Tall, dark walls made of mossy stone bricks.
A short and narrow passageway that led into the darkness in the distance.
No signs of a ceiling above, but a damp feeling that suggested its existence.
This was what Damien and his group saw when they first stepped through the crack.
Though, it took several minutes for them to see it.
The act of stepping through a Dimensional Crack into another world was spectacular in many ways.
One's body was forced to align itself with the new laws it felt, either adapting or being suppressed by them. Along with that, one's mind would be assaulted by information as one traveled between planes, an experience most couldn't handle.
Adding on top of that the chaotic tunnel that bridged the Heavenly World to the otherworld, it was an overwhelmingly negative experience for those who had it.
Damien was fine.
There was never a situation where Damien wasn't fine after spatial travel.
Darius and Tiamat, however, were a completely different case.
It took them a long time to get their minds in order and heal their bodies from the trauma of the transfer.
Afterward, they had to check the calibration of their bodies to see how they'd been affected by the new world's laws.
They could definitely feel them.
Those laws were like heavy plates of metal on their shoulders, pushing them down.
Their mana was suppressed, and their power was restricted to an extreme degree.
Both of them would be able to overcome it.
Tiamat could feel the inherent connection she had with this place the moment she arrived.
Her body was suppressed, but at the same time, it was changing, morphing as it encountered an energy it considered familiar.
She didn't doubt that she'd be adapted to the new world soon, and perhaps she would even thrive in ways nobody expected.
Naturally, as someone with a far less mysterious birth, Darius didn't have the same fortune.
He was truly suppressed. Whether it be his laws, his mana, or his Divinity, he could feel them all caving under the pressure of these new laws.
Luckily, he possessed a Heavenly Flame.
Even if everything else failed, his flame would not.
Therefore, he would eventually find a way to survive as long as he was given the chance.
Damien didn't have to worry about something like his energy or Divinity being suppressed. He possessed the same energy the people here used, and his Divinity was far too powerful for a mere otherworldly Universal Law to touch.
When the Void was also taken into account, it would've been stranger if Damien was actually affected by the environment,
But since he wasn't, he was able to observe the surroundings with much more ease than his companions.
At first, they seemed to be in some type of tunnel. However, deep in the distance, Damien could see that the tunnel branched off in two. This chapter's initial release occurred on the Nov/e/l--Biin site.
'Is it some sort of system, or…?'
There was another, more likely possibility, considering the nature of Dimensional Cracks.
'It's a labyrinth.'
Damien could practically smell the stench of a trap-laced beast-filled maze of mystery from this place. It was that same damp smell, like nothing contained within had been able to get out for untold millennia.
'It's more complicated if it's like this.'
Damien was expecting to just arrive in the otherworld, but it clearly wasn't that easy.
Dimensional Cracks were not an organic phenomenon. This much had been made clear from the start.
Since Dimensional Cracks were opened by the Foreign Races, they'd naturally prepared what was on their side.
Whether that was dungeons, mazes, or labyrinths, there was always some sort of structure waiting for those who were brave enough to explore the otherworld.
The only known exit to these structures was the gate itself, which would close after explorers returned to their own world through them.
However, was that really the only answer?
'Is this really just a separated plane used for invasion, or is this a whole new world that we haven't discovered yet?'
Nobody else had taken the time to even try. It was disappointing, but it was true.
Damien would be the first.
And since his goal was not the labyrinth, but what lay outside, he had no plans of entertaining this structure's demands.
Demonic Energy flooded the air.
It was black and demonic, inky like the mana of the Nox.
This was the natural energy of this world. With it, Damien could do whatever he wanted without interference.
Of course, he still had to learn the world's laws to do anything intricate, but if it was just a show of power…
VOOOOOOOOOM!
Rolling waves of fog swept through the entire labyrinth, powered by Damien's mana.
They seeped into the walls, into the ground, into the ceiling.
They brushed past those living and those dead, clogging those inanimate and meant to take the lives of others.
Everything in the labyrinth was touched by Damien's mana.
And when he was certain that not a single spot was left untouched…
'Begone.'
He banished it.
From the walls to the ground to the ceiling, from creatures dead or alive to those inanimate objects meant to take the lives of others, everything disintegrated.
