Monsters.
Massive, towering figures that dwarfed mountains, emerging in numbers that seemed endless.
They descended upon the world.
Humans screamed.
Blood spread across the land.
Everything collapsed under their presence.
Hero fought.
Relentlessly.
Pushing his strength to its limits.
But it wasn't enough.
He could barely hold back a few.
The rest.
Overwhelmed everything.
Then.
He was caught.
Pinned down against a towering structure, his body restrained, unable to move.
The old man's gaze darkened.
Hero could only watch.
One by one.
The people around him were taken.
Devoured.
His race.
Reduced to nothing.
Despair settled over the scene, heavy and suffocating.
But it didn't end.
The monsters didn't kill him.
They kept him alive for a twisted purpose. And the fact that he was unable to fight back nor possess any rights to his own decision, it was the darkest day of his life.
The old man's expression paled slightly.
"No…"
His voice came out low.
Hero was forced to endure it.
Time passed.
Years.
Decades.
Centuries.
Then thousands.
Each child born.
Taken.
Consumed.
Without exception.
The cycle continued.
Endlessly.
The old man's breathing grew heavier, his expression tightening as he watched.
"No… this isn't something he can endure…"
His voice carried a rare urgency.
Without hesitation, he reached out, gathering his divine sense again.
He needed to cut the connection.
Now.
Before this affected Hero completely.
His power surged, wrapping around the scene, trying to tear himself away.
But then.
Something shifted.
The moment the old man's divine sense came into contact with the card.
Something changed.
He had just begun to pull at Hero's consciousness, trying to drag it away from that space.
When a force answered.
Sudden.
Overwhelming.
It caught his divine sense like a twig in a rushing current and tore it away.
Boom!
His mind shook violently.
It felt as if something massive had struck straight into his skull, heavy and crushing, like an avalanche collapsing inward.
The pain came fast.
And vanished just as quickly.
But what followed.
Was something else.
A sight.
A presence.
One that carved itself into him.
It stood there.
A towering figure.
Its outline blurred, its form impossible to grasp.
Too vast.
Too far beyond anything he had ever known.
Everything he had seen in his life, every realm, every being.
Felt insignificant in comparison.
His mouth opened slightly.
His eyes trembled.
"What… in the world!"
The words broke out of him in distorted tone.
Information flooded in, too much, too fast, pressing into his mind without shape or order.
He couldn't process it.
Couldn't understand it.
Only feel it.
Boom!
Outside.
His illusory form was thrown back.
An unseen force expelled him from Hero's body, sending him slamming into the wall.
He staggered as he landed, his figure flickering slightly.
For a moment, he just stood there, breathing heavily, one hand lifting to wipe at his forehead out of habit, though there was nothing there.
Slowly, he looked back.
Hero's expression was settling.
The earlier tension, the distortion, it was fading.
Well, at least he did something. But why does he feel like he became the target instead?
Seeing that, the old man let out a quiet breath.
Relief.
But the shock remained.
What he didn't know was that the towering figure was simply... a hardworking farmer puppet tending the land.
Well...
The feeling was still there.
It lingered deep within his mind, leaving behind a heavy fatigue that weighed down even his illusory soul.
He steadied himself, then pushed off the wall and floated back over, movements slower this time.
Stopping near Hero, he watched him for a moment.
Then sighed.
"As expected…"
His voice was quieter now.
"The boy is part of something far beyond him."
He paused, gaze lowering slightly.
"And it seems… I am as well."
A faint, helpless smile appeared as he shook his head.
"Even if I wanted to leave… it wouldn't matter anymore."
His connection to Hero had already tied him in. Well, he practically watched this boy grew up.
If anything happened, even without anyone asking, he would definitely help.
"The cause and effect… runs too deep now."
Another sigh escaped him.
Whatever path this led to.
He could only hope it wasn't one he would regret witnessing.
When Hero came to, the old man didn't speak much.
He gave no clear answer.
No real explanation.
When Hero described what he had seen, his voice strained, unease still lingering, the old man only listened.
Then offered a few shallow words in return.
Nothing more.
The days that followed didn't improve.
Each time Hero tried to meditate.
It came back.
The same scenes.
The same ending.
The same monsters.
Over and over again.
Day.
Night.
It didn't matter.
The images followed him.
