Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 35
>Chapter Title: So It Was You
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The change began in the control room located behind the final gateway at the heart of the Trial Tower.
Sss...
Black mist encroaching on the space.
An ominous energy, like storm clouds pushed by the wind, slowly but steadily expanded its territory.
It was a mass of impure mana flowing through the Demonic Realm—demonic energy.
Considering that natural mana is invisible to the naked eye, this alone showed just how dense the demonic energy was.
Its concentration was so intense that even monsters adapted to the Demonic Realm would drop dead on the spot.
Yet, amid that demonic energy, lifeforms were rising.
Or were they even lifeforms?
Their shapes were like shadows.
Grk, grk...
Emitting eerie sounds, they writhed ceaselessly while simultaneously growing in size.
They were absorbing the demonic energy to form physical bodies, and such movements weren't limited to one or two.
Like heat haze rising on a summer day, entities took shape within the demonic mist.
They weren't monsters.
They were beasts born from demonic energy—that was the name given to them.
Demonic beasts.
They were rare now, but just a few hundred years ago, these cursed lifeforms had plunged the continent into terror.
The devastation they wrought when they appeared simultaneously across the continent.
Renowned noble houses vanished into the annals of history, and several kingdoms suffered irreparable damage, ultimately losing their sovereignty.
The disaster had returned.
But there was one who laughed at the emergence of these demonic beasts.
"Huh, hahaha! Success! It's a success! Demonic beasts have appeared! Demonic beasts! The Demonic Realm is established, you hear me? Success!"
A mad cackle echoed through the control room.
How could he not be thrilled?
Ever since discovering the lost ancient artifact, he'd poured everything into restoring it.
Time, money—nay, from the very day he found the artifact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he'd dedicated his entire life to this.
But it had always been only half a success.
'I succeeded in generating demonic energy. But that was always as far as it went. Until now... until now...'
The demonic energy had perfectly corrupted the space.
The birth of demonic beasts was proof of that!
However, the hunting dog couldn't join in the celebration.
"Success? You... You're saying you mocked Lord Bimarga with this unproven method?"
"Heh heh, listen. Just generating demonic energy is enough to meet what your lot wants. Academy students wiped out by demonic poisoning. Huh? Isn't that one hell of a juicy scandal? What I'm saying is, the Demonic Realm has been successfully created."
"Hmm."
The hunting dog stared silently at Frezen before nodding.
"But is this place safe? At that concentration, even the barrier might not hold..."
"Heh heh, don't worry. You think I'd make an artifact that could kill me? The defensive mechanisms are solid."
Creating a Demonic Realm—an artificial cursed land—was a monumental feat.
But no matter how grand, what good was it if he died in the process?
After obtaining the artifact, the one thing Frezen had meticulously perfected was this safe exception zone.
"Hmm, that aside. So it stops at Phase 1 Demonic Realm after all?"
"Phase 1?"
Frezen nodded at the hunting dog's question.
"Not all Demonic Realms are the same. See those demonic beasts? They don't have fixed forms, right?"
"Indeed."
True enough, the demonic beasts visible beyond the screen lacked any defined shape.
How to describe it? Constantly writhing like tentacle creatures, morphing their forms.
Frezen elaborated.
"They're amorphous demonic creatures. The lowest grade, appearing in the weakest Demonic Realms. ...Hmm, looks like this output caps at Phase 1 after all."
With that, Frezen pulled out his notebook. He intended to record every insight from this experiment without missing a single one.
'Maybe... I can develop it further.'
As he jotted down his notes, a chilling glint sparked in Frezen's eyes.
In truth, artificially creating a Demonic Realm was astonishing enough on its own.
Think about it: the Demonic Realms scattered across the continent.
Fading with ever-thinning demonic energy, destined to vanish someday—mere remnants, yet still perilously dangerous.
The monster waves that periodically spilled out, adapted to the demonic energy.
The sacrifices nations, noble houses, and the entire continent made to contain them.
All for these half-ruined Demonic Realms.
'A power that could upend the continental balance. Heh heh.'
Of course, there were still countless improvements needed.
'The area it can corrupt at once is too small. The artifact's already straining just to claim this much territory...'
Stability needed boosting. The materials consumed per use were an issue too. In short, the efficiency didn't match the effort.
The road ahead was long.
But that was fine.
Frezen smirked slyly at the Bimarga hunting dog.
'Petty funding and testing sites? The Bimarga fools will cover that.'
The true patrons Frezen aimed for weren't them.
The Forbidden Magic Society.
Salbatium.
A secret society of forbidden mages.
Frezen himself was one of them, versed in forbidden magic.
The Demonic Realm was key to fulfilling the society's grand wish, so announcing this success would surely win their full backing.
"Hahaha! Hahahahaha!"
Frezen laughed maniacally, toasting his triumph.
Now, just one thing left.
'Heh heh. The biological response.'
