Chapter 34
Crash!
Lightning struck from a clear sky.
The lightning split into dozens of branches and shook the earth, and some of it was sucked deep into the ground and then soared back up into the sky.
The two men of magnificent build, who were watching this strange scene, exchanged glances with anxious eyes.
One was a middle-aged man wearing a red, glossy robe with unknown patterns of characters engraved on it, and the other was a muscular man with a bluish chain wrapped around his body.
"No matter how many times I see it, this is a ridiculous place... To think that lightning swallowed by the ground would soar back up into the sky."
"Don't get distracted by other things. Just make sure you do the final preparations well."
Although they were powerful sorcerers, so powerful that it would be a shame to be second in the world, their expressions showed no confidence.
If the two of them joined forces, they could exert a power that could turn the world upside down, but this was a place where the laws of nature were completely ignored.
It was a strange place where water flowed from bottom to top, a gentle breeze created a small vortex, and the ground burned.
The studies they had practiced for decades, no, hundreds of years, were almost useless here.
"The flow of magic is so unstable that I can only control it for a moment. Are you confident?"
"Hmph!"
Thump! Thump!
The giant man with the blue chain wrapped around his body scattered the huge chain wrapped around his body in all directions.
With a sound that shook the axis of the earth, the chain was buried deep in the rocks and the ground.
The strange man, who had firmly fixed his body, took a deep breath and then shouted with all his might.
"Ready!"
"It's going to hurt a little."
The middle-aged man in the robe soon began to spew out dozens of incomprehensible words from his mouth.
The sky, which was already making a fuss, began to roar as if it were a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched.
Crash! Crash!
The dust that had been on the ground flew up into the sky, and an electric current began to flow.
Wind gushed out from the towers that seemed to have been installed randomly in the surroundings, and a huge light began to leak out.
"Open!"
"Aaaah!"
Tssss!
The man who had fixed his body with the chain, with a strange cry, began to grab the air with both hands and struggle.
Soon, surprisingly, a white light appeared in the air, and a gap began to open little by little.
The middle-aged man in the robe, looking at the swaying space, his face flushed red, and he shouted in a hopeful voice.
"Success! It's a success!"
Crash!
It was then. A thunderbolt that fell from the sky struck the men directly, and with a white light, everything was blown away in an instant.
* * *
The Non-Duality Gate.
The most strange and mysterious force among the three forces in charge of the balance of the Hermit's Valley.
These people, who called themselves 'wanderers' or 'exiles', were mostly from an unknown western region, not from the Central Plains, unlike the numerous martial artists of the Mountain Peak Sect and the Sea Isle Sect.
Also, most of them were skilled in handling strange sorcery rather than martial arts, and they were shrouded in a veil, having almost no interaction with the Mountain Peak Sect or the Sea Isle Sect.
Although there were occasionally those who tried to interact with them out of curiosity, both the Mountain Peak and the Sea Isle Sect had long forbidden getting close to them, and the reason for that was unknown to anyone other than the Tongtian Cult Master of the Sea Isle Sect or the powerful figures of the Mountain Peak Sect.
The territory of the Non-Duality Gate existed in a deeper place than that of the Sea Isle Sect or the Mountain Peak Sect.
If one entered the 'Beyond Heaven' area, which could be said to be the center of the Hermit's Valley, a forest and a rocky swamp where those who followed Sorin and Circe lived would first spread out, and if one went deeper than that, the gray world ruled by Star-Lord, the Holy King, would spread out.
The Holy King's territory was, in fact, the deepest place that a living creature could approach. In the cloudy sky all year round, the sound of thunder always echoed, and the thick sulfur smoke was poisonous, blocking the approach of the living.
Although there were almost no living things to be seen in the sky and on the earth, the twisted vegetation or small animals that were occasionally found were so ferocious and dangerous that they could take a person's life in one go, unlike their shabby appearance.
The huge old mansion, standing alone in the wind that withered everything, was built in the style of the western regions, not the buildings of the Central Plains, and it was worn and broken in places, boasting a hideous appearance.
"Is it a failure this time too?"
The Holy King, sitting on a throne full of bones, gold decorations, and unknown symbols, looked down at the dozen or so subordinates prostrating before him.
The man in the mask, who was standing at the very front, answered the Holy King's question with a mournful voice.
"Yes. It seems the flow of magic here is too incomplete..."
"What about the Berserker and the Red Sorcerer?"
"Both of them were in danger, but fortunately, they survived."
"Is that so..."
"It seems we will have to go to a place closer to the Beyond Heaven than here."
"Impossible."
As the Holy King answered, cutting him off, the man in the mask also remained silent.
The closer they got to the Beyond Heaven, the more they could use the huge magic they needed, but it was also that much harder to control their power.
Moreover, if they went further in from here, a pressure that even their sturdy bodies could not withstand would pour down.
It had been exactly ten years since they had started preparing after they had arrived here.
No matter how differently their time flowed from that of humans, it was a long wait.
"If only we had the help of that dwarf and the elf..."
The dwarf and the elf referred to Sorin, who was stuck underground, and Circe, who had melted into this cursed forest with her followers.
"They have no intention of escaping this cursed world!"
Hearing the angry voice of the prostrated subordinate, the Holy King expressed his affirmation with silence.
