Pietro focused on his surroundings.
It was a temporary body made of aura, so there was no sight, hearing, etc., but the aura was like a sensory organ to the underground person.
I hear a sound.
The sound of flowing hot water.
But it was heard all around.
Finally, Pietro realized.
The flowing river was blood.
The monster's blood ran hot through his veins.
Following the flow of blood, Pietro was able to know the identity of what had stained the surroundings black.
It was the body of a gigantic serpent.
It was dark all around because it was all around.
The exact appearance was unknown, but at least the body was clearly in the shape of a snake.
'Was he this big?'
Even Pietro, who led the creation of monsters in the underground civilization, had never seen a monster this big.
The unfinished monster of the temple was no comparison.
-Are you aware of me now?
- It's all around you. will you keep it?
- It can't be.
Pietro's brow twitched.
- What do you mean?
- I enjoy talking to you.
Wow!
Suddenly, a tremendous amount of magical energy began to arise from the king's body.
Every aspect of his body was filled with aura.
- So I have no intention of sending you away.
It seemed that the thing that caused the aura by covering all sides with the body was acting as a seal or barrier developed independently by the king.
'Wonderful.'
Even though I was born a monster, I thought that if I lived for a long time with intellect, I could reach this level.
Compared to Pietro's technique of designing even the microscopic movement of the aura with a magic circle, it was ignorant and outrageous, but the effect seemed certain.
-I know that your bond with your body is weak.
-You think you can capture me with this barrier.
-of course. There are many things I don't know, but I'm confident about this part. Your bond will be broken. And that aura will become your body. And even if you abandon the Aura and return to the Commander, you won't be able to get out of here.
-What is the purpose of this?
-You are funny. Much wiser than that stupid bastard who serves me. i will put you here you have to stay with me
- Then ask again. What is your true purpose? What are you trying to do after coming out of this world?
- I would have said. i'm sick of this place
-Is it painful?
-Yes. here i am alone lonely I wanted to teach others intelligence, but it's not easy to suppress the instinct to be faithful to desire. Let alone intelligence, only his size is getting bigger and bigger!
Pietro wanted to talk more and get more information, but it seemed that if he delayed this longer, he would really lose his bond with his body and be confined here.
- I'll have to go.
-ha ha ha! I won't let you go!
- I have a different opinion.
Pietro got out of the aura.
Pietro, who had returned to his spirit state, wanted to return to the spirit realm.
At that time, the king's barriers squeezed Pietro's soul.
It caught him like a sticky net and wouldn't let go.
Pietro resisted strongly.
- The resistance is unexpectedly strong. It looks like you've prepared something?
-Yes.
- Hehehe, you're smart as well. i want you
- We'll see if that's possible.
He went through the barrier net. The net clung tenaciously to his soul and did not fall off. My strength came out as if I had fallen into a quagmire. The bond is about to break.
'Dangerous.'
I needed someone's help.
Pietro stretched out his hand. As if someone would take that hand and pull it.
And to his surprise, someone grabbed his hand and pulled him.
slippery.
The net is released.
-no!!
cried the king.
Pietro left him a word before leaving.
-If you try to find wisdom only from the outside, it is not only wisdom, but rather a foolishness worse than an ignorant monster.
-what?
- Find wisdom within yourself. If you don't do that, you will only suffer yourself forever, as you always have been.
Pietro left for the spirit realm.
***
Pietro opened his eyes.
On top of the shining magic circle.
In the night sky, countless stars were shining the light of hundreds of millions of years ago. It was a mysterious landscape that I could not help but become addicted to whenever I saw it.
"Hey fuck you."
A familiar human voice came from the side.
It was Seo Moon-yeop.
"If you're awake, tell me you're awake. How long do I have to hold on to this?"
Seo Moon-yeop was still holding Pietro's hand.
It was a very unpleasant experience to have to hold hands with each other for a long time. However, it seemed that there was something important, so I couldn't bear to take it off, so I held back my anger.
And, as Seo Mun-yeop guessed, it had an important meaning.
When they escaped from the king's barrier, the hand of Seo Mun-yeop, who was holding their hand, played a role in strengthening their bond.
There was a reason Seo Mun-yeop had to play that role.
- Since I'm dying, won't you go with me? Is it impossible?
-together? It's not impossible, but...
-I'm going to die anyway, so it's nice to see the land where the light falls, right? ruler!
At that time, Seo Mun-yeop reached out to the high priest who was determined to perish there.
At that time, Pietro had the feeling that Seo Mun-yeop might be the one who was guiding him to the land of light.
Because it meant something to Pietro, he made him hold his hand. So that the meaning can become another bond and hold on to the soul.
"You can let go now."
"phew."
Only then did Seo Moon-yeop let go.
