“I don’t know,” Isaac replied.


    “It’s rare to hear you admit ignorance, Isaac.”


    “There’s plenty I don’t know. Honestly,pared to others my age, I’d be little more than a durd.”


    “Coming from someone who’s uncovered the secrets of gods and glimpsed the shadows of Urbansus?”


    “Of course.”


    Isaac was sincere.


    There were countless things he didn’t know that weremon knowledge for any ordinary person in this era: nting seasons, how to identify edible nts, how to butcher animals, and which types of wood made good firewood.


    Hunger never pressed him to hunt, and his tentacles provided more than enough sustenance. Without them, Isaac would probably have starved to death long ago.


    But when it came to the Outer Boundary, Isaac doubted that anyone, including himself, truly knew whaty beyond. Nothing about it had ever been revealed.The concept was limited to being ‘a ce outside the Codex of Light’s reach, where the ancient gods and the minions of Chaos fled.’ Isaac couldn’t even imagine what kind of demondscape it would be.


    “The only certainty is that we must not cross into that ce.”


    Though Isaac himself could be considered a servant of Chaos, he instinctively felt an intense aversion to going any closer. Just looking out over the gray wastnd filled him with an uneasy nausea.


    Isaac stared hard at the dark clouds that melded with the gray ins, as if trying to glimpse something beyond. The slow, undting clouds seemed almost to whisper.


    [Traitor.]


    The horizon opened, and a murmuring voice drifted from a mouth formed between the cracked ground and the sky. Crimson-ck tongues writhed out from the fracturedndscape, slithering like serpents.


    [Keep your promise, traitor… Did you not vow to us?]


    [Why do you abandon your minions, O god…?]


    [The promise will be fulfilled in the end. The traitor’s schemes will only dy its execution.]


    Isaac staggered, nearly swayed by the whispering voices with their flickering tongues.


    He felt something writhing at the back of his throat, as if a tentacle had formed there too, straining to answer the voices from beyond the horizon.


    [The Nameless Chaos watches you.]


    “Shut up, you lunatics!” Isaac shouted instinctively, and stumbled backward, copsing to the ground.


    It was only then that he realized Aidan was clutching his waist tightly from behind.


    Aidan quickly released him, his voice indignant.


    “What were you doing?”


    “I should be the one asking that.”


    “You were staring into the void like a madman, muttering to yourself, and then started walking toward the cliff edge! I had to grab you by the waist, and even then, I nearly got pulled over with you!”


    Isaac was flustered. Had he really been in such a state? Now that he looked, he had indeed drifted several paces from where they’d been standing. A few more steps, and he’d have fallen into a chasm. ???????Е??


    If not for the Nameless Chaos snapping him out of it, he might have gone over the edge.


    He nced back at the horizon. The red-ck tongues and the voices that had appeared with them were gone, yet the unsettling clouds still pulsed ominously, so he quickly looked away.


    “Thank you. You saved my life.”


    “Hah, unbelievable…”


    The reason Aidan had remained unaffected was likely because he had no connection to the Nameless Chaos.


    Isaac reflected on the pressure exerted by the voices of Urbansus. They were calling to him from beyond, urging him to join them, to keep his promise.


    A promise he didn’t remember making, nor wanted to honor even if he did. Any vow forced upon him by such madmen would hardly be anything sane.


    At that moment, responding to his outburst, something began emerging from the dark clouds.


    “Isaac!” Aidan shouted, pointing toward the shifting form.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Isaac’s lips curled into a faint smile. The creature he had been waiting for had finally appeared.


    “A wineskin for a parched throat, atst.”


    This was the reason Isaac hade all the way to hunt near the Outer Boundary. He needed a fresh offering to meet the conditions of the Thirsty Feast ritual.


    This creature was one Isaac had once hunted before, during his time with the Salt Council. He knew precisely where it would appear.


    “Get ready, Aidan. Once we catch this, we’re heading back.”


    ***


    With a heavy thud, Nel dropped the enormous Armye in front of the Fisherman’s House.


    The creature was so massive that without Nel, they wouldn’t have been able to drag it here at all. Soldiers stared in awe at the winged serpent lying in the front yard.


    “Kleatoul, an ancient god who fled to the Outer Boundary. A god born from a yearning for the sky. It’s said tomand the power of rain and thunder. This should be enough to supply the missing divinity, don’t you think?”


    Originally, this ancient god would have roamed within storms, swimming through the clouds. However, something had twisted it in the harshness of the Outer Boundary, causing fungal growths and tentacles to sprout all over its body. Although its divine nature had mostly faded, the fact that it was ‘fresh’ still made it valuable.


    Sadraza, watching from inside the Fisherman’s House, looked pleased.


    The Armyes of the monsters and ancient gods Isaac had gathered over the past few days more than sufficed for the ritual.


    Sadraza slowly pulled Kleatoul’s body into the dark pyramid with his writhing tentacles.


    Isaac observed silently.


    “Is this enough?”


    “If I could ask for more… but I suppose that’s not possible?”


    “That would be difficult. We have our own timeline to keep. I’m sure I brought more than the amount you specified.”


    Sadraza looked somewhat disappointed but nodded.


    “Very well. I’ll manage with this. I will begin the ritual now. In the meantime… the Outer Boundary may stir, so it would be helpful if you could protect Miarma.”


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