Chapter 141

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Translator: Ryuma

Chapter: 141

Chapter Title: Nest of Bones

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After she opened her eyes, the sensation had only grown worse.

The information streaming in from the forbidden zone was bizarre beyond belief.

A space utterly devoid of anything, yet swamped with all sorts of data.

It was so jumbled that it was impossible to make sense of it—enough to make me doubt whether this was really the sea I knew.

Without the divine relic, we might have run into serious trouble the moment we entered.

But that only made it all the more baffling.

A space with nothing in it. The only thing we'd spotted before diving in was that massive, grotesque fish from the golden zone.

The ground under our feet right now was just bare dirt, devoid of any lifeforms.

"Can we really find it here? We're not even sure it's in this place to begin with, and it's way too vast."

It wasn't just whining. Melissa's words rang completely true.

"Something's pinging, at least."

The search was proving tougher than expected, but not impossible.

The flood of mixed signals made it hard to verify without seeing it firsthand, but something that felt like bones was registering.

Everything else was too murky to pin down, but amid the chaos, a massive structure was taking shape.

"Follow me."

I deactivated the Machine God's heart, clutched my throbbing head, and descended swiftly once more. Melissa and Luna trailed behind, eyes scanning every direction warily.

The distance wasn't far.

It was hidden, but not warded against anyone determined to find it—we broke through quickly enough.

When we arrived, an unexpected sight unfolded before us.

"What... what the hell is all this?"

"A nest."

We'd reached a graveyard piled high with bones.

There were the skeletons of bizarre sea creatures, and plenty that looked human too.

"What is any of this?"

"If we could understand it, it wouldn't be a forbidden zone. All the laws of nature are twisted here. You know the Black Forest, right? This is nothing like those rift incidents that crop up there."

Same demon realm category, but this forbidden zone blew those out of the water.

The divine relic shielded only the three of us—nothing else.

Which meant these were byproducts of the bizarre phenomena unique to this place.

"But where the hell did the human bones come from?"

"Let's check."

The bones' condition would give us a rough timeline of death.

Weaving through the bone mound, I placed a hand on one that seemed intact.

A torrent of information hit me again.

Considering the bone's state and other factors, the estimated time of death for this corpse was...

"Four days?"

"What?"

"This guy's only been dead four days?"

Not only had it skeletonized in just four days—that was freaky enough—but why was there a human corpse in a forbidden zone at all?

The skeleton was male, no signs of aura or mana training.

"No way a normal body turns to bones that fast..."

"Worse in water. Though if something ate the corpse, that changes things."

The bones looked like the body had fully skeletonized intact.

I checked a few others nearby, just in case—same story.

Only after the inspection could I draw a conclusion.

"Luna, anything you know?"

"The space-time axis feels warped. That's all I can say for sure."

The actual deaths were probably long ago, but skeletonization kept advancing while the bodies stayed preserved somehow.

That was when it happened.

Bugrrrruk.

A strange noise echoed, and something massive slithered into view from the surrounding darkness.

Unlike the bare bones of the other corpses, this was a large ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fish-like monster corpse that still looked intact.

Sensing the unnatural movement, we stifled our breaths and crept silently over the bone hill into deeper shadow.

And there it was.

"Holy shit... what the hell is that."

"Hm?"

The scene before us was even more grotesque than the bone mound.

Piles of monster and human corpses—just like before.

But these hadn't skeletonized; they retained their fresh post-mortem state.

Human bodies and sea creatures stacked like a mountain.

The giant fish we'd followed dropped onto the pile with a thud!, and something in the dark sea depths began to stir.

Melissa reflexively drew her sword, aura flaring.

But the massive tentacles ignored us completely, wrapping up some intact corpses from the sprawl and vanishing into the darkness.

Even with the relic's power and a necromancer's sight, that darkness was unnaturally impenetrable.

"I don't get what's happening here."

"These corpses look like they've been dead less than an hour."

"All these creatures died at the same time? There are way more than a couple humans here."

"They probably died ages ago, but time stopped for the bodies right there."

Luna was spot on.

This space warped time and reality.

I couldn't say if these corpses came from outside or died here, but they were all in the same boat.

No elements to decay them—maybe that, or something else. But from what I'd sensed earlier, it was clear.

This place even defied normal water pressure.

Then Melissa yanked my sleeve hard, eyes wide.

"B-Big Brother..."

Her voice trembled as she called me not Leon, but Big Brother. I turned to her—tears streamed from her bloodshot eyes.

Mermaid magic was wondrous; it even allowed for such transformations and movements.

"Why the hell are you calling me that in such a creepy way, you duckling—"

My words died as I followed her pointing finger.

Instinct took over.

I strode through the mountain of corpses.

The presumed ruler of this forbidden zone, emerging from the dark, was already irrelevant.

I'd half-expected it, figured we'd find it quick.

Or maybe never at all.

Only one thing mattered now.

At the edge of the corpse pile lay two figures, eyes peacefully closed.

As if they'd only just shut them moments ago.

One hand clutching a sword, the other embracing their mother's body—the scene preserved exactly as it had been.

"D-Dad... Mom... Ah, aaaah..."

Melissa burst into sobs and rushed to their corpses.

She frantically pulled them down from the pile, wailing.

I hadn't imagined reuniting like this. My chest tightened painfully.

What to say?

Glad we found them quick?

Why are you here like this?

Words wouldn't come. All I could think was to recover their bodies fast.

"Waaah! Mommm... Daaad..."

Her pent-up grief exploding, I patted Melissa's head as she cried, clutching her parents' remains.

Normally I'd snap at her for being crazy, but she offered no resistance—just held them and wept.

"Leon, that creature—we shouldn't provoke it yet."

"Too late. Mess with a beast's food bowl in its own den, and it'll bite."

Kuuuung!!!!

Dozens of tentacles slithered from the darkness at her words.

Touching what it saw as its meal in its territory had triggered it.

It knew our position without seeing us—the tentacles lashed out to ensnare us in an instant.

But as I lightly stomped, black chains erupted from my feet, wrapping the tentacles, flinging them wide, and pinning them down.

Thuuud!!!!

"Muyoung, get the three of them out."

My shadow birthed the spectral wolf Muyoung at my command.

"We need to find Arsha too—let's take that thing down."

"Can we?"

"Gotta try. I bind, you bash. You bind, I bash."

"Roger."

Luna cracked her knuckles, unfurling her hidden halo and one pair of wings.

Another pair of shimmering light wings flickered in and out of visibility.

'Status window.'

As if on cue, the librarian's text reformed rapidly before my eyes.

Fresh memories from the new hall flooded in.

Centered on magic, an immense volume of arcane knowledge crammed into my head in moments.

No circles, but that wasn't a big deal.

What caught my eye was that "Word of Command."

Word of Command... From the memories, it seemed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like the final ability gained breaking through to Demon God realm.

Not something I was familiar with, at any rate.

Not useful in a pinch like this.

"Luna, got a question."

"What?"

"How many wings do you have?"

She pondered briefly, then flashed a cute smile.

"Two."

Lie better—at least pretend those extra pair of flickering light wings under your four don't exist.