"Whoosh—"
The rain seemed to be falling harder and harder.
What had initially been a light drizzle now showed signs of turning into a downpour.
Riezel strolled through the rain, yet not a single drop touched him.
All the rainwater was kept several inches away by Infinity, unable to come into contact with Riezel's body at all.
Yet Riezel noticed that the closer he drew to the central hall, the harder this strange rain fell.
"Splash!"
Riezel's foot landed on the ground, stepping into a puddle amid the crisp sound of his footsteps.
At that very instant, something strange happened.
As though the stars had shifted and the heavens had turned, the world suddenly inverted. The buildings around him rapidly receded, soon sinking beyond the horizon one after another and vanishing from sight.
Riezel stood alone in a vast plaza where the horizon was visible in every direction. The surroundings were completely empty, with nothing in sight.
Only the rain falling from the sky had finally become a torrential storm, its curtain of water enveloping heaven and earth.
"—"
A strange cry drifted faintly into Riezel's ears.
It was a shrill sound, like the scream of a banshee.
It came quickly and vanished just as fast.
"Roar!"
Just as Riezel prepared to carefully trace the source of the sound, another roar rang out.
Unlike the eerie cry from before, this roar was thunderous and majestic.
For some reason, hearing it gave Riezel a faint sense of familiarity.
"Thud—thud—thud—"
The next second, from the other side of the curtain of rain, a monster approached Riezel with heavy, powerful footsteps.
The sight of that monster made Riezel freeze.
That was because its appearance was not unfamiliar to him.
It had the head of a dragon, the body of an elephant, the roar