Chapter 1288: Demonic Realm (11)

Chirp…!!

Sharp teeth glinted between the inverted petals.

Human legs, protruding from beneath the tightly closed bud, swayed precariously.

Giant petals munched noisily on a human corpse. Disorienting flowerbeds spread throughout the endless jungle.

At the entrance to the Demonic Realm, where nature devoured humans, thousands of superhumans were frantically killing each other.

“Kill the cultists!!!”

“In the name of the Great Pantheon!!!”

CRASH!!!

The Order Alliance’s Conflagration Spellcraft and the cult’s Prayer Spellcraft chaotically adorned the sky of the Demonic Realm, scattering pollen.

Thousands of Will-thoughts split into tens of thousands, clashing, exploding like fireworks, and raining down like a storm.

Amidst it, a desperate struggle where they clung, tangled, stabbed flesh, and tore at throats.

“Arghh!! Aaaaargh!!”

“Die!! Kill!!!”

“Hateful Order Alliance bastards!!!!”

The initial entry point of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, breached by using the Iron Spirit Spell Master as a battering ram.

A hellscape where superhumans from the Order Alliance and the cult were being torn apart in real-time throughout the vast jungle.

Lennok, who had just entered the Demonic Realm and was met with a bloody melee, paused, but Aileen moved first.

“Quick, this way!!”

Aileen leaped over several thick, log-like vines, swiftly moving away from the combat zone, and surveyed her surroundings.

Horrific corpses lay everywhere, decapitated or with internal organs spilling out.

Plants of the Demonic Realm were devouring humans, whose bodies were too mangled to identify their allegiance.

Crunch, crunch!!

Sluuuurp…

Trees with exposed roots writhed, drinking blood, and fanged petals chewed on flesh.

The vine that Aileen and Lennok leaned against squirmed like a worm, grabbing and crushing a corpse.

Lennok’s expression furrowed at the scene, which was not just grotesque, but utterly repulsive.

“The internal environment of the Demonic Realm is extremely… hostile to humans. Do all the plants here prefer meat?”

“They devour the corpses of living beings and partake in the death that remains within.”

Aileen replied, scanning the battle zone through the vines.

“Within the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, death is a tangible concept of power… all living things that grow here feed on death to grow and function.”

“So that’s the phenomenon caused by the Dead Flower you mentioned earlier.”

“You can only see the Dead Flowers deeper inside the Demonic Realm. The intensity of death is too weak for them to grow in a place like this.”

“…So these man-eating flowers scattered around aren’t Dead Flowers?”

“For now, let’s focus on finding a way around this battle zone.”

As Lennok pointed at the man-eating petals with a dumbfounded expression, Aileen rose to her feet.

Slice!!

She cut through the petals with her Gunblade, clearing a path, and subtly gestured to Lennok.

“Don’t you dare lose the Passlink Lakia gave you. I’ll be fine, but without it, you’ll inevitably be affected by the Dead Flower’s influence.”

“Since we’re inside the Demonic Realm, you can explain. What exactly is the Dead Flower’s influence?”

“All flora and fauna here kill and devour living things to consume death.”

Aileen replied.

“But because they kill living things and only absorb the death energy, conversely, the life force doesn’t disappear; it remains circulating densely within the Demonic Realm.”

“…So the life force, lost and spread throughout the Demonic Realm, affects humans?”

“Yes. It’s beyond simply feeling invigorated… a new life begins to grow within the body.”

Aileen lowered her gaze, looking down at an Order Alliance spellcaster fallen at her feet.

“You’ll understand immediately if you see it directly.”

“Ugh, ugh…!!!”

The spellcaster, still alive and struggling to crawl on the ground, suddenly clutched his stomach and curled up.

He writhed and convulsed as if something was squirming inside his belly, and then—

“Aaaargh!!!”

RIIIP!!!

His belly tore open, and intestines and organs burst out, writhing as if alive.

Insect legs emerged from between the intestines, crawling on the ground, and slimy eyes blinked open.

A grotesque sight: human organs gaining life of their own, tearing free from the body.

While Lennok was speechless, a hell even more repulsive unfolded.

Crunch, crunch, crunch!!!

The organs, now alive and having burst from the spellcaster’s body, turned around and began to chew and devour the human they were born from.

