Chapter 1294: Demonic Realm (17)

The three people walked through a field of endless black flowers.

A thick mist of Death Energy spread like fog. The Dead Flowers bloomed, opening their petals, drawing sustenance from this sinister aura.

Lennok, guided by Aileen, was traversing the deepest part of the Demonic Realm with Arthur Mason.

Sa-a-a-ak……!!

With every step, bloodshot eyeballs emerged from the moss, and slime-covered teeth smiled from all directions.

Naked corpses hung from trees, their necks broken, swaying in the wind. Human heads, their hair woven like vines, laughed eerily.

The environment in the deepest part of the Demonic Realm was far more bizarre and terrifying than expected.

‘It’s completely different in nature from the entrance to the Demonic Realm.’

With each step, the directions and coordinates of the surrounding area shifted, and his sensory perception distorted and warped in real-time.

A strange sensation, as if the Demonic Realm’s environment constantly changed in response to his gaze or his focused senses.

Was this what Aileen had meant earlier, that the interior of the Demonic Realm was constantly changing?

“Ugh… I still feel like the flower petals I ate earlier are coming back up.”

“……”

“Damn it, my shoulders and back still ache like hell. I feel like I’m gonna die from the pain.”

Arthur, his shotgun tucked into his waistband, grumbled incessantly while massaging his shoulder blades.

“You’re a wizard, but you’re so good at fighting? Did you used to beat people up in your youth?”

“Hardly, compared to someone who just spent his youth killing people in a civil war.”

Lennok replied indifferently, moving his feet.

“It was just the most effective means to combine my abilities. If I had to put it simply, I do it because I can.”

“Oh~ That part definitely sounds like a wizard.”

Arthur said with an expression of admiration.

“That was such an irritating answer, I almost wanted to slap you.”

“……”

“Hmm… But still, looking at it this way, I just don’t get it.”

Arthur, who had been glaring at Lennok, ignoring him without even answering, crossed his arms.

“Why did you lose to Adamant Thunder? No matter how I look at it, you don’t give off that kind of vibe, not like the rumors say.”

“Is that even a question?”

“I participated in the Victory Ceremony and saw Adamant Thunder’s face directly. He was a ridiculously strong Transcendent, but honestly, in terms of sheer Killing Intent, I don’t know if there’s really that big of a difference.”

Arthur tilted his head.

“Is it the difference in magic used? No, it’s not just about attributes or abilities; he’s too good at fighting… He doesn’t seem like a psychopath who could reach that level without experience.”

“I don’t know why you’re suddenly making comparisons.”

Lennok averted his gaze.

“Do you really think it’s possible to accurately assess someone’s strength based on just Killing Intent?”

“Of course. If you’ve rolled around on the battlefield long enough, at some point, you just get a feeling.”

Arthur’s eyes suddenly sharpened.

“I instinctively sense how many people this guy has killed, how many close calls he’s survived. My legs tingle, and my body reacts as if something’s about to burst out.”

[Uweeegh.]

While Arthur covered Davi’s gagging sounds from his arms, he sharply observed Lennok’s back and spoke.

“You’re one of the best killers I’ve seen among wizards. You must have burned all those pesky rebels who dared to oppose you with that damn flame.”

“……”

“Someone so battle-hardened wouldn’t have thrown himself headfirst into a fight he was bound to lose… Wasn’t there some other reason?”

“…From what you’re blabbering, it seems you know nothing about what happened then. Just shut up.”

Only ten minutes had passed since they met and started talking, but Lennok already knew what kind of person Arthur Mason was.

Like a mercenary, his language was crude, he spoke on any topic without hesitation, and he casually made comparisons with others, indifferent to his surroundings.

Conversely, he must be a type of person with excellent natural intuition, who entrusts his life to that sense.

“Besides, if people could be accurately judged by such flimsy criteria, you wouldn’t have been beaten so badly by me.”

“What, you punk?!”

“It seems you haven’t come to your senses yet because you haven’t been beaten enough. If I get the chance next time, I’ll make sure you understand.”

“Hey, that was just a skill test earlier. It’ll be different if we fight again, you bastard! What do you take me for…!”

Ignoring Arthur’s grumbling behind him, Lennok stepped closer to Aileen, who was walking ahead.

“What’s the situation? Have you found a safe route to approach the Mausoleum?”

