Chapter 367 - A Pig's Belly
'Li,' Arthur repeated, his mind piecing together the riddle of a masked man he knew. Li spoke to no one but him, and when he did, he spoke in an ancient manner too.
'Can they be the same person?'
The white light that outlined the man's shape made it impossible to see his features. After staring at him for a while, Arthur realized he couldn't confirm his suspicions simply by staring.
"Are you..."
Arthur's voice trailed because he realized there was no way to confirm it. What did he know about Li, other than his abnormal strength?
Simply by being at the Demi-rank, Li could hold back Astra-Rankers using the sword he summoned. Arthur couldn't see a sword with the man.
'Is it a coincidence? Are they people with a similar name and ability?'
Arthur could remember Li's domain of gravity in great vividity. The way he made everyone unable to stand simply by being in his domain was indisputable proof that Li could control gravity.
Yet, the man in front of him was simply aspiring to control it. As he walked behind the man, Arthur's mind wandered as it formed ideas and shot them down.
He already knew that he was in a previous timeline from the fact that Solomon was alive. If he treated that as a fact, it would also explain Li's existence in the Spirits Realm.
That means that Li was a Spirits Contractor and that he was from a different age. Arthur felt as if the clouds of doubt were dispelled from his mind because it made sense.
However, it only made sense because Arthur threw whatever he knew as 'impossible' and 'possible' out of his mind. He treated this as a jigsaw puzzle that needed to be solved.
"You haven't told me your name yet, friend," Li said with a respectful nod. Arthur pondered his options and decided to go with an alias.
"Romeo," Arthur blurted out without thinking, and Li simply nodded. "My name is Romeo." He repeated it not for Li but to remind himself. After all, he now had many aliases that he couldn't remember all of them.
"I understand. Good name!" Li said, and Arthur looked at him emotionally. Everyone said he had a terrible naming sense, but he knew that wasn't true. The names proved it: Kira, Mero, Nero, Lilo, and many others.
"Thank you, good friend," Arthur said with a nod. "I'll help you contract a spirit." His word made Li shocked, and he simply stared silently at him. "I harbor no ill will, but it is fate that brought us together."
Arthur wasn't lying, as it was indeed fate for him to meet the past version of someone he knew from Earth. Li saved his life many times, and it was only natural that he helps him contract a spirit.
"I don't believe in fate," Li said with a shake of his head. "Existence is chaotic, and it acts without regard to who you are. However, it's inappropriate to turn down a helping hand."
"Whatever floats your boat," Arthur shrugged, and Li looked around with confusion.
"I don't have a boat?"
"I..." Arthur was speechless and didn't know how to explain his meaning. "I'm saying random things, never mind. Do you want to contract a spirit from the Earthen or the Skyey World?"
"The Celestial World," Li said with determination. "It can only be that, right?"
"You're aiming to be a god." Arthur laughed. "Well, as long as you can make it past the stairway."
"That's what I plan on doing," Li said firmly. Arthur admired his ambition and didn't say anything more. Then, the flame willow trees started to grow scarcer, and they met the first spirit in this place.
"Is that a giant flying pig?" Li said with shock, pointing at the pig eating the leaves of the willow trees. It had four giant wings on its body that allowed it to fly without flapping them.
"Well, I guess no one can say 'when pigs fly' anymore," Arthur muttered as the two looked at the giant pig. "Do you want to contract it?"
"No, this is not the one. Moreover, its face is kind of scary." Li said, and Arthur couldn't help but agree.
The pig's face had human features, making it quite scary to observe. It nibbled on the leaves of the giant tree, eating one branch at a time.
As if sensing the judgmental gazes of the two people, the pig turned to them with a frown. Then, it opened its mouth and let out a shocking sound.
"Moo~!"
"..."
"..."
The two stared silently at the pig, which seemed to be everything but an actual pig. Arthur had a single thought in his mind:
'For heaven's sake, why are you mooing?'
The pig, however, simply opened its mouth and began to suck in air. The leaves got dragged into its mouth before the branches broke down and followed along. However, the pig didn't stop sucking, and the whole tree entered its stomach.
"Hey, doesn't it look to be glaring at us?" Arthur said with hesitation. The pig's eyes seemed to contain infinite hate.
"Hm, but we did nothing to..."
Li couldn't finish his words because his body began to get pulled by the suction force as well. Arthur was the same, and he tried to impale his chains into the ground, but the ground began breaking down as well.
"What the hell is this?" Arthur tried to sprint away, but the suction force kept getting stronger until there was nothing he could do to resist.
Li was the same, and the two flew toward the pig's mouth, entering it without the ability to resist. However, when they passed through its mouth, the world turned dark, and they felt their bodies enter a separate space.
Arthur threw in his chains to attack the pig's stomach, but they simply kept stretching out forever. Finally, Arthur realized this pig's stomach wasn't ordinary but had a compressed space within it.
His consciousness grew fuzzy before he began free-falling from the sky. He looked around and saw the infinite blue in front of him, clouds mottling the horizon. As he looked below him, he saw Li falling as well toward an island in the sea.
"Grab the chain!" Arthur shouted as he waved his arm, sending one of his chains to Li. The man grabbed to it as Arthur sent his other chain toward the giant trees below them.
The chains wrapped themselves around the tree, and Arthur swung around it instead of falling on the ground. He let down Li slowly toward the ground, who worked to stabilize himself.
After Arthur let go of the tree, he landed as well and looked around. They were in the middle of an island in the sea, surrounded by a jungle of tropical trees.
Giant insects flew around, each as big as Arthur himself. He could feel many life forces in the island and beyond it, making him doubt his perception.
"All of this inside a flying pig?" Li looked around with shock. "Where are we, exactly?"
"It seems this spirit has a space-compression ability," Arthur said with a frown. "We need to find a way out."
"Our recklessness brought this." Li shook his head. "Maybe there are other people here?" He wondered a lot.
"I hope not," Arthur shook his head. "If there are others here, then we are less likely to leave at all."
"Believe in yourself, Romeo!" Li said seriously. Arthur was confused before he remembered that his name was Romeo now.
'Was Li always such a headstrong character?'
Arthur could remember Li agreeing that mechas were the path of a true man, so he did indeed give off the impression. However, Li, with a mask, rarely talked. It might be to hide his ancient accent, but Arthur also believed that the mask had something to do with it.
"Believing in yourself doesn't change that we are trapped in the belly of a pig," Arthur said with a sigh. "Let's find a way to make it vomit us out."
"And... all of this?" Li raised his arms and gestured at everything around them. Arthur agreed that this place was too bizarre. Why would anyone get sucked to the belly of a pig and end up on an island?
"We can only try. The only way is forward, right?" Arthur said with a grin. "Let's see what this island has to offer."
Li nodded, and the two walked through the jungle as Arthur used his chains to make the vegetation give way for them. As the chains whipped away, a metallic clang resounded from in front of them.
"A sword?" Li asked with wariness, taking his stance.
"I don't feel any presence," Arthur frowned as well as the chains pushed the vines, branches, and bushes away to reveal what the metallic object was.
"A monster!" Li shouted and punched. His punch made the tree part, and the shockwave struck the metallic 'monster' in front of them.
"Not a monster," Arthur frowned. "Just a car."