During the simulation, when he had questioned Lothar, Kanzaki Rei had also taken the opportunity to learn about the events of the past ten years.

Lothar was only an emperor. Most of what he knew concerned matters of state. If Rei had asked in detail about the whereabouts of one specific friend, Lothar would not have known.

But one thing was certain.

After Loren had fought several wars and expanded its territory, many of the adventurers who had originally lived on the Loren Continent were no longer satisfied with restricting their adventures to that single landmass.

One after another, they had set out to explore the wider world.

As for where they might now be within the Moon Sea, Lothar naturally had no idea.

Given the current state of the world, however—

They might have fled to some surviving bastion of resistance, or to a sanctuary protected by the gods.

Or they might have been killed by monsters along the way.

The mage robe before him—

It was the standard issue robe worn by the mages of Loren’s Mage Tower.

Rei himself owned a set.

But among the mages of the Land of Moon, no one wore this design anymore. It was an old style from ten years ago.

"Loren... mage robe?"

The monster before him was being held by the throat. Toxins had already flowed from Rei’s body into its own.

At the same time, his psychic pressure was suppressing its mind.

The mental structures of these monsters were still extremely primitive.

Their patterns of thought differed greatly from those of normal humans.

Even when their minds were affected, their actions were not necessarily impacted to any significant degree.

What appeared to be conscious decision-making was, in many cases, merely instinct.

"This... I stripped it off a human."

The creature, dazed and disoriented, began answering Rei’s questions of its own accord.

At the same time, confusion and fear churned within its thoughts.

What was this strange human?

It could clearly sense that he had a physical body.

And yet he also felt utterly unreal.

When he touched it, he was tangible.

But the moment it tried to attack him, he became completely insubstantial.

Could such a being truly exist?

"Where?"

"Who did you strip it from?"

Rei searched through his Memory Palace.

This was an incredibly minor detail. Without his extraordinary memory and powers of observation, he might never have noticed it.

This robe belonged to Kurogure.

The design of all mage robes was the same, but subtle differences emerged depending on who had worn them.

Besides, Rei and Kurogure had never been particularly close.

That was why he had not recognized it at first glance when he swept over it with his senses.

Only upon direct contact had he suddenly noticed the detail.

"I..."

The mage’s eyes shifted behind Rei, and under Rei’s overwhelming pressure, it struggled to direct its perception toward its leader.

Only to discover—

It was already dead.

When had that happened?

The human had appeared only moments ago.

After appearing, he had swung his blade just once, merely severing the leader’s arms.

Then he had seized the mage.

In such a brief span of time...

How had the leader died?

"I’m asking you."

"Do you want to die?" Rei’s voice carried an irresistible authority.

His pressure descended.

The one-eyed monster’s pupil contracted as if it were staring at an asura standing within an endless sea of blood.

"You!"

"You... just how many of our kind have you killed?!"

But the moment those words left its mouth, it clamped its jaw shut.

Rei could feel the trembling in its emotions.

It was afraid.

As expected, mage-type monsters possessed far greater intelligence than ordinary monsters.

The very fact that they could learn magic meant they possessed superior spirituality and learning ability.

Communicating with them felt much more like speaking with a person.

Naturally, they understood threats.

They understood fear.

And they understood that betrayal might buy them a chance to survive.

The information hidden within the robe had already been traced.

Its creator was a tailor from Loren.

Its current owner... was the monster before him.

Because the robe had not originally been crafted for Kurogure, even Hidden Origin could not trace it directly back to him.

"It was... to the north of here."

"Half a year ago, on a continent called Dododo..."

What kind of ridiculous name was that? Completely improvised.

"I don’t remember who he was anymore. My subordinates swept across that continent, and while I was inspecting my territory, I saw the corpse."

"So I stripped the robe off it."

"After all, I’ve learned magic too. I’m a mage."

Heh.

It had never class-changed into a Mage, yet it could still learn magic.

If one had to say it, monsters truly were blessed by nature.

Humans, without Mage levels, could not cast magic at all.

Unless they had advanced into another spellcasting class, such as a Death Priest, who could wield death spells.

The moment it finished answering,

Rei’s perception surged instantly in the direction it had indicated.

His senses swept across the shattered remains of every island along the way.

At this point, these continents and islands were less continents than ruins.

Most had already been completely devastated.

Fortunately, the remnants were still enough to identify them.

Dododo Continent.

He had found it.

Rei raised a hand beside him.

A phased passage opened.

Dragging the monster mage along with him, he stepped directly through and arrived at Dododo Continent.

"Here?"

In one instant it was pulled away, and in the next, it stood on Dododo Continent.

The monster’s eyes were filled with terror.

As a magic-using monster, it understood both human and monster power systems.

This human...

What power was he using?

Phase Traversal?

Wasn’t that the innate ability of the Phase Legion within the Brood Hive?

A natural talent of monsters.

How could a human wield it?

And just now, had he accomplished it through magic?

The human race had produced a being like this...

The monster mage nodded.

"Yes. This is the place."

Rei asked again, "Is the corpse still here?"

This was, after all, a Rank 8 monster.

Its memory was exceptionally sharp.

It quickly looked toward a stretch of wasteland littered with twisted corpses.

Following its perception, Rei saw a body whose head had been removed.

But it was not Kurogure.

Tap.

With another single step, Rei teleported to the corpse’s side.

At the same time, his senses swept across the entire continent once more.

The land was still crawling with monsters.

In cities that had once belonged to humanity, monsters were raising human wine cups and hoisting barrels in celebration.

This continent had fallen only half a year ago.

Human stockpiles were more than enough to sustain their revelry for a long time.

The monsters had even learned to enjoy human forms of entertainment...

Rei slowly shook his head, irritation and helplessness rising in his heart.

In the end, he was still human.

Seeing this scene left him deeply displeased.

With a casual wave of his hand—

Pfft!

Invisible black lines sliced across the entire island.

The monsters still in the midst of their celebration froze in place.

With another flick of his hand, their heads rolled to the ground one after another.

Only after doing all of this did Rei extend his hand to touch the corpse before him.

Kurogure was, after all, the source of his Spatial Magic.

Though the man had never personally taught him, Rei had used Kurogure’s magic to this very day.

Now that he had found a clue, Rei wanted to search for him.