As they crawled and squirmed like insects over the human body, chunks of flesh fell away, and the sound of rending flesh echoed.

“Stop, pl-please stop…”

The spellcaster’s groans grew slurred, and before long, silence fell.

The intestinal creature, burping contentedly, wriggled like a worm across the ground and vanished into the jungle.

Lennok, who had watched silently, murmured quietly.

“A bottom beneath the bottom…”

“The overflowing life force within the Demonic Realm uses living organic matter as a placenta to be reborn as creatures of the Demonic Realm.”

Aileen explained softly.

“The creatures born this way then feed on death, scattering life force back into the Demonic Realm, which again uses new organic matter as a placenta… it’s an endlessly repeating vicious cycle here.”

Aileen’s gaze, as she turned to Lennok, was infinitely calm and subdued.

“All Demonic Realms scattered across the Central Front are hells trapped in such an inescapable vicious cycle… places utterly corrupted and broken within causality.”

“…So this was why Eredis Zabelin failed to conquer the Demonic Realm.”

After defeating the Conjunction Spell Master at the First Gate.

Lennok had once met Eredis Zabelin, the Second Seat of the Ability Awakening Warband, and heard about the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.

A brief but intensely powerful explanation about creatures that used humans as placentas.

Was the grotesque modifier pointing to the hellscape unfolding before his very eyes?

Only then did Lennok understand the reason behind Aileen’s explanation; he pulled out the Demonic Realm Travelogue and spoke.

“If you don’t eat Dead Flowers, life grows inside you, but if you eat Dead Flower petals, you’re steeped in death energy.”

Eating Dead Flower petals and holding death energy within prevents the side effect of life being forcibly born inside the body.

However, if one keeps eating petals to avoid the side effects, the body steeped in death energy would quickly lose its life force and begin to die.

If they had to constantly eat Dead Flowers and break through the Demonic Realm within the time they could withstand the death energy, it made sense why this place was such an infamous hell, but—

As soon as Aileen heard Lennok’s words, she shook her head.

“The Annihilation Squad of the Ability Awakening Warband is one of the best units in the Central Front. If it were a matter of time, Zabelin would have pushed through the Demonic Realm at any cost, even with sacrifices.”

“Then?”

“There’s a Gate. One that those who have consumed Dead Flowers can never cross… that dominates this entire vast Demonic Realm—”

CRASHHHH!!!!!

At that moment, the ground beneath Lennok and Aileen shook violently, and a thunderous roar erupted.

A fierce earthquake so powerful that parts of the vast jungle terrain collapsed, surged, and twisted.

Screeech!!

Frrrrooooo!!

Fanged flowers and branches adorned with human heads simultaneously let out grotesque screams.

But both their gazes were not on the frantic Demonic Realm plants all around them, but beyond.

The presence of two Transcendent beings echoed from beyond the vast jungle, stretching endlessly through canyons and mountain ranges.

Aileen’s gaze snapped back at the bizarre and eerie pressure that crushed spacetime itself.

“Wait, could it be…!!!”

“The Iron Spirit Spell Master wasn’t lying.”

Lennok, who had instantly regained his composure, calmly looked up at the jungle mountains beyond.

“The Grand Spell Master and the Seventh Apostle are clashing nearby.”

[Kyahahahahahahat!!!!!]

With a sharp laugh, dozens of crimson blood spheres rose from various parts of the jungle.

The asteroid-like blood spheres glinted and spun, and a blood-soaked woman descended upon them.

Swoosh!!

A chilling figure, with blood smeared around her eyes like mascara, wielding a curved double-edged greatsword like an axe in one hand.

The Seventh Apostle of the cult, Lariata Armush, with majestic bat wings and a Blood Magic Circle hovering above her, burst into laughter.

[Oh my, I can see everything even if you hide like that~ My great Grand Spell Masterrrrr!!!]

Whoosh…!!!

Lariata taunted, addressing the thick cloud of smoke blanketing the mountain range below the blood spheres.

[Are you mad because I raided your outpost? You’re always chasing my ass and getting smacked in return, aren’t you? You’re angry, right?]

“I have never concealed myself out of fear of a lowly Apostle.”

WHOOSH!!

At that moment, the smoke cleared, and a stiff, dry voice rang out.