"How much time has passed?"
"day."
"what?"
"It's been almost 24 hours, you bastard!"
Seo Moon-yeop, who had to hold the man's hand for 24 hours, exploded with irritation.
Pietro nodded.
"You came back earlier than expected."
"What?"
"Anyway, it worked."
Then, the queen intervened.
"Have you met the monster of the prophecy?"
"exactly."
Pietro nodded.
He told me everything that happened when he entered the spirit realm.
"Aren't there any smart monsters besides the king?"
"Yes. Wang himself does not appear to have acquired intelligence by natural evolution."
"Then how did you get your intelligence?"
the queen asked.
"It seemed more probable to attribute intelligence to an external factor than to acquire intelligence through natural evolution."
"Could it be that one of the ancestors who lived in the abandoned world deliberately endowed the monster with intelligence?"
Pietro shook his head.
"That won't be. Considering the story, the king was probably born long after the abandoned world had already been abandoned. He would never have met another sentient being until he went to war with Emperor Manin Ling."
"Originally, science and technology also develop because of war. So will he. The experience of gaining a lot of knowledge during the war is so intense that they want to wage another war."
Seo Moon-yeop said.
"well."
Pietro did not readily agree with that.
"Perhaps the king thought he had completely captured me, and at the end he spilled something important."
"What?"
"Not to mention intelligence, only his size is getting bigger and bigger."
"huh?"
Seo Moon-yeop tilted his head.
"This is what the king said about the monsters under his command. He complained that it was not easy to suppress his instincts and that he was getting bigger and bigger."
"But why?"
"We need to think about what intelligence means to him. What he learned while fighting the Maninleung Emperor was the concept of a monarch. He then called himself King. He has no other concept to define himself."
"so?"
"Though he seeks knowledge, the king was never pure. He had a strong selfishness as much as his curiosity. He was also full of malice."
Seo Moon-yeop thought deeply about those words.
"Well, if you were purely trying to satisfy your intellectual needs, wouldn't you have defined yourself with a sage-like title? If he defines himself as a king, then he has a strong lust for power after all."
"That's it. Intelligence to the king is his own power. If so, his attempt to teach intelligence to his men might also mean making them yield to and obey his power."
"There is a point. Because they are ignorant, they follow the king because he is strong, but he won't follow them even while suppressing his own desires."
Originally, a group requires members to suppress their desires to some extent in order to maintain the order of the group.
Maintaining a group is for survival.
It was natural for animals to suppress their own desires for survival.
But what about the abandoned world?
Seo Moon-yeop snapped his fingers.
"I get it!"
Pietro and the Queen looked at him with puzzled faces.
Seo Moon-yeop said confidently.
"The king is threatening his place. To those who don't know how to be loyal to the king, and who only grow in stature. lets think. The abandoned world is already a world of monsters and a world of kings. Will the group survive if there are no threats to its survival? If humans want to live
It causes heat."
"It makes sense. For the other monsters, the king would have become an obstacle to fulfilling their desires. I made a similar guess."
Pietro also judged that the king was associating intelligence with power.
One's own intellect means one's own power, and the intellect of others means the loyalty to obey oneself.
"Unlike a monster, he handles auras well and has excellent skills to deal with even the soul, but not all of your ancestors knew how to do it. But your ancestors were banished from a forsaken world. When the king gained intelligence, the other monsters were evolving in their own way. among them
There may be enemies the king cannot handle."
But so far it's all speculation.
Whenever they had the chance, they decided to go to the spirit realm and spy on it. Of course, that was what Pietro had to do. The queen was worried that it would be burdensome to see the king again, but Pietro didn't care.
"I am not afraid of him anymore. He can see it again. The king will try his best to entice me and capture me, but I am confident that I will not be caught either."
With that, the long day ended.
In the temple, he fought a group of fallen high priests and an unfinished monster. One after another, I met the king in the spirit realm.
It was only two days, but it was nothing short of eventful.
"I will continue to find and rescue my people who are wandering. The king's problem, please."
The Queen bid farewell like that.
As he left the queen's quarters, Pietro suddenly said to Seo Moon-yeop.
"You still have somewhere to go with me."
"also? where are you going again? I'm going home now!"
Seo Moon-yeop, who had fought endlessly, wanted to take a break because he hadn't fully recovered.
However, Pietro had a place to take Seo Mun-yeop.
It was the secret place the ancient high priest I met in the spirit realm had told me about. There, the ancient high priest said that there was a gift for Seo Moon-yeop.
"Eh, I can't. I have a present for you, but you should be sincere."
At the word gift, Seo Moon-yeop's attitude changed.
If it was left by a giant like the high priest of ancient times, he expected it to be a great treasure.
Pietro wrote Space Movement with Seo Mun-yeop.