Chapter 200: Clue (1)
“Presumably the Great Demon’s landing…”
Clack, clack, clack.
The materialization device in the basement of the White Tower, Alma, stopped working.
Temulen, the White Tower Lord who came out of the control room, received the report and his eyes flickered.
The Great Demon, Belphegor.
An existence that once plunged the world into terror.
The possessor of such formidable power that he could spread a vast perfect barrier over Basel had reappeared.
“The undead army was neutralized, most likely by the Great Demon…?”
It was a series of shocking news.
For a while, the undead army had been a headache for the Alliance.
The Great Demon, who had suddenly reappeared, had annihilated the undead army?
It was a completely incomprehensible turn of events.
Why on earth?
Why would the Great Demon wipe out all of the allied forces?
“Surely not?!”
Temulen’s eyes widened as he thought that far.
I heard that the undead army was originally intended to be used as a sacrifice for the Necromancer Luna’s transcendent body.
The plan was thwarted, the transcendent body was neutralized, and the worst-case scenario was averted until now.
In that case, there is only one reason why the Great Demon would have annihilated the undead army with his own hands.
Its original purpose, to be used as a sacrifice.
Then what is the sacrifice for?
Temulen finally arrived at such a question.
And he felt goosebumps all over his body.
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“My expectations are not even worth a dime…”
I don’t know at all.
I don’t know what the Great Demon has been up to for three years without showing his face even once.
I don’t know why he came back after three years.
I don’t have any idea what he has been preparing for during that long time, or why he has made such a splendid comeback.
That’s why I’m even more scared.
From the beginning, the Great Demon was an incomprehensible being that defied all predictions.
Now, he is showing even more incomprehensible movements.
I don’t know his principles of action or his ultimate destination.
At this point, I feel like I’m being dragged around like a human slave.
“That’s too much…”
Temulen scratched his almost bald head and turned the report over.
The next page was a document from the Alliance.
Temulen tilted his head in wonder.
The White Tower had always flatly refused the Alliance’s requests for cooperation.
Since then, there had been no further contact, so what was going on?
“What the hell?!”
The content was none other than a ‘warning’.
It was a warning that showed the trajectory of the magical anomaly and that it was heading towards the White Tower.
Among them, the speed of movement was noticeable.
Wasn’t it moving north at almost 100 kilometers per day?
The Alliance said that they had dispatched troops to respond, but they could not keep up with the speed, so they were giving this advance warning…
“Evacuation recommended…”
“Evacuate? What?”
“I’m old enough to die, so why should I be scared to evacuate?”
“That’s true. Then should I go out?”
At that moment, Alma’s machinery opened.
From the inside, a figure took off his helmet and began to walk out of the darkness.
Temulen looked at him with distaste and clicked his tongue.
“Hmmm…”
“Why are you pretending to be worried? You know my skills.”
“I know. I’m more worried because I know. I’m afraid you’ll smash the building…”
“…”
I wasn’t worried.
There was no way this guy would lose in a head-on confrontation.
No matter how great a demon he was, I couldn’t imagine a future where this guy would lose.
Rather, if he were to be targeted by the Great Demon, he would lure the guy’s attacks during the battle and cause additional damage to the surroundings.
Perhaps he would suffer even greater damage than if he simply took the Great Demon’s attacks.
Temulen suddenly had such a worry.
“I got it! I’ll just take it easy and keep my attacks to a minimum!”
“This tower will soon be yours. Please handle it with care…”
“Why is this mine? You’re talking nonsense again. Did you take your medicine and eat on time?”
“You bastard! Are you calling me senile again!”
“You keep saying nonsense. There are people who have been working hard and learning under the Tower Lord for decades, so why would I, a rolling stone, inherit the tower?”
“Does dedication and effort feed you? Whether you’re a rolling stone or not, if you’re good, that’s all that matters. If you don’t want to run it, you can sell it or destroy it as you please. No matter what anyone says, I’ll pass it on to you.”
“…”
Temulen turned his back and looked at Alma.The determination was made, and there was no turning back.
It was a stone that had rolled in, but there was no one more suitable than this guy.
‘Alma is the first person to handle it so well since that bastard.’
The machine that was originally designed to materialize memories was ‘Alma’.
After that unfortunate man left, Temulen had to forcibly open his eyes to the new purpose of ‘Alma’.
