The Epidium’s blood had a remarkable regenerative ability. As long as blood and oxygen continued to circulate, their bodies would regenerate even when their organs were ruptured or when cell death occurred. He experienced it several times himself. Death only followed with the destruction of a heart or a shattered body.

  The creature’s teeth and claws, which seemed to be inherited from the Epidium, were threatening. He wore the billion’s water armor and shoved his hand deep inside the creature’s stomach. The billion’s water armor that absorbed the blood sunk into his skin.

  Another creature seized the opportunity and charged forward.

  Crash—


  He struck its body using a form of the grand impact point.

  Kegh—


  The creature was buried in the rock floor. Bits of rock flew in the air.

  “Mon Dieu!”[1]

  With the billion’s water armor, the impact of his fist increased by five times. The creature, which refused to die even after he had slammed it with the dinosaur’s tendon, turned to mush with a single punch.

  Shshsh—


  Three smaller creatures quickly fled to the basement. They retreated like rats.

  “Ahmad!”


  There was no reply. Black Mamba, who was about to go after the rats, turned back. Ahmad had collapsed. He was panting, and there were cold sweats all over his face. He was a fairly strong guy. Ahmad didn’t let out a single groan.

  “Ah, their claws and teeth are poisonous.”


  Black Mamba wanted to feed him his blood, but humans weren’t capable of overcoming the powerful antitoxin flowing in the Epidium’s blood. He was bound to die of shock before the poison could be counteracted. Perhaps his blood could surpass the botulinum toxin’s potency.

  Boom—


  He grabbed both of Ahmad’s hands and activated his resonance waves. He emptied the right half of his body and shoved the resonance waves into the left side of his body. It was the inhalation wave he had used in the Sahel to extract the parasitic worms. The poison, which had spread to his body fluids and vessels, was pulled out effortlessly. Black Mamba’s inhalation wave was steadier to use.

  The side effect of the inhalation wave was that he couldn’t filter out the foreign substance. Pungent blood dripped from Ahmad’s hand. His face regained its color. With a few more rotations of his resonance waves, bright red blood was drawn.

  “Uuuu, Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa!”


  Ahmad’s facial muscles loosened up.

  “Idiot, how were you taken down by rats?”


  “I’m sorry, sir.”


  “I’ve drained the poison. Sit up.”


  He placed his hands on Ahmad’s tailbone and head, then sent out his resonance waves. The hand with the billion’s water armor was a weapon of all weapons. He could break Ahmad’s skull if he didn’t control his strength. He sweated while attempting to operate it gently as if he was caressing a woman’s breast. The resonance waves shook once inside of Ahmad. Sending out the resonance waves would stimulate cell units. His internal organs and muscles that were affected by the poison would likely recover faster.

  “Thank you, sir.”


  “They aren’t ordinary creatures. There must be a reason why they didn’t come outside and remained underground.”


  Black Mamba walked deeper into the basement. Ahmad followed him with the oil lamps.

  Boom—


  He activated his dimensional sight. The rat creatures were like people acting as ghosts in front of ghosts. They were hiding between the lion statues.

  “Ahmad, dagger.”


  Black Mamba weighed the khanjar in his hand and threw it.

  Whoosh—


  Keeegh—


  An airwave, impact, and a screech rang out at the same time.

  Ahmad rushed forward and looked at the crack. He could see two red eyes that reeked of poison. He stabbed the shamshir into it relentlessly. The creature bit the tip of his sword.

  Cling—


  A clanging sound reverberated. Ahmad stared blankly at his shamshir, which now was missing a tip.

  What is this?

  Ahmad shivered. That b*stard could break apart a sword, which had been refined dozens of times. He would die if he was bitten. Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa, who had killed such a creature in a single blow, clearly wasn’t human.

  “Don’t interfere. It’s a mutant with unimaginable defensive and regenerative abilities. Its jaw should be 10 times stronger than a tiger’s.”


  “I’ve never imagined such a creature before.”


  “They’re the worst creatures on Earth. You won’t be able to handle a single one of them. The only reason you survived was that these b*stards like playing with their prey.”


  “Uugh, damn creatures.”


  Ahmad’s face crumpled as he collapsed onto the ground, realizing he’d been nothing but prey. He wasn’t wrong. If Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa hadn’t arrived in time, he would’ve ended up in those creatures’ stomachs.

  “It’ll mean trouble if one of them reaches the surface.”


  “It will be a calamity.”


  Slip—


  The billion’s water armor penetrated through the layered stone floor effortlessly.

  “Im…impossible!”


  Ahmad rubbed his eyes. How could a human’s hand penetrate the hard rock floors like it was cutting through tofu? He had experienced Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa’s miracles several times up until now, but he always felt like it was a dream.

  Black Mamba ripped apart the rocks as though he was tearing styrofoam.

