Chapter 124
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 124
Chapter Title: The Egg of Decarabia
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“Kh…?”
Pernyan was startled by the powerful gravitational force pulling him down.
‘Damn it...! Of all times, when Aint isn't here...!’
He should have brought Aint with him. While stopping the southern demon was important, his own life was paramount.
“Such immense demonic energy...!”
“What's down there?”
The knights cried out.
A vile demonic energy was emanating from far below.
“Brace yourselves and protect your bodies with aura! Cling to the walls to stop the fall!”
The energy, nearly opposite to mana, disrupted the smooth flow of their auras and slowed the knights' movements.
They struggled to cling to the walls, but it was harder than they expected.
Their fall continued.
‘How many meters?’
The depth was impossible to gauge, and no matter how formidable the White Lion Knights were, a fall from this height would not be without impact.
Pernyan struggled to steady his trembling body and began to chant.
However, the thick demonic energy delayed the manifestation of his magic.
───!
The knights hit the ground. Immediately after.
A nimble shadow snatched Pernyan, who was the last to fall, and rolled across the floor to break the impact. Thanks to this, the shock he received was minimized.
“Are you alright?”
It was Ruina.
“...What are you doing?”
Pernyan, suddenly held in a princess carry, asked awkwardly.
“You are not as physically resilient as we are.”
“I could have protected myself with magic.”
“The demonic energy is so vile it even affects aura. Wouldn't magic be affected even more?”
Besides that, his artifacts were always active.
But it was true that the manifestation of his magic had been delayed, and he had nearly hit the ground, so he had no rebuttal.
“...Just put me down.”
“How is your condition?”
“I am fine. Except for the stinging gazes of the White Lion Knights.”
The White Lion Knights, having recovered from the fall, were staring with curiosity at Pernyan, who was being held like a princess in the arms of their lady.
“Ah... Ahem, please don't misunderstand. This was the best way to minimize the impact....”
“I understand, so just put me down.”
Ruina quickly set Pernyan down. He immediately surveyed his surroundings and soon realized.
“This entire underground area is corrupted by demonic energy.”
The source of the vile demonic energy was the corrupted land itself.
And.
“Insane....”
There were eyes, glowing in the darkness.
Countless demonic beasts. The demonic energy they held mingled with that emanating from the corrupted land.
‘Just how many are there?’
The bloodlust and demonic energy were enough to make one's skin crawl. He couldn't even begin to guess how many demonic beasts filled this vast cavern.
Even for the White Lion Knights, could they really win?
The doubt arose.
‘They're concentrated on the right.’
They had landed in the center of the vast cavern, and while demonic beasts were on all sides, they were particularly clustered in one area.
And from that direction, an even viler demonic energy could be felt.
‘Is there something there?’
It could have been his imagination, but the demonic beasts' formation seemed as if they were protecting it.
Just then, the White Lions revealed their bloodlust.
“To think these demonic beast bastards would take root so deeply in Bercefe territory....”
“They don't know their place.”
The captain raised his sword, and the other knights followed suit.
It didn't matter to them how many demonic beasts there were, or how vile the demonic energy was.
An enemy of Bercefe stood before them, so they would annihilate them all. That was all.
That was the honor and loyalty borne by a knight of Bercefe.
They were the kind who would willingly lay down their lives for Bercefe.
“Lord Pernyan, you are also a member of this patrol. We ask for your magical support.”
“The situation is too disadvantageous. Wouldn't it be better to flee?”
“If we leave them, they will head for Bercefe. How can a knight of Bercefe flee with the enemy right before their eyes?”
“But still....”
Pernyan, about to try persuading them again, froze as he saw the corpses of horses mixed with the debris.
Flee? How?
Even if this wasn't quite a demonic realm, they had ridden for nearly a full day to get here.
But could they escape that distance from the demonic beasts safely, without horses?
Even for such outstanding knights, it was impossible.
Running while cloaked in aura might make them faster than horses for a short time, but they lacked the stamina, and the speed of the demonic beasts was an unknown.
“...I understand.”
And immediately after.
Kiiiaaaak! Kraaaah!
The demonic beasts, which had strangely restrained their instincts and not attacked immediately, could no longer hold back and unleashed their bloodlust.
“All units! Form up!”
“Yes, sir!”
The knights formed a circular formation around Pernyan, and he, too, took out his staff.
“We will break through to one side and fight with our backs to the wall.”
