Villain Retirement

Chapter 1126: Ready, Set...

Chapter 1126: Ready, Set...

VR 1126

"What's… happening here?"

It was ominous, very much so. Riley and the others hadn't even left the dock, and yet they could hear the pained moans of all the people. It was almost as if the entire planet itself was letting out a hum. Everyone's eyes were red; their tears, almost gave hints of pink as they trailed down their cheeks.

But when it seemed like the group wasn't moving from their spot at all, Riley just casually stepped forward without even minding all the moans and screams of pain. "Wait, Riri…" Miss Pepondosovich grabbed him by the sleeve, "...We don't know what's causing this yet — this seems pretty serious. Maybe we should just return to the ship for now."

"There is no need to worry about any of this, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley shook his head, "This is perfectly normal — none of them are dying, they are just in pain. And from the volume and the tone of their scream, it is excruciatingly painful, but it is not deadly."

"...Do you think this is the doing of the Higher God that's living on this planet?" Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes before carefully looking at the top of the pyramid, which was barely visible from how large the pyramid was.

"I do believe that this has nothing to do with that at all, Miss Pepondosovich," Riley shook his head again — and before he could take another step forward, a man started to walk toward them — the man stood out, as unlike everyone else on this pyramid island, he was the only one was not crying; he did, however, still have a handkerchief that he was using to wipe his eyes.

"Greetings, Monkeh," the man, whose mustache twirled with each of his words, bowed at Monkeh, "To what honor do we deserve this sudden visit from you? The last we heard, you were riding the Celestial Whale around the Grand Triangle."

"That's old news," Monkeh just casually replied as she scratched her nose, "Who are you? Why do you seem so familiar to me?"

"I am Nus," the man, Nus, once again bowed, "We have met before, although I was much too young to realize that I was in the presence of such merit."

"Nus…?" Monkeh squinted her eyes while scratching the fur under the lines of her jaw, "Why does that sound a little familiar… Wait, you're not that little runt that keeps following Princess Filo around, are you?"

"That is me," Nus once again bowed, "And although I hate to be rude, what is the purpose of your visit here, Monkeh?"

"My new friends and I are just traveling across the Grand Triangle," Monkeh shrugged as she looked at Riley and the others, "You can say we're on the full tour for the full experience."

"This is not really good timing to be here, Monkeh," Nus started shaking his head vehemently, "My Master is angry because someone suddenly launched an attack on us — and the perpetrators have not even made themselves known yet. I believe that any minute now, my boss would start wreaking havoc. Most of the population of the planet had already left when they caught wind of this, despite the sheer and excruciating pain they were feeling, they pressed on as they were afraid of catching Master's wrath."

"Master?" Monkeh raised an eyebrow, "I never realized you serve a master."

"I did not realize it too," Nus once again shook his head, "Please do take my advice into consideration — leave before the Master finds out you are here."

"...We won't really stay for long, we just need a map and we'll be on our way," Monkeh looked at Aurora, "We better do it fast."

"Sorry, but may I ask…" Aurora approached Nus, "...But what exactly attacked you?"

"Something sinister and vile," Nus then once again wiped the tears threatening to burst from her reddening eyes, "It happened so suddenly — our people were just walking around peacefully, waiting for the shadows to come so that we could kill each other silently. But then, everything changed when the red stuff started shooting at us; the pain, even seeping into the deepest parts of the pyramid."

"..." Aurora blinked a couple of times as she heard that, "This red stuff… what did it taste like?"

"Taste…?" Nus squinted his eyes, "I suppose I did manage to get some in my mouth — it is what you'd expect, it is extremely spicy that it immediately made me spit it out."

"Wait…" Aurora's eyes started to widen as she looked at Riley — and it wasn't only her, Monkeh and Miss Pepondosovich were now also looking at Riley.

"As I said, everyone," Riley just let out a small breath before shrugging, "There is nothing to worry about because it is just nakji-bokkeum."

"You know… what it is?" Nus blinked a couple of times as he also stared at Riley.

"Yes," Riley nodded without any hesitation.

"Wait, Riley…" As for Aurora, the only thing she could really do was take a few steps back into the ship as she felt that something was starting to grow — and it wasn't anything good, "...Don't—"

"I am the one who scattered it, Nus," Riley just said, "And it is not anything dangerous, it is just food."

"...You attacked us?" Nus's eyes started to twitch as he looked at Riley from head to toe, "Who even are you, if I may ask?"

"I am Riley Ross," Riley just shrugged as he also started looking at Nus from head to toe,

"...And I assume you are Set?"

"Set…?" Nus just raised an eyebrow; his mustache seemingly also rising up for some reason, "I do not know what—Ah, fuck it. Yes, I am."

"I knew it!" Aurora then just quickly rushed inside the ship — as for Monkeh and Miss Pepondosovich, they also just casually stepped into the ship, with Miss Pepondosovich just casually pressing the manual button to close the hatch… not even waiting for Riley at all. Well, there was no use waiting for him at all as he did not move from his spot and just stared at Nus—no, Set, with a very wide smile on his face.

"Oh?" Set also returned his smile. But while Riley's smile was that of sheer excitement, Set was clearly a smile that contained all of his frustrations. And then, very soon, his body started to grow; ripping off the fancy clothes he was wearing as he towered over Riley by an entire meter,

"You think what you did was funny?" Set then stomped his foot on the ground, and as he did so, a golden scepter shot up from beside his feet. He then quickly grabbed it, causing a light to instantly wrapped around his body — the light, soon turning into a shendyr that skirted down his waist, as well as a mask that looked similar to a horse… if a horse had a longer snout than usual, that is,

"Let me tell you a better joke."

And with those words, Set raised his scepter in the air before slamming it to the ground — summoning his domain and causing the ground to turn into an endless desert.

"What… what just happened!?" Aurora, who was just about to fly away with the ship, could not help but gasp as she suddenly found herself seemingly far away from Riley — but at the same time, she could still see pyramid near them. She couldn't really quite explain what she was seeing.

"It's called a Territory," Miss Pepondsovich explained, "It's an ability someone from the Domain of the Gods would instinctively learn — open the window shield."

"...What?" Aurora turned to look at Miss Pepondosovich, "Why would I open the windows!? We should get out of here!"

"There is still something you do not understand," Miss Pepondosovich let out a long and very deep sigh while shaking her head, "I'm sure Monkeh understands it, don't you, Monkeh?"

"I do," Monkeh nodded.

"Understand what…?"

"That no matter how far you fly away…" Monkeh squinted her eyes as she looked at Riley from the distance, "...The fight that is about to happen will reach us."

"What…?"

"That is usually not necessarily the case," Miss Pepondosovich then stepped toward the window and gestured to Aurora to just open it, "After all, the Territory serves as a fighting field for the gods so that they would not destroy the things around them — but since Riley is one of the combatants…

…common sense would not really work here and we should always expect the unexpected. There's also the fact that he is fighting with a Higher God, and that alone could ultimately end an entire universe — well, at least the Unknown since apparently the universe is just super big."

"Then… what does opening the window have to do with anything of this?" Aurora blinked a couple of times, "Shouldn't we make sure that we won't get pulled in!?"

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Miss Pepondosovich once again gestured to Aurora to open the window shield, "Open it…

…I am going to make sure that nothing hits us from the outside."