  Krrrr—


  The creature bared its teeth and emitted its poison. Ahmad’s heart raced at that sight.

  Black Mamba didn’t care and dragged it by its hind legs.

  Kiigh—


  The creature rolled its body into an impossible angle of 180 degrees and bit his hand.

  Clack—


  Its strong teeth, which were capable of cutting through metal, couldn’t cut through the billion’s water armor. There was no need to throw it to the floor, either. He pulled its neck while it was in his hand. In his hand, which was enveloped with the billion’s water armor, the creature’s hide and muscles that rebounded metal were nothing but putty.

  “Uh, careful—” Ahmad shouted.

  The b*stard, which was attached to the ceiling, dropped down without a sound.

  “Hmm, a creature’s a creature for a reason.”


  The b*stard, which had lured with an attack, acted as though it had lost its balance. He used a figure of the piercing white crane without turning to look at it.

  Crash—


  His fingers, which had gathered like a drill, pierced the creature’s body and poked out of its other end.

  Slash—


  Black Mamba, who briefly tore its body apart, headed toward the dark corridor to find the last b*stard.

  “Aah! Mahdi, Sir!”


  Ahmad unknowingly called for the Islamic savior. He felt as though his consciousness had detached from his body at the surreal scene. Overwhelming strength always brought about reverence and awe.

  Crack—


  Crack—


  The sound of bones snapping under his feet was terrifying. The deeper he went, the more bones appeared in the basement. Countless small creatures’ bones were on the floor. Several human bones and a large animal’s bones were scattered all over too.

  “Oh, how can this be!”


  Ahmad grabbed a rusty khanjar and shivered. It was a beloved object of his uncle’s. It had been three years since his uncle went missing. He was the very uncle who had taught him martial arts since his childhood. He hadn’t known that his uncle had turned into the vile creatures’ food.

  “What is it?”


  “It’s my uncle’s.”


  “He was done in by the creatures. I’m sorry for your loss. There are at least 10 skeletons in here.”


  “A total of 16 people have gone missing for the past decade. We suspected the Mukhabarat. We thought we could only live with our hands tied, but to think they were eaten by the sila!”


  Ahmad trembled.

  Brat, there are dinosaurs underground and creatures that consider dinosaurs a piece of gum.

  Black Mamba laughed inwardly. Not everything in the world was as it seemed. It was unfortunate, but too many lives had been sacrificed to pray for one man’s death. Humans were the real monsters.

  “Why do you think people entered such an eerie place?”


  “I think the small bones are from rats, and the big bones are from the animals outside. Perhaps the sila lured the humans and animals in with telepathy?”


  “…or they were humans with immoderate bravery. The creatures could not escape the basement for some unknown reasons. If they could willingly leave this place, both humans and animals would have been hunted to extinction. They’re creatures that cannot be killed with bullets.”


  “Uuuh, how can this be!”


  Ahmad’s heart started pounding. A calamity was breathing right next to them, but all they were concerned about were the Mukhabarat. How could they be so foolish!

  “Can you find your uncle’s remains?”


  “I can’t.”


  Black Mamba thought it was impossible too. The creatures had left behind too many bones, and they were all mixed up.

  “Ahmad, take the remains and move them to the entrance. I’ll get rid of the remaining creature.”


  Black Mamba refused the oil lamp that Ahmad offered him and entered the dark basement’s tunnel. Ahmad looked blankly at Black Mamba’s disappearing back. His triangular back looked like an angel’s back.

  Black Mamba held the glowing metal he had obtained from the underground world in his hand and traveled deeper inside.

  “I knew it.”


  Inside the dark tunnel, there were glowing bones, which he suspected was the Epidium’s remains. He already located the remaining creature’s hiding place. His goal was the Epidium’s remains.

  He picked up a femur. It was smooth like the pebbles by a river. He flicked it with his fingers.

  Ting—


  The clanging of metal sounded. It was similar to the Epidium’s remains he had found in Wol Song San.

  While the bone infected by the virus was the skull, he remained wary of the other bones. Black Mamba took off his gandoura and grabbed all the bones. He didn’t miss a single finger bone. With a single accident, the bones could spell the end of humanity.

  “Damn creature.”


  The remaining creature attacked him from behind. Black Mamba had read its every move the entire time. He flicked his wrist and grabbed its neck. The billion’s water armor pierced the creature’s hide.

  Kirrrr—


  Bubbles of blood frothed at the creature’s mouth before it fell limp.

  “Hehe, what a treasure this is. The rewards from this trip are enough with this. I wonder how much Bonipas will offer if I present to him one that is still alive? No. I can’t give him the corpse without knowing what he’ll do with it. Humans should just live as humans, that’s best.”