Since then, it has been modified over and over again.
However, the moment of despair came when it was impossible to approach the human soul as close as it was at that time.
This guy showed up.
It was as if he had fallen from the sky.
‘No, it wasn’t a man who operated Alma at that time, but ‘something’ hidden inside the man’s clothes.’
Is there a separate talent for observing and handling the human soul?
Temulen also thought that he was a pioneer in such a field.
However, after meeting that man, and after this guy showed up, he realized that he was completely at the beginner level.
Temulen is now just beginning to realize and glimpse the existence of ‘the world within’.
It seemed impossible to go beyond that.
No. Maybe if I met that man again and investigated it in more detail, I might be able to move forward.
And the clue to the regression as well······.
‘It’s already over.’
That won’t happen.
Because that man is dead.
There is nothing more stupid than regretting not being able to catch a dead person.
As Temulen thought so and shook his head, the sound of Alma walking behind him was heard.
“What! I’ll try to be gentle!”
“······.”
Leaving an unwelcoming answer.
The guy blinked at lightning speed, as if he had disappeared.
.
.
.
‘I think my stamina has increased a lot.’
It’s ironic.
I suffered a lot of damage to my body because I met the underworld god.
Even the guardian knight was turned off, and my stats dropped significantly, but my body is strangely not tired.
It seems that my basic stats have increased a lot.
In that case, how strong will I become when the guardian knight is turned on?
Of course, it’s still a vain fantasy or a story of the future.
“······Are you still far away?”
“Why are you whining like this? Are you hungry?”
“······Yeah. I might be hungry. How did you know?”
How did I know?
When you’re hungry, you get really annoyed.
I gave Mijeong, who was on my back, a wound on her neck and urged her to walk.
So where are we going without resting like this?
It’s the White Magic Tower.
Temulen, the sinister old man’s tower.
‘He was one of the people who awakened the vision of seeing souls.’
I didn’t know when I met him.
‘The world within me’ is also closely related to the soul.
Not everyone can enter ‘the world within me’ just because they see the soul.
However, it is certain that at least if you practice that training, the probability of entering ‘the world within me’ or awakening the ability to handle it will increase.
I felt it while practicing it myself.
Temulen, who has been practicing until he became an old man with white hair and baldness, wouldn’t he be at a higher level than me?
I came to that thought and immediately embarked on a journey to meet him.
If you are the owner of the White Magic Tower, you may know how to create ‘the world within me’.
No. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know.
If you can just give me a clue, that’s enough.
In the first place, there are so few people who have opened their eyes to ‘the world within me’ in the present world, so even a small exchange of opinions would be of great help.
“······!”
Then.
Suddenly, my steps stopped at the strange sensation.
“······Why?”
“Something’s weird.”
“······Sorry. A little, hard. You bit me.”
“No, not that.”
It doesn’t matter if Mijeong bites hard or weak.
If it’s strong, it feels good in a way.
Anyway, that’s not the problem, and the atmosphere around here suddenly changed drastically.
Is it because of the rapid progress in the ability to handle magic while visiting the devil world?
The ability itself was almost destroyed because it erased my existence.
However, the experience still remains in me and gives me a sensitive feeling.
“Someone’s playing a trick.”
I checked the ground and was convinced.
I don’t know if it’s a spell or a boundary around here.
The century is still weak, so it’s hard to figure out its identity.
However, the fact that the century becomes exponentially stronger as you go inside made it impossible to grasp the total amount of magic power that entered this huge formation.
‘What is it? Is it an explosive magic circle that overturns this whole area?’Was this magic circle here from the beginning?
I just haven’t noticed it because my cultivation level was too low?
That’s possible, but I think it’s unlikely.
It was created relatively recently.
I sensed it and immediately got into a battle stance.
The moment I opened the scabbard and gripped the sword in my hand.
Before the Belphegor inside could say anything, suddenly.
Everything went dark.
“A great demon······? No, it doesn’t seem like one. Who are you? You’re not human, judging by the amount of magic you’re emitting.”
“Who are you?”
A voice echoed from the darkness that enveloped me.
But I couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from.
I answered the reckless voice and tried my best to grasp the difficult situation.
‘It’s not the darkness or emptiness of the underworld.’
This isn’t fundamental darkness.
It’s just an illusion spell that’s blocking my vision.
