"We were supposed to land in safe zones, right?" Krune muttered in confusion, retreating deep into the cave as he groaned. He then blinked a couple of times, looking around him as he soon realized something.
He then recalled the contents said by the mountainous demon beast, realizing how there was a certain twist to it. He immediately cursed upon noticing the wordplay he used. "Oh, for fuck's sake. So the place we spawn is safe. But anything beyond that isn't."
Krune immediately understood that only a small area, spanning a circle with a radius of a couple of meters, was a safe zone, undisturbed by any danger. And, when they arrived, nothing would happen to them. It was a temporary safe zone.
But that was it. Eventually, they would have to move away from the place if they didn't wish to be subjected to danger. Then again, as long as they move, they would have to face danger. After all, they were most probably dropped in the heart of a dangerous place.
Upon seeing the wall of lava that had been raging forth for a couple of minutes now blocking the cave entrance, Krune realized that this was the case. His cave was the only safe zone. But that was only temporary.
If he didn't wish to become a puddle of lava, then he had to swiftly move away. Krune was just about to use his Divine Sense to probe around when the Calamity Laws that formed a part of him flashed, warning him.
From the name itself, they were the best at detecting calamities. Surprisingly, this calamity was a relative substance. If the situation was something Krune considered calamitous, the Calamity Laws would give him a subtle warning.
At first, the Calamity Laws were the ones that made his life hell. After he comprehended it to a surface extent, it was no longer able to manipulate his karma. Nevertheless, it still made his breakthroughs incredibly life-threatening.
Moreover, the Calamity Laws were also able to manipulate scenarios and lead a bunch of people into having a conflict with Krune. Even Cultivator had been manipulated through numerous coincidences to garner interest in Krune.
But with the creation of his Spiritual Incarnation, Krune had swallowed and digested the Calamity Laws, turning them into a part of him. After this, the Calamity Laws were no longer able to affect him, at least, based on what he had experienced so far.
After all, Little Cally hadn't appeared after that. Based on his understanding of the Calamity Laws that was a part of him, Little Cally was no longer able to make his life a mess without it taking damage as well.
After all, as Krune continued to grow and develop, he would comprehend the Calamity Laws more and more. This meant that he was taking control of the laws from Little Cally, with Little Cally ending up in a passive situation. After all, despite having sentience, it was still a law. Laws could be comprehended and gained control over.
On top of that, each God had become an existence that was one with their respective law. They were the law, and the law was their existence. So, when Krune reached such a realm, Little Cally would be destroyed while Krune would turn into the Calamity Law himself.
So, to ensure his growth wouldn't encroach on its existence, Little Cally was most probably not willing to appear and risk him comprehending it more. After all, it could no longer scheme without him being notified of it. They both had the same laws now.
Moreover, as long as it waited, it would regain control over its Calamity Laws. After all, the core of Krune's Spiritual Incarnation wasn't the Calamity Laws, but the Balance Laws. So, when he reaches the phase where he would turn into a God, he would become an entirely new law and not interfere with Little Cally.
That was what he could vaguely guess based on his understanding of the Calamity Laws. Since they were a part of his body, he could obtain such information through meditation.
Now that the Calamity Laws had warned him, Krune refrained from using his Divine Sense. He immediately noticed how there wasn't even a speck of Godly Energy in the surroundings, neither in the air nor in the ground around him.
The place seemed void of all traces of Godly Energy and even other forms of energy for that matter. Only the simplest forms of energy in nature, like thermal energy, were present in the area.
"There's a good chance that something unexpected might get triggered the moment I use any Godly Energy. I should probably refrain from using any techniques." Krune frowned as he muttered, feeling that the level of difficulty had increased right from the start.
He then thought about how he would escape from the place. After all, the wall of lava hadn't receded yet. Moreover, the temperature was melting the edge of the walls forming his cave. Not only that, but as it melted, its shape was changing, no longer acting as streamlined redirectors of fluid flow.
This caused the lava to steadily seep into the cave, beginning to flood towards Krune. The lava seemed toxic, causing Krune to begin coughing immediately. He coughed out blood as his eyes turned red while his nose cracked.
