The Magic Immortal's chest swelled with emotion.
Just as the Heavenly Mechanism had foretold, the Heavenly Peach had arrived.
Even now, a subtle fragrance of the Heavenly Peach wafted from that body.
And just as expected, it was the summoner from Earth No. 1001.
A man connected to the Immortal Realm.
Which meant he must have obtained the Heavenly Peach.
It didn't matter that it wasn't a whole fruit and had been taken into the body.
In fact, that might be even better.
After all, he would devour everything through predation.
Still, the human Heavenly Peach was faster than expected.
Just when it seemed caught, it slipped away again.
Judging by speed alone, it was close to the Sword Immortal.
But it would be caught eventually.
In the end, it would tire out.
Hovering prone in midair,
like a flying battleship,
dominating and controlling the ground below,
the Magic Immortal unfolded the art of predation.
Clinging tightly to the fleeing human Heavenly Peach with an attraction technique—
Jjeo-eok!
He opened his gigantic mouth wide.
Spit! Spit!
But it escaped again.
A foolish creature.
By now, it must have felt it.
That all means were blocked by the restriction.
Not realizing that, no matter how it jumped, it was still just a flea.
And then—
Kwakwakwa-bang! Kwakwa-bang! Kwakwakwakwabang!
Bombs exploded in midair.
At the same time—
"Light!!!"
Hwaaaaaaah.
A blindingly intense radiance of holy light burst forth.
Within that light dwelled the power of a chief god.
An authority that nullified all irregularities.
On top of that, a young shrine maiden hurled a curse.
A technique cast at the cost of her own life.
"Heh, well now!"
Mutual-destruction attacks came flying in simultaneously.
They were charging in with the intent to die.
This was no time for that.
If left alone, things would only get more troublesome.
First, that self-sacrificing knight.
"Annihilate."
Jjijik!
He crushed him to death with a compression technique.
"And the shrine maiden?"
She had already released her curse.
Though it inflicted some damage, the backlash would naturally kill her.
However, a slight problem arose.
Because of the self-sacrifice spell, the restriction placed on the human Heavenly Peach was undone.
Seizing that opening, the Heavenly Peach used a skill.
"Transcendent Summon?"
He had already heard about that ultimate technique from Wi Cheonrak.
Some kind of art that summoned immortals.
Well then—
would it succeed?
"Hmph!
Even if it does, what's the problem?
The only reason the Immortal Realm is feared is numbers.
Why the Magic Immortal, even after attaining divinity, couldn't return there.
The Immortal Realm is crawling with immortals.
Just like cockroaches.
Utterly tiresome.
And that's not all.
What about the Netherworld?
Yama, the judges, the reapers, the messengers.
The Heavenly Realm is right next door too.
The Supreme Deity, the officials, countless heavenly soldiers.
Go up there, and you're erased.
No matter how much divinity you obtain,
unless you become a god of heaven and earth.
That's why he stayed here.
Here, he didn't have to face them all at once.
Summoning immortals?
At best, he'd only call one or two.
"Go on, try summoning them."
But then—
Jiiiiiing!
What the fool did wasn't a Transcendent Summon.
He merely tore a hairline crack in the void.
The Magic Immortal sneered.
"Keh heh heh, he failed."
Truly stupid.
He must not have withstood the pressure.
He'd wasted a precious skill.
Deep down, the Magic Immortal had hoped
that the fool would summon some weak immortal.
Wouldn't that be a chance to devour one?
After all, immortals are just lumps of immortal energy.
A pity, but—
as long as he devoured the human Heavenly Peach properly, that was enough.
Woooooo—
The Magic Immortal unleashed his authority to the fullest.
Now, let's devour him.
That pitiful human Heavenly Peach who only knew how to flee.
Spit! Spipipit!
Still fast.
And the summoned ones clung desperately as well.
Especially the one who enlarged his body with a gigantification technique, shouting loudly—
he was extremely annoying.
"Should I just devour him too?"
No.
Before eating the Heavenly Peach, he shouldn't snack on anything else.
So—
"Annihilate."
Jjijik!
He killed him cleanly.
"Go—Gobank! No!!!"
The human Heavenly Peach screamed.
Yes, cry your heart out.
Watching human suffering is one form of pleasure.
But at that very moment—
Patter, patter, patter-patter!
Rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.
