Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 73: A Secret Conversation

As he rose from his seat, Myss struggled for a full three seconds.

All the mushrooms at the banquet were condensed from the Prisoner of Dreams’ divine power, equivalent to high-purity energy in mushroom form. He hadn’t gotten the Abnormal Fruit, so eating more mushrooms still counted as a consolation prize.

But he couldn’t accept Salaar and Professor Gentry whispering to each other in private. A scheming human like Salaar would hatch all sorts of convoluted schemes with no one watching him.

Lord Archdemon bit down on a few more pieces of mushroom and decided to go observe. The job of watching the priest fell onto Tass’s tiny shoulders.

Tass was chewing slowly on a green mushroom the size of an enoki and didn’t object.

“I have two proposals.”

The three of them were led by the rabbits to a separate storage room, and Professor Gentry spoke crisply.

“The first proposal is that I die here.”

He said it calmly, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.

“I have discovered too much valuable information, and I won’t obediently hand over my memories.”

“My power can’t compete with the two of you, but I still have time to kill myself. If I die here, the other Archmages will definitely wonder what happened.”

Salaar gave a noncommittal hum and crossed his arms.

Professor Gentry’s power belonged within the scope of humanity, but his Magibase was deep, and neither his combat experience nor his store of knowledge could be underestimated.

If a man of this caliber had resolved himself to die, they would indeed find themselves in a difficult predicament.

“In that case, we’ll kill your students too. Don’t you care?” Myss asked directly.

Salaar couldn’t help glancing at Myss. Lord Archdemon was chewing mushrooms with smacking sounds, his eyes holding a clear sort of curiosity.

Myss was genuinely curious, just like a child curious about what would happen after tearing apart a butterfly’s wings.

He couldn’t care less about whatever emotional issues the butterfly might have.

“I care, just as a general cares about his soldiers. But every war has its casualties.”

Professor Gentry’s demeanor remained remarkably composed. “Explorers are not tourists out sightseeing. The moment they took their first step into this place, they knew what they might encounter.”

Myss gave a light “oh” and began focusing on chewing mushrooms again.

…As if he had discovered that when a butterfly lost its wings, it became a writhing strip of flesh, and he had no interest in that scene.

“The second proposal?” Salaar focused his mind and did his best not to look at the mushroom dangling back and forth by Myss’s mouth.

“Let me keep my memories and my life and leave this place. I am willing to provide the two of you with information. For example, Kendrick Karns, as well as the special traits of this slave, the physical body the two of you are using.”

…Not bad.

Myss stopped chewing and instantly came back to himself.

Salaar, meanwhile, raised his head slightly. He looked expressionlessly at Professor Gentry, carrying that aura Myss was extremely familiar with, the aura that belonged only to someone in a superior position.

“I have heard something about the accident in Ring Town. I once met Kendrick Karns. On the right side of his neck, there were two small red moles. As for the white-haired slave he bought, I also happen to know a little about him.”

Professor Gentry couldn’t help sighing.

“There are no traces of magical control on the two of you, but a person’s temperament wouldn’t change so completely. I can only guess that something went wrong with what he was researching… a truly catastrophic mistake.”

“Speak plainly,” Salaar said without denying it.

Professor Gentry: “It’s merely a guess, of course. The two of you are the divine kin—dependents if you will—from an unknown realm. You’re similar in nature to the existence that created the Abnormal Fruit, but you have different allegiances.”

Salaar still didn’t deny it. He only glanced at Myss from the corner of his eye.

“So?” Myss could not help blinking.

Looking at the matter as it stood, both he and Salaar had been stuffed into ordinary human bodies, and their powers hadn’t fully recovered. The positioning of “divine dependents” was actually relatively accurate, and he didn’t feel offended.

“First there was the Red Amber, then there was Roman’s experience. The two of you seem committed to destroying Divine Realms, and I also don’t wish for the Divine Realms to exist. I confirmed V.O.R’s matter from Roman. The human world shouldn’t become an experiment field for unknown existences.”

Professor Gentry lowered his voice. “Indeed, I don’t know what your true objective is. But so far, our interests are aligned.”

The old professor’s voice was extremely sincere, so sincere that it couldn’t contain the slightest lie.

However, Salaar wasn’t moved by that sincerity. He continued to question him calmly. “Compared to us, whose origins are unknown, you could very well join hands with the other Archmages.”

Professor Gentry let out a short laugh. The emotions within it were far too complex for Myss to distinguish.

“I am the weakest of the seven Archmages, whether in magic power or authority. I’m afraid my words don’t carry that much weight… You should know, the Archmages are not on peaceful tea-drinking terms with one another.”

Professor Gentry returned to his aged appearance, and his voice sounded even more weathered than before. His magic foundation, the giant elephant, lowered its head, its trunk gently curling over his white hair.

“Not every genius wishes for the Divine Realm to disappear. Some people believe this is an opportunity, that they can glimpse knowledge that doesn’t belong to mortals.”

Myss listened to this much with great reluctance.

Fine. According to this explanation, the Archmages more or less all knew Divine Realms existed. It was just that some idiots who didn’t know the height of heaven or the depth of earth thought this was a good thing. Not only would they not obstruct V.O.R, they might even help that guy.

…Of course, it was also possible that V.O.R had put on a human skin and was hiding among the seven Kingdom Archmages.

Gulp. Myss swallowed the last mouthful of Salaar-flavored mushroom and tugged at Salaar’s sleeve.

Salaar casually cast a soundproofing spell. “I’m guessing you and I are thinking the same thing. It would be best for us to keep this guy around.”

Myss: “Mm.”

Salaar let out a long breath. “If we clash head-on, we can’t bear the risk of being noticed. And he knows information about these two bodies. There might be clues about the body-swap ritual…”

After Salaar had only analyzed for a few sentences, Myss’s attention scattered, and he openly zoned out. When it came to matters he wasn’t interested in, Lord Archdemon had always been physically incapable of seeing them.

Fork simply lay on Myss’s shoulder, one eye looking at the sky and one eye looking at the ground, sleeping soundly.

Salaar: “…What kind of expression is that? Isn’t this what you were thinking?”

“Oh? Oh.”

Myss looked at him innocently. “I was just thinking, this guy hates the Divine Realms, and he also runs around everywhere all year long. He can be used as a half-Abnormal Fruit sniffer. Just let him run wild on a loose leash—free range.”

Salaar: “Haa… In any case, I can’t completely trust him. We need an extra constraint.”

Myss immediately tensed, and his relaxed eyes became bright and sharp. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re going to make another contract?”

What, did Salaar have to sign a contract with everyone? Myss pinched the dozing Fork awake and felt it wasn’t as cute as before.

Fork yawned widely at Salaar, revealing its tiny sharp teeth.

“How could that be?” Salaar laughed despite himself. “Hmm… You could think of it as a unilateral secrecy curse.”

“He can keep the knowledge. But without our permission, he can’t reveal us to anyone, nor can he record us through any method. If he violates this, he will lose all memories regarding us.”

“I won’t be bound by anything. Don’t worry.”

Although that wasn’t what he was upset about, this was fine too. According to what the Professor had said just now, he had no reason to refuse.

Myss rubbed the Fork’s head, tacitly agreeing.

When they walked out of that small storage room, Professor Gentry’s steps were light, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

On the inside of his left arm, there was an oath mark like a burn scar.

……

For the rest of the time, the rabbits held an incomparably grand banquet.

They used mushrooms as drums and even dug flutes and harps out from all sorts of corners. Salaar personally took the field and played a beautiful melody with that damaged harp.

Myss, meanwhile, focused all his attention on devouring mushrooms. He harbored deep grievances on not getting to eat the Abnormal Fruit and was determined to eat enough to make up for the loss.

There was only one small regret. He piled the mushrooms into cake, pressed them into steaks, and rolled them into balls, wishing in his heart for the taste that would please him most. Then he tasted Salaar-flavor, Salaar-flavor, and more Salaar-flavor.

…Absolutely hateful.

The survivors weren’t idle either. They joined the ranks of the rabbits and began repairing these ruins filled with malice.

“The dismantled traps can be transformed into other things.”

Sean’s complexion was still pale, but his spirits had improved a lot. “As long as the Professor sends down the necessary materials, we might be able to build a radio magic device.”

“There are also a great many ancient books in the study, enough for us to research for years…”

“We can just treat this as closing the door and settling down. I happen to have a research topic I want to work on…”

“Even if I can’t survive, I can build myself an incredibly cool tomb…”

The others also chimed in noisily. No one was despairing, and no one was collapsing. They spoke confidently about everything, as if every dream would eventually come true.

In the corner, Roman gazed at the lively banquet from afar, a satisfied smile on his face and his eyes a little moist.

Professor Gentry stood beside him. The Professor, on the contrary, was the calmest person among the group. He looked at the three people who were still unconscious and said nothing.

“Right, Professor.” Roman withdrew his gaze. “There’s something I must tell you.”

He hesitated for a moment, then continued, “That priest calls himself a believer of the Order of Shadows. In my opinion, he seems more like the legendary divine favored.”

“My rabbit bit through his hand and tasted his blood. His blood isn’t right, and his power is also extremely strange.”

Professor Gentry listened quietly.

“He was very willing to provide power to me, even willing to be controlled by me. If not for him, my condition might have been even worse. I might not even have held out through that…”

This newly born underground god thought for a while for a suitable word. “…That operation.”

“He was willing to provide you with power?” Professor Gentry raised his eyebrows.

“Yes. He communicated with me through that rabbit…”

Roman still remembered the shock of that moment.

Not long ago, he had come into contact with power that could allow him to continue burning, and he had smoothly controlled that priest.

Actually, even at that time, he had already been somewhat astonished. This person clearly possessed such a special power, yet mentally, he didn’t resist at all. This truly didn’t make sense.

However, after that priest was guided into the incubator by him, something entered his spirit.

It was like an auditory hallucination, or a dream.

Roman clearly had his eyes closed, yet he “saw” a blurry figure.

It was right there, deep inside his mind. He couldn’t see that thing’s facial features clearly, nor even its gender.

“How admirable, how pitiful.”

The other party’s voice seemed to press close to his ear. “I know you have no ill intent. I will do my best to help you.”

Why? Roman thought.

Logically, that priest shouldn’t even know of his existence. Even if he knew, he had absolutely no motive to help him.

“Don’t mind it. Just a small gesture of solidarity—from one prisoner to another.”

That voice spoke, carrying an ancient and heavy exhaustion. “I hope you can survive, just as I hope I can survive… Treat it as me taking a bit of hope from you. Don’t refuse, all right?”

Warm power flowed into Roman’s body, and the effect was immediate. Roman’s previously somewhat hazy consciousness cleared by several degrees.

Who are you? He asked carefully in his mind.

That black shadow didn’t respond. Amid the chaos, he only heard a sigh.

“Remember, don’t tell anyone else about this.”

I can hide it from my friends, but I won’t hide it from my teacher, Roman replied openly and honestly.

Yes, this black shadow was likewise “friendly.” But Roman wouldn’t obey Him in everything just because He had gained the priest as an intermediary.

“Gentry the ‘Colossal Elephant’? Fine. You may tell this one person the truth, if that will allow you to lower your guard.”

That voice responded peacefully. “I hope everything goes smoothly, child.”

Then He disappeared, as suddenly as He had appeared… just like V.O.R.

…After listening to all of this, Professor Gentry remained silent for a long time.

He only raised his head and looked toward Salaar and Myss, who were making a mess together. In the end, his gaze fell on the unconscious priest and didn’t move away for a long while.

“I’ll handle it.”

Professor Gentry rubbed his slightly cool fountain-pen staff. “You must also keep your promise to that existence. Don’t tell anyone.”

“All right, Professor. But…”

“I know what you want to ask.”

Professor Gentry’s tone was somewhat grave.

“Unfortunately, I have also never heard of any ‘Order of Shadows.’”

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The author has something to say:

This arc is over!!! [let me see]

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 72: Scarlet Blood Beads

No. Perhaps the thing he feared most had already come to pass long ago.

Of course Salaar could maintain his rationality. More than three centuries of darkness had polished him down. He was better at staying clear-headed than anyone else in this world.

But he couldn’t deceive his own quickening heartbeat, his scorching desire, or the gaze that he found himself unable to tear away from Myss.

This mutated feeling was like a terminal illness; it tainted every corner of his being. Salaar could only watch helplessly as it worsened, guessing which day it would bring its verdict.

Now, the verdict had arrived.

How awful. He could have grown old and died before it came.

However, unlike what Salaar had imagined, he didn’t recall the horrifying history of the Night Scourge, nor did he turn his thoughts towards the greater good or the solitude of his imprisonment within the seal.

…He suddenly remembered an utterly ordinary afternoon.

At that time, he was still a young man, his field of vision as clear as the afternoon sunlight.

Salaar sat atop a chair made of stacked books, both hands stained with ink. The parchment was filled densely with characters and numbers.

Back then, he was surrounded by countless records of the Night Scourge, wholeheartedly studying its pattern of influence.

That brief and ominous term had run through his entire life, just like a wingless bird chasing the stars, just like a stone sinking to the bottom of the deep sea, just like the countless predecessors who had thrown themselves into it.

People witnessed it, recorded it, resisted it, and left countless tiny scratch marks throughout history.

He was the same. He fell asleep thinking of the Night Scourge and woke up dreaming from it, never letting go for a single second.

The smell of ink and parchment wasn’t very pleasant, but Salaar didn’t notice at all.

Lunch was plain water mixed with honey and bread filled with candied fruit, and he hadn’t touched a single bite.

He focused on calculating the formulas before him, his pupils moving along with the tip of the quill. The room was very quiet, with only the brilliant golden sunlight and the rustling sound of the pen tip scratching across parchment.

Suddenly, Salaar’s elbow moved and knocked over the honey water at his side.

The water stain soaked his precious calculation paper. Salaar hurriedly went to wipe it, and the glass rolled along the edge of the desk, falling and shattering across the floor. He bent down again to clean up the shards, and the sharp glass pierced his finger. A bead of blood immediately emerged.

“Diffusion… biological signatures…”

Salaar studied the rapidly seeping blood and, heedless of everything, sat back in place. His calculation speed became a few points faster. Fresh blood flowed down the pen shaft and mixed into his pen tip, yet he still didn’t notice at all.

Only when he wrote down the word “life” did the tip of his pen pause.

Salaar knew full well that the “Natural Disaster Theory” was more widely accepted. A natural disaster meant people were powerless. Everyone only needed to consider how to survive. No one had any obligation to solve the source.

There had once been many organizations dedicated to researching the Night Scourge. However, as the long river of history flowed slowly onward, people decided to turn toward the more practical matter of “Night Scourge sheltering.”

The group he belonged to could be considered one of the last remaining holdouts.

His predecessors had crossed abandoned markets, traversed deserted canyons, and rushed toward the most desolate ends of the continent, all for the sake of chasing that deadly darkness.

They firmly believed in the “Magic Interference Theory,” left behind countless records, and swore to find the source of it all.

But what if the source of the Night Scourge was a living thing?

This guess made Salaar’s heart beat nonstop and his mouth go dry. He reached for the honey water, only then realizing that the cup had shattered and he was still bleeding.

He sucked the blood from his fingertip, and for a moment, a strange thought occurred to him.

If one day he truly discovered that enormous lifeform, what would he say to It?

[Everything is for the sake of ending the Night Scourge.] …Not suitable. That was something to say to himself. It wasn’t suitable as an opening line.

[For the sake of ending the Night Scourge, I must kill you.] …Not suitable. He couldn’t defeat such an existence beyond common sense. It would already be good if he could buy a little time.

[I am Salaar, and I represent humanity in negotiating with you.] …This one wasn’t suitable either. Perhaps the other party was a completely different form of life and wouldn’t care about his name at all.

A new problem. Salaar had found himself uncharacteristically captivated, hesitating for a long while before resuming his calculations.

He needed to choose a declaration of war that was neither humble nor arrogant and required no response. When that thing cried out, assuming the source of the Night Scourge cried like that, he would solemnly say it aloud and add a footnote to this long, arduous chase.

He thought about it for an afternoon, a week, a month…

In the gaps when he was tired from calculations, Salaar always considered this matter.

This kind of fantasy had no value, but it could always make his heartbeat stutter a few beats. That feeling was very novel, like carrying another tiny heart in his chest.

Finally, late one night, Salaar suddenly sat up in bed.

If one day he truly discovered that enormous lifeform, he would tell It—

[No matter what, I will watch you until the final moment of my life.]

In the end, Salaar still rejected it.

It was only useless imagination. The source of the Night Scourge might not be alive, might not understand his words… might not care about the life or death of a mere insect.

The next day, he calmly began calculating again, still using the “Magic Interference Theory” as his research direction. The cut finger had already healed, leaving no scar behind.

Only after that, whenever he saw something red like fresh blood, Salaar would always be distracted for a moment. Even though he had long forgotten the reason.

…Now he remembered, Salaar thought as he looked at Myss’s scarlet eyes.

That had been the very first time in his long life that he had ever felt “fear” toward Myss.

And only now did he know that every one of his gazes had been met with a response.

The priest and Asp had fainted, and Beverly was delirious. The survivors were busy paying attention to Roman, while Professor Gentry was watching them… It should be fine…

Salaar felt a little thirsty again, though this time he didn’t need honeyed water. What he craved was a kiss.

“…After coming into contact with him just now, the Prisoner of Dreams actually isn’t that strong. His aura counted as a desperate burst that didn’t care about his life, while you always held back in the seal and never fought with your life on the line.”

Teacher Myss lowered his voice and kept chattering nonstop. In every sense, Salaar couldn’t get a word in.

“Besides, the Abnormal Fruit was attached to him. His power is quite hollow. Although you are far, far inferior to my main body, you have absolutely no need to be shaken by his aura. He and you aren’t on the same level…”

Salaar: “…”

Lord Archdemon seemed to believe that Salaar had been stimulated by the Prisoner of Dreams’ divine power and lost confidence, so he was busily giving him a little class on power levels.

