Chapter 132
Chapter 132
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 132
Chapter Title: Fallen Demon (2)
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The next morning, the group set out again just as dawn was breaking. By the time the sun had reached its zenith, they arrived at their destination.
Yuren, who was leading the way, spoke up.
“This is it.”
“Hm?”
Everyone’s expressions turned strange.
Before their eyes lay a swamp made of mud. It was too blatant to be a natural formation. It felt like someone had deliberately gathered corpses there over many years and let them rot, as a thick, poisonous miasma bubbled up from it.
Azel asked,
“Is it inside this swamp?”
“According to the guide, yes.”
“Hm. So how do we open the door?”
“The door’s in there.”
“…You’re not saying we have to dive into this swamp, are you?”
“That’s what it said.”
“…….”
“Don’t worry. There’s a way. The swamp doesn’t seem that deep, so if I put up a barrier and dive in first…”
“Never mind. I’ll do it.”
Azel sighed and stepped forward. Yuren asked,
“What’s your plan?”
—Dragon Demon Armament manifestation, Cup of Lament.
Instead of answering, Azel summoned the Cup of Lament. A flash of light struck down, and a transparent staff, like it was made of glass, appeared in his hand. Waves of dragon demon energy poured out from Azel as he gripped it.
“Path of Tears.”
Wooooo……
Distortions like water droplets appeared in the surrounding space. They gathered in front of Azel and formed a large air bubble. It stretched out straight ahead, extending into the swamp.
“Alright. About ten meters deep?”
Moments later, the group could see a clear path from the surface straight to the swamp’s bottom. The air bubble-like distortion had carved a tunnel through the swamp.
Azel walked into it and said,
“Everyone, follow me.”
“…What is this?”
Laura asked in astonishment. Even she, the original owner of the Cup of Lament, didn’t know this technique.
Azel replied,
“It’s deploying a spatial distortion field in a controlled shape over a set area. You could even walk through a volcano with boiling magma. The heat wouldn’t touch you.”
In fact, it was something Aunsor had done right in front of Azel during the Dragon Emperor War. Azel had been working to recreate the feats Aunsor had demonstrated with the Cup of Lament from his memories, and the Path of Tears was one such achievement.
Yuren said in disbelief,
“This is totally broken.”
“The Cup of Lament is just that overpowered as a Dragon Demon Armament. Once you can control spatial distortions according to your own imagery, its utility defies common sense.”
They descended along the Path of Tears to the swamp floor, where a stone door clearly carved by human hands awaited. As soon as the group stepped down, the door opened, revealing a dim corridor.
Rumble!
Once everyone was inside, the door closed. Yuren said,
“There are no traps here, so we can just go in.”
“Hm? Why’s it so lax?”
The swamp was certainly a tricky gate, but a high-ranking mage could breach it easily. Yuren replied,
“It probably changes based on who the intruder is. The guide said you wouldn’t have a problem.”
“I didn’t sense any scanning magic…”
“Neither did I. But if the guide says so, then that’s that.”
“…Blind faith isn’t good. Let’s check it out first.”
“I agree with that. Though it does feel like pointless work.”
Yuren grumbled but diligently began inspecting for magic traps. That was when it happened.
[…The guest I’ve been waiting for has arrived.]
A chilling voice echoed from deeper in the corridor. Just hearing it sent a shiver racing up their spines.
At the same time, the corridor lit up. Lights flickered on in the magic lamps embedded along the walls, revealing the desolate corridor abandoned for ages.
Azel muttered,
“An Undying?”
[For now. Seeing you come through that path without any obstacles, you must be the one I’ve been waiting for.]
“There was only one path.”
[If you weren’t the one I awaited, you’d have been greeted by a barrage of grand spells the moment you entered. Only after surviving mortal peril would you hear my voice. This labyrinth is built that way.]
“A labyrinth, huh.”
[No need to worry. Since you came that way, you’ll meet me right away.]
“My trust is dropping fast…”
Rumble…!
As Azel raised his guard, the corridor shook faintly. Everyone flinched and looked around.
Azel quickly grasped the situation.
“This corridor itself is moving.”