A man with ash-grey hair, shirt unbuttoned, looked up at the Seventh Apostle from within the swirling smoke.

His attire was modest, lacking any special preparations or equipment, quite unlike someone confronting a high-ranking Apostle of the cult.

The only noteworthy detail was the slender, arm-length pipe held in the man’s hand.

Whooosh!!

Strangely, the smoke emanating from the pipe did not disperse, but swirled around the man.

This man must be the 8th-level Transcendent who is one of the Order Alliance’s Grand Spell Masters. The Yeonri Spell Master.

The Yeonri Spell Master, glaring at Lariata, spoke in a stiff voice.

“It was always you who fled from the battlefield. Have you finally decided to settle this?”

[No? I’m sorry, but I don’t particularly enjoy hitting phantoms.]

Lariata shrugged, a bored expression on her face.

[Fighting smoke isn’t fun or rewarding anyway. I’d rather tear apart the tender flesh of the spellcasters you brought, wouldn’t I?]

“…”

[I flee and kill your Order Alliance spellcasters, and you chase me and kill our cult’s priests. Well, that kind of utterly pointless war of attrition was a little thrilling, but…]

Lariata, perched on a blood sphere, looked down at the Yeonri Spell Master, her lips splitting into a ghostly grin.

[You suddenly returned to the entrance of the Demonic Realm for a reason, didn’t you? I rushed to follow, hoping to blast the back of your head, but what’s this? Someone smashed through the Demonic Realm’s entrance, oh myyy?]

At Lariata’s ghost-like wail, Aileen and the Yeonri Spell Master, who had been watching the situation, both subtly stiffened.

The Seventh Apostle, spinning her greatsword like a windmill, burst into laughter and gave the Grand Spell Master a cold smile.

[Someone forcibly broke through the Gate from outside the Demonic Realm, didn’t they?]

“…”

[An undeniable guest from the Order Alliance’s perspective, or an uncontrollable variable. Either way, it must be something that could help you enter the Grand General’s Tomb. Where is it?]

Lariata’s gaze swiftly swept over the battle zone at the entrance of the Demonic Realm.

Feeling her eerie gaze brush past them, Aileen furrowed her brows and slightly turned her head.

“Martinez. Let’s escape.”

“…”

“Both of them came here intending to fight. They found each other while looking for us, and that’s why they’re clashing.”

CLACK!!

She fumbled at her waist, then pulled out a heavy cartridge and gripped it.

It was unusual for her, who had never used ammunition before, to pull out a physical magazine for the first time.

She quickly continued, attaching the magazine to the blade’s hilt.

“If we use all the equipment we have, we can shake off at least one of them. As we discussed, after splitting up, we meet at the rendezvous point—”

[Where are you?!!! Do you think I won’t find you if you keep hiding?]

The vampire’s vicious presence resounded sharply over the jungle at the entrance of the Demonic Realm.

Lariata cackled and raised her greatsword; the blood spheres floating all around quickly turned.

It was as if she was using her greatsword as a baton, aiming the trajectory of blood-made bombs toward the ground.

[I’ll turn this whole area upside down and make you crawl out. Try to last until you die!!!!]

“How dare a disgusting monster like you—”

As soon as Lariata’s greatsword swung towards the Order Alliance spellcasters, the Yeonri Spell Master pulled up his mana and put the pipe in his mouth.

As he inhaled deeply and exhaled, an enormous amount of smoke spread out, thickly coloring the surroundings.

[Kyahahahahahahat!!!!]

CRUMBLECRUMBLECRUMBLE!!!!!!

With Lariata’s maniacal laughter, dozens of blood spheres floating in the sky plummeted towards the ground.

The thick mass of smoke around the Yeonri Spell Master transformed into sharp thorns and surged upwards.

The blood spheres, pierced by the smoke thorns, exploded, scattering an immense amount of blood across the jungle.

CRASHHHH!!!!!

Lariata, laughing madly amidst the rain of scattering blood, and the Yeonri Spell Master, gripping his pipe as if to crush it, clashed.

At this moment, the cult’s highest-ranking Apostle and the Order Alliance’s foremost Grand Spell Master clashed with full force in the heart of the Central Front.