Frezen stared at the screen with eager eyes.
The mist-enshrouded area covered about ten percent of the Trial Tower's total floor space.
Roughly thirty minutes until it swallowed the academy students.
Even for Frezen, mist this dense in demonic energy was a first—he was brimming with anticipation.
What reactions would the exposed students show?
At their level, escape was impossible.
Even with barriers, could they last a minute? That might be feasible only for Blandoga's young patriarch or Dinai's third child.
Desperate flailing in despair was inevitable.
What intrigued Frezen was how humans transformed when exposed to such potent demonic energy.
'Low concentrations corrupt the body and induce madness. But at this level, perhaps...'
Frezen burned with excitement, recalling ancient texts.
Then.
"Whoa! Hahaha, first test subject appeared!"
Frezen pointed at the screen.
The hunting dog followed his finger curiously.
"That guy's..."
On the screen was a single student.
The gray-haired boy who'd been charging toward the control room at breakneck speed earlier.
He stood gazing at the approaching demonic mist, and Frezen commented.
"Heh heh, curious, aren't you? What happens when a person gets exposed to demonic energy that dense."
"They'd go mad. Or the corruption would kill them instantly."
"Right, that's the common knowledge."
Frezen grinned.
"Ancient texts say this. Back when the Demonic Realms' energy was even denser than now."
It wasn't widely known.
Frezen knew only because forbidden magic tied closely to Demonic Realms and demonic energy.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't even magitech knowledge.
According to the text:
"Human demonization."
"...Demonization?"
"Heh heh, yeah. Humans turning into demonic beasts. Of course, not just any human. They need mana or ether."
'Though unproven...'
Ancient didn't mean entirely trustworthy.
Some entries were pure garbage.
Anyway.
'What to do? No escape anyway. Might as well come now? Though it'd suit me just fine. Heh heh.'
Frezen watched the screen with pounding heart.
But then.
"...Hm?"
It was right then that his eyes met the gray-haired boy's.
Well, the boy was staring at the magic eye, but Frezen felt it.
Like he was looking right at him.
That wasn't the only oddity.
He grinned broadly.
The boy's lips moved.
"Hey, hunting dog. Looks like he's saying something."
"Hm, hold on."
The hunting dog narrowed his eyes, memorizing the boy's lip movements.
Using lip-reading skills drilled into him as a Bimarga hunting dog, he slowly mimicked from the start.
Soon, he deciphered it.
Sss...
By then, the expanding demonic mist had engulfed the boy.
And at the same moment.
Zzzt—
The screen suddenly cut out.
"W-What?"
Everywhere else was fine.
Only one spot.
Just the magic eye on the boy had failed.
It had withstood the demonic energy until now, yet it craps out at this exact moment?
Frezen scowled at the untimely glitch.
More than that...
'What? That expression...'
That smile on his face.
Somehow unsettling.
At a glance, a nice smile on a decent-looking face—but dwelling on it, it was like someone who'd forgotten how to cry forcing one out.
As Frezen squirmed with inexplicable unease.
"Hmm."
The hunting dog eyed him suspiciously.
"Have you seen that boy before?"
"W-Why bring that up suddenly?"
Frezen racked his brain.
But he swore he'd never seen the boy.
"N-No!"
"You're sure?"
"I said no! Why? What did he say?"
Frezen shouted, flustered by the hunting dog's question.
"Strange."
"Don't tease, spit it out!"
"Here's what I read."
The hunting dog recalled the boy's lips again.
To double-check for errors, but the message remained the same.
What the gray-haired boy had said was...
— So it was you, Frezen.
"W-What?"
"Got it? That's why I asked if you knew him."
Frezen panicked at the words.
How did that boy know his name?
Doubts swirled in his head.
Then.
"Whoa!"
Frezen suddenly yelled.
The hunting dog turned to the screen.
And there, the gray-haired boy was slicing through the demonic mist at ferocious speed.
So fast the magic eye's frame couldn't keep up.
Newborn demonic beasts couldn't hope to stop that velocity.
And soon.
"B-Block him! You're the hunting dog, block him, you bastard!"
As Frezen shrieked in frenzy.
Boom!
The control room door shattered, and an intruder burst in.
The gray-haired boy.
His mouth opened.
"Frezen, long time no see."
His voice dripped with fervor.
"Once, I even braved a Demonic Realm to kill you, and now you finally show yourself."
Aster flashed a sly smile.
The bizarre dissonance that had been building.
The moment he faced the demonic mist, he realized its source.
Rage, sorrow, pathos... Why these emotions swirled chaotically.
Frezen.
Known in the shadows as a magitech engineer, but Aster knew his true face.
A mage versed in forbidden magic—what they called a black mage.
And moreover...
The teacher who taught forbidden magic to Decullan's young patriarch.
If the young patriarch's hand reaped his comrades' lives, then the mind moving that hand was none other than Frezen.