'It seems we are truly sealed alive.'
The world he was supposed to be in was not here.
He was a conqueror, a harbinger of the end, and a destroyer that no one could stand in front of.
The war with the humans that had unfolded when the gate of the world had opened beyond the stars.
He had led a legion of tens of thousands of nightmares and had wreaked havoc like a raging wave, following his master's orders.
Blood had formed rivers, and corpses had piled up to the point of overflowing the city walls.
Each race on the ground had gathered their most outstanding warriors for survival.
And in the end, the final war that shook the heavens and the earth had taken place.
The allied forces had displayed a great sorcery that they had prepared in advance, and the master and the legion that had followed him had been torn to shreds.
When the Holy King, who had been thrown by that huge force, opened his eyes, around him were a dozen or so of his subordinates and dozens of allied soldiers who had fought against him.
"Grind..."
A feeling of anger leaked out from between his hard and sharp fangs.
The Central Plains.
The prison of this world, called the 'Central Plains' in the arrogant language of the natives.
Since it was a world with weak magic, those whose original power was not strong easily got tired.
Even he had considerable restrictions on his power.
The magic of this place, which was unrestrained and swirled, made them even more tired and weak.
The Holy King, who had chosen a temporary truce with the allied forces, who were his enemies, until he could grasp the situation, was soon able to find the natives who were staying here.
The native humans here were different from those of any world he had conquered.
They were primitive people who did not understand magic or the magic that handled it, but they knew a way to abnormally strengthen their physical abilities.
The top beings among them exerted a power comparable to his with a human body.
And that human.
No, the guardian of the barrier, whose identity was not even known if he was human.
As long as that person, whose victory he could not guarantee even in his original world, was blocking the entrance, the only way for them to return to their homeland was with incomplete magic.
But the method that had been invested in for a long time had failed.
Now, the only choices left for them were to be trapped here forever, or to break through this barrier and advance to the outside world to build a new empire.
"Have you found out anything about the identity of the strange magic surrounding the Hermit's Valley?"
"Yes, Lord. The magic here is so chaotic... but something ominous is gradually expanding its power."
The natives, called 'Central Plains people', who were insensitive to magic, might not know, but the people of the Non-Duality Gate had been feeling the strange power that had begun to cover the Hermit's Valley for some time.
And among those who would do such an ominous thing within the Hermit's Valley, he had to suspect that old monster, Old Ancestor Hongjun, more than anyone else.
"Will we all be defeated if we stay like this?"
A while ago, after the necromancer Arp had gone missing, a huge shock had covered the Hermit's Valley.
And the strange magic had begun to rage even more.
The Holy King was terrified by the power of the greedy magic, which seemed to suck in souls.
Circe and Sorin also felt the ominousness, but they refused to cooperate with him.
And without cooperation, he had no power to deal with even one of the Mountain Peak Sect or the Sea Isle Sect, let alone Hongjun.
"Don't worry."
He was a warrior and a being who existed to rule.
And his subordinates and followers also had no intention of staying here forever.
Swoosh.
From behind the Holy King's throne, a girl who did not even reach his sitting height carefully revealed herself.
A young but graceful appearance.
She was a girl with white skin, hair that flowed with five colors of light, blue eyes that seemed to suck in the soul of the beholder, and a strange smile.
"Let me introduce you. My daughter, born here for the first time."
"!"
Those in the arena began to murmur with surprise and astonishment.
For the past ten years, their comrades had only been those who had been swept away by this strange magic and had fallen here from their homeland.
If the Holy King could create their comrades, he would be able to increase his forces without the help of the elves or dwarves.
This was a great achievement that would not be an exaggeration to call the Holy King a demon king.
"Starting with this child, two more children will soon be born. They are new elves born of the essence of darkness, so I will call them 'demon children' and bestow upon them the authority and blessing to rule the world."
"Ooooh!"
The arena was filled with cheers and a thrill.
"Your name is Daji. My daughter."
"I will follow my father's will."
Even her voice was extremely bewitching.
Unlike her young appearance, a powerful magic was surging around her. It was like the unknown power that was raging in the Hermit's Valley.
"The time seems to be ripe."
The man in the mask showed his obedience and knelt before Daji.
Then, dozens of subordinates also knelt before Daji and showed their obedience together.
Although they were all renowned people in their original world, they had once again taken a firm stance of obedience to the new demon king and his child in the new world.
The Holy King curled the corner of his mouth.
Of course, among them, there were those who had come under his command out of necessity, and there were also those who wanted to realize their own dreams in the new world.
But now, no matter what their inner thoughts were, it was a time when they all had to be united under his powerful force.
"They won't be able to keep us locked up forever."
The Holy King gritted his teeth and put strength into his hand.
If only his power were intact, he would have already stained this place with blood and rushed out of the Hermit's Valley.
He and his race, who grew stronger by absorbing magic, could not accept the heterogeneous power of the Hermit's Valley.
But the three sisters who would soon be born were new individuals who were born in the Hermit's Valley and absorbed the magic of the Hermit's Valley.
If given enough time and opportunity, they would surely become a more powerful and reliable weapon than anyone else.
Now, all that was left for them was to leave this place, conquer the human realm, and write a new history.
If they could not return, they would conquer this place and announce the birth of a new legion.
(End of Chapter)