Standing in the sky above, Yu Jitae gazed down.
Kaeul was dashing off in the distance. Jumping through space, she flew with hurried steps towards the dimensional tunnel. Yu Jitae killed his senses to the limit and followed her from behind.
There once was a gold hatchling.
Luna.
In every iteration, her name was different but they were all soft-hearted.
Ieyata G.D.
Their lives were different but she always crumbled before hardship.
Baby Yellow.
A dragon that ended all those lives with a suicide.
Now, she had become that golden-haired girl hurriedly racing off into a distance.
After the baby chicken urgently left them, Kaeul must have contemplated her life during the 2 months of time she had spent outside.
He didn’t interfere with that process. People needed time to mature and also had to answer some questions themselves.
The conclusion Kaeul drew from that was like the following.
– I am useless.
Kaeul failed at everything she did, so she called herself useless.
– Stupid.
Nothing she did worked and she endlessly worried about strange things. That was why the word she used to describe herself was ‘stupid’.
– My willpower is so weak that I just can’t endure it anymore…
And weak-minded.
Those were the reasons for failure that she had discovered from herself.
However…
Is Kaeul really useless, stupid and weak-minded?
The Regressor thought otherwise.
Kaeul was not useless.
She had various great talents that no-one else had. Compared to everything the other three had achieved in their 20 years of time on Earth, her achievements were incomparably greater.
Kaeul was not stupid.
She was just more immature and delicate than other kids, that she didn’t yet know what suited her the best.
‘I just can’t endure it anymore,’ is something that can only be said after trying to endure it as hard as one could.
Compared to the child who had shivered from endless hatred and hostility, who buried her face into a blanket and cried throughout the night, who later relied on drugs to endure it,
‘Weak-minded’ was a debatable expression to use for her current self.
Then why was it that Kaeul had crumbled to this extent?
The one and only downside that this innocently kind girl had was that she had the habit of looking for the reason behind every unfortunate event in the world from herself.
– I’m, just a pathetic kid…
– Just a kid that can’t do anything…
Right. Unfortunately, Kaeul had already learned powerlessness.
That was why Yu Jitae hadn’t said anything to Kaeul when she was crying and voicing her feelings. Things had already gone too far for simple words to solve the problem.
What Kaeul really needed wasn’t a consolation made of hundreds of words, but one full experience. And it was for that one full experience that Yu Jitae had made this plan.
He organised the entire world [Anum] that had been destroyed in other iterations, that was now supposed to head into ruin, into a scene. In that pre-organised scene, Kaeul without knowing that it was a planned situation, would dive into it.
Since it will be a real battle, things might not go the way he wanted it to at times, and that was why Yu Jitae followed Kaeul and also headed towards the dimensional tunnel.
There was no room for any problem.
What he was about to do now was undo the shackles that were binding her feet.
It will shake Kaeul’s life from its core and it will change her values.
From now, in alignment with Yu Jitae’s strategy,
Yu Kaeul will become the [Guardian Deity] of Anum.
***
Kaeul ran.
She raced towards the restricted area, towards the interdimensional fissure.
There was nothing else in Kaeul’s mind but the fact that Chirpy was in danger and that she had to go save it. In fact, she was so out of it, that she couldn’t even judge whether that was indeed going through her mind or not.
What am I doing right now…?
She was moving on an impulse without any certainty. Because of that, Kaeul had to stop in front of the vertical fissure for a bit because it was clearly visible that the fissure was about to close any time soon.
If she went now and things were to go south, she might never be able to return.
“Uhh, umm… What is, someone like me going to even do there…”
Kaeul wondered but that was when a fierce crisis was perceived through the [Reverse Scale]. As if possessed by a ghost, Kaeul unknowingly moved her body. It was similar to how she had urgently raced out of the house.
Kaeul had to save the baby chicken.
***
Having a height of 7,000 metres, it was as wide as a mountain range. A type of enormous tree that existed across various dimensions that was so large that one couldn’t catch its entire shape with one glance.