Saint Salaar had a breath lodged in his chest, and the scorching dryness turned into the urge to smile.

“Ah.” He sighed with deliberate affectation, as if he was about to shed tears. “The human world changes too quickly. Perhaps a human who surpasses me has appeared. You will definitely have a new opponent. It’s time for me to consider something else—”

“No!” Myss immediately panicked, even forgetting to suppress his voice.

Salaar pressed down hard on the corners of his mouth. “Is there a difference? You said it yourself. I’m far, far inferior to you…”

“That’s right—”

“As an outdated old fool, I should hand the responsibility over to someone like Roman…”

“You wouldn’t dare—!”

Myss didn’t know why he was so agitated, yet his indignation felt extraordinarily righteous, without the slightest wavering. He glared fiercely at Salaar, his gaze incomparably direct.

Salaar turned his head and let out a soft chuckle.

His fear made all his hair stand on end, but he simply couldn’t help being fascinated by this joy.

Just like many years ago, when he wrote the word “life” with blood-tinted ink.

……

Two hours later, everyone had moved to the rabbits’ banquet hall.

The rabbits were controlled by Roman’s subconscious. They were especially close to this “Rabbit King” and happily released all the survivors.

Only the priest and Jinx were still fused together, fainted in a heap along with Beverly and Asp.

According to Roman, he had been on the verge of death, but the Priest’s body radiated a remarkably soothing energy.

With Professor Gentry within arm’s reach, he wanted to absorb a little power, hold on a bit longer, and also consolidate his image as an “evil god.”

“I’m truly sorry.” He lowered his head toward Salaar and Myss. “No matter what, I used him. That is a fact.”

“Once I recover for a few more hours, I’ll be able to remove the rabbit…”

Even in such a peaceful environment, even after just breaking free from long torment, Roman’s tone remained cautious, border lining tense.

“He’s useless on his own. Handle it however you like.”

Myss didn’t care at all. As long as the Abnormal Fruit sniffer was alive, that was enough.

Only then did Roman breathe a sigh of relief. His gaze turned toward Salaar, and a few traces of pleading entered his eyes. “If possible, could you please treat my companions—”

“No.”

Professor Gentry interrupted him directly. “In order to heal you, these two used up a great deal of energy, and we still don’t know how long they’ll need to recover. This request is far too rude.”

“Professor?”

“Previously, I made an error in judgment, Roman.” Professor Gentry insisted firmly, “Your power hadn’t reached the level of a ‘god,’ and your physical body remained alive the entire time. That is why these two were able to successfully heal you. As for the others’ situations, you should know better than anyone.”

What kind of utter nonsense is he spouting? Myss was displeased.

Previously, the situation had been urgent, so he and Salaar hadn’t hidden their power. As long as this Archmage had any brains, he could definitely discern their extraordinary nature.

As for countermeasures, Myss had already thought of one. Before leaving this place, he would have Salaar hit him hard with mental magic, and once they got out, they would throw the blame onto the Abnormal Fruit. In any case, they had already tested the depths of this Archmage. Two against one, plus a surprise attack, would be easy.

…As a result, Gentry was publicly denying their strength right in front of them.

Myss had just opened his mouth when Salaar stuffed it full of a Salaar-flavored mushroom.

The mushroom was quite large, filling his mouth to the rim. Myss furiously chewed, seething with indignation.

“It’s thanks to those two snakes.”

While Myss had been hit with the mushroom silencing curse, Salaar took over. “They’re treasures from the Night Scourge period. We have always used them as staffs. We can’t bring people back from the dead, Mr. Roman.”

“It’s indeed ancient alchemical magic…”

Roman was silent for a moment and looked dejectedly at Fork devouring mushrooms.

Sean patted his shoulder. “Don’t mind it. The fact that we could live this long is already thanks to you.”

“After you get out…”

“You had best stay here, Roman,” Professor Gentry said in the tone of a teacher.

Roman and his teammates: “?”

“You retained part of your power, and you no longer need to send rabbits outside the Divine Realm. In that case, you can maintain a smaller ‘Divine Realm.’”

“Externally, I will ‘seal off’ these ruins. Sean and the others can continue living here. I will find a way to deliver supplies to you and search for a better solution for you.”

Professor Gentry explained it in an unhurried manner. “…As long as all of you have the patience to wait.”

Roman’s eyes widened slightly, and for the first time, color appeared on that pale face.

“I’m not leaving.” Before the others could speak, he rushed to answer first.

Salaar gave Professor Gentry a meaningful look.

Beverly and Asp were already muddle-headed, so they would be easy to handle. If he wanted to use mental magic, the most troublesome one would be Roman, who possessed divine power.

Moreover, if Roman left this place, V.O.R would immediately notice. If Roman stayed, then on the surface, it would look like Professor Gentry had merely carried out a failed expedition.

Although he wasn’t sure whether V.O.R would “watch every second of every minute” like Myss, this was already the most reasonable countermeasure.

This Archmage had cleared away all possible concerns for them. This was undoubtedly a show of goodwill.

For now, it seemed Professor Gentry knew of gods and knew of Divine Realms. He knew what it meant that Myss and Salaar had “successfully healed Roman,” and he was also clear about the possible methods they might use after exposing their strength.

Then next—

“Mr. Myss, Mr. Salaar, I would like to speak with the two of you alone.”

Professor Gentry put down his fork and spoke with great sincerity.

---

The author has something to say:

In any case, here is a young man’s first stirring of love. (???

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 71: The Trick of Insects

—Huh?

Myss let out a startled sound inside Roman’s memories.

Seeing this far, he suddenly realized that Roman Gerard wasn’t completely without merit.

In a certain sense, he was a little like Salaar.

As one of the world’s foremost explorers and Professor Gentry’s proudest student, this guy, even as his mind collapsed, had actually not stopped thinking.

Amid immense grief, Roman preserved a piece of metal-like, cold, hard rationality, and his thoughts moved at an increasingly astonishing speed.

[He had watched everyone walk toward the abyss. He understood nothing. He could do nothing…]

The entrance had collapsed for no reason, the magic suppression followed them like a shadow, and all his companions had fallen one after another. This was definitely not simple misfortune. It was more like active interference.

He hadn’t discovered any clues. That meant the existence capable of doing all this was far more powerful than an Archmage, such as—

[Roman’s gaze moved wildly, then suddenly locked onto the crumbled paper ball not far away.]

—such as an unknown existence that had arrived belatedly in the middle of their desperate situation.

[Roman slowly withdrew his gaze and walked toward Sean. His steps were orderly and heavy, as if he were walking toward his own execution.]

No matter what, V.O.R’s target was him.

If he refused, in order to make him “willingly” cooperate, everyone might fall into an even more tragic situation. He had to agree first… Of course, only on the surface.

“I’ll leave alone.”

Roman “obediently” stretched out his hands and poured magic into Sean and Fiona’s bodies. “Everything will get better. Trust me.”

A snow-white elk appeared behind Roman—a creature of immense size, gentle demeanor, and breathtaking beauty.

Using the massive flow of magic as cover, Roman quietly cut apart his own Magibase.

Cutting one’s own Magibase was no different from spiritual self-mutilation.

But as a powerful mage, Roman was equally aware that the Magibase, as his spiritual organ, could in turn affect his mental state. V.O.R most likely had the ability to interfere with magic. He had to maintain the greatest possible clarity.

Amid piercing pain, Roman showed no unusual expression. He only lowered his head slightly.

By the time V.O.R’s final letter arrived, Roman and his Magibase had only the most basic connection left between them.

The instant the letter paper entered his hand, something burrowed into his body along the paper and climbed onto his Magibase.

It contained what could be called terrifying magic power, like a strange seed. After coming into contact with Roman’s magic circuit, it seemed to activate, beginning to unreasonably absorb the power scattered around it.

It incited his strongest obsession at that moment, waiting to cast his will into Law.

As the price, he would lose his normal sanity. Roman’s spirit simply couldn’t bear the burden of such explosively expanding divine power, and after making his wish, it was doomed to shatter beyond recognition.

At that moment, Roman understood.

His wish would come true, in an extremely twisted way.

In this barren wilderness with nothing at all, underground and surrounded by dangers.

Deep in the dark ruins, there would only be a half-baked mad god with nothing left but obsession, and the human companions bound by Him within the Divine Realm. Everyone would be trapped in eternal night, guarding His so-called “dream”.

…Provided that Roman hadn’t cut apart his Magibase.

Roman Gerard was long past the age of believing in fairy tales.

In despair, a supposed omnipotent and omniscient god fell from the sky. They tested his sincerity with the suffering of his friends and promised him a vague, illusory hope?

What a joke.

If they were going to talk about hope, then it had to be hope lit by his own hands.

At that moment, Roman understood.

His wish would come true, in a way V.O.R absolutely would detest.

…The excoriating agony continued.

Roman’s magic circuit rapidly twisted, and his body swelled and distorted. A terrifying magic power spread outward along with Roman’s wish.

The Divine Realm descended, the magic suppression vanished, and abundant magic soothed every person.

It seeped into the gradually cooling bodies of Sean and Fiona and drowned the other dying survivors. It forcibly supported people’s physical bodies and maintained the operation of his companions’ magic circuits.

“Please send me… to the center of the castle… the master bedroom…”

Roman pretended that his mind was collapsing and begged with his the “last shred of his sanity”. “I can’t… let them… see what I look like…”

V.O.R responded to his request. A force came from the darkness and easily pushed him into the master bedroom wrapped in traps. It was just like a human stretching out a finger to casually toy with a little insect on an experiment table.

Roman let out a cold laugh in his heart.

The moment his body took shape, he gave the Divine Realm its law, a gentle will that no one would suspect.

In the Divine Realm of the “Prisoner of Dreams,” every dream that He had the power to realize could come true.

…Including His own hopes.

In the gray ruins illuminated by bone-burning lamps.

Countless brightly colored mushrooms with gentle light grew out. They were saturated with pure divine power, waiting to realize people’s humble wishes.

…It wasn’t enough.

In the ruined master bedroom, within the incubator closest to Him, soft white clumps appeared.

Countless guide rabbits would appear here. They would step on every hidden trap, ensuring everyone’s safety.

He secretly scattered his will among them, carefully “imprisoning” his companions and performing one relaxed, lively fairy tale after another for them.

…Still, it wasn’t enough.

A fairy tale needed a theme. He needed a happy farewell funeral.

So the rabbits needed to prepare a banquet that would never arrive, using this as an excuse to leave the Divine Realm and explore.

The silly rabbits ran back and forth. Faced with this childish and foolish fairy tale, V.O.R didn’t become suspicious.

The farther the rabbits were from the Divine Realm, the harder they became for Roman to control, and countless rabbits were destroyed near the surface.

But it didn’t matter.

He frantically squeezed the Abnormal Fruit’s power. He only needed the “Dream Power” to seep outward, even if it was only a little.

People would be drawn here by those tiny bits of smoothness and luck. This location would become known to all curious explorers, and it would even attract the Professor’s attention.

…And those guided here by the rabbits would inevitably receive His divine power, ensuring that everything went smoothly and safely.

‘—Roman had almost succeeded,’ Myss thought.

He really had waited until Professor Gentry came—even dragging Saint Salaar and the Chaos Archdemon along for the ride. If not for the survivors forcibly staying behind, Roman would have been the only sacrifice.

Myss withdrew his magic threads in a foul mood.

In order to infect the outside world, Roman Gerard’s squeezing of the Abnormal Fruit had been terrifying. This time, he and Salaar were left with nothing but the mere rind.

“Hey, you people actually knew long ago, didn’t you?”

Myss questioned Sean and the others in displeasure. This group of guys had shouted that Roman had been taken away by a monster and had completely fooled them.

Roman dreamed of rescuing the survivors, while the survivors prayed that he would survive.

They pretended to be full of vitality and cooperated with the rabbits in performing the fairy tale, maintaining a nonexistent hope for Roman.

“After all, we saw V.O.R’s letters. Combined with the scene here, we could more or less guess… Little Roman has always been very simple. He didn’t even know to change the rabbits into some other animal.”

Sean stroked the warm crystal eggshell. “We just thought, if this place can realize wishes, then if we wished for him to survive, it might help him somewhat, right?”

“What happened?” Salaar strode to Myss’s side.

“Professor Gentry’s ‘Time Reversal’ deceives the past, while Roman’s ‘Wish Fulfillment’ deceives the present. He can only make things look better. He can’t change their essence.”

Myss said angrily, “This group of people led us here only so we would save Roman.”

His enemy’s reactions had always been quick. Salaar was stunned for two seconds, then let out an enlightened “ah.”

Myss could not help glaring at Professor Gentry.

This human had definitely guessed too. No wonder he had said nothing the entire way.

Salaar followed Myss’s gaze. Professor Gentry lowered his eyes, his expression still soaked in grief.

Just now, while divine power had been surging, Salaar had deliberately observed him. Professor Gentry had no hidden power. Without a doubt, he was only an ordinary human.

Salaar pondered for several seconds, silently stepped forward, and tried to heal the cold survivors, as well as the dying god. However, his healing magic disappeared, as if it was cast into the sea, meeting with absolutely no response.

“We can take out our Magibase.” Fiona finally spoke, her voice carrying the wet stickiness unique to dead flesh. “We were all very powerful mages. Five people’s worth of Magibase should have enough magic power…”

“This isn’t a question of whether there’s enough magic power, Fiona.” Professor Gentry finally spoke. “Mortal magic cannot heal a god, just as a rooster’s blood cannot be transfused into a human.”

Fiona bit her lip, and her complexion actually grew even paler. The smile on Sean’s face slowly vanished, and his pupils dimmed like wood carvings.

“For now, it seems we can only take the five of you away.” The Professor’s voice was dry. “I will do everything I can to preserve your bodies. If we add a powerful seal, you can last one or two weeks. You can see the sunlight again and take care of some… unfinished business.”

For a moment, the room fell into silence. The Prisoner of Dreams’ firelight gradually steadied, and candle tears slowly fell.

Myss snorted.

It seemed V.O.R’s “carelessness” toward Roman hadn’t been without reason.

That guy had known from the very beginning that Roman couldn’t refuse and couldn’t be saved. No matter how an insect struggled, in the end, it couldn’t withstand the crushing stomp of a giant.

The more Myss thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Not because he felt wronged on behalf of this group of humans, but because V.O.R had been calm and unhurried, everything going smoothly, while he and Salaar had struggled for so long, only to end up getting nothing.

The Abnormal Fruit only had a few mouthfuls of dregs left. They had to gain something, right?

“Salaar, heal Roman,” Myss said.

“I tried. It didn’t—”

“Heal Roman with me.” Myss’s tone carried an unquestionable air. “This guy’s momentum before was only a bluff. He isn’t as strong as you think.”

“What kind of joke is this? You could even injure me, but you can’t heal him? How is that possible?”

The sentence came out of nowhere, but Salaar understood.

He stared fixedly at Myss, a trace of astonishment in his eyes.

Myss was testing him, from an angle Salaar had never considered. Mortal magic couldn’t heal a god. If he really could heal Roman…

To be honest, Salaar had never thought of this possibility.

More than three hundred years ago, he had indeed been the only one who could injure Myss. But other people’s magic still had some effect. The strongest few, at the very least, could scrape through the oily skin of the tentacles.

Moreover, he would age, and he would die.

Even if he had once approached the concept of “godhood” with a mortal body, he couldn’t possibly be a true god.

When Salaar didn’t reply immediately, Myss let out a short, scoffing laugh.

He leaned close to Salaar’s ear, his tone carrying sweet malice. “Great Hero, when did you become such a coward?”

“Even if he’s a god, he’s an incomplete, half-baked mess. This poor wretch who got force-fed an Abnormal Fruit can compare to me?”

Salaar exhaled. “How do we cooperate? I remember you’re not very good at healing.”

Myss wordlessly pointed at his own eyes, then at his empty chest, gesturing the shape of the communication magic device from Semper City.

He put on a disdainful look, but his round red eyes glanced at Salaar’s face from time to time, his pride overflowing.

Salaar laughed despite himself.

The Night Scourge was destined to destroy everything. This sentence had been branded into his mind so deeply that he had forgotten other possibilities.

Myss could see the endpoint of all magic. He could cruelly pierce through the Fallen Child; he could also help him preserve the magic core of a communication magic device and remove the useless parts.

Now, they only needed to take it one step further. Cut away the unnecessary burdens and heal the most important parts.

“Don’t worry about Gentry. I’ll think of something.” Once he had recovered his wits, Salaar offered just a single remark. “Pleasure working with you, Great Genius.”

“Not a pleasure working with you, Old Fool.” Myss huffed and his pupils began dilating. “As for the rest of you, stay where you are. I’m saving your precious captain.”

Under everyone’s shocked gazes, the two of them raised their hands decisively.

Pitch-black magic rose into the air, and brilliant golden magic attached itself to it. Like light, they pierced into the cracks of the crystal egg and stabbed into the Prisoner of Dreams’ body.

Salaar’s magic felt strangely hot. Its wrapping and embrace were just as awkward as a hug. A hug was clearly his method of attacking Salaar, and Myss gave an uncomfortable shudder.

Brilliant golden light filled the crystal egg; the gloomy master bedroom now seemed to be holding a blazing midsummer sun.

Under the nourishment of the golden light, countless cracks slowly closed. Divine power flowed again. The withered white hair became glossy, and luminous white flesh grew inside the weak empty shell.

Myss curved the corners of his mouth.

His Salaar was indeed inseparable from the concept of “god.”

This was more like it. This was correct. His opponent should be the strongest existence in this world.

“How should we deal with the Abnormal Fruit? Any suggestions?”

Upon touching the Abnormal Fruit, Salaar shook the sweat from his head.

There was only that tiny bit of Abnormal Fruit left. The residue was still linked by threads, almost merged with the Prisoner of Dreams, and peeling it away would be extremely troublesome. Next, they had to be very careful…

“Merge it completely into him,” Myss said. “Can you integrate his magic circuit? Try it.”

Merge it in?

Salaar was so shocked he almost interrupted the spell. “I thought you wanted to heal Roman.”

