Chapter 10 : The Echoes of Corruption

And while the serpent remained utterly incapable of moving, I dove straight into the depths of its consciousness.

Its memories began unfolding before me.

At first…

There was nothing but noise.

Benmleet… Beneymet… Mensenmesk…

Benmaz… Tebnem… Tebsen… Msenmes…

Fragments without meaning.

Overlapping, distorted voices crossed over one another until they lost every shape the mind could grasp.

Then they multiplied.

Countless voices merged together, becoming a vast chorus of whispers that scraped against the mind and toyed with the senses.

They tempted me with power.

With unknown secrets…

Secrets so alluring that resisting them was almost impossible.

Familiar.

Far too familiar.

After all, I had dealt with these voices for five thousand years.

Corruption.

I frowned.

As irritating as it was, this was hardly something beyond my ability to handle.

I was an expert at dealing with it.

I ventured deeper into the serpent's spiritual domain.

For a very long time, I had divided my soul into five distinct layers, each serving its own purpose.

The uppermost layer contained a miniature version of myself, sitting cross-legged.

Floating above its head was a glowing spherical object.

That stone.

That was the very same stone that had led me to this world.

The second layer was different.

Five humanoid figures stood within it.

Two women.

Three men.

And among them, one figure stood out immediately.

A beautiful woman with long white hair and blue eyes, two black horns protruding from her head.

"Liz."

Two of the five figures were glowing, while the remaining three appeared dim, almost like lifeless statues.

And yet, the light in their eyes had not gone out.

It was as though they were merely asleep.

The third layer was completely different.

Hundreds of millions of tiny, glowing souls spread through the darkness, shining like stars.

Between them stretched an enormous network, weaving each soul together and connecting it to countless others.

These were the souls of every living being on the continent.

And through that stone, the souls were connected to my spiritual domain, forming the foundation upon which the entire network rested.

The network's primary purpose was to support my soul on its path toward a higher realm, while simultaneously protecting me from becoming lost in the void or slipping into corruption.

But there was something strangely familiar about the structure of the network itself.

So…

I decided to work on it a little as a side project.

And thus, something rather interesting was born.

A communication network.

The Internet, if you will.

Except it didn't require Wi-Fi, subscriptions, or any kind of payment.

Just a free network that allowed people to communicate and chat, as well as publish and exchange news, much like what humans had known in the modern era.

The method was different, of course.

But the principle was surprisingly similar.

And it became extremely popular.

Every creature that had sworn loyalty to me could access the network.

To them, it appeared as a blue screen visible only to themselves—unless they deliberately chose to show it to those around them.

I moved on to the fourth layer.

It was filled with an utterly incomprehensible number of souls.

Billions.

Perhaps more.

Yet they all shared one distinctive characteristic that clearly separated them from the souls in the third layer.

They were pale.

The light of life was absent from their eyes.

And among them…

Some souls had already been stained by tiny patches of black.

The souls of the dead.

Every soul that departed from the world was sent here.

And the fourth layer was the most important of them all.

It was the foundation upon which this entire place existed.

Among those countless pale souls…

A serpent appeared.

Its soul was stained completely black.

Black as ink.

The serpent looked around in confusion, fear obvious in its eyes.

It tried to move.

It couldn't.

It remained frozen in place.

Then, after a few moments…

Billions of pale souls slowly turned their heads.

And stared at it.

Even some of the stronger souls began looking its way.

Among them were many whose strength was no less than its own.

The serpent had no idea how to express what was surging through its mind.

If it had been capable of asking a question, it would have screamed with everything it had:

WHERE THE HELL AM I?!

Unfortunately…

It couldn't even ask.

The souls attacked.

They swarmed it from every direction, pouncing upon its body and tearing it apart.

The serpent didn't even have time to scream.

Its black soul shattered into countless fragments.

But as its soul began to fade and disintegrate…

The black corruption moved.

As though it possessed a life of its own.

The darkness seeped into the pale souls that had torn the serpent apart.

One after another…

They began turning black.

The souls that had only just been corrupted appeared to lose their minds.

They rampaged wildly, attacking everything around them without distinction.

But before they could even move—

They froze.

Then…

They began falling downward.

Toward the fifth layer.

There…

I found the most corrupted souls.

The darkest of them all.

They were completely still, bound tightly in place.

They had borne the corruption in place of their ruler, preventing it from ever reaching him.

Protecting him from slipping into madness.

And where the serpent's soul had once been…

I found fragments of it.

They looked as though they had been purified of the corruption, their color restored to a pale, lifeless shade.

I reached out and grasped the fragments of its soul.

Without hesitation, I began examining the serpent's memories, discarding the useless fragments one layer at a time.

I continued searching.

Not this.

Nor this.

…

Ah.

There it is.

The scattered fragments finally aligned.

The world around me faded away.

A memory from years ago appeared before my eyes.

An isolated island.

Small.

Barren.

Nothing grew upon its desolate soil.

The vast ocean surrounded it from every direction, its waves crashing against the black shore in a monotonous rhythm.

But at the heart of the island…

Something waited.

A sphere.

No…

An egg.

Its surface was pitch-black.

Blacker than the shadows surrounding it, as though it absorbed every ray of light that touched it.

It pulsed.

Slowly.

With every ripple that spread across its shell, countless grotesque protrusions emerged from its surface.

Mouths.

Dozens.

Hundreds.

They all opened at once.

Shrill, deafening screams erupted across the island.

They were so piercing that they seemed capable of tearing the sky apart.

The sound reached beyond the sea.

Far beyond the island.

The sea serpent understood the meaning behind those screams.

Hunger.

The creature was hungry.

And the ocean answered.

The sea churned violently.

From beneath the waves emerged countless fish-like monsters, each one abandoning its own will as though enchanted by the creature's call.

None resisted.

None hesitated.

They swam in complete silence.

Straight toward the island.

Straight toward the waiting mouths.

Hundreds.

Then thousands.

An endless procession of monsters willingly offering themselves as food.

One after another.

Without fear.

Without resistance.

Without even attempting to flee.

The grotesque mouths devoured them without mercy.

Flesh disappeared.

Bones shattered.

Blood poured across the rocks like crimson rain.

The feast continued for hours.

Wave after wave of monsters surrendered themselves to an insatiable hunger.

Until…

The island disappeared beneath layers of torn flesh.

Blood flowed into the surrounding sea.

Ripped entrails covered the once-black stone.

The entire island had become crimson.

A monument built from entrails and death.

…

What the hell…

…is this?

My expression darkened.

Is this some corner of hell?

Has that old woman finally lost her mind?

Why…

Why would she allow that thing to roam freely?

For the first time in a very long while…

I felt genuine anger.

Because I knew exactly what I had just seen.

That damned creature…

It wasn't merely another monster.

It was a fragment.

No.

Not a single fragment.

Multiple fragments.

Fragments of the calamity that destroyed the world five thousand years ago.