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The photo showed an army of tens of thousands of draconic monsters taking over Pohang. Wyverns, Drakes, Knuckers, Lindworms, Wyrms, Amphipteres, Serpents… Every low-ranking Dragon-type monster was running wild in packs. Anyone who bore witness to the sight would’ve had goosebumps.

The Dragon Monarch, their leader, stood in the center of it all like personified dignity. Their emotionless expression showed its arrogant belief that everything in this world should be at their feet.

“A Celestial… They transcended already?" Carl let out a long sigh.

[The Celestial \'Teacher of All Sentient Beings\' nods with a heavy heart.]

[The Celestial \'Teacher of All Sentient Beings\' says that they seemed to have put excruciating effort meanwhile.]

“I think so as well. I probably should have gone easy on them back then, but I didn’t expect a citizen of an <Extinct> plane to successfully acquire a Divine Class either. , but this old man must have misjudged him. ” Carl smiled bitterly.

As far as the public knew, it was either the Players’ desperate fight for survival or the Dragon Monarch’s unexpected withdrawal of troops that stopped the previous monster wave from the ‘Den of the Evil Dragon.’

In truth, it was all thanks to Carl and Avalokitasvara’s efforts. At the time, Carl risked it all by letting Avalokitasvara descend into him. He then fought the Dragon Monarch for three consecutive days before finally defeating yet still failing to kill it.. He would never forget the last remark that they made before retreating.

"One step... I was a mere step away from reaching the great seat. Once I reach it, I will come back and put an end to this fight. Until then, you are not allowed to die without my permission, old human."

Old human. The Dragon Monarch was a Dragon-type monster who could live for thousands of years if they wanted, but they knew that Carl didn’t have much time left.

In a way, this was the Dragon Monarch’s announcement of their quick return.

‘I guess he kept his promise in his own way. Without his permission, huh… Hahaha, that rascal, it’s obvious how bad-tempered he is,’ Carl thought.

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ says that he must have finally taken that one step.]

“I agree. The Dragon Monarch coming outside the Dungeon again shows how confident it is. Unfortunately, I’m no better than our last fight.” Carl scratched the back of his head. “It looks like I’m going to kick the bucket before I can defeat Sun Wukong. Hahahaha!”

With a serious look, Ye-Eun asked, “Are you also going to go, Mr. Council president?”

“Of course. The Dragon Monarch is going on the rampage to call me.”

“… It’s dangerous.”

“Ha, it’s not like you to say such things, Miss Cha. When was my job not dangerous?” Carl answered.

Ye-Eun couldn’t refute that. He was right after all.

“And this is just this old man’s intuition, but I’m sure Sun Wukong is involved in this incident on some level. There is no way that buffoon wouldn’t have a hand in this kind of chaos.”

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ says that she cannot confirm it right now due to the barrier that is blocking her view, but there is a high chance that her apostle is right.]

“So…” Carl trailed off.

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ slowly turns her head to look at someone with mellow eyes.]

“... let me ask you.”

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ speaks with a serious tone for the first time.]

“Let’s head back to Korea together. It looks like you’re the only one who can stop the Dragon Monarch.”

[The Celestial ‘Teacher of All Sentient Beings’ asks you to save the sentient beings in distress!]

Carl and Avalokitasvara looked at Chang-Sun. Up until now, they had been acting as if they had a couple of screws loose, but they suddenly became serious.

Carl was a wandering monk who tried to guide as many sentient beings as possible to save them from all the suffering in the world, and Avalokitasvara was a bodhisattva who had abandoned the great seat of a Buddha to be closer to sentient beings. Hence, their eyes naturally filled up with sincerity when they asked for Chang-Sun’s help in this matter.

With a heavy heart, Ye-Eun quietly put her hands together and waited for Chang-Sun’s answer, but he just remained silent while glaring at the photo that Seok-Tae showed them. The air around him was so sharp that the others could only exchange glances. Unsure about where to look, Seok Tae’s gaze wandered around the room.

“... Sun?” Ye-Eun called out. When he still didn’t respond, she finally followed his gaze out of curiosity only for her eyes to slightly widen in shock. In the corner of the photo, a man wearing clothes often found in eastern legends was looking in their exact direction. The distance made it hard to confirm, but he seemed to be smiling. Chang-Sun was glaring at him.

* * *

Chang-Sun closed his eyes after boarding a B777―300ER that was set to depart from Chicago and land in Incheon. The man in the photo lingered in his head.