“No, what I want to heal is the ‘Prisoner of Dreams.’”

Myss said, “The Abnormal Fruit has already been consumed to this extent, and Roman himself has divine power too. He can suppress it.”

Salaar: “…”

“I’ll point out every key point in the magic circuit for you.” Myss muttered, “You’ve researched magic for so long. You should have at least a few ideas, right?”

Salaar: “…………”

“No one’s asking you to restore all of his power. Modify his magic circuit to be a little more energy-efficient. As long as it can save his life, that’s enough.”

As Myss spoke, a bit of eagerness entered his tone, and his blood-red eyes flickered with light.

Salaar: “………………”

What kind of nonsense was this?

Even more absurdly, Myss had an instinctive understanding of the essence of magic, and this train of thought was theoretically feasible.

“Let’s do it.” Salaar took a deep breath.

Not far away, Professor Gentry watched everything with full concentration.

Magic threads wound around, and golden light flashed. They cut away the god’s flesh and created bone-chilling cracking sounds.

During the process, the pitch-black magic threads changed constantly. First, they skillfully formed into a surface, then tentatively gathered together, as if imitating Roman’s magic constructs.

After dozens of failures, the fine threads became sharp, sturdy black blades. Myss smugly raised his eyebrows.

Salaar made a thoughtful hum. Golden light fluctuated endlessly, and his magic trembled gently, tapping out an unfamiliar melody.

A trace of uplifting, lucky aura entered the healing, and Salaar winked at Myss in satisfaction.

Myss’s eyebrows collapsed, and his whole face wrinkled up.

Under Myss’s guidance, the remaining Abnormal Fruit was precisely separated by Salaar and fused into Roman’s heart. It replaced Roman’s Magibase and was perfectly embedded into the trimmed magic circuit.

Layer after layer, the two peeled away the white flesh, then the ice-crystal-like crystal eggshell, and finally Roman’s own flesh and blood.

Black was stained with brilliant gold, and flesh unfolded layer by layer, like a white flower blooming.

At the very end, the only remaining “stamen” wriggled on its own and finally took shape. The shrunken version of the “Prisoner of Dreams,” who had lost the eggshell, fell onto the four-poster bed and looked just like a… human.

The Prisoner of Dreams still emitted the aura of divine power, only it was no longer as majestic and hollow as before. His whole body was shockingly white, and long white hair draped over his entire form. His appearance was exactly the same as Roman in Myss’s memories.

Those slightly pinkish red eyes opened a little, filled with shock and confusion.

Salaar lowered his hands, his heart surging with stormy waves.

Such a reckless healing treatment had actually succeeded… His power really could interfere with divine power, and not only against Myss.

And Myss, he—

Salaar turned his head and looked at the Archdemon beside him.

Myss almost immediately felt his gaze and instantly turned over, snorting hot air at him.

“What kind of expression is that?” he stared at Salaar, his gaze quite calm, as though all of this was only natural.

“I just didn’t expect it to succeed.” Salaar stared closely at that familiar yet unfamiliar face. “Maybe it had something to do with the Prisoner of Dreams’ divine power.”

“Divine power? What are you barking about?” Myss clicked his tongue unceremoniously. “Of course you would succeed. How could you possibly fail? …Listen, you can only fail with me.”

Myss skillfully hugged him, his breath very warm, carrying the sweaty heat from exerting himself during the healing. Their magic had intertwined for too long, and their skin was as sensitive as tender flesh on a wound. Salaar suppressed a shiver.

“These wastes only know how to deceive the past and fool the present. Deception is something only the weak do.”

“…You and I are the same. We rule the future.”

Myss hugged him tightly, his tone still completely justified, as though this should naturally be the law of the mortal world.

Salaar stared fixedly at Myss’s face, which was close at hand, and didn’t respond.

He loved those words so deeply that they nearly consumed all his senses.

That wasn’t admiration as an enemy, nor was it resonance as someone strong… That matter-of-course “we” ultimately sent a tremor rolling through his body.

“Hey, Salaar… are you listening?”

Myss ignored the stunned crowd, ignored the newly born god, and cupped Salaar’s cheeks with both hands.

In the dim room, Salaar was clearly reflected in Myss’s eyes. Only Salaar.

“My judgment is absolutely correct! …For these three hundred years, I’ve been watching you every second of every minute.”

Salaar realized in astonishment that in the reflection of Myss’s eyes, he was actually smiling.

At the same moment, his heart pounded wildly as if near death, as though enduring pain even more tragic than death.

Myss was right. The Prisoner of Dreams’ divine power hadn’t offered any protection to ensure his smooth passage.

At this moment, he was finally able to confirm it. The thing he feared most had, in the end, come to pass.

---

The author has something to say:

These past two days have been a little rushed, like I’ve been scrambling and rolling along. That’s not good.

For key chapters, I always can’t help revising them over and over… [melting]

In any case, congratulations to Mr. Salaar for being frightened. (???

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Kinky Thoughts:

Oh, here I thought we were going to get another BE. Why couldn’t Myss save Antis and Iver *sobs*.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 70: Prisoner of Dreams

No sooner had those words left his lips…

The white flame above the god shook violently, and the magic fluctuations surged even more fiercely than before.

Salaar’s hand hadn’t yet left Professor Gentry’s shoulder when Myss acted first.

Countless fine threads of magic shot out, invading again through the crack in the giant crystal egg, aiming straight for the god’s body—

Myss might not have been the first to realize the truth about the survivors, but he was definitely the first to notice the god’s weakness. It was a subtle, cloyingly sweet scent of decay, like mead laced with blood. He unexpectedly liked it.

He didn’t care about human emotional entanglements, nor did he care what Professor Gentry thought of him. He only cared about the truth of the Abnormal Fruit.

The pitch-black magic threads roughly seeped into the god’s body and suddenly dropped their restraints. The god’s loss of control came to an abrupt stop. Myss lifted his diffused pupils, and the magic threads drove deeper.

Unlike the previous two probes, even though the god suspected to be Roman was already on his last breath, Myss still encountered enormous resistance. Just as he was about to frown, a gentle melody sounded by his ear.

Salaar’s Mother’s Song.

Amid the soothing, tender music, the god’s tense power loosened for an instant. Myss took advantage of the opening and went straight for “Roman’s” memories.

In an instant, everything was exposed beneath the flames, like a tomb exposed daylight again, or a diary brushed free of dust.

Myss could confirm at a glance that these were indeed the memories of Roman Gerard.

He only needed to flip through the memories of Roman’s team being trapped. He didn’t even need to skip much.

…For this six-person team, this should have been an ordinary investigation.

Roman Gerard and all of his team members were longtime friends who knew one another inside and out.

They had once fooled around together on campus, laughing at one another’s failed papers or failed romances. After stepping out of the ivory tower, they had traveled far and wide together, investigating those lost Night Scourge dungeons.

During that time, the team had encountered plenty of dangers. Pick any two people from the six-person team, and they would have a life-and-death bond between them. Those crises and that blood were like nacre wrapping grains of sand, gradually polishing them into the world’s best exploration team.

They had the best scholar, the best doctor, the best logistics support… the best captain.

Before entering the “Rabbit Hole,” the team members took no chances. The logistics member carefully calibrated all the magic devices, and the other team members confirmed each one again in turn.

“This ‘Rabbit Hole’ sure is deep. I wonder which family made it.”

Sean emphasized in a half-joking tone, “Everyone be careful when we go down. Especially you, Captain. Don’t really start frolicking like a rabbit. If this place was made by some crazy city lord, watch out or it’ll clip off your foot.”

“Shut up. My luck isn’t that bad.” Roman jokingly punched Sean on the shoulder.

Despite saying that, he still tightened the half-long white hair at the back of his head and made sure every button on his gloves was where it should be.

“When are Beverly and Asp finally going to graduate?”

Fiona chewed on some sweet-and-sour dried fruit. “Beverly’s explosion magic is absolutely amazing. If she’d been with us last time, we wouldn’t have ended up in such a sorry state.”

The burly man in charge of logistics said, “I’ve been waiting for Asp for two years. Haa.”

Roman: “Beverly’s temper is as explosive as her explosion magic, and Asp tends to panic at critical moments. The two of them are still young. They need more polishing. That’s how the Professor explained it.”

“To be honest, I’ve already filled out both of their registration documents. I’m just waiting for the Professor to release them…”

“Stop acting like such an old-timer. You’re not that much older than them, Little Roman.”

Sean burst out laughing. “All right, all right. Hurry up and lead the way.”

“It’s Roman—or rather, Captain Roman,” Roman corrected him sternly.

In the end, before he finished speaking, he was the first one who couldn’t keep a straight face and smiled.

Amid the team’s relaxed commotion, the stone door at the entrance slowly closed. The sealing magic device began operating, ensuring that uninformed passersby wouldn’t accidentally enter and disrupt the arrangements.

Even though all around them was endless wilderness, with only a few rabbits quietly hopping across the grass.

Discovering the stairs, examining the paintings, entering the underground filled with caverns…

Myss carefully confirmed every step and discovered that this team was extremely capable. They laughed and joked, but their behavior pattern was exactly the same as Gentry’s, without the slightest slackness.

“It’s the Hope family’s dungeon.”

Standing at the intersection of countless caverns, near the place where Myss had accidentally fallen before, Roman lowered his voice.

“The Hope family loved bloodshed, especially alchemical traps and alchemical lifeforms.”

Sean’s tone changed from teasing to a serious report. “There have never been any records of Hope Dungeon before. Captain…”

“Retreat!”

Roman made the decision immediately. “Ancient alchemy is difficult to deal with. We must reassess the risks.”

His body was heavy, and his head felt dizzy, as though someone had sucked away the air nearby. His magic became as viscous as syrup, difficult to mobilize. Something was wrong with this place.

As captain, he had to be responsible for the lives of all his teammates.

“Follow the footprints and withdraw. Watch out for collapses.”

Roman raised his voice. “Pay attention to the instrument readings, especially the magic vibration index. Absolutely do not—”

Crack.

A cracking sound came from beneath his feet, followed by the weightlessness of stepping into empty air. Everything came so suddenly.

Roman was dazed for an instant. Clearly, all the instrument readings had been fine… Why?

A metal hook extended from his sleeve, while his other hand urgently cast a spell. However, the hook couldn’t catch onto the sand and stones. His magic was also affected by some kind of interference and failed to take shape.

The entrance to the cave was still collapsing.

The ground beneath everyone seemed to have come alive. Sand and stones slipped, boulders fell, and it opened its huge mouth, instantly swallowing everyone into the collapsing opening.

Roman gritted his teeth and flung several dried mushrooms downward.

The mushrooms rapidly expanded, and their soft caps cushioned everyone below. The people made a dusty but soft landing. When they looked up again, the opening above had already been blocked tightly.

“Everyone’s magic device readings were interfered with. The deviation was very small, but fatal. It absolutely wasn’t a natural influence.”

Sean’s voice was somewhat tense. “Also, this place suppresses magic quite strongly. I’m afraid the effects of magic…”

Roman let out a long, heavy breath. “It may be ancient alchemy. We have to find a way out as quickly as possible.”

Magic device interference, weakened magic, plus a completely unknown environment. For explorers, the combination of these three was nothing short of fatal.

Myss looked at it from every angle, and his frown grew deeper and deeper.

From beginning to end, Roman’s responses had been perfect, and his teammates hadn’t dragged him down. Yet in just a few short hours, this world-class team was trapped.

If one had to say what mistake Roman had made, it was that his deduction had been wrong.

Perhaps ancient alchemical magic devices could disturb magic. But they couldn’t grow arms and legs and destroy those landmark nails meant to “prevent magic interference.” Something must have been actively attacking them.

After all, Roman, like Professor Gentry, had made preparations in advance and nailed down many landmark nails. Yet when Myss came in, he hadn’t seen even half a speck of light.

Myss pulled at the magic threads and analyzed the memories with all his strength.

Next, this team’s predicament wasn’t much better than Salaar’s army in the seal.

With no rabbits to guide them at the landing point, they could only continuously adjust the disrupted magic devices and wander through this complicated, deadly darkness.

On the first day.

“Watch your feet!” Roman’s warning came one step too late.

Amid the sound of metal grinding, there came the sound of bones breaking. The logistics man cried out in pain, and blood soaked through his pant leg. It was an alchemical trap hidden among the sand and stones, with almost no magic fluctuation.

The magic devices were inaccurate. Roman had investigated the area with all his strength, yet he had still failed to find this one.

“Just a broken shinbone—a small injury. I can handle it even without magic.” The logistics man was sweating all over from the pain. “I’m in great shape.”

Fiona strode forward. Her hand pressed onto the wound, and the bracelet wand lit up with a faint glow. However, that light soon faded away, barely managing to stop the bleeding.

“…The magic suppression is too strong. I don’t have enough magic.”

“Hold on.”

Roman took a deep breath and spoke in a tone full of hope. “The range of the magic suppression can’t be too large. As long as we get away from this area, everything will get better.”

“Of course, brother.” The logistics man smiled with a sweat-covered face.

Roman nodded, restraining the urge to treat him personally. He had to conserve his magic and investigate danger more carefully.

On the third day, the short man accidentally triggered a poison gas trap, and his respiratory tract and lungs rapidly rotted. It was an unprecedented new type of trap, and the cost of learning it was nearly a life.

The magic suppression still hadn’t disappeared, but there was another injured person. Fiona, who was in charge of medical treatment, hurried back and forth. Her Magibase fox was so tired that its steps became unsteady.

Sean took the initiative to carry the short man on his back, and the team continued searching for the underground river here.

“I’ve calculated the magic source. The magic fluctuations are strongest to the southwest.”

Roman announced this in a voice full of hope, trying hard to hide the bitterness in his words. “Large-scale magic fluctuations mean the magic suppression is weakening. And that place is most likely the center of the ruins, so it must be near a water source.”

“Haha, my luck has always been pretty good.” The short man coughed up dark pieces of flesh. “We agreed to live to eighty together. I remember.”

On the seventh day, the scholar in the team also had her foot injured by a magic trap. Her condition was even worse than logistics’s. That alchemical magic device had instantly incinerated her right foot, reducing it to charred rubble.

Fiona wrapped the injury with reddened eyes. They had done their utmost pressing on, covering a vast distance, yet everyone’s magic still showed no signs of being replenished. A faint stench of decaying wounds began to appear in the air, but their situation hadn’t improved in the slightest.

As seasoned explorers, everyone more or less began to have an ominous premonition.

“Don’t worry. At worst, after we find the water source, we’ll build a temporary shelter.”

“When the time comes, Sean and Fiona can take care of the injured, and I’ll go alone to search for a way out. As long as we hold on long enough, there will always be a way.”

Roman squeezed the hope in his tone with all his strength. Just as he desperately squeezed out his suppressed magic to eliminate those almost endless traps.

One tiny, inconspicuous omission could take away his companion’s limb or life.

But this damned place was full of traps in every direction, and he always missed something… always.

The scholar chuckled softly. Her voice was gentle and steady, as though that severed foot hadn’t brought her any pain at all.

“Speaking of rabbit holes, I remembered a story my mother once told me.”

She used a mild voice to soothe all of her friends. “A story about a little girl who fell into a rabbit hole. In that story, she met a rabbit that guided her way.”

“I’m a little over the age limit, but I did fall into a rabbit hole for the time being. Maybe an old rabbit will pop out and guide us.”

…On the fourteenth day, they reached the center of the ruins.

When they saw the ruins illuminated by faint light, everyone subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. However, that relief lasted only a few short minutes.

Here, there were only cold bone-burning lamps, even more vicious and obscure arrays of traps, and the bones of predecessors from different eras. Through their broken and twisted tragic states, they showed the team the same ending.

Even worse, that deadly magic suppression hadn’t weakened in the slightest.

Looking around, dozens or even hundreds of caves led into darkness. They were like the dim eye sockets of skulls, and no one knew which patch of darkness hid the exit.

Roman knew they were running out of time.

The short man’s fever wouldn’t stop, and he kept coughing up pus and blood. He wasn’t dead yet, but he was giving off the distinctive rotten smell of a corpse.

The logistics man dragged his ruined leg, his body trembling nonstop from weakness. The scholar sat in the corner, her injury badly rotted… Fiona’s magic had almost dried up. She stared blankly at her weakened companions, and everyone heard the footsteps of death approaching.

“Captain Roman, take half the supplies and go.”

Sean looked into Roman’s eyes and patted his shoulder.

“If you move alone, you’ll have the best chance of leaving this place alive. Fiona and I will stay behind to take care of the injured and try to hold out as long as possible… After you successfully escape, bring people back to rescue everyone.”

Roman looked at Sean, and pain finally appeared in his eyes, like blood seeping from a wound.

All lies.

The short man wouldn’t live past three days. The logistics man and the scholar both had broken feet. Even if they knew where the exit was at this moment, it would be very difficult for them to leave smoothly.

But if Sean and Fiona left together with Roman, Roman would have to split his attention to look after the two of them, which would only increase his consumption…

“You’re telling me to abandon everyone and escape alone.”

Roman’s voice was dry and hoarse. The hope in his tone had vanished completely, leaving only pain and anger.

Sean looked at him calmly. “Otherwise, we’ll all be wiped out.”

“Only if you get out can the abnormalities of these ruins be made public… Only then can more explorers be saved.”

“Actually, you know what you should do, Captain Roman,” he said. “You’re the greatest explorer in the world.”

“The greatest explorer?”

Roman’s eyes grew slightly red. “It’s been half a month. I still haven’t even figured out the cause of the magic suppression, and you want me to run away like a coward?”

“My words represent everyone’s wishes.” Sean took a deep breath and did his best to keep his voice steady. “Think about it. Even if we die, at least we can still die together. If you’re unlucky, you’ll only die alone in some cavern.”

“So don’t make that face like you’re getting the better end of the deal, Little Roman.”

“I…”

Roman gritted his teeth. “…I need a moment to myself.”

Not long after he left, something slowly floated down from the darkness, landing squarely in front of him.

A brand-new letter, sealed with glaring scarlet wax.

