Isekai Adventure in the Dimensional Cube

The sensation of Dimensional Travel was, generally speaking, no different from the first time.

In the dimension passage, where even time seemed to lose its meaning, Reiger flew like a ghost towards the other end of the light tunnel, flying for a very long time.

Until a certain moment when Reiger passed through an invisible barrier, the view brightened, and his weightless body felt a sudden heaviness, giving his previously weightless consciousness physical form.

Then, the sensation of setting foot on solid ground appeared, and Reiger could feel himself landing on the ground, having landed safely.

"Are we there?"

Reiger opened his eyes.

However, despite opening his eyes, the visible range was still very small, causing Reiger to pause briefly before he realized that he had arrived in an utterly dark place where he could not see his hand in front of his face.

There were sounds of the wind and the swaying of trees around him.

The air carried a strong scent of soil, and the ground underfoot was somewhat soft.

He could see the sky, but it was dull and overcast with dense clouds, hiding both the moon and the stars.

It was night.

And Reiger was in the depths of a mountain forest under the cover of night.

"Why did I end up in the mountains?"

Reiger frowned, lifted his hand, and a burst of light immediately rose from his palm, morphing into a gleam of fire that illuminated his surroundings.

This was still the minor spell of lighting up taught to him personally by Yuri, a transformation type of magic that seemed inconspicuous, yet as Yuri had said, it proved very useful when necessary.

After producing such a small flame, Reiger finally confirmed that he was indeed in the depths of a mountain, surrounded by trees and bushes.

In a night as dark as this, without moonlight or starlight, being in the mountains and unable to see one's hands was entirely normal.

"Are there really no sounds of birds, beasts, or insects?"

Reiger felt a dreadful silence around him, a stark contrast to his first encounter with Dimensional Travel, where he appeared directly in the bustling, crowded urban area of Auralite.

Such a silent night in the silent mountains, if one stayed long enough, felt quite unsettling.

"There can't be ghosts, can there?"

Reiger muttered.

The ghosts he referred to were not those that merely frightened people, but the man-eating monsters of this world.

The ghosts of this world sometimes looked indistinguishable from humans; others had clear differences from humans, and some even took on alien forms, completely unrelated to the nonexistent "spirits" and not considered a type of creature.

The malevolent ghosts generally had stronger bodies than humans, greater strength, a life-span that could be considered eternal with immunity to aging and death. Even if they were injured, they would heal instantly; some powerful ghosts could even regenerate if split in half, seen by ordinary people as having immortal bodies.

These groups of malevolent ghosts had only one weakness; they could not be exposed to light.

They could not be exposed to sunlight.

Should they be exposed to sunlight, they would immediately turn to dust and smoke.

Therefore, ghosts only became active after sundown; during the day, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Immortal monsters, eh?"

Reiger's eyes flashed, and as he let the firelight float around him, he discerned his direction and began to move.

No matter what, it was first necessary to get downhill.

Staying in the mountains would definitely accomplish nothing.

Yet, after walking through the pitch-black mountains for what felt like a long time, Reiger still had not found his way out, nor heard any sounds of birds or insects, which was quite strange.

"I'll climb up a tree and take a look."

Reiger stopped wandering aimlessly and with a leap agile as an arrow released from a bow, he scaled a tall tree and surveyed the area from the canopy.

In doing this, Reiger finally spotted a glimmer of light in the pitch-black mountains.

It was light filtering through from a wooden house perched halfway up the mountain.

"There's actually someone living in such deep mountains?"

Considering this, Reiger didn't hesitate. He moved, soaring out like a swift bird in flight, quickly making his way towards the dwelling.

In less than a minute, Reiger descended from the sky, his toes touching the ground as he landed in front of the house.

"Who is it?"

Apparently startled by the slight noise Reiger made as he landed, a cautious voice called out from within the wooden house, reaching his ears.

"...just a traveler who lost his way in the mountains and noticed this dwelling here, coming over to seek some help,"

Reiger watched the house in front of him, narrowing his eyes for a moment before speaking calmly.

The person inside seemed to fall silent, not speaking again.

But after a while, the door of the wooden house was opened, and a person appeared.

It was a beautiful woman with fair skin, a pleasing sight to the eyes.