‘Richardus,’ Chang-Sun thought.

The traitor who drove Chang-Sun’s comrades to death was waiting for him to come.

‘I thought he would head to the United Army’s other battlefields. The fact that he’s here can only mean he wants to put an end to our feud now.’

Richardus didn’t really have any followers on Earth, so Chang-Sun wasn’t sure how in the world Richardus successfully descended here without any Faith. Beings from <Heaven> needed Causality to descend on the <Saha World>. The higher their Divine Class was, the more Causality they needed. <Deus Ex Machina> created this restriction to prevent civilizations from meeting <Extinction> because of a Celestial’s interference.

A significant amount of Causality had to have been used for Richardus’ descent. As the proud leader of the <Purple Star Astrology>, he likely used the Causality that it had been saving for emergencies.

Chang-Sun viewed Richardus’ descent as an indication that the <Purple Star Astrology> was now on the edge of a cliff. The <Troop> members had left the <Purple Star Astrology>, the Emperor’s Seat had fallen, and the United Army was slowly closing in on its remaining members. To make matters worse for them, <Horoscope> was turning a blind eye to everything and instead prepared to betray them at any time. Taking all those into consideration, they were probably desperate for a shift in the tides of the battle now.

Eliminating Chang-Sun, the main cause of all their crisis, and stopping the <Underworld> from getting any closer would give them room to breathe. Hence, they sent down Richardus, which was really the only viable option they had left. His personal feud with Chang-Sun served as justification and an additional reason to make it happen.

‘Fine, I’ll take that challenge.’

Chang-Sun was dying to put an end to Richardus and the <Purple Star Astrology> anyway, so he decided to consider this incident as a golden opportunity.

‘It’ll take about ten hours before we reach Incheon.’ Chang-Sun closed his eyes again and sank back to his seat.

This was an emergency, so the United States government considerately offered to lend them a private jet, but Chang-Sun turned it down. He could use this flight to sort out everything he had learned in the ‘Changgong Library’ and master them completely.

As his consciousness drifted…

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ looks at his immature student who only looks for his teacher in his times of need with disapproving eyes.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ suggests the Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ to accept you for who you are since there is nothing that can be done about it.]

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ lets out a very long sigh.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ says she wants to go too.]

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ rejects the request of the Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’.]

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ hops around in anger, complaining why not!]

[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ quietly presses her wild, youngest daughter’s head with her front paw.]

…

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ opens up his divine ground!]

Paaah.

The world of pitch-black darkness surrounded Chang-Sun.

* * *

Woosh!

The first thing Chang-Sun saw was a giant set of Inferno Sights.

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ warns you not to show up out of the blue since this is his private place.]

“This is the only place I can organize my thoughts in peace, so I would like to ask for your understanding,” Chang-Sun answered.

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ says that what you’re doing is notifying him, not asking him for a favor…]

Chang-Sun was already deep in meditation.

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ grumbles and asks who he is even talking to right now.]

Tsk…

Mephistopheles clicked his tongue as he stopped sending messages. His shameless student didn’t seem to fear him anymore, considering he felt free to have his way now. He thought about smacking Chang-Sun in the head, but he soon shook his head. After all, His ‘young’ student was yet to even rise above the restrictions of Worldlines, which meant hitting him would turn him into a pulp before he could even scream.

As the grown-up, Mephistopheles chose to put up with his student. Constantly reminding himself about that, he focused on watching his student.

Pzzzz….

A cloud of <Darkness>—no, something even darker—soon surrounded and permeated into Chang-Sun, blurring the line between him and <Darkness> and marking the beginning of his transformation into an Outer Celestial. The distinction between him and others disappeared as <Abyss>, the source of <Darkness>, synchronized with Chang-Sun.

He. Opened. Outer. Gate.

Chang-Sun, a soul from the inner universe that was bound by the law of Eros, finally took a step outside the universe, successfully putting his foot down in Nyx’s territory. Mephistopheles called this region, the only place where those two incompatible factions met, the Outer Gate.

The Four Steps to Abyss was about opening that gate. Considering Chang-Sun just started learning about it recently yet had already successfully opened the first threshold, he was certainly making remarkable progress. Mephistopheles just smiled bitterly as he observed Chang-Sun and prepared for any possible danger, thinking that this had to be the reason he couldn’t hate his student,

It wasn’t clear whether Mephistopheles was aware of it, but he looked like a mother bird tending to her young right now.