Read Novel Full Chapter 645: Reunion
Chapter 645: Reunion
Somewhere in the third layer, a pocket realm manifested and anchored itself into reality.
It didn’t resemble a single world so much as several worlds that had decided to share the same space. Each biome had claimed its own territory without bleeding into the others, like Chapters in a book that each had its own distinct feel but somehow belonged together.
To the north stretched a range of towering crystal mountains, each peak rising like a jagged prism, catching sunlight. Light refracted endlessly across their surfaces and split into cascading colors that painted the sky in soft, shifting hues of violet and gold. Between the mountains, rivers of liquid light flowed slowly like molten glass, illuminating everything they touched with a warm, quiet glow.
To the east lay an ocean that couldn’t seem to make up its mind. Its waters rose in spiraling columns that twisted upward into the sky before falling back into the sea in great lazy curtains of mist. Entire islands drifted above the surface, connected to each other by threads of shimmering fog that swayed gently like hammocks in a breeze.
To the south, a dense forest breathed with life. Trees grew in impossible shapes, some spiraling upward like corkscrews, others spreading outward in wide, layered canopies that blocked out the sky entirely. Their leaves glowed with a soft bioluminescence that served as a gentle replacement for sunlight, casting the forest floor in a warm greenish light. Beneath them, the ground shifted subtly as the roots moved like slow, peaceful veins under living skin.
To the west stretched a barren expanse of black sand and fractured stone. Gravity there seemed more like a suggestion than a rule. Large chunks of terrain floated at different heights and rotated slowly, and lightning moved horizontally across the open sky, striking nothing but leaving faint glowing scars in the air behind it.
And at the very center of it all was order.
A massive circular plateau had been carved out of the chaos, perfectly level and untouched by the wild energy of the surrounding biomes. Sitting upon it was a palace that rose ten thousand meters into the air, enormous and deliberate, like a statement made in stone and light.
It was built in vast ascending tiers, each level wide enough to house an entire city. Colossal pillars supported each floor and seemed to anchor the whole structure directly into the fabric of reality. Massive stairways spiraled up along the exterior in sweeping arcs, connecting each tier to the next. The surface of the palace caught the ambient light from all four biomes at once, shifting in color and tone depending on where you stood and which direction you looked. Its gates were tall enough that the largest of beings could pass through without so much as ducking their heads.
It didn’t feel like something that had been built. It felt like something that had been declared.
Inside one of the palace’s lower halls, a meeting was already underway.
Maps and diagrams had been spread across a wide stone table, covered in markings and notes. Rudra stood at one end with his arms crossed, listening as Aryan traced a finger across one of the diagrams and explained something in a low, measured voice. Hiroshi and Silvester sat across from each other, both leaning forward over the table. Marcus had a chair pushed back slightly from the rest, one leg crossed over the other, occasionally cutting in with a question. Maya stood near the far edge of the table, adding notes to the margins of one of the maps without looking up.
Around them, the Monster Sovereigns had settled into their smaller forms. Pymon perched on the back of an empty chair with his wings folded neatly against his sides. Rexion had coiled himself into a compact shape near the base of the table, his eyes half open and attentive. Chronavael sat motionless on the tabletop itself, occupying a corner of it like an ornament that occasionally blinked. Alfred was involved in the meeting as he told them about the things Regalon didn’t know.
The conversation moved steadily, calm and focused, the kind of meeting that had already found its rhythm.
Then the air shifted.
A faint ripple spread outward from the center of the hall, gentle and slow, as a stone dropped into still water on a windless afternoon.
A thin line appeared in the air. Then widened. A doorway formed cleanly and without any fuss.
John Wicked stepped through first, hands tucked into his pockets, glancing around the hall with an easy and unhurried expression. A step behind him came Big D, walking upright and relaxed, ears perked and tail swaying behind him as his eyes swept across the room and the maps and the people around the table with sharp, immediate interest.
