Beneath the Golden City

...It eats well.

Thud. Thud.

In the deep underground of a city dyed in gold.

The man walking through the depths let the golden emblem of the city — pinned to his chest like a symbol of authority — flutter behind him as he descended even further. An ordinary person would take it for nothing more than a vast open space, but to anyone who wielded even a measure of power, this chamber was so saturated with extreme authority that it would drive them into a panic.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't even beneath the city at all.

Clang!

This place was, for all purposes, a separate dimension — spatially severed from the world above.

"Ah."

As the massive iron gate swung open, a woman in a pure-white magical research coat bowed her head, a long board cradled in her arms.

"You've arrived, my lord."

Reyna Paul Er, Director of the Imperium Empire's 1st Magic Research Station. She had once served as assistant researcher to Karia Machelpid, the Grand Duke of Extreme Magic and one of the Eight Swords of the Empire, and now she bore the weight of overseeing every magical research project in the Empire.

Even with the appearance of the man who stood as the living symbol of the Imperium — the Duke of Yellow Embers — Reyna offered only a light bow before turning her eyes back to her research. By the standards of an imperial subject, it was a rather insolent act, but it was one long tolerated in the name of faster results.

"Is the research proceeding well?"

"Recognition analysis of the individual designated vácŭum is still underway. Space continues to warp in real time even while it sleeps, so we have made stabilization our top priority."

"A tricky ability, certainly. And the spatial fission?"

"We have blocked fission using the sacred power you granted us, but the warping itself remains beyond our suppression."

Reyna glanced briefly away from the something that filled the laboratory to its walls. The interior resembled the old Duke of Extreme Magic's lab, but what it held was different.

Thud! Thud!

Once, it had been filled with fragments of Sephid, the Dark Spirit, and a host of spirits. But this time—

Krooooar...

Skreeeeech!!!

Urrgh...

—it held half-demons, forged from fragments of demons far darker still.

The half-demons pounded furiously against their glass tubes, spewing thick demonic energy, but what ran across the surface of those tubes was the Duke of Yellow Embers' golden divinity. The moment they touched it, their bodies began to melt; unable to endure it, they eventually ceased their pounding.

The Duke of Yellow Embers, Loberian, fixed his gaze on the tubes and reached out to touch one.

A black-glowing magic beast bearing the horns of an ox and the face of a wolf. The creature glared back at him, and the sheer volume of demonic energy coiled inside it was anything but ordinary.

'If I placed just one of these in the capital, without the knight orders half my subjects would die.'

Each and every one of them was a monster on par with an imperial knight. And tubes housing such beings numbered in the thousands.

Leading an army like this would make conquering the continent a feasible ambition — but that was never what he desired. What the Duke of Yellow Embers wanted was not a world reduced to ruin, but the throne of a whole and intact world. A world trampled underfoot by monsters held no appeal for him whatsoever.

Above all, these beasts had not been created as a fighting force.

"What are the purification response results on the test subjects?"

"There is little change from the Dark Spirit specimens used by former Director Karia Machelpid. That said, we have found a method of spatial suppression effective on magic beast individuals of stage 7 or below, so we intend to inject it into the main body soon."

"And its influence on the body?"

"Biological response is under five percent. The variance from injection volume is not large, but we are administering it in small doses to prevent any chance of awakening."

The Duke of Yellow Embers passed Reyna by and advanced toward the far end of the laboratory. It was a place steeped in power so immense that even he — a wielder of the strength of a mid-rank Celestial — felt its weight.

"The demon."

One more step, and he would enter the domain where a demon capable of reshaping space at will lay asleep.

He had discovered this place long ago, built the laboratory nearby, and poured an age of research into it — yet even now he could not enter the demon's sphere of awareness. To be precise, he had no reason to.

'As long as it doesn't move, there is no reason to rashly provoke it.'

There was no cause for him to suffer losses on purpose. It would be enough to map out the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠demon and the space it comprised as thoroughly as possible, and when that day came, to bind it down with minimal damage — all for the eternal development and glory of the Empire.

"...Ideally, it would have some use as a sword as well."

"We will prepare it to your specifications by that day."

"I expect nothing less."

"Yes, my lord."

Leaving the bowing Reyna behind in the laboratory, the Duke of Yellow Embers returned directly to the imperial palace.

Left alone, Reyna quietly moved her long board and fed demonic energy into the test tubes.

Skree! Skree!!!

"...It eats well."

Three weeks had passed since I cleared the Tier 4 Sea Dungeon.

I'd spent the whole time roaming far and wide in search of more Sea Dungeons, but the vast majority had already been cleared or failed, leaving them off-limits. In the end, all I managed to clear were seven Tier 1s, five Tier 2s, and a single Tier 3.

