Chapter 93: Jungle

  The unconscious devil from the 64th dimension had short, soot-colored hair and a low-set chin.

  His spiritual organ was slowly emitting small amounts of energy, which then dissipated into the environment. Based on everything he had seen so far, Justinian estimated that this was a foundation of average quality. He had seen similar ones among the Sarmatians who associated with Rudnicki—competent, but hardly standing out from the rest.

  Next, he examined the bow, which had become useless the moment the devil lost consciousness. The spiritual bowstring, visible during the attack, had now completely vanished.

  'It seems that in the 64th dimension, Foundation Stabilization cultivators also hold a fairly high status.'

  Justinian didn't know what the weapon was made of, but the bow’s limbs had a pleasing, translucent luster. Additionally, it was decorated with inlays of animal bone that felt precious to the touch, depicting several symbols.

  His gaze finally came to rest on one of them, positioned at the very top: three long fingers with great claws, elegantly carved.

  'Three lines...'

  The symbolism was obvious, but he had no intention of looking into it. Religious schisms in Hell were not his problem.

  He tossed the bow aside near the unconscious devil and headed back into the jungle. It was then that a whisper echoed in his ear.

  "Fantastic, dear Justinian. You are finally combating the wretched injustice of this world on your own initiative!"

  Justinian gave a wry smile upon hearing Totius.

  "I simply want to better understand the combat capabilities of other dimensions. If the Recategorization War actually happens, we’ll be fighting them sooner or later."

  However, his practical argument failed to move the spirit—a seasoned debater and self-proclaimed philo-socio-meta-physico-ecologist.

  "Destiny leads the willing, but drags the unwilling. Even if you don't realize it, you are still acting in accordance with its plans."

  With that, he began a lecture on how everything—regardless of intent—occurs according to the will of the Great Order and ultimately leads to the establishment of Justice. Justinian was initially a bit indignant that the spirit claimed to know his motivations better than he did, and he fully intended to explain exactly how wrong he was.

  Unfortunately, for the next 30 minutes, Totius spoke with such fervor that he didn't allow himself to be interrupted for even a second. Consequently, the ambitious plans of the irritated Grim Judge went up in smoke.

  Justinian could only shake his head.

  'Better to ignore his rambling and focus on training.'

  Leaping between the towering trees of the jungle, he covered vast distances in a short amount of time. Simultaneously, he remained on high alert, attempting to scout for even the smallest fluctuations in energy within a radius of several kilometers.

  As he delved deeper into the unknown territory, a look of visible confusion finally crossed his face.

  Despite traveling for a long time, he hadn't encountered a single animal. It seemed to him that far off, at the very edge of his cultivation sense, beasts would begin to flee the moment they felt even a shred of his energy.

  Focused on his surroundings, he nearly jumped when a strange whisper echoed in his mind.

  "...mors sola..."

  His hand immediately flew to the hilt of his saber, Imperfection. Shockingly, however, there was no trace of any living being in the vicinity.

  His palms began to sweat, and his thoughts drifted to Greedius's disk, which he had carried with him since receiving it from Rudnicki. Finally, he turned to the spirit dwelling within his pipe.

  "Did you hear that?"

  Totius slowly wove his smoke around the immediate area. A look of concern appeared on his face as, realizing the gravity of the situation, he replied:

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  "I have no idea what you are talking about."

  On the magnificent arena towering over the city—a grand symbol of the 60th dimension—the atmosphere was quite unusual. Contrary to the expectations of games and rivers of spilled blood, surprisingly little was happening in the competition.

  The biggest surprise remained the fact that clashes between adepts almost never occurred. Devils from various dimensions encountered opponents in the jungle, but for some reason, they avoided combat.

  Paradoxically, this behavior caused a very controversial participant to gain popularity. Until recently, no one had heard of him; now, it was hard to remain indifferent to him.

  She-devils sighed dreamily upon seeing him, while the male devils turned their noses up in irritation, pointedly looking the other way.

  It was none other than Justinian, who over the course of the day had managed to engage in several skirmishes—which was still the greatest feat of this lackluster competition. Some loved him; others hated him.

  Quite unexpectedly, he became a hero to the devil children, who, bored by the long day, found some entertainment whenever he appeared on the screen.

  This unusual situation did not come without consequences. The devils, outraged by the turn of events and feeling surrounded by enemies on all sides, decided to counteract with all their inherent deviousness.