This was absolutely not something that should appear in a place like this. Roman didn’t hesitate in the slightest. He stood where the letter had appeared and called for Sean and Fiona.

Before figuring out how dangerous this thing was, he wouldn’t bring it anywhere near the injured.

“There’s nothing wrong with the letter itself.” Sean sniffed the wax seal. “It was written recently. You said it fell from the sky? The sky?”

“Open it and take a look,” Fiona murmured, her lips twitching weakly. “Maybe it’s the work of some Archmage…”

Roman swallowed and opened the envelope.

[Stimulate the limits of your magic and use that magic to nourish your friends. You can preserve their lives.

Mr. Roman, you are a true genius. Even in the direst of straits, one must always hold on to hope.

 —V.O.R]

“Nonsense.” Sean’s face was pale. “They went to all this trouble just to send this? This guy is just watching us make fools of ourselves!”

Roman stared at the ink on the letter and said nothing.

“Roman, Captain Roman!” Fiona summoned all her strength. “If you dare divide out your magic, everyone will only die faster.”

“I know.” Roman put away the letter paper, and his heart pounded nonstop.

This letter had appeared just as inexplicably as the weakening of their magic. The other party must be an abnormally powerful existence. If… If he really could…

No. He couldn’t.

The Professor had explicitly forbidden it. No matter how tempting an invitation from an unknown existence was, he absolutely couldn’t respond.

Roman steadied himself, forcefully crumpled the letter into a ball of paper, and casually threw it aside.

The three of them turned around and walked back toward their base together.

Roman’s steps were a little slow. He couldn’t help looking at the paper ball as it slowly rolled away.

Fiona walked at the very front, wishing she could get farther away from that eerie thing. “I’ll prepare some water. As for that letter, we need to talk more about it…”

Click.

Fiona’s footsteps abruptly stopped. An ominous soft sound came from beneath the stone tile under her foot.

From a crack between the stones not far away, an ax blade shot out horizontally.

It was pure and cold, without the slightest magic fluctuation.

Sean was closer to Fiona, and he immediately threw himself forward. Unfortunately, that ax blade had no magic fluctuation at all. He was one step too late. The rusty ax blade directly tore open Fiona’s neck and cut Sean’s arm.

In her efforts to save her dying companions, the healer had completely drained up all her magic.

At this moment, she couldn’t even use the simplest blood-stanching spell.

Blood surged wildly. Sean subconsciously went to hold his falling friend, only to discover that his arm felt as cold as if it were being corroded. In just a few short seconds, that chill rapidly spread through his entire body.

“Don’t come over… Don’t touch us!”

The unknown toxin paralyzed Sean’s tongue. He used all his strength to shout at Roman, who was more than ten steps away.

Roman’s mind went blank.

No, perhaps it wasn’t blank. He knew that everything was over.

Fiona’s body was convulsing, and warm blood bubbles emerged from her neck. Sean held her body, his face an ominous blackish purple, his gaze gradually scattering.

He widened his eyes at Roman and moved his lips, as if saying “no.”

No? Did he not want to die? Or was he telling Roman not to be sad?

In that instant, Roman could almost hear the sound of his nerves snapping. He watched the rise and fall of their breathing vanish, while the jokes from when they had first stepped into the Rabbit Hole echoed by his ears.

He had been disturbed by that letter. He had failed to clear away all the traps nearby…

It was his mistake, his responsibility. He had watched everyone walk toward the abyss. He understood nothing. He could do nothing…

Roman’s gaze moved wildly, then suddenly locked onto the crumpled paper ball not far away.

Immediately after, he slowly withdrew his gaze and walked toward Sean. His steps were orderly and heavy, as if he were walking toward his own execution.

“I’ll leave alone.” Roman pressed his hands to the two people’s wounds. “Everything will get better. Trust me.”

He squeezed out his own magic without regard for his life and poured it into Sean and Fiona’s bodies. A snow-white elk appeared behind him and gently lowered its head.

Roman wasn’t a mage who specialized in healing.

Even with such powerful magic power pouring into them, it could only barely keep the two of them alive. Fiona and Sean had their eyes tightly closed. As soon as his magic stopped, their heartbeats would immediately cease.

“Roman?” From inside the temporary base came the confused calls of the injured.

“It’s fine. Fiona and Sean suffered minor injuries. I’m helping treat them.” Roman’s voice had never been so full of hope.

After saying this, he calmly raised his head and looked up at the thick darkness above.

“What should I do?” he asked, almost soundlessly.

A letter floated down again. It landed on Sean and Fiona’s bodies, which still held warmth. Blood soaked through one corner of the envelope, making it look just as scarlet as the wax seal.

Roman freed one hand and decisively opened the envelope.

[If you are willing to thoroughly dedicate yourself in exchange for a sliver of hope for your friends,

I will help you realize this dream and turn these ruins into a land of dreams. 

—V.O.R]

His companions were doomed to die; he should leave this place. The invitation from an unknown existence was full of danger. He shouldn’t respond. Such basic truths were as natural as one plus one equaling two.

And yet, the world’s greatest explorer lowered his head toward the darkness.

A third letter slowly drifted down, as though something were watching him from within the darkness—

[Farewell, Mr. Explorer, my dear friend.

Prisoner of Dreams, we shall meet again in the season of harvest. 

—V.O.R]

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 69: The Burning God

Professor Gentry’s “rewind” magic was colorless.

His wand swept through the air, stirring up rings of transparent ripples. He drew another circle, and the crystal eggs containing the priest and the bones rapidly regressed, revealing their cracked, dust-covered forms.

Salaar immediately took two steps forward and supported the priest, who almost fell to the ground. The rabbit Jinx was still firmly stuck to his body, still looking half-awake and half-asleep.

Two steps away, the skeletal remains gave a light clatter.

The survivors were standing right beside the crystal egg, especially Sean, who was right next to the eggshell. Everyone thought he would catch the captain’s remains.

But he didn’t. Neither did anyone else.

The bones collapsed and rolled down. The skull rolled past the five people’s feet. The survivors wore smiles on their faces and didn’t even bother to glance at it again.

At the same time, from the shadows deep inside the master bedroom came an ominous scraping sound.

The oppressive magic fluctuations intensified. Myss unhappily rubbed his arm. It felt as if an invisible hand was pushing him outward.

Suddenly, the survivors moved.

They supported one another’s weakened bodies, stepped over the scattered bones on the ground, and advanced toward the source of the magic fluctuations.

They didn’t care about the fleshy tissue sticking to their bodies, nor did they care about the hazy, dreamlike crystal eggs. Without looking back, they walked into the darkness.

“Sean, Fiona—” Beverly almost cried out.

She was Professor Gentry’s student after all. Even though reality was this absurd, she didn’t immediately chase after them.

Asp anxiously turned his head and looked at Professor Gentry.

He said nothing, but even Myss could guess what he wanted to say.

The priest had already been rescued, and Captain Roman had been confirmed dead. The monster in the darkness was about to awaken. Even a complete fool could see now was the absolute perfect moment to retreat. No matter what was abnormal about the survivors, as long as Professor Gentry was willing to act, they could absolutely force those people to leave.

Though truthfully, Myss was in no particular hurry.

Hope Dungeon wasn’t going to grow legs and run away. If he wanted to pick the Abnormal Fruit, it would be better to wait until the priest was in better spirits and the situation in the Divine Realm was clearer. If Professor Gentry retreated now, it wouldn’t be too great a loss to him.

…However, Professor Gentry didn’t respond to Asp.

He sighed softly and pointed the fountain-pen wand at himself.

Another dense ripple of air appeared, and Professor Gentry’s appearance slowly began to change.

The wrinkles on his face completely disappeared, and his slightly curled white hair turned a deep gray like elephant hide, exactly the same color as his pupils. His slightly larger nose made those eyes look extremely sharp. His body, which had never been shriveled to begin with, became even sturdier, and the muscles beneath the fabric swelled slightly.

“Professor, this…” Asp nearly bit his tongue.

“Keep up.”

Professor Gentry spoke in a youthful voice.

At the moment, he looked to be only in his early twenties, right at the peak of his physical condition.

Beverly and Asp both looked as if they were facing a great enemy. Beverly’s measuring-tape staff and Asp’s sampling-shovel staff were gripped in their hands almost at the same second.

Without looking back, the three of them chased after the survivors.

Salaar was still carrying the priest. For some reason, despite his astonishing regenerative abilities, the priest remained fast asleep. The rabbit clinging to his body was too bizarre that Salar didn’t dare to rashly attempt to remove it.

His gaze shifted slightly, and his free hand did its best to grip the snake staff tightly. “Be careful.”

“His magic isn’t true temporal regression. It can’t change fundamental reality. He’s deceiving his own body, forcing it to exert the strength it had when it was young.”

Myss understood.

In other words, this Archmage was using magic to overdraw his body. Once the magic was released, Gentry would undoubtedly pay a heavy price.

This wasn’t preparation to “drag the survivors back.” This was preparation to face the Master of the Divine Realm.

It was far too reckless. Did this guy even realize what he was doing?

“You follow behind me. The moment there’s a problem, I’ll immediately grab you and retreat.” Myss spoke cautiously and glanced at Jinx in passing.

He had a strange sense of déjà vu. At this moment, they were chasing after the survivors a little like they had followed the rabbit Jinx not long ago.

Salaar silently nodded. He looked back at the wide-open exit of the room, his face showing more contemplation than doubt.

Tass shook his wings uncomfortably, his face a little green. But he said nothing and only slipped into the pocket watch on the priest’s body.

The survivors were either ill or crippled, so they were hardly moving fast.

Yet Professor Gentry controlled his speed with subtle precision, following behind them step by step, maintaining a distance where he was on the verge of overtaking them, but did not quite catch up.

Step after step, the group moved through the tunnel constructed from white flesh. The stench of blood in the air grew stronger and stronger, and the glow of the crystal eggs was dizzying.

Myss began to feel suffocated.

It was pure pressure, only a little weaker than Salaar at his peak. The problem was that neither he nor Salaar was anywhere close to their respective peaks currently.

The unknown pressure scraped over his nerves like a blade, and Myss’s cold sweat crawled uncontrollably from his pores. Salaar’s breathing became rapid. Myss guessed that was most likely not because of the fatigue from carrying the priest.

The stone tiles underfoot seemed to have turned into cold, damp mud. Myss’s steps grew increasingly difficult. His body drew closer and closer to Salaar’s, ready at any time to pick up his enemy and run.

If necessary, he would even be willing to abandon the troublesome priest.

This was definitely not pressure that a human body could withstand… Was this what a fully mature “god” was like?

Looking forward, Professor Gentry’s steps were still relatively steady, but Beverly’s and Asp’s legs had already begun trembling. Asp especially was staggering with every step. If Beverly hadn’t reacted quickly, he would have fallen flat on his face.

Beverly wasn’t much better. She couldn’t control her choked sobs and had to use all her strength to suppress her voice, as if there was a war waging between her mind and body.

The beast Magibases of the two students didn’t even dare remain outside. They all withdrew their forms and returned into their masters’ bodies.

Yet at the very front, the survivors’ steps didn’t slow in the slightest.

“Professor…” Beverly whispered with a trembling voice. “Professor, something’s wrong.”

“I can blow up the path at the very front and stop Sean and the others… Let’s retreat first. Something is wrong with this place…”

Asp could no longer speak. His throat made a faint clicking sound, as if he was having an asthma attack.

Professor Gentry still said nothing.

Under the radiance of the lighting magic devices, Myss could see the gleam of sweat on his skin. This Archmage was clearly also enduring it with sheer willpower.

“Banquet… Banquet… hehe…”

In that terrifying dead silence, only Jinx on the priest’s body was still making sounds. Its deformed ears twitched—undoubtedly it was having a wonderful dream.

Finally, this short yet long pursuit reached its end.

After seeing what lay at the end, Asp screamed and fainted on the spot, his body slowly sliding down along the white web of flesh.

Beverly collapsed to the ground, breathing with a whistling sound. She barely managed to stay conscious, but black-red blood flowed from her ears and nose.

“Close your eyes, Beverly. Don’t force yourself.” Professor Gentry sighed. “Your lesson can end here.”

“No…” Beverly stared with bloodshot eyes at the five survivors, who were still moving forward.

Myss, meanwhile, was watching the target the survivors were advancing toward: the existence that had brought Beverly and Asp to the verge of collapse, the Master of this dungeon Divine Realm.

It was an incomparably huge crystal egg that was suspended by the tough web of flesh. It hung vertically above a decaying four-poster bed.

Inside the crystal egg, a giant was curled up with his arms around his knees in a fetal position, his face buried between his knees.

The giant’s skin was shockingly pale. Snow-white hair surrounded his body like smoke. It filled the dark gaps, making him into a patch of pure white.

However, the structure of his body was extremely distorted, like soft wax that had been reshaped. Through the crystal eggshell that looked like a layer of ice, Myss could only make out a vague structure.

At the top of the crystal egg, there were beautiful cracks like a spiderweb.

The giant’s left arm was wrapped around his knees, while his deformed right arm was raised high. A thin, twisted finger protruded from the crack, burning with a cluster of pale flame.

From time to time, milky-white mucus dripped along the cracks and fell onto the four-poster bed below, turning into wriggling snow-white flesh. The four-poster bed was covered in white flesh, like accumulated wax drippings that were piled up.

Even more mucus drifted toward the smaller crystal eggs around it, slowly filling in the empty spaces inside them. A few eggs the size of fists were already full, vaguely revealing the appearance of baby rabbits.

Professor Gentry extended his wand without the slightest hesitation, and a ripple floated toward the enormous crystal egg.

The next second, along with a burst of exploding air, Professor Gentry was thrown backward. Salaar took two steps forward and barely blocked the Professor’s back with his body.

The pinnacle of human magic, one of the seven Archmages, Professor Gentry’s magic had no effect at all.

It was easily dissolved by that thing, like a reef scattering a wave.

Salaar placed the unconscious priest among the soft threads and looked intently at that strange god.

“You two really are… not simple…”

Professor Gentry coughed twice and glanced at Beverly, who was clutching her head and muttering chaotically in place.

“Then aren’t they even less simple?”

Myss snorted and looked toward the survivors walking toward the giant. “Those guys are definitely being controlled by this thing. They led us all the way here, and you actually fell for it!”

Professor Gentry had been acting mysterious the whole journey here, refusing to say a word. Myss had thought this guy had a backup plan, but when the moment of truth arrived, the Professor had proven utterly powerless.

Professor Gentry lightly shook his head. He looked at the burning god with eyes stained completely blood-red but still didn’t explain.

Myss instinctively looked toward Salaar and discovered that Salaar was still thinking, remaining equally quiet.

“Banquet… Banquet…” Only Jinx kept murmuring nonstop in the priest’s arms. “The banquet is about to start…”

Humans were troublesome enough.

Since Roman was dead, there were only two possibilities for the origin of the Master of the Divine Realm.

Either an exploration genius before Roman had been trapped here and received V.O.R.’s invitation letter, or the Abnormal Fruit had already appeared at the end of the Night Scourge under Hope’s rule.

The second possibility was especially shocking. It might even be related to Salaar. Myss felt an absolute imperative to uncover the truth.

Myss raised his wrist and used Fork to shoot out a fine thread.

He did his utmost to suppress its presence, making it look unlike an attack. Gentry was too useless. He had to test this thing’s depths.

Whether because he was too much of a genius, or because the Master of the Divine Realm disdained such trivialities, the magic thread smoothly climbed onto the shell of the crystal egg and quickly invaded the crack.

In the next instant, the earth abruptly trembled.

The white flame burning at the fingertip of the Master shook violently, like a dying candle in a gale. It made an ominous, soft sound, and its light instantly dimmed by more than half.

The large and small crystal eggs around them flickered nonstop, and the unformed little rabbits inside kicked uneasily. The fleshy threads around the crystal eggs twitched wildly, and the majestic pressure instantly became chaotically disordered.

Professor Gentry let out a muffled groan and almost collapsed onto Salaar. Amid the storm-like chaotic fluctuations, his magic became unstable, his face sometimes old and sometimes young.

Only, whether that face was old or young, it carried an unchanging heaviness.

“The banquet… Oh no…”

The rabbit Jinx moved in the priest’s arms. It twisted its deformed body and pressed closer to Father Kalen’s chest, like a child drawing warmth.

“No… The banquet…”

Myss shuddered and instinctively withdrew the thread in an instant.

Salaar finally spoke. “What is it?”

“This thing…” Myss frowned at that terrifying god and lowered his voice. “This thing is an empty shell. It’s about to die.”

Beneath that incomparably powerful fluctuation, the aura of the Abnormal Fruit was pitifully faint, exactly like sugarcane pulp after they had been chewed dry.

That terrifying pressure from earlier had now changed in nature. It seemed more like a beast putting on a show of force for its enemies when its oil had run dry and its lamp was spent.

But why?

If the Master of the Divine Realm wanted to live a few more days, it would have been better to simply scare them away. It had no need to control those survivors and lure them here… Wait.

If not for the survivors insisting on advancing, and if Professor Gentry hadn’t acted as if possessed and refused to stop them, they would have already left this place when faced with such a powerful and unknown existence.

If these were not the wishes of the Master of the Divine Realm, then the ones that were truly wrong were—

Myss held his breath and looked toward the five survivors.

Sean stood at the foot of the four-poster bed, with his four physically incomplete companions behind him. Under the god’s chaotic pressure, their expressions didn’t change at all.

They wore stiff smiles and looked at the weak god before them. Only now did Myss realize that those stiff smiles weren’t forced. Rather, they… could only smile like that.

Their bodies were this weak, yet they remained unmoved under the pressure of a god. There was only one kind of person in this world who could do that.

The dead.

Silence spread through the air.

Myss was clearly not the only one who had realized this, nor was he the first person to realize it.

The wide-open exit of the Divine Realm, the clearly marked traps, the rabbits who cared for humans, the god who made dreams come true.

And the miraculous “survivors” who played along with this crude fairy tale.

“We won’t be fooled by a pile of bones. If you want to play an evil god, you’re eight hundred years too early.”

