Chapter 352:

Chapter 352:

A boy ran through the dark night where neither the moonlight nor the starlight could be seen.

The boy, who seemed to have just turned 10 years old, was drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, but he didn't stop running.

The presence of the pursuers behind him heightened the boy's fear.

"The kid's heading to the forbidden zone!"

"Catch him quickly! The orders are to uproot the rebels, regardless of whether they are children or the elderly!"

Rough and harsh voices echoed in the boy's ears. Words like rebels, traitors, and execution flew among them.

They were trying to catch the boy before he entered the forbidden zone, but the boy knew. He knew that the forbidden zone wouldn’t protect him.

Rumors that entering the forbidden zone would bring a curse or divine punishment were mere superstitions.

Knowing this, the pursuers didn’t stop chasing him despite claiming it was a dangerous forbidden zone.

Instead, they were deliberately lenient in their chase, curious to see how far the little boy could run.

Their despicable intent to derive amusement from this chase was paradoxically the reason why the boy had been able to escape their grasp so far.

‘Why did this happen?'

Jimmy couldn't have imagined such a thing would happen just half a day ago.

It wasn't a happy life, but it wasn’t an unhappy one either. He had no complaints about living with his only family, his sister, despite their parents not being around.

But now, it was all over.

Jimmy, who had thought yesterday, today, and tomorrow would be the same, had his daily life shattered by the arrival of soldiers in the village.

Soldiers under the command of the Legion had stormed in upon hearing rumors of rebels in the village.

In an instant, the village was set ablaze, and people were taken away. Jimmy fled from that unforgettable sight. If his sister hadn’t desperately bought him time to escape, even that would have been impossible.

‘I have to run away.'

But how could a child know where to go or where to hide?

The place he instinctively chose was the forbidden zone, a ruin once known as Gangneung five years ago but abandoned after a massive explosion.

Hoping the pursuers would back off, even if the hope was excessively thin, was the only thing he could cling to.

Huff, huff.

Gasping for breath, Jimmy arrived at the forbidden zone, only to see the massive crater that hadn’t faded in five years.

This place, where it was said Buddha had descended simultaneously with the explosion, was initially called a sanctuary. Many people visited it, hoping to find something valuable.

But all they found was ruins. Or rather, it would have been fortunate if there were only ruins.

Those who set foot in the sanctuary came back half-crazed, repeating that they had seen demons.

Naturally, the sanctuary became a place of fear among people, earning the name forbidden zone.

“Haa. Haa. Is anyone there?”

Just as Jimmy was about to call for help, the ground under his feet collapsed. Jimmy's body rolled into the large crater.

Fortunately, the soil in the area was soft, so he wasn’t badly injured, but rolling hundreds of meters down made him nauseous and dizzy.

"Ah."

Jimmy tried to stand up but stumbled and fell back to the ground each time.

"Ha. He ran so hard just to end up rolling into a pit?"

"How anticlimactic."

Three pursuers landed lightly near Jimmy.

With superhuman physical abilities, they looked down at the dirt-covered Jimmy and laughed.

"Still, he ran pretty far. He even reached the forbidden zone."

"Hey, let’s just take this brat and go. Staying here any longer isn’t a good idea."

"What? Are you scared? The forbidden zone is just full of rumors."

"They say demons appear here."

"Demons? Have you seen one? Those stories are just hallucinations."

"But if it’s true?"

"Then...."

The air around them suddenly felt cold. The pursuers gulped and quickly approached Jimmy. Though they spoke bravely, they were undeniably uneasy, wanting to take the troublesome boy back quickly. They all shared the same thought.

Jimmy closed his eyes tightly, watching them approach.

‘Someone, please help!’

He desperately hoped someone would grab his outstretched hand.

He wished for salvation, not caring whether it came from a god or a demon.Discover new chapters at novelhall.comy felt something touch his fingertips and opened his eyes.

"Huh?"

No one had grabbed his hand. What he held was a tiny flower bud buried in the dirt.

He didn’t know why such a bud remained in this desolate place where not even a blade of grass grew.

Still, Jimmy, as if guided by fate, prayed with all his might towards the flower bud.

