The Palace of the Six Desire Kings—once the symbol of the Abyss's highest power, the "Pure Land of Bliss"—had now become a blazing ruin.

  The Slayer sat on the wreckage of the Mind King's throne, which was originally formed from condensed black mist.

  Around him lay the corpses of Demon Lords and countless shattered artifacts.

  He was performing a routine, tedious, but necessary task: Maintenance.

  He picked out shreds of flesh from the teeth of the chainsaw, which had drunk its fill of Demon King blood.

  He polished the bore of the Yin Yang Shotgun with a piece of silk torn from the Body King.

  Though the Demon Dragon Armor had automatically repaired all scratches, he still meticulously checked the flexibility of every joint with his fingers.

  From the Scorched Earth of the first layer to the Palace of Bliss on the eleventh.

  This was a road paved with blood.

  And now, this road had reached its end.

  At least, the known end.

  ...

  Netherworld, Control Center.

  Singularity didn't cheer or celebrate as usual. He was staring intently at the complex, maze-like structural map of the Abyss on the holographic screen.

  His finger traced red lines across the screen—the Slayer's path.

  "Something's wrong..."

  Singularity muttered, frowning. He turned to the confused Judge beside him (and possibly the equally confused readers), cleared his throat, and entered "Lecture Mode."

  "Everyone, listen. According to our Eastern Buddhist setting, the world is like a building."

  Singularity drew a tower structure in the air.

  "Top floor is Heaven (Celestial Realm), middle is the Mortal Realm, bottom is the Netherworld and Hell."

  "And below the deepest level of Hell, below the 18th layer, is theoretically called 'Avici' (The Limitless). What does that mean? It means there's nothing there. No time, no space, no matter. Like a hard drive that's been completely formatted—absolute nothingness."

  "Logically, if you fall in there, even your soul disappears. So we always thought that was the end of the world, a dead end."

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Singularity suddenly changed his tone, stabbing his finger at the breach the Slayer had just punched through on the hologram.

  "But! Now that the Slayer has dusted that obstruction, the Ancestor of the Blood Sea, and punched through the Abyss... what do we see?"

  On the screen, through that breach, they didn't see "nothingness."

  They saw... Matter.

  It was a vaster, deeper material plane, possibly even possessing strange geometric structures. There was light, outlines of buildings, and even... traces of civilization.

  "This completely overturns the textbooks!"

  Singularity gestured excitedly.

  "It's like thinking there's just foundation below the basement, but digging through and finding a subway line!"

  He opened the comms channel, speaking to the silent green back on the screen:

  "Slayer, we might have solved an eternal mystery."

  "The so-called 'Reincarnation'—the process of being reborn into another world after death—might not be some mystical magic."

  Singularity pulled up a dynamic energy flow chart that looked like a pipe running through heaven and earth.

  "The Netherworld and the Abyss aren't terminal stations at all. They are just a... Transfer Station, or a massive 'Border Checkpoint'."

  "This tunnel connects countless different material worlds (like the Mortal Realm, Cultivation Realm, maybe even Alien Worlds). Souls pass through here, get their memories wiped (formatted), and are then transported to the next world."

  "But!" Singularity emphasized, "Because this place has been clogged by bullies like the Blood Sea Ancestor for tens of thousands of years (like a clogged sewer), no one could directly see what was below the channel. Everyone just felt souls go in and disappear, so they mythologized it as 'Reincarnation'."

  "Now, you've pulled out the 'big plug'."

  Singularity pointed at the breach, his eyes burning with fanatical light.

  "What's exposed below isn't nothingness, but... the Next World."

  "So-called reincarnation is essentially a 'Hyperspace Tunnel' connecting the material and spiritual worlds. As long as the clogged node is punched through, Physical Trans-Plane Travel is possible!"

  "In other words, you don't need to die. Just jump down, and you can 'physically reincarnate' into the next map!"

  The Slayer listened to the voice in the broadcast.

  He showed no surprise.

  He simply stood up and walked to the edge of the breach.

  He leaned out, looking down at the unknown world below.

  In his tactical visor, the words [LEVEL COMPLETE] did not appear.

  Instead, the green objective marker that had always guided him pointed through the breach, deeper still.

  There was no scorched earth, no magma.

  There seemed to be orderly streets, soaring spires.

  That was... Civilization?

  The Slayer gripped the railing tight.

  If there was civilization there.

  Then there... must be Demons.

  Perhaps even higher-tier, more cunning demons who knew how to camouflage themselves.

  Rage.

  Just the thought of demons building a civilization and enjoying life somewhere made the anger in the Slayer's heart impossible to quell.

  He turned his head, looking at the drone hovering beside him.

  The look was simple:

  *Path's open.*

  *I'm going.*

  Singularity met that gaze and took a deep breath.

  "Alright, Slayer."

  "Looks like this isn't just a dungeon. It's an Open World."

  "Phase 2 'Cleanup' is over. But the real 'Exploration'... has just begun."

  The Slayer stepped over the breach and leaped.

  His figure disappeared into the new, unknown darkness.

  [Accumulation vs. Outbreak]

  The battles before were just to accumulate this set of gear.

  Now, it was time to go to a higher-level map for a true outbreak.

  *Next Chapter: Traces of Civilization. The Slayer goes deep into the hinterlands and finds this isn't a wasteland. Demons... can actually build houses? And they look pretty decent?*