What the fuck was happening now?

The transmigrator acting like a broken NPC was already bad enough but the way the space itself trembled? Yeah, that made everything ten times more suspicious.

And honestly, I had zero interest in finding out what was wrong. I didn't have nine lives like some damn cat to satisfy my curiosity.

I willed the skill to deactivate but nothing happened.

My ominous-feeling meter spiked straight through the roof but before I could do anything, my entire body froze.

"Quite an interesting specimen we have here."

A voice echoed across the void.

A rupture tore open in the darkness and a man stepped out with slick black hair, abyssal eyes and dressed in a dark suit like some underworld bureaucrat…

… still the smile on his face was so unnervingly wrong it made him look more like a devil wearing human skin.

"Who the fuck are you now?"

At that point, I might as well be a loudmouth if I was screwed anyway, no reason to pretend otherwise.

More importantly, there is probably some study somewhere that says dumb people live longer in situations like this.

So I might as well act like a stupid loudmouth.

"Me?" the man spoke, acting all surprised. "Ah, don't mind me. I'm simply a passerby who happened to stumble upon something interesting and thought I would take a look."

"Well, a stalker. I see," I replied, matching his smile, though I wasn't even sure he could see it with my soul in this form.

"Hmm, maybe I am." Vael'runn spoke, his voice mischievous.

I didn't say anything but the fact that this bastard was here at all meant one thing:

He was strong.

And right now, he was being cautious.

Not because he respected me but because he hadn't figured out what I was yet.

A cautious bastard, then.

But before I made any decisions, I needed to know exactly who he was.

"V–Vael'runn…"

Just then, Lucien's terrified voice cut through the void.

I turned toward him and saw his entire soul-body shaking and flickering violently, like he was about to be erased on the spot.

Great. Just great.

I looked back at the man, Vael'runn.

Of course it had to be this fucker.

Tsk.

I should have known by the way he was dressed.

He was the last person I wanted to run into right now because unlike the other gods who at least pretended to be ancient, mythical, mysterious entities, this bastard was a complete freak.

"Ahh, you're here, I see, Lucien." Vael'runn's smile sharpened as he turned his abyssal gaze onto the trembling soul. "Mind telling me who this gentleman is?"

His eyes darkened as they locked onto Lucien.

"I–I don't know anything," Lucien stammered, a complete mess now.

But it was enough for me to finally understand why he had been so desperate in the first place.

This idiot transmigrator must have landed in Vael'runn's domain after his death and, in a moment of world-class stupidity, tried to bargain for resurrection.

He had tried to do what I had done with Hel,

to negotiate his way out of death.

I mean, which transmigrator with the knowledge that it was possible wouldn't do.

But he had picked the worst possible being for that.

Vael'runn wasn't someone who negotiated. He was someone who took… who snatched everything from you and burned your house down just because he felt bored that day.

If I had been sent to his domain instead of Hel's?

Yeah.

My chances of surviving would've been basically zero.

Still, I didn't let any of that show.

This bastard couldn't see my true form and from the way he was studying me, he clearly thought I was someone powerful.

And since my skill refused to deactivate, almost certainly because of him, I needed a plan.

Fast.

Which meant I needed to act.

"I am the God of Underwear."

I declared it with all the grandeur my soul-voice could muster, letting it echo like some cosmic proclamation.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it was not exactly the most majestic domain in existence but I couldn't afford to use any main divinities.

Vael'runn was a Greater God. He would know most orthodox gods by name, smell and probably the preferred method of execution.

If I claimed something known, he would see through me instantly.

But even he wouldn't be deranged enough to memorize the existence of a God of underwear.

And honestly, there were all kinds of gods out there.

In the novel alone, I had seen a God of Trash.

So yeah, a God of Underwear was definitely out there somewhere.

And more importantly, I found it hilarious to make the God of the Underworld meet the God of the Underwear.

Maybe it was the Trickster part of my soul acting up again.

In any case, if bullshit was a weapon, I was about to swing it like a legendary artifact.

I didn't need him to believe me completely… I just needed enough time to figure out how to get the hell out of this situation.

"Hmm. God of Underwear?" he murmured, his expression doubtful but thankfully not hostile yet.

Meanwhile, Lucien was still a shattered mess on the floor, unable to even lift his head.

I might've felt sorry for him… if he hadn't tried to kill me back in the Forest of Unmasked. But since he did? Yeah, let him suffer.

Now, how the hell was I supposed to get out of here?

My mind spun rapidly as Vael'runn closed his eyes, which by the way, was a very bad sign.

This bastard was probably going through whatever cosmic database he had to check if he had ever heard of me before.

I kept trying to deactivate my skill again and again but it refused to budge, like it was hell-bent on screwing me over.

Only now did I realize how monumentally stupid my decision to try this skill had been. Of course summoning a soul out of nowhere would drag the attention of whoever was in charge of it.

But in my defense, I thought the skill absorbed the souls of the people I killed… then summoned them directly from me.

How the hell was I supposed to know it yanked them straight out of some underworld?

Still… it wasn't like I was about to blame myself.

I forced myself to focus on everything I had at my disposal. Anything, any scrap of power or loophole that could save my ass right now.

And then it hit me.

My Trickster Domain.

If what that creepy book inside it had said was true, I could enter and exit the domain at will.

What if I entered it now?

It had fended off that cosmic stalker before. He was someone who was probably even stronger than Vael'runn.

So maybe… just maybe… It could work here too.

I focused hard on finding my Card of Arcana, the anchor that connected me to my domain.

"I can't seem to find any God of Underwear in my memories," Vael'runn's voice echoed, annoyance visible in his voice.

"Well, I prefer to keep it low," I answered without missing a beat, even as my mind stayed locked on the link.

"I see… but then why are you radiating so much of dear Hel's energy?" he pressed. "And why were you trying to steal a soul from my domain?"

"I did all of this because…"

I was so damn close.

Got it.

The moment I felt the link snap into place, a smile spread across my face.

"Because?" Vael'runn asked, his expression finally turning serious.

"Because you are a piece of shit."

And with those words, I willed myself straight into my domain.

But unexpectedly, nothing happened.

My body didn't move an inch. I was still in that endless void.

The only change was the silence, Lucien's pathetic sobbing had stopped entirely. His expression was frozen in sheer horror as he stared at me.

Vael'runn… looked surprised too.

But only for a moment before slowly, a grin stretched across his face.

"Hahahahahah… gutsy, are we?" he said, voice dripping with amusement. "I promised Marz I wouldn't cause any trouble but I'm sure he will understand this."

With those words, he vanished.

Time seemed to slow down.

Fuck. I knew I shouldn't have trusted that damn stalking book.

Those were the only thoughts in my head as I watched Vael'runn's hand stretch toward me in agonizing slow motion.

Is this what it's supposed to feel like… right before death?

But then, dozens, no, hundreds, of crimson cards erupted out of me, circling around me like a living hurricane.

Vael'runn stopped mid-motion.

His expression went blank… then twisted into something I had never seen on him before.

Anger.

"You…" he spoke, his voice filled with fury. "How are you still alive?"

And in the next instant, he shot toward me, blindingly fast, even as the rest of the world moved in slow motion.

The crimson storm closed in, swallowing me whole.

The last thing I saw was Vael'runn's hand tearing my body before everything went dark.

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