My vision is blocked, but the flow of magic and mana, as well as my sense of touch and hearing, are still intact.
An ordinary human would have been unable to fight at this point.
But for someone like me, who relies more on my senses than my vision, this isn’t a major hindrance.
“······Over there.”
“I noticed it too.”
“W, what?!”
At that moment, Mijin raised her hand and pointed in a direction.
Almost simultaneously, I also figured out where the owner of the voice was.
The center of this huge magic circle.
She was standing there.
Once I figured that out, there was no need to hesitate.
Mijin and I immediately started walking and charging straight ahead.
“Y, you’re calmer than you look!”
“I’m used to this kind of illusion magic.”
“But what do we do? This isn’t illusion magic!”
“······?”
At that moment.
The dark landscape around us changed.
This place was definitely a green meadow, but in an instant, it turned into a steep cliff.
“Huh?”
And the next moment.
The place that looked like a cliff suddenly turned into a sea with waves.
I blinked again and the seawater was gone, replaced by a high sky.
Is this just an illusion?
No.
My five senses, my instincts, tell me it’s not.
I’ve had a similar experience.
When I entered ‘Alma’, it assimilated all my senses and showed me memories of the past.
But this is completely different from that.
This is reality.
Reality, not an illusion.
All my senses are screaming it.
So how is this possible?
The answer is simple.
A world that is separate from the real world.
It’s clear that it’s ‘her inner world’.
“Ahahahahaha! Can’t you believe it? Don’t just act recklessly and fall off a cliff or something! It’s not an illusion, so you’ll really die!”
“How did you do this?”
“Huh? Are you curious? Are you dying of curiosity? But no! I won’t tell you until you tell me who you are and why you’re here. We have plenty of time anyway, so why don’t we talk again after you’ve faced death a hundred times or so?”
“This is your inner world, isn’t it? I’m asking how you’re able to change your inner world so freely.”
“Wh······?!”
The voice laughed leisurely and moved away, then came closer again.
Her confusion was obvious.
But I was just as confused.
I’ve learned how to manipulate ‘my inner world’, but I’m still a novice.
I can expand it infinitely or condense it and destroy it, but I can’t freely change the interior.
But how is this person able to change the landscape of the world so freely?
“It was just me and Temulen! But that can’t be right! It’s strange to think that only two people have set foot in this realm in this vast world! You were one of us!”
“W, what? I don’t know what you’re talking about······.”
“Tell me! How do you manipulate this world? I’ll pay you handsomely! I’m broke right now, but once I regain my existence, I’ll be as rich and powerful as any tycoon!”
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about! This person is crazy! I don’t know!”
“Where are you going!”
The voice suddenly turned angry and tried to leave.
I stepped on the blue sky and tried to follow the voice.
And at that moment.
“······?”
The empty space where I had stepped became solid.
I looked down and saw that my feet were now on a cold, icy ground.
I looked up again and the blue sky had instantly turned into a snowy field with a blizzard.
My inner world······.
No. It’s a world that’s infinitely similar to it.Only then did I realize how that bastard had freely transformed the world inside me.
“I see now. This isn’t your inner world.”
“Wh, what?”
This isn’t that bastard’s inner world.
That bastard wasn’t an owner of a realm that far surpassed mine.
He had simply implemented something that endlessly resembled an inner world.
Before I knew it, all control of the world fell into my hands.
The true nature of this place began to reveal itself.
Was it inside a magic circle implemented with magic?
If it’s magic, there’s nothing to fear.
I immediately grabbed my magic sword, no, Belphegor’s sword, in my hand.
“I don’t need a fake.”
“······!”
Clang!
Belphegor’s blade cut through the air, and I felt resistance.
As if a crack had formed in the dimension, a sword mark remained in the empty space.
The crack gradually spread, dyeing the surroundings.
It had already become an unstoppable wave of destruction that spread endlessly throughout this world.
The shallow world made of magic shattered in an instant, breaking into a thousand pieces.
“Whew······.”
The magic circle stopped activating.
As if everything that had happened until now had been a lie, a peaceful field spread out around me.
And in front of me, a girl was standing tall.
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She seemed to have lost strength in her legs and was kneeling, and I faced her.
“Who are you?”
“Haa······.”
A large hat.
And a thick iron chain and lock on the hat.
In addition, a blue flame that floated around like a will-o’-the-wisp······.
What the hell is this?