Jin and Plutonians gathered in front of the chaos that turned into a door. Vahn showed her anger, but Chaos showed no reaction as if it had really become an inanimate object.
"It looked like brother Jin seemed to win... Did he run away?"
"To call it an escape feels wrong; it's more like chaos itself has become the door. Quite a peculiar fellow. It might be the first chaos for all we know."
This time, even Jin hesitated to enter.
'His thoughts are blocked. It's not that he's not talking, it is completely cut off as soon as he turns into a door.'
The last thing he felt inside the chaos was the fact that this door was his trump card.
"Brethren, I have just been able to read the thoughts of chaos. That's why I was able to deal with his attacks with ease."
When Jin explained the situation, a sigh flowed from the Plutonians.
"I thought it would be easily solved thanks to the Battle God Fusion, but it seems we've encountered another challenge."
"Still, since Brother Jin regained his strength much faster than I thought, there must be a way. The battle god fusion has not yet been lifted."
The battle god fusion didn't end even after chaos turned into a door.
Unlike the other brethren, however, Jin and Vahn rather thought it was a problem. It was because Jin did not know when he would lose consciousness, and Vahn continued to forcefully transfer her energy to Jin.
"Brethren, it seems like it's time to think about it, so let's go to another place first and talk about it."
Jin and the Plutonians left two ordinary warriors as guards and left the training ground.
'She is not showing it, but sister Vahn seems a little tired....'
Battle God Vahn, originally her energy was practically infinite.
However, as she expressed herself, she is long past her prime. She lost some of her strength even at the moment when the Plutonians were on the verge of extinction 5000 years ago, and she weakened even after passing her true energy to Jin several times.
Therefore, for current Vahn, the battle god fusion was a kind of forced amplification, and it was a somewhat tiring act.
She could not control the energy as desired, and the efficiency of Jin's acceptance of the power was not good.
Other Plutonians couldn't even imagine that Vahn could get tired just from 'transferring' her power.
Naturally, the eyes of all the Plutonians focused on Boras.
"Brother 5th battle king, can you guess anything this time?"
"Yes, brother 5th battle king is genius. You must have thought of something, right?"
Boras laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.
"Well, I don't have a clear idea either. The Battle God Fusion, brother Jin reading Chaos's thoughts, Chaos turning into that door... It's all unprecedented. Let's observe for a few days and collectively think about what to do."
* * *
It's been a week since chaos transformed into a door.
Meanwhile, Jin spent his days training or participating in various experiments with his brethren to understand how the door worked. However, he only discovered two definite things.
Firstly, only Jin could enter the door of Chaos. Any attempt by someone else was met with strong resistance.
Secondly, even through the Shadow Sword, he couldn't force the door open. Any attempt to attack caused the door to briefly blur like water before quickly regaining its original form.
Most of the power Jin had lost was still bound to Chaos. It wasn't visible to Jin's eyes, unlike when Chaos took the form of a dragon, but he could sense it.
He refrained from attempting to attack Chaos with the combined lightning energy of the Plutonians, fearing it might harm his strength attached to Chaos.
The phoenix Tess, which had always been a solution in such moments, couldn't be summoned. After all, Laprarosa was a dead world.
"In the end, Brother Jin has no choice but to go through the door."
"It seems so, sister battle god. After all, the last thought conveyed to me by him was that I could no longer receive help from my brethren."
Stepping into the unknown trap is not difficult if you strengthen your resolve.
The problem was that after entering the door, if an unbearable event occurred for Jin, there was a high likelihood that his brethren wouldn't be able to help him.
In any case, the Plutonians decided to gather in front of the door and wait. Jin, much like when embarking on a journey, had a backpack filled with provisions.
"Ah, is it really okay to send Brother Jin like this?"
"Brother Jin, it might be hard to accept... but even if you lose some strength, how about traveling with the other brethren?"
"I cannot do that, brethren."
"Ah, I said something stupid. I didn't mean to blurt out something without considering your feelings."
"Why explain all that? I understand. Don't worry too much; maybe things will work out better inside the door than expected. I'll be back."
"Good luck, brother."
"Even when you step inside, I hope that sister battle god's power continues to be with you...…."
The Plutonians felt like sending a child into the sea alone. Jin waved to them as if to reassure them, but he, too, felt uneasy.
Whoosh-!
As soon as he took a step beyond the door, the scenery suddenly changed.
'I expected it to some extent, but it's similar to when I entered Glyek's subspace.'