It wasn't weather that called for rain.
"… Huh?"
A sharp smell mixed into the rain.
Chiiik! Chijijik!
The moment it touched his body, the flesh began to melt.
"This is…"
The smell of alcohol.
Liquor infused with immortal energy.
Then—
"The Wine Immortal."
That's right.
The drunken immortal of the Immortal Realm was pouring down wine-rain with a wind-and-rain technique.
"Magic Immortal bastard! A guy who doesn't even drink has lost his mind. You die by my hand today!"
The Magic Immortal smiled brightly.
"Hahaha, excellent. There's liquor, there's peach for a side dish—truly a feast."
"Shut up, you loser bastard!"
Rumble!
Thunder roared.
The rain of wine grew heavier and heavier.
The air was thick with the stench of alcohol.
After the failed Transcendent Summon,
the Magic Immortal's offensive had grown even fiercer.
He clung like a shadow.
If not for awakening an acceleration skill through dual traits,
he would've been devoured already.
Even so, it was still razor-thin.
The Magic Immortal's movement ignored speed itself.
Slow, yet suddenly right above, mouth gaping wide.
Authority over space and time itself.
Impossible to shake off.
And then, another loss.
Following Bardin and Gyeon Dallae—Gobank retired.
Ah…
The reliable summoned ones kept dwindling.
They weren't completely dead, but—
you're doing fine in the White Tower, right?
Just wait a little.
I'll survive somehow.
Still, exhaustion crept in.
Mental and physical pressure.
Now he understood what it meant to wither to death.
"… Should I give up?"
Suddenly—
Hwaat!
A sour stench drifted from the side.
"Ugh, what is that smell…"
Turning his head, he saw a red-nosed old man in shabby clothes.
Who is this? Rudolph?
When did he appear?
"Great Hero Bong?"
"… Yes?"
"Do not worry. This Wine Immortal shall deal with the Magic Immortal."
"Ah—yes, yes."
Wine Immortal.
Definitely an immortal.
"What an alcohol smell…"
As if he'd climbed out of a liquor jar.
His techniques were the same.
He made it rain—
but it was all alcohol.
"Is he trying to get the Magic Immortal drunk and subdue him?"
Hmm.
Somehow, this was unsettling.
It was fortunate that Transcendent Summon had succeeded, but—
how could one rest easy trusting a drunkard?
Lord Wine Immortal.
Can you really do this?
You look extremely drunk right now.
Maybe at least use drunken boxing—
Suddenly!
Papapapapapapap!
Hundreds of yellow talisman papers scattered across the sky.
Huh?
Talismans.
"… Princess?"
Did our princess revive and come back?
Ah!
As expected of the supreme shaman.
"I knew it."
She may look like a high school girl, but she's the strongest stern supreme shaman.
Feeling delighted, he turned around—
"Cough, cough. Greetings! Great Hero Bong!"
Another immortal?
"I am the Talisman Immortal, Danju. Put your worries aside. It will be over shortly."
"Ah!"
No idea how this happened, but another immortal joined in.
Two versus one.
Our side had more now.
The Magic Immortal closed his mouth and returned to his true form.
Wooooong!
His aura grew even more violent.
The summoned ones gathered around Juhyeok.
The Mad Demon, Crackerus, Mackenzie, Captain Bae—
all of them looked utterly exhausted.
Except Kosak.
Did he run around like Juhyeok too?
"I kept following Summoner Bong, just in case I'd need to get eaten in his place."
Oh dear.
Kosak—
that almost brings tears to my eyes.
But still—
"Can we win?"
"Cough… from what this old man sees, it's difficult. The Magic Immortal is on a different level from ordinary immortals."
"… "
It did look that way.
Even with two immortals joining, the situation was unfavorable.
Once the Magic Immortal seriously responded, the Wine Immortal's rain evaporated before it could fall, and Danju's talismans couldn't even get close.
"Should we all join in too—"
Just then!
Chalalalalalak!
Petals scattered across the entire Apostate headquarters.
Plum blossoms.
The air filled with a deep plum fragrance.
"Oh!"
"Ohhh!"
"Ooooooh!"
"Three! All three are here!"
"With three immortals, it's doable."
"And one of them even uses Plum Blossom Swordsmanship."
A third arrival.
And a sword-wielding immortal.