[Exactly. It keeps shifting, changing the layout constantly.]
As if to prove it, the straight corridor ahead suddenly cut off, a wall taking its place. No, it was more like the wall had slid past. A wall sped by, then a passage appeared, then another wall, then what looked like gears and machinery… The path ahead kept changing until they reached a single chamber.
Thud…
The vibrations stopped, and a vast, barren room welcomed them. In the center of the empty stone chamber sat an Undying in the lotus position, its hood pulled low. Its flesh had long rotted away, leaving only a skeleton with will-o’-wisps quietly burning in its eye sockets.
The moment he saw it, Azel felt a chill. The faint mana waves emanating from it carried a familiar sense of dread.
‘A demon?’
It felt similar to the mana Yuren had gained by merging with a demon.
Yuren suddenly said,
“You’re sealed.”
[Yes. I can’t leave this cramped space.]
The Undying spoke and reached out into the air. As its hand extended a certain distance…
Crackle!
Sparks erupted violently, repelling it. The finger bones charred black and crumbled, smoke rising from them.
But it was only for a moment. As if time had rewound, the damaged body restored itself. The blackened bone fragments turned white again and reattached to their places.
The Undying shrugged and said,
[Can’t even die.]
A circular magic circle drawn in blackened blood stained the floor. Filled with complex shapes and runes, it formed a powerful barrier that kept the Undying imprisoned within.
[And thanks to the power preserving my sanity, I can’t even go mad. It’s the worst prison—no escape no matter the method. All I can do is shiver in solitude and think. That’s why I’m so glad to see you. By the way, how much time has passed in the outside world?]
“You don’t think it’s pointless to ask something we couldn’t possibly know?”
[Ah, right. Need a reference point. I was trapped here about a hundred years before the war humans call the Dragon Emperor War.]
“With that benchmark, it’s been 223 years since the Dragon Emperor War ended.”
[Such a long time. Hard to believe my new body has rotted away after three hundred years.]
“What do you mean?”
[I had a living human body when I was first trapped here. Unable to leave or get food, it weakened, and I had to watch it die and rot in vivid detail. I wanted to go mad and vanish, but couldn’t. Oh, just thinking about it sends shivers through this rotten corpse. Even this is just mimicking my living reactions, but the terror of that pain is etched into my soul. Truly vile…]
“…….”
The Undying rambled on. The group swallowed hard as they listened.
Even the brief summary painted an unspeakably cruel punishment. What kind of being was this Undying, and who had he wronged to deserve being cast alive into such hell?
[I hope you understand my chattiness. As I said, I’ve been trapped here for over two hundred years, forced to watch myself die and rot. One shouldn’t deal lightly with devils. Though in this case, I’m the devil.]
“What do you mean?”
[Have you heard the name Berserk? It’s been so long, maybe it’s forgotten…]
At those words, the group exchanged glances. But none knew the name. Not even Kairen, who had lived for ages, or Laura from the Dark Snowfields.
Only one was the exception. Azel stared at the Undying in surprise.
“You mean Demon King Berserk?”
[Oh, yes. I thought it’d been erased from history, but apparently not. Young people these days don’t study history much. I had hopes since you’re mages, but it’s the non-mage youth who knows…]
“Normal people wouldn’t know. After the Dragon Emperor War, no one cares about dark figures besides Dragon Demon King Atein. Berserk’s fame is less than some low-rank Dragon Demon Army general now. He’s long past his prime.”
[…I thought this body couldn’t feel hurt anymore, but I was wrong.]
The Undying grumbled. Azel asked,
“Just stating facts. Anyway… you’re Berserk?”
[That’s right. Back in the day…]
“The Demon King who brought a million deaths to the Yudresk Kingdom.”
Yudresk was one of the seven kingdoms now dominating the continent, located in the north bordering the Dark Snowfields. Even during the Nadik Empire era, it had been a kingdom ruled by its royal family with vast lands, a status that persisted unchanged 220 years after the Dragon Emperor War. Its royal bloodline remained intact, making it the most historic and rigidly structured among the seven kingdoms. Slavery lingered in only two of them, Yudresk being one.
