Soon, the 'gas' inside the Dimensional Shambler had completely leaked out, leaving behind only a gray, empty shell.

Jiraiya picked up the it's shell, opened it, and peered inside, confirming that there was indeed no bodily tissue present. The inner texture of the shell was slightly different from the outer surface, with fewer wrinkles.

"Pa, look at this. It's completely hollow!" Jiraiya said.

"Impossible... Where are its organs? Its bones?"

"Could this empty shell be it's true form?" Fukasaku proposed a hypothesis—a bold and seemingly irrational one, but given the circumstances, it was the only conclusion he could reach.

Jiraiya pressed the shell, noting that based on its thickness and feel, there was no way it could house any bodily tissue. Moreover, in the cross-section where the shell had been cut, he observed a gray-green rubber-like material in the center.

The color was identical to the gray-green plains of the two-dimensional world the Dimensional Shamblers inhabited. However, the gray-green inside the shell was not a fluid. This material... it's identical to their dimension.

"I don't know," Jiraiya shook his head. "But it's likely that this shell is what allows them to resist fire and stomach acid."

Suddenly, he recalled how them could move freely in this two-dimensional world. If the shell was truly hollow, could it be the reason they could achieve such movement? And if he put on the shell, would he gain the same ability—to move freely within this two-dimensional space like the Dimensional Shamblers?

"Jiraiya-boy, look outside!" Fukasaku called out, his voice urgent and filled with alarm.

Jiraiya looked and realized, to his shock, that the Gourd Toad had been unknowingly surrounded by a swarm of Dimensional Shamblers.

Countless Dimensional Shamblers blocked every escape route, gazing down at the Gourd Toad with expressionless yet cruel faces, like predators eyeing their prey. Though to them, the Gourd Toad might not be a full meal, it was still meat.

The Gourd Toad was internally panicking, looking up at the gray faces. It desperately wanted to tell the Dimensional Shamblers to go feast on the human corpses atop the mountain instead.

"This is bad! They've found the Gourd Toad!" Fukasaku exclaimed.

Although the Gourd Toad's barrier was powerful and could block sensory perception, once its physical body was discovered, the barrier could easily be broken. The Gourd Toad's physical form wasn't particularly strong defensively; a simple attack would be enough to end its summoning. Without the Gourd Toad, Jiraiya would be forced out of the barrier and back into the two-dimensional world.

"Jiraiya-boy, I should reverse summon you back. It's too dangerous here," Fukasaku suggested.

However, Jiraiya immediately shook his head, rejecting the idea. "No, we can't. There are now over hundreds of them gathered here. If we leave and nothing draws their attention, they might all spill into the real world."

According to his guess, only a few of them had crossed into the real world before to feast on humans. But if he ended the summoning now, all these hundreds of Dimensional Shamblers might follow. And once he was reverse summoned back to Mount Myōboku, there would be no way to return to Lotus Hollow quickly. By then, the real world would be overrun with chaos and destruction.

"So, what's your plan?" Fukasaku asked.

"I'll stay here and keep their attention on me. I just need to hold out until Ma reverses the summoning."

"But these creatures are almost invincible in this two-dimensional world!"

While these Dimensional Shamblers were difficult to deal with, as long as they were vulnerable to physical attacks, Jiraiya could still handle them—even in numbers of hundreds. But in the their world, he was at a severe disadvantage. With no ability to move forward or backward and unable to even touch them, there was no way for him to launch a physical attack.

Fukasaku was right—the Dimensional Shamblers were nearly invincible in their own world. However, Jiraiya's gaze shifted to the shell on the ground beside him.

He spoke slowly, "Then let me become a Dimensional Shambler too."

"Jiraiya-boy, have you lost your mind?"

"Think about it, Pa," Jiraiya explained calmly. "If I can move like them, maybe I can fight them on equal terms."

Fukasaku stroked his chin, considering the idea. "It's risky... but I suppose we don't have many options."

As Jiraiya began to put on the Dimensional Shambler shell, he couldn't help but crack a grim smile. "Well, Pa, how do I look? Ready for a night out in the two-dimensional town?"

