Chapter 205
My body was flung helplessly.
I was passing through a tunnel of light.
The speed felt even faster than the speed of light. My body twisted and spun, flying relentlessly without rest. I'd shoot straight ahead and then suddenly veer off. Sometimes I'd whip downward too.
When moving from continent to continent, it was instantaneous. But now it was taking quite a while. Was hell itself a single planet? Or was I moving through the rift between planes?
I was being tossed left and right, rising up and down, when a tiny hole of light appeared in the far distance. It was quite far, but reaching it took only a moment.
Shooook.
At the moment I heard the faint sound—
My body was falling.
I quickly looked down.
Thankfully, it wasn't all that high.
Thud— Kuku-thud-thud—
All the team members tumbled down the hill but swiftly got back up. The place where we'd emerged was the peak of a pitch-black rocky mountain. The devil's door was beneath a bizarre structure.
I then looked down the mountain.
Everyone just stared, speechless.
It was a strange place.
The ground was black, and countless sharp pillars spiked up everywhere. It looked like stalagmites growing upward. The land matched the saying, "the Tao forms mountains, and swords form forests."
The sky was pitch dark, and the air was extremely murky. Maybe because of that, there were no stars or moon in sight. I couldn't even tell if this was a planet or some other plane.
A black storm raged, and sharp rock fragments mixed in the storm made it unbearably bothersome. The entire ground was made of rock like black quartz.
"Nabak!"
I waited a moment.
If Nabak was alive, there'd be communication here.
Even after waiting a while, there was no response.
"The power of darkness isn't that strong here!"
"This might not be the demons' world! Everyone, look for traces of Nabak!"
We descended the mountain cautiously.
There was no need to remember this mountain's location. It was the largest mountain in this vast land.
"Young master!"
"Yes?"
"There are traces of battle here!"
I looked where one team member was pointing.
A huge crystal rock showed sword marks. The ground was a mess of footprints.
"Follow the footprints!"
The footprints were pressed into shattered small crystals. Even with the rough storm, they didn't get erased easily. After walking a bit further, everyone stopped in their tracks.
There were bloodstains.
Traces of someone collapsed and bleeding.
It seemed Nabak had fallen here.
"One set of footprints has disappeared!"
"Keep moving!"
One set of footprints vanished.
It meant the demon who had kidnapped Roman had also taken the fallen Nabak. At least, Nabak wasn't dead.
We kept going after coming down the mountain.
The driving storm was truly agonizing.
The gravity seemed quite high, too.
We just kept walking, following the tracks.
I'd never experienced such a harsh environment. Not even the blizzards at the north pole were this bad.
"No wonder demons want to invade!"
"Even for demons, it's hard to live here! If this is hell, it sure fits the name!"
This really was hell itself.
We walked endlessly across hell's land.
Nowhere could I see even a trace of an artificial structure.
/ / /
We were taking a short break under a huge rock.
Because of the strong gravity, even my waist hurt. Nabak was still out of contact.
The only consolation was that the power of darkness was weak, so I didn't feel I'd be tainted by it. It was clear this wasn't hell or a place where demons lived.
Demons can't open doors directly to Rac's place from their world. If they could come straight, we'd be invaded constantly.
Maybe this place was a kind of way station. It felt like some barrier set up by god had to be breached through this waypoint. There would be a separate gate to hell.
We'd walked for roughly four hours.
The footprints disappeared not far from there.
"I guess hell never has daylight!"
"Feels like time moves differently here!"
"What do you mean, differently?"
"The day and night here are much longer!"
A faint red glow appeared in the east.
But I had noticed that slender daybreak already an hour ago. If the sun were going to rise, it already would have by now.
If this was a planet, it must have a very long rotation cycle. Maybe each day here lasted around a hundred hours. If the day itself was just as long, when the sun rose, it'd get unbelievably hot.
"Young master! Please look over there!"
I looked where Hans was pointing.
A strange creature was staring at us. It was like a fox made of black crystal.