[World Tree]
All sorts of beastmen and spirit beasts that showed characteristics of land animals like dogs, cats, monkeys, rabbits, elephants and giraffes and birds built their houses on the tree and formed a society of their own.
It was a paradise for thousands of spirit beasts.
Living there were certain ‘birdmen’.
They resembled humans in appearance and walked on two feet but had large wings attached to their arms. In silence, they watched their egg that was the size of an ostrich egg. The white egg with blue dots had been shaking left and right since yesterday – the baby inside was moving.
Both day and night, the parent birdmen looked after their egg. Worried that it might accidentally fall, the mother stayed at home to watch over it while the father flew more diligently to hunt for the mother who was unable to leave on a hunt.
The egg that had come out onto the world 3 months ago, was about to let something else out onto the world.
From the side, young birdmen flickered their eyes while staring at their parents, waiting for their younger sibling to come out. The siblings were the ones that had decided on the name of their younger sibling, by putting together the likes of light, flower, rainbow, tree and wind which were close yet ever so precious.
Crack–
It was then. A crack appeared on the egg. Tap tap. The crack widened with each tap. One of the young birdmen that was making a fuss got smacked on the back of their head. As they nervously waited, a loud crack echoed across as a very tiny head of a birdman popped out of the egg, wearing a broken piece of the egg on top of its head like a cap.
It was the birth of a new life. In that wondrous instant, the young birdmen that now became older brothers and older sisters received the baby birdman from their parents.
Carefully, they hugged it as the tiny life faintly moved.
It was then.
Kwaanng–!
A loud thud was heard from outside. Surprised, the father birdman opened the curtain.
Outside the protective barrier that was safeguarding the World Tree were black things covering the entire sky. The father birdman felt his blood racing down.
They were King Bees.
The thud had been the result of the disgusting plunderers throwing their bodies towards the barrier with their stings in an attempt to break it. Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! They accelerated down from hundreds metres away and stabbed as hard as they could. The bees would turn into a paste upon being unable to break the barrier due to the speed but that did not dissuade the greedy plunderers from sacrificing their bodies. Kwang! Kwang! Kwaaang!
“Ahhhk!”
“Hukk…!”
The young birdmen screamed out loud. The surreal scene of bees crushing their bodies in an attempt to break the barrier appeared like a scene directly from hell.
No matter what dimension it was, relationships were always quite similar in form. The adults pacified the startled children.
“Kids. Calm down. It’s fine. The protective barrier will not break that easily…!”
“Dear!”
“It’s okay! Now, follow your mother and go!”
The father birdman was a soldier. As he hurriedly calmed the kids and tried to let them leave through the back door, one of the young birdmen asked, ‘Then what about you daddy?’
“I’ll…”
He could not continue. A black shadow appeared over the young birdman.
The father birdman gazed into a distance and reached the source of the shadow. His eyes wavered from the unrealistic thing in front of his eyes.
“Hukk! What is that thingggg!”
People screamed outside.
Outside the protective barrier was an entity that was at least 20 times bigger than the rest. The King Bee, [Centurion], that was as big as a whale revealed itself. Pushing out its butt and raising its thorn that was as huge as an elephant, it buzzed its wings in descent.
In that moment, the father birdman hugged the children in fright and quickly jumped to the wall outside the house for a cover with the mother birdman.
And,
Kwaaannnng–!
A thunderous noise shook the heavens and the earths.
The protective barrier cracked open. The aftershock swayed the tree as countless beastmen and spirit beasts were flung off the tree and rolled on the ground.
“Ukk!”
The father birdman quickly raised his head and looked around before checking the states of his kids, his wife and the baby.
Oh no!
He couldn’t see one of the young birdmen…
“Run!”
“Run away! Run until the military gets here!”
The beastmen society had a military.
Before long, beastmen riding huge flying spirit beasts came flying out as the King Bees poked their heads into the crack in the barrier to fly in. The beastmen soldiers covered the crack so that the enemy would not be able to enter too deep.
They collided.
The beastmen that collided with the King Bees fell. The beastmen whose heads got struck died while the King Bees that were stabbed by mana-infused cold weapons also exploded and died.