Well, everything except one creature.
"This must be the guy," Damien said out loud.
"This one? Really?" Tiamat responded skeptically.
"Well, everything else is gone, so it has to be him."
"I see…it's a bit disappointing."
"True, but it's reality."
Damien shrugged.
Around thirty meters in front of them was a massive creature that looked like a cross between a bull, a human, and a snake.
It had a deadly aura for sure. It was obviously more than capable of massacring Demigods like they were pigs and chickens.
However, that being wasn't unaffected by Damien's attack.
It was missing half of its body already, and its position was one of submission, not aggression.
"I guess it sensed the threat to its life and surrendered."
Tiamat's guess was spot on. This creature's fight-or-flight instinct was nonexistent.
It was the strongest being it knew other than the ones who contained it here.
In its mind, anyone who was stronger than it was one of them, which meant it had no choice but to submit.
That creature was the guardian of the crack, the one who killed everyone who entered to clear it, and the one who would have caused havoc in the Heavenly World if Damien didn't stop it here.
But it wasn't the only thing in the labyrinth.
The reason Damien didn't participate in the earlier subjugation presented itself now.
This labyrinth, at one point, was filled to the brim with vanguard forces of all five types.
After the first wave, there was meant to be a second and even a third before this particular crack died down.
But the instant Damien arrived in the labyrinth, he wiped all those vanguard forces out of existence with a sweep of his hand.
That kind of power couldn't just be shown in front of the general public now, could it?
Damien's strength didn't need to be publicized more than he allowed it to be.
But that was beside the point.
Since they were in a foreign land now, Damien didn't need to hide so deeply.
And since they were out of the labyrinth due to his actions, he could finally confirm the main theory he'd had since he first learned of the Foreign Races.
'This isn't a separate plane. It's not a separate universe either.'
No, it was deeper than that.
There was nothing in the surroundings to cue him into anything, but he could feel it just from the air brushing against his face.
'This place…'
Damien's eyes widened.
A fact he never thought could be true until today.
There was no way to deny it.
'This place is an entire cosmos, completely independent from the one I know.'
Tall, dark walls made of mossy stone bricks.
A short and narrow passageway that led into the darkness in the distance.
No signs of a ceiling above, but a damp feeling that suggested its existence.
This was what Damien and his group saw when they first stepped through the crack.
Though, it took several minutes for them to see it.
The act of stepping through a Dimensional Crack into another world was spectacular in many ways.
One's body was forced to align itself with the new laws it felt, either adapting or being suppressed by them. Along with that, one's mind would be assaulted by information as one traveled between planes, an experience most couldn't handle.
Adding on top of that the chaotic tunnel that bridged the Heavenly World to the otherworld, it was an overwhelmingly negative experience for those who had it.
Damien was fine.
There was never a situation where Damien wasn't fine after spatial travel.
Darius and Tiamat, however, were a completely different case.
It took them a long time to get their minds in order and heal their bodies from the trauma of the transfer.
Afterward, they had to check the calibration of their bodies to see how they'd been affected by the new world's laws.
They could definitely feel them.
Those laws were like heavy plates of metal on their shoulders, pushing them down.
Their mana was suppressed, and their power was restricted to an extreme degree.
Both of them would be able to overcome it.
Tiamat could feel the inherent connection she had with this place the moment she arrived.
Her body was suppressed, but at the same time, it was changing, morphing as it encountered an energy it considered familiar.
She didn't doubt that she'd be adapted to the new world soon, and perhaps she would even thrive in ways nobody expected.
Naturally, as someone with a far less mysterious birth, Darius didn't have the same fortune.
He was truly suppressed. Whether it be his laws, his mana, or his Divinity, he could feel them all caving under the pressure of these new laws.
Luckily, he possessed a Heavenly Flame.
Even if everything else failed, his flame would not.
Therefore, he would eventually find a way to survive as long as he was given the chance.
Damien didn't have to worry about something like his energy or Divinity being suppressed. He possessed the same energy the people here used, and his Divinity was far too powerful for a mere otherworldly Universal Law to touch.
When the Void was also taken into account, it would've been stranger if Damien was actually affected by the environment,
But since he wasn't, he was able to observe the surroundings with much more ease than his companions.