The vampire’s double-edged greatsword and the Grand Spell Master’s pipe collided with tremendous speed, scattering subsonic shockwaves.

BOOOMBOOOMBOOOMBOOM!!!!!!

“Ahahahahat!!”

An instant striking battle where they were pushed back dozens of meters, crashed, and rebounded.

Colliding at supersonic speeds exceeding 300 km/h, they pulverized and tore apart everything in the surrounding area.

Lariata, protruding her head from amidst the blood, smiled brightly, blood tears streaming down her face.

“So you knew how to fight like this, but you’ve been cowardly using only Cloud Transformation all this time, huh? How outrageous, I should just kill you completely!!!”

“Mongrel. Let’s end this here.”

The two Transcendent beings, scattering mana and blood, rebounded and looked back at each other, raising their Will-thought.

Miracles temporarily transcending physical laws, adding Will-thought to innate spellcraft, settled upon reality as if engraved.

The super-advanced application techniques of Blood Magic and Yeonri Spellcraft simultaneously activated, dyeing the entrance of the Demonic Realm a murky crimson.

True Ancestor Bloodline Unique Magic

Property Transformation Diffusion Manifestation

[Fallen Demon Accumulated Death]

[Blood Jade]

Yeonri Hierarchy Unique Spellcraft

Property Transformation Great Connection Construction

[White Cloud]

[Sub-Penetrating Massacre]

A colossal blood-red sphere descended diagonally onto the mountain range at the entrance of the Demonic Realm, glinting crimson.

A colossal spear of smoke, connecting the clouds and mist of heaven and earth, rotated and collided.

Unleashing a tremendous shockwave that covered the entire jungle and canyons at the entrance of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.

CRASHHHHHHHHHH!!!

“Guh… What power…!!!!!”

“…”

Aileen gasped in shock and bowed her head at the unrealistic scale of power scattering its influence across the entire vast battlefield, while Lennok, holding the Demonic Realm Travelogue, gazed at the battle with cold eyes.

At the edge of the hellscape where clouds and mist danced and a fierce rain of blood scattered, the Seventh Apostle, gripping her double-edged greatsword, laughed maniacally and raised her hand.

Following the trajectory of the pipe swung by the Yeonri Spell Master, the remaining smoke accelerated, and the spell master’s arm vanished on the spot.

SWISH!!

The pipe, accelerated beyond supersonic speeds, pierced Lariata’s flank, bypassing even the Apostle’s reflexes.

Tearing through the vampire’s internal muscles, it burst and crushed organs and flesh everywhere.

SPLURT!!!

“Heeh.”

But Lariata did not scream or show surprise at the pipe piercing her flank.

Even as her intestines spilled out, she merely grinned, gripping the pipe with the strength of her abdominal muscles.

“I learned a technique from a close sister a long time ago.”

The Seventh Apostle, gripping her greatsword with both hands, tilted her head.

“It’s been a while since I used this, hasn’t it?”

Pseudo: Mind Sword

CRASHHHH!!!!

A two-handed downward slash devoid of any finesse.

But following that strike, the Conflagration Spellcraft and Prayer Spellcraft raining down from the Demonic Realm’s sky warped and split apart.

A blow that, following the sword’s edge that crushed even space, precisely split the Yeonri Spell Master from the crown of his head down to his entire body.

BOOOOOM!!!!!!

Following the slash that cleaved the canyon in half, the ground surged, and everything around them shook wildly.

However, Lariata’s expression, even after delivering a sword strike powerful enough to alter the terrain, was not very good.

Because the Yeonri Spell Master, who had dispersed his entire body into smoke, instantly reformed and landed back in his original spot.

Swoosh!!

“Ha!! He handles smoke, so his reactions are strangely fast.”

Lariata, regenerating the wound in her abdomen with a single gesture, irritably scratched her head and tilted it.

“If I just land one proper hit, he’ll die, but he’s so audacious. How long do you think you can keep that up?”

Attribute Transformation, which applies Property Transformation to the body, is an evasion technique permitted to only a very few spellcasters.

Even so, an attack strongly imbued with a Mental Image or Will-thought would never be free from impact.

The Yeonri Spell Master evaded the Mind Sword not because he used Cloud Transformation to his body, but because he dispersed his smoke-transformed body, preventing contact with the sword.

