Chapter 212: An Encounter with a Desolation

Magna still had the same memories of a man who had lost his entire family in a car accident, grown up as an orphan, and later become a game developer, spending most of his life making and playing games.

In those memories, Gaia was nothing more than an AI program he had created years ago, a prototype he had eventually abandoned before developing Terra to replace it.

Now, learning that the same Gaia was actually the Creator of this universe, with the Witch World at its center, came as quite a shock to him.

"Don’t tell me I’m actually the God of Games?"

The more he thought about it, the more he began to believe it.

He felt so confused. He still had all those memories of playing God Simulator as the God of Games, and everything he had done back then still felt like nothing more than a game to him.

He had never once considered the possibility that any of it could be real.

Besides, he didn’t feel much like a God right now anyway.

"Though I do feel like I’ve gotten stronger."

His body hadn’t just grown in appearance. He could feel that it had become much stronger and more durable than before.

He turned to look at the crater he had created when he fell from the sky. The fact that he had survived such a fall without a single injury was proof enough.

He wasn’t sure if it still worked, but he decided to call up his status panel anyway.

To his surprise, the familiar holographic screen appeared in front of his eyes.

It looked almost the same as before, with only a few differences. Its color had changed from blue to green, and the numbers beside his stats were completely different.

"Hey, hey... Is this thing glitching?"

He could hardly believe the numbers displayed on the screen.

Strength: 675 → 23,770

Agility: 207 → 6,123

Reaction: 198 → 5,826

Stamina: 1,156 → 48,536

Mana: 18%

Every one of his physical stats had increased enormously, with Reaction showing the smallest increase at 29 times and Stamina the largest at 41 times.

He was certain that even Titus wouldn’t have stats anywhere near these numbers. Perhaps Arthas, one of the strongest Shadows known, might have something similar.

The only disappointing thing was his mana reserve, which was currently at 18%. He didn’t quite understand why it was so low, but seeing his other stats was more than enough to make him happy and excited anyway.

In fact, seeing those numbers had distracted him so much that he had completely forgotten what he had been thinking about Gaia and his own identity just a moment ago.

"Wait... What was I thinking about again?"

Realizing how distracted he had become, Magna tried to return to his previous train of thought.

He was sure he had been close to figuring out the secrets of the universe, or at least something related to them, but just as he was struggling to remember, another distraction caught his attention.

The ground suddenly began trembling beneath his feet, accompanied by a deep, powerful noise approaching from somewhere in the distance.

He turned toward the sound and noticed something moving far away.

Narrowing his eyes to get a better look, he could make out an enormous mass moving across the land, throwing dust into the air with every movement.

"A moving mountain?"

It looked like an enormous mountain made entirely of stone, slowly approaching his location.

Curious about what it was, Magna decided not to run immediately and waited for it to come a little closer so he could see it better.

As the enormous mass continued approaching, the trembling beneath his feet grew stronger, becoming more like an actual earthquake.

At the same time, an uncomfortable sensation began spreading through his body.

He felt like he was gradually losing energy. His throat became dry, followed by his eyes, and soon there wasn’t even any saliva left in his mouth. It was almost as though all the water inside his body was being rapidly drained away.

The sensation grew increasingly uncomfortable, and Magna was just about to retreat when he finally got a clear view of what the moving mountain actually was.

"Stoneman Mother?"

With an enormous red gem serving as an eye near the center of its peak and a huge open mouth filled with countless sharp, rock-like teeth, it was unmistakably the same creature Magna had seen inside the mountain, the one the Stonemen had constantly been feeding with rocks.

The strange thing was that the creature approaching him now was far, far larger than he remembered.

It also no longer needed anyone to feed it.

Its enormous mouth remained wide open as it moved, sucking in everything around it like a giant vacuum cleaner. Rocks, dirt, and anything else in its path were pulled straight into its mouth and devoured without stopping.

’What happened to it?’

There were no other Stonemen anywhere he could see, only their enormous Mother, continuously devouring everything around her as she moved.

Not that Magna particularly wanted to see any Stonemen right now anyway.

He had only recently realized that Rhadak, their Chief, had tricked him.

The man had told him that if he managed to move the rock, he would be able to return to the Witch World. Yet in the end, the passage hadn’t led there at all.

Magna didn’t know why Rhadak had lied to him, but realizing that he had been deceived like that left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Okay, never mind. This isn’t my problem."

He gave the Stoneman Mother one last look as she continued moving forward, almost like she had lost her mind, devouring and destroying everything in her path. Then he turned around to leave the area.

He still needed to find a way out of the Underworld and return to the Witch World, as he had already grown tired of this place.

He bent his knees, preparing to test his new stats with a jump. He wanted to try traveling the way Arthas did, using his enormous physical strength to leap across great distances.

Just as he was about to jump, a loud explosion sounded behind him.

Magna turned around again.

An explosion had struck the giant Stoneman Mother’s head, sending black smoke rising into the air.

As he wondered what had caused it, he noticed something bright flying rapidly through the sky.

It struck the same spot on the creature’s head, causing another powerful explosion that shook its enormous mountain-like body.

"Huh? Someone’s attacking that thing?"

Magna stopped, deciding to stay a little longer to understand what was happening.

The attacks reminded him of the Fire Arrows he had seen Renna use before. The only difference was that these were far more destructive, exploding violently the moment they struck their target.

That made him wonder whether the attackers might be Witches.

And if they really were Witches, it would certainly be better to ask them how to leave the Underworld than to keep searching for an exit on his own.

With that thought, Magna bent his knees and kicked against the ground, launching himself upward with an unbelievable amount of force that surprised even him.