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In the past, a lot of things happened, and I was the one who made the planet spin like a merry-go-round every day.

“Ancient Monsters.”

They weren’t born with nonsensical powers like Celestials or Demons, but given enough time, they could grow stronger.

Using their immense strength and bodies, they oppressed the weaker beings and wreaked havoc everywhere.

“Because of that, I had a really hard time.”

With monsters causing chaos in an already tumultuous time, I was literally on the brink of exhaustion.

If Celestials and Demons were a sudden meteor, then Ancient Monsters were more like a hurricane you could somewhat predict.

Of course, there are exceptions like Pharaohs and Myeosin, but most Ancient Monsters were like that.

“Hey, look over there, bad guy.”

Where Yena followed to, there was a spider making strange noises.

It was a black spider glistening like polished ebony, larger than an average five-story building, and the path it took was filled with poison, leaving no surviving creature behind.

The only ones still standing around were the spiderlings.

Yena shuddered and shook her head at the sight of the spider.

“I can withstand the poison, but that exoskeleton? Can’t break through it, it’s super sharp.”

“Acrane. It’s known for spewing poison rather than engaging in physical battles, preferring to intoxicate its enemies and then feast on them.”

“Meow? Lily knows this monster?”

“Of course. It’s part of my past.”

Having traveled here and there so much, there are almost no Ancient Monsters I don’t know.

‘That day’ wasn’t directly caused by the Ancient Monsters, but it wasn’t completely unrelated either.

‘Several events overlapped, and I couldn’t make it in time.’

I can’t say it was all because of that! But you could say that Acrane contributed to that day’s events to some extent.

“Well, this is fortunate. I needed to tidy things up anyway.”

“That thing is really strong. Be careful.”

“…Hmm.”

“Of course, Lily will win, but it’s not your ordinary spider…”

“Why is it so strong?”

Acrane wasn’t a particularly powerful Ancient Monster.

Though it might feel like a disaster to ordinary folks or even reasonable beings, at most it was on the level of a lower Celestial or Demon?

Even that is considering its class; in a real fight with Celestials or Demons, it would obviously lose.

The poison of an Ancient Monster ‘like that’ wouldn’t even harm Celestials or Demons.

Yet now, it was showing strength almost close to that of an Upper tier.

“It was originally much weaker than this. Weak enough that I could handle it in the past.”

“What was Lily like back then?”

“You’d be shocked to hear.”

“Why? Were you also strong back then?”

No, I was incredibly weak.

I had no combat sense or knowledge like I do now, so in those days, Yena might actually win against me.

“You mentioned the exoskeleton was hard earlier, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Acrane is actually softer than you might think. It grew stronger by overpowering its opponents through poison and webs instead of relying on a robust exoskeleton.”

“Huh? But it felt super tough when I faced it.”

“This isn’t a normal place. It shows an old form, but it’s not the true past; it’s a kind of ‘dream.’”

Just like how my current physical age is much older than it appears.

A bizarre situation where Yena, who shouldn’t be here, suddenly shows up; it’s all a mixed-up mess.

No matter what happens here, it wouldn’t be strange, and conversely, it wouldn’t be strange if nothing happened either.

“Isn’t that how dreams are? Suddenly unfolding strangely without any sense of reality, and you don’t even notice it.”

“…Hmm. That’s right. I had a dream before where Lily had an angel and a demon in each hand, banging their heads together.”

“?”

“It was a completely cat dream. Anyway, what happens now?”

“To put it simply, Acrane has gotten stronger, but here it’s rather the opposite; it has regressed. Rather than its abilities of poison or webs, it seems to have increased in base strength.”

You could say it just got stronger, but in saying that, Yena seems too unaffected.

Her wounds were just from something sharp, and there wasn’t much sign of the poison itself.

‘Not that the poison has disappeared.’

Its power has weakened it, but even then, a reasonable living creature still can’t resist the poison.

“Then, shall we try to capture it?”

“Okay.”

Yena took out the green hermit, and I also grabbed my hammer.

Had it been a normal Acrane, I would’ve launched it with a spear, but currently, it’s gotten quite solid.

Clang!

Swinging with a hammer feels much better in my hands.

