Bronya stared at Svarog. She had just witnessed his combat prowess.
She hadn't expected that there was such a powerful mech soldier in the Underworld.
And judging by Svarog's demeanor, it seemed like he had already developed his own emotions.
From Svarog's earlier words, it was clear he had been maintaining the stability of the Underworld.
Curious, Bronya turned to Oleg and asked,
"Mr. Oleg, this Svarog—"
Oleg raised a hand to hush her.
"Girl, I'll explain later."
Bronya nodded and quietly stepped aside.
At that moment, March 7th noticed Bronya.
"Well, well! It's you! You've got some nerve showing up in front of us!"
She moved to teach Bronya a lesson.
Stelle also ignited the Judgment of Shamash and aimed her weapon at Bronya.
Natasha quickly stepped in to calm the situation.
"March, Stelle, don't attack."
March 7th and Stelle turned to look at her.
Natasha continued,
"Stelle, there might be some misunderstanding between you. Let's lower our weapons and talk it out."
At her words, the two finally lowered their weapons.
March 7th huffed,
"She was the one who tried to arrest us without reason. We didn't do anything wrong—we came to help deal with the Stellaron!"
Bronya replied,
"I don't know the full details either. I was acting under the Supreme Guardian's orders."
Dan Heng narrowed his eyes and said,
"You're saying you acted under the Supreme Guardian's command?"
Bronya nodded.
Dan Heng stroked his chin in thought.
March 7th looked at him, hands on her hips.
"What's up, Dan Heng?"
He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at March 7th and Stelle.
"Do you two remember our conversation back at the hotel?"
March 7th tried to recall.
"What conversation?"
Dan Heng said,
"The one about the Supreme Guardian. I had a strange feeling about her."
March 7th finally remembered.
"Oh, right! Yeah, she did seem off."
Stelle nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I remember feeling like there was someone else there too… It didn't seem like it was just the four of us."
Dan Heng added,
"Think about it—why would she issue a wanted order on us?"
Stelle pondered.
"Maybe she sees us as a threat? We're interfering with something important to her?"
Dan Heng nodded.
"Exactly. I have a bold guess—Cocolia might be connected to the Stellaron.
Because her attitude changed drastically the moment we mentioned it."
March 7th thought it over—it did make sense.
"Then that explains everything! That wicked woman must be working with the Stellaron! I knew something was fishy about her!"
Just then, Bronya couldn't take it anymore.
"Enough! I won't allow you to slander Lady Cocolia!"
Everyone looked at Bronya. March 7th got irritated.
"Hey, what's your problem? She wronged us first, and now we can't even talk about it?"
Bronya stood her ground.
"I don't know what this Stellaron you're talking about is, but from the way you describe it, it sounds dangerous to Belobog.
I believe Lady Cocolia would never do anything to harm Belobog!"
March 7th rolled her eyes.
"Tch~ Of course you'd defend her. You're on her side."
Just as the argument between Bronya, March 7th, and Stelle was about to heat up again, Oleg suddenly laughed.
"Alright, that's enough arguing."
His sudden interruption stunned both March 7th and Bronya.
Oleg looked at Bronya.
"You little miss from the Overworld, come with me. I've got something to talk to you about."
Bronya hesitated for a moment, then followed Oleg away from the scene.
Once they left, March 7th and Stelle finally calmed down.
Dan Heng checked the time—it was already past 4 PM.
Thinking for a moment, he turned to Natasha and asked,
"Natasha, who is the oldest person in the Underworld?"
Natasha blinked, puzzled by the question, but thought it over.
"If you mean by age, that would be Old Master Riel in the east of town, and Old Master Andrew in the south. They're the oldest."
Dan Heng nodded.
"Thanks. March, Stelle, let's go pay them a visit."
Just as the trio was about to leave, Seele spoke up.
"Isn't the oldest in the Underworld actually Svarog?"
The three stopped and turned.
"...Svarog?"
Seele nodded.
"Yeah. Isn't Svarog the oldest? I heard he's been around for hundreds of years."
Natasha paused, then said,
"You're right. If we're talking about the entire Underworld, then Svarog is definitely the oldest."