Please help.

Simultaneously, the flower bud emitted a brilliant light.

"What, what’s happening?!"

Yu-hyun’s eyebrow twitched slightly at the name. Jimmy frantically thought if he had done anything wrong to this savior, but nothing came to mind.

"That’s not a Korean name. Did you come from abroad? Where are you from?"

"Huh? Abroad? I’m from Turdo Village."

"Turdo...?"

Yu-hyun realized there was a miscommunication.

"South Korea?"

"South Korea? Oh, my sister told me about it. Five years ago, this place was called South Korea."

"Five years ago?"

"Yes. Since the great explosion five years ago, national borders disappeared."

"...Tell me more about that great explosion."

Jimmy explained everything he knew to Yu-hyun.

They were all stories he had heard from his sister like bedtime tales, and Jimmy had a good memory for such things.

"Five years ago, a great explosion occurred in the forbidden zone, right where we are now. The place called Gangneung disappeared, and the world changed."

"...I see."

Yu-hyun recalled the events before he lost consciousness.

Before the Fragment bomb exploded, as he tried to suppress it with all his remaining strength, Shakyamuni appeared and saved him.

The Enlightened One sacrificed himself to save Yu-hyun and prevent the Earth's destruction. Originally, the explosion would have wiped out the entire Korean Peninsula, but it ended up affecting only a few hundred meters radius.

Problems arose

after that.

The nightmare world had vanished, but such an event happening on Earth couldn’t be overlooked by the higher realms.

"And so, Earth fully entered the mixed realm?"

"Yes."

The past five years, as Jimmy described, weren’t just turbulent but could be called a hyper-dynamic era.

The great explosion, the intervention of the first-generation Divine Spirits, and their demise. The changes in the mixed realm’s dynamics that followed.

The Foundation intervened to elevate Earth’s status, and Earth was quickly incorporated into the mixed realm. The concept of nations vanished, and material things were replaced by stories.

What took five years in the previous life took only a month now.

‘So, this Earth is not the one I knew.'

It was Earth but not Earth. The geography and continents were different. The people remained, but their way of life had changed. Jimmy was proof of that.

Earth became part of the mixed realm, and the place they were now conversing in was the outermost part of a vast world.

"Who are these people?"

Yu-hyun pointed to the fallen pursuers.

"They’re soldiers under the Legion from the city."

"Legion?"

"A general term for soldiers serving under a lord."

"And who is the lord?"

Jimmy felt this man truly knew nothing, so he kindly explained.

In fact, Jimmy was thrilled to be able to help his savior.

"A lord is someone much stronger than a transcendent. Of course, not all of them are human."

"Not all are human?"

"Some lords are Divine Spirits."

"I see. A lord is a powerful being beyond a transcendent...."

Five years ago, it was rare to even see a transcendent, but now many had surpassed level 100 and become transcendent.

Of course, even among transcendent, their skills varied. Some were far stronger than others.

Some transcendent transcended on their own or were granted power and status by higher Divine Spirits, becoming Divine Spirits themselves. Others remained human, becoming stronger as transcendent.

Among them, those who surpassed the advanced level of transcendence were given the title of "lord."

In other words, a lord was a Divine Spirit or an equivalent being who had established their own territory in the mixed realm.

‘The central areas of the mixed realm are controlled by the Grand Army, the middle-sized areas by the general Divine Army, and the remaining areas by the lords.’

The land where Yu-hyun stood was the outermost part of the mixed realm, under the control of a lord.

"The ones who attacked my village were soldiers under a lord."

"I see. The Legion consists of the lord’s soldiers. So there’s a lord ruling this land?"

"Yes. The bad guys you just defeated were soldiers of the Black Thunder Lord."

The Black Thunder Lord. The name alone sounded formidable.

No, it was only natural for a lord to be powerful, being a level above transcendent. Yu-hyun needed to know about the ruler of this land.

"Who is this Black Thunder Lord?"

Yu-hyun asked without expecting much, but Jimmy’s answer was enough to shock him.

"She is Kang Hye-rim, the Demon Empress."