The surroundings were filled with grotesque darkness, and only Jin's outline was distinct. Now, such subspaces were not particularly new to Jin.
Do I just move forward blindly…
The moment Jin thought that far, he heard a low, gloomy breathing sound from somewhere.
[You come....]
It was within the first ten seconds of Jin entering the subspace.
Jin, who was trying to find the direction of the voice, instinctively looked up and was immediately stunned.
'Crazy!'
It was because he met eyes with Chaos.
Even when Chaos was in the training ground, it was already huge, but now it was different. One eye alone was large enough to overwhelm Jin.
For an instant, every fiber of Jin's being tensed up, but he quickly swung the Bradamante, slashing the enormous eye of Chaos that seemed about to engulf him.
Crack-!
It felt like being struck by an ancient everlasting steel, but the one who received the impact was Jin himself.
With just that one blow, he could clearly discern one fact: at this moment, he had no chance of defeating Chaos.
'Even the battle god fusion has not been cut off, but there are not even scars left...…!?'
Jin can't be sure even before he loses his power. The best course of action was to retreat. Far from things working out better than expected, the situation was even more dire than when Jin first extracted Chaos.
[Battle god fusion, that's what you call it, right? That monster's power resonates with the remnants of me left in you, so I had quite a hard time.]
It was an even more despair-inducing turn of events. In the training ground, Jin unilaterally read Chaos's thoughts, but here, it was the opposite. Chaos was peering deeply into Jin's innermost thoughts.
He turned around hastily, but there was no sign of the door. It was absurd to think he hadn't even taken five steps beyond the door.
'This is the worst. Even after considering all the scenarios with my brethren, there's nothing worse than this.'
Bang-!
Jin felt dizzy at the blow that seemed to make his body disappear. It was the result of the enormous foreleg of Chaos sweeping him aside.
[Last time, you didn't get to taste my powerful foreleg swing! Bang, bam.]
The bones and organs of his whole body were shaken with that one blow, and blood burst from every hole in his face. If Jin hadn't been protected by his shadow force armor, he would have died instantly.
There was no surge of anger, no pain.
It was simply bewildering.
'This kind of deception doesn't even exist in scams.'
[Exactly! I felt the same way. It was great when I was the one getting beaten up by that monster, right? How does it feel when it happens to you?]
"I don't think I want to hear that from someone who stole all my strength."
Jin said calmly, but inwardly, he rolled his head as if going insane.
[Are you thinking about why the door disappeared and how to get out?]
Once again, a powerful swing of the foreleg, the area was too vast to avoid. Even if it were smaller, the speed was not one that could be avoided.
The bounced Jin barely held his consciousness.
Jin never thought he would feel this sense of helplessness as he regained nearly 30% of his strength and even Battle God Fusion!
There was no door. If so, he should make it. Fortunately, Jin had experienced something similar in the past a few times.
Whoa-!
Shadow force wrapped around Bradamante.
[Here, that power doesn't pose much of a threat to me either.]
"Is that so?"
Jin swung Bradamante not at Chaos, but into the empty space ahead by a step.
Like a lie, the space was torn apart and a way out was formed. Through the gap, he could see Laprarosa's training ground and even his brethren waiting.
'Didn't you read that I used the shadow sword to escape from a subspace like this?'
Did he not read it, or did he intentionally leave an opening even though he knew it? It wasn't something to worry about right now. After escaping, he could think about the aftermath.
Jin, who suddenly threw himself into the crack made by the shadow sword, was burning with more intense fighting spirit than ever, apart from his urgency.
'I'll become stronger and put an end to you, for sure.'
Swoosh-!
Right before Jin could escape the crack, hundreds of black awls suddenly formed in the air and pierced him like arrows. Chaos had created these awls in the brief opening, wildly attacking Jin, but they couldn't penetrate the shadow force armor.
"Ugh, ah!"
"B-Brother Jin!?"
"You are back already, no! Brother Jin, you are bleeding!"
"Brother Boras! Hurry up and treat brother Jin...…!"
Thud!
As Jin collapsed to the floor of the training ground, the Plutonians rushed over, shouting.
Jin could barely hear their voices.
Instead, Jin stared at the opening where he escaped as he lay face down until he was about to lose consciousness.
With a fanatical gaze promising retaliation, no matter what.
'I will kill you... no matter what it takes.'
And Chaos, unlike its previous demeanor, stared at Jin beyond the crack with a stern expression. As the crack closed rapidly when Jin escaped, it gazed into the now empty space and Chaos muttered to itself.
[Heh, come again. You stupid bastard!]
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