Dan Heng looked toward Svarog in the distance.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that? Svarog's database might hold clues about the Stellaron."
March 7th chimed in,
"Let's go ask him."
The group approached Svarog.
Stelle gave his leg a few pats.
"Svarog! Hey, Svarog! I've got a question!"
Svarog looked down at her.
"What is it?"
Stelle got straight to the point.
"Do you know anything about the Stellaron?"
Suddenly, Svarog's demeanor changed drastically.
"Forbidden data detected. Extermination protocol—activated!"
The group quickly drew their weapons, alert.
Svarog's eyes glowed red as missile pods opened up from his back.
Stelle immediately activated the Judgment of Shamash in greatsword form and charged forward.
Svarog fired a missile at her—she dodged with a swift sidestep, then closed the distance.
Svarog launched more missiles, but they were intercepted mid-air by a combination of ice arrows and grenade shots, exploding before reaching their targets.
Stelle dashed in and closed the gap—Svarog threw a punch to block her attack.
At that moment, Dan Heng's Cloud-Piercer spear struck Svarog's arm precisely, deflecting the punch.
A gap opened up—Stelle slashed, sending Svarog flying.
He crashed into a large boulder, crackling with sparks.
With the power of the Judgment of Shamash, the battle didn't drag on as in the original story. They broke Svarog's defense in a single blow.
After a good beatdown, Svarog's programming became unstable.
At that moment, Oleg returned to the scene with Bronya.
Upon arrival, they saw Svarog lying on the ground.
"What happened here?"
March 7th glanced at Bronya but ignored her, then turned to Svarog and asked,
"Svarog, do you have any information on the Stellaron?"
Svarog emitted a stream of sparks.
Then, a projection popped out from his chest.
***
Everyone fell silent after watching the video Swarm had projected.
March 7th found it a bit unbelievable.
"I didn't expect Belobog to still exist after being corrupted by the Stellaron for so long."
Dan Heng agreed with her.
"Yeah, the Stellaron is called the cancer of all worlds. Its destructive power toward civilizations is immense.
Given the level of civilization on Jarilo-VI, the fact that it has survived under the influence of a Stellaron is truly remarkable."
Stelle suddenly felt a bit of admiration for Cocolia.
"These Supreme Guardians are really impressive. Every one of them has resisted the Stellaron's influence… It's only with Cocolia that resistance failed."
Bronya was having a hard time processing the truth.
Considering the message left in the video and her mother's recent strange behavior, it was hard not to imagine the worst.
"If I really have to make a choice… what should I do?"
Bronya fell into hesitation, her mind a mess.
Stelle looked at the now-paralyzed Swarm and suddenly thought of something.
"What do we do about Svarog?"
March 7th was at a loss—she didn't know anything about mechanical repairs.
Dan Heng thought for a moment.
"You wait here, I'll go find Mr. Welt."
With that, Dan Heng ran off toward the Mechanical Settlement.
March 7th called out:
"Natasha, you guys should go back first. We'll watch over Svarog."
Stelle stabbed the Judgment of Shamash into the ground and sat down.
"Yeah, you go take care of your own business. We'll wait here until Svarog is fixed."
Hearing that, Natasha left with Seele toward Boulder Town.
Oleg took Bronya and left the scene as well, destination unknown.
In Ye Yun's shop—
"You're the one who sold the game cartridge to Stelle?"
Silver Wolf stood with arms crossed, eyeing Ye Yun.
Ye Yun smiled.
"That's right. What do you think? Fun?"
Once she got a definite answer, Silver Wolf's attitude immediately changed from scrutinizing to sly.
"Heh, got any other game cartridges? Show me, let me take a look."
Ye Yun sat on a bar stool at the small counter, leaning forward slightly with one hand resting on the bar. Just as he was about to speak, a flood of portal requests popped up in his mind.
[Venti is requesting entry to the shop!]
[Venti is requesting entry to the shop!]
[Venti is requesting entry to the shop!]
Ye Yun grew annoyed and quickly opened the portal for Venti—it was too noisy.
The moment the request was approved, the portal burst open and Venti dashed inside, slamming the door shut behind him.