At first, they seemed to be in some type of tunnel. However, deep in the distance, Damien could see that the tunnel branched off in two. This chapter's initial release occurred on the Nov/e/l--Biin site.
'Is it some sort of system, or…?'
There was another, more likely possibility, considering the nature of Dimensional Cracks.
'It's a labyrinth.'
Damien could practically smell the stench of a trap-laced beast-filled maze of mystery from this place. It was that same damp smell, like nothing contained within had been able to get out for untold millennia.
'It's more complicated if it's like this.'
Damien was expecting to just arrive in the otherworld, but it clearly wasn't that easy.
Dimensional Cracks were not an organic phenomenon. This much had been made clear from the start.
Since Dimensional Cracks were opened by the Foreign Races, they'd naturally prepared what was on their side.
Whether that was dungeons, mazes, or labyrinths, there was always some sort of structure waiting for those who were brave enough to explore the otherworld.
The only known exit to these structures was the gate itself, which would close after explorers returned to their own world through them.
However, was that really the only answer?
'Is this really just a separated plane used for invasion, or is this a whole new world that we haven't discovered yet?'
Nobody else had taken the time to even try. It was disappointing, but it was true.
Damien would be the first.
And since his goal was not the labyrinth, but what lay outside, he had no plans of entertaining this structure's demands.
Demonic Energy flooded the air.
It was black and demonic, inky like the mana of the Nox.
This was the natural energy of this world. With it, Damien could do whatever he wanted without interference.
Of course, he still had to learn the world's laws to do anything intricate, but if it was just a show of power…
VOOOOOOOOOM!
Rolling waves of fog swept through the entire labyrinth, powered by Damien's mana.
They seeped into the walls, into the ground, into the ceiling.
They brushed past those living and those dead, clogging those inanimate and meant to take the lives of others.
Everything in the labyrinth was touched by Damien's mana.
And when he was certain that not a single spot was left untouched…
'Begone.'
He banished it.
From the walls to the ground to the ceiling, from creatures dead or alive to those inanimate objects meant to take the lives of others, everything disintegrated.
Well, everything except one creature.
"This must be the guy," Damien said out loud.
"This one? Really?" Tiamat responded skeptically.
"Well, everything else is gone, so it has to be him."
"I see…it's a bit disappointing."
"True, but it's reality."
Damien shrugged.
Around thirty meters in front of them was a massive creature that looked like a cross between a bull, a human, and a snake.
It had a deadly aura for sure. It was obviously more than capable of massacring Demigods like they were pigs and chickens.
However, that being wasn't unaffected by Damien's attack.
It was missing half of its body already, and its position was one of submission, not aggression.
"I guess it sensed the threat to its life and surrendered."
Tiamat's guess was spot on. This creature's fight-or-flight instinct was nonexistent.
It was the strongest being it knew other than the ones who contained it here.
In its mind, anyone who was stronger than it was one of them, which meant it had no choice but to submit.
That creature was the guardian of the crack, the one who killed everyone who entered to clear it, and the one who would have caused havoc in the Heavenly World if Damien didn't stop it here.
But it wasn't the only thing in the labyrinth.
The reason Damien didn't participate in the earlier subjugation presented itself now.
This labyrinth, at one point, was filled to the brim with vanguard forces of all five types.
After the first wave, there was meant to be a second and even a third before this particular crack died down.
But the instant Damien arrived in the labyrinth, he wiped all those vanguard forces out of existence with a sweep of his hand.
That kind of power couldn't just be shown in front of the general public now, could it?
Damien's strength didn't need to be publicized more than he allowed it to be.
But that was beside the point.
Since they were in a foreign land now, Damien didn't need to hide so deeply.
And since they were out of the labyrinth due to his actions, he could finally confirm the main theory he'd had since he first learned of the Foreign Races.
'This isn't a separate plane. It's not a separate universe either.'
No, it was deeper than that.
There was nothing in the surroundings to cue him into anything, but he could feel it just from the air brushing against his face.
'This place…'
Damien's eyes widened.
A fact he never thought could be true until today.
There was no way to deny it.
'This place is an entire cosmos, completely independent from the one I know.'