The Tier 4 I'd visited first had been the highest-difficulty dungeon of them all, and aside from the Tier 3s — which completely seal away your power — none of my clear times exceeded an hour.

Whoosh! I recalled the hammer and skimmed through the rewards and the chat window, the motions long since routine.

The level, still refusing to budge, and rewards that were somewhat underwhelming as ever.

"They really don't go up, do they."

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was level 109, and with only a month left, I had decided to save my Tteokbokki and focus on grinding levels instead. That was why I kept cycling through the Sea Dungeons despite the Kraken situation... but the tiers were so low that the levels just wouldn't come.

The experience requirement from 109 to 110 was enormous, granted, but I never expected it to be this slow...

"...If it still hasn't moved in three days, I'll just eat it."

It pained me to think of spending it, but using it after everything went to ruin would be meaningless anyway. Of the avatars identified so far, there were close to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two hundred, and around seventy of them were confirmed to spawn. And most of those, I suspected, were Tier 3 or 4.

Stronger avatars meant harder clears, so I needed to get a little stronger first.

"Alright then~ I'll call it here for today?"

The chat window descended into chaos.

Smiling sweetly at the camera with practiced ease, I shook my head.

"In exchange, I'll start early tomorrow. And tomorrow I'm thinking I'll focus more on ranked matches than dungeons?"

I'd already made the rounds of the dungeons, and finding any higher-tier ones was getting difficult. Now that I'd secured the Veil of Blockade, I could run ranked matches two or three times a day without much trouble.

With two or three more runs of the rankings, I'd be able to break into the top ten.

Tuk.

"......."

Screeech...! The dungeon entrance ground open, and I returned to DeoEn.

On my way back to Elbritte, I slowly masked my presence and fastened the Veil of Blockade around my neck. The necklace pulsed with a faint glow, quietly severing every trace of my information as a user.

From this moment on, no one in DeoEn would know I'd logged in.

─Behind you.

And then, a green wind stirred at my back.

Riding the breeze came a small sparrow with green plumage, chirping away as it settled onto my shoulder. The master of that wind, mother of the wind spirits — and the Wind Spirit King.

"Naphras."

She drew close to me.

"It's been a while."

─Word travels, doesn't it?

"I heard it from Leo."

A week ago.

Leo, who had been carrying on with her training at the Academy as usual, had come looking for me out of the blue right after I cleared a Sea Dungeon. Visits from her were nothing new, but this time she'd brought something a little more important than usual.

'The Spirit Deity Duke is looking for you.'

I'd been swamped with the Sea Dungeons at the time, and since the Spirit Deity Duke was one of the Empire's Grand Dukes, I'd assumed he had business with the Duke of Yellow Embers — he simply wasn't a priority. But now I had the time, and she'd insisted I meet him before the week was out. Now was exactly the moment.

"How have you been?"

─Me? Nothing worth mentioning. Nord was the problem.

Nord, the Earth Spirit King, had been warped into Sephid, the Dark Spirit King, by the Grand Duke of Extreme Magic's experiments. It was I who stopped him as he rampaged, lost to madness, and in the end the Duke of Yellow Embers had appeared and torn his body half apart — but as far as I knew, he had since recovered.

So much demonic energy had clung to his soul over such a long time that it couldn't be stripped away entirely, but not to the point of threatening his life.

─His recovery is nearly complete, but the trauma and violent reactions persist… and with a demon lying in the heart of it, I doubt he will be of much help in a full-scale battle.

"Well, I wouldn't ask anyone to fight an impossible battle. It's hardly my jurisdiction anyway."

Nord, who was both Earth Spirit King and Dark Spirit King, had sided with the Spirit Deity Duke alongside Naphras. Siding was perhaps too strong a word — they simply kept company, and that was convenience enough.

"In any case, this is no place for a conversation. Let's move."

─Understood.

When the green sparrow on my shoulder let out a sharp cry, the wind wrapped around me and I was carried away in an instant.

The destination was the domain of the Spirit Deity Duke, Arne Parthia, whom I had seen once before.

In the green-tinged blue garden stood a woman and an adorable young child, and around them both swarmed countless spirits. As I approached, the child — Leo — waved her hand at me in big, enthusiastic circles.

Her race change had progressed far enough now that she could pass for a nymph without a second glance.

'And she…'

"Welcome, friend of Leo."

One of the Grand Dukes who had split the Empire in two, and the only being standing on equal footing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with the Duke of Yellow Embers.

Arne Parthia, the Spirit Deity Duke, set down her teacup and smiled.