Chapter 317: Imoogi

'Did he just say the Great One?' Rion's eyes widened, and he asked, "What do you mean?"

Noir tilted his head and said, "We are standing in the construct made on the wishes of the Great One. He must have left behind something for either you or me."

"Me?" Rion pointed at himself with a confused expression.

The only time he had met the Great One in any way was through the virtual abyss created by The Remnant's sorcery, and the being there wasn't even alive.

It was nothing but a gigantic skeleton nailed and chained to a pillar that seemed to touch the dark clouds of the lifeless abyss.

Noir turned around and waddled toward the gigantic gates deeper into the ruins and said, "You'll understand once we meet him... If we do meet him."

'He is not sure, huh...' Rion followed behind him, and as the two reached the gates, Rion stepped forward with golden aura and devouring demonic flames dancing across his body.

Noir glanced at him and thought, 'A being that is neither divine nor demonic yet has the capabilities of both... how paradoxical.'

Rion's feet dug into the ground as he pushed the gates with all of his might.

"Ugh!" However, no matter how much strength he exerted, he was unable to move it.

He wasn't one to give up, though. Instead of backing, he continued to push further.

However, the gates were like mountains. Heck Rion was sure that he now had the strength to move mountains, so these were very large mountains.

Noir watched him in silence for a long while.

Sweat rolled down Rion's biceps and forehead, and he muttered in an annoyed tone, "What the hell is this made of?"

Noir stepped forward and struck the gates with his beak for answering.

"It's a mix of solidified world energy and divinity."

Rion stopped exerting strength and looked at Noir with a surprised expression.

"How did you find that out just by doing that...?"

Noir turned to him and said, "I channeled my demonic energy into it to understand its atomic construction. It is very close to the mineral which was once called Godsteel, though I am not sure if you are aware of that."

"Ah-huh..." Rion nodded with a lost look and mumbled, "I only know of Azrath, which is solidified world energy."

Noir shook his feathers and said, "It appears the world has regressed instead of advancing during my slumber."

"Do you have any way to open these gates?" Rion asked while raising his head to look at the very top of the gates.

"I do," Noir nodded and stepped closer to Rion.

"Do you have a weapon?" He asked.

"Are you thinking of breaking through it with a weapon? I don't think that would wor—"

"Do you have a weapon or not?"

"I do."

"Take it out."

"If that's what you want," Rion whispered as he took out Lunging Serpent Spear from his inventory and showed it to Noir.

Noir raised his head and said, "My brother had trusted you, so I shall as well."

"What?" Rion's expression turned dumbfounded.

'Is he talking about The Remnant? What does he mean he trusted me? All I know is that he had gone mad for his revenge... Does he believe that I got the Abysmal Flame and Absolute Seal because he trusted me?'

All of a sudden, red light spilled out of Noir as though he was a cracking egg, and then he exploded into feathers covered in red and purple energy.

"Blasted hell?!" Rion looked at Noir's drifting feathers with a stupefied look, and the feathers moved closer to the spear.

They wrapped around the spear, and slowly it began to change.

The scale marks covering its staff turned into feathers at places, while some turned into actual black scales with a red sheen to them.

The tip, which was coming out of a serpent's maw, now had a red sheen to it, and the serpent, too, now looked different. It now had bigger fangs and horns at its crown... it had evolved into an Imoogi.

"Damn..." Rion whispered as he had nothing else to say.

He hadn't expected his spear to change out of nowhere after all.

<Thrust at the gates with me,> Noir's voice echoed in Rion's head.

"You are still alive? I thought you sacrificed yourself to make me stronger or something like that," Rion mumbled as he took his stance.

"Do you think I am a developed side-character who was only written to make the protagonist stronger?"

Rion's eyes widened, and he mumbled, "You... how do you have that divine knowledge?"

"Divine knowledge? Tch, sure. It's just that after choosing your spear as my vessel, I obtained a few of your memories... I didn't expect you to have aligned your Weapon Intent with it."

'He read my memories?' Rion's expression darkened. He didn't want anyone to know about his system or reincarnation, and now one of the devils had access to his memories.

Had all the devils decidedly to make his life a living hell? They seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. First, The Remnant, then that strange dream, and now this crow.

"Don't worry about anything... I cannot change my vessel for the next hundred years."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Is there anything else you can do?"

"..."

Rion cleared his mind of the useless thoughts and let out a deep breath.

He raised his spear and swung it forward.

Azure Ascending Spear — Imoogi's Lunge!

Golden aura and devouring demonic flames covered the spear and met at the tip before they moved forward in a vortex that looked like an imoogi.

A loud thud resounded throughout the area as he attacked the gates and thrust a hole in them.

Golden light spilled from the hole, and before Rion could even take a step back, the world around him changed.

He appeared in a vast grassland basking under the soft warmth of the sun, and as he turned, he saw a man with braided blonde hair and golden eyes kneeling before him.

"E grat tha prenc!"