Chapter 116
Chapter 116
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Iron Trial (2)
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“You…….”
Mira opened her mouth. Her voice was as dry as the desert sandstorm.
“How did you get in here? What trick did you use to activate the mechanism? No, even if you activated the mechanism, there shouldn’t have been a way to break the seal.”
Mira’s eyes shifted to Demian’s wrist, where she spotted the Erebos tattoo etched there.
“You bastard……!”
Mira’s eyes widened further. Her gaunt face twisted in rage.
“How do you have that?! Among us, only that woman knew the location of the main body!”
Demian tensed his hand, trying to pull his arm free. But Mira’s grip was stronger than expected.
“I get it now! That woman betrayed us! I knew a day like this would come! We never should have taken her in!”
Mira glared at Demian and shouted.
“You fool! Do you even know what that is?! You mustn’t use it recklessly! You mustn’t let it see the light! It’s something that should remain hidden in darkness forever!”
Demian furrowed his brow. He couldn’t make sense of what Mira was saying.
One thing was clear: Mira held no goodwill toward him.
“Destruction is coming soon! The whole world will be plunged into darkness!”
Mira’s eyes blazed red.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll take it from you! I’ll use its power to avert the destruction!”
Muscular tendrils erupted from Mira’s chest, enveloping the Erebos fragment.
A massive surge of dark magic exploded with Mira at its center.
The shockwave sent Demian flying backward. He quickly regained his posture and landed steadily.
“What the hell is going on?”
Demian stared straight ahead, his face a mask of confusion.
Mira was rising to her feet. Her joints cracked with each movement.
“Hey, I’m a bit lost here, so how about we start with introductions?”
-Hand it over, now!
“Not exactly a good time for chit-chat, huh.”
Demian was about to open his subspace pocket to draw the Thousand-Li Sword.
Black particles began gathering around Mira, soon forming smooth orbs.
Dozens of orbs swirled around her. Wherever they brushed against the stone walls and floor, chunks were gouged away.
It wasn’t dark magic—it was the power of corrosion concentrated into form.
“You plan to use the fragment as a power source?”
The Erebos fragment was a massive lump of power.
Those who claimed it gained tremendous strength and the ability to wield Erebos’s authority.
Once, a mere farmer had gotten hold of a fragment and inflicted a fatal wound on a high-class foe.
But the price was too steep. The user lost all reason and died within a day.
“The Thousand-Li Sword won’t cut it.”
Demian was safe from the corrosive power, having been chosen by Erebos.
But the Thousand-Li Sword was not. Even if he infused it with mana for some resistance, it wasn’t complete.
Especially against those black orbs—it would shatter on contact.
Demian closed his subspace pocket and manifested Erebos instead.
The moment Mira saw Erebos, her face twisted even more.
-So you refuse to hand it over willingly!
Mira thrust her hand toward Demian, and the black orbs shot at him.
Demian’s eyes darted rapidly, reading every trajectory to find the optimal path to block them.
He was just about to swing his spear.
Suddenly, the orbs dissipated like smoke. Not some of them—all of them vanished at once.
“Huh?”
-What is this……
Mira looked down at her chest in shock. Gray was spreading from where the fragment had been embedded.
“N-No…… No……! This can’t be……! I have…… I have a mission……!”
Her entire body turned gray in an instant. Then she vanished without a trace.
Only the fragment remained where Mira had stood.
“So it wasn’t a lingering soul after all—just a thoughtform.”
Demian muttered shortly, staring blankly at the scene.
The lingering obsession left by an intelligent being upon death was called a thoughtform.
The stronger the obsession, and the greater the power in life, the stronger the thoughtform.
“For me to mistake it for a soul…….”
She had probably been a master-class or higher in life.
But a thoughtform was still just a thoughtform, no matter how strong.
Erebos’s fragment was as powerful as its price was high. No mere thoughtform could bear it.
That’s why she disintegrated the moment she tried to use its power.
“Why would someone that impressive die in a place like this?”
Pondering Mira, Demian recalled her words.
“She said using Erebos would bring destruction.”
He’d never heard such a thing in his previous life.
Even Dorgo, who collected Erebos fragments, had never mentioned destruction.
“No need to take a thoughtform’s ramblings seriously.”
Thoughtforms were mere scraps of the original, lacking true intellect.
Taking their words at face value would be foolish.
Moreover, Demian had never sensed any ominous signs when using Erebos in the past.
“Besides, it’s safer with me carrying it than hidden away.”
He wasn’t the only one gathering Erebos.
Dorgo was surely collecting fragments using his forces.
In fact, wasn’t the Erebos hilt Demian had come from a black mage group serving Dorgo?
Hiding Erebos wouldn’t stop Dorgo from finding it eventually.
Better for Demian to hold it than let Dorgo misuse it.