Though not the Sword Immortal himself—
Still—
"… This is strange."
The summon failed, didn't it?
So how did they all come out?
Either way, it was now three versus one.
There was hope.
"Shall we sit down and watch?"
"Hmm, shall we? I've been running so much my legs hurt—"
…
Suddenly!
"Die!"
"Kuhak!"
The Plum Blossom Immortal was blasted away at light speed by the Magic Immortal's attack.
Watching that, the Wine Immortal and Danju shouted insults.
"See, see? I knew it. Always yapping about plum blossoms and poetry—what? You ascended by the sword and can't even wield it properly?"
"Khk, still better than a drunkard. Did you throw a drinking party? Die of acute alcohol poisoning while drinking, you boozehound!"
"What do you want me to do? This is all I can do!"
"And are you doing well, Danju? Just tossing paper around? Why not fold a plane and throw that instead?"
Haah…
Allies fighting among themselves.
"… Should we bail?"
"No."
We can't do that.
Once more, the Immortal Realm.
The fissure was still open.
Then, from far away, came a roar as if the air itself were being torn apart.
Siiiiiing!
Papapapapap!
Two objects flew through the sky.
One was a beautifully designed car that inspired admiration at first glance.
The other was a monkey riding on clouds.
Pop!
Screeeech!
"Hey! Didn't I tell you not to overtake Wingwing?"
"No, deliveries are piling up—why do you keep interfering? I'm flying for my livelihood, while you, Sword Immortal, live a cushy life—"
"Shut up! It's a race. You start a hundred meters back."
"I said I'm not racing! Stop bothering me—huh?"
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven stopped mid-sentence, staring somewhere.
"What? What are you looking at?"
"Over there…"
The Sword Immortal followed his gaze.
"… Damn!"
A fissure?
"Who made that?"
"How would I know."
This is strange.
Could it be…?
"Are you saying some other immortal bastard besides me obtained the qualifications of a dimensional traveler?"
"That's highly likely."
A chill ran down the Sword Immortal's spine.
This was unsettling.
Terrifying.
This was bad—very bad.
His unrivaled status as a dimensional traveler was about to be shaken.
How much profit had he milked from that position all this time?
Another one appeared?
Then the value of auction-house memberships would drop.
"Damn it! Any Tom, Dick, or Harry—huh?—becomes a dimensional traveler, and who the hell is supposed to guard the Immortal Realm then?"
This was no time to hesitate.
He had to go in and see.
He was curious what kind of guy it was too.
"Monkey! Follow me! Let's go!"
Wiiiiing!
The Sword Immortal drove his levitating supercar straight into the fissure.
Swoosh!
The Great Sage scratched his head, then—
Papapapapapap!
Mounted his somersault cloud and entered the fissure as well.
After the two disappeared, Guigok appeared before the fissure.
He had sensed something suspicious and come over.
"I knew it."
Guigok was the only immortal who had indirectly experienced the Magic Immortal's presence recently.
So the moment he faced the aura flowing out of the fissure—
"It's the Magic Immortal."
He understood immediately.
No doubt about it.
Cross that threshold, and he would meet the Magic Immortal.
"He wouldn't have opened this on purpose."
Then?
"Great Hero Bong, I suppose."
Who else could open such a fissure?
You could count them on one hand.
"I need to gather everyone."
Guigok took out a bundle of fireworks he had stored in infinite space, lit the fuse—
Shuuuuut!
Pueong! Bang-bang-bang!
The explosions echoed through the Immortal Realm.
Then immortals came rushing in.
"Guigok, throwing a festival?"
"If you called us out of boredom, I'll kill you with my own—oh my! What's that?"
"… A fissure?"
"Did that Sword Immortal bastard go to the dimensional auction house again?"
Guigok clapped his hands and said,
"Alright, everyone, go through here. You'll see a familiar face."
"Who? … Dokseon? Not happy to see him."
"Ugh, I'm not going. If I see Dokseon, tell him I wasn't there."
"No, not Dokseon."
"Then who?"
Guigok spoke with a serious expression.
"The Magic Immortal."
The immortals were startled.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Eh?"
"The Magic Immortal? Are you sure?"
Guigok nodded.
"Yeah. Go in and beat the shit out of him."
"You're not going?"
"I'm heading to Taishang Laojun to borrow the Purple-Golden Gourd."
