Chapter 133 : Chapter 133
Chapter 133
“Wow! Wow!”
“Good human! Amazing!”
The number of fairies grew, and eventually, over ten were sharing a single antidote, nibbling at it eagerly.
“Amazing! Human Elisha is amazing!”
“This makes me feel so good!”
“Incredible!”
When Martin gave them heaps of antidotes, she’d wondered why, but now it made sense.
They were this helpful.
“Fairy friends, have you seen any other humans like me?”
“Humans? There are more humans around! Want us to find them?”
“Uh, really?! Is that possible?!”
The fairies flew, following the lingering traces in the forest.
Soon, her detection stone vibrated, revealing a fierce battle in the distance.
The heat was palpable even from here.
“Cadet Luri!”
From a large tree branch, Elisha drew her bow and took a long-range shot.
With a thud, the arrow shot like a red meteor, sweeping through a horde of beasts.
“Wow! Finally found you! Cadet Elisha!”
Above Luri, a massive phoenix flapped its wings, protecting her.
The relentless flames spread in all directions, burning away both poison and demonic energy—a spectacular sight.
“You’re safe!”
This wasn’t the Luri she’d known before.
“Cadet Luri, too… That’s the Fire Spirit King, right?”
“Yes!”
The Fire Spirit King turned to look at Elisha.
“Uh, um… You’re a legendary being, so I don’t know what to say…”
[It’s fine. To me, all humans are the same.]
She felt a slight pang of skepticism.
‘I was raised as the greatest talent in the Harmadun Ducal Family…’
Martin, Luri, Adela, Gilbert, and others… they all seemed stronger than her.
From the Peacemaker of the Cosmos Empire to the legendary Hierophant and now the Fire Spirit King.
‘I need to strive harder.’
***
The fairies’ help was beyond expectation.
“Found him! Bord!”
“Oh! Elisha!”
With the fairies’ detection, the scattered allies gathered.
The protagonist party, Luri, Adela, Empress Anette, and even Prince Kazaks’ faction!
It was a feat achieved three days after being scattered across Fog Island.
“Phew, I’m alive! I thought I’d die from the beast hordes!”
Bord wiped his sweat, pulling out an antidote and swallowing it as if it were candy.
“I thought if I kept defeating them, it’d end, but they kept coming endlessly!”
“That’s because of the demon. It’s said there’s a demon at the far end of the western coast. All the demonic energy and poison filling the island come from it!”
Elisha, rolling an antidote on her tongue, shared the information she’d heard from the fairy.
“A demon, huh. No wonder. I sensed thick demonic energy at the western coast! I suspected it, but it’s really a demon!”
Bord, having landed near the western coast with Prince Kazaks’ faction, had barely survived a chaotic ordeal.
He shared details about the poison-spewing plants and corrupted beasts he’d seen.
Gilbert nodded.
“Killing the demon seems to be the core objective of the Time Chaos Dungeon.”
The estimated era was 100,000 years ago.
As an ancient history, records were incomplete.
In other words, they didn’t know how the original history unfolded.
Moreover, as the name “Time Chaos” suggested, this place, while in the past, was altered in many ways, so events rarely followed historical patterns.
Thus, dungeon participants had to create the best, most ideal outcome based on their judgment.
The outcome varied by values, but the Time Chaos Dungeon was conquered accordingly.
“Let’s kill the demon. Return this island to the fairy race.”
At Gilbert’s declaration, the protagonist party nodded.
“But where’s Martin?”
Luri brought up the missing person.
“The guy who suggested coming here isn’t even here. Judging by the pile of antidotes he gave us, he knew something… Should we just proceed? Maybe set up a Dive Bridge?”
A Dive Bridge could call for reinforcements in the worst-case scenario.
“That’s a good idea, but it’d be tough.”
Mary objected.
“Dive Bridges are sensitive devices. In a place filled with poison and demonic energy, they’d break down quickly…”
“There’s the fairy race’s hideout. Wouldn’t it work there?”
“But… if the hideout is designed to evade even the fairies’ detection, it might interfere with observation devices and bridges.”
“Oh.”
Luri had no choice but to concede.
Martin’s absence until the end was unsettling, but even with plenty of spares, the antidotes would eventually run out.
Adela stepped in to resolve the issue about Martin.
“Martin declared ‘every man for himself,’ so we don’t need to worry about him. He’s sharp and clever, so he probably knows exactly how we’ll act.”
That was true.
No one here was unaware of how capable Martin was.
Nodding in agreement, Prince Kazaks suggested:
“It’s getting late. Night strengthens demons, so let’s camp tonight and head to the western coast to face the demon tomorrow.”
Thus, the third night passed.
***
As dawn broke, the operation began.
Gilbert’s sword slashed vertically and horizontally.
A massive wound tore across the front of a horned demon.
[Urgh, this can’t be…!]
The venomous demon, Brokashar, collapsed, lamenting its fate.