“Still, better stay cautious.”
The lesson from his regression: always prepare.
A moment’s carelessness could lead to fatal mistakes that ruined everything.
“If there’s even a hint of danger, I’ll step in.”
If Mira was right, Erebos didn’t just bring destruction—it could avert it too.
With Demian’s talent and Erebos’s might, he could preempt any threat.
“Erebos, absorb.”
Demian extended Erebos’s hilt toward the fragment.
It melted like liquid and adhered to the broken blade.
When fragments were found, they restored themselves like this, forming the proper shape. No need to collect them in order.
“Now it finally looks like a weapon.”
The blade had lengthened just a bit, but it looked far more menacing. It had taken on a true weapon’s form.
Demian converted Erebos back into a tattoo.
“What’s this?”
A ring lay where the fragment had been.
It seemed carved from some creature’s bone. An unknown rune was engraved in the center.
Having retained its shape amid corrosion, it was no ordinary item.
As Demian reached for the ring, the entire space began to shake.
He quickly snatched it and bolted outside.
The moment Demian emerged, stone walls and floors sprouted wildly, filling the space completely.
He couldn’t help but be astonished.
“So it wasn’t a cave—it was magic expanding the space.”
Mira’s chamber was like a subspace, widening spatial gaps to create an impossible place.
It went without saying: extremely advanced magic. Even archmages couldn’t pull it off.
“A priest using such high-level magic? No, someone else must have set it…….”
As Demian pondered, the iron walls encircling the trial chamber rotated. The entrance was sealed by iron.
The ceiling entrance opened. Light poured in, revealing Cheongyeom and the Holy Emperor’s faces.
“Sir Demian!”
Cheongyeom shouted, his face full of relief.
* * *
“Wh-what do we do about this…….”
Malta floundered as the iron door refused to budge.
“Normally, this would engage the mechanism…….”
Adjusting the force of knocks on the door activated it.
The problem: it wasn’t working now.
“Did I mess something up during the last repairs? Or has it been too long and parts broke?”
Malta paced around the door, deep in thought.
Then something fell from the sky. An old man carrying an old woman.
It was Cheongyeom and the Holy Emperor.
“Malta! Sir Demian is trapped in the trial chamber, you say?! What’s the meaning of this?!”
The Holy Emperor jumped from Cheongyeom’s arms and yelled at Malta.
The two had been enjoying a rare chat when they heard Demian was trapped.
With time of the essence, Cheongyeom had carried the Holy Emperor here.
“Th-that is…….”
Malta’s face stiffened. He’d proposed the Iron Trial first, so he couldn’t escape responsibility.
“Something’s wrong with the mechanism…… No matter how I try, it won’t open…….”
“Is that any time to be saying that?! Step aside. I’ll smash it!”
The trial chamber was built by dwarves using their secrets.
Even mid-class aura blasted all day might barely crack it.
But a master’s aurablade was different.
“N-no! This mechanism is a treasure made by our ancestors themselves!”
“A man’s trapped inside— is that what you say now? If you don’t move, I won’t hold back!”
As Cheongyeom bellowed, the sound of gears meshing rang out, and the iron door began to open slowly.
The three rushed to the entrance. Looking down, they saw Demian Haksen standing there.
“Sir Demian!”
The Holy Emperor called out with a bright smile.
Demian lightly kicked off the ground and leaped up, brushing off his clothes.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Fortunately, nothing serious.”
The Holy Emperor sighed in relief at Demian’s words.
“What in the world happened?”
“I’m not sure myself. I put the rare metal dagger into the slot as per the Iron Trial, and this happened.”
Demian played innocent.
Explaining would be too complicated. Best to feign ignorance.
The space with Mira was already gone anyway—no investigation would find it.
“There’s never been an accident like this before…….”
The Holy Emperor turned to Malta.
“Malta, ban use of the Iron Trial chamber for now. I’ll send artisans to thoroughly investigate the cause.”
“Yes, sir! Right away!”
Malta shouted loudly and moved to run off, but the Holy Emperor grabbed him.
“Malta, why are you going? Don’t you have other business?”
“Y-yes? What do you mean…….”
“Don’t we have to give Sir Demian the spirit-grade holy sword as promised?”
Malta’s face hardened at those words.
“There was a minor incident, but Sir Demian passed the Iron Trial on his own, didn’t he?”
“Th-that is…….”
“Leave the investigation to other artisans and fulfill your promise.”
Malta hesitated, then said to the Holy Emperor.
“Your Holiness, even so, a spirit-grade holy sword is…….”
The Holy Emperor glared silently. Under the subtle pressure, Malta broke out in cold sweat.
Malta slowly turned to Demian, pleading desperately.
“C-could we substitute with an upper-grade holy sword?”
Demian snorted at that.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”