He struggled to avoid being eaten.
“Go away!
Where do you think you’re shoving that stinking mouth, you snake bastard!”
The great Salk couldn’t be eaten by a pot-bellied lizard.
Perhaps because it was a dream, it was hard to even move a finger, but he held on tenaciously.
In the midst of it, he even managed to kick its yellow eyeball with his heel.
But the opponent was too big and strong.
As time passed, his strength gradually drained.
Eventually, the pot-bellied yellow lizard with legs swallowed him whole with its mouth wide open.
* * *
“Hey, wake up.”
Someone shook Salk awake.
Salk woke up and looked ahead, frowning as if he wasn’t fully awake yet.
The man who had shaken him awake was standing in front of him.
“Have we arrived?”
“Yes, we have.
Huh?”
The man answering widened his eyes as he looked at Salk getting out of bed.
Salk’s eyes were glowing with a golden light.
One eye even looked a bit bloodshot, showing traces of red…
“What?
Is there something on my face?”
“Your eyes…?”
At the man’s words, Salk, no, Katrisian, who had taken over Salk’s body, realized his mistake.
Because Salk had resisted so strongly, it seemed he hadn’t been able to properly finish transforming the eyes.
“Ah, this is because I’m wearing contacts…”
The man tilted his head, gathered his belongings, and left the room.
“Hmm, I should be careful.”
Left alone in the cabin, Katrisian dyed his eyes black and rummaged through the bag to find the passport first.
To go to his homeland, the Brachion Continent, he had to enter mainland China.
Mount Huang was where the Dimensional Gate leading to the Brachion Continent was located.
The reason he borrowed Salk’s body instead of using polymorph was simple.
It was retaliation for Salk’s rude behavior the previous night.
Also, borrowing someone else’s body took less energy than using polymorph.
Having safely passed through immigration with Salk’s passport, Katrisian immediately headed to Mount Huang.
Two days later.
Katrisian, in Salk’s body, arrived at Mount Huang.
There was only one Dimensional Gate in each world that could lead to another world.
The Dimensional Gate created on Earth was located in a cave deep within Mount Huang.
Because of that, he had to endure the inconvenience of coming all the way to Mount Huang.
The cave with the magic circle was so deep in Mount Huang that human footsteps never reached it.
But what kind of creatures humans were?
They were the type to pave roads and even build motels no matter how deep a place was.
He had been very worried that humans might have damaged it, but fortunately, it was safe since the location was so remote and steep.
Pushing aside the vines hanging at the cave entrance, Katrisian went inside and drew the magic circle to open the Dimensional Gate.
Since it had been a long time since he last drew it, he couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.
Still, it took him two full days to complete the magic circle anyway.
“Now, shall I return to my hometown?
I wonder how it has changed.”