When we looked at it, it bolted away. Everyone got up and gave chase. Soon we stopped and looked down—there was a deep canyon below.
"Everyone, let's go down!"
Since the wind was weaker here, everyone hurried down. Unlike the upper area, the canyon was covered in finely ground crystals, creating sandy hills.
"There's a cave!"
I'd spotted it while coming down.
The fox had gone into that cave.
Everyone rushed into the cave.
Inside the crystal cave were countless of those fox creatures clustered together. They stared at us with wide eyes. They didn't seem particularly vicious.
"This is devil's land but all I see are cute animals. They look like little foxes."
"Are they really animals though?"
"Their behavior says so, at least."
As we walked forward, the foxes scattered in all directions. They were terrified of us. To them, demons and humans probably looked equally frightening.
Luckily, we were on the right path.
There were footprints on the cave floor.
We all ran along after them.
The tunnel led to another door of light on the other side.
My prediction had been right. This place was a waypoint.
After arriving at the door of light, I tossed in a stone. Since nothing came out, Hans entered first. The rest followed without hesitation.
Once again, there was a tunnel of light.
This time, it was much shorter than before.
Plop—
As soon as we emerged, we tumbled out.
I quickly looked around.
This time, it was a desert.
Everywhere above ground was nothing but sand. The door of light was in a tower-like structure half-buried in sand.
It was daytime, but I couldn't see the sun.
So maybe this wasn't a planet, after all.
We scanned the desert. Not far away, there was another tower similar to the one we'd just left. We ran straight for it. We'd only been running for a bit when—
"Something's coming!"
Something was approaching rapidly from beneath the desert. Sand flew everywhere.
It was a massive, snake-like creature.
"Spread out!"
The group split up just in time.
Sand burst violently upwards.
Kwaaaa—
Something like an enormous serpent shot out, head rearing up. It was a bizarre monster. Its head was just a big mouth crammed with fanged teeth.
Its mouth lunged straight for us. Donnie and I unleashed our horizontal Sword Lines, and the monster's huge jaws were sliced clean off—shunk!
Thump-thump-thump-thud—
The monster's enormous body crashed down atop a sand dune. Only after it sagged did everyone sigh in relief. It was just a monster with bare flesh.
"The darkness is weak here too."
"This place is another waypoint."
We kept running.
We couldn't afford to waste time at a waypoint. There was no telling how many other giant monsters lurked below.
There was another door of light in the tower we reached.
After checking the door of light,
We entered immediately.
This tunnel of light was even shorter.
It felt like we were getting closer and closer to hell.
This time, everything was blood red.
Both sky and earth were bright crimson. The sky was like a red sunset, yet the sun was still nowhere to be found.
The team had no concept of planets, so they didn't find it that strange, but to me, it was an odd and bizarre world. If this wasn't a planet, what was this land?
Was this a dimension different from the universe?
Or perhaps a manufactured space?
There was oxygen and wind, and gravity was relatively weak. Even Nature's magic power was considerable here. The power of darkness here was stronger than where we'd been.
"Do you see the door of light?"
"Not yet! But if this is also a waypoint, it should be nearby!"
"Spread out and search!"
The team members fanned out.
Hans tried comms.
"Nabak. If you can hear me..."
― Elder brother.
Everyone jolted in surprise.
It was Nabak's voice.
I asked right away.
"Where are you right now?"
- I fell into a deep rift. Be careful. That thing can transform at will.
Everyone quickly scanned our surroundings.
Just then—
Bang—a sound rang out and Hans was flung away. He looked as if he'd been struck by a giant hammer! Something unseen was racing toward me.
Donnie and I thrust our sabers at the same time. The transparent being vanished on the spot. Then, one of the team took a hit to the side and went flying.
"Everyone fall back!"
I immediately activated the Eye of Spirit.
The sensations delivered by the spirit flooded in.
I sensed a faint human shape.
Pretending not to notice, I fumbled about.
The team retreated fast.
The thing was approaching slowly behind me.
Its footprints made light marks in the red earth. I acted as if I hadn't seen and looked away. It wasn't invisible—it was just using an invisibility magic.