As Yena and I approached Acrane, it seemed to become cautious, twitching its six red eyes.

“Kihih… Beastman. And… an Angel!”

“……”

“Don’t talk nonsense! Lily is not an angel!!”

Hiss!

Yena hissed and pointed at Acrane.

I nodded at Yena’s correct statement, but Acrane just moved its kids behind us and chuckled.

“Kik! Anyone can see it’s an angel, right?”

“Nope.”

“Blue hair, blue eyes, and white skin. It’s definitely an angel.”

“You shouldn’t judge people just by looks.”

“Meow meow.”

“More importantly, can I ask where you’re headed?”

“Kik? Why should I tell you that?”

Acrane moved its legs mockingly.

Actually, I already know the answer.

Acrane is the master of the mountain nearby.

Initially, it was a quiet being, but it’s planning to raid the village under the pretext that humans climbed the mountain.

Because of its rampage, five villages have been destroyed, and close to a thousand people have died.

It claimed it was because those pathetic humans invaded its land, but in reality, it was just because it didn’t like them.

‘Dare that worthless human climb my mountain?’

It’s also possible that although the timing is a bit off, war will break out in a year or two, and it has a motive to take advantage of the chaos.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll make you talk.”

“Kikirik…”

I slowly approached Acrane with my hammer in hand.

KAAACK!!

As it screeched, Acrane’s children behind it rushed toward Yena all at once.

Swish swish swish!!

About fifty baby spiders were sliced by Yena’s dagger.

It looked relatively easy, but…

The problem was that those baby spiders were larger than Yena and me, and hundreds, even thousands more, were rushing in from behind.

“I’ll handle the back!”

“Please do.”

“KAAACK! Get lost, Angel!”

I swung my hammer filled with the power of destruction towards the thrashing Acrane.

Crash!!

Two of its eight legs shattered.

Purple poison spattered everywhere from the broken legs, but it didn’t affect me at all.

‘It’s not even divine poison.’

If this were the original Acrane, that might be another matter, but this level of poison is hardly even worth classifying.

Acrane swung the remaining glowing legs towards me.

Swoosh swoosh!

It was almost at an Upper level; as it swung its legs, sharp wind pressure brushed past me.

Slish!

Just the wind pressure alone scratched my side and shoulder.

“Ho oh…”

Swaaaah…

Of course, it healed in less than a second.

“At this rate, I could handle all Five Great Beasts too, you know?!”

“KAAACK…”

Among Ancient Monsters, the strongest ones are known as the ‘Five Great Beasts.’

Though Pharaoh, ruling as the Desert King, and the progenitor, Lasty, might not appear now, they didn’t have that much power in the past.

Hitting it well would barely reach the level of lower Celestials or Demons?

Although that was quite an achievement, and especially catching Lasty had been very hard, the current Acrane was a step beyond that.

“Die! Angel!”

If I were to throw that guy back into the past of the continent, all of the continent would have become its feeding ground.

Perhaps unless a high-level Celestial or Demon appears, there would be no creature one could even touch it.

Boom!!

“KYAAAH… you sure are dodging well!”

“Maybe? If that’s the case, other monsters must have gotten stronger too.”

If Acrane is this powerful, how much stronger have the likes of Lasty and Pharaoh become?

What about other Celestials or Demons?

“……”

“NYAAANG! When are you catching it?!”

“Soon. Just bear with me a bit longer.”

“NYUURRRR…”

While Yena was struggling with the baby spiders in the back, I dodged the leg attacks and kept thinking.

If everyone else was around the same level as Acrane, we could move through here easily.

Acrane has gotten stronger, but it is no match for me now.

‘But what if they are relative?’

What if they’ve grown beyond Upper tier strength to top-tier level?

Crash!

“NYAAAH!!”

“… That shouldn’t be possible.”

In the end, whether it’s a holy war, clouds, or a dream, this world is all birthed under the power of the highest Celestials.

No matter how strong they’ve become, they could never reach the original’s strength.

Probably, the most they could do would be a strong standing among the upper class.

“Are you saying you’re going to die? NYAANG!!!”

“Hmm…”

“Seriously, genuinely dying… Hah!!!”

“Okay.”

I pulled my hammer back together.

 

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