Chapter 275

Chapter 275

Reconstructing territory into an environment favorable for one’s own activity was called Domainization.

Domainization was a kind of authority.

Not every Grade S monster could use Domainization.

Only an extremely small number among Grade S monsters.

It was an authority that could be unfolded only by monsters born different from the beginning.

An area undergoing Domainization transformed into the most suitable environment for that monster.

In other words, inside the black domain spread across the horizon now, Moby Dick’s power would be maximized.

Zeon did not know what power or Skills Moby Dick possessed, but at the very least, it was certain that its abilities would swell dramatically inside that place.

Zeon muttered with his arms crossed.

“This has become troublesome.”

“What exactly is troublesome?”

“I mean exactly that. In a Domainized place, a monster’s full power is doubled, while we cannot properly use ours.”

“True. Without sand, your fighting power is halved, is it not?”

“Well, to some extent.”

“But I am different. My power is not restricted by the environment.”

Lee Jung-ho revealed his confidence as he gripped the hilt of his sword.

His weapon was only a single sword.

He had never held any other weapon.

Though he was an Awakened, he had walked the path of a martial artist.

He had not relied only on Skills, but had endlessly polished his own ability until reaching his current realm.

He was on a different level from other Awakened, who depended only on Skills or special weapons.

Even in a domain where a monster’s authority was maximized, his skill would not change.

That was why Lee Jung-ho had confidence.

“No matter how strong a monster is, it dies all the same if a sword is driven into its windpipe. Moby Dick is no different.”

“You have quite the confidence. I hope we can catch Moby Dick as easily as you say.”

“That is how it will be.”

Even at Lee Jung-ho’s words, Zeon’s expression did not ease.

Unlike Lee Jung-ho, he had fought monsters capable of Domainization before.

Not once had those fights ended easily.

Monsters capable of Domainization were, quite literally, special beings.

Existences that had surpassed the limits of monsters and drawn close to spiritual creatures.

Moby Dick was probably such an existence as well.

Fighting such a being would not proceed as easily as one imagined.

Zeon stared intently at the black domain.

At a glance, it looked close, but they would have to walk at least three or four more days to reach it.

That was, if no other incident occurred in the meantime.

But in his experience, incidents always happened precisely at times like this.

Zeon asked Pabilsa,

“How is Archelon’s condition?”

“Not good.”

“Can it endure until we reach that place?”

“It should be able to endure that long.”

Pabilsa’s words were closer to a wish.

He was hoping Archelon would somehow endure.

“Understood. Please use Cure in advance and preserve its stamina as much as possible. Once we enter that domain, Cure probably will not work.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most Skills do not work well in places where Domainization is in progress. That is because the monster’s authority governs the laws there. So please use Cure Skill before we enter the Domainized area.”

“Understood.”

Pabilsa nodded with a hardened expression.

Zeon was the only one here who had experienced a monster’s Domainization.

Even Pabilsa, who had wandered the desert with Archelon for a hundred years, had never experienced such a thing.

Naturally, they had to follow Zeon’s words and prepare thoroughly.

That was why they had asked Zeon for help in the first place.

Kaylee said to Zeon,

“What should I do?”

“From the moment we enter the Domainized area, the monster’s energy will begin eroding us. We need to prepare so Archelon will not be eroded.”

“Erosion, is it......? Got it!”

Kaylee nodded.

She was a high-ranking Enchanter.

When it came to upgrading item performance or adding new options, no one could match her.

Whenever she had time, and whenever she obtained new materials, she never rested and unfolded her ability.

There were many failures, but sometimes there were great successes as well.

When a great success occurred, unexpected options were sometimes attached.

Just as a subspace option had appeared on Zeon’s gauntlet.

As it happened, she had one more such item.

Kaylee hurriedly ran toward the storage room.

---

THUD! THUD!

Archelon moved forward with difficulty.

It had been three days since they discovered Moby Dick’s domain.

During that time, Archelon had kept walking steadily.

Even so, they still had not reached Moby Dick’s domain.

“We should be able to arrive in about a day now.”

Zeon stood atop Archelon’s shell and estimated the distance.

Crackle!

Sparks flew around him and Archelon.

They were still quite far from the domain, yet its influence had already begun reaching them.

It felt as if the domain itself was rejecting Archelon and Zeon.

At that moment, a strange sight entered Zeon’s eyes.

“What is this?”

A huge shadow had fallen over him and Archelon.

Something enormous enough to block the sunlight was floating above Zeon and Archelon’s heads.

When he looked up, he saw a massive monster gliding across the sky with its wings spread wide.

It resembled a dragon, but it was far smaller. Yet it was larger than a Wyvern, with a fiercer and more powerful appearance.

“A Drake.”

And it was a massive Drake with blood-red scales.

Such a huge Drake was absolutely not common.

A Drake whose entire body was red as blood was even rarer.

However, Zeon had seen such a Drake before.

“A Crimson Drake.”

The one flying through the sky as if it were its own territory was unmistakably a Crimson Drake, a boss-level monster of a dungeon.

Zeon knew the Crimson Drake because he had already encountered one before.

And in the first dungeon after his awakening, no less.

The boss of the ghost dungeon Zeon had first been dragged into was none other than a Crimson Drake.

He had almost died there, and had met Deioden.

If he had not met Deioden, he would have become food for the Crimson Drake and would no longer exist in this world.

A blue force field lingered around the Crimson Drake’s blood-red body, incongruous with its color.

It clearly had the same trait as the boss he had met in the dungeon.