“It’s closer than I thought, we should arrive soon.”

Aileen, who was clearing away vines ahead, said.

“I think we can reach the Mausoleum entrance Arthur mentioned within half a day.”

“Half a day, huh…”

Since Lennok informed Aileen of the Mausoleum entrance’s location, based on what Arthur knew, she had been leading the Demonic Realm exploration.

She hadn’t even been given precise coordinates, just a rough description of the surrounding scenery Arthur remembered, yet she quickly understood and set a course.

He had wondered why she was so highly regarded as a Ranger to be entrusted with guiding them despite meeting her for the first time, but it seemed there was a good reason.

“Can you accurately perceive the flow of time within the Demonic Realm?”

“There’s no distinction between day and night in the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, but the plants within the Demonic Realm operate on a fixed cycle.”

Aileen replied.

“The Dead Flowers that grow in the deepest part of the Demonic Realm consume death, bloom, and then wither after ten nights. The most dangerous growth periods are the 4th and 9th nights, when their appetite is strongest, and they absolutely must not be approached then.”

“……”

“Looking at the Dead Flower buds around, it’s probably near the 7th night today… We have about a day, but it’s an ambiguous time to be completely relaxed.”

Chwaak!

She unhesitatingly used her gunblade to cut through the Dead Flower leaves and vines.

With a few hand gestures, she carved a path through the dense vines and gestured.

“This way. The deeper you go into the Demonic Realm, the safer it is to pass through areas where Dead Flowers are in full bloom. Other flora and fauna consumed by the Demonic Realm have much more irregular habits and patterns.”

“……”

“That’s why, inside the Demonic Realm, the survival rate is much higher if you eat the Dead Flowers than if you don’t. Demonic Realm creatures attack living things to consume death, but they don’t bother organisms that have already consumed Dead Flowers.”

“You’ve suddenly become strangely talkative. Is it just my imagination?”

“Excuse me, I was supposed to explain these things one by one as we explored the Demonic Realm, you know?”

Aileen narrowed her eyes at Lennok’s question.

“Because you suddenly brought out the Outer Beast Giant Ship, Immortal Body, Sun Ship Megiddo and broke through to the deepest part of the Demonic Realm, I’ve skipped all of that and am only giving you essential warnings. Listen carefully.”

“……”

“There are many Prohibition Edicts to observe, and they are intricately intertwined with this environment, so I can’t explain them separately. For example, there’s a specific time when you shouldn’t make eye contact with these eyeball vines, and you only need to be careful when the blind giants wandering around here use the vine eyeballs as their sight to explore the surroundings…”

As he followed Aileen, listening to her explanations, the surrounding scenery rapidly changed.

She cut through bizarre vines that sprouted eyeballs or blood vessels and slashed at branches that writhed like insects.

Sometimes, Aileen’s movements, tearing off Dead Flower leaves or stems to make a path, showed how familiar she was with this Demonic Realm.

They were moving according to Arthur Mason’s suggestion, yet Aileen was leading the navigation of the deepest part of the Demonic Realm – a strange situation.

It wasn’t a bad thing, especially since the fragmented records of the Demonic Realm Travelogue weren’t immediately helpful.

Of course, if it hadn’t been for the exploration route obtained through the Demonic Realm Travelogue, they wouldn’t have reached this far so easily in the first place.

“This is why it’s good to have one of those The Agency guys around.”

Arthur seemed to share Lennok’s sentiment, grinning as he flicked his shotgun.

“When they’re together, they’re the most annoying bastards, but not many have gone as deep into the Central Front as them. You really can’t underestimate experience.”

“The Agency isn’t a suspicious organization that takes on any job for money like mercenaries, you know.”

Aileen replied, sending a cold gaze from behind her sunglasses.

“That’s why you were already at the Mausoleum entrance, isn’t it? No matter how powerful Jumper’s ability is, do you really think I’d simply believe you could reach the deepest part of the Demonic Realm?”

“……”

“Regardless of Jumper being the continent’s best spatial transfer ability user, if you broke through and reached the interior of the Demonic Realm, then more causality is needed. For example.”

Aileen looked at the sneering Arthur and spoke coldly.

“That the ability of the client who hired you is related to that.”

“…Client?”