Without the spell master’s innate senses and reaction speed, it would be a gamble that would leave him split from head to toe right there, yet, befitting a Grand Spell Master, he performed such feats as naturally as breathing.

“A filthy mongrel like you will never touch me, not in this lifetime.”

The Yeonri Spell Master declared in an emotionless tone.

“I will butcher you here and now.”

“Oh, how did you know I absolutely hate that word?”

Lariata, adjusting her grip on the greatsword, smiled brightly.

“This is why playing with humans is so good.”

Before she could finish, crimson radiance and masses of smoke raged between the slopes.

CRASHHHH!!!!!

The cliffs surrounding the canyon shook incessantly, roaring as if about to collapse at any moment.

The highest-ranking Apostle of the cult and the Order Alliance’s Grand Spell Master clashed at the entrance of the Demonic Realm, causing indiscriminate chaos.

“Martinez. This is our chance.”

Aileen, who had been watching the situation, abruptly stood up.

“While they’re preoccupied with each other, let’s go deeper into the Demonic Realm—”

“No.”

Lennok, putting down the travelogue, cut her off and replied.

“Both of them are looking for us. They’re constantly redirecting their consciousness even while fighting like that.”

“What?”

“Both the Seventh Apostle and the Grand Spell Master are scattering wide-area spellcraft as if by agreement, trying to blanket the entire battlefield.”

Lennok raised his gaze.

“They’re widely scattering mana and Will-thought in all directions, trying to find us. Even the slightest movement will cause them to sense an anomaly and react immediately.”

“That’s…”

The Seventh Apostle, who uses Blood Magic to scatter blood droplets, and the Yeonri Spell Master, who manipulates clouds and mist to interfere with the Demonic Realm’s atmospheric flow.

Both Transcendent beings were casually suppressing properties and space, probing for stimuli and reactions, constantly searching for them.

The very fact that they could allocate a part of their consciousness elsewhere while fighting at full power was proof that they were truly beings who had transcended their hierarchy.

“If we just stay hidden, we’ll eventually be discovered. If we can’t even escape the battlefield immediately by moving stealthily…”

Lennok had clasped both hands together and was looking up at the sky.

“Then we have no choice but to make the first move.”

“…What?”

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE—!!!

Suddenly, Aileen felt the sky darken and sharply raised her gaze.

Beyond the thick floral mist, something like a colossal shadow obscured the faintly visible sky.

A manifestation like a total solar eclipse, where something like a dragon’s head, or a massive ship, devoured the sky like a gigantic beast.

Aileen, sensing the source of the phenomenon, turned her head with a frozen expression.

“…Martinez.”

“The situation is different from last time. There’s no reason to avoid it, no reason to hide.”

A strange situation where both high and low evaluations of Cheonbeon coexisted due to the parade.

But having regained control of his runaway power and restored his output, Lennok had already firmly decided his stance.

Now, having put aside all other matters to thoroughly prepare for the Demonic Realm.

There was no longer any need to conserve his reserves, nor to hold back in preparation for unforeseen circumstances.

All that was needed was to extract the full output of Lennok’s power and demonstrate it to those who knew Cheonbeon.

[12-Stage Security Authentication Complete: Strategic Weapon No. 6 under the Imperial Household of Ars Nova Empire]

[Outer Beast Giant Ship, Immortal Body, Sun Ship Megiddo]

[Exploration, Landing, Assault Battleship form activated]

KABOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!

The new form of the Outer Beast Giant Ship, devouring the sun and starting its engines, descended upon reality.

A colossal ship, covered in red flames and scattering them, rose into the sky, burning the heavens.

At the immense presence that instantly dominated the field and imbued it with fire-heat attributes, all superhumans clashing on the ground immediately recognized the anomaly.

At the moment the Seventh Apostle and the Grand Spell Master simultaneously turned their gazes and looked up at the sky with eerie expressions.

[Demonic Realm Exploration Vessel: Route establishment complete]

“If the Order Alliance or the cult gets in the way, there’s no need to take a detour.”

Lennok said casually.

“Here, I’ll step on both of them and move on.”

Flames erupted from Megiddo, raining down like a bombardment upon Lariata and the Yeonri Spell Master.

CRASHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!