Adam had seriously overestimated himself, thinking he could journey the lands of Mabi all by himself.

Had it been a time when he wasn't gravely injured and his mind fractured, he could have wandered the island continent without fearing for his life.

But now, as things stood…

He found himself on the outskirts of a shattered city.

The youth sat inside the remnants of what might have been a guard's quarters or a modest dwelling once upon a time. His body was riddled with fresh scars, and he was gasping for air. He took this brief moment of respite to recuperate what little strength he had.

The roof of the dilapidated room was long gone, rain seeping through jagged cracks, while the walls lay broken and scarred.

Piles of rubble littered the streets, and the air smelled of damp stone and decay. Each step echoed through the hollowed shells of buildings, serving as a grim reminder of a city long abandoned and forgotten.

Well, the people had long since abandoned this city, but the magical beasts? This was their domain. In fact, the entire island continent of Mabi belonged to them.

Adam's first few days on the island passed without incident. He was still on the peripheries of the continent, and as such, there were hardly any beasts that could pose a threat to him. He used the time to forage for edible fruits and plants, as well as valuable herbs and medicines.

But his true troubles began once he ventured deeper into the island. At every turn, he was beset by powerful beasts whose strength rivaled that of Mana Vortex Magi, and even by the very plants that grew here.

To make matters worse, the voices in his head turned every danger into something far deadlier. He quickly realized how much he had taken the safety of the coral island for granted.

Thinking of those peaceful times he had spent with Lord Tebu, Adam's lips curled into a wide grin. "I wonder if he's still waiting for me in the coastal waters… ah, such wishful thinking, haha… hahaha—ughh!"

He grimaced in excruciating agony, pressing harder against the gaping wound in his stomach. Lowering his head, he felt his intestines threatening to spill out on the floor, and yet, despite it all, he couldn't stop grinning.

"Ah, this is troublesome…"

After spending a little more than a month on the outskirts of this island, he had finally arrived at the remnants of what had once been a magnificent city. The once-white marble buildings had long since broken down and overgrown with weeds, prompting Adam to name this place the Ivory City.

He had thought entering the city would shield him from the primal dangers of the dense forest outside, but he couldn't have been more wrong.

The Ivory City itself was home to even more terrifying beasts!

The moment he set foot inside the city, a shadowy predator lunged at him, nearly tearing his stomach in half and leaving his intestines threatening to spill from his body.

With immense effort, he managed to put some distance between himself and the creature, finding temporary refuge in the broken quarter.

The Laughing God continued to whisper, and Adam continued to listen.

The ravings inside his head had never proven more detrimental to Adam than they did now. For one, he was blind and could only perceive the world around him through either his hearing or the Sphere of Resonance.

Yet the incessant ravings of the Faceless Mask rendered both senses utterly useless.

He could hear nothing besides the voices inside his own head, which in turn made it extremely difficult for him to focus on perceiving the world through the Sphere of Resonance.

To make matters worse, there was no way he could counter the whispers of the Laughing God like he once did on the Coral Island.

He was constantly on the move, leaving no opportunity to write down the mysterious Jotun symbols anywhere. Speaking to himself aloud was out of the question, for fear that some dangerous beast might hear him and attack without warning.

In fact, that's exactly how he had been ambushed when he set foot inside the Ivory City. The shadowy predator had caught the sound of his deranged laughter and struck when he least expected it, nearly tearing his body in half.

Just thinking about his ridiculous situation, Adam's lips curled into a wide, unnatural grin, and then…

"Hahaha!"

He couldn't stop laughing. No matter how hard he tried, the ridiculous laughter escaped his lips in the end. He laughed and laughed and laughed, alerting the shadowy predator prowling nearby.

"Can't see! Can't hear over the voices in my head! Can't even cast spells! This… this… isn't this too funny?!" He laughed so loudly that his voice drowned out the sound of the falling rain.

He abruptly stopped, then bent over and vomited a mouthful of blood. His hideous face contorted into a dark scowl as pain radiated from his stomach. The cut was so deep that he could literally see his intestines.

"At this rate… I'll die from bloodloss…" Adam murmured to himself as the fear of death gripped his heart, yet his lips curled into a wide, unnatural grin.

"Why the hell did I even come to this place?!"

He spat through gritted teeth as he tore a large piece from his tattered robe and used it to tightly bind his stomach, preventing his intestines from spilling out.

"Ah, yes, haha… hahaha!" He threw his head back and laughed as unberable pain drowned his body. "That's right… I remember now! It's been difficult remembering things these past few months, but this thing I remember… yes, I do."

His laughter slowly died down, but the grin on his face turned even wider, twisting his grotesque face into a bizarre parody of what a human face should have looked like. Paired with his dark and hollow sockets, Adam looked nothing less than a monster from a devilish nightmare.

"Operation Constantine," he murmured. "Yes, I remember now… six continents, six portals, yes. Mabi… yes… haha… hahaha!"

At that moment, lightning streaked across the sky, briefly illuminating the shattered remains of Ivory City. And in that instant, Adam's laughter faltered as he sensed a presence within the broken quarter.

The lightning revealed the massive silhouette of the shadowy predator, drawn by the sound of his deranged laughter once again. And now, the beast had arrived, its eyes cold and filled with bloodthirst.

"…You're finally here," Adam murmured, grinning from ear to ear.

The eight-legged giant panther stood atop a large chunk of rubble, while Adam sat on the ground, bleeding, with his back pressed against a broken wall.

"Alright, come on then," Adam growled. "Get it over with!"

Lightning split the sky once more, briefly illuminating the ruined expanse of Ivory City. When the light faded, the beast pounced at him.

And all Adam did was part his lips and coldly mutter a single word:

"Expand."

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