They were in the center of the massive underground cavern, surrounded on all four sides by demonic beasts.
For their small number, the situation could not have been more disadvantageous.
Kugugugu-
Pernyan raised a massive wall, blocking all sides except for their path.
Thud, thud. The demonic beasts crashed into it, causing cracks, but it bought them a moment of time.
And in that instant, the knights began to run.
───!
In a single second.
Dozens of Seids were torn apart by the pure white aura.
Kwajik-
The heads of five Skolds fell.
A Grade 6 spider-like demonic beast, a Rupardin, collapsed as all its legs were severed. A sword blade fell upon its head as it crashed to the ground.
At the same time, the barriers Pernyan had erected crumbled.
Grade 8 flying insect demonic beasts, Krikters, swarmed Pernyan from behind.
But they failed to achieve their goal.
Kwajik-
A blue aura flared in the darkness, wiping them out with a single strike.
“Be careful!”
Ruina guarded Pernyan's back. Five charging Tradens that followed met the same fate as the Krikters.
With every step they took, another demonic beast's corpse was made.
A path of black blood was drawn, and a mountain of corpses piled up. But the White Lions were also tiring quickly.
“It's definitely harder than usual...!”
“I didn't realize land corrupted by demonic energy would be this bad...!”
The land, filled with demonic energy, did more than just hinder the supply of mana.
It obstructs the flow of mana and eats away at the vitality of living beings that are not of the demonic realm.
The consumption of mana, aura, and stamina was greater than usual, and they tired easily.
‘I must be extremely careful of corrupted land from now on...!’
It was only because they were the White Lion Knights that they could display such overwhelming force even in this situation; ordinary soldiers would have long since become a meal for the demonic beasts.
And so, they finally reached one of the cavern walls.
They pushed Pernyan to the innermost position and formed a solid, rock-like formation, each knight supporting the other.
Immediately after, Pernyan raised another wall of rock. Reinforced with mana, it was thicker and harder than before.
“It will hold for ten seconds at most. Everyone, open these and drink them immediately.”
Pernyan opened his subspace.
Reaching into the subspace, he pulled out potions. And more potions.
A pair of potions was placed in every knight's hands.
The knights' jaws dropped. Not just because of the sheer number of potions, but because they were all of the highest grade.
“It's too early to be surprised. There's more.”
“...More? Just how many potions did you bring?”
“Enough for all of you to drink until you burst.”
“...My goodness.”
“Is this the Fallenberg way?”
One of the knights pointed to a potion that was a different color from the highest-grade ones.
“What's this one?”
“That's something our family is developing experimentally. For now, we're calling it a mana potion.”
“Does it restore mana?”
“Yes. It was made by my family's alchemists and contains a small amount of elixir.”
“Insane...!”
He had brought them just in case, but in this land corrupted by demonic energy where mana recovery was slow or nearly impossible, it became a divine move.
All the knights downed the highest-grade potions and mana potions Pernyan had given them in one gulp.
“...The Golden Turtle's products are certainly high quality.”
“In exchange for the potions, if we get out of here, let's do a newspaper interview. And you'll have to repeat what happened here and what you just said.”
“It's not a lie, so it won't be difficult.”
Their depleted stamina and mana were partially restored, and they quickly drew the mana into their aura halls to replenish their auras.
At the same time, the wall collapsed. But what awaited the beasts were knights with restored stamina and aura.
“Kill them all!”
“Yes, sir!”
They flared their auras and killed the demonic beasts.
They killed.
And killed again.
“Anyone low on stamina and aura, fall back and drink a potion!”
They drank potions.
And drank again.
They lost count of how many they killed. When the corpses piled up into an obstacle, the demonic beasts would eat their own kind to get over them.
Naturally, the knights reached their limit first.
Fighting without a moment's rest in a place full of demonic energy, barely holding on with potions, it was inevitable that fatigue would overwhelm them.
Potions weren't a cure-all, after all.
“I'll have to thank Professor Rosalia.”
Pernyan placed special cigarettes in the mouths of the knights whose eyes were losing focus and lit them.
“Th-this is?”
“Take a deep drag and exhale. It should clear your head a bit.”
It was Professor Rosalia's favorite cigarette; it contained no harmful substances, but it did have a stimulant.
Fwooh-
With each puff of smoke exhaled, life returned to the knights' eyes.
