"....!" Blukan slowly stepped backward, not because he truly believed retreating would somehow allow him to escape this situation, but because it was an instinctive reaction deeply engraved into living beings.

A reaction born purely from fear.

Blukan, who had once believed he erased this sensation from his heart forever after surviving countless wars and disasters, was trembling uncontrollably at this very moment.

Waiting until the nest arrived, allowing them to clash against the space beasts of the current nest, then escaping amidst the resulting chaos? What foolishly naïve dreams those now seemed to be.

Especially those twenty irrationally massive creatures lingering silently in the rear of the approaching swarm... their entire focus was locked onto him alone with terrifying precision. They did not care about anything else surrounding them. They did not care about the equally gigantic beasts circling around him at all.

At this moment, Blukan genuinely felt like a tiny worm surrounded by thousands of starving chickens, each one patiently waiting for the moment they were allowed to peck him apart.

"OOOOOOOH!!!"

One of the three adult space beasts surrounding Blukan suddenly released a destructive roar that shook the darkness itself, a warning cry filled with hostility and territorial fury, telling the newly arrived swarm to leave this hunting ground immediately, yet naturally there was not even the slightest indication of retreat from the newcomers.

The beast released another furious roar and charged directly toward the approaching swarm without hesitation, while the other two also moved with savage aggression and primal rage, tearing through the darkness like living meteors.

That sight reignited hope inside Blukan regarding his original plan. Those idiotic beasts clearly could not sense the overwhelming difference in the balance of power and had truly decided to attack... Blukan immediately began gathering every remaining shred of energy left inside his exhausted body, preparing to rush toward the gate the very instant the collision began.

But—

Shooo

Shoo shoo shoo shoo

Thousands of nascent space beasts and dozens of young space beasts surged forward simultaneously like an endless tidal wave and smashed into the three adult beasts with horrifying force, instantly overwhelming them from every direction.

Blukan turned toward that direction with his mouth hanging open in disbelief... he could hear the grotesque sounds of flesh being torn apart, bones shattering, and countless jaws chewing violently, and indeed...

The three adult space beasts were finished within the blink of an eye.

Not defeated.

Not pushed back.

Finished.

There was no prolonged struggle, no chaotic battlefield to exploit, no opening for escape, no confusion to hide within. The three creatures vanished beneath the swarm so quickly that it almost looked unreal.

Then Blukan slowly turned forward once more... within that pitch-black darkness, he and that mysterious entity still remained beneath the metaphorical magnifying glass of the entire nest.

Though he was infinitesimally small before them, he was also infinitesimally fascinating and strange in their eyes, like some bizarre creature they could not quite understand yet could not stop observing.

"Heh~" Blukan finally abandoned his defensive stance with a long exhausted sigh, his tense expression relaxing slightly as though he had accepted reality at last. "Lord Robin, are you still here?"

"Of course."

The surrounding space beasts grew visibly confused when they heard another unfamiliar voice echoing through the darkness, and many immediately began searching the surrounding void with hostility and suspicion, yet they still found absolutely nothing no matter how hard they looked.

"I do not know how you are managing to keep yourself hidden," Blukan stared straight ahead while speaking calmly, "but you still have a chance to return to the gate and close it..."

Then his voice hardened slightly.

"Even if they notice you while you move, I will delay them... by any means possible."

"I do not think they would require much effort to deal with you. Just look at them, they are all standing there silently staring at you." Robin’s voice echoed naturally through the endless darkness as though he were casually discussing the weather. "When do you think one of them will finally move?"

"I do not know..." Blukan answered quietly after several seconds of silence. "But when they do, I most likely will not feel anything afterward."

"Hmm, now that I think about it," Robin completely ignored Blukan’s pessimistic words as usual, "when I first opened the gate, the previous nest also merely stared silently through the gate until Althera moved to destroy it. Only then did they begin moving to stop her."

"...I understand these kinds of questions are what made you LORD Robin," Blukan spoke with heavy sarcasm and exhaustion, "but do you truly think this is an appropriate time for such thoughts? Are you going to leave and close the gate, or will you stay here gambling on when exactly they decide to devour me?"

"If an attack by space beasts is not an appropriate opportunity to study the behavioral patterns of space beasts during an attack, then when exactly would be?" Robin laughed lightly, sounding genuinely amused by the discussion. "Besides, there’s—" Robin suddenly paused mid-sentence before continuing in a different tone, "Oh, please wait a moment—"

Oooom

"....AAAAAAAHH!!"

At that exact moment, Althera suddenly appeared beside Blukan in a violent surge of energy, her entire body drenched in thick black blood while fragments of flesh and broken scales clung to her armor and sword.