Sean stretched his hand toward that weak god. It was too far away, and he couldn’t touch it.

He calmly withdrew his hand and gently pressed it against his chest, his smile not fluctuating in the slightest.

“The fairy tale is over. It’s time to wake up.”

“The ones who should leave this place aren’t us, Captain.”

---

The author has something to say:

The truth will be revealed in the next chapter. I’ll hold back and make the next chapter a long one—!

For these two, the true battleground isn’t in combat—it’s in **** [doge emoji]

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 68: Crystal Eggs

When the survivors knocked on the door, Myss was dozing while hugging his “Hero Cushion”.

Counting from the moment they had entered the dungeon, he had gone nearly two days without proper sleep. Previously, extending his magic had consumed a great deal of his physical strength, and Lord Archdemon had practically turned into a boneless lump of meat paste.

Salaar helped him up twice, but he still couldn’t manage to drag Myss upright. He had no choice but to reach out and let healing magic sweep over Myss in an unreasonable rush, erasing the physical exhaustion of his body.

However, Myss was still a limp lump. “So sleepy…”

As he mumbled, he burrowed his entire head into Salaar’s collar, using this to escape the knocking at the door.

Fine. Mental fatigue. Salaar understood.

Before entering the seal, he had once poured concentrated stimulant potion into himself. The result was that his body had been so excited he couldn’t sleep, while his head had been full of numb drowsiness.

Besides healing, he had to use some other way to wake him up, such as…

Salaar grabbed Myss by the back of his collar, lifted Lord Archdemon, who had gone completely soft, and lightly bit his lips.

“——!!!”

Myss instantly sprang two steps away, looking more awake than he had ever been.

He touched his lower lip, his face revealing a bewildered conflict. Lord Archdemon seemed to simultaneously regret that he tried to dodge, while also feeling relieved he hadn’t been completely dominated. His pupils were moving so fast they nearly left afterimages.

Salaar’s expression didn’t change as he buttoned his clothes and straightened his lapels.

Excellent. He had improved too. His heartbeat had been chaotic for an instant just now, but it was still within controllable range… His chest and back were sour and hot, and because of the shiver, a thin layer of sweat had broken out. But those abnormalities were covered by clothes, just as easy to hide as his heartbeat.

‘If it’s hidden, then there’s no issue,’ Saint Salaar thought solemnly.

“We’re awake,” Salaar called toward the door.

These people were rather polite. They had left them possible time to get dressed.

“There was an explosion outside. Professor Gentry and the rabbits have come into conflict.”

Sean’s tone was extremely certain. “You two come with us. Once we successfully meet up with the Professor, you’ll be free. Take your companions and escape as soon as possible.”

His tone carried a hint of command, as though it was only natural.

“You’re not escaping?” Salaar knowingly asked.

“We’re going to rescue Roman. You go first.” Sean spoke extremely quickly, and a faint urgency was hidden in his words. “If you don’t believe me, we can all go greet the Professor together.”

Salaar and Myss exchanged a glance. Neither of them spoke.

Never mind Salaar, even Myss could sense that the atmosphere was wrong.

This Divine Realm was powerful, yet it had always been all thunder and little rain. It hadn’t truly done anything to them. Myss always had the feeling that he was an outsider. He had a premonition that if they were willing to abandon the priest on the spot, they could simply walk away without consequences.

At this very moment, these survivors were even actively driving them outward. Unfortunately, Myss couldn’t possibly abandon the Abnormal Fruit locator, and he would be even less likely to abandon the Abnormal Fruit here.

“Then let’s go see the Professor first.”

Myss said this decisively, and Salaar silently nodded.

Perhaps because they had confirmed whether Professor Gentry was genuine or not, this time, the survivors didn’t tie them up. Instead, they brought them along and left the room together.

Of the five people, two had broken legs and one was seriously ill, so their speed was hardly brisk. However, there were no rabbit guards and no rabbit pursuers. There was only a rumbling sound not far away.

The group followed the mushroom oil lamps forward and ran straight into Professor Gentry and the other two.

Beverly had blasted down the door leading to the hall, and from the other side of the ruins came the faint sound of rabbits scolding them. Asp had revealed himself. In one hand, he was holding the lop-eared rabbit Clover, who was angrily berating them.

“Bad humans, bad humans!” It struggled endlessly, its three-petaled mouth moving rapidly. “These stones will take forever to move! The banquet was clearly about to start!”

Professor Gentry was the first to notice them.

“Professor, it really is you!” Joy appeared on Sean’s face, but he didn’t rush forward.

Sure enough, Professor Gentry made a “stop” gesture. Asp held the rabbit in his left hand while hurriedly pulling out a magic device that looked like an old-fashioned camera with his right. He aimed it in their direction and took a snapshot with a click.

Amid a sizzling sound, a black-and-white photograph emerged from the bottom of the magic device.

“They’re not illusions, Professor. They’re all physical entities,” Asp said.

Only then did Sean stride forward. “This place can’t create things out of thin air. We tested it for a long time. Its principles are very similar to your…”

At this point, he suddenly stopped and cast an isolation spell on the rabbit. A gray barrier wrapped around the lop-eared rabbit, enclosing all of its scolding inside.

They could neither hear nor see it. Of course, the reverse was also true.

“…In short, Roman was taken by a monster while protecting us.”

Only after making sure the lop-eared rabbit Clover couldn’t hear them speak did Sean continue. “We know Roman is in the castle’s master bedroom. He won’t die that easily. He must still be there!”

Beverly still had the joy of seeing familiar faces again on her face, but when she heard this, her expression quickly dimmed. “Sean, Roman’s status crystal shattered.”

“Status crystals aren’t one hundred percent accurate. Haven’t there been special cases of false death before?”

Sean didn’t waver for even half a second. “Roman must still be alive. Even if he’s dead, we have to see his body with our own eyes.”

“Sean!” Even Asp, who was poor with words, grew anxious. “Look at your team members. This isn’t the time to let your emotions cloud your judgment!”

“We’ll evacuate immediately and send all of you back to the surface. Then the Professor can bring us back for another trip. If Roman is alive, one day won’t make a difference.”

Beverly immediately supported Asp. “Everyone is injured. Forcing yourselves will only hold us back! Right, Fiona? Don’t you hate pain the most?”

She looked at the woman whose neck was wrapped in bandages.

Fiona gave her a faint smile and gently shook her head. In Myss’s eyes, her fox Magibase sat quietly by her feet, looking up at her.

Faced with Sean’s absurd and impulsive request, the survivors remained silent. Not a single person objected.

“The monster is in the master bedroom.” Sean lowered his head, his voice hoarse. “Please. We have to confirm it with our own eyes… He’s our captain…”

“As long as that door is opened… We deliberately conserved our strength just for this moment…”

Beverly looked to Professor Gentry for help. From beginning to end, the Archmage hadn’t said a word.

He only looked at the pale, haggard survivors with an expressionless face. After staring for more than ten seconds, he sighed.

“All right,” Professor Gentry said, then turned toward Salaar and Myss.

“This is our internal matter. You two may wait here for a short while.”

Salaar withdrew his usual demeanor of a brash youth. “One of my guys was also taken. He’s in the master bedroom. I heard that place is very dangerous.”

“I’m very curious. Do you actually know what this ‘magical space’ is? You take the word of survivors who’ve been missing for more than half a year at face value, without even bothering to conduct any further verification.”

Seeing Salaar change his face at lightning speed, Sean looked at him in some surprise for a while.

However, the survivors’ gazes quickly focused on Gentry again, the urgency in their eyes nearly overflowing.

“Don’t insult the Professor…” Asp was displeased.

“My apologies, but from how the development is unfolding, it reminds me too much of a fairy tale.” Salaar said, “An extraordinary mage appears and joins the survivors to fight the monster. I thought only fairy tales glossed over pre-battle investigation with a single sentence.”

Professor Gentry looked deeply at him.

“It seems the two of you understand this kind of ‘magical space’ very well,” he said in a low, steady voice. “No need to worry. I know what I’m doing.”

“Let’s go together. We can’t just leave the priest behind.” Myss quietly whispered into Salaar’s ear, “We’ll treat it as our pre-battle warm-up. If the situation is wrong, we can just escape first.”

He wasn’t so arrogant that he would underestimate the Master of the Divine Realm, but when it came to merely fleeing for his life, Myss still had confidence. At worst, they would follow at the very back. If the sky collapsed, it would hit Gentry first.

Salaar sighed and raised his voice. “All right. We’ll come too.”

Since things had come this far, Tass no longer hid himself. He emerged from Myss’s hair and flew around Myss and Salaar with a heavy heart.

Fork and Knife had already turned into their weapon forms and were equipped on the two of them.

A Dragon Fae in front, two little alchemical snakes behind.

From the corner of his eye, Myss looked at the survivors. Upon discovering that they had hidden their strength, those humans’ faces showed no unease from the plan changing. Instead, a trace of dark joy flashed across them.

Myss secretly arched his back and walked behind Gentry with Salaar, openly craning his head around.

They would have to explore the master bedroom sooner or later anyway, and this way, he could conveniently observe Professor Gentry’s spellcasting methods too. If things took a turn for the worse, he was fully prepared to grab Salaar and make a run for it.

As the group approached, two suits of armor at the door blocked their way.

Professor Gentry casually waved his wand, and the helmets of the two suits of armor flew off with a sound, as if they had been decapitated on the spot.

The helmets clattered to the ground and rolled into the darkness.

Yet the armor bodies did not fall.

“Oh no, the helmets are gone!”

“Who’s going to give the signal? Which way do we move now?”

“Bad humans are too bad. I don’t know magic, waaah…”

Several round-headed pygmy rabbits squeezed out of the neck holes, and a few little rabbits like white dumplings also crawled out of the helmets that had been sent flying.

The rabbits responsible for the helmets dizzyingly pawed at the air, and the helmets shook with them before clanging down again and trapping the rabbits back inside.

Without the helmet rabbits giving orders, the rabbits inside the armor were at a loss. The two suits of armor twisted and turned in an extremely awkward posture and quickly lost their balance.

“I quit! I’m not doing this anymore!”

The armor fell to the ground in a sorry state, and the pygmy rabbits let out tiny screams as they rushed out through the neck holes of the armor.

Myss and Salaar: “…”

The entire process took less than fifteen seconds. The willpower of these furballs was truly beyond words.

Professor Gentry, however, didn’t relax in the slightest. He silently stepped over the panicked pygmy rabbits and raised his hand toward the large door.

Strange magic fluctuations spread out. The huge double doors opened on their own. The fountain-pen wand was pressed into the Professor’s palm, making his posture look very much like he was casting spells barehanded.

A wind of decay blew out again, mixed with extremely fierce magic fluctuations—it felt like a violent winter gale.

The Dragon Fae immediately descended and hovered between the two of their heads. “That’s it!”

Professor Gentry didn’t immediately enter the door. Asp understood and untied a cloth bag. Countless lighting magic devices like fireflies shot out, clinging to all directions like bullets.

In an instant, the space inside the room became as bright as day.

“My God!” Beverly, who was walking in front, suddenly covered her mouth.

Myss immediately craned his head to look, but he couldn’t recognize what he was seeing at all.

The enormous master bedroom was filled with pale, threadlike things. Some were thick, some were thin, and they stuck between everything like spiderwebs. In the middle, there were translucent egg-shaped objects.

The size of those eggs was subtle. Their texture was a little like crystal, and they were covered in dense patterns… Runes?

The larger eggs could fit an adult inside, while the smaller ones could only wrap around a pygmy rabbit. As for the threads adhering to them, they had the texture of raw meat, and their surfaces were coated in a glossy layer of mucus.

They almost filled the entire space. Myss could only see two or three meters inside the door.

“Th-this is…” Asp began uncertainly.

“An ancient alchemical life incubator.”

Professor Gentry and Salaar spoke at the same time.

The difference was that Professor Gentry’s voice was powerful and resonant, while Salaar’s mutter was heard only by Myss.

Myss turned his head and discovered that Salaar was staring intently at that “incubator”, which seemed almost like a living organism itself. He couldn’t quite read Salaar’s emotions.

“I made something similar before, for transforming pets and livestock for nobles.”

Salaar immediately sensed Myss’s gaze. “A real incubator shouldn’t be this… chaotic. This one has gone out of control.”

Humans three hundred years ago could mess around to this extent?

Myss frowned and studied the strange thing before him. There was absolutely nothing about this in the slave’s memories, nor, for that matter, in Antis’s memories. The ancient alchemy magic Salaar spoke of seemed to have disappeared entirely from the annals of history.

“An incubator from three hundred years ago couldn’t possibly be preserved this well…!”

Asp’s voice trembled slightly. His focus was clearly on something else.

The survivors stood quietly beside him, their expressions remained unchanged.

Professor Gentry’s gaze swept over Salaar and Myss. Then he aimed at the nearest and largest incubator, drawing a circle with his wand.

“Hiss.” Myss sucked in a cold breath.

It was that strange magic fluctuation again.

Right in front of them, the chosen incubator rapidly shriveled.

The intact crystal egg became dilapidated and covered in dust. The threads connected to it either withered or simply disappeared, leaving only a crumbling eggshell behind.

Compared to the plump, living incubators around it, this thing was like an ink dot on parchment.

Myss worked hard to analyze the magic fluctuation from moments ago. “…Is this temporal regression?”

“No.”

Without waiting for Beverly to speak, Professor Gentry personally answered him.

“True temporal regression can only be done by a god. I merely briefly reproduced the ‘past.’ Its essence won’t change.”

After saying this, he expanded the range of the spell.

The incubators blocking their path vanished, leaving only some bleak fragments and remains.

That terrifying magic fluctuation was still growing stronger. Myss had the unpleasant feeling of needles stabbing into the gaps between his bones. He quietly focused his mind and used his magic clothing to enhance his perception.

“…The priest is over there!” Myss almost immediately caught the priest’s aura.

Gentry turned his wand and reduced all the incubators in that direction to ruins. With nothing blocking their view, they saw Father Kalen at a glance.

The priest wasn’t far from the entrance. His tall body was curled up like an infant’s, squeezed inside an exceptionally huge crystal egg. His face was pale and his aura was weak, but the breathing of his chest was still stable enough.

The rabbit “Jinx” was still melted onto his body, its red eyes faintly closed, as if it were having a beautiful dream.

And beside the priest was a crystal egg of similar size.

Inside the egg lay a scattered human skeleton.

Beside its skull were dried white hairs. The rest of the bones were wrapped in an adventurer’s clothes, their style exactly the same as those worn by Sean and the others.

“Roman…” Beverly let out a choked sob.

She struggled to suppress the urge to cry and took several deep breaths. “Quick! Save the Father and leave this place! While the existence here still hasn’t acted up, Sean?”

She turned around, and her hair instantly stood on end.

“Sean?!”

Sean was smiling. The survivors were smiling.

Their faces wore identical strange, stiff smiles. There was no grief and no collapse. Five pairs of eyes stared in unison at that skeleton.

Sean placed one hand on the egg containing the bones, but his gaze looked toward the deeper darkness.

“Good evening, Captain.”

He murmured, “…We’ve come to make the dream come true.”

---

The author has something to say:

Myss: Should I dodge when Salaar kisses me? If I don’t dodge, he’ll suffer if he loves me, but what if he hasn’t fallen for me? Then it feels like I’m being played. But if I dodge, I lose a good opportunity. (begins looping) [melting]

Salaar: Pretends he wasn’t moved, randomly bluffing to one Archdemon (well, there’s only one). [OK]

You villain.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 67: Explosion

The ruins were silent.

In the cracks between shattered stones, a pitch-black thread twisted and crawled, slipping through the most hidden gaps.

It was barely faster than an earthworm. Its movements were shaky and unsteady, and now and then, it bumped into tiny pieces of rock. Every time it hit an obstacle, the thread would twist in place a few times, then smack the stone twice with two little pops.

If someone could look down on the entire lodging area from above, they would discover dozens of identical pitch-black threads struggling and wriggling in every direction.

Their center was in the storage room of one of the servants’ quarters.

Inside the storage room, Myss had both hands pressed to the floor, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. He bit his lip tightly and forced those fine threads of magic power to probe farther.

To be honest, his power was annihilation—a force utterly unsuited for a task like this. But Myss simply couldn’t stand letting Salaar take charge of the plan while he waited there doing nothing. Last time, he had obediently waited inside the seal, and what he had gotten for his trouble was that damned body-swap incident.

If he didn’t do something, he couldn’t calm down at all.

So not long ago, while watching the Knife and Fork crawl along the base of the wall, Myss had come up with an incredible idea.

“We can’t contact the priest, so the priest definitely can’t contact us either.”

“Now that the scheduled contact time has passed, they’ll find a way to investigate the situation. To avoid traps, the one who comes out to investigate will definitely be the Dragon Fae.”

Myss reasoned with great earnestness. “Dragon Faes are extremely sensitive to magic. As long as he discovers traces of my magic power, he’ll be able to find us in no time. I can extend my fine threads of magic outward and use them as guiding markers.”

Salaar thought about it and decided it was feasible. “As long as you can do it.”

“Of course I can!” Myss was full of confidence. “Isn’t it just controlling magic? Simple!”

…Simple my ass! This is exhausting!

Once he actually tried it, Myss discovered that controlling magic at a long distance was no less difficult than doing push-ups. Looking at it, it seemed like no big deal. Actually doing it was a disaster.

He gritted his teeth and extended his magic. His strength was far inferior to his original body’s, and the farther those fine threads crawled, the harder they became to control, increasing exponentially in difficulty. If he lost focus even slightly, they would scatter.

Previously, whether he was manipulating fine threads or weaving black gauze, Myss had always operated at close range. When had he ever suffered like this?

But he had already said those words so he couldn’t show weakness in front of Salaar.

Salaar took out a cloth towel and helped Myss wipe away his sweat. “If you can’t hold on, don’t force yourself. Just go to sleep.”

“You’re the one who can’t hold on.” Myss bared his teeth. “I’m especially good at holding on. I’ll be fine all night!”