I looked in the direction opposite to where it stood.
At that moment, it pounced from behind.
I spun and swung my saber.
Thunk—
My saber hit something transparent in its side. Like with vampire Kas, it didn't dig in fully.
Then the thing grabbed my neck.
Its body slowly started to become visible. My saber must have destroyed the magic garment it wore.
Blonde hair, blue eyes.
It wasn't Kas.
"You fools, rushing toward death."
The grip squeezing my neck was immense.
Even Donnie's neck might have been snapped by this.
In that moment, I exploded cold air into my saber.
C-c-c-c-crack—
Frost burst forth from the saber embedded in the thing's side. But the cold air only spread a little before stopping.
Instead, the cold seeped into its necklace. The necklace looked like one I had. That meant this was a demon of legion commander rank or higher!
"How utterly foolish."
It tightened its grip on my neck.
It asked in a squeezing voice,
"Who... are you?"
It stared at me.
"You're the one who meddled with a child you shouldn't have touched."
"Why... did you take Roman?"
"He is my child, reborn."
Roman was the devil's child?
How could that be?
He said "reborn."
If that's true, then this demon...
"You too shall be reborn as a servant of god."
Just as its grip was about to snap my neck—
*Thwack—*
"Gah!"
A sword blade pierced straight through the thing's chest.
It wasn't just one.
Thwack— Thump! Buffer-thunk!—
Arrows lodged in its head, and six daggers instantly stabbed into its back and sides. Moreover, fire ignited where they struck.
Pyrrrr—crackle-crackle-crackle—
The team members poured lightning into it as well.
It looked as if its soul was burning.
The holy power scorched the demon's soul!
The thing was weak against lightning!
"Haaak!"
The demon writhed in agony.
Demonic authority that even my sword, brimming with magic power, couldn't pierce—Eilin's holy power broke through.
I slashed down with the dagger buried in its back. The others drove their blades in deeper, and Donnie and Hans twisted their daggers in as if digging. Holy arrows penetrated its head.
"Uh-haaagh!"
A desperate demon wail rang out.
I'd pretended to be caught on purpose. I needed the demon to drop its guard so we could use a holy dagger. The holy weapon was stronger than I had thought.
"Cut the neck!"
Thunk—
Donnie's blade lodged in the demon's neck. With the demon bound by holy weapons, Donnie sawed at its throat instead of pulling out his sword.
"Ughaaa!"
Light blazed across the demon's body.
Eilin's holy power—imbued with the creative force of primordial strength—had produced a new divine weapon.
Right then, demons suddenly poured up from the distant ground. Blood-red demons! Ones with wings flew straight at us.
"They're throwing spears!"
"Donnie! How much longer?!"
"Almost done!"
Donnie gritted his teeth, continuing to saw at the demon's neck. The demon resisted with all its might. Spears hurled by the red demons rained down on us.
Spears like that can't pierce our suits of armor.
Everyone held their positions and kept the demon bound. Donnie, like a madman, hacked away at the high demon's neck.
"Guhak!"
Finally, the demon coughed up pitch-black blood.
A spear eventually struck us.
Clang-clang-clang-clunk—
The force behind those spears was tremendous. Even so, seeing that we didn't fall, the demons resorted to charging at us themselves.
Kiieeeek—
Hundreds of demons swarmed over us. They bit, clung, dragged, and chaos erupted.
"Raise barriers!"
*Bwoom— Crackle-crackle-crackle—*
I exploded lightning mana. The demons were flung away and scattered all at once. Every demon clinging on was electrocuted and shuddered violently. Some even burned to death.
Demons are weak to lightning.
There's a strong synergy between holy power and lightning.
The team was thrown off as well, but Donnie held firm. He didn't even raise a barrier and kept sawing away at the demon's neck. Suddenly, the demon's strength gave out.
Ssshk—
At last, the demon's head was severed.
Its head rolled away.
It was Kas's father.
One of the first demons—
A True Demon vampire.