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As it turned out, Mariya Yuri's Spirit Vision was indeed impressive—it had not been in vain that Kaiser had deliberately brought her under his command.
She had merely taken a few glances at Nikko City from outside, and her Spirit Vision immediately reacted and told Kaiser one thing.
"When the sun once again rises from the east, the Stone Monkey shall leap into the heavens. The Heretic God shall officially return and wreak havoc across the world."
In other words, by the latest, Sun Wukong would emerge tomorrow.
However, leisurely waiting for tomorrow to come wouldn't work either.
Because Mariya Yuri had also seen that when night fell, the magical power leaking from the Monkey God would reach its peak, just like a divine sword undergoing the final cooling stage of forging, erupting under the assault of the night's cold.
At that moment, the sealed-off Nikko City would be broken through, the entire city would be transformed into a primordial environment, and the entire island country would begin to fall one after another. In the end, everyone would be turned into monkeys, and barring any accidents, would likely never return to normal.
"Looks like I gave Him too much time to accumulate power."
Kaiser realized this.
In the original story, when the Heretic Sun Wukong appeared, he had not caused this much of an impact.
But now, He hadn't even been born yet and had already brought about such a huge effect—it clearly showed how much power He had accumulated in order to defeat him.
This was something that shouldn't be easily achievable, yet Sun Wukong's location at the time was the Netherworld, where the importance of the spirit far surpassed that of the body. The Realm of Immortality where the gods dwelled was much closer than the present world. Combined with the fact that this monkey was itself a special Steel Sword God, it was probably only because of all that that He could pull this off?
"Things that didn't happen in the original might very well happen here—I must take this as a warning."
With that thought, Kaiser made his decision.
"Let's go in and take a look."
Thus, the group crossed the defense line established by the History Compilation Committee and entered Nikko City.
In the process, no one came out to stop Kaiser and the others. Clearly, those people had been instructed beforehand.
The group of four followed the national highway toward the direction of Mount Nikko.
At this point, it was no longer possible to drive.
Because the citizens of Nikko City had all turned into monkeys, the streets were full of vehicles—some overturned, some frozen in mid-collision, and some even driven into buildings on either side of the road, making the streets a chaotic mess full of obstacles, completely impassable to cars.
It could be easily imagined that the owners of these vehicles had transformed into monkeys mid-drive, resulting in such a scene.
These monkeys, who had transformed from citizens and tourists, now behaved like actual animals. Some were climbing buildings, some playing with each other, some looting goods from supermarkets, and some munching on large bunches of bananas—it was an utter mess.
If someone were to appear in such a place, there was no guarantee that these monkeys wouldn't suddenly rush over to attack them.
Don't think monkeys are easy to deal with—they're far rowdier than you'd imagine.
Seeing the dense crowd of monkeys, Kaiser couldn't help but be reminded of a time back in university when he and his roommate had gone hiking on Mount Emei.
Back then, he had run into a group of monkeys. Not only did they steal his backpack, but even the jacket he had taken off. He even got slapped by one...
Thinking back on that disgraceful memory, the look in his eyes as he stared at the monkeys became quite unfriendly.
"Forget it, forget it, they weren't monkeys to begin with—they were originally people..."
Kaiser tried to convince himself, but the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
To avoid venting his frustrations on the monkeyfied people and also to speed things up, Kaiser simply unleashed the power of Gravisheath, manipulated gravity, and had the group of four ascend into the air, flying toward Mount Nikko from above.
Very quickly, the group arrived at the foot of Mount Nikko. Upon seeing the current state of the mountain, all of them began to doubt their own eyes.
"Th-this is really Mount Nikko?"
Mariya Yuri looked utterly stunned.
"Are you sure this isn't some divine realm?"
"This is completely different from the Mount Nikko I know!"
Erica and Liliana also voiced their thoughts in succession.
The originally well-developed pilgrimage trails and the beautifully landscaped Mount Nikko had completely transformed into a primordial forest.
Giant trees of kinds never seen before were growing chaotically, the terrain had undergone shocking changes, and the flora was wildly overgrown. Countless dark figures darted through the underbrush—it no longer resembled the original Mount Nikko at all.
Yet, although it had turned into a primitive mountain forest, the mountain itself didn't appear desolate in the slightest.
It suppressed seas, surged with silvery waves, welcomed fish and dragons into caves, tossed snowy spray upon the winds. Mist spread around like a mirage, vaguely revealing crimson cliffs and fantastical rock formations, sheer bluffs and towering peaks.
Immortal herbs and rare flowers bloomed without end, verdant pine and emerald cypress flourished in eternal spring, juicy peaches dotted the wild hillsides, and fruits filled the forest. With flowing clouds, waterfalls, rivers, and celestial pillars, it practically looked like some secluded paradise from another world—breathtakingly beautiful.