"Oh, you’re here as well." Rudra smiled at Big D.
"Tsk, I was late since I was taking my time. You all became more powerful than me." Big sat down on a chair, tail curling.
John sat down beside him, unbothered. "Had a few things to sort out, and also pick our new entrant for this layer."
Leaning back and looking around at everything spread across the table. "It seems you are mapping out the resource and secret places of this realm. Yep, there will be some good surprises in this world. Hopefully, there are some high-tier general resource nodes."
"So," Marcus said, leaning forward. "What’s next?"
"We regroup with Almond and the gang." John smiled.
Maya blinked. "Are they in the middle plane already?"
"Yep, just arrived. They also picked a pretty hotspot in the middle plane. It’ll be fun competing there to progress whatever Hell Mode Quest you get next, haha."
"Sounds fun." Aryan grinned.
"Indeed. "Silvester exhaled softly. "Then we shouldn’t waste any time getting there."
"We won’t," John said simply and looked at the magical doorway he had come through.
It was still showing the faint outline of somewhere else on the other side, but then it shifted.
The sounds came through first. Laughter, easy and unhurried. The crackle and pop of open flames. The low, comfortable hum of a large gathering of people who were not in any particular hurry to be anywhere.
Then the smells followed. Smoke and roasting meat, rich and warm and heavy in the air.
Big D lifted his head from the diagram. His ears turned toward the doorway, and his expression shifted into something considerably more interested than it had been a moment ago. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Almond sets up a good spread," John said, standing from his chair.
Big D was already on his feet.
Through the doorway stretched a wide open highland under an open sky. Nine castles stood in a perfect circle in the distance, their silhouettes dark and steady against the horizon. And at the center of that circle, surrounding the open space between them, a gathering had been arranged. Fire pits burned steadily at even intervals, casting pools of warm amber light across the ground. Skewers of exotic meat rotated slowly over the open flames, the fat catching and sizzling, sending up thin curls of fragrant smoke that drifted lazily into the air above.
It looked, more than anything else, like a welcome home.
Almond and others saw the door and turned their heads.
They could feel the familiar auras from the other side and the aura of John Wicked from the door.
Almond and Lily looked at each other, surprised.
"Oi, oi, is that what I think it is?" Natalia blinked.
"Hmm?..." Ainen blinked.
Saffa and others were also confused as they didn’t know.
"Oi, oi, partying without us, brother? I’m disappointed you didn’t invite us." Marcus’s voice came before he and Maya emerged first.
Walking behind were Admiral Rudra, Silvester, Hiroshi, and Aryan.
And then came John Wicked, and his Monster Sovereigns.
"Now this is a pleasant surprise." Almond chuckled.
"Long time no see, folks." Lily smiled.
"Well, you all came at the perfect time because we have among us the most insane chef in the world." Natalia grinned.
"Yep." Kayla nodded. "Get ready to be shocked."
"Hi," Ainen waved his hand with a smile while the flames did their work, and ingredients moved on their own.
"Next batch is getting ready. Please take your seat."
"The aroma is appetizing already. It’s been a while since I felt that." John rubbed his tummy as he looked at Ainen with a smile. "Glad to have you in the group."
"The pleasure is mine." Ainen chuckled. "The three ladies there are my wives. And the boy is our kid."
Gopu grumbled lightly.
"The smell is insane, alright." Aryan gulped.
Marcus and Maya were also feeling their mouth watering.
Alfred and other Monster Sovereigns were trying hard not to drool.
"Yep, he is a magician of food." Almond chuckled. "Let’s have a party."
"A party without drinks is boring." Hiroshi blinked.
"Gotta agree with this dull man this time." Silvester nodded.
"No worries. I don’t just make food." Ainen chuckled, and the lid of a nearby barrel opened up. "That’s a top-quality alcohol blend."
"Help yourselves and enjoy. The barbecue needs five minutes more."