Ibaan was worried that the filthy creature was far stronger than him. He couldn't face it head-on. If he did, he would go through the same horror again, and this time he felt even the protection of Saint Sanity might not save him.

So how could he defeat it?

The answer was simple… and a bit absurd.

Since the creature's speed was impossible to follow, he had to fight with calm and sharp timing. He kept all his senses focused on its movements, watching and analysing every small twitch. If the creature truly rushed at him, he knew he stood no chance—

but what if he still had one tiny chance?

Yes, that's right.

He had a plan. If he shifted from this branch to the branch of the next tree right when the creature vanished to attack, then it would strike nothing but empty air.

Though saying it was easy… doing it was not.

But he had no other choice.

There was nothing else he could rely on.

So, keeping his gaze on the creature standing on the branch of another tree, he noticed, it came to a halt as if it had already sensed Ibaan's position. Ibaan stayed alert as well, adjusting his posture slightly.

But the moment his eyes shifted over the branch, the creature had already vanished into nothingness.

Ibaan's heart trembled. In the same instant, his eyes widened, and he twisted his torso, pushing off the branch with every bit of strength he had. His feet left the wood, the dust drifting backward as he leapt.

Just as he landed at the edge of the branch of the adjacent tree, a violent wave tore through the place. The tree he had been standing on was crushed upward from that very spot. Nothing remained there except a thin, splintered column of wood.

The surroundings too felt the huge blow, getting damaged in a dramatic way.

Ibaan's eyes caught something massive lingering in the air—right at the spot where he had been standing a moment ago. Now, there was nothing except a cluster of air molecules forced apart, struggling against the swirling smoke and dark, dust-like particles.

His eyes widened even more when his mind clicked and put all the dots together.

An image formed in his head—a punch, a human punch or to be more exact a violent first

Exactly like one… except it had small horns jutting out from the edges.

Ibaan's eyes stretched even further as he realised the hidden secret behind the filthy creature's overwhelming attack—how it could unleash a blow strong enough to crush reality itself. It looked truly annoyed, and now he understood why. It had finally noticed Ibaan's little trick—how he kept moving to another branch the very moment the creature attacked the spot he planned to jump to.

And Ibaan had thought that too. A mere monster of some unknown being—born in a place where order didn't exist and only chaos ruled—would naturally stand at the level of a demon or monster. That was how messed up this realm and its system were.

Ibaan found this moment to be his best chance to pull the creature into the traps he had set in his mind.

But before the punch-like thing—which floated there for a few microseconds—fully faded, Ibaan had already shifted toward another adjacent tree. Yet just as he lifted his feet and jumped toward the same spot again, he landed on the same branch.

And at that very moment, exactly as his instincts and unawakened willpower had planned, Ibaan instantly hurled the sword with all his strength at the spot where he was about to jump.

And as expected, a huge blow swept across the place, crushing the tree into nothing but splinters.

The human-fist-like thing—another form of that filthy, odious creature—floated in the same spot, stuck in the middle of the chaos. And something had pierced it. It glowed a deep crimson, and red smoke-like energy—something that should not exist—swirled and flickered around it.

The Utopian's Duke had stabbed straight through the creature's new form. Ibaan's plan had worked, trapping the creature as it struggled to move, as if crying in silence.

Ibaan's lips curled into a twisted smile, and two words rose in his mind.

'How interesting!'

The red energy flickered again, as if it were devouring the very power the creature held.

However, at the same time, a panel screen appeared before him, almost making him question reality itself and doubt his own senses.

[Utopian's Duke consuming ability activated]

[Consuming the strength of the Beast-monster Uman]

'Huh?'

Impossible.

How was it even possible that the sword he had recently woven with his own power—his Concept of Creation—had an ability like this? Something like this should have been impossible for him to do. Yes, if he had already awakened the Astral World Path, then he could have created such a function, but he was still a few steps away from reaching that stage.

So how could he do something like this before reaching it?

And consuming the powers of the other party?

Of course, it was obvious—this consuming power was almost the same as the power of the Divine Sword, devouring the forbidden strength the enemy wielded and turning it into its own.

It didn't make any sense. None of it did.

He had faced something similar before—back when he had woven the mask, and after wearing it, the mask had shown an ability he never planned or even imagined.

Had he created something forbidden and terrifying without knowing it? And if he made something else, would it also end up carrying some hidden, forbidden power?

Ibaan's heart didn't even pound in the next moment as he thought about it. Instead, a wave of excitement washed over him… mixed with a bit of greed.

Well, why wouldn't he be? If you were in his situation, you would be far greedier—and might even do something disturbing and abnormal.

The creature's form had begun to disintegrate from the very points where the sword had pierced it.

…

As Ibaan's hand twitched slightly and moved toward the sword—

…His face darkened even more in surprise.

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