A drop of sweat trickled into his left eye, but with both hands occupied, he couldn’t spare one to rub it away; he could only blink furiously in response.

One hour, two hours, three hours…

Myss ached all over and was so tired he was about to stop breathing. His fine threads advanced at about the same speed as a snail and still hadn’t reached the edge of the lodging area after ages.

“Hey, this has nothing to do with you. You should go to sleep.”

Lord Archdemon trembled as he turned toward Salaar, who was staring at him, trying to hide his shaking wrists.

Salaar looked at Myss with unhurried composure. “If you’re tired, then this works out perfectly —we can just go to sleep together.”

“I’m. Not. Tired. At. All!” Myss declared between ragged breaths. “But I think you’re sleepy. Go sleep.”

“I’m. Not. Tired. At. All!” Salaar held back his laughter. “Since you’re not tired and I’m not sleepy, we can just continue.”

“I said you’re sleepy, so you’re sleepy!” A hint of menace entered Myss’s tone. “One of us has to get proper rest… cough, cough…”

“Oh.” Salaar raised his eyebrows. “All right, then. I’ll sleep first. Call me if anything happens.”

Myss immediately nodded vigorously, flinging off several drops of sweat.

Fork lay limp beside his feet like a noodle. It was hard to tell whether it had simply fainted or actually died. Knife had somehow plucked a small tuft of glowing white mushrooms and was using its tail to hold them like an offering of flowers for mourning.

Salaar slowly and deliberately returned to the mushroom circle. He lay down at an unhurried pace and closed his eyes. Five minutes passed, and his breathing became steady.

A few seconds after he “fell asleep,” there came a thud nearby.

Myss collapsed onto the floor and panted heavily. Afraid that Salaar would see him making a fool of himself, he stifled his gasps into barely audible sounds, which only made it sound as if he had burned his tongue.

Heavens, Salaar had never had such a painful time suppressing his laughter.

“Wh-why are you putting yourself through this for no reason?” Fork finally recovered a little and asked in a thread of a voice.

“If I want to survive, I have to work hard and become stronger… It’s not like anyone’s teaching me how…”

Myss suppressed two coughs, his words completely justified. “Of course I have to try everything…”

The amusement in Salaar’s smile faded slightly.

Myss looked down on humans and didn’t care about the human world. Yet this Archdemon possessed nothing more than a strong sense of pride. He couldn’t be called “arrogant,” whether inside the seal or outside it. Myss had never looked down on Salaar as an opponent just because Salaar was human.

To be fair, if it hadn’t been for that inexplicable body-swap incident, Myss would have already broken the seal without suffering a single injury.

Now, Myss was even willing to put in hard work to learn. Salaar had been observing him carefully. After several hours of stumbling practice, Myss’s fine threads of magic power had become much more solid.

This kind of person made the best companion—and most formidable enemy.

…And also the object he admired most.

“Oh, ow!”

The object of his admiration suddenly let out a strange cry. “Someone touched my magic thread. It must be the Dragon Fae! He discovered me. I really am a genius!”

Salaar: “…”

Salaar pretended to have been startled awake. “What happened?”

Myss wiped the sweat from his face. “I’m a genius.”

“I know. What else?”

Salaar simply threw a cleansing spell at Myss. Instantly, Myss’s sweat matted hair fluffed up again and his face looked considerably cleaner.

“That Dragon Fae will come looking for us soon,” Myss said smugly.

Unfortunately, Tass, who came looking for them, brought nothing but bad news.

“I sensed Mr. Myss’s magic and followed it all the way here. The people next door are extremely alert, and it took me quite some effort to sneak in.”

Relying on his small body, Tass squeezed in through the gap under the storage room door, covered in bits of moss.

“I’ll make this brief. Father Kalen has been contaminated by that rabbit named Jinx and was brought all the way into the nearby master bedroom. There is definitely something in that room. The magic fluctuations leaking from inside are even stronger than the Perfected Creation.”

After saying this, he quickly added the related details, especially the details of how Father Kalen had been controlled.

“What a coincidence?” Myss’s eyebrows moved. “According to that group of humans next door, Roman was also taken away by a monster.”

Kalen was protected by divine power. The one who could directly manipulate him was most likely the master of this Divine Realm.

Now they didn’t even need to search for the master of the Divine Realm. They only needed to wait for Professor Gentry to arrive, attack the Master, and rescue the priest and Roman.

He quickly looked toward Salaar, his face clearly saying, “See how useful my move is? Look how smoothly things are going.”

But Salaar didn’t respond immediately.

Yes… It was too much of a coincidence.

Ever since entering this place, he had always felt a subtle sense that something was off…

“The Rabbit Hole” wasn’t an official term. It was merely a tongue-in-cheek nickname used within their circles—yet, sure enough, the ruins turned out to actually be filled with rabbits.

This Divine Realm was complete and powerful, and its Master would even abduct people, yet the entrance to the Divine Realm was completely open, allowing visitors to leave at any time.

The rabbits claimed they hated humans, but in reality, they had transferred everyone to relatively safe places, avoiding the vicious traps set by the Hope family.

The Master, whom Myss couldn’t sense even after using all his strength, had just lightly exposed Their position right under Tass’s nose. Their residence wasn’t even far from them.

…In the end, all they needed to do was defeat the evil Master of this castle and rescue their companions.

The entire sequence of events was unfolding like a fair tale riddled with plot holes.

But after thinking for a long while, Salaar couldn’t identify the trap within it. Every single point was real. He couldn’t deny them.

“Let’s wait for Professor Gentry’s message,” he could only say in the end.

Myss floated unhappily in front of him.

“…It’s thanks to you that Tass could bring the news in time,” Salaar quickly added.

Only then did Myss drift away in a good mood.

……

“It must be this door.”

Asp held a mechanical magic device the size of a book and spoke with absolute certainty. “All kinds of readings inside the door are abnormal, and once you’re more than one step away, they can no longer be detected…”

“This is a very obvious characteristic of a magical space…”

“Isn’t it because of this?”

Beverly pointed at the words on the archway: [Warning: Special Magical Space Ahead]. Under the illumination of the lighting magic device, the words formed from emeralds were exceptionally eye-catching.

“I only trust my own detection results…” Asp muttered.

For once, Beverly didn’t retort. The excitement on her face had faded somewhat. “Professor, could this be…”

“The legendary ‘Divine Realm’,” Professor Gentry said softly.

“I thought that was just a concept fabricated by fanatics.” Beverly looked at the door with a little fear. “In other words, there’s a ‘god’ inside? I mean, a god like the Father of Rhythm?”

“According to Sean, the one who kidnapped Roman is very likely an ancient god lying dormant here. But there are absolutely no records of this in books, and the Hope family has no related records either.”

“Not every god who is worshipped actually existed, and not everything that exists is known to humanity.”

Professor Gentry was silent for quite a while before speaking calmly. “A seeker of knowledge should remain humble at all times, Beverly. Before witnessing it with your own eyes, don’t make reckless guesses based on personal experience.”

“Yes, Professor.” Beverly lowered her head.

Unlike other Archmages, Professor Gentry liked to wander the world. He knew some esoteric knowledge that could be called taboo. Faced with teachings like this, Beverly and Asp never pressed him on the source of his information.

They simply knew that Professor Gentry was right most of the time—the vast majority of the time.

The three of them stopped in front of the archway for only a few minutes before lifting their feet and stepping into the Divine Realm.

Professor Gentry pulled out a wand from inside his robes.

The wand looked like a pure-gold fountain pen. Its shape was simple and dignified, with a rare yellow gem embedded in the cap. He silently moved the pen, and the shadows of the three of them instantly vanished. The soles of their shoes left no trace on the sand and stones.

“Invisibility magic, floating magic, and area soundproofing magic… for three people…” Asp counted the spells on his body. “Professor, won’t this consume too much of your energy?”

“The concentration of magic power in a Divine Realm is exceptionally high.” Professor Gentry replied, adopting the tone of an instructor. “Under a concentration of magic like this, casting spells becomes relatively easy.”

Beverly showed an eager expression.

Professor Gentry: “…However, your mastery of magic isn’t yet sufficient, and you can’t accurately estimate the limits. It could easily cause spellcasting deviations or excessive overdraft.”

Beverly immediately settled down, shifting the topic. “Professor, are we really going to do as Sean and the others suggested?”

“Logically speaking, moving the injured in advance is the most basic of basics. Their injuries aren’t light. At the very least, they should withdraw from the danger zone first… Sean is Roman’s vice-captain, after all. Without Roman there, he should be even less emotional.”

Professor Gentry didn’t answer her. He crouched down to examine the bright mushrooms that had suddenly appeared inside the Divine Realm.

A little farther away, rabbits hurried back and forth. Their baskets were packed full, and they remained oblivious to the presence of the three intruders.

“These rabbits aren’t rabbits. My appraisal magic didn’t take effect.”

Seeing that Professor Gentry didn’t respond, Beverly immediately gave up discussing those tangential matters.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but for some reason, she felt that her Professor seemed to be in a rather poor mood.

Asp, however, remained completely oblivious. He followed the Professor and poked the mushrooms. “These mushrooms contain an extremely high amount of magic… I’ve never seen such pure lumps of condensed magic power before…”

“Pay attention to where the rabbits step, as well as the remaining footprints on the ground. Don’t step anywhere the rabbits haven’t stepped.”

After looking for a long while, Professor Gentry straightened. “Beverly, I’ll remove the magic on you. Go negotiate with that group of rabbits. Remember…”

He pondered briefly. “Remember to go along with what they say and have a better attitude. As for your identity, don’t say anything.”

Beverly was somewhat astonished. Unfortunately, they were standing in a dark and terrifying Divine Realm, not a bright and sunny research room, so she asked nothing.

Sure enough, the moment Beverly appeared, the rabbits gathered around her in great alarm.

“Heavens, heavens! How did the soldier rabbits not find her?”

“Take her away! Lock her up with the first batch of humans!”

“Lock her together, lock her together! She came to find them anyway!”

Beverly stood where she was, her expression a little dark.

She suddenly understood why Professor Gentry had told her not to introduce herself.

Only the rabbit they had caught at the entrance had seen them, yet these rabbits recognized her at a glance. And they all knew she had come to search for the survivors.

Just what were these rabbits…

A chill rose in her heart, and she let the rabbits escort her into the castle. Professor Gentry and Asp maintained the invisibility magic and silently followed behind.

The rabbits led them all the way into the hall.

Green, downy moss covered the remains of bones and corpses. Countless mushroom oil lamps were suspended in midair by fine strings, giving the place a floating, dreamlike quality.

On every long table sat teacup ferns. A strange fragrance drifted from silver wine jugs, and on the silver plates lay biscuits, cakes, and steaks made from mushrooms. Beside the plates were small wooden knives and forks suitable for a rabbit’s paws.

Every rabbit was excited. They happily hopped past Beverly’s feet and greeted her in good spirits.

“Banquet! Banquet!”

“The banquet is about to start! Hooray!”

“No more work! No more work!”

These rabbits were adorable. Their fur was clean and snow-white, and they wore pretty little accessories. Yet, when Beverly cast her infallible appraisal magic on them, the only feedback she received was a cluster of question marks.

Faced with unknown beings like this, she really couldn’t relax.

Magic had been so rare more than three hundred years ago. Could there really be some forgotten god? She knew the widely known concept of the “Chaos Archdemon”, but…

Beverly thought as she walked.

However, just as she passed through the hall and entered the corridor leading to the lodging area, something suddenly changed.

Boom!

The corridor full of ruins exploded without warning. A pile of stones fell from above and almost smashed into Beverly.

Beverly was a little stunned. This was indeed the explosive type of magic she specialized in, but she had not done anything yet!

Not far away, in the servants’ quarters…

Amid the rumbling tremors, Sean raised his eyes. On that rigid face of his, a trace of a smile finally appeared.

At the same time, the same smile appeared one after another on the faces of the other survivors.

---

The author has something to say:

Although Lord Archdemon likes to call himself a genius, he’s actually very hardworking and pragmatic. [pats head]

If he really looked down on Salaar, he would have gone on the offensive back when he was trapped in the seal.

…However, Mr. Hero previously thought he had never been noticed. Little did he know that the sparks were practically staring holes into him. [OK]

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 66: The Double Doors

Lynx, gray wolf, hyena, fox, cheetah.

With one glance, Myss saw that these people’s Magibases filled the already sizable room to the brim. They were the real deal, all outstanding in their own right.

He shifted slightly on instinct, about to use magic to snap the chains, but in doing so, brushed against Salaar’s warm body.

Salaar’s back wasn’t drawn especially tight, which meant the situation wasn’t too dangerous. So Myss didn’t hurry to break free. He kept silent and waited with unusual patience.

Within that warmth behind him, something cool slipped into his sleeve. The instant they had been bound, Salaar had flicked his snake staff, turning Knife back to normal.

“Leave it to Salaar for now,” Knife whispered.

Seizing the moment while the others were distracted, it slipped into Myss’s messy long hair and quietly bit off Myss’s communication badge.

“We’ll contact the Professor.”

The young man tore the badge off Salaar’s collar, then tugged at Myss’s collar and chest as well. Unfortunately for him, he was a step too late and failed to find the badge on Myss, so he had to give up.

His fingertips were cold. Myss gave him a sideways look.

The young man had filthy black hair and pale green eyes. There was barely any color in his face, and his breath carried a damp, unpleasant odor, like a mud pit filled with rainwater.

“We got separated from Professor Gentry and the others, got captured by those rabbits outside, then snuck out.” Salaar continued earnestly, “Since the misunderstanding is cleared up, could you untie us now? This gentleman—”

“Sean.” The gaunt young man introduced himself curtly. His lynx Magibase sat quietly at his feet.

“All right, Mr. Sean.” Salaar remained good-natured. “What exactly are you still worried about?”

Sean gave the remaining four people a meaningful glance. The woman with bandages wound around her neck, the one whose Magibase was a fox, nodded to him.

“I told you, we’ll contact Professor Gentry.” Sean said stiffly, “But until we see Professor Gentry with our own eyes, you two are staying here.”

‘These humans certainly are cautious,’ Myss thought.

If he and Salaar had hostile intentions and had given that badge the false hope of being able to contact Professor Gentry, then the badge itself could have become something like the moss flower potion, making the survivors believe they were speaking to Gentry.

“I get it. You mean the miraculous ‘dreams come true’ power in this place. You’re afraid that badge might be fake!”

Salaar sounded absurdly carefree. “That really is a thing. There are a lot more people on the surface now too. Apparently, just by standing on this patch of land is enough to turn everyone’s luck.”

Sean’s stiff expression shifted. More than amazement, it looked like some kind of sorrow.

The others also stayed silent. They merely watched Myss and Salaar by the door, showing no real interest in talking.

“…But after seeing you, I started thinking this ‘dreams come true’ thing has limits too. If dreams really came true, you would have untied us by now, haha.”

Faced with the icy atmosphere, Salaar kept talking as if it didn’t bother him in the slightest, every bit the thoughtless young man in his early twenties.

“Personally, I don’t mind. But we still have two companions in the cells. If we don’t go back for too long, they’ll worry.”

“No. The danger level here far exceeds what you can imagine.” Sean said flatly, “If Professor Gentry really came, he’ll find his way here soon enough. You won’t lose much waiting a day or two.”

Salaar fell silent for a moment. “We remember the route out. We could quietly lead you out and rendezvous halfway. If Professor Gentry has to come in personally, wouldn’t that just put him right under the rabbits’ noses?”

The woman with the fox Magibase spoke up. “Roman still hasn’t come back. We can’t leave Roman behind, and the professor will understand that.”

“We’ll explain everything once we see Professor Gentry.”

All right. So they meant to keep them locked up here until Gentry and the others arrived.

Myss felt a little annoyed. Not because of the ropes, but because if this kept up, he wouldn’t get to use his “hero cushion” tonight.

Fortunately, the Divine Realm answered this tiny wish.

After giving them a brief explanation, Sean dragged the two of them to the storage room by the servants’ quarters and locked the door securely.

Before shutting them in, Sean didn’t forget to search them. But aside from the emergency rations and raspberry candies in Salaar’s pockets, he found no threatening magic artifacts. Knife and Fork had already slipped away into the shadows.

Chains rattled into place outside the storage room door. Then the thin chains binding the two of them snapped on their own and crawled out through the gap under the door.

The storage room was extremely cramped, though fortunately the ceiling was high enough that it didn’t feel oppressive.

Shelves made of rot-resistant wood lined the room. The woven baskets on them had rotted beyond repair, and the cloth inside crumbled at a touch. Brightly colored mushrooms grew in the corners, and soft moss covered the wood, making the decay look oddly cute.

Sean had left them two mushroom oil lamps, ensuring the interior remained brightly lit.

“Looks like they don’t have much malice. After being trapped in this hellhole for over half a year, they still didn’t touch our rations, and they even knew to untie us.”

Salaar rolled his wrists, casually tossed Myss a raspberry candy, then dropped a soundproofing spell on the door.

“They don’t need to. They’ve got the magic mushroom meals.”

Myss caught the candy in three moves and touched the red marks on his wrists. “So what now? You’re not seriously planning to wait here for the professor, are you?”

Salaar shook his head and snapped his fingers.

Knife crawled obediently into his palm, carrying the communication badge it had bitten off Myss. Salaar activated it and contacted the priest first, but—

Static crackled.

For the first time since they entered the Divine Realm, the communication device malfunctioned.

Even when Salaar switched to contacting the professor, the badge still gave no response at all.

Myss arched a brow. “The ‘dreams come true’ around here is getting more watered down by the minute.”

Their team had first fallen underground, and now the communication device was acting up. Were the lucky rabbit feet they bought even useful? This Abnormal Fruit’s power seemed way too weak.

Salaar examined the communicator for a while and found no sign of damage it should not have had. But unlike what Myss had expected, there was no panic on Salaar’s face.

“Forget it. Let’s rest first.”

Salaar tucked the badge back into his pocket.

That’s it? He’s not going to worry about the priest and the Dragon Fae?