“And… the being who deepened humanity’s perception of demons.”
Azel recalled what Kallos had told him.
3
Until the Dragon Emperor War, people lived in ignorance of demons. Even now, knowledge was limited, but before then, it was utter obliviousness.
At the time, Kallos had risked contacting demons to break a desperate situation, gathering every scrap of information to learn more.
Kallos had said,
“Perceptions of demons divide into before and after Demon King Berserk. It’s no exaggeration.”
“Why? I’ve never even heard the name.”
“The world is vast. Just because he terrorized the northern continent’s edge doesn’t mean everyone elsewhere knows him.”
“Everyone knows Atein.”
“And the Four Great Dragon Demon Generals as a bonus. That’s why they’re legends—unrivaled in history.”
Kallos snorted and continued.
“Anyone from Yudresk shudders at the name Berserk. Now, Demon King means Atein first, but in Yudresk, it was Berserk.”
Before Berserk, demons didn’t openly wreak havoc. Their existence was mythical, beyond ordinary grasp—only black mages craving knowledge and power dared contact them.
“Every being titled Demon King in history had substance. Most were tied to black magic.”
Some surely gained immense power from demons. But demons never directly harmed humans to gain infamy. At least not before Berserk.
Berserk was the first exception.
“As far as I know, demons have no names.”
Kallos had met many demons, summoning them for knowledge in a tightrope walk that made him a mage to impress even the Dragon Demon Generals.
“But that demon called itself Berserk and revealed itself. Dark figures emerged across Yudresk, bringing chaos, and it became known that Berserk lurked behind it all…”
So Berserk had played the shadowy mastermind. Heroes slew the chaos-bringers one by one, but Berserk’s true form eluded capture.
“Then someone figured it out. Berserk was a bodiless demon.”
The process was long and convoluted. The saga from Berserk’s rise to fall was a grand epic to Yudresk folk, grander than any hero tale. Kallos skipped details, as it would never end.
“They finally caught and ‘executed’ Berserk. That removed the chaos’s core, but peace didn’t come—another decade of turmoil and rivers of blood followed.”
“Pretty dry summary.”
“Want the full story?”
“Of course not. Too old for wide-eyed ancient tales.”
“Then listen quietly. The issue is how they ‘executed’ Berserk.”
“Hm?”
“Demons have no substance. Killing them is impossible.”
“But black mages merge with demons, right?”
“They rampage for seconds at most before exploding. Killing the mage doesn’t erase the demon.”
Some black mages, heedless of consequences, summoned and merged with their trade partners. They gained astonishing power, but at the cost of destruction in seconds to tens of seconds.
The two present didn’t know it yet, but Yuren was a stunning exception—he’d successfully controlled a demon merge.
Kallos said,
“It just loses the address.”
“Address?”
“Demons are countless and nameless. Summoning by ritual alone calls a different one each time. You must find one with the knowledge you need…”
Demons held unknowable origins of knowledge, but not omniscience—each possessed different lore.
“Once you find a suitable demon partner, you need a way to summon it again. You make a pact: the demon learns to find the mage, the mage learns to specify the demon. Black mages treasure those ‘demon directories.’”
The trial-and-error of contacting demons until finding the right one was hugely risky. Thus, another’s directory was coveted.
“Killing a merged black mage severs the demon’s priority path to this world—and the mage’s way to specify it. Contact vanishes. That’s it. Demons lack substance, so they don’t perish.”
“Then, for Berserk, who had ties to many, they must’ve eliminated everyone with a way to summon him specifically?”
“Probably. But it’s fishy. Berserk was such an anomaly, and that epic with countless heroes and dark figures taught the masses what demons are and why they’re dangerous.”
“Why’s that odd?”
“Mages’ knowledge isn’t shared popularly like that. The truths revealed through Berserk’s tale were secrets black mages hoarded before. Now it’s ‘oh, that’s how it is,’ but exclusive knowledge follows those rules.”
Above all, that tale informed incomparable numbers about demons. Meaning…
“The number craving power and knowledge, seeking demons, grew accordingly.”
In that sense, Berserk was the true Demon King. By revealing demons, he lured more to ruin’s temptation…