Chapter 996: Pantheon

"Fix it? How can you fix the ceiling of this world?" Night asked with a confused look on his face.

"I don't have to," Ning said. "I can instead take you to a world with a much better ceiling. I've made a place where I have taken everyone else to so they can live without worry like they did before everyone started ascending."

"Somewhere different from Kumia?" Night asked.

"Yes, another world," Ning said. "It's called Gionia and you can grow a lot there."

"Is everyone there?" Night asked.

"You are the last of the ascended group that I have to take back," Ning said.

Night couldn't help but find some happiness in those words. "I would like to go to that place, master. How do we go?" he asked.

"I have my way," Ning said. "But I would like to go somewhere else before that. I hope you won't mind if we take a detour."

"No, master. Where are we going?" Night asked.

"Well, I'm in for a bit of a surprise as well," Ning said. "Are you ready to leave or do you have anything else you need to do?"

"No, I'm ready," Night said. His body turned smaller until he could perch on top of Ning's shoulder.

"Alright, let's go then."

Ning opened a portal in front of him that led him away from this galaxy, going back to the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.

He arrived on a planet named Pantheon, somewhere in the mountains. He wanted to spread his divine sense to check the place, but only then did he realize that there was no Qi on this planet.

"Huh? Only mana," he said and brought out an SS-ranked mana stone from his storage before starting to absorb it as he flew away from there.

"Where exactly are we, master?" Night asked. "I feel uncomfortable here."

"Of course," Ning said. "There is no Qi here after all. Don't worry, you will get used to it. Blue and Aegis had a similar problem when they first went to Vilmore with me."

"I see," he said. "Is this Vilmore?"

"No, this is a planet called Pantheon," Ning said. "I've never been here before, so you and I are on the same boat here. Well, maybe not exactly since I know a bit about this world."

Even as he said that Ning was internally getting shocked at how similar this world was to that of Earth. If he had arrived here without any prior knowledge of where it was, he would've thought it was earth.

There were cars, trains, planes, etc that were similar to Earth. There were phones and computers and other technologies similar to Earth.

In fact, almost everything was similar to Earth, as if all life in the universe were bound to reach the same state at some time during their lifetime.

"It's almost uncanny," Ning thought as he watched the streets full of similar vehicles to Earth. It was as if someone have used Earth as a model to create another planet, but decided to make it on a different geographical structure.

Ning arrived in one of the cities and slowly landed to not get people suspicious. He walked the rest of the way with Night flying in the sky like a normal crow.

Ning looked at the boards and various other places which quickly helped him learn one thing.

"Dungeons? This world has it too, huh? I thought it would be just that wormhole."

Ning had come here for a naturally formed wormhole that was somewhere in this city. He had no idea that just like Earth, this planet had dungeons in them too.

"Are there Constellations in this world too?" Ning asked.

<No.>

"Huh," Ning thought amusedly. "Anyway, let's go find that wormhole."

Ning walked through the city, making his way to a place that was not far away. Night flew through the sky while following him and he too reached the place.

It was a small park with a children's playground, but it seemed to have been abandoned since the arrival of a dungeon here too.

Ning looked at the dungeon gate that swirled with white lights. "That's... not the wormhole, right?" he asked. "That looks like a normal Dungeon."

"What are we looking for master?" Night asked from not far away.

"I don't know," Ning said. "System, where is the wormhole?"

<The dungeon has formed on top of the wormhole and is technically the same. However, depending on the state of the gate, you can either enter the dungeon or go through the wormhole.>

"Wait, so that is what I'm looking for," Ning said with a surprised face. "First time I'm seeing something like this."

He walked closer to the park and saw the security that was around. They looked at different licenses from various people that went in, so Ning got a good idea of the state of the world.

"Those must be hunters then," he thought. "Or whatever they call them here. System, forge me a license too."

A small card appeared in front of him which Ning caught quickly and read. "Awakener, huh? That's what they call mages in this world."

He walked over to the gate and showed his card to get in. Night freely flew above the security and landed on Ning's shoulder.

A few people looked at Ning curiously, mostly for Night, but they weren't going to bother him.

"Now how do I access this wormhole?" he asked.

<You will need to make a key that resonates with this dungeon gate to bring out the actual wormhole. It will only come out for a brief moment, so you will need to be quick.>

"Understood," Ning said. The system taught him how to make a key, and using his mana, Ning forged a metal key that he brought to the dungeon gate.

The next moment, the key in his hand started glowing red and so did the dungeon gate.

The people around him backed off when they saw the color. Ning, however, saw the opportunity and took it.

He walked into the crimson gate to go through the wormhole.

Ning arrived in another world, this time in a different universe. This was not the same universe that was affecting Earth, but rather the other one. As such, this was his first time coming here at all.

Until now, there hadn't even been a single instance of portals or wormholes to this universe on Earth, so Ning had no way of coming here previously.

The moment he smelled the fresh air in the forest he had arrived in, Ning couldn't help but frown.

"What's wrong, master?" Night asked.

"There's something other than Mana in this world, and that irritates me," Ning said with a sour look on his face.

"What's wrong? What else is there?" Night asked.

"Something corrupted from mana itself, Magicules," Ning said. This was proof that a form of Will was definitely influencing this world, if not present in it.

'I shouldn't absorb any energy here,' Ning thought.

"What's Magicules, master?" Night asked. "Is it bad?"

"It's not necessarily bad," Ning said. "It's only that... if there is Magicule here, then there certainly is something else here as well."

"What else?" Night asked.

"Demons."

* * * * * *

A young man with two self-made bone daggers in his hand stood in an empty hall with blood all over him. Some were his, some were the demons he had killed.

His bloodshot eyes looked straight ahead at the demon in front of him with a clear will to kill.

"I did not know there was a human in my realm," the demon spoke. "That is a surprise to me for sure."

The demon had two horns that curved backward. He had crimson skin and a batwing that was nearly 3 meters wide.

His overall body was 2 meters tall as well and his muscle seemed to be just as large.

The young man breathed heavily as his tired body couldn't do much else at the moment. He had, after all, killed so many demons before arriving at the throne room. He was tired to the bone at the moment.

Still, he needed to fight. After what he had learned the last few days, he knew he needed to fight here, even if it meant his life would have to be forfeited. For the sake of the humans that were living, he needed to do something.

That was why he had come here after all. To find the Demon King and somehow force him to take back the order he had given.

"Demon King!" He shouted at the demon in front of him. "Call back your men, or I will kill you!"

"Hah!" the Demon King laughed when he heard that. "A mere human like you thinks you can order me? The Demon King? My four generals will soon arrive in your world. At that time, everyone in your world will either submit to us or die. There is no other way out of this."

"Then you leave me with no choice!"

The young man immediately used a skill to improve his speed. His leg hurt, but he kept going.

He arrived beside the Demon King and tried to strike at his ribs. With his [Back Attack] passive skill, the dagger would deal a lot of damage if it landed.

However, before he could hit the Demon King, the Demon King's wings curled around him and the dagger struck the wing.

The young man heard a clanking sound and understood that his attack had failed.

"So you have chosen death," the Demon King said and went on the offensive.