So, the entity who commissioned the retrieval of Maia Lonsdale’s remains was the one who let Arthur Mason into the Demonic Realm?

Arthur shrugged, neither denying nor affirming, and Aileen turned away as if she hadn’t expected anything.

“I know. There must be an ironclad Prohibition against revealing client details. The Agency has similar regulations.”

“Even if Conquest Operation organizations have different approaches, it seems there are common protocols.”

“There’s also a lot of knowledge in the Demonic Realm deeply intertwined with the Outer Sea, so there are many cases where just understanding it can corrupt your mind. The Agency limits and manages the scope of its members’ knowledge to prevent such incidents.”

“Is the Demonic Realm’s corruption and destruction related to the power of the Outer Sea?”

“Well, rather than that…”

Aileen’s expression, as she glanced away, had turned inexpressibly cold.

“It’s closer to proof that Ars Nova delved that deeply into the power of the Outer Sea.”

“……”

Silence fell for a moment.

Lennok, too, was now dimly understanding that the glory of the central city was built in a much uglier way than was publicly known.

“Wait.”

Arthur interrupted Aileen from behind.

Holding two shotguns at his waist, he said.

“Silence your presence. Something’s coming.”

Roooooar!!!!!

At that moment, the Demonic Realm’s sky vibrated violently, and a huge shadow began to approach from beyond.

The shape of a massive airship, flying over the field of Dead Flowers, approaching them.

The airship, shaped like an inverted cross, was shrouded in a hazy veil, hovering outside the Dead Flower field.

It seemed to be flying in the nearby airspace, exploring the surroundings, unable to enter the deepest part of the Demonic Realm.

“That’s a Missionary Ship given to a Cult Cardinal.”

Aileen, lying prone among vines where corpses rolled like pumpkins, frowned.

“A Missionary Ship imbued with a blessing has one of the best resistance capabilities among all faction’s ships. I wonder if they brought it to endure the Demonic Realm…”

“One is coming from the opposite side too. See it?”

Charrrgh!

A gigantic sphere, enveloped in dozens of layers of three-dimensional magic circles, floated from the opposite side of the Missionary Ship, sweeping the ground.

The airships of the Guido Cult and the Order Alliance were simultaneously sweeping the outside of the Dead Flower garden, flying on different trajectories.

Lennok lowered his gaze.

“They’ve modified the Spell-armament used by the Iron Spirit Spell Master into an airship. Is the Order Alliance using it in place of the deceased Spell Master?”

Just as the Guido Cult and Order Alliance war machines, as if by prior arrangement, swept the skies outside the deepest part of the Demonic Realm.

They quietly changed direction, expanding their line of sight without staying in one place for long.

As if constantly searching for something while observing the ground from the sky.

“The Guido Cult and Order Alliance have finished their preparations and started moving. They’re looking for you.”

Arthur drew a finger across his throat.

“We should get into the Mausoleum before they become a nuisance. Everyone agrees, right?”

“We’re almost at the location you mentioned anyway.”

Aileen turned her gaze with a cold expression.

Beyond the swaying Dead Flower petals, the faint scenery of a huge Mausoleum was visible.

A gigantic Dead Flower lay fallen, as if blocking the path to the Mausoleum.

That place must be the entrance to the Mausoleum itself, and the last location where traces of Maia Lonsdale were found.

“So, that’s the entrance to the Mausoleum?”

“There was a detail about Dead Flowers that the Ranger explained, which I haven’t told you yet.”

While Lennok tilted his head, looking at the Dead Flower petals, Arthur stood up.

Walking towards a fresh Dead Flower growing next to the fallen one blocking the path, Arthur said.

“A Dead Flower that has consumed death and bloomed, condenses and expels unused life force. Most of it dissipates into the atmosphere and becomes part of the Demonic Realm, but very occasionally, it works differently.”

“……”

“If there’s a corpse with preserved bio-information inside a Dead Flower bud, it injects the condensed life force into that corpse. And a corpse injected with life force like that…”

Crackle…!!!

As Arthur approached, the black flower, its bud closed, slowly opened, revealing its inner flesh.

Something soaked in sticky fluid slipped out from between the blackened petals.

Thud!

A horse, its neck broken backward, its insides half-eaten, a horrifying sight.

But its eyes held the clear light of life, snorting roughly and staring at them with bloodshot pupils.