Countless arrows were shot towards them but even then, one of the King Bees managed to squeeze through the siege.
Its hexagonal eyes gazed down at the large tree, looking for an easy target.
Soon, the King Bee found a prey that was smaller than the rest, who was stuck on a branch by itself after being separated from its group.
Vuuung…
Hearing those ominous buzzing sounds, the young birdman widened his eyes. The King Bee was flying towards him.
“H, help me! Daddy! Mommy!!”
As the tough outer shells of the bee closed in; as the tiny hairs on its body became vividly visible to the naked eye, the birdman screamed, feeling like he was seeing a devil from hell. The young birdman froze stiff next to the tree as fear reigned over its heart. It could not even scream anymore.
It’s coming.
“H, help…”
It’s coming.
It’s coming!
He tightly closed his eyes.
That was when a bright ray of light flew across. A lightning strike as bright as the sun sparked across. It lashed like a whip and removed the entire head of the King Bee.
Kwagwagwagwang–!
It was so fast that the sound came after the strike. The flying King Bee fell towards the ground as the astonished young birdman turned its gaze towards the sky.
Gold hair was fluttering in the air.
Standing there was a female human.
The woman looked at him, seemingly trying to judge whether he was injured or not. The moment she judged that he was fine, she immediately threw her body further into the air and vanished as a spark of light.
*
With an anxious gaze, Kaeul looked at the large tree and the chaotic battlefield. There were a total of 3 holes in the protective barrier. Three [Centurion] King Bees had smashed into the barrier from 3 directions to form holes on the barrier.
Kaeul had to find the baby chicken first.
But due to the mix of all sorts of auras, she could not sense the specific direction of the Reverse Scale. In addition, the scent of the chaotically running spirit beasts also messed with her senses.
He has to be somewhere nearby!
“Chirpy!”
Kaeul looked for the baby chicken. Chirpy was not above the branches, nor was he underneath a large leaf.
“Chirpy!”
She checked the holes that were on the tree. Despite checking roughly twenty of them, the baby chicken wasn’t in any of them.
That was when Kaeul found a yellow furry ball walking with staggering steps on a branch.
“Chirpy…!?”
Surprised, Kaeul quickly dashed forward and called out the baby chicken’s name but noticed the size of the baby chicken after getting closer to it. The spirit beast in front of her was slightly smaller than the spirit beast, Chirpy.
“Hey! You over there! Run away immediately!”
That was when a birdman resembling a rooster shouted with a spear in hand.
“Ah, don’t worry about me…!”
“Nn? A human…!? Anyway, you must evacuate right now! The Queen Bee is flying towards us right now–!!”
“What?”
“The Queen Bee! The Queen! The lord of King Bees is on its way! It must be trying to scorch this entire tree to make this its new home!”
“I, I have…!”
“Wait! We are running very short on time! The Queen Bee shoots flames and poison! We must head towards the top! If we’re in a low area like this, we will all die to the poisonous fog!”
The birdman’s voice was filled with fear and Kaeul’s face as she listened to its words also turned pale. A poisonous fog… if that were to spread, Chirpy wouldn’t be fine either.
She had to immediately find the direction. She had to find where the baby chicken was as quickly as possible but she had no idea where it could possibly be at.
“Hurry up! Now!”
“Ah, w, wait… I have a place to go to…!”
“And where is that!”
“I, it’s…”
While being pulled away by the birdman, Kaeul who had no experience of shaking off someone’s arm, had no idea how much power she should put into her arm. She was starting to feel irritated from all the frustration when a sudden message floated inside her head.
<The Authority, [Keeper of the Clock (SSS+)] gazes down at you.>
Kaeul noticed the bracelet around her wrist vibrate. Isn’t this the bracelet ahjussi put on her wrist when she was lying on the bed?
What exactly is happening to this watch right now…?
That was when more shocking words rang inside her head.
<The Authority, [Keeper of the Clock (SSS+)] suggests the direction of the target, [Spirit Beast].>
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