dead center, Dong Bong-su stood in the exact same posture as his initial stance. Without a single fold of his clothes disturbed.
Kuuuwooo...
The Kirin took a step back.
The new creature, reborn as an absolute being possessing a new divine authority due to some error... could do absolutely nothing.
Of course, if it had been the Dong Bong-su of the past, he wouldn't have been able to pull this off to such an extent.
But as always, he had become a new Dong Bong-su through yet another evolution.
It could be called another misfortune that had struck this world—no, this universe.
The Eye of Faith scanned over the beast. A vessel where five colors were mixed. A vessel whose scales, mane, and energy failed to leave even a single scratch on the man.
The important thing was the creature's divine authority. The truth was that it hadn't even properly bloomed yet.
"....."
Dong Bong-su took a step forward.
It was merely a single step. Yet, at that stride, the Kirin retreated two steps. With its six-foot horn pointed toward the man, the colossal frame backpedaled.
Another step.
The Kirin retreated again. Its hoof burst against the crimson soil, losing its footing. The scales that had bristled laid flat one by one.
Neither the pursuer nor the fleer crossed swords even once. The man simply walked. The beast simply retreated. The distance between them narrowed step by step.
Before the stride of a single man, it kept curling its colossal frame smaller.
Lastly, the Kirin gathered all five colors into the horn on its crest. Drawing the light out from all of its scales, it condensed and condensed it into a single bundle. It intended to pour out every single one of its skills and divine authorities entirely.
A final struggle.
The moment the five colors condensed into a single point at the tip of its horn.
Dong Bong-su stood right before it.
Facing the man's eyes, the condensed divine authority lost its way. The single point that had been trembling violently at the tip of the horn failed to launch, shaking right in its place. The beast remained halted, unable to withdraw or fire its divine authority.
"Stop."
The Kirin's five-colored eyes looked up at the man.
An empty gaze, as if saying, 'Stop when I tell you to stop.'
The five colors at the tip of the horn unraveled. The divine authority that failed to launch scattered back into the scales and settled down. The colossal frame folded its knees.
Smoothly, the front legs first, and the hind legs following. The six-foot horn slowly tilted toward the man's feet.
The beast, which was said to be followed by the entire world, bowed its head before a single man.
Dong Bong-su looked down at that head.
He had no interest in legends anyway. Whether the world followed it or not.
Swoosh.
Dong Bong-su raised his hand.
It wasn't a hand meant to grip a sword. Nor was it a hand meant to pull something out from his inventory. It was just an empty palm.
That hand rested upon the crest of the bowing beast.
Beneath the six-foot horn, the very place where the five lights had gathered and unraveled once more.
The man's hand quietly stroked over it.
The Kirin shuddered once.
He stroked it down, and stroked it down again. The scales that had bristled laid flat smoothly one by one following his touch. The eyes where five colors had mixed ferociously subsided under that touch. The trembling of the colossal frame settled.
"Good boy. Good girl. Though I don't know if this is the right way to do it."
As if responding to him, a faint light mirrored over the crest of the beast.
It wasn't holy light, nor was it the five colors of the scales. It was a tender violet radiance. A light of a color he had never seen before permeated and spread along the beast's colossal frame beneath the man's palm. From the horn to the back, and from the back to the four legs.
All sorts of illegible characters floated above that violet radiance.
Hardly anything could be read. Amidst the completely shattered strokes, barely a single fragment of meaning was grasped.
[ ▱▱▱▱'s ▱▱▱▱▱ ]
's.
It was enough.
To realize that doing it this way was correct.
Grin.
"Then let's go together, friend."
It was the Kirin, presenting another smile to Dong Bong-su, who rarely smiled.