Given the environment, the effect of one only lasted about ten minutes, but fortunately, he had plenty of cigarettes.
After returning from the Continental Academic Conference with Rosalia, he had stocked up on several, just in case.
“There's chocolate, too. Eat one while you fight.”
He carried the chocolate because of Ruina.
The knights drank potions, chewed chocolate, and held cigarettes in their mouths. In that state, they swung their swords.
“...This feels incredibly strange.”
Ruina said, wiping the blood from her face.
“Of course. This is hardly normal behavior.”
Pernyan replied, raising sand to push back the flying demonic beasts.
The potions healed wounds and replenished mana and stamina, but they didn't create something from nothing, nor were they perfect.
Fatigue was bound to accumulate, and the cigarettes only made them forget it for a moment; it didn't disappear.
Nevertheless, Pernyan thought it was fine.
Because the end was finally in sight.
“I don't see any more demonic beasts! Those are the last of them!”
“He says that's the last of them!”
“The last of them! You damn bastards!”
“Kill them all!”
The knights had long since shed their initial composed demeanor.
The accumulated fatigue from their drained stamina and aura, coupled with their frayed minds, made them even more agitated.
The calmest among them were the captain of the White Lion Knights and Ruina.
“I would have gone mad without the chocolate. This corrupted land... it's so unpleasant.”
Shink-
A Rupardin's head was severed, and it collapsed.
That was the end.
No more noise could be heard within the cavern. Not a single presence could be felt.
All the demonic beasts were dead.
“W-we won...!”
“Victory!”
Even with Pernyan's support, it was something they could never have accomplished if the White Lion Knights weren't of such a high caliber.
‘This is Bercefe.’
The family that has guarded the Empire's northern frontier for over a thousand years.
‘These are the White Lions.’
Their First Knight Order.
Even though there were no demonic beasts above Grade 6, and even with Pernyan's support, thirty knights had wiped out nearly a thousand of them.
And on corrupted land, no less.
‘I want it.’
The knight order, no. Bercefe itself.
“...We're heading deeper into the cavern immediately.”
While a faint glint of greed flickered in Pernyan's eyes, the captain chose to secure the area completely rather than take an immediate rest.
It was because one could not rest properly on corrupted land.
They advanced deeper into the cavern, treading on the slick corpses.
It was a dark place where not a single ray of light entered, but the problem was solved when Pernyan took out a magic lantern he had acquired from the First Emperor's dungeon.
And then they found it.
“This is....”
Something massive, located in a corner of the cavern.
“...An egg?”
“It's an egg, but what...?”
It had an elongated, circular shape, was nearly three meters in size, and its surface was covered in grotesque blood vessels.
A faint purple light seeped out from between the vessels.
The vile demonic energy originated from there. As they got closer, the suffocating miasma twisted everyone's faces in pain.
“What in the world is this?”
“I don't know what it is, but I know we can't leave it be. We must destroy it immediately.”
- Thump, thump, thump!
Just then, Wooden started acting up again.
‘Break, break, break, danger, danger?’
And in that moment.
A splitting headache struck Pernyan.
The world went dark.
Just like when he first saw Andromalius descend, this was different from his usual prophecies.
When the world brightened again, it was still the cavern. The difference was that the demonic beasts were still alive.
And it wasn't just demonic beasts; monsters were present as well.
[Gueeeek!
Monsters, bound in a Rupardin's silk, were dragged in screaming.
The demonic beasts placed the living monsters next to the egg.
Then, tentacles extended from the egg and pierced straight through the monsters. It didn't stop there, reaching for the demonic beasts beyond them as well.]
Immediately after.
[Crrrack-
The monsters and demonic beasts were instantly drained of life and withered away.
The egg pulsed, sweeping through its surroundings as if on a rampage, until not a single living demonic beast remained.]
And.
Crrrack-
The egg cracked, and it emerged.
[“So I have finally descended completely. That fool Kimaris, at least he fulfills his duty.”
The being burst into laughter. Though it was a simple laugh, the power contained within it made the cavern shake as if in an earthquake.]
A bizarre creature in the shape of a pentagram.
He had never seen such a monster before, but Pernyan, who had been consistently researching demons, instantly realized what it was.
‘Decarabia!’
The 69th-ranked demon.
The prophecy ended there. It had been incredibly short, but intensely powerful.
“...We have to destroy this. Absolutely.”
Pernyan muttered, breaking out in a cold sweat.