He looked at the closed portal and let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew~ Good thing I was fast. Didn't get caught by Jean."
Ye Yun looked at him.
"What are you doing here?"
Venti followed the voice and spotted Ye Yun at the bar.
He floated over to him.
"I came to buy something."
Ye Yun gave him a look of disdain.
"You? Who doesn't know you're broke?"
Venti immediately bristled.
What kind of nonsense was that?!
He pulled out the Primogems he'd painstakingly gathered and slapped them onto the counter.
"How am I broke? Look, these are real Primogems!"
Ye Yun picked up one and tossed it onto the exchange scale.
The next second, a gold coin with a star emblem appeared on the other end.
Ye Yun picked it up and examined it—it was intricately crafted.
"Hmm, it's real."
Venti grabbed a bottle of juice nearby and poured himself a glass.
"Of course it's real! Now, do you have any wine from other worlds? Gimme!"
No sooner had he spoken than Silver Wolf grew annoyed.
This line-cutter thinks he can buy stuff before me?
"Shoo, go play somewhere else, kid. Don't you know minors aren't allowed to drink?"
Venti shot back:
"Kid? I'm already of age!"
Silver Wolf gave a perfunctory "oh" and shoved Venti aside.
"Ye Yun, find me those game cartridges first."
Venti was about to push back when Ye Yun said:
"Venti, Silver Wolf got here first. You'll have to wait a bit."
Hearing that, Venti had no choice but to sit back down—he wouldn't be happy if someone cut in line ahead of him either.
Ye Yun asked:
"What kind of game cartridge are you looking for?"
Silver Wolf rubbed her chin.
"The one you sold Stelle last time was pretty good. Got anything similar?"
Ye Yun thought for a moment and quickly found a game that would be perfect for Silver Wolf.
[Item: Black Myth: Wukong – Hell Edition (aka One-Hit-Death Version) Effect: Grants the skill 'Weak Binding Spell' after completion (Effective only on targets below Emanator level) Price: 10,000 Star Coins]
Ye Yun pulled up the info on the touchscreen.
Silver Wolf looked at it, then suspiciously glanced at Ye Yun.
"Is this one fun?"
Ye Yun smiled slyly.
"Guaranteed fun!"
Silver Wolf asked:
"What's this Star Coin thing?"
Ye Yun pulled out a Stellar Jade.
"Star Coins are the currency of my shop. You can exchange Stellar Jade for them at a rate of 1 to 100."
Hearing that, Silver Wolf finally understood why Stelle had asked for her Stellar Jade—so this was it.
She looked at Ye Yun.
"Wait a bit. I'll go get some Stellar Jade."
She then turned to Venti, who was curiously looking around.
"You go ahead and buy your stuff first."
Hearing that, Venti immediately plopped himself down at the bar again.
"Ye Yun! Gimme alcohol! I want booze!"
He dumped all his Primogems onto the counter—1,300 in total.
Ye Yun browsed the system store and found a "Wine Mega-Pack"—priced at 100 Star Coins per pack, each pack containing 100 bottles of alcohol from a certain sci-fi world.
"How about this one?"
Venti turned to look and his eyes lit up.
Ooh! Exotic wine! 100 bottles for just 100 Star Coins? Not bad!
He counted out 1,000 Star Coins.
"Ye Yun, give me 1,000 bottles first."
Ye Yun accepted the payment and bought him 10 packs.
With a wave of his hand, Venti stashed them all in his dimensional space.
"You handle your stuff—I'm going to sample these drinks."
He then went off to a booth, pulled out a bottle of wine, and began tasting.
Meanwhile, Silver Wolf was on a call with Kafka.
"Kafka, do you have any Stellar Jade?"
Kafka's voice came through.
"Of course I do, darling. Why do you need it?"
Silver Wolf didn't say much.
"Don't worry about it. I just need it now. How much do you have?"
Kafka opened her decorative box full of Stellar Jade—it was beautiful and perfect for accessories, which is why she had collected quite a few.
"I've got a few hundred here. How much do you want?"
Silver Wolf said:
"Give me 100."
Kafka agreed.
"Alright. Should I leave it at your portal entrance again?"
Silver Wolf nodded.
"Yeah."