Monster Integration (Web Novel)

'It seemed like, there was quite a battle here,' I thought as I began to sense the residual aura.

Even the Sky-Sovereigns have fought, and some have even died.

Thankfully, it had happened in the morning. Aside from the residual energy, and physical signs of battle; I am not seeing anything else.

It made me more disappointed than relieved. I wanted to fight, especially against the Grimms with Bloodline. Most of the Grimms I had fought here had been the regular Grimms; less than 20% had the bloodline.

I want more of them if I want to reach the limit and make a breakthrough here.

Minutes passed, and we have got closer and closer to the exit soon. There was only a mile between us, and I saw something that made me want to curse.

There is a spatial rift above the gate seemed to have grown bigger than what the information had said, close enough that it might interfere with the programmed destination.

The information did say the rift was growing, but still seeing it, made me want to curse loudly.

Half a minute, I saw the girl leaping into it, and a few seconds after that, the man behind her did the same.

I mean, what other choice do we have?

Yes, there are other gates, three of them to be exact, but all of them are in the control of the Grimms. Even if we are somehow able to access those exits, there might be Grimms waiting on the other side.

So, we have no choice but to pass through the gate. It is a place where we have relative confidence, that other side, there won't be Grimms waiting for us.

Soon, I reached the black-wood gate and leaped at it without stopping.

I had readied all the formations. If there was something unexpected waiting for me on the other side, I would want to react fast.

Bang!

As I went inside the gate, everything turned dark for a moment, before I crashed hard into something hard.

I am still surrounded by the darkness, but it is not the spatial darkness. It is just a simple darkness of enclosed space, where there is not even a hint of light or air.

Seeing that, I couldn't help but feel relieved.

There was deep worry in my heart when I had made the jump, that I might get thrown into the spatial sea, but that is not the case.

Though I have thrown somewhere other than the intended location and it is underground, I am still in the ruin. I could still feel the energy of the ruin and its unique spatial signature.

'I seemed like, I had appeared deep in the mountain,' I thought, looking at the data being provided by soul waves.

"I hope, I am not back in the old realm," I said loudly. I don't want to make the journey to a new region again.

This mountain is mineral-rich, and these materials are normal. I could already see there are four types of precious metals here, and while they interest me, there is something that is worrying me.

Like how deep I am. I am so deep, there is no oxygen, which is still needed for humans to breathe.

I need it to survive.

Thankfully, it is not the thing I need to be worried about. I have my own supply, have for years, like other armors, once we summon them, they start to provide us with magical life support, including oxygen.

It will be challenging to get out here, seeing everywhere my soul sense went, I could rock.

There are some areas that seemed to suck my soul sense away, and some that feel black, but there is something in there.

I didn't focus on them and even pulled back my soul sense, sensing a couple of monsters in there. Two of them are Sky Sovereigns and I am sure there are more, and it would be wise to not disturb them.

One of them had sensed my soul sense and opened its eyes to the moment. It is a good thing; I cut the connection or there might have been consequences.

My soul sense had spread in nearly two kilometers of radius and all I felt was rock and ores. That world rapidly sucks away the soul sense; that most Earth Sovereigns wouldn't be able to spread their soul sense over two kilometers.

I could, but that is because my soul's sense is different.

I had pulled back the soul sense and started to send out the waves. The waves didn't provide data as clear as the soul sense, but it is safer, and I want the safer option.

This is a place where I wouldn't be able to run anywhere if a powerful enemy attacked me. It is better that I don't get detected by the powerful Sky Sovereign monsters or I will be dead.

"Fuck!"

I cursed a few minutes later when I sensed something. Not something, Grimms and they are mining.

I had sensed Sovereigns and an Earth Sovereign. There might be more and there are. I saw them nearly everywhere around the mountain and they are present in large numbers.

I have not sensed the Sky Sovereign, but it might be present, or they might be hiding, and I wouldn't put past that, on this mountain.

A few days ago, two Sky Sovereign Grimms were able to hide from me, in the field of broken formations. The energies from various formations had made it easier for them to do it.

Though, I was able to deal with them, thanks to the precaution I took, that not even a trace of them had remained; that is not going to happen here.

Here, I am on my own.

The last of the waves returned, and now, I have a model of the mountain in front of me. It shows nearly everything, from the location of monsters to empty spaces like this, and tunnels.

My clone had formed the most efficient route for me to cross the mountain. I would need to pass through quite a lot of dangerous areas, including the places that are being mined by the Grimms.

My destination is the area which has the least number of Grimms. It is also the area where the quantity of the ores is thinnest.

The route is long. I will have to move around the whole mountain, but there is no choice. I couldn't simply mine toward the route directly.

I could do it, but it will waste a lot of time.

So, I am going to be passing as much as empty shapes and tunnels as this, it will make the journey much faster than mining the direct route, which I would have done, if it had been a normal mountain.

If it had been a normal mountain, there wouldn't be so many monsters and Grimms mining it.

No, it is a mountain, which is filled with magical metals. That made it strong, and one needs a considerable effort to mine.

I didn't immediately move after the model was created. No, I went inside my core and stayed there a little over fifteen minutes before coming out.

There were a few preparations that needed to be made.