  That same day, exchanging discreet glances, they formed a sort of informal Anti-Justinian League. Every time the Grim Judge appeared on the crystals, they immediately began a chorus of terrible whistling to drown out any sighs from the she-devils.

  "66th Dimension, go home!"

  "Svarticus is the best!"

  "60th Hell is for devils only!"

  Similar shouts rang across the arena without any sense of shame, much to the indignation of those being shouted down. It all only led to greater chaos, and soon, truly no one could maintain control over it.

  Mikromegas certainly had no intention of trying; staring at the large crystal transmitting the adepts' struggles, he seemed not to notice the rest of the world.

  Only as time passed did the situation begin to settle, mainly due to the arena emptying out—after all, the vast majority were not cultivators and needed sleep, much like humans.

  As the stands thinned out, the first signs of night appeared in the sky of the 60th dimension.

  When it began to grow dark, Justinian was resting, having spent the previous hours fighting and searching for the "inspiration" Mikromegas had mentioned in the jungle. What he had managed to notice was how extraordinary the planet's aura was regarding energy recovery.

  Something that would take an hour of rest in his own dimension was a matter of mere minutes here. He also noticed a certain nuance.

  'The life aura isn't equally strong in all places.'

  He hadn't yet observed the cause, but from what he could tell, the dead earth he had seen upon arrival had not reappeared on the horizon. The strange whisper from earlier had surfaced in his mind a few more times, though it wasn't as clear as it had been the first time.

  Soon he stood up, sensing changes in the area he was monitoring.

  'Three individuals at the second level of Foundation Stabilization, one at the third?'

  He hesitated for a moment. Their energy signature was quite strange, so he didn't know if it was a trap. Ultimately, however, he decided to act.

  With quick leaps between the branches of the giant trees of the dark jungle, he drew close enough to observe from a distance—and immediately froze.

  'Those aren't other adepts!'

  Strange, demonic creatures with broad dog heads and a single eye traversed the jungle at a height similar to his. Their fur-covered bodies were larger than ordinary dogs or wolves, stretching nearly two meters.

  The clumsy way they moved on two legs sent shivers down his spine, and the energy radiating from them gave their twisted jaws a terrifying appearance.

  Remaining silent on his branch, Justinian watched as these ghostly creatures looked around the area, sniffing with their long noses.

  'What the hell are these things?'

  He had never heard of anything like them, not only since moving to Hell but also during the days of the Kingdom of Peace. He decided to withdraw from the area as soon as they disappeared.

  However, a problem arose.

  As soon as the beasts closed within about ten meters, the strongest of them—radiating third-level Foundation Stabilization energy—began twitching its great dog nose. From that moment, Justinian expected an attack, but the speed with which it occurred still took him by surprise!

  It took the creatures only a single leap to change their trajectory and dynamically scatter into three groups!

  The first group, consisting of two second-level enemies, attacked first with significantly more agility than the devils Justinian had encountered in the jungle earlier. The Grim Judge parried their blows with slight difficulty, just as another beast—also second-level—appeared right behind him.

  "Dammit!"

  Due to its strange fighting style, it managed to land an attack that partially caught him off guard, cutting superficially across his upper ribs. He immediately countered with a powerful kick that instantly knocked the creature off the branch they were fighting on.

  Seeing that he couldn't afford a single lapse in attention, Justinian immediately jumped to another branch, delaying the confrontation with the strongest beast of the pack. His right hand began to shimmer with a matte luster as he concentrated energy for a technique strike.

  Meanwhile, his opponent leaped onto the opposite branch, preparing its own attack. Events unfolded at lightning speed, and soon both were cutting through the air to strike!

  The moment their blows collided, a powerful shockwave was created, shaking the nearby trees! The strange third-level beast howled in pain, still burning with bloodlust, but Justinian was no longer thinking about the fight at all.

  At the moment of the attack, he had seen something that shook him no less than the sight of these monsters. Chills ran down his spine as he used his Intent strike on the two weaker beasts and immediately began to retreat!

  'What is this cursed forest?!'

  Right after he had summoned his Iron Hand of Law and clashed with the beast, he had seen something on the surrounding branches of the giant trees.

  Dozens of spectral devils with rotting-green skin were watching their fight with intense greed—as if they envied them life itself.

  And every single one of those devils wore the characteristic attire of Mikromegas's delegation.