Myss leaned toward Salaar and glared at him. To be honest, he didn’t care that much whether Tass lived or died. But the priest was one of their Abnormal Fruit workers; Myss didn’t particularly want anything bad happening to him.

“Don’t forget. Besides using divine power for divination, Kalen can conceal his presence, and Tass can hide inside a gem. As long as they behave themselves, they’re safer than we are.”

Salaar gave Myss an amused look.

“And so far, Sean hasn’t done anything to them. If I’m not mistaken, they made contact with Professor Gentry’s side without trouble.”

…Of course, whether the survivors believed it was really Gentry on the line was another matter.

Salaar could tell that after being trapped here for more than half a year, the survivors understood at least a little about the Divine Realm’s “dreams come true” power. Yet they had revealed very little about it.

These were the world’s best adventurers. Salaar could understand their composure. But toward two “younger helpers” who had come to rescue them, their attitude was a little too cold.

What exactly was going on in this Divine Realm?

Salaar lay down in a ring of mushrooms carpeted with thick moss, resting his head on a relatively soft cap. He concentrated, and before long the mushroom under his head softened until it felt like a goose-down pillow.

Mm. This kind of tiny dream was still possible.

Seeing Salaar lie down, Myss’s eyes lit up. He pounced with practiced ease and sprawled across Salaar’s chest, almost swallowing him whole with his warm body heat.

He was deeply dissatisfied with Salaar’s dirt-streaked shirt. With brisk efficiency, Myss pulled the front of Salaar’s shirt open until his whole chest was exposed. Then he rubbed his head against it and let out a satisfied sigh.

Mm. This kind of tiny dream was still coming true.

From this angle, they looked submerged in a mushroom forest. The mushroom oil lamps dimmed on their own, and faint green motes drifted through the air, making everything look dreamlike.

Myss’s head was heavy on his chest. His damp breathing brushed over Salaar’s bare heart. That gray-white hair spread out like water, and a few stray ends slipped into the opening of his shirt, making him itch.

Salaar quietly lifted a hand and rested it on the back of Myss’s head. Heat seeped through the strands, mixing with the cool, smooth feel of his hair. The sensation was strange in an unexpectedly pleasant way.

Myss immediately lifted his head, as if out of habit, about to shake the hand off. But just as his body tensed, his eyes shifted, and he gradually relaxed again.

Salaar’s palm slid smoothly from the back of his head down to his back, then to his hair ends. He caught the sidelong look Myss threw him and could practically hear the Archdemon’s thoughts. Myss was clearly waiting to see if Salaar would build up enough love on his own.

Salaar gently stroked the most formidable enemy he had ever faced in his life.

The steady, gentle touch made Myss drowsy. His eyelids drooped, and his breathing softened. A tiny green mote floated onto the tip of his nose. Myss wrinkled his nose in response, tilted his face upward, and let out a sneeze.

The faint light illuminated that young, beautiful face, and for a moment, Salaar found himself completely entranced.

He had never cared about the concepts of human beauty or ugliness. Under the swallowing force of the Night Scourge, aside from the relatively well-groomed rich, everyone wore haggard faces. Yet, even among the wealthy, the constant anxiety born of darkness and the unknown left them wearing expressions of perpetual misery.

When he absorbed Kendric Karns’s memories, there had been the face of a slave in them. Even such a striking face hadn’t moved him in the least.

But with this same skin being used by Myss, it felt completely different. Salaar couldn’t say exactly how.

He only thought of the pitch-black world outside that small window long ago.

The gaze of the Chaos Archdemon had poured down from the highest reaches; Its heartbeat had drowned everything like an ocean.

The tentacles on the ground had always been hard and tough, as cold as the gravel floor. Back then, he had no idea how vast his enemy truly was. Those few tentacles were the only part of It he had been able to touch.

…Did all of this count as another small dream?

Salaar shifted his right hand, his knuckles brushing Myss’s warm cheek.

Myss gave a sleepy hum, frowned a little, but still didn’t dodge. Salaar let his knuckles trace over his cheekbone, the corner of his mouth, and his jaw.

His hand came to rest at Myss’s neck, gently rubbing. Beneath the soft skin, he could clearly feel the pulse of life. Myss blew softly through his nose and still did not resist.

This feeling was really…

“Myss, Myss! I’m back!”

Fork squeezed in through the crack under the door, calling cheerfully.

Myss woke up at once. He sprang to his feet and slipped out from under Salaar’s hand.

Salaar’s chest suddenly felt empty. The heat and weight vanished together, and his heart skipped a beat with them. Keeping his thoughts composed, he calmly pulled his tunic back together.

“So? How did it go?” Myss scooped up the triumphant Fork.

Not long ago, Knife had entered the storage room ahead of them carrying Myss’s badge. Fork, meanwhile, had stayed outside and eavesdropped on the survivors’ private discussion.

“After they locked you up, they immediately put up a soundproofing spell and contacted Professor Gentry.”

Fork swished the tip of its tail smugly, like a wagging finger. “That conversation went pretty smoothly. Beverly and Asp practically cried. Professor Gentry said that, thanks to the information provided by the survivors, they’d be able to locate this place soon.”

At this point, it gave its tail a little suck. “Compared to those wailing students, the Professor was remarkably calm. He first checked a few private matters only the people in their group would know… Those survivors seem genuine.”

“Then what?” Salaar turned onto his side, listening with keen interest.

Fork tilted its head, its pomegranate-seed-like eyes staring at Salaar for a while.

“The survivors said they actually know where Roman is.”

“They said that if they abandon Roman, they won’t leave either, and begged the Professor to help them rescue him.”

“…They said Roman was captured by a monster and has become part of it. That he’s completely lost his mind.”

……

Shadowing the priest, who had fused with the rabbit, Tass beat his wings with mounting dread.

This environment wasn’t friendly to a Dragon Fae. There were no gems at all in the prison area, so he could only skim close to the shadows, hiding from time to time behind mushroom stalks.

The priest moved ahead calmly, as though he knew this terrain inside and out, without triggering a single trap. The rabbit, Jinx, remained attached to his body, murmuring in bliss, “So nice, so nice.”

With every step the priest took, the amorphous mass of rabbit flesh swayed with him, looking like a dollop of soft, melting cream.

In all his years as an assassin, Tass had never seen anything this horrifying. By comparison, human magic, even the most brutal form of torture magic, felt downright normal by comparison.

Worse, he tried again and again to follow the flow of power and still couldn’t understand what spell had taken hold of the priest. He couldn’t even think of a remotely similar case. If this Divine Realm was also V.O.R’s handiwork, then that thing was even more ominous than his worst fears.

Tass swallowed hard. “Your inheritance really isn’t enough to cover the commission after all, stupid Antis.”

“I’ll just count it as another discount for you. You’d better pray for me properly from the other side…”

Grinding his teeth, he kept following.

With that rabbit lump attached to him, the priest made it to the castle hall without trouble.

The busy rabbits showed no surprise at his appearance and kept doing their work. Only when he passed did they briefly pause, lower their heads, and close their pink eyes slightly, as though paying their respects.

The hall was astonishingly empty, though a few gemstone decorations appeared here and there. Mustering all his strength, Tass darted like lightning across the area teeming with rabbits.

“Please come this way!”

An adorable lop-eared rabbit hopped forward and led the priest through the renovated hall, past vividly colored paintings… and deeper into the darkest part of the ruins.

The priest’s pupils widened slightly, but his steps never hesitated.

Tass made a rough estimate. The castle from three hundred years ago and the current one weren’t that different. Judging from the direction, that rabbit was taking Father Kalen straight toward the castle’s core, the living quarters of the Hope family.

Past the entrance to the residential area, the corridors branched in every direction.

The instant the priest stepped inside, a series of mushroom oil lamps lit one after another, forming a bright path all the way to the master bedroom.

Tass hesitated.

The rabbits had shown no hostility, the magic flow seemed stable, and he was flying above the ground, making it hard to trigger any trap.

Fairly speaking, his hesitation had no concrete basis. It was purely instinct.

And yet he had become Tass Ga the Unfailing… or rather, the Only-Failed-Once. He knew this kind of intuition at the last second had saved his life on more than one occasion.

Tass stopped in the shadow of a gilt candlestick and watched Kalen walk farther and farther away.

The priest’s back faded in and out in the firelight, like black candlelight burning from a wick.

A few minutes later, that figure wrapped in a priest’s robe disappeared beyond the line of lights, behind a pair of massive double doors—

On either side of the doors stood two armored figures holding giant axes. Through the narrow gaps in their black helmets, several irregular red points of light blinked without end.

They moved with eerie agility and pulled open just a small crack for the priest. The opening was controlled with perfect precision, only wide enough for him to slip through sideways.

Not a single ray of light penetrated from the gap; there was only darkness so thick it seemed utterly impenetrable.

Yet in the few seconds those doors opened, a gust tinged with magic blew out.

It carried the damp smell unique to fungal slime, the cloying, metallic tang of decaying blood, and some kind of deliberate, utterly pure sense of oppression.

Tass darted behind a corner, clutching the wall as he retched violently.

The magic spilling from beyond the door hit him like a blow to the stomach, nearly smashing his organs apart. He felt an overwhelming repulsion. It was unquestionably aimed at him, like ten thousand beasts hissing at once, the air reeking of death.

As the doors shut, that skin-crawling pressure disappeared with them, leaving only a sheen of hot sweat on his back.

Without hope, Tass pulled out the badge and tried once more to contact Salaar. The other end still gave only static.

Fine. He would have to find Salaar and Myss himself and tell them what had happened.

Tass wiped the sweat from his forehead. His heart was still pounding furiously, hammering against his ribs with every beat.

Whatever was behind those doors, it was definitely not something to handle lightly.

---

The author has something to say:

Salaar: pet pet

Myss: If I let him pet me, Salaar might fall in love with me and get super scared

Salaar: pet pet pet pet

Myss: If I let him pet me… Salaar… zzzZZZ

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 65: The Rabbits Like You

“So what you mean is, these rabbits are keeping the earlier survivors alive?” Tass pressed his head against the gold badge, making a loud clicking sound with his tongue.

“That’s what Salaar and Myss just told us.” Beverly’s voice was unusually excited. “Only Roman is missing. But that’s Roman! If all of his companions are alive, then he has to be fine too.”

“That unlucky bastard probably went off exploring alone and got trapped in some burrow. When we find him, I’m absolutely going to laugh in his face.”

“Roman’s survival skills rank first in the world. Just by condensing drinking water with magic and protecting his internal organs, he could survive for about a year…” Asp sounded much brighter than before.

Professor Gentry didn’t comment directly. He only listened in silence.

Tass scratched his head vigorously. He could roughly guess how the people on the other end would take it. The lost Hope underground city just so happened to have two talking alchemical rabbits. Three hundred years later, they had bred an entire underground rabbit kingdom.

These alchemical lifeforms seemed to have run straight out of a fairy tale—whimsical and innocent. In name, they imprisoned the humans who wandered in by mistake; in reality, they were protecting them from danger.

If one insisted, that possibility wasn’t absolutely zero.

As long as their loved ones were still alive, humans were willing to believe even the most absurd possibility. Tass pressed his lips together, choosing not to burst the bubble of joy the two young people were sharing.

Actually, they all knew this place was a genuine Divine Realm. There was no way things were that simple. He had no idea whether Salaar had told Professor Gentry that part.

Indeed, it was a piece of intelligence of critical importance. But as a professional, Tass had no intention of taking matters into his own hands—he wasn’t the leader. If Salaar and Myss thought it necessary, they would say so themselves.

“We haven’t gained much on our side,” Tass said cautiously. “Jinx, the rabbit Myss caught earlier, is currently in our hands. According to it, the rabbits are all busy preparing for a banquet right now.”

“Before the banquet is over, they won’t harm the prisoners.”

“A banquet?”

“Yes, a banquet.” Tass glanced at the white rabbit lying belly-up, limbs in the air.

Father Kalen had used every trick he had and had even gotten his finger bitten open by Jinx. Fortunately, the result was decent. The rabbit had finally melted beneath his petting, become dazed, and surrendered its paws.

Tass had applied a bit of gentle coaxing, and the rabbit’s three-part mouth had failed to keep many secrets.

According to it, the rabbits had been born remembering a single mission. They were to prepare a grand banquet. They existed for that purpose alone.

The humans who had come running into the ruins were annoying, but they were merely insignificant little problems. The rabbits would lock them up first, and everything else could wait until after the banquet.

But as for the concept of a “Divine Realm,” why they were holding a banquet, or when it was supposed to happen, Jinx knew absolutely nothing.

“How about you go ask a mushroom why it grew out of the ground?” Basking in the caresses with a dizzy, dazed air—as if it was drunk—the rabbit retorted, “That kind of thing is called instinct, idiot.”

The rabbits’ behavior could hardly be called intelligent. Father Kalen and Tass hadn’t expected to get much information out of it, so they weren’t terribly disappointed.

“…Looks like Myss and Salaar’s exploration went more smoothly. In a moment, I’ll pass this on to Salaar.”

Tass said into the gold badge communicator, “You guys keep pushing forward. We left an emerald marker in the central sector of the ruins.”

With that he unceremoniously cut the connection on the communication device.

“We need to contact Salaar’s side again,” Tass muttered. “If I’m not mistaken, they may have found some useful informa— Father?!”

Father Kalen was gently stroking the rabbit in his arms. The rabbit was melting under his hand. No, it was literally melting.

That white mass dissolved like cream, soft fur slipping through the priest’s fingers as it gradually fused with his skin. Kalen seemed completely unaware of it. He continued soothing the thing stroke after stroke, murmuring a prayer from the Order of Shadows.

“May His Veil shroud you, unseen and unharmed.”

Like a father cradling a newborn infant, Kalen’s voice was gentler than ever. “May His Veil shroud you, unseen and unharmed…”

“You’re a good human…”

Jinx’s head had already begun to deform; it slurred its words incoherently. “The rabbits like you… The rabbits need you…”

“Hey, you idiot priest!” The scales on Tass’s wings flared out.

Countless emerald spikes formed around him, yet he didn’t know where to aim. The rabbit had already become a soft foreign mass spread across Kalen’s arm and chest. A reckless attack would only injure the priest.

Kalen lifted his eyes.

Those blue eyes overflowed with tenderness and blankness. They clearly reflected Tass’s figure, yet the pupils had no focus at all.

How was this possible?

Tass yanked at his hair in frustration. By all rights, Dragon Faes were the more magic-sensitive species. If there were anything wrong with this Divine Realm, he should have been the first one affected. And yet the one in trouble was Kalen.

Grinding his teeth, he moved at the fastest speed of his life. He ripped the gold badge off Kalen by force and connected it.

“Myss, Salaar—something’s wrong with Kalen! That rabbit melted all over him, and it’s seeping into his body!”

Sshhhk—

At that exact moment, the most advanced communication artifact malfunctioned.

Damn it, who exactly thought this place was lucky? Forget it!

Tass’s gaze sharpened as he slammed into the arm holding the rabbit. But the thing clung tightly to Kalen’s arm and chest, remaining utterly immovable.

Father Kalen ignored the attack from the Dragon Fae. He rose to his feet and walked toward the tightly shut cell door.

Then he wrapped both hands around iron bars as thick as wrists and pulled them apart.

Screeech!

With a metallic wail that made teeth ache, the iron bars bent aside like soft wire, leaving a huge gap.

“What are you trying to do?” Tass shouted.

“The rabbits need me.” Kalen said it like he was sleep-talking. “The banquet needs me.”

“The rabbits need him.” The white thing in Kalen’s arms spoke at the same time. “The banquet needs him.”

The two voices overlapped in the wide prison chamber.

The rabbit in Kalen’s arms had only a vague outline of a head left. Its eyes were half-closed, and it looked more relieved than it ever had before.

……

After the lop-eared rabbit left, Myss and Salaar immediately dropped to the ground.

“Here should be the center of the castle. Go on, try out your new ability,” Salaar said quietly.

“I don’t need you to tell me that.”

With no outsiders around, Myss let his pupils dilate, brimming with confidence as he tried to sense the surroundings and find the “terminal point” of the Divine Realm.

A few seconds later, all he sensed more clearly were the survivors. Beyond that, nothing.

Myss frowned and wove several layers of black gauze out of thin air, draping them over his own head.

…Nothing.

Frustrated, he wove several more layers, practically wrapping himself into a cocoon. At that level of sensitivity, he could even feel the faint ripple caused by Salaar’s heartbeat.

…Still nothing.

This Divine Realm was strange to an absurd degree.

Whether it was the Fallen Child or the Perfected Creation, both of them had been very clearly drawing power from humans, then using themselves as the core to construct their Divine Realm.

Magic power ought to have flowed and gathered during that process. Myss should have been able to use that to see through the “end point” of the realm. The principle was simple it was almost trivial.

But the magic distribution here was so uniform it made his scalp crawl. Its circulation had no pattern at all. There was no unified current to follow.

His new skill had proven useless. Myss’s mouth gradually sank from an upward curve into a droop, and his whole body softened with dejection. He huddled inside the layers of black gauze, unwilling to face whatever expression Salaar might be wearing.

It was too humiliating! “Dreams come true” my ass. Nothing was going smoothly in this accursed place.

“Don’t forget, our opponent this time is stronger than the Perfected Creation.”

Salaar bent down and calmly lifted aside Myss’s black veil.

Myss flicked a glance at him from the corner of his eye, and the knot in his chest loosened a little. Salaar’s expression wasn’t too mocking. He could tolerate that.

“Roman must be the one behind this,” Myss muttered sullenly as he dissolved the black gauze. “The prized student of an Archmage really should be stronger than some orphan and some taxidermist.”

“You suspect the master of this Divine Realm is Roman? Why, because he looks like a rabbit?” Salaar raised a brow.

Myss shot him a look as if asking whether he was stupid. “Of course not! Because those rabbits said this group of humans were the ‘first batch of humans.’ They never came into contact with the earlier missing expedition teams.”

“And V.O.R likes writing to so-called ‘geniuses.’ There’s only one genius missing here. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Not bad reasoning,” Salaar said seriously. “Looks like in the future I’ll need to guard not only against your magic, but your schemes too.”

