Novel's Extra: I Awakened The Strongest Physique From The Start - Chapter 201

Chapter 201: CHAPTER 202 – Keryu Arrived.
Keryu stepped into the ruined city, his boots crunching against the dust-covered stone.

He was going to wait for a day, but he couldn’t. He felt like it would be too late if he delayed, so he used everything he had in order to reach this city as soon as possible.

Like always, the air was thick with a sense of desolation, but the ruined structures that loomed around him spoke of the long-forgotten history.

At his side walked a woman with flowing black hair, her pink eyes gleaming with an unnatural light. She moved with a sultry grace, her body wrapped in a form-fitting outfit that accentuated her every step.

She was Natasha, the subordinate of his whom he had promised to spend some time with, but since he decided to leave without doing so, she threw a tantrum, saying that she would come along with him.

Natasha knew almost everything about his ambitions, so he didn’t say no to her. The fact that she was strong was just an added bonus.

“So this is the ruined city you were talking about,” Natasha murmured, her voice smooth as silk. “It looks exactly as you described it.”

Keryu had told her about this city on the way here, along with their objective in this place, but seeing and hearing are different things.

‘He keeps getting more and more mysterious,’ Natasha thought as she glanced at Keryu, biting her lips. ‘It’s as if he knows everything.’

Keryu, on the other hand, exhaled, skimming around. “Yes. This city exists outside everyone’s sight, never to be discovered by those who aren’t destined to come here.”

He paused, his gaze lingering on the dark ceiling of this city before he continued. “It’s a refuge and a prison for those who ran away from their lives or responsibilities. They remain here, neither truly dead nor alive, waiting for a chance to escape even though they have nowhere else to go.”

Natasha chuckled, flicking her fingers at a crumbling wall. “And you plan to take over this place.” Turning back to him, she asked, “What would you even gain from this place within the desolate that no one even comes into?”

“I don’t just plan to take over,” Keryu corrected, his eyes sharp. “I will take over. If I control the organization that rules this city, I will have a place to hide from the world. A place where no one would be able to find me.”

Natasha hummed at his words, hugging his arm as she walked beside him.

They walked deeper into the ruined city, coming across the residents of this ruined city, but as Keryu observed the people—demons, humans, and demi-humans—around them, a strange unease settled in his chest.

The residents of this place were supposed to look at outsiders with greed, their eyes filled with hunger for power and escape. But instead, the gazes that met him were filled with something else.

Fear.

Natasha noticed it too. “They’re looking at us like we’ve brought a calamity upon them. This isn’t normal, is it?”

Keryu narrowed his eyes. “No. Something is wrong. These people should be fighting to take whatever advantage they can get. Instead, they look terrified of even speaking to us.”

They continued their path through the city, and along the way, Keryu tried talking to some stall owners on the way, but all he got in response were fearful eyes or answers that made no sense.

No matter what Keryu asked, they wouldn’t answer or try to scam him. Their response would be almost the same.

“I-I don’t know anything. A-And I don’t want to give you wrong information.” This was what they said.

Unable to get any useful information out of those people, they moved toward the only inn in this ruined city.

It was a structure barely holding itself together, yet it still served as a hub for those who needed a place to rest. Inside, the patrons fell silent as Keryu and Natasha entered. The way they averted their gazes, the way their hands trembled—it was unnatural.

Keryu approached the innkeeper, a thin old man with a slightly hunched back, seemingly carrying a lot of weight. “Why is everyone acting like this? What happened here?”

The innkeeper stiffened, eyes darting around as if expecting someone to strike him down at any moment. “I-I don’t know what you mean, sir. Everything is as it always has been.”

Natasha leaned against the counter, smirking. “Lying doesn’t suit you. Spill it.”

The innkeeper swallowed hard, his hands gripping the counter’s edge so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “I-I can’t say. If I do…”

He trailed off, shaking his head as if even the thought was too much to bear. His gaze would move to a certain room on the first floor, but Keryu and Natasha failed to notice it.

They didn’t know that the innkeeper had yet to recover from the scene Alex had made him see during his short stay.

Keryu’s unease deepened. He was certain now—something had deviated from the plot. But how? He had planned everything meticulously, and yet, this fear in the city was something he had never anticipated.

After a while, he decided to stop wasting time. If he wanted answers, he would find them himself. Standing, he turned to Natasha. “Let’s go. We need to find the organization that rules over this place. If something has changed, they’ll know.”

Natasha hummed, following him out. “You really think you can just take over?”

Keryu smirked. “Watch me.”

He was sure that the organization was still weak, and making use of their infighting and greed, he could easily take over the organization.

‘Divide and rule always worked.’ Keryu grinned inwardly, intending to get things over with as quickly as possible so that he could follow through with his main objective.

With that thought, Keryu and Natasha walked toward the heart of the city, but a thought repeatedly nagged Keryu’s mind. ‘Why do I feel like someone is interfering with the plot again?’

An image flashed through his mind—Alex.

But he immediately dismissed it with a chuckle. “Impossible. The only way someone could find this place is if they knew the plot, or…”

His thoughts trailed off, and he shook his head more vigorously, refusing to consider the latter option.

………………

Meanwhile, far inside the ruined city, on the trial grounds, Alex stood with his arms crossed, watching as the command crystal pulsed with energy.

“Construct, construct, construct…” he kept repeating as the remnants of the ancient palace around him shifted, stones rising and fitting together as the structure began reconstructing itself.

Just like the command crystal could be used to destroy the palace, it could be used to rebuild it as well; after all, it could command anything inside the trial ground, including the debris remaining of the shattered palace.

As he observed the process, he suddenly felt a strange itch in his ear. Frowning, he muttered, “Is someone talking about me?”

Sophie’s voice echoed in his mind, amused. [It’s possible. After all, you are pretty famous.]

Alex smirked. “I suppose I am.”

With that, he turned back to the forming palace, unaware of just how much his mere presence had thrown everything off balance.