"Did it really turn into Huaguo Mountain?"
Kaiser was stunned as well, surprised, even vaguely excited.
As a true descendant of the Yellow Emperor, how could he not have seen Journey to the West?
And now, the legendary Huaguo Mountain had appeared right before his eyes. Myth had become reality, and Kaiser nearly forgot that he was a Campione—a demon lord like Erlang Shen, here to subdue the demon monkey.
"How could I not go in and take a look?"
Kaiser practically reacted instinctively with such a thought.
However, just as that thought crossed his mind, numerous dark shadows flew out from the manifested Huaguo Mountain below.
"Jii jii!"
"Jii jii jii!"
There was no doubt these were monkey cries.
A group of golden-furred little monkeys, all similar in form to the Monkey God before He was unsealed, rushed out from Huaguo Mountain and landed around Kaiser and the others.
These monkeys were clearly different from ordinary monkeys. Their eyes were filled with savage malice as they looked at Kaiser's group—they were a group of wild, unruly demon monkeys.
They also emanated dense magical power, proving they were not ordinary monkeys.
"Please be careful!" Mariya Yuri called out nervously. "These are monkey divine messengers formed from the fallen hair of the Monkey God!"
"Divine messengers" here didn't mean envoys of the gods, but rather beings summoned by gods, similar in nature to familiars used by mages.
"Monkeys formed from Sun Wukong's fur?" Kaiser instinctively shielded Mariya Yuri behind him as he looked at the ferocious monkeys and said, "So a whole gang of monkey grandchildren really came, huh?"
This truly was... increasingly feeling like a myth come to life.
Although Kaiser had already encountered many gods and demons and the like before, those beings had always felt distant from his former life. He might have known of their existence, but had never felt any sense of closeness.
But now, it was different. Whether it was Sun Wukong or Huaguo Mountain, they were all things he had grown up with—deeply familiar.
Now that these things were becoming real one after another, Kaiser's thoughts started to stray.
"Jii jii!"
"Jii jii jii!"
The monkey divine messengers, however, had no such sentiments. After a flurry of chattering cries, they charged at them.
Seeing this, flames of magical power ignited on Kaiser's body—when suddenly, two figures leapt to his front.
"Steel Lion, show me the essence of combat in my hand—Cuore di Leone, it's time to duel!"
The golden-haired knight raised her arm and summoned the immortal magic sword.
"My wings—O steel that forms the illusory blade—Il Maestro, grant me strength!"
The silver-haired knight held out her hand and summoned her silver saber.
The Diavolo Rosso and the Fairy Knight simultaneously summoned their beloved swords, and like the twin wings of Kaiser, shot forth at once to confront the incoming monkey swarm.
"Shhk!" "Shhk!" "Shhk!"...
The two girls coordinated perfectly—sometimes attacking from left and right, sometimes switching positions mid-fight, sometimes spinning back-to-back, sometimes performing fierce strikes one in front and one behind. In a sword dance that was nearly artistic, they both slew several monkey divine messengers, which screamed and dissipated into monkey fur.
"As expected, Liliana, even if your mouth always complains about me, the only one who can match my rhythm and coordinate so well with me, Erica Blandelli, is still you."
Erica, wielding Cuore di Leone, smiled boldly and fearlessly as she slew monkey divine messengers.
"I'm just afraid you'll charge in recklessly and get yourself killed in the middle of the enemy, so I'm forced to back you up!"
Though Liliana said such words, her silver saber swept past Erica's side and skewered a monkey divine messenger that had leapt toward her back, saving her from danger.
"Let's just go with that." Erica chuckled happily, then turned toward Kaiser and said, "My King, leave this to us."
"Lowly familiars of a god aren't worthy of troubling the great king," Liliana said back-to-back with Erica. "Though it's not my desire, as long as this fox woman and I are here, there's no problem—please go meet the Great Sage Equal to Heaven."
As they spoke, the two once again coordinated their attacks—one blocked a monkey's pounce, the other slashed through its midsection, reducing it to monkey fur.
These monkey divine messengers, while not on the level of Divine Beasts, were still magical creatures under a god's command. They were powerful—ordinary mages stood no chance, let alone when outnumbered.
Unfortunately for them, Erica and Liliana were no ordinary mages—they were Milanese prodigies, magical geniuses, and held the rank of Great Knights.
If Erica and Liliana's combat strength was a ten, then these monkey divine messengers were merely around four or five.
Even with a numerical advantage, they were no match against the perfectly coordinated Erica and Liliana.
"Then I'll leave the small fry to you."
Kaiser nodded and turned back toward Huaguo Mountain.
"I'll go deal with the big one."