Chapter 127
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: Avici (3)
"From this point onward, it was like they'd fallen into some hallucination and couldn't find the right path."
I'd heard the Tower of Intellect's guidance and headed straight to the spot near where my reconnaissance clone had sensed something off.
There were no further greetings.
Neither I nor the Tower of Intellect asked for each other's real names.
The Tower of Intellect knew best that we'd carried on our conversations anonymously for so long. And I felt the same.
We both knew there was no reason to strip away that facade.
So even in reality, I planned to keep calling this being of terrifying power the Tower of Intellect.
The Tower of Intellect spent a long while scanning the surroundings at the spot I'd pointed out, as if peering into the space itself.
"Feel anything?"
When I asked, he narrowed his eyes for a moment before replying.
"Doesn't seem like anything particularly strange..."
He took a short breath, then added as if resigned.
"Guess I'll have to trust your word and give it a try."
Suddenly, the Tower of Intellect raised his hand.
His index finger extended straight out, then its shape shifted in an instant.
What had looked like an ordinary human finger flipped inside out, morphing into a grotesque form.
The thickened finger became a beast's claw, covered in tough hide with long, sharp talons.
He lightly tapped the empty air with that massive talon, as if drumming his fingers.
"Oh? It's real."
The Tower of Intellect's face lit up with interest, then quickly turned serious again.
He pondered to himself for a moment before blurting out.
"Should be no problem."
"What do you mean?"
"Means we can head straight into the hidden space like this."
The Tower of Intellect turned to look at me. It was like he was asking if I wanted to go in right now.
But barging in immediately felt too rash.
We still didn't know what the Followers of Evil were planning here, and we hadn't heard anything back from Blazing Glory.
Plus, we already knew that forcing our way into this space would alert Avici to our presence immediately.
We'd gotten some intel from Blazing Glory.
About the side effects that would hit once we reached the entrance.
Charging in blind without knowing the situation was too risky.
At that moment, the manaphone at my waist buzzed.
"Hold on."
"Hold on."
The Tower of Intellect must have sensed it too, right as I did.
He still had his manaphone clipped to his tail, so it made sense.
We both paused what we were doing and checked our manaphones.
It was a message from Blazing Glory.
[Blazing Glory: Are you the ones who just broke in?]
For a split second, we both looked up and locked eyes.
We hadn't intruded yet.
We'd only been thinking about it.
Which meant the intruders Blazing Glory was asking about weren't us—they were the Followers of Evil.
More precisely, Asma.
The Tower of Intellect sent a message.
[Tower of Intellect: We just arrived at the front.]
[Blazing Glory: Then it must be the ones '0' mentioned.]
[Blazing Glory: Got it.]
Blazing Glory fell silent after that.
"Looks like we showed up at just the right time."
The Tower of Intellect grinned as he spoke.
Then he raised his grotesque beast claw again and slashed vertically through the air.
In that instant, the air tore like thin paper, opening a long, dark rift.
The space had split open.
The first time I'd detected the Followers of Evil's movements and shared their plan in the chat, the members quickly pieced together their goal.
To free the prisoners of Avici.
The uncertainty came from doubting they could control them.
Even if freed, would they really follow the Followers of Evil?
But I saw it differently.
They possessed the Essence of Evil.
The moment it was implanted, their mana would corrupt, linking them to the system held by the being they called Lord.
Above all, it would let them control their lives.
No matter how powerful the transcendents trapped in Avici were, even if they were long-lived beings for whom human lifespans felt like fleeting moments, they hadn't reached the exalted ranks.
So the Essence of Evil might work on them.
I couldn't be certain, but the inference was solid.
The fact they were attempting this plan was proof they were confident in controlling them.
We stepped through the rift into the hidden space.
It was too eerie to call an entrance, too sharply severed to call a boundary.
The moment my foot touched down, instinct told me this wasn't the real world's ground.
The space was that bizarre.