However, judging by its much larger size and the far clearer force field, this was undoubtedly a much stronger individual.

‘A monster of at least Grade A. Why did something like that appear here?’

A monster powerful enough to be the master of a dungeon had a firm concept of territory.

It did not tolerate other beings entering its territory, but it also did not easily invade the territory of other monsters.

Moreover, it would not even go near the territory of a monster superior to itself.

That was the law of the monster ecosystem as Zeon understood it.

There were almost no cases where this law did not apply.

At least, not within Zeon’s experience.

Furthermore, this place was not an environment suited for a Crimson Drake to inhabit.

Crimson Drakes lived in volcanic regions.

They were beings that swam through lava. The fact that such a Crimson Drake had left its habitat and appeared here was certainly unusual.

Zeon frowned.

That was because another giant monster had appeared in addition to the Crimson Drake.

THUD! THUD!

A giant bipedal monster was walking with a lumbering gait.

The muscular bipedal monster holding a large club in its hand was an Ogre.

And not just any Ogre, but a Gray Ogre, known as the strongest among Ogres.

A Gray Ogre was a medium-sized monster with a shoulder height of seven meters.

Its body class was medium-sized, but its strength and abilities were no less than those of large-class monsters.

It even possessed a cunning side like a human, making it more difficult to deal with than most large-class monsters.

The force field of a Gray Ogre, a Grade A monster, repelled most Magic, making it difficult to face.

To magic-type Awakened, the Gray Ogre was a disaster.

If caught by one, most magic-type Awakened would be unable to put up any meaningful resistance before becoming its food.

Gray Ogres also had their own preferred habitats.

This place was not terrain that Gray Ogres favored. Yet a Gray Ogre had appeared here.

“That one was also drawn by Moby Dick’s domain.”

Moby Dick was a monster Zeon had never once encountered.

Its disposition, traits, everything about it was unknown to him.

Because of that, he could not know what about Moby Dick had drawn Grade A monsters to this place.

“The problem is that those two probably will not be the only ones appearing here.”

Those two were all he could see for now, but more monsters could appear as time passed.

They had to enter the domain before other monsters appeared.

The one fortunate thing was that both the Crimson Drake and the Gray Ogre were absorbed in Moby Dick’s domain and did not even glance at Archelon.

If they had encountered those two anywhere else, they would have had to fight for their lives.

“Moby Dick...... A monster resembling the giant whale of myth. Just what about it draws monsters like that?”

Neither Lee Jung-ho nor Claire, who had accompanied him, mentioned any information about Moby Dick.

Of course, neither of them had seen Moby Dick yet, so they likely had almost no information. Even so, they must have had at least some information obtained from Neo Seoul’s Pathfinder team, yet they provided none of it to Zeon.

That was how thoroughly they were maintaining secrecy.

“What are they planning to do with Moby Dick’s heart?”

Until now, Zeon had not had many questions about Jin Geum-ho and City Hall’s activities. But this time was different.

That was how special the monster called Moby Dick was.

He would meet it soon enough, but he was curious what it was about Moby Dick that drew so many monsters and humans.

THUD! THUD!

Even as Zeon pondered, Archelon silently continued moving forward.

Though it struggled as if it might collapse at any moment, it continued walking steadily toward Moby Dick’s domain.

Zeon thought that perhaps Archelon too, like the other monsters, was being instinctively drawn to Moby Dick’s domain. Otherwise, Archelon’s current state was hard to understand.

At that moment, Claire and Pabilsa emerged from inside Archelon’s shell.

It was time to use Cure Skill one last time.

Until now, the two had taken turns using Cure Skill, but there was no longer any need for that.

Even if the two used the Skill together, its effect would not double. Still, it would surely be better than when one person used it alone. So Pabilsa and Claire used Cure Skill together.

FLASH!

Strong light burst from the two of them and was absorbed into Archelon.

After absorbing the light, Archelon’s face looked much healthier.

By contrast, the two who had used Cure looked completely drained. It could not be helped, because every use of Cure consumed a tremendous amount of mana.

As if thanking them, Archelon lowered its head and met their eyes.

Pabilsa and Claire stroked Archelon’s head and exchanged emotions with it.

Although their goals were different, the affection both of them held for Archelon was real.

It happened just as Pabilsa and Claire took their hands off Archelon’s head.

CRUNCH—!

Suddenly, the sand in the area heaved violently.

Zeon, who sensed the abnormality first, shouted,

“Everyone, get back!”

At the same time as he shouted, Zeon moved the sand and raised a massive wall in front of the two.

In that instant, something struck the sand wall Zeon had raised.

CRASH—!

With an explosive roar, the sand wall burst apart.

A tremendous amount of sand scattered in every direction.

Pabilsa and Claire were drenched in sand.

Neither of them had yet realized what had happened.

That was because they were stunned by the sudden attack.

Zeon moved the sand beneath them and dragged the two backward.

BOOM—!

Immediately afterward, a gigantic tentacle slammed into the place where the two had been standing.

Only then did Pabilsa and Claire come to their senses.

“Gasp!”

“What is this?”

With faces gone deathly pale, the two looked at the tentacle writhing in front of them.

Zeon leapt down from Archelon’s back and shouted,

“It is the black sea anemone!”

Hissss!

No sooner had he finished speaking than a monster swaying countless tentacles surged up from within the sand.

It was the black sea anemone, the Chimera resembling a sea anemone.

The Curse Caster Pantshi was riding on top of the black sea anemone.

Pantshi shouted,

“Bessie! Devour that old turtle.”