"Ah!"
"Got it. Let's go catch the Magic Immortal."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The immortals hurled themselves toward the fissure.
One after another, they entered.
…
The Apostates' headquarters.
The Magic Immortal sneered.
Three immortals, struggling.
Devouring them was only a matter of time.
Eating these wouldn't cause side effects.
They were immortals like him, after all—full of immortal energy.
How long had he waited for a day like this?
One by one, he would eat them.
They would become one with him.
And then that human Heavenly Peach too.
"Maehwa! Don't retreat—fight! Hurry! I even attached talismans to you!"
"Fuck, those talismans don't work at all!"
"Wine Immortal? What are you doing, drinking again?"
"I need to replenish my energy. I get stronger the more drunk I am."
"Bullshit! You can't even stand straight!"
Juhyeok was uneasy.
Even with three immortals ganging up, it was still difficult.
They were being pushed back more and more.
Boom!
Hwaaaat!
Pabababat!
What now?
This was going completely wrong.
But he couldn't run.
If they disappeared, what about the immortals?
"This won't do. I'm joining in."
"P-please endure. Even this old man cannot approach."
"Preserve your body. This is dangerous. You'll get eaten if you go."
"No."
The summoned ones tried to stop him.
He couldn't just stand still.
He had to contribute even a little.
"With the Judge's Hammer…"
This hammer had never disappointed him.
If he threw it from afar, it should be fine.
"Just one hit."
Step by step, carefully.
Juhyeok approached—
That was when it happened.
Wiiiiing!
Ssshaaaak!
"Huh?"
A sleek supercar streaked across the sky.
"Why is that here…?"
The car charged in without hesitation.
Kwakwakwakwa!
It barged straight into the three-versus-one battlefield—
Baaang!
And slammed directly into the Magic Immortal floating in midair.
"… Keck!"
Boom!
The Magic Immortal and the supercar crashed down together.
The immortals cheered.
"It's Sudden-Acceleration Sword Immortal!"
"It's Unlicensed Sword Immortal!"
"It's Hit-and-Run Sword Immortal!"
The supercar was completely wrecked.
Crrrunch!
The Sword Immortal pried open the crumpled frame and stepped out.
"Drowsy driving. My mistake."
In an instant—
Wooooong!
Dark clouds gathered.
The air grew heavy.
Rrrrumble—the ground split apart.
The Magic Immortal, who had fallen with the supercar, slowly rose back into the air.
Behind him appeared the terrifying visage of a demon.
The surging presence of the Magic Immortal.
Even the Sword Immortal's expression turned grave.
"What the hell has that bastard been up to, to get this strong?"
"How would I know?"
"Sword Immortal, can even you not handle him?"
"Who knows."
The Magic Immortal went mad with rage.
"I'll kill you, then devour you. Every last one—"
But—
Ssshaaaak!
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven appeared on his somersault cloud,
charging like a medieval knight in a mounted joust,
wielding his massive iron pillar, the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
"What now—"
Baaam!
"Keck!"
Kwakwabang!
Another head-on collision sent the Magic Immortal flying.
"Stone monkey!"
"Lance-charging cloud-delivery guy!"
"Delivery fees double from today!"
Juhyeok stared at them blankly.
The Sword Immortal and the Great Sage waved at him.
"Oh, yes. Long time no see."
Is this the Immortal Realm now?
Where did you all come from?
"S-summoner Bong, over there."
Juhyeok followed where Kosak pointed.
"Ah!"
Only then did he see it.
The fissure he had opened.
At first it was just a hairline crack, but now it was big enough for a car to pass through.
And that wasn't all.
Swoosh!
Another immortal emerged.
Swoosh! Two more. Swoosh! Three more.
Then—
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swooshswoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Endlessly, countless times.
"There he is!"
"Magic Immortal bastard, you picked the wrong day!"
"Kill him!"
"Immortals don't die easily."
"Then beat him until he almost does!"
"Oh! It's Great Hero Bong!"
"Where? Ah! Greetings!"
"G-golden goblin—no, Great Hero Bong, see you later!"
"Don't go anywhere!"
"You must stay right there!"
"Let's catch the Magic Immortal and get a reward from Great Hero Bong!"
"I'll catch him first!"
At a rough count, more than a hundred.
Rumble—!
