Chapter 824

〈 Chapter 824 〉 Part 3, Chapter 2, Scene 01: The Empire of Jijja, Gaiana

Clack, clack.

A single carriage quietly made its way along a mountain path. Seated on the driver’s bench was a young man in a white robe, silently holding the reins like a pilgrim monk on a holy journey.

“Shh, they’re coming.”

And atop the cliff…

From an angle unseen from below, a group of small figures wearing masks looked down at the carriage passing through the gorge.

“Look at those clothes. They seem pretty expensive.”

“Even from afar, I can see something shimmering—there’s definitely magic imbued in them.”

“Let’s snatch it and present it to Her Majesty. She’ll be pleased.”

Click.

The small figures each grabbed their weapons. In their hands were mysterious long cylinders, all aimed downward toward the carriage in unison.

“Prepare… Aim…”

Just as they were about to shout “Fire!”

[There was a sound of breathing.]

POW!

Something shot up from below. It struck one of the small figures under the jaw, sending them flying.

“What… What is this?!”

“Eagle?!”

Flap, flap.

The bird of blue flame unfurled wings over a meter wide and scanned left and right. Like a predator sizing up its prey, the fiery bird assessed the numbers before diving in with folded wings.

Thud, POW, thud.

The bird swept people aside with its wings. The humans, who were half its size, were helpless against the relentless assault, collapsing one by one after being struck in the head.

Tch.

The bird spat blue flames onto the heads of the unconscious people. The flames, roughly coin-sized, burned away tufts of hair before fading out.

Psshhiiiii.

Dark violet wisps began to seep out of the bodies. The previously malevolent expressions on their faces gradually softened.

Click.

The bird used its talons to grab one of the cylinders and handed it down to the young man. After inspecting it briefly, the young man noticed a trigger-like handle.

“Hmm, this is an unusual device. But… there’s a trigger here?”

“Master!”

A woman’s voice called out from inside the carriage. A blonde woman peeked out from beneath the sunshade, shaking her head.

“That thing is dangerous, so-”

“BANG.”

KABOOMMMMM!!

The moment the trigger was pulled, a massive explosion erupted from within the cylinder, launching a yellow orb into the air.

“Master!”

“This doesn’t look safe.”

The young man turned his head blankly…

“Run!”

He sharply yanked the reins, urging the horse to gallop forward. The horse immediately quickened its pace, trotting urgently ahead.

“What… What are you doing?! Why did you shoot it?!”

“I didn’t know it was a cannon!”

“Anyone could tell it was a cannon!”

“No, no, no! This thing looks exactly like a gun! I’ve been shooting guns my whole life! Of course it looks like a gun!”

“Guns aren’t things you hold in your hand!”

“It’s all the same anyway! Tch, why make a handheld cannon?”

Despair washed over the face of the blonde maid sitting at the back of the carriage.

“We’re in trouble…”

The yellow orb flew in a parabolic arc toward the opposite side of the gorge before…

KAAAAAAABOOOMMMMMM!!

It triggered a powerful magical explosion. The entire gorge began to shake violently, and large chunks of the wide canyon started collapsing.

“Kyaaa! Hurry, go faster!”

“In our situation, where we need to follow the road, going faster doesn’t make sense. Besides…”

The young man stood up casually on the driver’s bench. The untethered white horse began galloping even faster across the gorge.

“It’s not me running; it’s him.”

“Reins! Reins!!!”

“Don’t worry. He’s also an apostle of Blazing Flame. His name is ‘Unicorn.’ You could also call him Kinna-ra Legion Form. When he starts emitting magic power, blue flames will rise from his body too?”

“Stop saying weird things! How can a horse do that?!”

“Seriously?”

The young man raised both hands high into the sky at a 45-degree angle.

“Spread your wings, Unicorn!”

Flap.

As soon as the words left his lips, the Unicorn’s mane began blazing with blue flames.

“Huh…?!”

“Unicorns aren’t ordinary horses—they’re spirits.”

A horn formed above its head, shaped like a swirling blue flame, and two wings of blue fire unfurled from either side of its back.

“Hmph.”

The young man smirked, pointing at the unicorn.

“She’s female.”

“Who said anything?! Wait a minute! Did you really infuse the horse with your magic?!”

“It took some effort.”

“You’re insane!”

The maid’s face instantly turned red with anger.

“You infused a horse with your power?!”

“Of course not. I did it when she was in human form. She’s slightly smaller than a Kinna-ra. No matter how much I love experiments, I wouldn’t do that to a horse. Princess, your imagination is disgusting. What have you been thinking all this time?”

“You made me think that!!”

“Me? That’s unfair. I’m innocent. And honestly, while it *is* possible to do what you’re imagining, even I wouldn’t go that far.”

The young man shrugged, lowering his arms. Then he formed a circle with his fingers and poked it twice for emphasis.

“I merely gave her spirit energy. Coo-koo-koo isn’t sex, okay!”

“Insane talk!”

“Calling me insane hurts my feelings. If you say that, poor Unicorn might get hurt too, right?”