In the two-dimensional world, the Dimensional Shamblers stared at the strange creature lying on the ground for a long time. Finally, one Dimensional Shambler reached out toward the Gourd Toad, wanting to be the first to taste its meat.

But just as its claw was about to touch the Gourd Toad, the toad's body burst into smoke, transforming into a Dimensional Shambler. Here goes nothing... Jiraiya emerged in his disguise.

The surrounding Dimensional Shamblers were momentarily stunned but did not attack. The claw that had reached toward the Gourd Toad hung suspended in the air. All the others crowded closer, pressing their gray heads toward the new 'Dimensional Shambler', as if sniffing for a scent.

But in reality, their faces, except for their mouths, were vestigial; their other features were just sunken indentations with no functional use. However, the Dimensional Shamblers themselves defied common logic.

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Inside the shell, Jiraiya didn't dare move or even take a deep breath.

The Dimensional Shambler in front of him opened its pitch-black mouth, as if speaking—or perhaps just making a meaningless motion—but from inside, Jiraiya caught a whiff of a spicy odor. Ugh, and I thought Gamabunta's breath was bad...

From within the dark mouth, a long, dark-red tongue slowly extended. What, a tongue?!

At that moment, a thought flashed through Jiraiya's mind. When he had cut open the Dimensional Shambler's shell, he had found no bodily tissue inside. Yet, in the earlier battle and from the spear picked up by Wataru, they had discovered that the Dimensional Shamblers did, in fact, have internal tissues—like their long tongues and green, pungent, foul-smelling blood.

These were the real bodily tissues of the Dimensional Shamblers! It seemed that when their shells were extensively damaged, for some reason, these tissues 'evaporated'. Which meant...

Jiraiya jumped just as the claws of several Dimensional Shamblers came down, barely missing him. So much for the stealth approach!

It meant his plan to disguise himself as a Dimensional Shambler wouldn't work!

Though the Dimensional Shamblers weren't highly intelligent, it seemed as though imitating their appearance was enough to fool them at first. But he could only mimic their outer shell—he couldn't replicate the bodily tissues that vanished when the shell was broken.

There was no other choice but to fight.

Though he couldn't convincingly disguise himself as one of them, the shell still served a purpose. After putting on the shell, he found that, like the Dimensional Shamblers, he could now move freely within the two-dimensional space.

However, whether due to his body's unfamiliarity or the nature of this dimension, his movements were slow, as though struggling through a thick liquid.

Jiraiya had never experienced such a suffocating and sticky pressure before, as if the weight was closing in on him from all directions, making every movement unbearably difficult.

What is this? It's like trying to swim through concrete! He mustered all his strength to jump, yet barely managed to clear the head of a Dimensional Shambler.

As Jiraiya jumped, the hundreds of Dimensional Shamblers below simultaneously looked up at him, opening their massive mouths in anger. Two rows of sharp, uneven fangs, like those of wild beasts, let out a low, hoarse growl, akin to the sound of a drying faucet.

"Damn it! This position is too passive."

He landed on the head of one of the Dimensional Shamblers and began stepping across their heads in an attempt to escape the encirclement. Balance, speed, precision. Just like training with the toads.

Though the Dimensional Shambler's skin suit didn't fit him well—especially in the hands and feet where his human extremities couldn't match the monster's claw-like features—luckily, the suit was loose. Plus, his ninja skills allowed him to balance perfectly, hopping across the heads of the Dimensional Shamblers without a single misstep.

As he jumped, Jiraiya noticed something strange about these creatures. In the three-dimensional world, they moved extremely fast, but here, in their own space, they seemed to be slowed down, unable to turn their bodies nimbly.

Interesting. This world constrains them too, Jiraiya observed, filing away this information for later use.

With several more leaps, he landed atop a towering mound of corpses, standing at its peak. He stepped on the bodies of soldiers from the Land of Spice, looking down at the hundreds of Dimensional Shamblers still growling angrily at him.

The ones closest to the corpse mound began climbing upward. From Toad Sage to King of the Corpse Hill. Not my finest moment, Jiraiya grinned.

"I should be able to buy a little more time. I hope Ma can hurry."