"Come in,"

The woman, dressed in a kimono, looked at Reiger standing at the door, her eyes twinkling briefly before she spoke somewhat coldly.

"Excuse the intrusion,"

Reiger courteously bowed, then followed the woman into the house.

The wooden house was very simple, lacking extra rooms; a glance revealed the four wooden walls that made up the entire house and the sparse furniture. Only a fire burned in the middle, cooking a pot of meat.

"......"

Looking at the pot of meat, Reiger's gaze grew cold.

"Would you like some?"

The sneer of the young woman followed, sounding like gusts of cold wind blowing on the nape of the neck, chilling one's spine.

Of course, what truly chilled the spine were the young woman's words.

"I just severed the neck of someone living here, intending to feast, but then you arrived. No matter, since it's a rare extra meal, I've tossed him into the pot to warm up a bit. If you're interested, why don't you have a taste?"

The young woman who spoke these words now had a voice that was no longer clear and pleasant as before, but had turned hoarse and deep, like a devil snickering.

Reiger didn't turn around, just calmly stated, "So is this what they call a man-eating ghost?"

Knowing that ghosts existed was one thing, but actually seeing one was another.

Before encountering one, although Reiger knew that the ghosts in this world devoured humans, he had no real sense of it, treating it merely as knowledge.

But upon truly facing a ghost, seeing their savage side, Reiger sincerely felt—

"You really deserve to die."

No sooner had Reiger spoken than the ghost behind him immediately moved.

Like a large carnivorous beast stealthily approaching from behind, it pounced towards Reiger with astonishing speed, intending to knock him down and devour him.

But this lunge missed its mark.

"What?"

Only then did the young woman look up, quickly turning her body toward the direction of the fire.

By this time, her appearance had completely changed.

Long, sharp fangs now grew on her previously somewhat charming face, her eyes had become fierce and dreadful, and her face elongated like a snake's. The fair skin on her body had become wrinkled, resembling a terrifying snake demon.

"Where is he? Where is he?"

The serpent-like ghost wailed in a low voice.

"Where is my meal!?"

This was met with a cold response.

"Right here."

The voice came from the ghost's left side.

But the ghost couldn't hear anymore.

"Pfft!"

With a flash of silver, a dazzling slash crossed the female ghost's neck in the blink of an eye, severing her head.

Appearing at the side, Reiger held the bright silver short sword and swung this slash without the ghost having any chance to react.

The slash was ruthless and decisive, clearly showing Reiger's determination to kill the opponent on the spot.

Unfortunately—

"Bastard! Are you a Ghost Hunter!?"

The beheaded ghost didn't die right there; instead, the head that rolled onto the ground even roared at Reiger in shock and anger.

In such a situation, the body without the head didn't fall, but instead moved and continued to lunge at Reiger.

Such are ghosts, whether decapitated or dismembered, they would not die.

If someone put the ghost's head back on top of its body, she could even recover quickly, as if nothing had happened.

Ordinary people, apart from Ghost Hunters with the means to kill ghosts, would find it almost impossible to kill a ghost unless they could drag it into the sunlight.

But Reiger was clearly no ordinary person.

"Tap!"

This was the slight sound caused by a finger tapping on the female ghost's body.

Facing the headless ghost lunging at him, Reiger did not dodge. He didn't swing the Hermit's Sword again, but instead pointed a finger rapidly at the ghost's body.

"Disintegrate."

Reiger's cold voice spread slowly.

The next moment, a red light appeared at the fingertip where Reiger had touched the ghost.

The red light formed a circle, spreading out from the fingertip.

The headless ghost's entire body was instantly enveloped by the light circle, held in place.

"Boom!"

In no time, the headless body exploded abruptly without warning, turning into countless fragments, completely disintegrated.

"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh—!"

Only then did the female ghost's head lying on the ground emit a hysterical scream.

In horror, she discovered her body was gone.

It wasn't dismembered or exploded into pieces as she had just witnessed, but had entirely vanished, as if it had never existed.

"You, you monster!"

Faced with an incomprehensible scene and power, the female ghost was terrified, and without thinking, she smashed through a window and let her head fly away.

But before she could get far, a red pulse swept out from the wooden cabin, like a beam of light, and instantly caught up to her.

"Boom!"

The red pulse struck the last remaining head, disintegrating it into nothingness.