The immortals rushed in with blazing eyes.
The Magic Immortal stood stunned, dumbfounded by the swarm of immortals.
No matter how much higher his rank had risen by devouring a demon god,
there was no way he could handle numbers like this.
The most dangerous were the Sword Immortal and the Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
Their martial power was on a completely different level.
The Sword Immortal was the oldest veteran in the Immortal Realm.
His sword could even cleave divinity itself.
Swoong! Swoong! Swoong!
Thousands of intangible swords floated in the sky.
The Great Sage was no different.
People called him a stone monkey, a stone monkey—but when he was enraged,
how many could truly stop him?
Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hundreds of thousands of golden monkey clones spread across the ground.
Winning was impossible.
There was nowhere to run.
"… Fuck!"
At last, the Magic Immortal made his decision.
Sssht!
From the sleeve of his subspace, he pulled something out and raised it overhead.
A massive cylindrical metal object.
Over ten meters long.
The Magic Immortal grinned viciously.
"Hehehe, let's die together. I'll annihilate the world with a 500-megaton hydrogen bomb. You, and me!"
What?!
Russia's Tsar Bomba was 50 megatons.
A 500-megaton hydrogen bomb was ten times that.
Was this from Earth Prime?
"Nuclear?"
"A nuke?"
"A nuke?!"
"How the hell did he—?"
The immortals shouted urgently.
"Magic Immortal, calm down!"
"Calm my ass!"
"We'll all die like this!!!"
"That's why I took it out."
A hair-trigger crisis.
Kosak sidled up and whispered.
"Summoner Bong, we gotta run. Enter the White Tower."
Hoo…
"We're not fully human anyway, right? Half human, half ghost. Even if we all die here, we revive in 100 days. As long as Summoner Bong lives, it's fine."
I know, but—
"And don't worry about the immortals. Aren't they immortal?"
Are they, really?
Would they survive a blast ten times stronger than Tsar Bomba?
No one knew.
Not a single immortal had ever been hit by a nuclear weapon.
A first in all history.
Just because they're immortals, they won't die?
How can anyone be sure?
If it actually detonated, nothing would remain.
Even souls would be annihilated.
"There has to be a way…"
At that moment!
Rajiks was clutching Juhyeok's pant leg, trembling violently.
"Hm."
His dimensional lackey.
Dimensional demolitionist.
Dimensional thief.
Juhyeok looked at him quietly, then grabbed Rajiks's hand tightly.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Rajiks."
"Huh?"
"Steal that."
At the same time, like throwing a shot put, he spun three times and let go.
Whirrrl!
"Huhheeeeee—"
Ssshaaaak!!!
Rajiks shot off like a bullet.
"Hooooeeeeeng!!!"
He didn't even need to reach the Magic Immortal.
Remote storage was possible.
The Magic Immortal saw the furball flying toward him.
He did nothing—just stared blankly.
"What is that?"
Why didn't he react?
Because it was harmless.
A pitiful little furball.
What could that thing possibly do?
"Huhek!"
Thus, without any interference, Rajiks reached out—
Sssht!
The 500-megaton hydrogen bomb vanished in an instant.
The immortals erupted in cheers.
"It's Young Hero Ra!!!"
"Young Hero Ra did it!!!"
"He's a hundred times better than the Sword Immortal and the stone monkey!!!"
"Hoee!"
Taeng!
Rajiks did a somersault in midair and flashed a V-sign with his short fingers.
Meanwhile—
The Magic Immortal floated there, utterly dumbfounded.
"Uh… uh…"
In that instant—
Wooooong!
Tsparararak!
A massive iron pillar—the Ruyi Jingu Bang—came crashing down toward the Magic Immortal's head.
Crack!
He slammed into the ground, half-buried.
The Sword Immortal's thousands of intangible swords, waiting above, struck next.
Pipipit! Pitpit!
Pupupuk! Pukpuk!
The Magic Immortal turned into a pincushion.
"Get him!"
The immortals charged all at once.
Kwak! Krajik! Puuk! Kwabang! Pasa-sak! Serk! Serk-rk!
The Magic Immortal could only take it.
His mind was in chaos.
Why wouldn't anything work?
Predation, combat, escape—
even nuclear self-destruction.
Nothing worked.
Every time, he was stopped.
And all of it—
was because of that summoner from Earth No. 1001.