Kneeling on one knee atop the mound, he placed his hands on his knee to recover some of his strength. The consecutive jumps had drained him, making him feel even more exhausted than a whole day of sprinting in the real world without rest. I've never felt so drained...

The energy consumption here was immense. He realized he couldn't hope to kill all these creatures; his only goal was to seal the mural that connected this world to the real one. That would be enough.

As he regained his strength, Jiraiya gazed into the distance across the gray-green plain. The longer he stayed in this space, the more he realized how impossible it was to fully understand it.

Although the world appeared flat, when standing atop the highest point of the corpse mountain, Jiraiya could see farther than when he was on the ground. At the edge of the gray-green fluid plain, he saw a lake. It was a silver-colored lake.

Though it appeared stagnant, he noticed that its surface seemed to be in motion. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't the lake itself moving, but the water, which continuously broke apart and reformed.

Through the endlessly disintegrating and reconstructing silver bubbles, he witnessed a kaleidoscope of shifting illusions, constantly morphing and reassembling. These swirling visions occasionally dissolved into a vast abyss of darkness. These images... they're not just random.

In this black abyss, countless darker, deeper worlds and suns spun rapidly. Black and white spread in chaotic disarray, eventually consuming the entire abyss.

Jiraiya felt as though he glimpsed an even greater existence—a final, ultimate chaos. Surrounding this chaos were countless formless, mindless dancers, loosely encircling it, blowing monotonous, low-pitched notes on grotesque flutes held in their unnameable claws.

This has to be some kind of genjutsu!

In an instant, his mind felt as though it had been struck by lightning. These inexplicable images whirled through his mind, expanding and contracting, over and over again. No matter how hard he tried to will them away with his strongest resolve, it was futile.

By the time his visual system and brain reconnected, he no longer had time to reflect on what he had just seen. How long was I out? Seconds? Minutes? The Dimensional Shamblers had already climbed to his feet, their massive claws swinging toward his ankle.

---

Outside the manor, Wataru and numerous town residents stood anxiously in front of the fence. Many of the women clasped their hands tightly in prayer, hoping for good news—that Lord Jiraiya had successfully defeated the monsters.

"Do you think he made it?" one villager whispered nervously.

"He has to have," another responded. "He's one of the Legendary Sannin, after all."

As the crowd waited, footsteps sounded from the other side of the fence. The footsteps were disordered, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, and sounded more ghostly than human, making the soldiers and townspeople tense up.

"Prepare yourselves!" Wataru ordered sharply. Immediately, the soldiers at the gate raised their spears, ready to face whatever creature might rush out.

Finally, the footsteps stopped in front of the gate. The creature on the other side began pounding on the door, producing loud banging sounds.

"Open the gate!"

"Open it quickly!"

Though the voice sounded desperate, it was distinctly human.

Wataru stepped forward and opened the gate. A figure immediately collapsed out.

The crowd surged forward and saw that it was none other than Lord Jiraiya. Although he looked disheveled—his ninja forehead protector missing, and his knees caked in dirt from countless falls—it was unmistakably him.

"Jiraiya-sama! You're back? What about the monster?"

"Idiot, Jiraiya-sama must have defeated the monster!"

Wataru knelt beside him and asked, "Jiraiya-sama, where is the other ninja who went with you?" Seeing him in such a state, he no longer wanted to ask about the monster and instead posed a more practical question.

"The other ninja... he was sucked into the painting! The monster pulled him in!" the man gasped.

"Monster! In the painting!" his eyes widened in terror as he repeated the nonsensical words.

Wataru shook his head helplessly. Even one of the Legendary Sannin couldn't resolve the situation here?

Just as he was about to signal his soldiers to take Jiraiya away to rest, a subtle tremor rose from the ground.

Everyone felt it—residents and soldiers alike—and looked at each other in confusion, unable to comprehend what was happening. Then, the tremors grew stronger, so intense that even adults found it hard to stay upright.

"What's happening now?" a villager cried out in panic.

"Is it another monster?" someone else shouted, fear rippling through the crowd.

Then, with a deafening noise, a giant rusty red toad, larger than a building, leaped over the crowd's heads.