Inside the magic disaster area

“Were you ordered by your father to come to the surface?” Sudirja looked toward Randiman.

Randiman nodded in response.

“If even the underwater kingdom is taking action, then this must be truly dangerous,” Arga muttered.

“I didn’t expect it to be this structured,” Arjuna observed the surroundings.

“More structured—it could be far more dangerous than we expected,” Arga added.

“Yes, you’re right,” Dion agreed, also scanning the area.

“We’ve been held up by trivial issues that distract from our goal. How about we continue walking while we discuss?” Sudirja suggested.

Hearing Sudirja’s words, they were struck by realization—they’d nearly forgotten their true objective. They had almost come to a full stop just to talk, which could have made them forget something critical—King Eldwäs’s report.

They resumed their journey.

The wind blew fiercely.

Their legs felt heavy.

As though something was pushing back at them. But they couldn’t give in.

“Thankfully this magic disaster occurred in an uninhabited region,” William said, struggling against the wind pressing him backward.

Everyone stopped.

They stared at William.

Some were confused. Some were furious.

“Enough. Stop your nonsense,” Dion shot William a sharp glare.

“I didn’t expect my past self to be this stupid,” Sudirja muttered.

“If you weren’t one of the Shadow Existers, we would’ve thrown you far away by now,” barked one of the alliance soldiers—wearing silver armor with a symbol on his helmet: a horse standing on a lotus flower, the crest of the Kingdom of Wisasakti.

Again, seeing Arjuna still in his transformed state, William entertained another dumb idea. He thought maybe Arjuna could carry everyone through the air.

“Arjuna, why don’t you fly us across one by one?” William suggested.

“Even dumber!” Sudirja smacked his own forehead.

“Your Majesty, are there any potions in your Shadow Exister world that lower brain quality?” Arjuna growled.

“MSG. It’s not a potion but a food enhancer,” Sudirja replied. “Too much of it might do that.”

Arga was getting more irritated with William’s antics. He was deeply annoyed by the past version of his king.

“What made you think that, William?” Arga glared sharply at him.

Oblivious to the stares from others, William answered without hesitation.

“Arjuna’s lower half is that of an eagle, right? So he should be able to fly.”

“Sudirja, are you sure you want to use this past self of yours to overwrite the entire timeline?” King Donov looked at Sudirja.

“Well, only he and I survived in our respective timelines,” Sudirja muttered.

But it didn’t end there—William came up with yet another foolish idea.

He once saw Arga transform—into a form the size of two stacked mountains.

“Arga, why don’t you use your giant form and carry us?” William suggested.

Hearing this, Arga was baffled by the stupidity of his past king.

This wasn’t just dumb.

It was beyond idiotic.

Showing a trump card just to transport the alliance troops? That was overkill.

To Arga, that was as good as letting the enemy win.

In Arjuna’s mind, he seriously wanted to whack William over the head. He hadn’t transformed for fun—he was forced to. His current form was one of his trump cards for battle.

“His brain’s running on negatives,” Arjuna sneered.

“Too stupid. His mind is emptier than a void,” Randiman quipped.

Refusing to waste time on trivialities, they pushed forward. The winds and flying dust were nothing to them.

After a long walk, they saw a group of people standing ahead. One of them wore a crown, with dark red hair and fair skin—he was King Eldwäs.

The alliance approached them at once.

“We have arrived with Father’s allies,” Prince Dein bowed.

“This is urgent. Raise your head, child,” King Eldwäs commanded.

The king glanced at one individual.

He noticed someone unfamiliar.

Not of the alliance. Not human.

Though the figure resembled a human, his skin was blue-green like the sea, covered in scales. His eyes were snake-like, and his hair—ocean blue.

“Who is he?” King Eldwäs pointed at the figure.

“Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner,” Randiman bowed politely. “I am Randiman Rogobanyu, crown prince of the Kingdom of Rogobanyu, home of the Antasen people.”

King Eldwäs paused, trying to process this unfamiliar name—especially the name of the race.

Before being sent to this world, the only fantasy races he had heard of were elves, vampires, dwarves, ogres, mermaids, nymphs, demons, and orcs.

This was the first time he had heard of the Antasen.

“Antasen?” King Eldwäs tilted his head.

“A race similar to mermaids but with some special traits,” Prince Dein explained to his father.

“What traits?” the king asked.

“They can turn their bodies into liquid and even pass through the ground like water,” Prince Dein clarified.

“Can yo—”

“King Eldwäs, please explain the situation first!” Sudirja interrupted.

He had become too focused on learning about the Antasen, forgetting something far more urgent—the report on the magical disaster.

“Apologies, I got carried away,” King Eldwäs said. “We have examined—”

A crow darted toward King Eldwäs.

Randiman turned into water and shot toward the king.

He caught the crow.

The crow vanished.

“Be careful!” Randiman shouted.

“Just as I suspected… too neat to be coincidence,” Arga scanned the surroundings.

Arjuna flapped his wings.

Several of his feathers transformed into arrows and launched.

Something invisible stopped the arrows mid-air.

Arjuna saw nothing ahead—mist clouded his vision.

Arga began forming a magic circle, trying to summon his sword from storage magic.

Before it was fully formed—

A crow flew at him.

He canceled the circle and struck the crow with his right hand.

The crow turned into a dagger.

“Ahh!” Arga cried out, his hand trembling.

He felt a searing pain from the wound.

He wanted to transform into his giant form—but it was impossible. Each time he tried casting magic, the environment itself blocked him.

Randiman moved to Arga and attempted to heal him. He grabbed Arga’s hand, transformed his own hand into water, and wrapped it around the injury.

The wound closed. The pain vanished. The injury healed completely.

They didn’t realize they were being watched.

Far in the distance—hidden from view—stood a figure with red skin, three eyes, and three horns resembling those of a rhinoceros: Sukmo Lawu, the son of one of the 12 Demon Kings, King Somo of the demon realm Danopati—who had already been slain.

“Looks like my toys have arrived,” Sukmo Lawu smiled.

He took a step forward—

And vanished.