Sure enough, even Salaar acknowledged that he was a genius.

“You should have been worried from the start.” Myss was finally appeased. He shoved Salaar toward the survivors’ door.

A genius like him could easily guess what would happen next. Salaar would appeal to their emotions, reason with them, the survivors would let down their guard, and then tell them everything about Roman… Human socializing was always this dull.

In other words, next came another round of boring human conversation.

And yet…

After a round of knocking, the door opened, and the gaunt young man from before stuck his head out again.

The instant he saw the two of them, his expression changed. Before Salaar could even open his mouth, a steel cable shot from the young man’s sleeve and tied Salaar up tight.

Salaar actually didn’t resist?!

Myss, standing behind him and ready to enjoy the show, got tied up along with him. The two of them were bound into a bundle on the spot.

Myss: “?”

The gaunt young man hauled both of them inside in one motion and nervously shut the door.

Once he made sure there were no bouncing rabbits in sight, he lowered his head with a grave expression and stared at Myss. “I didn’t expect those rabbits to be able to turn into humans too…”

Myss: “???”

Salaar failed to hold it in and burst out laughing. “You’ve misunderstood. We really are human, genuine through and through.”

The room was brightly lit, so the two of them took the chance to quickly scan the interior.

Myss’s senses hadn’t been wrong. There were indeed five people in the room.

The gaunt young man was in the best condition among them. A short man sat cross-legged on the bed, coughing from time to time. Beside him stood a burly man whose left knee had been severed, the wound neatly bandaged, with a faint smell of blood coming from it.

The two women were there as well. One had lost her entire right foot, with her ankle wrapped in a round bundle of bandages. The other had her neck covered in layers of bandages, her face deathly pale.

All five pairs of eyes were fixed on the two of them, carrying a startling calmness… and hostility.

Even after Salaar identified himself as “human,” they didn’t waver in the slightest.

Salaar drew a deep breath. “We really are human, and we’re Professor Gentry’s assistants. Professor Gentry, Beveryly, and Asp are all here. They came to rescue you.”

His tone was exceptionally sincere, as though they truly were innocent, pitiful assistants.

“Look, we all have communication badges on our collars. You can talk to him yourselves.”

The men and women exchanged glances. For a moment, Myss couldn’t read the emotions in their eyes. The only thing he could be sure of was that there was nothing in them called “joy.”

…How strange. This should have been earth-shattering good news.

Why did none of these survivors look happy at all?

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 64: Survivors

Myss froze.

Everyone knew that humans didn’t fear things that could never happen—just as people didn’t fear the sun rising in the west, or ears of grain sprouting flesh and blood.

Which meant Salaar believed that he might, with a very real possibility, fall in love with his arch nemesis.

Why? Why would Salaar feel anything for him? Did the Great Hero have some kind of masochistic streak?

Half of Myss’s mind was teeming with questions, while the other half plunged into panic. How was he supposed to make Salaar fall in love with him? He didn’t understand human love at all.

His skin was still burning, and his chest felt as if someone had stuffed a lump of blazing coal inside, but it didn’t hurt. By instinct, Myss clenched the hair at the back of Salaar’s head and continued the kiss that had been interrupted.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing, but when he pulled away abruptly, he found the air felt a little cold.

Coincidentally, Salaar seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

This time, however, Salaar’s lips didn’t land on Myss’s mouth, but rather on his throat. Myss felt the sharp tips of teeth as well as a hand quietly tightening on his lower back.

Strangely enough, the heat returned. His breath condensed into pale puffs in the air.

In Myss’s imagination, being kissed like this by Salaar ought to have made him feel disgust and repulsion.

Instead, his body was growing hotter and hotter; Salaar had definitely used some outrageous trick.

“…But even if I do fall in love with you, I still won’t spare you,” Salaar murmured, his lips brushing against the side of Myss’s neck. “If you think you can use that to survive, I suggest you give up on that notion as soon as possible.”

“You’re overthinking it. I just want to see you suffer.”

Panting, Myss mocked him, one hand still hooked around the back of Salaar’s neck. “Do the companions you executed know this? You… you…”

He found that “traitor” wasn’t quite precise enough, while “pervert” sounded too much like flirting, so for a moment he couldn’t find the right words to describe the sheer absurdity of it all.

Salaar suddenly stopped kissing him. He bent down and pressed his forehead to Myss’s chest. Myss felt a slight tremor.

Salaar was laughing.

“Oh, they know. Of course they know.” 

He spoke in a low voice. “All of them know that I am the one in this world most obsessed with you. I…”

He cut himself off abruptly, then bit lightly at Myss’s throat, stuffing his mouth with Myss’s flesh and blood instead.

Myss was left bewildered by the bite.

Salaar was clearly resolved to kill him, yet he wasn’t tormented by the guilt over it. So if Salaar loved him—truly loved him—then what was there to fear? 

But his body refused to let him think any further.

Myss discovered in shock that under the continued high heat, his body had undergone the exact same change as Salaar’s—the very same changes on that particular morning.

What kind of twisted sorcery was this!

Without hesitation, Myss punched the offending area, only to be hit with an excruciating pain he hadn’t anticipated. Lord Archdemon slumped limply down the wall and curled himself into a shrimp.

Salaar laughed heartlessly, then took an identical punch from Myss. Two seconds later, there was another shrimp on the floor.

“Heal,” Myss said from his shrimp position on the ground, wheezing.

“Of course.” Salaar lay across from him in matching shrimp form, his tone faintly melancholic.

After all that trouble, the heated air between them finally dissipated. Once the pain vanished, Myss was pleased to discover that his body had completely returned to normal.

He knew it. It had definitely been Salaar’s doing. There was no way he would want to… mate?

…Still, Myss didn’t entirely dislike that numbing, burning sensation.

And that strange hunger hadn’t disappeared completely. His stomach was full, yet he still felt as though something inside him needed to be filled. He touched his slightly swollen lips, which still carried the sweet metallic taste of blood.

The two of them staggered to their feet. Salaar chuckled to himself and wiped the blood from his lips.

“This potion is even more troublesome than I thought. The effect is too strong.”

He shook his head.

Myss could tell the bastard was only pretending to be calm. Salaar’s movements had become a bit unsteady, and this was someone who had stood firm right up until the moment he would died of old age.

Well, the slight trembling in his own fingers was different. That had to be a side effect of lack of oxygen.

A tangle ball of thoughts rolled through Myss’s head while his mouth answered on its own. “Yeah. It’s basically like children playing pretend.”

He knew that slave children were fond of such fantasies. They would pretend a pebble could make pain disappear, or a lump of mud could smell like roasted meat. A pretty leaf hidden inside a collar would, in their minds, attract a kind master.

The original owner of this body had been the same. In the slave’s broken, blurry memories, he had once hugged an exquisitely carved silver goblet and pretended it would endlessly flow with honeyed water.

Myss looked around and spotted two tall, brightly colored mushrooms growing from a corner of the ruins.

He yanked them free and thought with heavy irony, ‘Given the ridiculous fairy-tale style of this childish Divine Realm, maybe random mushrooms picked off the ground really could dispel the potion’s effects.’

Suddenly, something twitched at his fingertips.

The mushroom wriggled once in his hand. Myss sniffed, and this time caught a scent that hadn’t been there before, the scent of an Abnormal Fruit.

The mushroom also began giving off a faint magical fluctuation. Myss had a vague feeling that its magical pattern matched the moss-flower potion almost perfectly. It really did resemble an antidote.

No way. It’s actually that simple?

With Salaar’s healing ability around, it should be safe enough to try…

Myss cautiously bit into the mushroom, and then

“I like currants! I like sleeping on hard beds! I like Salaar!”

The man beside him stumbled and nearly tripped over a piece of rubble. He stared at Myss in shock, while Myss stared back—equally shocked—at the mushroom in his hand.

Before Salaar could notice anything else, Myss snatched up the other mushroom. There was only one thought left in his head. Eat it, and his consciousness could return to his true body immediately.

The mushroom wriggled again and the Abnormal Fruit scent briefly surfaced. Then the mushroom shook its cap and punched him once in the base of the thumb. Immediately after, the scent vanished and the mushroom no longer gave off any magical fluctuation.

Myss: “…”

As expected, a desire of that magnitude was simply impossible.

Then he realized the half-eaten mushroom in his hand had disappeared. Only half a mushroom stem remained at Salaar’s mouth, bouncing up and down as he chewed.

“I don’t want to end the Night Scourge. I don’t want to protect the human world. I don’t have for Myss… Whoa.”

He stopped halfway through and let out a soft “Whoa.” “The sudden stroke of luck here and now… The sudden appearance of the Abnormal Fruit’s scent… I see.”

Myss looked at Salaar blankly.

“I know this kind of mushroom. It tastes like raspberry candy. Try it.”

Salaar didn’t explain. He plucked an unremarkable little mushroom from the wall and held it to Myss’s lips.

Suspicious, Myss sniffed it. Sure enough, the scent of an Abnormal Fruit appeared again out of nowhere. Then he stuck out his tongue and licked it, tasting the familiar sweetness.

“…How did you do that?” he asked in astonishment.

“Rabbit’s foot, pocket watch, moss-flower potion, Magic Mushroom Stew. They actually have one thing in common.”

Salaar swallowed the mushroom in his own mouth and lowered his voice. “When we received them, they had all been assigned a ‘dream.’”

“The rabbit’s foot would bring good luck, the pocket watch would protect love, the moss-flower potion would make people tell the truth, the Magic Mushroom Stew would let people taste what they liked. Then the Abnormal Fruit scent appears and makes those dreams come true.”

Salaar fell into thought. “If that’s the case, then so-called good luck is easy to explain too. Luck is just another way of saying ‘dreams come true.’”

Myss thought it over and found that it really did fit.

His dream of returning to his true body hadn’t materialized because it involved far more than just the “here and now”, which was beyond what the Divine Realm could do.  

Myss perked up at once. He spun around and pointed at Salaar.

“I wish you would fall madly in love with me, so madly that you no longer want to end the Night Scourge and obey my every order!”

Salaar: “…”

Salaar: “…You certainly have a nice imagination.”

“And that doesn’t count as ‘the here and now’?”

Myss clicked his tongue so loudly that the sound echoed through the ruins.

“The power of this Divine Realm definitely has clearer limits than that.” Salaar said, “If any ridiculous wish could come true, then the survivors here would have escaped long ago.”

As he spoke, Salaar picked up a stone in an air of mock seriousness. “I wish this stone would turn into gold.”

The stone remained a stone, resting quietly in his palm.

“See?” Salaar said.

“Maybe your dream wasn’t strong enough,” Myss said.

“Then go on, vividly imagine that I’ll obey you. Good luck with that.” Salaar casually tossed the stone away, triggering another trap.

Myss curled his lip and didn’t argue further.

The entire dungeon was dark and twisted, like the intestines of some beast, with thick tree roots bulging through the walls at intervals. It was obvious the rabbits had deliberately installed a lot of mushroom oil lamps, making the place look a little less like hell.

Still, the dungeon area really contained only them. Myss saw none of the supposed survivors.

Once they left the dungeon area, the architecture became much more respectable, and the number of rabbits increased significantly.

The first level had a grand entrance hall. It had been modeled after the royal audience chamber, with a towering throne and secondary seat at the far end. At present, both were hidden under ferns and moss, remade into two enormous rabbit-shaped topiaries and decorated with colorful mushrooms.

On both sides of the hall hung large cages lined with spikes, each containing two or three human skeletons. One look at the remains was enough to imagine the kinds of torture the Hope family had once enjoyed inflicting.

Now, however, the rabbits had wrapped the cages in vines, turning them into hanging lily-of-the-valley shapes so that they no longer looked quite so sinister.

The mushroom oil lamps illuminated the hall like bright daylight while fresh green firefly-like lights drifted through the air.

Every trap in the hall had been dismantled. Every trace of despair had been buried.

White rabbits carrying small baskets and dragging little carts moved mushrooms and all sorts of odds and ends through the hall.

Another group of rabbits wearing aprons cleaned up rubble from the ruins in neat formation. Others were taking apart rotten cloth in the corners and reweaving it into tidy sheets.

Huge mushroom tables were piled with cup-ferns and little mushroom biscuits so tired rabbits could restore their strength.

Everywhere Myss looked, everything was busy and orderly.

Several rabbits with servant-style ribbon ties around their necks directed the work, their hind legs thumping out a steady rhythm.

“Hurry, hurry! The mushrooms in the oven are about to overcook!”

“The cloth must have its edges hemmed! The boards must be sanded smooth! The cushions must all be wrapped properly!”

“The banquet is starting soon! Every rabbit must prepare properly! Absolutely no mistakes!”

“What about the first batch of humans?”

A plump lop-eared rabbit bounced over to one of the butler rabbits. “They want to go out for a walk.”

“Heavens, we’re busy enough already.”

The butler rabbit stomped its feet even harder. “What walk? Make them stay put. The banquet is about to begin. We should be checking on the new arrivals in the dungeon instead.”

“If they start liking rabbits, we can think about giving them a different room. Running up and down every day is exhausting.”

The lop-eared rabbit found this completely reasonable and bounced away. Before leaving, it didn’t forget to drain a whole cup-fern.

Myss glanced at Salaar. Salaar nodded, and the two of them lightly followed after the lop-eared rabbit.

The rabbit bobbed along, its white fur shining beautifully, its three-parted mouth humming a cheerful little tune. It passed through the newly restored hall, beyond the brightly colored oil paintings, beyond preserved stone tablets, heading toward the deeper and darker part of the ruins.

Salaar guided Myss through the shadows at the highest vantage point, making sure the short rabbits couldn’t spot them.

“Judging from the structure, the others are being kept in the Hope family’s residence. The conditions should be much better than ours.”

Salaar looked down at the cheerful white fluff-ball and quietly explained, “Be careful. The traps near here haven’t been cleared.”

“So the rabbits still want to keep those humans imprisoned,” Myss concluded.

He had the distinct feeling that the arm around his waist from Salaar was a little hot, but Salaar didn’t have a fever. Had his own power grown stronger, making him more sensitive too?

Then he realized that somehow, without noticing, he had been led by Salaar into searching for survivors. What did those survivors have to do with him? They should be looking for the master of the Divine Realm instead.

…Whatever. He would count it as supplementary investigation.

In irritation, Myss shifted his weight and deliberately hung all of it on Salaar.

At last, the lop-eared rabbit reached its destination.

The Hope family’s residence was extravagantly luxurious. The gilded candlestands still looked exactly as they had three hundred years ago. Beyond the lodging area doors, Salaar couldn’t find a single trap. There was even thick carpeting across the floor.

Three hundred years had passed, but it hadn’t rotted. The ornate patterns were still visible.

“At the farthest end is the master suite, the room of the head of the Hope family.”

Salaar looked toward the end of the corridor.

There were no mushroom lamps over there. More precisely, the only lit points were the branching paths the lop-eared rabbit had taken.

“The structure of the master suite is complicated. It usually connects to multiple secret passages. I don’t think the rabbits would use it to hold humans.”

Salaar added after considering it. “The path that rabbit just took leads to the servants’ quarters.”

“Are rabbits really that smart?” Myss asked skeptically.

Salaar was silent for a moment. “They know where the traps are. It wouldn’t be strange if they knew where the secret passages are too.”

Oh. He hadn’t answered directly, so Salaar probably thought the rabbits were rather dumb too.

At any rate, they had tailed the lop-eared rabbit the entire way and it hadn’t noticed a thing. It stopped outside a well-preserved wooden door, rose up, and knocked lightly with one paw.

Creak. The door opened.

A gaunt young man with hollow cheeks peeked out, his voice slightly hoarse. “Well? How did it go, Sir Clover?”

The rabbit called Clover raised its head. “No good. Everyone is busy preparing for the banquet. No one has time to look after you.”

“If we let you out on the condition that you keep watch, you’ll just cause trouble again, like last time.”

“But we have to find Roman.”

The young man said anxiously, then seemed to realize he had misspoken. “I mean, we still haven’t found the captain, and everyone’s getting nervous. We want some air. We promise, just some air. We promise we won’t run around again.”

“No means no.”

Clover said stubbornly, “The banquet is about to start. The rabbits must concentrate on preparing the banquet.”

The young man let out a heavy sigh. He looked down gloomily at the soft white rabbit, then immediately realized he had misspoken. “I mean…we still haven’t found our captain, and everyone is feeling uneasy. We just want to get some fresh air. We promise—just fresh air. We won’t go running off again.”

“No means no,” The lop-eared rabbit stated stubbornly. “The banquet is about to start. The rabbits must focus on their preparation.”

The young man let out a heavy sigh. He glanced down gloomily at the soft, fluffy ball of fur, looking as though he was sorely tempted to stage a prison break right then and there.

“Come back, Jack,” another deep, gruff male voice called out. “Thank you, Sir Clover.”

“Yes, exactly. Once the banquet is over, everything can be discussed.”

The lop-eared rabbit nodded its head and happily bounced away.

“Five people.” Myss sensed the magical fluctuations inside the room. “Three men, two women, all human.”

“One man and one woman are in especially bad shape. Probably missing limbs… Hm, and there’s another one who’s a bit strange. Poisoned? Sick?”

He still wasn’t as skilled as Tass and couldn’t distinguish the subtle ripples in magical fluctuation.

Salaar pondered a moment, then activated his gold badge. “Professor Gentry?”

“We’re here, Mr. Salaar.”

“How many people were in Roman’s exploration team?”

“Six including Roman. Four men and two women.” Beverly answered before anyone else, her voice urgent and distant.

“In that case, we have good news and bad news,” Salaar said.

“The good news is that survivors really do exist, and they are indeed Roman’s team.”

“…The bad news is that Roman Gerard is not among them.”

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The author has something to say:

It’s fine if the Archdemon doesn’t understand this time. Next time Saint Salaar will teach you how to handle it.

After all, you can’t just keep whacking people over the head every time. That gets tiring… [covering face and peeking]

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