"Drip..."
Before the enormous sealing gate, water rippled as though droplets were falling onto a still surface, sending wave after wave of ripples outward.
Again... here? Chiba slowly raised his head. In the dim yellow light, he could clearly see the massive gate and the complex sealing talisman at its center. Rings of ripples spread across the ground beneath his feet, while the dripping echoed by his ears, seeming to wash away the confusion from before.
So, that meant...
Glancing at the walls on either side, which seemed to be pieced together from countless pipes, Chiba drew a slight breath and slowly raised his hands, gently clenching them.
Had I reached the brink of death again? Feeling the incomparably relaxed state of his body, utterly free of fatigue and pain, Chiba lightly furrowed his brow.
It was not the first or second time he had been seriously injured. He had come to this Sealed Space several times, and had even entered the world after death once. Compared to before, Chiba was much calmer now, and quickly determined his current condition.
It seems my physical body has reached some kind of limit and is close to death. My consciousness, meanwhile, has been drawn into this Sealed Space.
In other words, I'm already dying...
And this time, there's probably a ninety percent chance I won't make it out alive...
Recalling the pain he had felt before losing consciousness, along with the sound of his bones shattering, Chiba tightly closed his eyes.
The critical state of Gate of Pain Mode had suddenly been released, and the Third Raikage's completely unrestrained punch had struck him head-on in the left cheek. At the time, he had felt the bones in the left side of his face shatter instantly. There was probably still a huge, sunken