At one point, he nearly lost control of his spiritual energy flow cruising his meridian. Inches away from exploding and causing his ultimate demise.
His aura surged wildly, spiritual energy turning unstable as his thoughts spiraled.
If not for the old man stepping in.
He might have exploded from within.
"Old man…"
Hero's voice came out dry, his breathing uneven.
"I can't keep going like this."
He coughed lightly, steadying himself. A stain of blood appeared on the corner of his mouth, a clear sign that there were still some aftermath despite the Old man's saving.
"I need a solution."
The old man didn't answer right away.
He stood there, silent.
Then sighed.
"…I don't have a clean answer for you, boy. I am afraid that if we keep going deeper, we are bound to never making out ever again"
"Well... that is if we have a choice in the beginning"
He paused, as if weighing something.
Then finally spoke.
"I do have a method."
His gaze shifted toward Hero.
"Do you want to try it?"
"You mean… the deduction?"
"If not?" the old man replied.
Hero didn't hesitate. He nodded immediately.
The old man let out another sigh, his voice lowering.
"…Seems I can't avoid getting involved after all."
"The string of fates are so unpredictable lately, " He paused, "As if these weren't exactly fate at all but... something else."
This was the same technique he had relied on before, when the red tide first spread, when he calculated the safest place to survive.
Now, he turned to it again.
This time, not for survival.
But for an answer.
"I hope everything goes well."
There were no grand signs.
No light, no surge of power.
The old man simply stood there, eyes closing slowly, fingers moving in small, precise patterns.
His breathing steadied.
The air around him grew quiet.
"…Card…"
The word barely left his lips.
And he stopped.
His eyes snapped open.
The technique broke instantly.
He staggered slightly, his form flickering as he drew in a breath, as if exhausted.
Even in his illusory state, the strain showed as if he was a flickering candle in the wind.
"…Holders…"
His voice came out uneven.
Hero stepped forward half a pace, brows tightening.
"Card holders?"
The words slipped out as he repeated them.
His gaze lingered on the old man, noticing the faint instability in that illusory body.
It had thinned.
Just slightly.
But enough to be seen.
The old man waved a hand dismissively.
"No need to worry," he said, forcing his breathing to settle. "I just need a few days inside your body to recover."
Hero didn't respond immediately, but his expression eased a little.
"Then… what about"
"As for the card holders…"
The old man straightened, his gaze shifting downward.
Toward Hero's pocket.
His eyes stayed there.
"I think you already know."
Hero's fingers twitched.
A faint reaction, almost instinctive.
He reached into his pocket and pulled the card out, holding it in his palm.
For a moment, he just looked at it.
"This thing…"
His voice was quieter now.
"…it's the problem, isn't it?"
The old man didn't answer directly.
"There's no need to ask when you've already started suspecting it."
A brief silence settled between them.
Then the old man let out a slow breath.
"Boy…"
His tone carried a trace of weight.
"That meeting back then… it wasn't fate."
Hero's eyes lifted slightly.
"It was planned."
The old man's gaze remained on the card.
"We've likely been watched for a long time… before being chosen like this."
"Chosen?"
Hero frowned, the word sitting uneasily with him.
The old man only gave a small shrug.
"When you reach my level… you'll understand."
He didn't elaborate further.
"Then this deduction of yours isn't really guiding me anywhere. Card holders?"
Hero frowned, the card still resting in his palm as he turned it slightly between his fingers.
The answer hadn't satisfied him.
Not even close.
The old man didn't react much to his tone.
"At the very least," he said, voice steady, "we have a direction."
"Direction?" Hero lifted his gaze.
The old man smiled faintly, a trace of his usual composure returning.
"Boy… do you know anything about this city?"
Hero gave him a look. "What about it?"
"It's not just the closest city to the great wilderness," the old man said, straightening slightly as he spoke. "It's also one of the oldest in this region."
His tone carried a hint of pride.
"This place has gone through hundreds of City Lord eras. It has survived long enough to accumulate things most cities don't have."
He paused briefly, letting that settle.
"Ancient records. Old texts. Knowledge that's been preserved."
Hero's brows eased just a little, though his expression remained doubtful.
"And that helps… how?"
The old man glanced at the card in his hand.
"When you're dealing with something you don't understand," he said, "the simplest way forward is to learn about it."