  He suppressed his sudden desire for money and split the creature’s body with the glowing metal. The dull metal sliced through the creature’s hide, something that his Kukri had failed to do.

  “Hehehe, I don’t know what it is, but it’s an astounding object. This itself is a treasure, a good reward for my labor. I need to name it, but what?”


  Boom—


  He extended his dimensional sight and searched the entire basement. It would mean trouble if any other living creatures reacted to the Epidium’s remains. There was no life force. Black Mamba gathered the Epidium’s bones and came out of the tunnel. Now there was no reason to hear the eerie sounds coming from the castle ruins’ basement.

  Ahmad reached his hands out to receive the gandoura full of the Epidium’s bones. Surprised, Black Mamba stepped back.

  “No! This is an object you cannot touch. Leave the human bones be, and move all the creatures’ corpses to the surface.”


  “Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa, are these the sila?”


  Ahmad looked down at the creatures, grim-faced. Their smaller organs were twitching, despite their pulled necks and torn bodies.

  “They’re a scarier existence than the sila.”


  “What are the bones that Sir Ddu-bai-buru-pa is carrying?” Ahmad gathered his courage to ask, unable to hold back his curiosity.

  “They’re the source of all evil. You shouldn’t touch them, either. There are plenty of secrets in this world that you do not know. Bring a can of gasoline and a thick metal container.”


  Black Mamba sent Ahmad down to the village and picked up an Epidium’s skull. Its long head, firmness, and smoothness were no different from a modern human skull. Once, he had almost been tormented to death by a skull. He grabbed the wet skull with his hand.

  “It is!”


  A fiery heat rushed up to his hand. It was the same reaction he had experienced at Wol Song San, at the age of 11. The excita virus—its vector agent—activated whenever it came into contact with water. It was the last of the Epidium’s remains in the world.

  There were around 5,800,000,000 people on Earth. There had to be a few humans who were awakened by the Epidium’s remains. The possibility of running into the Epidium’s bones was lower than winning a lottery, and the possibility of awakening was even lower.

  Still, that was his third time coming across with an Epidium, from Wol Song San, Arago cave, to the castle ruins’ basement. There was a possibility of finding an existing monster like Ocelot living there.

  An awakened rat looked like that. If a cat was awakened, it could eat up lions and tigers before ending humanity. A Jurassic dinosaur could be revived with the emergence of the Epidium variants. He grew slightly worried.

  “Fu***** hell, do I need to act as an Epidium eraser too? Ugh, my life!” he joked about it half-truthfully and half-jokingly.

  His reality was already a headache, but some humans who lived 100s and 1,000s of light-years away were annoying him too.

  He burned the Epidium’s skulls and the rat creatures’ corpses with gasoline. The Epidium’s skulls were strangely weak in a fire. They burned rapidly like dried firewood. Thanks to that, he found a weakness. The Epidium variants were weak in a fire. He was also weak around a fire.

  Ahmad gathered the heap of ashes into a metal container that was at least five millimeters thick, which was used to boil milk. Black Mamba had asked him to bring a thick metal container, and he actually brought one.

  Black Mamba crushed the metal container to seal it. He banged on it with his billion’s water armor and compressed it into a ball. He lifted the underground stones, dug a deep hole, and shoved the ball sealed with the Epidium’s bones deep inside.

  Crash—


  The metal ball pierced the ground and disappeared.

  “Ahmad, I’ll be returning from Damascus in two days. Don’t fly around haphazardly trying to rescue Idia.”


  “I’ll keep your orders in mind, sir.”


  Ahmad didn’t have enough gall to go against the apostle’s words. Black Mamba forgot to whip Ahmad into shape as he was busy fighting against the rat creatures. Thanks to them, Ahmad’s groans would be put off to another day.

  At the main entrance of the French Embassy in Ata-al-Ayyoubi, north-west of Damascus’ Fayez Mansour highway.

  Creaaak—


  A heavy motorbike stopped in front of the metal gates. A healthy Asian young man patted the bike and jumped off it. Black Mamba had traveled over 620 kilometers directly from Maydanki Lake. The Egypt 100cc bike had managed to bear seven hours of full-speed travel.

  A station guard blocked his path.

  “Stop, comment est-ce que vous aidez?”[2]

  “A chaque hour ce puis sa soleil.”[3]

  “Qu’est-ce que vous avez dire?”[4]

  “A chaque hour ce puis sa soleil.”


  “Il faut tourne sa langue sept fois dans ca bouche avant de parler.”[5]

  The station guard looked up and down Black Mamba’s face as though he was looking at a madman.

  [1] “My God!”


  [2] “Stop, what do you need?”


  [3] “Tomorrow brings tomorrow’s sun.”


  [4] “What did you say?”


  [5] “You should turn your tongue seven times in your mouth before talking.” It’s a french expression that means to think before you speak.