Her breathing was chaotic and heavy, her face pale from exhaustion, yet her eyes burned with terrifying hatred and unwavering resolve powerful enough to distort the atmosphere itself.

She raised her sword high without hesitation, gripping it so tightly that cracks spread across her trembling fingers, clearly preparing herself for one final desperate attack even if it cost her life.

A number of nascent and young space beasts from the new nest had already reached Althera’s location and immediately begun devouring the beasts surrounding her, their horrifying numbers and savage brutality leaving absolutely no room to even think about escape anymore.

The battlefield around her had completely collapsed into madness.

Every direction she looked toward was filled with claws, fangs, shrieks, black blood, and gigantic bodies tearing into one another with primal violence, while the darkness itself trembled beneath the pressure of so many monstrous creatures gathered together in one place.

Thus, driven by pure despair and fully aware that survival had already become impossible, she prepared herself for one final suicidal attack, intending to at least drag a few of those monsters down with her before dying... only for the very next instant to suddenly find herself standing beside Blukan instead.

"...Ahh?" Althera, who instantly realized her surroundings had completely changed without warning, stopped screaming and withdrew the energy flowing through her sword in confusion. "What just happened?"

".....?!" Blukan himself jolted violently in shock. "Impossible... what just happened? How?!"

For a brief moment, even he forgot the countless monsters surrounding them and focused entirely on the impossible phenomenon that had just occurred before his eyes.

"Look, look at the space beasts, hehe." Robin completely ignored the stunned questions from Blukan and Althera, sounding almost entertained instead. "They’re staring at Althera in confusion."

"Of course they should be confused!" Blukan shouted angrily, unable to contain himself anymore. "How did she move? Do you possess some kind of array that uses the Law of Space? But space itself does not even exist in this place!"

"Just because the operating mechanism of the universe does not exist here does not mean we have stepped outside the boundaries of existence itself," Robin answered with visible irritation, as though the question itself offended his intelligence. "The creator of the universe is also the creator of this place, and it is obvious he used the same eight laws to create it. Does that answer your endless questions?"

"The eight laws?" Blukan frowned deeply, his heart skipping a beat.

Could he possibly mean... the Master Laws?!

Was that truly his explanation for how he moved Althera despite the absence of spatial laws here? Would that not mean that he himself possessed understanding related to the Master Laws to an utterly absurd degree...?

Before Blukan could continue questioning him, Robin had already ignored him once more.

"Althera," Robin calmly spoke, "what do you think will happen if you move right now?"

"...They will attack me." Althera answered with tightly furrowed brows while maintaining her stance. She could already feel the terrifying bloodlust and unbearable curiosity directed toward her from every direction. The instant she moved, she would undoubtedly be surrounded immediately and toyed with until death.

Even now, she could sense that some of the nearby beasts had already begun moving slowly, carefully, almost cautiously... their curiosity was beginning to approach its limit, and they were gradually entering the phase of direct experimentation.

"And why do you think that is?" Robin asked calmly. "This is not the first time we’ve witnessed a scene like this... confusion, curiosity, caution, followed by a gradual rise in bloodlust."

"I do not think studying the reactions of beasts will benefit us very much today..." Blukan spoke through clenched teeth, clearly having no desire whatsoever to listen to philosophical observations during what were most likely the final moments of his life.

"Of course it will benefit us!" Robin suddenly raised his voice with irritation. "Look carefully. If my conclusion is correct, then you are about to witness the most impressive sight you have ever seen in your entire life."

Hooom

The instant those words fell, Robin’s body suddenly appeared not far from Blukan and Althera without the slightest warning, standing calmly with his arms crossed behind his back while gazing toward the enormous swarm of beasts with complete confidence and unnatural composure.

His eyes radiated a brilliant golden light that illuminated the surrounding darkness itself, causing countless shadows to retreat before him.

Disturbance

The very moment Robin appeared openly before the swarm, the front ranks of the advancing space beasts suddenly trembled violently and retreated backward almost instinctively, while the overwhelming bloodlust filling the battlefield nearly vanished entirely.

The atmosphere itself changed.

The endless pressure surrounding Blukan and Althera weakened noticeably, and even the countless monstrous gazes staring at them lost much of their previous hostility, replaced instead by something far stranger.

Fear.

The millions of planet-sized space beasts looked as though they were genuinely afraid of the human who had just appeared before them.

Not cautious.

Not wary.

Afraid.

And the strangest part of all... Robin himself did not seem surprised by their reaction in the slightest.