Despite countless beast hordes and poison-spewing carnivorous plants—the entire island acting as the demon’s minions—standing in their way.
A suddenly appeared group, with exceptional skill and united cooperation, overcame the odds and finally brought down Brokashar.
“We… we won…!”
“We did it with our own strength!”
The venomous demon Brokashar was as formidable as the Count-rank Demon from Dr. Keren’s laboratory.
Back then, the protagonist party could only watch as Martin fought.
After numerous failures, they’d trained relentlessly.
“Our efforts… weren’t in vain!”
“I’m so happy…!”
The protagonist party’s growth over the past few months was near miraculous.
Gilbert, too.
And Prince Kazaks, Muller, Shuga, Adela, Luri—all of them.
“Hah… we kidnapped people like them. No wonder we failed.”
Empress Anette could only watch the incredible scene.
She’d struggled just to handle the beasts Brokashar summoned.
[Where did pests like you come from…!]
Brokashar gnashed its teeth.
It had meticulously laid out its plans, only for them to be ruined by this sudden disruption.
To it, they must’ve seemed like a cheat code.
[Just one question!]
“…?”
Brokashar was indignant!
[Why! How! Why aren’t you poisoned?!]
Even in hell, its poison was renowned.
It wasn’t called the venomous demon for nothing.
Even fairies, the race of nature and life, lost their vitality or succumbed to corruption under its toxic influence.
[I at least want to know why! I’m wronged!]
Given enough time, it was confident it could poison even a dragon to death.
So why were these humans unaffected?
“…Yeah, we’re curious too. How did that clever guy figure it out?”
Prince Kazaks silently took an antidote from his backpack and swallowed it.
As if coordinated, everyone took an antidote.
Made with technology from 100,000 years in the future, the antidote combined antitoxins and divinity, neutralizing any poison cleanly.
[How did you know about me, Brokashar, and prepare so many of those drugs?!]
“We didn’t know.”
[You expect me to believe that?!]
The island’s pervasive poison could be countered with a single antidote for quite a while.
Brokashar’s direct venom overwhelmed antidotes quickly, but… the sheer number of antidotes was staggering.
“Ugh, I’m stuffed. I feel bloated.”
“Me too.”
They’d consumed over forty antidotes while fighting Brokashar.
Especially Adela and Mary, with their small frames and appetites, felt particularly bloated.
[It won’t end like this!]
Brokashar leapt up, plunging its hand into its chest to rip out its heart.
Foul blood sprayed as demonic energy surged from the beating heart.
[Great High Nobles! I, the lowly Brokashar, offer my heart! Anyone will do! Come and deal with these pests and take the World Tree!]
With its heart, Brokashar’s body melted into blood, forming a massive magic circle on the ground.
Its soul rose, laughing maniacally.
[Kahahahahahahaha!]
“We have to stop it!”
“We can’t!”
Gilbert’s sword aura and Elisha’s arrows struck the magic circle, but the surrounding demonic energy nullified them.
It was inevitable.
In the original story, despite numerous Platinum Knights alongside Gilbert, they were half-annihilated.
Even with the island steeped in poison, Platinum Knights fighting with all their might could’ve quickly dispatched the demon.
The reason for their failure was this sacrificial ritual, offering itself to summon a high-ranking demon.
[Come! Devour my flesh and soul! Judge these vermin!]
Above the magic circle, the spiritual forms of great demons appeared, sending chills down their spines.
The exhausted party had no means to stop the summoning of great demons.
[…No hope here.]
[I’m giving up on this place.]
[Hmm, this won’t do.]
The dozens of great demon spirits that appeared glanced at the island and left swiftly.
[W-What?! Why?! Great Demons!]
One great demon, about to leave, sighed as Brokashar clung to its leg, explaining:
[The World Tree’s birth is imminent. We can’t even fully descend, and if the World Tree is born, what are we supposed to do? Descending here is a massive loss.]
[What?]
Brokashar was dumbfounded.
[No way! If these humans hadn’t come, I would’ve attacked the fairy hideout directly and burned everything! My poison was corrupting the entire island, cutting off nutrients to the World Tree—how could it revive?!]
[If you’re too dim to sense it, you wouldn’t feel the immense life stirring to awaken.]
In the original story, failing to protect the fairy hideout within two days led to Brokashar invading and burning it all.
Gilbert was supposed to receive the World Tree’s cradle, protected by the Fairy Queen’s life, from the ruins…
But Gilbert’s spreading of Stellar Force disrupted the original story.
Feeling the poison and demonic energy being ‘purified,’ Brokashar had acted cautiously.
[This is… impossible! It’s impossible!]
Ignoring Brokashar’s protests, the great demons all left.
The summoning circle, created at the cost of its life, began to lose power.
[No… way…]
Brokashar turned its head.
From deep beneath the island, something began burning its demonic energy.
The range expanded, eventually encompassing the entire island.
[Lies. Really…?]
Its spiritual form dissipated in an instant.