At the young man’s words, the Unicorn nodded and exhaled. A stream of blue flame shot out of its mouth, and the young man gave it a thumbs-up.

“At least A-Rank level. As expected, it’s all thanks to me.”

“Explain this properly!”

“That wasn’t meant for you to understand.”

The young man chuckled, tapping his own ears, while the Unicorn, now wielding the power of Blazing Flame, began galloping even faster across the gorge.

But the gorge itself was collapsing faster, threatening to engulf them at any moment.

Given the nature of the gorge road, with many winding curves, the speed of the collapsing cliffs far exceeded the carriage’s ability to keep up.

After all, the explosion had been enormous.

“We can’t keep going like this. The gorge is collapsing.”

“Obviously! You set off a bomb!”

“Well, then we shouldn’t. Hali, duck down.”

The young man placed his hands together prayer-like, then suddenly spread them wide with a flash of determination.

“Blazing Phoenix Revival!”

With the young man’s cry, the Unicorn charged straight ahead instead of turning the corner, heading directly toward the cliff. Hali trembled in fear.

“What are you doing?!”

“Don’t doubt me.”

The young man tilted his head toward the rising sun.

“Blazing Flame is divine, and the Phoenix is invincible.”

“What does that even mean-”

Clack, clack.

The Unicorn began flying through the air.

Blue flames ignited beneath the carriage wheels, and the Unicorn soared freely through the skies as if choosing its own path.

“Hali, remember this. Apostles of Blazing Flame always come with flight abilities. Like how salamanders hovercraft through the air, they can fly.”

“Hah… Hah…”

The blonde maid collapsed onto the floor of the carriage.

“What is this… What is happening…?”

“What do you mean?”

The young man pointed at himself with his thumb, shrugging nonchalantly.

“The Blazing Phoenix, obviously.”

Flap.

The Unicorn, wreathed in blue flames, flapped its wings and escaped the crumbling gorge.

—

[Three hours ago, reality]

The underground kingdom of Gaiana.

This land, within the dominion of the earth goddess ‘Great Earth Mother,’ spans a vast region covering parts of southwestern Asia and Africa in the real world.

Above ground lies a jungle teeming with various beasts, while below the surface dwell the creatures of the earth.

“Is this correct?”

I cross-referenced the information organized by Hali with Shinra.

“Really, humans live underground, while beasts and spirits live aboveground?”

“Yes, that’s right. All humans living in Ji Ryun’s lands reside underground. And when they become monsters, they transform into Jijja monsters.”

“That’s quite shocking.”

“Tera isn’t a world where humans are the dominant species but rather a world ruled by spirits.”

The Bright Nation, Vishnia Kingdom, is relatively a nation dominated by humans. However, unlike other places, they bask in sunlight instead of hiding underground.

“Not all humans live without seeing light. Gaiana is, globally speaking, the most advanced civilization.”

“Civilization?”

“Hmm… If we’re talking fantasy Earth… a nation of dwarves?”

“Oh, I get it now.”

Gaiana was the nation of dwarves.

“The magical engineering research conducted for 20 years in Tera actually originated from here. Truly. Coreweapons, creating weapons using magic power, or mechanisms involving machinery—all these things are deeply connected to Gaiana.”

Shinra tapped the African map with both hands.

“Don’t people often say there’s a robot empire hidden beneath Africa?”

“In Tera 20 years ago, it was the monster empire. Here, it would be the human empire, right?”

“Exactly. Humans on the surface and beasts underground strictly separated their territories. Because of this, humans never ventured outside. Perhaps that’s why everyone tends to be shorter. Hmm…”

Shinra snapped her fingers.

In this world, her figure wasn’t as she appeared now but rather her 150cm height during the ‘Chang Yeom’ era, shrinking proportionally.

“Probably, the tallest person here would be about this tall.”

“No way. Hydra was nearly 172cm, quite tall.”

“Hydra was an officer, right? Officers are beings who corrupt spirits. They brainwashed themselves so thoroughly they forgot they were Great Earth Mother incarnates.”

Shinra pointed at my lower half and grinned.

“If you were originally only 3cm… Would you believe that was Phoenix before corruption? Even knowing that, wouldn’t you deny it?”

“Of course. I’d rather choose corruption and live as 18cm.”

“Eighteen? …puhahaha, it seems you haven’t measured your size in quite a while. Don’t worry, I measure yours daily since we came here.”

Eh?

“What? What did you just say? I think I heard something extremely important.”

“There’s more to it. Let’s save the details for later after cuddling. Back to the differences between Hydra and the people of Gaiana.”

Shinra stretched and shrank her body at will.

“Officers are like wannabe spirits, right? Ji Ryun probably wanted the same. Everyone in Gaiana is short, so maybe they wished to grow taller.”

“What…?”

“Yeah. Think about it.”

Shinra continued seriously.

“Both Ji Ryun and Hydra fought over penis size, yet they were both ultimately shota types.”

“…”

“Do you know why Hydra wanted to be a muscular shota? Such beings are rare in reality. If he became one, it would be hard to break his conditioning.”

The Empire of Jijja, Gaiana.

We named this country ‘Pedo Land.’