No light, yet not dark. No sound, yet ears rang with deafness.
Things were visible, but focus refused to latch onto what they were.
It was like everything from my toes to the air existed in a world shifted one layer aside.
Stepping inside meant you couldn't use your own mana anymore. Blazing Glory had already warned us.
This applied even to humans, with no special privileges.
But the real killer was something else.
You couldn't control natural mana.
For a transcendent, losing control of surrounding natural mana was an enormous handicap.
Natural mana was a transcendent's senses and power. Here, it twisted like entering another dimension, senses tangling completely.
Beyond losing access, confusion set in.
Even so, the Tower of Intellect claimed it didn't faze him. He wasn't bound by such things.
And right here, humanity's edge showed. Only humans could wield natural mana that no one else could touch in this place. I didn't know why, but it created a clear advantage.
Of course, the wardens could use it too.
I felt just how huge that advantage was right away.
Even the Tower of Intellect staggered for a moment when he took his first step inside.
And without a word, he started walking off in the opposite direction from me.
"Where you going?"
"...Ah, it's this way."
...You sure you're okay?
But once he corrected his course, he acted like nothing had happened, perfectly calm.
Had he adapted that quickly?
The Tower of Intellect couldn't be judged by normal standards.
"Even if it was hidden, wouldn't it have been easy to find like this?"
"Wasn't it because you forced the space open?"
"True... Or maybe not? In a place like this, maybe no one could sense it normally."
The Tower of Intellect's point was convincing.
Compared to how long it'd been forgotten, it hadn't been that hard to find.
In any case, we'd finally reached the outskirts of the true entrance.
This wasn't the entrance itself. The place we'd entered felt more like the 'vicinity' of the real one.
A hidden space, yet vast like stepping into another world.
Finding the actual entrance from here would be tough.
Especially under all these restrictions.
But I was the exception.
Apart from not being able to use my circle mana, my body and senses were fine.
Can't use mana at my current level was a big constraint, but with the Tower of Intellect handling the combat side, that eased my worries.
'What about primal mana... wonder if it reacts differently.'
The thought had just flashed through my mind when a massive clash echoed from far away.
No, less an echo and more the sensation a transcendent feels when powerful attacks collide nearby.
'Have the Followers of Evil and Blazing Glory already clashed?'
"We should move now."
"Where?"
"Didn't you feel it?"
"...Feel what?"
Can I trust this?
Of course, what I was sensing now was mostly natural mana's influence, so it differed from what he was confident in.
'Feels like I'm lugging around a combat clone as a guide.'
I couldn't say that out loud, so I'd just play the role of landmark.
How many ages had passed before discovering Avici's entrance?
Asma exhaled the breath he'd been holding after entering the hidden space near the entrance.
Knowing the entrance solved so much. It confirmed the massive prison of Avici had a 'door.' It also meant there was a path to escape.
Some called him a blood-mad lunatic.
True enough. But he wasn't just a monster consumed by simple madness.
The longer the wait, the sweeter the achievement. He knew that with every fiber of his being.
A mere blood-crazed fool couldn't have devised such a long-term plan.
Avici had multiple layers, each with its own rules.
Among them, the first layer—also called the Layer of Silence.
The prisoners there did nothing. They couldn't.
They had to endure thousands of years in silence. Bodies intact, yet immobile; minds ground down in utter stillness.
That alone was exquisite torment. Endless years of impotence, with lifespans stretching eternally.
They'd sink into profound lethargy.
But what if they learned escape was possible?
They'd come rushing out first and foremost.
Millennia of lethargy was just a learned shackle. Once broken, the pent-up despair and longing would explode.
Asma knew this better than anyone.
The moment they entered here, the warden would come charging out.
But there was only one warden guarding this place.
Asma already knew the true overseer of this domain no longer existed.
Once the warden was dealt with, the plan would kick off immediately.
No, one could say the grand scheme began right now.