A second later, he recovered from the damage, maintaining an unaffected state. After a moment of thought, he summoned a Pseudo-Wisp, heaving a sigh of relief when no Godly Energy was leaked out in this process.
He then used his Mental Energy stealthily, feeling his heart thump with raging momentum as he steadily expanded its radius, finally about to touch the ground. Unfortunately, the Calamity Laws warned him immediately, causing him to retract his Mental Energy Scan as well.
For a moment, Krune was flabbergasted since this was the first time he was unable to rely on his Mental Energy Scan. It was truly shocking for him since mental energy was something not part of the God Realm's laws. So, it couldn't be countered.
"How could they prepare against an energy that they didn't even know existed?" Krune frowned as he questioned himself, then realizing that there were laws related to cause and effect established in place. The Cause and Effect Laws were special since they were different from the rest of the laws.
After all, one could only begin to use them when they reached the peak of the God Realm. On top of that, these two laws were part of a whole and were incredibly mysterious. It was what the Gods used to create foolproof schemes.
After all, if there was an effect, there ought to be its cause. Because of this, even his Mental Energy could be countered. After all, the effect here was him sensing through the ground. While the reason would be his Mental Energy.
As the place was something that would react to all forms of energy, the law of cause and effect acted based on it, leading to the current situation.
"Little Cally, are you the one informing me of all this?" Krune asked while frowning at how his thought process trailed off, arriving at a conclusion that even he couldn't refute. For a moment, he suspected that it was Little Cally transmitting the information to him.
After all, it was something that was a product from beyond the Four Realms. So, it ought to know about the laws of cause and effect. So, Krune was almost assured it was the cause he was deriving a conclusion based on knowledge he didn't possess before.
But, upon seeing how Little Cally didn't respond, he left it as is, worrying about how he would escape. After all, a thin stream of lava had already reached his legs. Krune just relied on his brute strength to plunge his hand into the wall, piercing it as he used it to support himself in the air.
Unsurprisingly, he winced in pain. It seemed the rocks forming the cave were tremendously tough as Krune sensed how his arm had completely fractured in multiple places. A couple of seconds later, it turned normal, allowing him to grab on the wall like a wall hanger.
This was the reason Krune was reckless in straining his body. As long as it wasn't an injury inflicted by a law, he would recover back to his original state in a matter of seconds. The Pseudo-Wisp he had summoned was mimicking the earthworm-type demon beast from before.
It coiled around his body before opening its mouth to bite into the sidewalls, burrowing a hole into it as it slithered in. Slowly but surely, it created a wide enough path for him to crawl into. Moreover, it made the path incline upward to prevent the lava from just flowing into it as he moved through it.
Krune wasn't controlling it. He didn't wish to split his attention in such a situation and risk it. After all, he had to use his Divine Sense to control the Pseudo-Wisp, which was dangerous in the current situation. Besides, he had better alternatives. Little Krune used one of its present six fragments to control the Pseudo-Wisp.
Their shared thoughts were mysterious and didn't depend on any form of energy to work.
The earthworm-type demon beast clone made a path as Krune summoned three others of the same. He made them dig through other paths while blocking the one he had slithered into. This way, he wished to find a way out while preventing the lava from flooding him.
The earthworm-type demon beast clones soon added more than twenty meters of rocks in the path. As the lava flowed through them, they melted and solidified soon after, turning into a tough layer that prevented the lava from moving beyond.
It was an impressive use of the landscape. In any case, Krune didn't have to worry about the lava anymore. Of course, that didn't mean he could be careless.
With that, he created a chamber in the rocks, one that was a meter in radius, spanning a cylinder whose height was twice his own. Krune calmly stood in the place as his breathing rate slowed down to a crawl, unwilling to expend all the oxygen in place before his objective was reached.
All paths to the chamber had been closed by at least a layer of rocks worth a thickness of 20 meters. After that, the clones branched out in four different directions, intending to find a path of safety. Moreover, even if they were to stumble upon an area flooded by the lava that ends up killing them, it would be unable to reach him and harm him.
As long as he had enough Pseudo-Wisps, Krune could sustain the losses and expenditure easily. With such a plan, he started his exploration in the Sub-Realm, one where he couldn't rely on his senses.
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