On its half-eaten belly, various plant stems and vines intertwined, stitching the wounds closed, and flowers bloomed from its eyeballs.

While Lennok was speechless, Arthur said indifferently.

“It’s revived as a creature subservient to this Demonic Realm.”

“……”

“Reviving the dead through the power of Dead Flowers and making them bloom like fruit. It’s a unique characteristic of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, originating from the Imperial Palace National Cemetery, and one of the most grotesque ways to prolong life.”

“…It seems we need a more specific explanation about how to enter the Mausoleum.”

Lennok averted his gaze.

“Why, in the first place, do you need both a human who hasn’t eaten Dead Flowers and a human who has, to enter the Mausoleum?”

“Well, it’s not a difficult explanation.”

Arthur shrugged.

“That Mausoleum, befitting its location in the deepest part of the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors, is a realm that only ‘dead’ people can enter. But conversely, to operate the Mausoleum’s facilities, you need a fresh human who hasn’t absorbed Death Energy.”

“……”

“I suspect Maia Lonsdale entered the Mausoleum while chasing Ethan Bajour’s traces. In the process, she seems to have discovered a way to enter the Mausoleum after various trials and errors.”

Arthur, slowly clenching and unclenching his fist, said.

“I was able to discover this fact while searching for Enforcers thanks to my Miniature Universe ability. My Miniature Universe is an ability that, if certain conditions are met, allows me to perform two actions simultaneously.”

“Wait, what?”

“I can perform two actions simultaneously. No, are you a wizard and you can’t even understand that?”

Arthur frowned and tilted his head.

“Simply put, it means I can play both rock and paper at the same time. Do I really need to give you an example to make you understand…?”

“No. It’s not that. Your Miniature Universe… possessed such a powerful ability?”

Naturally, as soon as Lennok heard Arthur’s explanation, he understood what kind of ability he was talking about.

Lennok’s question wasn’t because he didn’t understand the explanation, but because he immediately intuited how absurdly powerful that ability was.

It instantly made sense why Arthur had imposed so many strict limitations on himself to use his ability.

“…It’s not what a wizard like you might imagine. My Miniature Universe is very finicky and difficult to use.”

Facing Lennok’s intense gaze, Arthur stood up with a reluctant expression.

He also seemed to have no intention of explaining his ability in detail to Lennok or Aileen.

“Anyway, the important thing is that I was able to figure out how Maia Lonsdale entered the Mausoleum through my ability. You understand, right?”

“……”

“Since I ate Dead Flowers and you didn’t, the conditions are met. Now we just need to test it.”

They stood before The Veil, which swayed amidst a field of withered and fully bloomed flowers.

Lennok and Arthur stood side by side before The Veil, exchanged glances, and slowly raised their hands.

With Aileen looking on anxiously, as they extended their hands, a thin opening began to form in The Veil around Lennok and Arthur.

Through that opening, the vast scenery of the Mausoleum was revealed. A structure where a wide outer fortress surrounded the entire estate, centered around a huge temple.

Arthur and Lennok almost simultaneously crossed the passage and stepped into the Mausoleum estate.

Whoosh!

“……”

The outer fortress of the Mausoleum was built with piled black rock, scattering coal-black pollen.

Even the wind blowing from beyond was acrid and murky, as if mixed with harmful dust.

Within the vast estate inside the fortress, countless tombstones stood, blackened and stretching as far as the eye could see.

At the edge of that estate, the shape of a colossal temple, wrapped in an ominous glow, slowly shimmered.

That must be the main building of the Mausoleum itself, where the Grand General’s corpse rested.

“It’s moving.”

Arthur coughed and spat out the words.

“As I said, once I find Maia Lonsdale, I’m leaving immediately. I don’t want to stay in this hellhole for a single moment… What are you doing?”

“……”

Lennok did not answer.

He merely gazed at the end of the corridor, which ran along the fortress plunged in darkness, with an expressionless face.

Arthur, instinctively following his gaze, froze in place as if turned to stone.

“…Ah, damn it.”

Arthur mumbled with a disgusted expression.

“I really didn’t expect this.”

Whoosh…!

At the end of the corridor, where black pollen drifted, stood the figure of a woman holding two short swords.

Maia Lonsdale, with black flowers blooming profusely on her face, stood staring at the two of them.